Spring 2015 | | Page 4

Fabiana in China: I Was The Donkey

March 17, 2015

As I finished reading the story, I remembered where I was about two months ago. I had fallen into an empty well and had no one to save me but myself…

After successfully finishing two textbooks since we first started, we began a new one last week. It welcomed us with a very curious and inspiring story:

In summary, the text talked about an old donkey that had fallen into an empty well. The owner and his neighbors did not know what to do to help this poor donkey out, so they decided to fill the well with dirt so the donkey would not suffer anymore. As they shoveled dirt in, they listened how the donkey become more and more silent. After some time they were all curious about what the donkey was doing, so decided to look down: as the dirt fell on top of the donkey’s back, he swayed his body and made the dirt fall to one side. He then took a step on top of the pile of dirt and repeated this motion as more dirt came in. When the pile got high enough, he took a big jump on top of it and trotted out of the well.

“I am that donkey,” I quietly whispered in class, and smiled right after.

I smiled because I realized I had been doing exactly the same: shaking the “dirt” of my body and stepping on top of whatever wanted to knock me down. I still have to jump out of my well, but I can see the light, and I am not far away from it.

From increasing the amount of Chinese vocabulary words learned each day, to increasing the amount of times I have to refer back to my English dictionary to check the English translation the book provides, I can now say that if I would ever take the SAT again, I would ace the reading part. Haha. But actually.

In order to shake out this week’s stress the program surprised us with a very entertaining weekend. On Friday, we had a scavenger hunt on Peking University’s campus. I was asked to recall Chinese famous dishes and New Year’s traditions, ask a “handsome” Chinese guy for his phone number, complete character writing in order to find hidden messages, and many more tasks. We had a beautiful day that accompanied the afternoon and delicious snacks waiting for us at the finish line! It was a lot of fun!

Snapshots from PKU during the Scavenger Hunt

That same day, I finally decided to go to that Kickboxing lesson I was long thinking about. With the scavenger hunt in the afternoon and the kickboxing lesson at night, I was destroyed. Although my body still hurts from it, the 加油s (“you can do it!”) I received from random kickboxing peers that day made the muscle pain worthwhile.

On Saturday, we all went to THE GREAT WALL! How exciting! We had a big bus waiting for us back in PKU (Peking University) and left for our half-day adventure. Although I had been to The Great Wall about two years ago, this time somehow felt more magical. We had all broke down into small groups and hiked our way to the very top. Well, except a couple of friends and I that didn’t really make it to the top. In my defense, I thought there was no such thing as a “top”! I could only see more of the Great Wall in the distance, and when we got tired we just started to walk back down. Apparently if you keep hiking up like some of my classmates did, there is a way to use a slide to get back down! So keep this in mind if you’re planning to come and visit! (I guess I now have an excuse to go back).

After that adventure, I had to end the day with my favorite dessert in China: Bubble Tea. Tapioca pearls, milk, tea, and your roommate’s smile are all you really need to end a day like this. With three more weeks left of actual teaching until the end of semester trip with the program begins, I can truly say I wish I would have extended my stay in Beijing for one more semester. I think I can speak for everyone in the program when I say that I still feel I have so much left to learn! Chinese language learning seems endless, but we all just simply love it! It’s sort of like a love-hate relationship. We can’t get enough of it!

Till next week!

Comments Off on Fabiana in China: I Was The Donkey | Fabiana in China, Spring 2015 | Tagged: Academics, China, Food, Friends, Language, Reflection, Sightseeing | Permalink
Posted by Fabiana in China

Jackie in Switzerland: Looking for Audrey and Finding the Sheep

March 17, 2015

This was the third week of classes here at Lausanne and I am blown away by how fast time is flying by! Now that classes have really begun, I feel like the semester is going to be over before I know it. After much stress and confusion, I have finally figured out my class schedule for the semester! I am taking 7 courses; five are courses about French and Swiss culture, including their literature, art, and films while the other two are political science courses. However, they are ALL taught in French! My professors have been really understanding of the fact that French is not my first language, and sometimes in my political science class, the professor will even ask for my perspective as an American, which makes me feel like I can actually contribute to the course.

I was really nervous that I wouldn’t be able to handle so much French, but so far it has been the best thing about my study abroad experience! I can already tell how much better my French has become, and after only three weeks. One of the most important things that I have learned from this experience is how important immersion is for learning a language. Its just not possible to speak and hear French in the U.S. the way that I can here in Switzerland, and this week I really realized how lucky I am to have the opportunity to come here and not only study a language, but also to live a language. And while sometimes all the French makes my head spin, I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Even with all of my classes, I’ve still found time to enjoy the sunset!

And now to explain the slightly bizarre title to this blog post. In choosing to study abroad in Lausanne, I had unknowingly chosen a place about an hour from Audrey Hepburn’s last home. I am both excited by this fact and also disappointed in myself for not knowing this earlier. As a self-proclaimed Audrey fanatic, I cannot believe that her home has been so close to me and I was not aware. However, I decided to make up for this by visiting Tolochenaz, where Audrey lived during her last years. Expecting to visit an overly touristy, Audrey-themed city, what I found instead was what makes me love this country so much.

The houses in Tolochenaz were all so cute and quaint, I would never imagine such a small city for such a big star

With this view, I could see why Tolochenaz is such a perfect place to live!

It turns out that it takes about 30 minutes to walk from the closest train station to Tolochenaz, and the path is the most quiet, beautiful countryside that I have seen to date in Switzerland. After enjoying our walk with the mountains in the distance, we finally reached the small town, and I could not have been more surprised. It took us about 20 minutes of walking in the town to even pass a single person, and the homes were so beautiful, traditional, and modest that I would never have guessed a star like Audrey Hepburn would live there. As for tourism, the town certainly had a few indications of Audrey’s presence, but in general, it was very tasteful and simple. Much like her modest resting place, I could only describe her home in Tolochenaz as peaceful, beautiful, and quaint.

After 20 years, people still come to Audrey’s grave to give flowers and love

The town created a statue to honor Audrey with a beautiful quote that captures her personality

While walking through the town, I realized that while I had come here to see the place where one of my favorite actresses had lived, I got so much more than that. I got a little glimpse into the small things that make living in Switzerland like a dream. On our path, we ran across a herd of sheep, the first that I have seen here in La Suisse, even though before arriving I expected to see this everywhere! As my friend Amanda said “We came for Audrey and found the sheep!” Every little detail of this little town in this little country had such a character and a beauty in and of its own, and I realized in that moment that one of the best parts of studying abroad isn’t so much seeing all of the tourist attractions or ‘famous’ places, but instead finding the beauty of living like a local.

It took me a month, but I finally found the Swiss sheep! We felt like total tourists taking pictures of sheep but we couldn’t resist

The experience of enjoying such a small place made me realize even more how much there is out there to see. I came to Europe searching for the ‘Audreys’; the Eiffel Tower, Lake Geneva, the canals of Venice, or the beaches of southern France. But the more I see, the more I’m beginning to love finding the ‘sheep’; the vines that climb up the side of an old home, the wonderful smell of real French bread in the morning, or even the beauty of gates and doors on the side streets of Lausanne.

Finding the small beauties in a small city

I will never forget this view!

Comments Off on Jackie in Switzerland: Looking for Audrey and Finding the Sheep | Jackie in Switzerland, Spring 2015 | Tagged: Host University, Language, Sightseeing, Switzerland | Permalink
Posted by jackieinswitzerland

Becca in Hungary: Tour of AIT’s Campus

March 16, 2015

Today during lunch I decided to make a little video about AIT’s campus. In two weeks I will have reached the halfway point of my program (THATS CRAZY TO ME!!!). Of course that means midterms time! As midterms come closer I wanted to spend sometime reflecting on my experience at AIT. The video I created is below:

http://youtu.be/3OoXXlIUedM

I have truly loved all my classes here! When I was trying to find somewhere to study abroad I did not want to sacrifice having small interactive classes. Generally, in Europe classes are lecture style and then conclude with one large exam. For me, learning math and computer science this way can be a challenge because I need weekly problems and challenges to make sure I understand the content as the content begins to build on itself. Here at AIT I get weekly homework sets in all of my classes that allow me to test my knowledge and ponder new ideas about the topic. The workload at AIT is perfect because I rarely feel like I am doing busy work but rather the work is relevant and thought-provoking.

The one thing I am shocked about is that I really don’t program that much even though I am enrolled in a computer science program. At the University of Richmond, all of the computer science classes have a strong mix between theoretics and programming. At AIT the classes mainly focus on theoretics which essentially means just more math. I personally love this because I am also a math major; however, some students struggle with the focus on mathematics. The most mathematical course I am taking is quantum probability. Unlike classical probability (which is the probability most people think of), quantum probability disobeys many of the rules we learn about probability in high school. Because of this we have to build-up new mathematical background and redefine a new lattice to define this probability. In more or less words, the class is hard, but that also means it is very thought-provoking which I love.

The class with the most programming is my mobile software design class. I was originally hesitant to take this course because it was going to be so programming focused. So far, I have loved this class. This past week we turned in our first assignment which was creating a minesweeper App for iPhone.

I could not be happier with my decision to attend AIT, and I am excited to buckle down and put a hold on the international traveling in order to prepare for my coming exams.

Comments Off on Becca in Hungary: Tour of AIT’s Campus | Becca in Hungary, Spring 2015 | Tagged: Academics, Host University, Hungary | Permalink
Posted by Becca F

Becca In Hungary: Connections!

March 2, 2015

When I was six years old my family made the big trip to Disney World in Florida; the trip that every kid never forgets. The most memorable part for me was the exhibit where you swirl around a magical world on a small boat while the song “It’s a Small World After All” plays. As a six year old the song just didn’t make sense to me because in my view the world was just a huge playground ready to be explored! I thought the 100 foot walk to my best friend’s house in my neighborhood was a large distance, so the idea of this world being seen as “small” was just preposterous to my young mind. To this day I still see the world as a massive complex network of people and places, but these past two weeks have shown me how interconnected this world really is.

The first connection I was able to make was meeting up with my previous University of Richmond roommates, Aileen and Rayna. They are studying abroad in Germany and Denmark respectively, and this past weekend we all met up in Prague. I really had to step back and reflect on this because it truly is amazing how out of 6 billion people in the world and even more opportunities, somehow the three of us were able to all come together and meet in a new country which we had never explored before. How cool is that!?! I loved being able to visit some of my closest friends and create meaningful memories with them.

My UR friends and I exploring Prague

While in Prague, the three of us went on a tour of the city. While on the tour my friend Rayna was approached by an individual in the group who ended up being a friend from her grade school! This just blew my mind because again even in a world so big we are still so interconnected.

Some main attractions in Prague

My favorite part of Prague was visiting the Pinkas Synagogue which holds pictures drawn by children during the Holocaust. Through these pictures visitors could see the children’s fears, hopes, desires, and prayers. The thing that struck me that most about these pictures, though, was the fact that even though these children were enduring unimaginable pain and loss, they always drew the Jewish people with a smile on their faces and frowns on their perpetrators. I was moved by their ability to see such hope and happiness despite the pain they had endured.

After visiting the Jewish district in Prague, I decided that this weekend I wanted to explore Budapest’s Jewish District in order to draw parallels between these two countries. On this tour I began to see all these connections between the countries I have visited and these connections have really opened my mind to how interconnected our world truly is. For instance, in the 19th century Austria came to “liberate” Hungary and bring Catholicism to their people. The ruler of Austria during this time was the Habsburg family. When I visited Austria, I was able to visit the Habsburg palace. What I found interesting was during the Jewish District tour in Budapest the tour guide was very negative about the Habsburg family and discussed their blatant discrimination against Jews. However, while in Austria, the people spoke highly of the wealth and power of the Habsburg family. It really goes to show you how skewed history can be. This idea reminds me of the quote”“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” By traveling to different countries I have had the oppertunity to see different countries prospectives on the same historical events. I able to draw my own connections between people and places and begin to feel even more connected to this beautiful and expansive world.

Comments Off on Becca In Hungary: Connections! | Becca in Hungary, Spring 2015 | Tagged: Austria, Friends, History, Hungary, Politics, Sightseeing, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Becca F

Fabiana in China: Chinese Interrupts My Sleep

March 2, 2015

Gkdgfjhdowjd.

That’s what my brain did as it switched back to English mode on Friday. I had stepped out from my midterm exam exhausted, but accomplished; I had successfully finished half of my time here in China!

Later that day we went to celebrate to a Hotpot restaurant with two of our teachers. We invited them to join us because we had never talked to them in English before, and personally, I wanted to change the impression I thought they had of me: I was a 5 year-old that thought everything was “很好” (very good) and that the weather was always “特别冷”(specially cold). With all honestly, with the limited Chinese we have, we can’t really have “deep” conversations. This was my time to really get to know them.

As we arrived, we were given red aprons, zip block bags to cover our phones, hair ties, and hot towels. I was quite confused. I had been to a hotpot restaurant in Hong Kong before, but never was I offered such service! (For those who do not know what hotpot is, Wikipedia explains it all: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_pot) As I tried to form questions regarding this curious meal to my teachers, my mind went all crazy again. Suddenly, I couldn’t speak English anymore (?) My brain and my eyes didn’t agree: I guess this happened because I associate their faces with speaking Mandarin and my brain just didn’t want to cooperate. This was quite an experience.

During the meal, some were speaking English, others Chinese, and I unconsciously started to speak Spanish (?) I was really confused. This whole event reminded me of a question I was made regarding speaking three languages: “since you are fluent in English and Spanish, is it easier to learn Chinese?” My answer: “NO. It’s harder.” He looked at me confused and continued, “but there are studies…” I listened to him and continued, “In my experience, I consider it harder because I tend to change the language in which I think.” My mother tongue is Spanish, but I have been studying English for about the same time, so both languages come naturally to me. (To my bilinguals out there, have you ever thought about the language in which you think?)

Spanish and English have different sentence structures, ways of expression, and the list continues. So if I change the language in which I think unconsciously, it makes it hard for me to translate my thoughts to Chinese.

I considered the idea of writing an extended essay regarding the reasons why learning Chinese has been hard for me, but I will only write it once I find a scientific explanation behind it. You’ll have to wait for it.

Just to give you an example of how confused my brain has been for the last two months, ask my roommate. Today she came up to me and told me I sleep-talk A LOT: “During the first week you spoke English, some days you switched to Spanish, and you’ve been recently speaking Chinese!” Now that I think of it, I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night with a headache: I had forgotten a word in Chinese in my sleep and my brain has just been going over and over the same sentence. I have to say, that going through experiences like this have been both frustrating and interesting. They just leave me thinking, why is this happening to me?

As I try to leave aside what I think is unexplainable at the moment, I dream about our beautiful Wei Ming Lake back at Peking University. “It’s no longer frozen,” I think to myself. I have been seeing more green in its walking paths and small gardens. What a wonderful way to start the spring!

Till next week!

Comments Off on Fabiana in China: Chinese Interrupts My Sleep | Fabiana in China, Spring 2015 | Tagged: China, Food, Friends, Language | Permalink
Posted by Fabiana in China

KyungSun in Scotland: Hello, Intern

March 2, 2015

On my first day of Parliament, I got stuck. It was to be expected, but it still made me sheepish when it happened. I walked through security with no problems, made my way past the lobby, and found myself at the entrance of the Labour offices. (Labour is the centre-left political party that my MSP represents). When I scanned my pass, the door wouldn’t open. I pushed and pulled and scanned my pass again and again. But it still wouldn’t budge! Thankfully, a woman saw my struggle and kindly showed me to pull the other handle.

I gave her a smile, silently thanking her for saving me. It was definitely one of these moments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZLkBznAijk

At first when I was told I’d be a researcher at the Parliament, I was expecting to read through loads of academic articles and journals. But so far, I haven’t opened a single academic article and all of the research I’ve done for my MSP, Dr. Richard, has been really interesting. Every day, I learn about a new health issue in Scotland!

This past week, I’ve conducted research ranging from the prominence of mental health problems in the LGBTQ community to the current progress on the proposal for standardized tobacco packaging (which apparently is already done in Australia, but I could never imagine this happening in the US). Usually, I take the research and prepare a background brief on the topic for Dr. Richard. Recently, I found out that he send these out to other staff members to read or makes speeches based on my notes.

Gulp.

Source: Google Images

The coolest part about being an intern is simply: being an intern at Parliament (which they refer to as Holyrood). I love being at the hub of political activity. I get invites to receptions and meetings with other prominent politicians/media figures (like the BBC!). I also recognize faces from the news while walking down the hall or even have the chance to witness the news being filmed right in the Garden Lobby.

But the best part is when I sat one table away from Nicola Sturgeon, the first Minister of Scotland, in the cafeteria. If the name doesn’t mean anything to you, she is the Barack Obama equivalent for Scotland! But of course, this is an excitement I don’t express when I am in the office. Nicola Sturgeon represents SNP, the rival of the Labour Party.

Every Thursday, the chamber is packed with people to come watch how intense the rivalry can be. Check it out from 2:50 to 5:00. The person speaking first (wearing yellow/gray) is Kezia Dugdale, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and the one in purple suit is Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister. You are now watching First Minister’s Questions:

I’ll admit. Between being on the learning curve, being excited, researching, and attending committee meetings, I am exhausted by the time work ends at 5pm. It’s not even that I run around all day. I just sit! But the sheer fact of working from 9-5pm is still something I am not used to and now I am even more grateful to my parents for having the energy to make me dinner growing up after their long work days. I’m hoping I’ll build enough stamina soon to get through the day. After all, my weekends are now packed with travels and activities that I no longer get to do during the week. This weekend, I’m going on a hike! Hopefully I’ll have enough energy for it.

Here goes to making the most out of being abroad!

1 Comment | KyungSun in Scotland, Spring 2015 | Tagged: Internship, Politics, Scotland | Permalink
Posted by Klee

Fabiana in China: Adventures in Harbin

February 24, 2015

Fireworks woke me up. I was on a train heading to Harbin, China on the night of Chinese New Year. 干杯 (“cheers”) and laughter could be heard on the light-less hallway, and as I closed my eyes to go back to sleep, I thought about how lucky I was to be in China for one its most important holidays.

The city of Harbin left me amazed of how China’s panorama can change so abruptly depending of where you are. I had traveled to other cities in China before, but this was the first time I was traveling this north. As I walked through the Harbin streets, I felt like I was in Eastern Europe; the combination of Chinese and European architecture styles puzzled, but charmed me. I had a Chinese monastery on my right and a Russian Orthodox church, Saint Sophia Cathedral, on my left. It was simply breathtaking!

Saint Sophia Cathedral

Zhongyang Pedestrian Street, one of the main streets in Harbin, was overcrowded with Chinese people taking photos with the different ice sculptures, buying Russian goods, and eating street food delicacies. It was a spectacle! Although I am pretty sure we were all freezing (I personally couldn’t feel my toes), everyone seemed to enjoy the music played on the streets and the happiness of beginning a new year in such a magical city like this.

Zhongyang pedestrian street ice sculptures

Over the course of 2 nights and 3 days, we got to visit the Harbin Ice and Amusement World, Zhaolin Park (home to the largest collection of lit-up ice sculptures), the Siberian Tiger Park, the Temple of Bliss, and Harbin’s famous Russian district.

As I try to decide what was the part I enjoyed the most of this whole experience, I think about conversations I had with Chinese locals as they tried to figure out the year I was born to match me up with their sons; I think about holding a Siberian baby tiger and hoping his teeth wouldn’t be that sharp, or witnessing the very traumatizing extermination of a chicken by his dad. I dream of that amazing Russian lunch and chocolate for dessert; and how could I forget crossing that 3 kilometer frozen river from a Harbin island to the mainland; and of course the joy of being hypnotized with the sculpture lights! AAGH! Every moment had its own excitement.

Siberian baby tiger

White tiger eating steak

Pay to feed the tigers

Russian district

Harbin Ice and Amusement World

Now, I think back and reflect on the things I have learnt through this adventure. The most important thing I got from it was due to a conversation we had with our Chinese roommate in the youth hostel we stayed in. We were trying to save some pocket money, so my two friends and I decided to get a room for four and have someone else stay with us. She was from the southern part of China and had come to Harbin to fulfill the “Chinese travel dream.” She explained this dream as being able to go to the “most” northern, southern, eastern, and western parts of China. She was staying the night in Harbin and traveling towards the north the next morning.

This “dream” amazed me, really. It made reconsider the type of traveling I have been doing for some years now. I acknowledge I have travelled very little inside my own country, and instead had always tried to go outside of it. I now feel a great desire to go back and really get to discover it. I mean, now that I think about it more carefully, we tend to underestimate the importance of knowing ourselves first. And this, could go multiple ways.

I am grateful for meeting such interesting people and the great stories that accompany them. Now, as I sit back and realize this is my last day of vacation, I mentally prepare myself for my the second and last round. I can’t believe I am halfway through the semester!

Happy Year of the Sheep/Goat!

Comments Off on Fabiana in China: Adventures in Harbin | Fabiana in China, Spring 2015 | Tagged: Adventure, China, Sightseeing, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Fabiana in China

Jackie in Switzerland: French, Flaubert and Fondue

February 23, 2015

What kind of blogger would I be if I didn’t start each post with food? This week, I had the most Swiss-centered food experience that I might have actually gained 5 pounds in a single day. After braving the snow to check out a local farmers’ market, my friends and I stopped into a well-known little café for some hot chocolate. What we got served to us was essentially a cross between a drink and pudding. I have never seen a hot chocolate so thick that you need a spoon to eat it. I have also never tasted anything so delicious.

Braving the blizzard

Pretty even in the snow

The Greatest of All Time

Later on in the day, my apartment mate offered to make us some authentic Swiss fondue; he is from the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Honestly, I thought fondue was only melted cheese, but there is a lot more to it. In the end, it was one of the best things I’ve had here in Lausanne, who wouldn’t love bread dunked in cheese?

I ate my weight in fondue, like a real Swiss

Moving away from my food obsession, let’s talk about classes. Here in Lausanne, the class system works a little bit differently. For the first four weeks, students can go try out classes without pre-registering. This way, you can see what you like, and what you don’t, before committing to anything. I think this is a really good idea, but it is STRESSFUL. My parents can attest to that- I have called them everyday in a state of minor panic. Taking classes with students who speak only French, with professors who speak perfect French, and in subjects that revolve around French literature can be very intimidating, all while trying to figure out what will transfer back to Richmond. But as of now, I am beginning to figure things out with the help of some awesome professors here!

Better start reading!

Right now, I am following nine classes, which seems like a lot, but they all require less work than in a typical Richmond course. It is definitely harder to keep all of these courses in order, but the subjects are really cool. I am taking a course about the French author Flaubert, and at the end of the semester, I have to give a 45-minute presentation in French. Again, really really intimidating.

That being said, I am incredibly happy to report that I can understand French! I was getting seriously worried that I wouldn’t be able to understand a single word that my professors said. But it turns out, I can understand almost every word. The language isn’t really a struggle, even in taking classes about more technical literary and historical subjects.

Finally, at the end of a long week full of French, Flaubert, and Fondue, it was necessary to unwind a little bit with my friends! As a proud Pittsburgher, hockey has been one of the things I have missed the most Luckily, I found a bunch of hockey-crazy Canadians who feel the same way. We went to see the local Lausanne Hockey Club play one of their last games of the season and it was wild! The fans were so into it, and the atmosphere was incredible. We needed up winning 3-2 in a shootout, which was the perfect way to end a full week of class and to start another amazing weekend in Lausanne.

Me and my fellow hockey-lovers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG4ljRszGpQ

Comments Off on Jackie in Switzerland: French, Flaubert and Fondue | Jackie in Switzerland, Spring 2015 | Tagged: Academics, Food, Friends, Host University, Sports, Switzerland | Permalink
Posted by jackieinswitzerland

Becca in Hungary: A Weekend Fairytale

February 19, 2015

Once upon time, in a far away land lived a woman by the name of Rebecca. She spent her days slaving away on programming apps for Iphones and solving mystical mathematics problems for her combinatoric class. While lost in a world of new words, and people, she met a messenger who spoke of a glamorous ball scheduled to occur in Vienna. But Miss Rebecca was just a simple peasant girl; how could she afford such an activity? Well, in the dark of the night Rebecca was spooked by the arrival of her fairy godmother, Barbara. Cheerfully Barbara announces, “What are you waiting for? You have a ball to attend, a dress to try on, and a carriage waiting for your arrival.” Rebecca was shocked and before she knew it she was swaying to the music of Strauss and Mozart.

Okay okay so maybe I am being sightly over-dramatic about my so called fairytale weekend, but most of the story is actually true. Though I never saw a messenger roaming the streets sharing the word about the future ball, I did find the ball’s website after a comprehensive Google search of unique things do in Vienna. And unfortunately, I do not have a fairy godmother that gifted me with tickets to the ball, but rather my parents purchased tickets as a birthday present for me. But I did in fact travel to Vienna this past weekend and attend a proper Viennese ball. During the month of February Vienna is known for sponsoring hundreds of balls for various organizations. The ball I attended was called the BonBon Ball and was sponsored by Manner confectionary and various other Austrian candy companies. Essentially the premiss of the ball was to look and dance classy while also enjoying the pleasure of hundreds of free samples of various confectionary treats (so basically my heaven).

The ball was on Friday, so right after school fellow University of Richmond student, Jackson, and I boarded a train to Vienna and within an hour and half arrived to our destination. We met many road blocks before getting to the ball, but we finally made it to our hotel and began to get ready for the ball. Embarrassing enough, we didn’t have time to get dinner, so before our classy ball we had to swing over to McDonalds to gain some energy for a night of dancing. When we arrived at the ball the first thing I noticed was CHOCOLATE!! There was SO MUCH chocolate! After noticing all the chocolate though, I began to notice all the people between me and that chocolate and soon realized this place was packed!! So Jackson and I slowly made our way to our seating in the upstairs parlor.

Making our way up to our table.

Soon we heard the music planning, and we quickly got out on the dance floor. I am proud to say that Jackson and I were the first ones dancing. Before coming to the ball we learned a basic waltz, and that was the ONLY dance experience we had. The rest of the crowd there must have been taking lessons for years because they were amazing! Though it is fair to say we were by far the worst dancers in the room, we definitely were having the most fun! With all that dancing though I quickly realized that this is NOT the event to bring out your highest heels. Within the first couple songs my feet were throbbing with pain, but the excitement and adrenaline is what keep me on the dance floor.

Wishing I could switch shoes right about now!

The event was split into three ballrooms. The smallest (which also happened to be my favorite) was a Frank Sinatra/ Jazz themed room.

They also had a caribbean themed room which mainly had people tangoing.

In the caribbean themed room.

The last dance floor they had was the main ballroom floor. This is where all the main activities were, but the dance floor was also crazy busy. Each hour they would release huge balloons from the ceiling onto the main ballroom. If you caught the balloon then you would try to pop the balloon open in hopes of finding a prize.

Looking down onto the main dance floor from a balcony.

Overall, going to the ball was absolutely amazing, and I could not think of a better way to celebrate my 21st birthday. I would like to thank Jackson for being the best escort a girl could ask for and for helping me feel like a true princess. I would also like to thank my parents for the best birthday gift ever!

Feeling like a princess 🙂

Enjoying all the free candy!

All the candy we were able to take from the ball.

Comments Off on Becca in Hungary: A Weekend Fairytale | Becca in Hungary, Spring 2015 | Tagged: Austria, Food, Friends | Permalink
Posted by Becca F

Fabiana in China: Chinese New Year for Beginners

February 19, 2015

Red lanterns, golden dragons and white goats.

YES! Spring is finally here! The arrival of the Chinese New Year (or modernly called as the Spring Festival) can be seen, smelled, and touched everywhere you go. For a foreigner like me however, the countdown to a holiday like this has meant smiles, less traffic and clear skies. What not to love about it!?

While trying to find out more about the holiday, I found a short&sweet video I’d like to share with all of you. The video explains what the most common Chinese New Year traditions are and things History.com “bets you didn’t know” about the holiday. Deep stuff.

http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/chinese-new-year/videos/bet-you-didnt-know-chinese-new-year

As part of this week’s language activity, our professors organized a dumpling-making（饺子） evening. We gathered in the immersion guys’ apartment and were taught how to wrap （包）pork and onion leaves dumplings (猪肉大葱饺子)，and chives and eggs dumplings (韭菜鸡蛋饺子). Although I did most of the taking-pictures part and not much of the actual making of it, we all learned about the different techniques used and traditions held behind the dumpling-making. We definitely enjoyed our time with the whole Immersion-track family.

The most interesting thing I learned that day was the reason why northern Chinese people eat the dumplings on New Year’s Eve. According to my professors, the tradition of eating dumplings occurs because the word dumpling or jiaozi (饺子) in Chinese, sounds like a Chinese word meaning “bidding farewell to the old and ushering the new” (credits to travelchinaguide.com for the translation). I can’t think of a better adjective than superstitious when I think about Chinese people and customs, but then again who am I to judge after freaking-out every time someone tries to hand me the salt.

Next week, we’ll be having a break from 5am coffee and endless character-writing for our one-week Spring Break vacation. As a treat to our hard work, today, two friends and I decided we wanted to travel. YOLO right?

With the luck we have, we managed to get train tickets to Harbin, China, or may I say, the “Ice and Amusement World.” So yes, I’ll be freezing to death in one of the most beautiful cities in China, most know for its ice sculpture festival, Siberian tigers, and Russian landmarks. 10 hours in a hard-seat train during the famous “spring travel rush,” OH! am I going to breath in Chinese culture. I can’t wait!

Comments Off on Fabiana in China: Chinese New Year for Beginners | Fabiana in China, Spring 2015 | Tagged: China, Culture, Food, Friends, History, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Fabiana in China

Fabiana in China: I Was The Donkey

Jackie in Switzerland: Looking for Audrey and Finding the Sheep

Becca in Hungary: Tour of AIT’s Campus

Becca In Hungary: Connections!

Fabiana in China: Chinese Interrupts My Sleep

KyungSun in Scotland: Hello, Intern

Fabiana in China: Adventures in Harbin

Jackie in Switzerland: French, Flaubert and Fondue

Becca in Hungary: A Weekend Fairytale

Fabiana in China: Chinese New Year for Beginners

Blogs by Semester

Tags

Like us on Facebook

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Blogs by Semester

Tags