Week 4- Real Madrid Soccer Game

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Study Abroad

Getting back from Barcelona sunday afternoon and then having to do homework that night and go to class the next morning was a bit rough but I managed to get it all done. Classes are almost to the half way point, we have midterms in about 2 weeks. I’m pretty excited for midterms because once we’re done we get a whole week for fall break. I will be spending this week in Italy! Learning so much and keeping up with homework keeps me busy.

Highlight of this week was definitely experiencing a Real Madrid soccer game. Experiencing this with the whole group was really neat. A good game filled with so much excitement, seeing the players and winning 4-0 was a fun filled night.

The soccer stadium- Awesome!

Some of the group at the game

Cristiano Ronaldo #7 Awesome soccer player Picture credit to Tyler

I feel like the weather is soon to get cooler but it still hasn’t happened. The sun shines every day and I’m still taking in the sun getting darker by the week. I can’t wait for the cooler weather and rain so I can feel like back home in the Oregon weather.

Another day in Segovia

Week 3- First trip: Barcelona

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Study Abroad

Another week of classes started and they went well. I’ve gotten used to living in Spain and made Segovia my home. Living with my host family has been going well as well. I’ve gotten used to the food and have found some of my favorite dishes. I had paella a typical Spain dish for the second time. I really like it. I’ve also gotten used to the Spanish tortilla which is not what I expected. It is made of potatoes and eggs. Potatoes are a really common vegetable around here, any vegetable really.

Seafood Paella

I’ve really adjusted to the language here as well because even now that I talk to my mom on the phone I start to say words from Spain. Although some words they use here are really strange to me, I enjoy learning the new words.

As week 3 of classes finished up my first trip with some of the girls from the group approached. Thursday night we took the night train to Barcelona. We spent the weekend in Barcelona and that was great. It was nice to visit a city that is filled with so many tourist attractions and to see the wonderful architecture and art by Gaudi. Barcelona has beautiful beaches as well and that was nice to take in the sun. Barcelona is filled with tourists. There are many bus tours available in Barcelona for a good price. A friend and I went on a tour bus and that was the best thing we could have done. We got to see so much of Barcelona which we would not have seen on foot. On Sunday we headed back to Madrid on a plane and that was so much better than a train. Our flight was only an hour and a half compared to the 8 hour train ride. I’m glad I got to see Barcelona, it’s a beautiful city.

Barcelona Bus Tour

La Barcelonata Beach. The Mediterranean Sea!

La Sagrada Familia

Building by Gaudi- La Pedrera (Casa Mila)

Where the 1992 Olympics were held in Barcelona

Rambla del Mar bridge

Barcelona cathedral

The girls at the fountain show in Barcelona

I’m excited for week 4 because this week the whole group is going to a Real Madrid soccer game.

La Revolution Francaise

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Study Abroad

This morning I woke up around ten and went and took a shower. I had breakfast and made myself a PB&J to take with me to school. I got there early and read a little of my Game of Thrones book. After a while I went outside to meet my class. Today we went on a little trip to the monument of Joseph Sec. It is one of only 5 monuments from the French revolution that still exists. The other three are in Paris and there is another one in Nantes. The last one is here in Aix! It is a small little monument with a sort of garden like thing on the inside.

Pretty much during the revolution everyone wanted to trash everything that had to do with French history before the revolution. Some people like Joseph Sec didn’t really like that idea. He made this monument and made it a sort of mausoleum but without his body so that people wouldn’t mess with it. It is super cool and has sculptures and such. On the outside it has three plaques. The middle one just kind of says what it is. The one on the left says something like : Leaving cruel slavery, I have no other master but myself, But my liberty I have no other use of but to obey the law. The one on the right says something along the lines of: I will prefer to die for these laws more than to abolish them. Basically at this time because every other country was attacking France this was France saying hey we are free from the king now but we are going to follow the laws we made, and we’d rather die fighting you than to break them and be a part of your country. Basically, France has it’s own laws and they will fight to keep them.

The monument itself was pretty cool. We stood outside talking about the different parts. In the middle there is a statue of a man with horns. My professor asked us who we thought it was and because of the horns we assumed the devil. But we learned that it was Moses and that he has horns because somewhere in translation someone mis-translated halo to be horns. Quite a bad mix up to be honest! But that’s why in a lot of famous paintings and such of Moses he has horns. On each side of him were statues of women but I don’t really know their significance or if they had one. On the very top of the monument was lady Justice with a scale. On the other side of the main wall of the monument is Jesus with a lamb. The significance of the statues is that the front and back are the old and new Testaments of the Bible and Lady Justice being on top is the French saying that Justice will win over the king who was supposedly chosen by God himself and ruled by divine right. It was pretty cool to see the monument even from just the outside.

We went inside and it was pretty much just a little garden with some more statues. We learned that the statues there were fake and that the real ones are in the museum in town. This is the museum I have already been to but I think that I need to go back later because there is so much I have heard about that I didn’t see. I think because there is a temporary exhibition there now so once that is over they will put back their regular stuff.

Inside we learned that the statues were of Noah, David with Goliaths head, Judith nailing the guy in the head, Solomon, a Prophetess, and Aaron Mose’s brother. They were all really cool looking even if they were replicas. Right after the French revolution people started to realize that they needed to have their cultural heritage guarded so the people stopped wrecking everything.

Another interesting story where the French were trashing stuff was when King Henry the 4^th was removed from his tomb. Pretty much the revolutionaries dumped the body in the sewers but some crazy guy like kept the head and now it has resurfaced and it’s a big deal. There are DNA tests going on and such but I wonder how they can do that if the rest of the body is gone. I guess probably by using his lineage and finding people that were descendents from him? Though how they would really know 100% I question because his descendents would only have half his DNA each time, and after 10 generations that wouldn’t be a lot left… But I guess it must work somehow.

I also learned that the French wanted to create their own calendar and forget the Christian calendar. The wanted it to be separate so on the middle plaque it says “the fourth year of liberty 1792” So they were trying to use the new calendar and the Christian calendar. They soon learned that the new calendar wasn’t going to work.

The whole little trip was really cool and I got to learn a lot of things about the French revolution that I wouldn’t have learned from reading a book. I want to find out who the other statues are that were in the garden and also when the other statues were moved. The ones on the top and front of the monument are the real ones from that time which makes me wonder why they didn’t move those ones as well. Perhaps because it would be too much work? I don’t know.

My literature class was a bit dull today. Instead of having a big discussion we had like little talks on different parts of the text. I enjoy the longer discussions much better though. But it wasn’t bad. We are almost done with Paradise Lost.

After class I went to the FNAC (aka best buy +books and other things) store to find a birthday card for my mom. I wandered around for a while and bought a lemon and sugar crepe. It was surprisingly delicious! I was pleasantly surprised. After that I went back to the school to read for a while before meeting Cassandra for Happy Hour. Kelan, Julia, and Patrick ended up joining us as well because Kelan saw me outside the school so I invited him, who saw Julia so he invited her and Cassandra had class with Patrick so she invited him and it was fun! We went and sat and talked about lots of different things. Julia left to go skype her parents and the four of use kept sitting and talking for another hour. After that Kelan, Patrick, and I went back to the monument so we could show Kelan but it was closed by then. It was really cool though.

I came back home and wrote moms card and then I decided to try and write to my French professors in French. And I was doing fine until I wanted to know how many fountains there are in Aix exactly. Madame came home and we tried to find the answer on the internet. That didn’t work so we consulted her dictionaries for Aix but that didn’t say either. I learned she doesn’t have a book for Aix (Christmas Present? Oui.) so tomorrow my mission is to find that out. I probably will go to the office de toursime and see if they know and if not go to the library. I really want to know though because there are so many and I want to know the exact number because I am curious like that! Aix is called the city of a thousand fountains but I bet it has a few less. After that we had dinner and then watched Men in Black. Paul came up to say hi and I forgot to do la bise or kisses so he was like standing there and I was like what until Madame was like bisous and I was like oh! I didn’t know that was a thing that I was supposed to do! But I guess I am!

Also a fun little fact: after the Storming of the Bastille some businessmen sold stones from the building and one of them ended up here in Aix in this like random building. But the people who bought the building after the guy who bought it dies didn’t know it was historic so they had it engraved with “Toilettes” and used it as a sign for the bathrooms. Oops! But after they found out it was too late. My professor said not many Aix people know about it, but because the building is under construction or something we couldn’t go see it.

Also I can’t remember if I put this in my last post or not but I learned that the construction next has been going on for 2 years! Blech! It shows no sign of stopping either!

Why does the milk taste weird?

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Study Abroad

Today I woke up and read a bunch. I had some cereal and discovered that milk here has a very different taste to it. I have also noticed (today) that it isn’t in the refrigerated section of grocery stores. I did some research and figured out why this is and found this:

Most milk in France does not require refrigeration because it is sterilised and not pasteurized. Despite having been the first country to “discover” and widely use pasteurization for dairy products, they now use what is called UHT steralization, another heating process that kills bacteria.

The shelf life of sterilized milk is 6-9 months when unopened, hence it’s reason for being popular. This is why French milk tastes different. Other European countries like Spain, Portugal, and Belgium also use this method.

Apparently UHT milk has been introduced in the US, but Americans, as they are with all change, were no open to trying unrefrigerated milk that tastes like merde. Evidement.

Source: https://www.exasperatedexpatriate.com/2013/04/youve-always-wanted-to-know-why-isnt.html

I found that really helpful and surprising as well. I totally agree with the American view of the milk here though it is very weird and different! I think the best way to describe it is that it doesn’t taste refreshing? Once you open the milk you put it in the fridge but it still isn’t very like fresh feeling? It is hard to describe so you will just have to come here and try it 😉

I read my book for a while and got almost done with my outline for a paper due on Monday when I decided I didn’t want to have a sit at home day today when I know that Sunday the weather is going to be bad and I won’t be able to walk around much. So I texted my friend Cassandra and asked if she wanted to go on an adventure with me to find the big supermarché or big grocery store that is outside of town. She agreed and we made plans to meet.

The best form of transportation here is public because to get a license you have to pass a test and go to driving school. It is also very expensive to get a license (over 1,000 Euros, that’s over $1,350!) and if you don’t pass the tests you have to retake them and pay the money to try all over again! Not to mention that but cars are also pretty expensive here and there isn’t a lot of space to park them. So because of this if you want to go somewhere over a mile away you need to take public transportation to get there. We ended up needing to take the bus. I had a bit of trouble figuring out which line we needed to take to get us there and the bus routes aren’t very clear. I finally found a website that you could tell it where you wanted to go and it would tell you the best route to take. What a life saver! I met Cassandra and we headed out. I had looked at how many stops the bus would make before we needed to get off so that we would be sure not to miss it but the bus stopped a lot more often than the route made it seem. I was not recognizing the bus stop names and was getting worried but then we soon passed the grocery store and stopped close by. We hopped off and began our adventure.

The store is called Carrefour and the best way that I could describe it is that it is like a Safeway and a Walmart and Half of a Fred Meyers. It is BIG. I guess it could be compared to Costco but things aren’t in bulk they is just a lot of stuff!

We went in and I had some Mac Do. I wanted a taste of home and to be able to say that I had. It was difficult to order because they don’t really do things in the same way. They do single things and not really meals. I learned later that they have machines there that you can order from and put them in different languages. This makes a lot of sense because I bet that they have the language barrier problem a lot here! It tasted pretty different as everything here does even if you think it will taste familiar. I mostly just needed to eat something or else I was going to start getting grumpy.

We started walking around looking at things. There were a lot of interesting things and a lot of things that I looked at and said “Hey so and so would like this” but then I said how in the world would I get this back to them… I also found suit cases for not a lot of Euros, only like fifty so that is a good thing to remember. I took a lot of pictures of the store. There were a lot of aisles that were dedicated to just one thing. There were three wine aisles, a cheese aisle, a yogurt aisle, a French fry aisle, and an ice cream isle. I think that they have so many choices for one thing because those are REALLY popular food staples here, everyone eats cheese and drinks wine and has desserts. I think that it was a really cool experience to go to a French grocery store. I could easily have spent hours wandering and looking at all of the things that they had. Fortunately for Cassandra, I only took three and a half.

When I got home Madame made dinner and we had a very delicious Chicken and Rice with Zuccinni. The chicken she had soaked in honey, lemon, and thyme. It was sooooo good. I will HAVE to get the recipe. After that I Skyped or tried really with my crummy internet to Skype Thad before he had to go to Lunch.

After that Madame and I started watching Master Chef which is a really cool cooking show. There was a trivia question tonight which was how many desserts are traditionally at the table for Christmas in the South of France. Madame was quick to say thirteen. After one of the people on the show said three and was kicked off, I asked her what they were. She listed off a few nuts, figs, nougat, Yule Log, fruit, etc. and she got to about 7 before she got stuck and couldn’t think of any others. So we decided to Google it and in doing so found out why!

The thirteen desserts of Christmas, or Les Treize Desserts de Noël, are enjoyed after Gros Souper in Provence. The thirteen desserts are in reference to Jesus and his twelve apostles at the Last Supper. As tradition goes, there must be at least thirteen sweet available, they are all served at once, and each guest must have at least a small bit of each dessert.

Fougasse or pompe à l’Huile, an olive oil flatbread, is eaten with grape jam made during the last harvest season. The tradition is to break the bread into individual servings with the fingers, rather than cut the bread with a knife. Legend goes that this protects one’s wealth from bankruptcy in the coming year.

The “four beggars” portion of lez treize stands for four monastic communities: Augustinians, Carmelites, Dominicans, and Franciscans. Walnuts stand for the Augustinians, almonds for the Carmelites, raisins for the Dominicans, and figs for the Franciscans. A platter of fresh fruit usually counts as one dessert, and is always served after Gros Souper. It can be a selection of oranges, apples, pears, and grapes. Any combination of seasonal fruit is welcome, and fresh berries rarely make the list, although they would be considered acceptable, as well.

Source: https://frenchfood.about.com/od/festivalsandholidays/tp/13-Desserts-Of-Christmas.htm

I found that really interesting and I wish that I was going to be here for Christmas to experience that. But also at the same time I am very happy that I will be home for Christmas with my family.

Week 2- It’s going good

Posted on September 21, 2013 by Study Abroad

After our excursion on Friday last week the weekend went by and that was spent exploring Segovia. There is so much to see and explore around here. There are beautiful views and so many places to take nice walks.

The view of the cathedral from the Alcazar

The view of the castle from a park

A jump in front of the Alcazar!

Week 2 of classes began and everything went well. This week we really began to get into the classes. I’m really learning a lot in all of my classes. I find it more interesting learning everything in Spanish. All of our professors are really nice and our director Marian is great too! We visited the Cathedral on Thursday, we were able to go inside. It’s such a big, well kept cathedral. As we walked around and Marian taught us about the meaning and history of many things I can’t but feel so privileged to be in Segovia and be learning so much.

The cathedral with the sunset in the background

I think I’ve adjusted pretty well to life in Segovia, not completely but I’m getting there. Adjusting to different meal times and the night life. Going out with the group out of class and going to the bars is nice because we all get to know each other and bond. One night we were out at a bar and played card games, that was so much fun. Although I may be the quiet one in the group I’m adjusting really well with the group and getting to know everyone.

As a part of our program we have the opportunity to have conversation partners with the cadets at the Academy of Artillery here in Segovia. This is a way for us to better our Spanish and for the cadets to better their English. We’ve gone out a couple of times and they are really nice to talk to and get to know. I’m really enjoying learning things about Spain and then comparing it to the U.S. My host brother is very much into politics and up to date on current issues so I enjoy talking to him and learning about things from his perspective.

The 3 female cadets at the Academy, they're great!

The only 3 female cadets at the Academy, they’re great!

This week I also got to visit my volunteer site for the semester and I must admit I was nervous at first to learn that I would be an English teacher, have my own class and teach my own class. After talking to the director at the non profit organization “Caritas” I became more comfortable with the idea. The people I will teach to are adults that have no knowledge of speaking English. I asked one of my friends if she would help me out in teaching this class and she agreed so soon we will start to teach. I’m excited to teach people another language. I’m really starting to feel grateful and see the benefits of speaking two languages. Being bilingual is really beneficial and many people have told me how lucky I am to be fluent in both languages.

Today some of us from the group decided to take a trip to Madrid. It was quiet the adventure, we didn’t really have a plan of where we were going, we just grabbed the map and explored. Like anyone else, we were all craving our American food so we went to TGI Fridays for a burger, it was yummy! and of course we all grabbed some Starbucks too! Like in the U.S there is a Starbucks at every corner in Madrid. Madrid is really a big city and filled with so many people. It was nice to explore. I can’t wait for the rest of the exploring that lies ahead in my 3 month stay here. Being in Europe already trips are being planned to many places!

Madrid- The buildings are so unique!

Walking the streets of Madrid

In front of the Temple of Debod in Madrid

Week 1- Adjusting to new things

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Study Abroad

We had orientation on Saturday of the week we got here and classes started on Monday. We had a chance to meet our professors at orientation and that was really neat because we got to see that all of our professors were excited to have us. There are 6 classes offered this semester and I am taking 4 of them. My first one starts early morning at 840am. It is a 15minute walk to get to school. As Monday came along it was definitely hard to get up in the morning. I was not used to being up so early and then have to take a 15 minute walk to school since I would usually commute to school. Walking is all we do here, everyone walks, and they walk fast! My friend and I are determined to get to school in 10minutes by the end of the semester. It’s harder because our whole way is basically all uphill. But it’s really neat to be able to walk through the Aqueduct every morning.

Walk through the Aqueduct every day

Day one at school went well and by the end of the day I had learned lots of new things. We call our professors by their first name here and instead of going from class to class our professors come to us. I really enjoy my professors they’re all so nice and I have really been learning a lot from them. At first yes, I must admit it was like Spanish overload. We can only speak Spanish at school and everything is taught in Spanish.I understand everything it just took a bit to get used to my whole day of classes being in Spanish.

I’ve been here for a week now and have met many people. I have been asked several times “Eres Mexicana?” are you Mexican?. I’m not surprised to be asked but I am surprised when people say they can tell by my accent? I didn’t know I had an accent. But I enjoy having a bit of an advantage because I do come from a Spanish speaking background and Spanish was my first language. I feel that I comprehend everything better but I feel that although I speak the Spanish I’ve been learning so much. There are new words I’ve learned and I’m grasping the right Spanish not Spanglish. I’ve been told my Spanish is really good and that makes me feel good but I’m here because I want to be able to better my Spanish more not only in conversation but also grammatically. I want to be able to have a complete conversation and feel confident in what I am saying is in correct Spanish.

My host family has been great! My host mom is really nice and her son is too. They’re very welcoming and we always have long conversations about many things during lunch. I’ve had to adjust to the food, people here have a Mediterranean diet so foods always include vegetables and some kind of meat (specifically pork). Unlike having tortillas at every meal back home, people here eat bread at every meal.

On Friday we had our first excursion. We went on “La Ruta de los Castillos” The route of the castles. We visited two castles. First one was the Castle of Coca, we were able to go inside this one, it was really cool. The second one was El Castillo de Cuellar we were able to explore the outside of this castle because it is currently a high school (how cool would it be to go to school in a castle!) After the castles we went to a winery, tasted wine and then headed out to the vineyard. It was a great excursion I must say!

In front of the Castle of Coca

The group at the Castle of Coca

The vineyard, so pretty!

I’m ready to conquer week 2 in Segovia!

Nice and Eze

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Study Abroad

I woke up and had a quick breakfast before heading out to meet the bus at 7:30 to go to spend the day in Nice. I got some money for the day/ weekend/week out of a different machine and it was mean and have me a two fifties instead of smaller bills. Big bills here suck because no one ever wants to take them. A 20 is like already bad but a fifty is like oh man not so good to have. But I rolled with it and took note of that machine bing not so good and then went to find the buses. I had a bit of trouble finding the hotel but luckily I had left myself lots of extra time to get there so as not to be left behind. After some confusion of who was on what bus and which bus was which number we got on. My bus is for the advanced French students so all our information stuff is in French. Kelan is my bus buddy we decided for these trips. We got on the bus and though I tried to keep my eyes out the window I couldn’t help but fall asleep for part of the way. We stopped at a gas station rest stop and we all went to the bathroom and got snacks. I bought a little Starbucks frappuccino thing to tie me over for the day and break one of my fifties. Then it was back on the bus!

We passed by Nice and went instead to Eze which is a smaller town where we toured a perfume factory. Sounded like a cool idea but it was really difficult to hear our tour guide in the small space talking in French when the other groups were being loud and another tour guide was speaking English. It was difficult to keep the mind in French mode and she was being so quiet and the English lady too fuzzed to really hear anything. We got to sample some different like pure extracts like lemon, rose, strawberry (my favorite), coffee, lavender, and chocolate. That was probably the funniest part of the tour as well as seeing how they use the molds to make the soaps. The gift shop was kind of cool but everything was pretty expensive and I really didn’t care about buying perfume. We only had an hour total in Eze including the slow and mandatory perfume tour. Kelan and I ditched the gift shop in order to try and get to the town to take a few pictures. We took the way the bus lady told us but it most definitely didn’t go to town but to a little look out into the valley where you could see the Mediterranean. We took some pictures and then were sad that we had to go back. We waited around for people to be done in the gift shop and then got back on the bus to go to Nice.

On the way there our bus guide prattled on for far too long about nothing in particular and repeats herself way too many times that everyone just tuned her out. We all were also vey distracted by the beautiful city and coast out our windows. When we got off the bus we had to follow our bus guide to the meeting place in front of a statue of a naked guy who was vey nicely done but he was not nearly as exciting as the beach. The bus lady held us there for too long saying the same things she had already said before letting us leave. By that time we had about an hour to do whatever before we could meet back to go either on a walking tour of some parts of the city or up the side of the cliff called a chateau that had some ruins and waterfalls. We walked a bit before we found a place where we could buy some sandwiches that we could then take to the beach. I bought a piece of strange pizza and a slice if apple pie which was very cheap. I also ran down and bought a few postcards before the rest of the group got their food. Kelan and I quickly wolfed our food don because we both really wanted to go in be Mediterranean I swim. The other girl wanted to sunbathe so we left all oh stuff with them and then went and jumps in. The other girls complained that I was too cold but I thought it was really warm, warmer than Oregon and warmer than swimming pools that I am used to! A bunch of other IAU kids soon joined us and it was a lot of fun. The water is so blue that it is unbelievable. It is also supppper salty. I accidentally engulfed some water and thought I was going to throw up from all the salt. It is nice bought because the salt helps you float so you don’t really need to swim very much to stay above water. The shore was really pebbly but once you got in the water and couldn’t ouch bottom it was awesome. There were waves by they acted more like softly not like breaking waves in Oregon and you would float up with them which was pretty fun. I really enjoyed myself and it was a really amazing experience. I want to do it again!

Eventually I got out and we went to track down some ice cream before meeting back at the naked guy to climb the over three hundred stairs. We didn’t actually count but that number was thrown out. When I counted it was well over that but I eventually lost interest and lost track. We found an ice cream place and by the time we all got ours we had to run to meet at the guy. I got chocolate in a cone and it was super delicious. 10/10, would buy again. After meeting up we walked to the entrance and started climbing. It really is like super high up there. But the views were breath-taking!

My vocal cords gave me a bit of trouble when his creepy guy clearly checked me out when I passed him while he was on the phone and after words he stood up and started to follow me. I quickly went two stairs at a time and ran to catch up with the others who really weren’t far ahead but I wanted to be safe. But other than that they didn’t get too uncomfortable. The waterfalls were kind of cool and it was nice to get a little spray after climbing so much. We sat down near the top for a while to just take it all in before we had to go back down to leave.

Kelan and I quickly ran to the top where we found another awesome view and a really good deal of 7 postcards for 2 euros. So of course I bought some more. I haven’t actually sent any yet though… Oops. I figure they will be expensive to send. Though beside the point there were a ton of postcards with like half naked girls on the or random kittens. That was pretty bizarre. But we went back down and then went to the naked guy to meet everyone to leave. I was like super thirsty but because we had to be there at a certain time we didn’t stop. Long story short, our bus guide told us the wrong spot and time. So we met earlier than we had to and then walked to a location five minutes away to meet everyone else. But because there were multiple meeting places it was pretty much a crap shoot and no one knew what was going on. We didn’t leave until 5:15, which was very obnoxious because I was sooo thirsty.

We stopped luckily about 30 minutes down the road at a real rest sop to use the bathrooms really quickly. Kelan took my water bottle to the bathroom but then I decided to go as well and we both discovered that the sinks here were so short it was impossible to get water in the bottle. Luckily after waiting for the buses to be sure they had everyone (a 20 minute process even though only 15 people got off the three buses) the bus guide asked if anyone wanted to buy a bottle of water for a euro from the bus. This is actually. Really good price and I definitely jumped at the chance! The bus ride back was beautiful or is rather since I am writing this on the bus currently. I told Madame that I was going out for dinner tonight with friends because I only have 6 dinners a week. But the plan is to go home and de-salt with a shower first before re-meeting up.

We ended up going to the 24 hour restaurant which has a lot of seafood. Luckily they have other things as well so I ended up going for something that had chicken in it which ended up being fries and chicken baked in crumb or something? It was very good! Kelan is living with a girl from Sweden who came with us to dinner and she was really nice. I spent a lot of time talking to her because she was on the end and everyone was kind of ignoring her. She was really nice though! After dinner we went to an Irish pub for a drink and I tried a Tequila Sunrise which was pretty good. I liked the orange juice/grenadine part more than the tequila but it wasn’t too bad. A little spendy for my tastes but it was good. My ear has still been hurting so after one drink I decided to leave and Kelan and the Swedish girl seemed glad to have a reason to leave because they were getting bored, so they walked me home. Apparently there is like a new gang in Aix? Apparently? And also the other night this one girl got mugged from IAU 10 minutes from her house after the guy who was walking with her left. So they are really cracking down on us to be sure and have a buddy and not carry a lot of important stuff on us at night and to take taxi’s even if we live close. I live five minutes from that bar so it wasn’t a long ways for them to walk me home, and the street I walk takes a little bit longer but is much more populated.

I feel like this doesn’t like accurately depict how crazy and cool my day was but I had a pretty great day. I am really glad that I got to go on this trip.

Week 5 – Mexico

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Study Abroad

In week 5 I remember feeling weird that I only had one week to my Mexican friends and family and leave. I will still be able to talk to them on facebook, but it is still sad to be leaving even though I’ve only been here a few weeks. Still, it’s cool that I will have people I can talk to in spanish online every now and then to my spanish up. I really like the city and I have loved living here in Mexico.

On the weekend, we took a trip to San Miguel. The town was a cool colonial town, but the most unique thing about it was the number of white people walking around. Apparently it’s known for having a large ex-pat community from the US. It was weird walking down the street and seeing other americans around; I’ve gotten so used to being the minority here. I think it will be a culture shock when I get back to the US just to be surrounded by white people speaking english again.

We went to a soccer game as a group, which was pretty fun. I was under the impression that the crouds at soccer games were really wild in latin america, but they were fairly mellow at this one. I think it’s because the Queretaro team doesn’t have a very big or crazy fanbase. One thing that shocked me at the game was that the couple sitting in front of me was giving their baby beer. The baby was pretty little, and they couldn’t get him to stop crying so they gave him some sips of beer. The baby was very mellow after that. They only gave the baby a few sips, so I don’t know if it was really that bad for the baby, but it was so strange to see.

Week 3 Change and Goodbyes

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Study Abroad

A view along a hike at Zhangjiajie as the fog is lifting after an afternoon thunderstorm.

This week contained two of my favorite days of hiking and also two of the most emotional days of the trip. Our last days at the Zhangjiajie National Park with the Tai Chi masters and British group were great. The hikes were beautiful and the geologist in me was astounded at the surrounding formations. There were massive cliffs, long, skinny ridges, glass walkways and tall pagodas to catch 360° views of the area.

A tall tower in Zhanjiajie from the top floor of a pagoda.

But after Zhangjiajie we had to say goodbye to the British group and the Tai Chi masters so that the group from our school could go study Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for almost a week. Suddenly we went from a large, tight nit group of about 20 people to just the 7 of us for the first time on this journey. It felt like the 20 of us had been traveling together for months, not just a couple of weeks, and the goodbye was a little difficult. Some were very excited to be heading to the TCM hospital, and I was interested, but for me the best days of the trip were hiking around the mountains with a large, very diverse group of friends.

Most of our group, after morning Tai Chi practice on our last day all together in Zhangjiajie

We had most of a day’s travel on the train before arriving at the TCM hospital. Upon arriving at the hospital we noticed that everything operated very differently than the previous part of our journey. Where before we were busy busy busy all the time, suddenly at the hospital we had down time to relax. We had hours in between meetings and meals and classes that we had to fill by ourselves instead of a planned or recommended adventure ahead. Meals were no longer as soon as we got back to the hotel after a long day of exploring or a buffet style breakfast right after Tai Chi practice in the morning but at set times throughout the day. It was almost as if being in a whirlwind for two weeks and suddenly we were out of the frenzy and didn’t know what to do with ourselves.

Our mornings seemed very slow while waiting for the consultations with patients, touring the TCM pharmacy or going on rounds to the patients to begin. There was a 2-3 hour break for lunch and in the afternoons we had classes on acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion, how to do these techniques and what they are good for. Then a free evening to explore the hospital workout stations outside, play games similar to hacky sack and volleyball with a group of people from at least 5 different countries or just to relax and hang out.

This was our last week in China and as such it was full of feelings of excitement to go home but also of wanting to fill as much into the remaining time as possible. Talk increased about what American foods we were looking forward to and what were our favorite parts about the journey. One person of our group left a day early. This felt really weird to be losing one of our own but it also was a big reminder that our journey was almost over and brought many mixed feelings. After an all day train ride the next day we said goodbye to two more of our group that headed off on another adventure. Then after a tumultuous evening of weather delays and rearranging tickets and meeting up with 3 of the people we’d parted ways with earlier in the week I had two more rounds of goodbyes before I was the last one left in Beijing alone.

Luckily, one of the Tai Chi masters we’d traveled with happened to be in Beijing for a business meeting. He helped me get to the hotel, get some dinner and a room then told me how to get on the shuttle to the airport the next morning. For the first time in nearly a month I had my own room. In the Capitol city of China I was finally able to find somewhere completely private with no one else in my room. I’d had a great time getting to know my roommate over the last 3 weeks and it was very nice to finally be alone. Quil

Anticipating the End of the Journey

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Study Abroad

As the adventure in China is coming to a close I’m finding that I’m less excited to go home than expected. Nearly everyone else in the group is extremely excited to be going home to see loved ones and friends soon, yet I’m wishing the trip could continue for at least a few more weeks. There are friends we’ve met that I’d enjoy hanging out with more, places I’d like to explore more, plus an entirely different language I need to learn. I’m also beginning to feel like we didn’t explore their new culture enough. We ate popular and traditional Chinese dishes with chopsticks but we always ate at a restaurant or the hotels, thus not in the average way to eat meals at home. We were tourists for most of the trip thus seeing only prominent sites. As if someone coming to America and only seeing the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Tetons and New York City than might try to understand the American Culture.

Transportation, crossing the road, sidewalk vendors and smelly markets were all unexpected aspects of the culture I’ll miss learning about.

A new Shaolin Temple. Beautiful and a fantastic memory, yet only tells a small piece of the Chinese culture

A view from the Wudang Temple overlooking a hazy sky and farming in the notch between mountain peaks. Just another small piece of the Chinese culture.

Anticipating this trip I expected to see a lot more of the historic architecture, more dragons, ceremonies and martial arts. The understanding I’ve gotten from reading about China since returning from this journey is that much of the traditional architecture was destroyed in the mid 1900’s and religions were attacked as the new government came in “to strengthen China from its weak past”. I even anticipated most people wearing kimonos or other traditional clothing but instead they were wearing very Western styles of clothes such as jeans and a tee shirt or dresses. Many of their shirts even had English words and phrases on them instead of intricate designs. The main difference they had from Western styles was that the women wore mostly high-heeled shoes. The individual shoes were often of the same style but different color within the same pair.

Tai Chi master Kuang and I wearing “traditional” Tai Chi clothing after a morning training session. An attempt at learning the culture.

I had few expectations about their food but what they did serve was not any Chinese food I’d had in America. Dishes such as lemon chicken, sweet and sour food, and even rice weren’t as prominent as I’d expected. Often we had to call many times for the waitresses to deliver the rice and it was always the last dish set on the table, after we’d had a plethora of other dishes to fill ourselves on. I suppose I may as well comment on one of the main preconceived notions: Chinese height. The population as a whole was not as short as the tales say. Our group was average height among them. Sure we didn’t see many individuals above 6ft tall and the majority of women wore high heels but we definitely weren’t taller than most of the people.

A typical dining experience along our journey. Often the dishes on the rotating glass would be piled on top of each other as we made room for more food.

Most things in China were not as I’d expected but I went over there with an open mind, wanting to learn all I could while over there. Some experiences were better than others and overall the trip was a great success, tons of fun and absolutely an amazing opportunity. I tried very hard to not pass any judgment, simply to keep a mindset that they have a different lifestyle that I was curious to explore the differences and similarities with the lifestyle I’ve been raised to know. Traveling to China was probably the best experience I’ve had in life thus far and I’m not looking forward to the journey being over. Sure I look forward to eating foods and talking to people I know but I will surely miss China. I feel as if a door of opportunity has been opened wide and I must find a way to continue to explore Chinese culture and many other cultures around the globe.

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