Barranco

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Hannah Williamson

Last week a friend and I decided to take a trip to Barranco, another district here in Lima. Barranco is beautiful and full of many old buildings. It is along the beach so we were able to walk down and put our feet in the ocean. It reminded me a lot of the Oregon Coast, maybe the Pacific Ocean is the same anywhere you are.

Barranco is about 25 minutes away from my district, Santiago de Surco, but it is a costly cab ride. Originally we went because we heard of a Mexican burrito shop, but the day we went it was closed so of course we had to return. Something I have come to find here in Perú is that many places are closed on Monday, instead of Sunday, because even on Sundays people are still out enjoying their weekend, where as in the United States, Sundays are the days to relax and recover from the weekend. So we returned a few days later to try out the burrito stand. I think I would have liked my burrito had it not had “fajita style” veggies in it. My first week I got sick off a dish called lomo saltado which has tomatoes and onions similar to a fajita, so now anything like that is difficult for me to eat.

After we had our burritos we went down to the beach and sat and watched the waves. I felt so happy because it was like having my own little piece of Oregon, here in Perú. Barranco is beautiful, as well as the rest of Lima!

If you look closely you can see the statue of a saint in the fog.

My lovely friend Katie

View from a hilltop

The walk down to the beach, and the bottom picture with the building is a night club and restaurant, which is so amazing at night to be able to go down on the beach after a fun night of dancing.

Week 2- It’s going good

Posted on September 21, 2013 by Adaleni Lopez

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 Adaleni Lopez

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!

Pre-Departure: China 2013!

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Kylie Russell

“My bags are packed. I’m ready to go…”

This song pretty much sums up how I feel right now. To say I’m nervous would be an understatement. I mean, tomorrow morning I’m getting on a huge plane, (that doesn’t make any sense that something so heavy can stay up in the air… it must be magic!), flying to a new country where I don’t even know how to say, “Hello” or “Do you know where the bathroom is?”, but most importantly… I’m going to China! If it wasn’t for Chem 104 with Patty Flatt, I wouldn’t have even known about the trip to China, gotten excited, texted my mom in class (Sorry Patty!), and went through all the work it took to get myself ready to leave for China!

My thoughts about going to China are: For starters, WHAT AM I THINKING?! Yes, I can’t wait to leave, experience new things, meet new people, and of course be in a different culture/ country! Really?! Why in the world did I decide that CHINA!!! was the place for me? Don’t the Chinese eat cat and dog for dinner or for snacks? Won’t they look at me funny for being American? Will I “fit in”?! Am I going to disrespect anyone? What happens if I end up in jail?! All these thoughts are running through my mind… Most importantly, if I get hurt or lost, how am I going to communicate with someone to a.) tell them I’m hurt or b.) have them help me find my group? Like I said, I can’t even communicate to receive the most basic needs for survival. I really don’t think my Spanish will come in handy either… oops!

The things I really looking forward to are: The Great Wall, like in reality, how many people do you know that have been on The Great Wall?! Me personally, I know like 2 people! So, I can’t wait to be one of those people to say they have been there, walked on it, and hey, maybe I’ll sneak some of it home! Patty keeps raving about this Lotus Root, so I can’t wait to try it! I’m a little apprehensive, I mean it’s the root of a plant that sits in swamp water. Do you really think that sounds good?! I won’t believe it until I see it, but going to the jungle where they filmed Avatar will be breathtaking! We’ll see how much of it actually looks real or if it was just CGI! Of course I can’t wait to connect with all the people that are going on this trip with me! I mean, we are going to be practicing Tai Chi with a grand master and his group from England! I’m also really looking forward to practice Tai Chi!

Well, here goes nothing! I’m leaving on a jet plane! I’m heading to China to create memories, live in the moment, and take it all in!

The Great Wall

This is what I think all of the little villages we go to will look like.

Goodbye America! Hello China!

Nice and Eze

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Kacy Helwig

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.

¡Baile!

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Hannah Williamson

I have fallen in love in Lima, Peru, with the music and dancing that is 😉

Reggeaton is very popular here and so fun to dance to. Before coming here I did not know how to dance…I could dance the way most college girls can dance, but nothing like what they do here. No matter what night of the week it is, you can go to a dance club and there will be awesome music and people dancing.

I found a website that lists all the Peruvian radio stations and you can listen to them from your computer. I love this because not only does it make it so you are more familiar with some of the songs you hear about the club but I have noticed I am hearing more Spanish words and terms that are more frequently used than words and phrases that I already know. There is a big music festival coming up called Creamfields. It is a weekend event that is outdoors and it is all techno type, I am really looking forward to that!

Week 3 Change and Goodbyes

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Quil

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

Pre-Departure

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Tate Sanders

Well, less than one week till I leave for Ormskirk England. Although I am uncertain of my overall feelings, I know (and been told by many others even more vehemently) I need to get away from Oregon and the United States. Start fresh and get a new perspective on things. Find my own way and perhaps find opportunities I would never have thought possible.

I have been to the UK once before, but it was basically a flyby trip, amounting to three weeks of buses and dashing through important sights. In Ormskirk, I will get more of the small town feel, which is far more what I am looking for. Big cities are ok for small spurts, but being out in the country with ‘realer’ people is more to my liking.

Can’t wait to see my godfather in his own land of Northern Ireland, home to the Ulstermen. That should be interesting and a treat, as I only see him once every two or three years here in America.

To everyone else preparing to leave, all the best and look forward to hearing from you on the blog and when we return home.