Austen in Ireland: France for Spring Break

March 21, 2014

So here at UCD we get two whole weeks off for spring break (or mid-term as they call it)!  We got off the weeks of March 10 and 17.  So, the first week I traveled to see my parents in southern France, as they are renting an apartment for two months in the city of Aix-en-Provence.

On Friday, I flew from Dublin to Carcassonne (a town in central France) to meet my parents and we drove three hours to visit the city of Marseille.  Here, we walked around the port and saw some beautiful areas of the city, but our main reason being there was to see my first European soccer match, Marseille vs. Nice.  Marseille’s stadium was stunning with a capacity of around 60,000.  It was probably the largest stadium I have been in.  The match was an intense one but Marseille ended up losing 1-0 to a Nice free kick in the second half.  After a long day of traveling, I got back to my parents’ apartment around midnight.

Stade Velodrome

First European soccer match! Stade Velodrome, Marseille’s stadium

On Saturday, we explored the city where my parents are staying, Aix-en-Provence.  I had been there a couple of times, but it was neat to be there as a “local” instead of a tourist and going back to an apartment instead of a hotel.  We explored the many squares and an enormous market that was going on throughout the day.  We also walked down the Cours Mirabeau, the large street in the middle of the city lined by trees.  Another noteworthy site was the gardens in the Pavillon Vendome.  For dinner, we had great Vietnamese food.

Cours Mirabeau

Cours Mirabeau, Aix-en-Provence’s tree-lined promenade

We went to the Musee Granet, the main museum in the city, on Sunday.  It had paintings by famous painters such as Cezanne and Picasso.  It had a variety of historical objects too, from art to sculptures.  The museum is in a beautiful historic building.  We ended up visiting a different building across the city that is also associated with this museum that had even more pieces of art and a great deal of Picasso paintings.

On Monday, we went to Nice, a large city right on the Mediterranean Sea.  It is an absolutely beautiful city with breathtaking views.  We walked around in the historic part of Nice (Vieux Nice) and had a great lunch in a square overlooking a church.  After lunch, we walked up to a park above the city that had amazing views of the port of Nice, sea, and historic Nice.  It was great to be able to see the whole city.  After this, we walked along the sea and the famous Promenade des Anglais before going to the Cours Saleya (a humongous market with many things from food to paintings).  We left Nice and got back to Aix-en-Provence around dinnertime.  At that time, we went to get some falafel, as falafel is one of my favorite foods!  It was a great falafel sandwich.

Nice port

The beautiful port of the city of Nice

Tuesday, we stayed in Aix-en-Provence and explored some other attractions.  In the morning, we visited the Atelier Cezanne, the gallery where painter Paul Cezzane painted many of his paintings.  It was amazing seeing how similar this gallery looked to how it was when Cezanne was alive.  The old building must require a fair amount of maintenance.  After this, we had a great picnic lunch in the garden near his gallery, where Cezanne painted some of his famous paintings of Mount St. Victoire.  It was surreal being able to enjoy a traditional French picnic of a baguette and goat cheese while being able to take the serene landscape and the same mountains that Cezanne painted.  After this, we had a relaxing afternoon and had a Turkish dinner; I had lamb.

We traveled to other cities and towns in Provence (a region of southern France) on Wednesday.  First, we saw the hospital where Vincent Van Gogh spent some of his later years when he was experiencing emotional and mental duress.  After this, we went to the town of Saint Remy de Provence.  It is a classical French town with beautiful buildings, squares, and fountains all around the older part of the town.  There was a large market going on, where I had a fantastic sausage sandwich.  I also learned of a great drink known as a “Tango,” which is beer with grenadine syrup, quite a refreshing and delicious beverage.  After Saint Remy, we traveled to the larger city of Arles.  Arles is a very Roman city with a famous Arena and Antique Theater.  There were so many police officers around and we soon found out why; there was some sort of protest by farmers on a major street in Arles.  There were no less than 300 sheep in the streets!  After seeing this, it become a challenge getting around the streets of Arles, as the cops had many streets blocked off because of the protest going on.  Thankfully we got out of the city without encountering too much traffic and got back to Aix en Provence around dinnertime.  I had an amazing pizza (French pizzas are so tasty) with chorizo.

Thursday was my last full day in France.  We traveled to Cassis, a town on the Mediterranean that gets jammed with tourists in the summer, but was quite peaceful the day we went.  It was a beautiful town with a port and breathtaking scenery all around.  We went on a boat tour of the calanques (inlets near Cassis with amazing rocky structures; they are steep-sided valleys).  These were great to see and the boat tour went all the way into the outlets for us to see the beauty of these rocky structures.  After this, we walked around the port and headed back to my parent’s apartment.  For my last meal, I had a crepe dinner, which was a crepe with beef, crème fraiche, and onions, which was really delicious, as well as a dessert crepe which had apple and sugar.  We walked around the city of Aix en Provence for our last night to admire the beauty one last time.

Calanques

A calanque, an inlet with towering rocky cliffs

Friday, I left to go back to Dublin and got back around 3:00 pm to meet up with my friends who were visiting from Edinburgh.  The next blog post will cover the fun St. Patrick’s Day Weekend!

Overall, it was a great week seeing my parents after not being able to see them for two months.  The awesome weather of highs in the mid 60s (I wore short sleeves every day) combined with the destinations that we visited and tasty food that I was able to eat contributed to one of the best weeks of my study abroad semester yet.

Leave a Comment » | Austen in Ireland, Spring 2014 | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by austeninireland

Austen in Ireland: Amsterdam

March 6, 2014

This past weekend I went to Amsterdam!  It was one of the best weekends so far.  I left Thursday afternoon taking Aer Lingus and arriving into Schiphol, the main airport in Amsterdam.  I met my Richmond friends studying in Edinburgh at the airport and we took a train to the central station downtown.  Our hotel, the Crowne Plaza was a really short walk from the train station.  Once we arrived, we mentioned to the person checking us in that we planned on going to the Anne Frank House (where she lived a part of her life).  Luckily, he recommended that we go late during the day and since it was around 5, we headed out there (this was a good decision because there was no line!).  It was a pretty small attraction but it was a really interesting historical site to see.  We then had dinner, where I tried bitterballen (a Dutch snack that is fried dough with meat inside) and then walked around afterwards, looking at the many scenic canals as well as the infamous Red Light District.

On Friday, we saw so many pieces of art.  First, we went to the Rijksmuseum, a humongous art museum (and the most popular in the Netherlands) dedicated to many different types of art.  The collection of the museum includes more than 2,000 paintings from the Dutch Golden Age from famous painters such as Rembrandt (The Night Watch is a famous painting at the museum) and Johannes Vermeer.  Afterwards, we went to the Van Gogh Museum, right across a beautiful green from the Rijksmuseum.  The Van Gogh Museum contained a variety of his paintings, such as The Yellow House, Bedroom in Arles, and Almond Blossoms.  Both of these museums are great and highly recommended for anyone even remotely interested in art.  The rest of the day was spent exploring more of Amsterdam and admiring its most unique sights, the canals.  That night, we went out to a square and enjoyed the atmosphere of night-time Amsterdam.

Rijksmuseum

An Amsterdam sign with Rijksmuseum behind it

square

Leidseplin: a popular square during the daytime and nighttime

The next day, we decided to rent bikes.  This was such a great idea because Amsterdam is probably the most bike-friendly city in the world and everyone uses them.  There are basically bike paths alongside every street.  We decided to discover the whole Amsterdam area.  At first, we went up near the zoo area on the northeast side of the city, and went through some parks as well.  We then went south towards the museum district area.  We had a great lunch (my goat cheese sandwich was awesome) and then went through the old town area, where canals dominate the landscape.  After this, we went up to the northwest area called Jordaan, which was very scenic.  Also, we biked up to the riverfront north of the city near the train station on the Amstel River, another very scenic body of water.  After going through some more parks and squares, we finally returned our bikes after a tough five hours of biking.  We decided to then get souvenirs and rest in the hotel room after our long day (it was really nice having a much more comfortable bed than at UCD).  We decided to go out for dinner with really no idea of what we wanted so naturally we got Mexican food while in Amsterdam.  The fajitas were surprisingly tasty.  For this last night, we just decided to walk around the city again and experience the great atmosphere of Amsterdam one last time.

bikes Amsterdam

These canals are an iconic sight in Amsterdam

Sunday, we woke up early to get catch our planes back to our host countries.  I had a pretty uneventful plane ride and arrived in Dublin around 1:30 in the afternoon.  I already miss Amsterdam because it was such a beautiful city but I look forward to future trips to other great European cities!

Leave a Comment » | Austen in Ireland, Spring 2014 | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by austeninireland

Kim in Mongolia: Pre-Mongolia Introductions

February 28, 2014

Hello Everyone! My name is Kim, and I’m currently a junior at the University of Richmond. I’m an Interdisciplinary Studies major, which means that I’ve created my own major to suit my exact interests. My major is Education & Development, and it’s a mixture of classes in history, political science, education, and international studies.

As a brief introduction to my background, I was born in Japan, and moved to the U.S. with my parents when I was 4. We lived briefly in Falls Church, Virginia, but I grew up in Maine until I left for Richmond. However, I spent many childhood summers in Japan going to school and living with family, so I definitely consider myself to be a Japanese-American. I’m actually in Japan right now, and am visiting family in Hiroshima before my program in Mongolia begins.

P1010357

The view I see every morning from Hiroshima

Another pretty important factor about my background is that I received a scholarship to study abroad in Germany for a year in high school. Combined with my last semester abroad in Uganda, Mongolia will be the third time that I’ve studied abroad. As with any combination of experiences, I think that they will always be inevitably connected in my mind. I will keep this blog focused on Mongolia, but I can’t promise not to occasionally mention interesting connections!

You might be wondering why I’m blogging so late, especially compared to Austen. While it’s true that most spring programs begin in mid-January, the official start date of my program is February 24th. The best (and only) explanation I’ve heard is that the program doesn’t think that the students can handle the Mongolian weather before this date. Apparently the average temperature there now is around -30 degrees Fahrenheit. We’ll see if this is true, although I’m naively hoping that it’s not!

The program I choose to study abroad with is administered by the School for International Training (SIT). If you’ve read Mel and Blair’s blogs, you’ll remember that their programs in Ecuador and Chile were also from SIT. The set-up of the programs is similar: some classes at the local university, urban/rural host families, and a 4-week Independent Study Project at the end. It’s incredible to have a structure that allows for independent, hands-on learning. I thoroughly enjoyed this set-up in Uganda, and I am eager to try this again in Mongolia.

However, the journey to specifically choosing Mongolia was harder than I originally thought. My time in Uganda was unbelievably challenging in so many ways that I couldn’t imagine not having another experience that forced me to question my beliefs daily. All throughout my sophomore year, I was 100% convinced that I wanted to spend half a year in Africa, and the other half in Asia. But when it came down to choosing a program, I found it difficult to settle on one. I was worried that by being in northeast Asia, I wouldn’t be as challenged as I was in Uganda.

In the end, I had to revisit my main goal for studying abroad. I wanted to go to a place where I wouldn’t get half the same experience exploring on my own. Mongolia is an incredible place that is rapidly changing, and I wanted to get a taste of it before it was too late. There are many components to this program that will give me experiences that I couldn’t get on my own. I’m most excited to have the chance to live with Mongolian nomads for 2 weeks! Opportunities like this allowed me to confidently settle on this program.

I’m so excited to explore a new side of Asia, and to share it with you through this blog. This time next week, I’ll be settled in Mongolia! Thank you for taking the time to read this, and please look forward to my first post from Mongolia!

Leave a Comment » | Kimberlee in Mongolia, Spring 2014 | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by kimberleeinmongolia

Austen in Ireland: Weekends in Galway and Edinburgh

February 17, 2014

So the past two weekends I went on two different trips: one to Galway, Ireland with the International Student Society at UCD and the other to Edinburgh, Scotland to see friends from UR studying abroad at the University of Edinburgh.

My trip to Galway started early on a Friday morning with a bus ride heading to the west coast of Ireland, where Galway is.  Our first stop on Friday was Clonmacnoise, a famous monastery on the way to Galway.  It was in a beautiful setting on the water.  We then arrived in Galway late afternoon and took a walking tour of the city.  The city is great and looked like a more cultural and less tourist-y version of Dublin.  It also has a great amount of history as explained by our awesome tour guide.  For dinner, some of us from the group had dinner at a very Irish place, where most of us had fish and chips.  It was delicious!  We then went on a pub crawl, where we went to four pubs and one nightclub.  There were some great pubs.  On Saturday, the amount of flooding caused a detour from our planned sites so we went to a small Irish town, which was nice but didn’t have much to see.  We then got back to Galway, where we went out to dinner on Saturday at an American diner and got American food- my first American food in Ireland!  On Sunday, we went to the Cliffs of Moher, probably my favorite place that I have been to so far this semester.  The cliffs were absolutely breathtaking and definitely a must-see when in Ireland.  Our next stop was the city of Limerick, which was quite nice with a river in the middle- similar to Dublin- and had a lot to see.  I definitely could have spent a lot more time than our hour allotted.  We then went to Moneygall, a small town where President Obama’s ancestors are from.  The town is all decked out with Obama memorabilia (there’s even an Obama café) and we went to the pub where Obama had a pint when he visited (which had even more Obama items on the walls).  I was exhausted when we got back on Sunday night but I still went to downtown Dublin to see the Super Bowl that night with a couple friends.

Cliffs of Moher

Cliffs of Moher

The trip to Edinburgh was even more memorable.  I left early Friday morning to catch my 12:30 Ryanair flight from Dublin to Edinburgh.  It was probably the shortest flight I’ve ever been since we were in the air for only 45 minutes.  Luckily my Ryanair experience was pretty unforgettable.  Once I arrived in Edinburgh, I met up with my friends studying abroad there (I know 4 UR students there).  We immediately climbed up a hill to catch views of Edinburgh.  I realized Edinburgh is very different from Dublin because Edinburgh is much more hilly compared to the flat Dublin and Edinburgh was much more a historic city.  I got a mini tour of the campus of the University of Edinburgh and was especially amazed by their eight floor library.  For dinner, I had some haggis (a Scottish specialty) as well as Irn Bru (a famous Scottish soft drink).  Both items were so great; I wish Ireland had these.  We went to a pub near the University popular with students, which had a live band with pretty good music.  On Saturday, we went to Edinburgh Castle (where there were some sieges during the Wars of Scottish Independence), which was beautiful and had some great history museums, where I learned quite a lot about the history of Scotland.

 

Edinburgh Street

A street in historic Edinburgh

We then went to the Holyrood Palace, which is where the Kings and Queens of Scots have lived since the 16th century.  For dinner that night, I had fish and chips with the Scottish rugby game on the TV in the restaurant, so a very Scottish night to say the least.  Sunday, I climbed up Arthur’s Seat (a hill with excellent views of the city) with my Richmond friend and his Scottish roommate.  They are experienced climbers so they wanted to go up the more difficult route where, given my lack of fitness, I almost fell down the cliff about four times.  I made it up somehow though and the winds were some of the strongest I’ve ever experienced, but the views were so worth it.  Going down was easier but it was so muddy and I didn’t have boots, so with my clumsiness, I fell not once, but twice right in the mud so my clothes got really muddy.  Our last stop of Sunday was at the National Museum of Scotland, which was a magnificent building; that had collections on pretty much everything, including animals, clothing, cars, and almost anything related to Scotland.  We only had about an hour because it closed pretty early but I could have definitely spent a whole day there.  Monday morning, waking up at 5:00, I caught my 8:00 am flight with an hour delay (I had a window seat without a window) and got back to Dublin in one piece.

Richmond Edinburgh

Richmond takes over Edinburgh

I look forward to what my future travels have in store for me!

Leave a Comment » | Austen in Ireland, Spring 2014 | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by austeninireland

Austen in Ireland: Orientation Week

January 27, 2014

So I’ve been here a week now and gone through orientation but it feels like I’ve been here so much longer with all that I’ve done!  Classes start tomorrow.

On Monday, I arrived in Dublin and took a bus to the UCD campus (luckily there were other study abroad students with me on the flight so I wasn’t completely lost).  I then checked in and unpacked all my stuff (two suitcases worth) for basically the rest of the day.  I also took a walking tour of campus to help me get adjusted to the campus, it’s a lot different from the brick buildings of Richmond because most of UCD’s buildings are concrete.  I then feel asleep at about 8 from the jetlag and slept for 12 hours!

On Tuesday, I went to IKEA (my first experience in an IKEA- it was possibly the biggest store I’ve ever been in) and purchased a bunch of things for my bathroom, bed, and kitchen.  I then went out into Dublin for the first time with some other students to eat dinner and go to a pub.  We went to a burger place and then went to a pub, where I knew I had to order a pint of Guinness, which was actually better than Guinness in the USA.  It was nice being able to see Grafton Street, the main pedestrian-only street with many shops in downtown Dublin.

Grafton Street

Top of Grafton street, a pedestrian-only street with mostly shops

On Wednesday, the actual orientation events began and they had an international student welcome.  It was in their biggest lecture hall of over 500 students so it was pretty intimidating compared to our small Richmond classrooms!  There then was an international student fair where they had some organizations with tables displaying their services to international students.  There was, for example, the career development centre as well as the library.  Also, there were the two main organizations that coordinate events and trips for internationals, the International Students’ Society (ISS) and Erasmus Student Network (ESN), which I joined for two euros each.  Both of these have trips and other events throughout the semester; I am hoping to go to Galway with ISS in a couple of weeks!

On Thursday, there were more orientation events.  There was one talk in the morning that was catered to study abroad students and laid out some tips about living on campus, safety, and how to register with immigration.  Then, in the afternoon there was an academic advisory for arts students (I’m technically an arts student).  This was centered more around academics and adding/dropping classes.  There was an Irish professor and he cracked joke after joke!  He went on about how they don’t allow guns on campus like in America or iPhones in class.  His jokes were sometimes borderline offensive but hilarious!  I then went to the on-campus pub after dinner, which was pretty nice and modern for an on-campus place.

Friday was finally a relatively down day for me.  I went to throw the Frisbee around with a friend for a little in the afternoon.  At night, the Erasmus Student Network held a pub crawl, so I decided to take that.  There were over 200 students on it, so we had a large group but we were divided into three groups.  We went to four pubs over the course of the night and it was really fun.  Some pubs were better than others but I would definitely return to a couple of them.

Temple Bar

Temple Bar is a world famous!

On Saturday, they held a “Discover Dublin” day trip so I decided to go on that.  In the morning, we went to the Guinness storehouse, a must-see when in Dublin.  It went over the process of brewing Guinness, which was really interesting.  There was a room at the top of the building at the 7th floor which had a 360 degree view of the city which was awesome to look at!  I had  delicious Guinness stew for lunch which and then we went to the “Guinness academy” where we learned how to pour Guinness, learning it is a two pour process.  We got certificates after we learned how to “pour the perfect pint of Guinness.”  For the second part of our day, we went to Croke Park, the fourth largest stadium in the world with over an 80,000 person capacity.  The all-Irish games are held here where all the counties of Ireland fight for the trophy in the sports of Gaelic football and hurling.  It was really neat learning about these two sports because I’ve never seen them before.

Croke Park

Croke Park: home of gaelic football and hurling; all Ireland games

For Sunday, I went on a Dublin walking tour of the city.  We saw St. Stephen’s Green, Trinity College, and many other sights in the city.  It was nice to finally be able to get my bearings somewhat.  I then finally got an Irish phone so I can now communicate with other students at UCD.

I’m looking forward to classes in one way but in another way I wish I could just discover Dublin, Ireland, and Europe for the next four months!

1 Comment | Austen in Ireland, Spring 2014 | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by austeninireland

Austen in Ireland: Packing for the Voyage

January 20, 2014

So, I have started packing and I leave in a couple of days for Ireland!  I’ve realized just how challenging it is to pack four months worth of stuff into two suitcases.  It has been tough to figure out how much of what types of clothing and toiletries I need to bring but I think I’m in good shape (even the outlet plugs are different in Ireland).  The weather in Dublin will be cold for the majority of the semester and definitely a lot colder than Richmond weather so I brought a lot of jackets and heavier clothes.

Packing

Getting ready for the trip. Just have one more suitcase to pack!

As I look ahead to the trip I am looking forward with excitement to learn about a new culture and to see new places.  I am getting there a week before classes start so I can get used to the layout of the campus of UCD and Dublin.  But I am also very anxious because I am living in a new place by myself while also cooking some of my own meals.  On the plus side, I get my own bedroom and bathroom, something I did not have at UR!  I have never been this many months away from my parents, so it should be interesting.  I’m sure that it will be one of the best experiences of my lifetime, as I had one of the greatest times in France studying abroad this past summer.  I am used to traveling so I’m not too worried about the airplane ride and getting to UCD and I don’t really get homesick too easily so I should be fine.

During my time in Ireland, I am planning on traveling throughout the countryside, Cork and possibly Northern Ireland as well.  I will definitely also visit Edinburgh, Scotland because I know a few students from UR studying abroad there.   A plan for a Euro trip after the end of the semester is also in the works because I really want to take advantage of being in Europe and seeing some of the greatest cities in the world!

1 Comment | Austen in Ireland, Spring 2014 | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by austeninireland

Austen in Ireland: Introductions

January 17, 2014

Hello all

My name is Austen and I am departing for Europe within a week!  I am from Richmond, Virginia, although I was born in New York.  At the University of Richmond, I am double majoring in psychology and cognitive science as well as minoring in economics.  I chose to study abroad at University College Dublin (UCD), the biggest university in Ireland, just outside of the city of Dublin.  I have heard some of the greatest things about the unique culture of Ireland and just how friendly the Irish are (they also supposedly have great humor)!  Also, I have never been to Ireland and I really wanted to explore a new place as I have been to continental Europe multiple times because my parents love traveling as much as I do.

One thing that appealed to me about UCD specifically is that it is the largest university in Ireland with over 24,000 students, which is interesting to experience after going to such a small school in Richmond.  It has a very large percentage of international students with 20% of the school population being international.  It is also ranked in the top 100 universities in the world.

UCD Dublin school crest (1)

UCD Dublin school crest

One of my main goals is to really assimilate myself in the Irish culture through my study abroad adventure.  For my living situation, I will be the only American with five Irish students in my apartment so that is a start!  I really wanted to go to an exchange university where I would be with students of the host nation.  For this reason, I chose to travel to an English-speaking nation to allow me to bond with others much easier.  I studied abroad in France during the summer but it was tough to make friends with the French (probably because of my horrible accent) so I made friends with mostly Americans.

Another goal is to see how different the learning environment is outside of Richmond.  Since it is a much larger university, there will most likely be larger classes but possibly more resources as well.  It will be interesting to see how different academics will be at UCD compared to Richmond.  There are generally fewer assignments which count for a larger part of the grade and finals week will certainly be a very chaotic time since some finals can account for more than 50% of your grade!

I really want to see the countryside of Ireland, which is supposedly beautiful, such as the Cliffs of Moher.  I also want to see a lot of Europe, like Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, and Rome to name a few cities!

I have learned the importance of being able to appreciate cultures and places from my parents and I really hope that this semester will teach me even more about a different culture, much like my experience in France over the summer did (a reason for studying abroad again).  I also hope to take an Irish language course and an Irish culture (Irish studies) course, which will help me learn even more about Ireland.

I am nervous and anxious in a way to be leaving all my friends and to make a whole new group of friends but I really like that I am the only one from UR so I can make a complete new friend group and immerse myself in the new culture.  It will be fun to live in an apartment with people I don’t know and will definitely require cooperation and teamwork!  I’m also so excited to start a new adventure in my life.

UCD Lake (1)

UCD even has a lake in the middle of campus like Richmond!

1 Comment | Austen in Ireland | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by austeninireland

Mel in Chile: Is it really over?

December 19, 2013

Is study abroad really over? Well I didn’t have time to ponder on this question for too long. I left Santiago early on a Saturday morning. About a month ago my parents bought me tickets to visit my family in Europe. You cannot imagine my excitement!

So the reason I didn’t have much time to be melancholy about leaving my beloved Santiago was because in five days I was going to board a plane to London to visit my family! What’s more, two weeks after that I would board another plane to Albania to see the rest of my family. You can imagine on our goodbye dinner my emotions were a bit confused. I was extremely sad to leave my life in Santiago behind. On the other hand, I was absolutely ecstatic to see my family. Now that I have arrived in England, and am sitting in this lovely café in Reading, I feel I finally realize that yes it really is over. I will go back to Richmond on January 11th, not Santiago. To be completely honest, I am looking forward to going back to Richmond more than I can express in words. I think after working abroad in the summer in the Dominican Republic, and later studying abroad in Chile, I am looking forward to going back to a familiar and comfortable setting.

I am also a bit anxious. Even though I am coming back to a “familiar place” I wonder if it will be hard to adjust, if I will miss life abroad. When I get back I will dive into a full course load of core business classes. Registration was not too kind to me this semester. I have 8 am classes Mon/Wed/Fri and 9 am classes Tues/Thurs. I sometimes get worried I will be overwhelmed. When I think of all of this I seriously criticize myself for denying myself the opportunity to study abroad another semester in Santiago. It is at this precise moment that I realize why I initially decided to come back to UR.

I came back for the academics, for the resources we have (career center, center for civic engagement, common ground, free tutoring), to have access to professors and other mentors I have at the University, to spend more time with my friends. Most importantly I came back because I am excited to look for the ways I can become more involved in the Richmond community at this point in my academic career. Studying abroad helped me understand who I am and what I care for. I am looking forward to re-entering the Richmond community (both UR and the city of Richmond) as someone a bit different than when I left.

IMG_1743

I will finish this blog the same way I started it. This is a picture of Santiago as seen from the top of Cerro San Cristobal

Leave a Comment » | Fall 2013, Mel in Chile | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by melinchile

Mel in Chile: Everything you want is right outside your comfort zone.

December 15, 2013

This is the post we have all been waiting for!!! THE END OF STUDY ABROAD YAYYY! That is in fact true. Some days ago I finished my study abroad semester with an SIT program in Santiago, Chile. I imagine the following text will be suspiciously similar to other testimonies of study abroadlings but I’ll do my best to make it a bit different. I will be honest.

In my last entry I talked about how the topic I chose for my independent study project was outside of what I have chose to study at UR. I was a bit nervous about writing so much on something incredibly new but I thought, “ Well this is one of the best opportunities I will have. The grades don’t count as long as I don’t completely blow it. Might as well!” The project was one of the most enjoyable activities I have overtaken. It was refreshing to read things outside of what I am usually exposed to but I was also lucky because I had the opportunity to link traveling for my personal pleasure to my research. It was sort of a multitasking situation.

It was only when I came home that I saw an article circulating around the Facebook community addressing college students who study abroad. It was an article from The Onion hinting, through their infamous satire, the message that study abroad was an excuse to party in Europe or meet cute Latinos in South America. Even more off putting than the article were the responses from fellow study abroaders affirming the overall message of the article! Now I will not make myself the “responsible” student who studied abroad only for the educational opportunities and the broadening of my perspective by living in another culture. I will be honest in saying some of the comments were funny but true. Like all articles form The Onion, it was genius.

On the other hand, I couldn’t help but remember all the times I had Skyped with friends and family and talked to them about how much I was learning during my study abroad semester. So when I read the article from The Onion I of course laughed but I also couldn’t stop this strange feeling of “Well that isn’t entirely true. Maybe not even the slightest bit true!” As I said before, I will not deny the Shenanigans, the traveling, the going out with other travelers that were passing by on their way to Patagonia, making new friends with my group, the salsa classes, enjoying the fiestas patrias…and well everything else that comes with study abroad. But…is that so bad? In my opinion, study abroad works best when students take complete advantage of what your city has to offer. We are used to learning only coming from academic spheres, everything from lectures, articles, classes, and books. If you are willing to accept it, an opportunity to study abroad is an opportunity to learn. To learn from people, the culture, other foreign exchange students, the host family, street performers, and everyone around you.  I would highly recommend taking an opportunity to study abroad. But it does not end there. Learning takes initiative and requires a person to be proactive and to be open to new concepts. You will be uncomfortable; you will miss UR, your friends, your professors and the resources offered at our university. The point is to see beyond your previous accommodations, stop comparing between your home and host institution and simply allow yourself to grow from the experience.

“Everything you want is right outside your comfort zone.”

– Robert Allen

The following are images of Chile:

gran torre

This is an image of the Gran Torre de Santiago- the tallest building in Latin America.

indomita vineyard

Old wine bottles at Indomita

isla negra

View from Pablo Neruda’s house in Isla Negra.

valledelaluna

We watched the sunset at Valle de la Luna. One of the most beautiful places on Earth.

Leave a Comment » | Fall 2013, Mel in Chile | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by melinchile

Rhiannon in India: A South Indian Adventure

December 12, 2013

As I wrote in my last post, I have been traveling around South India for the past two weeks on a lightening-speed tour of Kerala and Karnataka. Kerala, one of the southern-most states in India, is often considered a country apart from the rest of India, and better yet, “God’s Own Country.” In Kerala, my friend and I visited Kochi, the seaside state capital; Munnar, a chilly hill station among the Western Ghats; and Alleppey, the go-to town for boat rides on the backwaters. After two overnight bus rides north to Karnataka, we visited Udupi, home to many Hindu temples and the birth place of the dosa; Hampi, a tourist haven surrounded by beautiful landscapes and ancient ruins; Bangalore, the bustling business hub of the south; and Mysore, a smaller city known for its palace and yoga ashrams. The whole experience has been a whirlwind of historical sites, markets, beaches, and mountains, and I am already having trouble keeping everything straight in my memory. However, there are a few exceptional experiences that I am confident will stand out in my mind for years to come, and those are the ones I would like to share here.

IMG_6337

The tea plantations in Munnar

One of our first stops in Kerala was Munnar, a bumpy, nauseous five-hour bus ride from Kochi, tucked within the Western Ghats. As we approached Munnar on the summit of a hill, the air quickly got cooler, the scenery got greener, and I was immediately happier. Tata, a multibillion-dollar Indian corporation, owns most of the land surrounding Munnar and has turned it into profit by covering the land with tea plantations. From the road, the tea fields look like a rolling, rippling, sea of perfectly manicured green hills, occasionally peaked by a rocky summit. We spent two days touring the beautiful tea plantations and other areas around Munnar, including waterfalls and a wildlife sanctuary where we saw the rare grizzled giant squirrel, but sadly missed out on the rumored mountain goats and wild elephants. The whole time we were in the mountains, I was in awe at how many different foods are grown there – tea, coffee, bananas, sugar cane, black pepper, papaya, coconuts, and many more.

IMG_6326

A village near Munnar

We left Munnar in the hopes of catching a once-daily direct bus to Alleppey, but when we got to the bus station, we were informed that the bus had been cancelled that day. Instead, we took three separate buses, zigzagging our way in the general direction of our destination, finally giving up in a small town and sharing a taxi with a nice Canadian couple for the last hour. When we finally got to our hotel late in the evening, the hotel owner told us that the cheaper room that we had reserved was actually taken, but graciously gave us a more expensive room for the same price. Little did we know at the time that it was an off-site cabin in the middle of a rice field that took 30 minutes in an auto and a boat ride to get to! Despite our confusion getting to our “room” after a long day of bus riding, staying in the cabin was an awesome experience. We were right on the edge of a backwater canal in a long row of village houses, right across the water from a man named Babu who had a canoe and would take us on canoe rides for 200 rupees an hour. We spent a lazy morning canoeing through the village with Babu, who knew everyone and had to stop every 15 minutes to talk to his friends along the water. That afternoon, we rented kayaks and toured some of the most beautiful areas of the Alleppey backwaters.

IMG_20131124_093745

Canoeing in the backwaters near Alleppey

IMG_6412

Sunset over the Arabian Sea at Alleppey Beach

Traveling through South India these past two weeks has been one of the most exciting and interesting times of my life, and I am amazed at how much I have learned in such a short time. As my return home quickly approaches, I hope that I will be able to make the most of my experiences here – especially what I have learned about how different cultures can be, but at the same time how similar we are as people. It continually surprises me that, although the details of daily life may be different from country to country or even region to region in India, we have much more in common than what may be seen on the surface. Now that these two weeks are over, I can’t wait to see my friends and family once more in Hyderabad, then head back to Raleigh, North Carolina!

2 Comments | Fall 2013, Rhiannon in India | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by rhiannoninindia

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »