The longest day ever

Posted on July 11, 2015 by Courtney Richardson

I figured I’d make this before I passed out considering I’ve been up for like 28 hours. So I made it to London, it was a little stressful being my first flight and customs and getting to the dorm but I managed. We went on a little walking tour and it was nice to see what was nearby but my feet are killing me. Tomorrow we just have orientation and then we can do whatever we want all day so I’m not even sure what I want to try and see first.

Here, have some pics I took throughout the day.

Some artic ice near Greenland

Good morning iceland

First glimpse of iceland

Traffic jam on the runway

Inspy with my my little eye, the London eye

The Summation of Months of Hard Work

Posted on July 10, 2015 by Jenna Beresheim

It’s official. Something that started as merely an idea in the back of my mind has now become reality. It seems like only a few weeks ago our professor for an English class was coming in, talking about studying abroad and her own experiences – both for leisure, and as a professor. It piqued my interest, sure, but instantly it was drowned out by thoughts of time, expenses, and a thousand other problems that could arise.

Still, I picked up one of the handouts as the class trickled out the door.

It has been several months since that time in my English class — months full of fundraising, stressing, worrying, panicking. . .but also months of growing excited. Of wondering what life outside of the country will be like. How I will change and develop more as a person, as an individual. Something that seemed so far away is now something that I will be diving into as of tomorrow afternoon.

I will be honest and say that I am not looking forward to the longest flight of my life. I have traveled independently many times in my life in flying situations, but never internationally, so there is a fresh sense of anxiousness awaiting me.

Everyone around me continues to ask if I am excited. . .and yes, deep down. But I know that until I am settled in my seat, actually flying there, with all of my hard work and frantic planning behind me. . .that is when I will be excited.

Until then, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Leaving tomorrow!

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Jennifer Wittich

I am so excited! I leave for London tomorrow. This is my first trip out of the country. I am a bit nerves and very happy that I am travailing with friends.

Dublin Day 3

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Jennifer Hight

Hello again. I know there has been a while where I haven’t updated but that was because we were so busy here. Luckily, I have some free time today so I was able to update. My first day with the whole group went well. We went to several locations throughout the city of Dublin, like St. Patrick’s cathedral. Sadly, while I did take pictures I don’t have them. My memory card for my camera decided to have an error today so I had to reformat it erasing all the pictures. So instead I will simply be copying some pictures from Google and claiming them as mine. There are a couple other places this happened as well sadly.

Anyway. St. Patrick’s was amazing. It is the second oldest church in Ireland and we spent quite a bit of time there. I seem to have a theme of going to cathedrals in religious countries. But the highlight of the tour was our tour guide Sean and the bus driver Jerry. They spent the entire time arguing with each other and teasing each other. Several times Sean would blame Jerry for something silly which always made us laugh.

Following the tour, we went to our housing for the first time. We are staying in Marino college which is just outside of Dublin. To get there, we need to take a bus into the city center which is always a joy. Anyways, I am staying with Lauren who seems to be a pretty nice person. We’ve only known each other for two days, so that opinion may change. The dorm itself it pretty small. We’ve only got two beds and desk so we will be getting to know each other very well. The shower is all the way down the hall. It’s not so much as a dorm room, as more of a hostel really. Lucky for us, we have an amazing view of trees and there are bright gardens throughout the place.

My literature class only has eight people (the professor included) so it is a nice group to travel with. Not to big, but some choices on who to talk to. Our first day we went to visit Farmleigh House, which is in the middle of no where. Seriously. We had to take the bus into the countryside and walk across Phoenix Park. That’s just a fancy name for a really, really big field. While a gorgeous walk, it still took forever. A good half hour later we left the fields of Ireland and finally reached the house.

Now, I don’t have pictures of the inside of the house but that is not because of my camera. It is due to the fact that it is prohibited to photograph the inside because it is still an offical building used by the Irish government. Several of the rooms were closed off to us because of some government meeting, so we got to see the billiard room which is not typically shown. It was an impressive building. Everything was fancy. This was Downtown Abbey on steroids, with imported Venitian lamps and massive marble statues everywhere. Oil paintings decorated each wall, and 12th century tapstries were in the dining room. Outside were some amazing gardens, and what blew my mind was this was a country vacation home. The townhouse was even fancier in Dublin.

I’m attacking a link to my blog for my Literature class here. In the blog I talk mostly about how this style of house was shown in the books we read for the house, so if you are intrested in looking at my homework here it is: https://jenstravelsacrosstheworld.wordpress.com/. Don’t worry, after the class is over I plan on using it to keep everyone updated on my travels across Europe so it won’t go to waste. Also, if you have any comments or anything to add I would love it. It will help my homework.

After we left Farmleigh House, my school group split and we traveled down one of the shopping streets. It was rather fun, and we got to eat at a cool African resturant which served chicken wings. After that we got back to the bus and headed back to Marino where we all fell asleep and stayed down for a while.

Today was rather busy though. Its started out nice and early at Kilmainham Gaol. Sadly, even though I took pictures there ones were destroyed by whatever my camera decided to have a temper tantrum about so there are none for us to enjoy. Instead I will describe it to the best of my ability.

It looks like a stereotypical hail built during the early 1800’s. Long narrow hallways with tiny little cells. Those cells were supposed to hold only one person, but sometimes held up to five or more. The common areas (the halls) were where the women and children stayed when they were in prison. From 1845-50 the population of the jail skyrocketed as the Great Famine broke out. People would break into the jail because it meant they could get fed. Sicknesses were very common and eventually a second jail had to be built in Dublin to handle the numbers.

This jail was primarily used for political prisoners during the various Irish rebellions. The leaders of the Easter Rebellion in 1916 were housed here before they were executed. We visited the execution site and heard the story that one of the men was so badly injured in the rebellion that the British had to tie him to a chair to shoot him. Don’t see how that would backfire England. The news got out, and this turned Irisih opinions against the British. This was what led to the War for Irish Independence, so it is said that spot changed Irish history forever.

Stories like these are very common throughout Dublin. I can understand why they wanted to leave the Empire very well now.

After Kilmainham Gaol, we were taken somewhere much happier. The Guiness factory. Again, the photos I took were gone but a couple survived because I took them on my phone or they were email to us by the factory which was nice. Now, this was a self guided tour of how Guiness is brewed. There are seven floors, and we only had half an hour. So I took like, three photos so I’m not too sad. Not going to lie, I have no idea what was there because we ran to one part: the Guiness Academy. There you learn to pour the perfect pint of Guiness and have to pass the test. The drink can not spill, and had to have the perfect consistency. Several of us took part in this because at the end you recieve a certificate with your name saying you passed the test. And yes, I still have it.

…Plus another thing. You see, Guiness is poured into a special cup. We really liked the cups and felt that it was a shame that to leave them behind. You can take them if they’re empty but Guiness is disgusting so I didn’t want to drink motor oil for a cool cup. The other option is buying one, and seeing how I already had one I refused. So I went to the bathroom and poured it down the sink. Some Italian girl was watching me do this but I didn’t care. I wanted the magical cup for myself. Anyway, I left the brewery with the cup in hand and was quite pleased.

Following this the literature class headed to the National Library. There is currently an exhibit on William Butler Yeates. It was a nice exhibit, but I didn’t spend much time there because we were starving (it was 2 and we hadn’t eaten yet). So we ran through the exhibit and went to go get dinner/lunch.

This all happened right next to Trinity College, where I spent the first day so I knew a few places. We ate at a nice pub before doing some shopping. As we walked around, we found a sign for Riverdance which was showing tonight. So, for 20 euro, we bought tickets and hung around and shopped until it was time for the show.

My only other experience with River Dance is from elementary school when we watched a video. I found it…interesting and wondered what it was like in person. Well, it’s loud. Bagpipes and drums are the insturments of choice and you could feel the floor shake from them. The dancers shoes are very loud as well, which I know is the point but still gave me a headache. The whole show was very flamboyant (they love sparkles) and over the top which may have had something to do with their 20th aniversary being this year. Not to mention, it was two hours long.

We had to leave after the first hour to take the bus back to the school but that was more than enough Riverdance for me. Tomorrow we’re traveling more and hopefully my camera will work then.

Respect the Queue

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Sam Stageman

Well, I have to say that the past three days have been quite a blur for me. I was originally supposed to arrive in Dublin on July 7th around 8 a.m.. However, there was a slight bump in the road; my flight kept getting delayed later and later. I had arrived at Boston around 7 p.m., so I was in good shape, but I did not get to leave until around 3:35 a.m.. That is over 8 and ½ hours at the Boston airport. Needless to say, I was rather miffed. Nevertheless, I safely arrived into Dublin around 3 p.m. and made it back to the hotel. Upon reaching the Marino, my day greatly improved.

When everyone arrived at the Marino, we had our orientation in order to learn what was going on. For the literature group, we are expected to keep a blog discussing what we will see at the Big Houses across Ireland. Afterwards, we went to the Kavanagh Pub where I had my first real meal that entire day. Afterwards, we went home and I decided to rest up for the next day.

For day two, we did quite a lot! We took the Dublin bus to O’Henry street where we shopped around for awhile until the next bus arrived. We admired the statues throughout the city, including one of James Joyce.

After this, we headed out to Farmleigh house, which was owned by the Guinness family for a number of years. For this trip, we took a tour exploring the house and noted some major differences between different groups of people, both gender-wise and class-wise. For the women, their rooms were decorated with lighter colors and rounded edges. For the men, their rooms were decorated using darker colors such as gold, brown, and red. For the classes, the Guinness’ decorations were lavish and were meant to impress anyone who came by. The servants, on the other hand, had simple decorations and were expected to not really be seen by the visitors. After concluding this tour, I went out for dinner and shopping just like the day before.

For today, we also did quite a lot, including a lot of walking. First, the entire group went to Kilmainham Gaol, which is the setting for a major shift in Irish political history. The gaol had been built in the late 18th century and had housed a number of prisoners. However, this is also where those responsible for the 1916 Easter Uprising were sent to and executed. Originally, the Irish were against those who had started the rebellion. However, after seeing how brutal the British were to these men, they changed their minds and began pursuing a free Ireland. It was haunting to be here because this was a place where people had died, giving the gaol a sense of almost something sacred like.

Afterwords, I tagged along with the Business group to the Guinness storehouse, where I graduated from the Guinness Academy! This just means that I have a vague understanding of how to “properly” pour a pint of Guinness. The next distention was to the National Library, where there was a display on W.B. Yates and a genealogy service. Even though I am in the Literature group and I should have spent way more time there, I was far too engrossed in trying to find out some of my family history. Unfortunately, I could not remember who in my family was the one who immigrated to Ireland, so I hit a dead end. Next came dinner and a stroll on Grafton Street, which was full of buskers and street performers. A group of us purchased tickets to “Riverdance”, which I found to be kinda odd and not exactly my type of performance. Because we didn’t want to miss the bus, we left half-way through and made our way to the bus stop. I noticed that there was a line, but I thought we could sneak on board without anyone really noticing or really caring. However, this was not the case. One man started to yell at us that we had to go in the queue. Today, I had to learn the hard way that the queue is something to be feared and respected. Hopefully I remember this in the future.

Querétaro, Week 1

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Audrey Jones

This first full week in Mexico has been one of the most interesting experiences of my life, and I still have four more weeks to go. It is somehow both exhilarating and exhausting at the same time to be here; so much concentration goes into everything I do, and I feel as though my brain is overloaded with new information at all times. My Spanish language skills have served me better than I would have expected, and with the constant need to speak and understand the language I already feel like my Spanish conversational abilities have improved drastically. At the same time, however, I feel completely lost and confused in many situations, and mildly tedious events back home such as getting a little bit lost or having to go to the doctor are terrifying here when I feel so out of place and can’t understand what people are saying to me.

On my first day with my host family, my señora took me to mass at her church or cathedral. I’ve never been to any sort of mass even in English, so it was an entirely new cultural experience for a variety of reasons. It was very interesting to observe a religion that I have never taken part in, in addition to being surrounded by a completely different language and many people speaking that language. The churches here are all magnificently gigantic and gorgeous, and the internal architecture is simply amazing. I was too stunned to remember to take pictures once we had entered the building, but I plan to take some next time if it seems appropriate. I really enjoyed this experience, and plan to return with my señora again before I return to the U.S.

Jardín Zenea is one of my favorite places here where I can just sit and relax. It’s really close to my house, and it’s a lovely city block of park. My favorite aesthetic piece is the gazebo, but it is also an amazing place in so far as absorbing the culture. In the evening, there is often live music playing, and the area around the gazebo is sometimes set up for casual dancing. It’s a very interesting place to just sit and watch people; I gain a lot of experience listening to Spanish, and I can observe interactions between the locals. It’s also just a very useful place to be in; across the street on one side is Del Sol, a market which has pretty much everything I could need from shampoo and snacks to new clothes. My bank is on another side so I can withdraw pesos free of charge, and many independent vendors set up shop in the park throughout the day.

On Saturday we took an excursion as part of the program to a city called Bernal, one of the “Pueblos Mágicos” or main tourist attractions of Mexico. The most striking feature of the city is the Peña de Bernal, the second-largest (and fourth-tallest) monolith in the world. We hiked up partway, which was an fantastic experience with a fantastic view. The town very much has a tourist culture, as most central streets are lined with various stores selling souvenirs and other handmade products. Incidentally, the area is known for its textiles, so I bought a tablecloth for my apartment. They are also known for their exceptional gorditas, small pockets made of masa and stuffed with your choice of filling – and there are a lot of choices.

I am really enjoying my time here, and I look forward to all the new experiences that are waiting for me!

Week 2 in Querétaro

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Brandy Balas

¡Hola, compañeros!

Two weeks down and I seem to be coming out of the “adjustment period.” After an extremely disorienting week where I was bombarded by a new language, new customs, and new people, I finally feel like I’m starting to find my place in this beautiful country.

The adjustment, which began after a long conversation with a friend who is somehow always able to remind me who I really am, continued with persistent effort. It’s been important for me to make time for the things that center and ground me, the things that bring me back to myself. Coming to a new place, where nothing is familiar and there is no comfort zone to cling to, I’ve felt like it would be easy to lose myself in the abyss of the unknown. I don’t always handle change very gracefully.

Yet the tools work!

And sometimes, time just takes time.

With the help of my camera and a conscientious effort to remain positive, life has taken on a familiar rhythm. I’m beginning to find a new comfort zone, one within myself. In the mornings, I follow a regular routine. I wake up, brush my teeth, get dressed, and then go to the kitchen where my host mom has prepared breakfast. After a quick plate of fresh fruit and coffee, I head to the bus stop, where I will catch a bus for a meditative, hour-long bus ride to the university. Now when I smile at people, they smile back (or perhaps they always did… I hear attitude shapes experience, so who knows). I spend 4 hours in Spanish class and now when I leave, I don’t feel completely drained and like I need an immediate nap. In fact, I can talk in Spanish for hours and not get tired! Usually, I return home for comidas and then head to the local coffee shop to get on my homework. Sometimes I spend time in El Centro with my tutoras, touring the local art museum and learning more about Mexican history.

This past weekend the study abroad group took an eventful trip to De Jefe (Ciudad de México), where Murphy’s Law was in full effect. First, we spent hours lost in the pyramids of Teotihuacan and afterward some students got food poisoning from the chicken at a local restaurant (which is just one more reason I love being a vegetarian!).

That evening, we were unable to reach our hotel because of the protest that was blocking the doors. We finally made it to our hotel, but the next day, during a trip to the Palacio Nacional, one of the badges for our group went missing, and the armed guards wouldn’t let us leave! Apparently the badges are a National Security issue, (not enough for them to keep track of the numbers or anything, but enough for them to keep us trapped for an indefinite period of time). Eventually, after about an hour and a half hanging out in the jardín, they let us leave. I still don’t know if they found the badge, realized it was a miscount, or were just waiting us out to see if one of would break and admit we had thrown it away, but we were relieved and hungry!

After that fun time, we visited the Museo de Frida Kahlo, which one of the students missed because of a nice trip to the hospital to get 13 stitches after she cut her leg on a spear (Yes, a spear — another student had bought it as a souvenir for her family), and then, when the student finally got back from the hospital, our bus wouldn’t start. It was fun to watch a tour bus get a jump from a taxi. Ultimately the adventure, which started in frustration, ended in our laughter and complete acceptance that we just couldn’t control things.

So later that night when we couldn’t catch a taxi and had to walk home, we just enjoyed the walk.

It’s been a beautiful, messy, painful experience learning to let go and enjoy the ride; to let things be what they are and to learn to trust myself to handle whatever comes up.

I’m feeling ready for the next adventure!

Week 2!

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Sierra Mciver

This week I had the opportunity to participate in the Palio and all the festivities leading up to the huge horse race. The Palio happened on Thursday and during my entire stay there have been events leading up to the Palio but starting Monday is when the big events started happening. On Monday the people on the board of the Palio chose 10 horses of the 17 that were brought to Siena to tryout for their chance to race in the Palio. Of those 10 horses they assign one horse to each contrada competing. As I mentioned previously only 10 of the 17 contrade compete, they have previously tried to get all 17 to compete but it ended up being too many horses on the small track they use in the Piazza del Campo. Once the horses are assigned to their contrada, based on the horse’s reputation, the contrade pool their money to buy a promising jockey to win them the race. People donate large sums of money to the pot that is used as the winning prize and the money is known to go up to a couple hundred thousand dollars or more. Four days prior to the Palio they hold practice races and parades celebrating their contrada. On the day of the race people start piling into the Piazza del Campo as early as 5 am and they see the Campo has been transformed from a normal square where people hang out in to a horse track with hauled in dirt and fences. At the race they close the doors around 7pm and the race starts at 7:45 pm. When they close the doors, they lock everyone inside the middle of the track and this means there is no bathroom and no exit until the race has come to an end. The jockeys are blessed the morning of the Palio and after that, they cannot be replaced. At the start of the race the police escort the man carrying the horse line up to the announcer and there the order is announced and the horses are put into place. At this particular Palio the contrade with good horses got horrible placement in the line up, which meant no one was happy. There was one contrada that doesn’t have any enemies and he kept refusing to get in the line up, staling the race because he was most likely paid off and didn’t want to create any enemies for the contrada. The man in charge of lining up the horses kept relining them up and the jockeys kept getting out of order trying to change places at the last minute. If the race is stalled long enough, at sun down they stop the race and will continue it the following day. Lucky for us, they finally were lined up and started the race. The race consists of a small track and only going around three times. After about the first lap a man next to me was screaming and crying, they take this race very seriously. The group of us happened to be standing in between two enemy contrade, one of which, was known to have an excellent horse and a promising chance of winning the race. Upon the completion of the race, a fight between these two contrade broke out because the contrade with the promising horse won the race and the other contrada were outraged. Everyone started to back away and the fight was broken up and another fight broke out. After everything was said and done I was so appreciative to have the opportunity to attend the Palio and have access to the explanations behind everything. The Palio would not have meant as much without knowing the information behind it all. It was a great experience that allowed me insight into the Sienese culture. Here are some pictures from the Palio and how crazy packed it gets in the Piazza del Campo.

The packed Piazza del Campo

A picture of the Palio (which is also what the win) The Palio is a painting on cloth.

The ceremonial horses

Dublin

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Jennifer Hight

Today started off wonderfully. I woke up way yo early for my liking which meant I was up at 6 a.m. due to the jet lag. That meant I had time to kill because nothing really opens until 10 so I decided to read a little in the room. Added to that, I had the most amazing breakfast. The hotel offers breakfast which I took advantage of because who knew when I would have lunch when I was traveling?

The Irish know how to do breakfast. My lord, it was a room full of food. I only recognized half of it (they adore soda bread, it’s everywhere) and decided tomorrow to try something new. Like the wide variety of fish. Maybe one of those. Anyways, what made it amazing is how the whole thing started. I love tea. Anyone who has lived with me can tell you that. The first the waiters asked was not where I wanted to sit, or if I would like to see a menu. No, they looked me in the eyes and asked if I wanted tea which I did. Then they gave me a whole pot to myself and kept refilling it. I love Ireland.

Following that I decided to head into Dublin for exploring. I purchased a round trip bus ticket and headed out to have some fun. My first stop was just down the street from the bus stop, at a place called St. Stephen’s Garden, which is gorgeous. I spent a while just wandering around and actually helped a guy catch his dog who had run off. We spoke for a while before parting ways.

After that I went into a shopping center for lunch and a look around because it was pouring rain. It was nice, lunch was delicious. My only issue is everyone I talked to said Europeans ate small portions. They have obviously never been to Ireland because everyones portions have been huge. My lord, I usually can’t finish the plate!

Also I bought a couple of things in the area. I found a nice souvenir for when I head home, and I found the most beautiful necklace that I am going to wear for a long time to come. It was great.

Now that sounds like a full day but I’m not finished yet. Loaded down with many bags (one bag actually, but manny sounds way cooler) I headed over to Trinity College. I had a quick walk through of the campus and took a lot of pictures of the gorgeous architecutre everywhere. It was amazing to just walk around and look at buildings older than the United States and the history major in me was doing a happy dance.

And that was before I went to the best part of the college. Located in Trinity College is a very special book, one I have studied quite a bit in my medieval classes. I got to look at the Book of Kells. It was amazing, I was so excited. Actually, my excitement made security come over to check on me. You see I was looking at the actual Book of Kells when I got super excited. Apparently I was making this wierd squeaking noise? Security was worried that something was wrong with me and I had to reassure them that I was fine. Just simply a giant nerd in love with this book.

Above the Book of Kells is the upper library which is breathtaking. It was about three stories tall and the size of a small church hall. And filled ceiling to floor with bookshelves of old books. Again, the security guard asked me if I was alright as I made a sort of squeak of delight. I spent a solid half hour looking at books in the shelves, reading the ones out on display. Eventually I left and returned to the hotel where I have been enjoying the strange British and Irish game shows.

All in all, a good day. Mostly I’ve just be hanging out and figuring out if I need anything else. It turns out there are three different power outlets in my hotel room, and my adpater fits one. So I’ll see what sort of plug I need at the university tomorrow and go get one if neccesary. Which, all things considered, is a very minor problem. Good news is tomorrow I get to have more tea!

Arrival to Barcelona!

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Carly Sproul

I survived the trip, and I have no idea how! It was my first time traveling by myself, let alone internationally, and in Portland my flight gate was changed twice, in Atlanta the boarding process was postponed hallway through because of a thunder storm, and on the plane about two hours before landing in Barcelona there was a man who stopped breathing and didn’t have a pulse! He is ok now, thankfully. Needless to say, I was relieved to be on solid ground. I met one of my roommates as soon as I got out of customs and baggage, and it turns out we were on the same exact flight! When we got to our apartment, both of us were pleasantly surprised. It was much larger than we had anticipated, we had a washer and dryer, two bathrooms, terraces for each of the bedrooms, a fully equip kitchen, and a lovely sitting/dining area. It looks as if they had just designed and decorated for our stay. We settled in for a few ours, and eventually our other two roommates, who are sisters from Australia, showed up. They unpacked a few of their things and then we set out to find the metro so we could make it to our 3 o’clock orientation (we were a tad late). After a few powerpoint presentations we were brought to the city center for a tour. Despite how incredibly tired I was from traveling, I felt myself falling in love with the city already!

The next day was our academic orientation, which included some presentations and then a bus trip down to the beach and a marvelous Paella lunch! Then we were free to wander the waterfront. It was so gorgeous and the water felt amazing. After another long day of walking, everyone was feeling pretty burnt out, so the next few days were filled with mild exploration and relaxation. I saw a few major landmarks, including La Sagrada Familia (which is right next to my apartment), the Arc de Triomf, Las Ramblas street, and a few others. I already know that this trip is going to be amazing 🙂

Barcelona!!