Home at Last

Posted on September 8, 2013 by Kevin Kronenfeld

I arrived in the USA around 230 pm. It was a weird moment to be finally back in the US and seeing my family. The way time moved and the how everybody interacted seemed really foreign to me. What do I care, I was back home with a nice slice of American pizza in my belly.

For me to compare India to America is like trying to compare an entity that is totally different from the other. Both are countries and have people in them but the way people interact and talk to each other is totally different.

I am just feeling elated that I am finally back in states!

Before leaving to France

Posted on September 8, 2013 by Fabiola Rivera

Pre-departure was a very difficult journey for me. I had so many obstacles for having issues with my passport, getting my visa, to getting my computer, money and phone stolen; it was really bad. Fortunately, I overcame every one of those obstacles.

It was hard to pack my belongings because I wanted to bring everything with me. I like brought 10 pairs of shoes because I knew I was going to do a lot of walking and odds are that I will probably buy more over here. Then I know french people dress different than Americans in the sense where they dress with more casual/formal. You wouldn’t find someone going to the store in their pajamas and t-shirt. Actually, I don’t think I have seen a woman wear a t-shirt at all. Like in the US I always wear my shorts and t-shirts all the time and it is hard because I wont really be able to do that over here, of course, unless I want to stand out as an American which I really don’t. Besides, I am doing an internship so I have to look professional. So I pretty much packed all dress shoes and boots. dresses and dressier shirts. But no jeans because last time I was hear, I don’t remember seeing a lot of people wearing jeans.

Saying good bye was hard. I didn’t think it would be that way. I thought I was prepared to say goodbye but I was wrong. I know I am going to go back but three and a half months is quite far away. It was very painful to say good bye to my mom and to my boyfriend. For a moment I began to have second thoughts of leaving.

Since I had already been in France, I already knew what to expect for the most part. I knew I was going to see beautiful monuments and a lot of old buildings. The streets where going to be more narrower and the cars smaller a lot of motorcycles/mopeds, crazy drivers too. For the meals, well I expected bread and wine for sure, oh and cheese which is not my favorite whatsoever. I like cheese but not french cheese. I am not expecting a whole lot of different things from what I had previously seen. I am hoping to see a lot of new places, meet a lot of people and make the best out of this internship abroad.

Last Days

Posted on September 8, 2013 by Kevin Kronenfeld

As I prepare to go home I think of the expectations I had in the beginning and what they are now. I believe that somethings have changed but they were not the expectations, but it was me that changed. I was the one that grew by immersing myself in a culture that I fully did not comprehend, but I still jumped in with two feet. That is why I have come to a point at the end of my journey where I realize that good things will always be there even if you are not there presently. Its what you keep in your heart and mind that the events that I experienced that I will keep forever.

One of these moments was meeting the two Delhi University students at my internship. Their names are Smiridi and Puja. We always joked around but we always knew that we had to be serious when it came to our work. So their were times where we got into intensive talks about global governance and public policy in India.

Then there were the interns from the state of Gujarat. Their names were Dharmavirsingh, Bhargov, and Jatin. We also used joked around and we always had a good time. There was not a time that one of us was not laughing.

Then there was Manda who worked for the organization. She was the livelihood coordinator who took me on day trips to places where the organization was doing livelihoods. She taught me that that sometimes the best way to do something is to test it out, even if you did not do know what you were doing. She never said this specifically but she always strived for this goal, because she loved what she was doing.

Lastly are my advisors. Their names are Amit Khedkar and Dr. Sudha Kothari. They were the two that guided me though the project that I was working on. Since this was a new idea for the organization they also were learning. They always pushed me to come up with new solutions that could be developed through this volunteer project.

Lastly, I want to give myself a pat on the back. Not to sound self conceded, but I feel I have gained so much more then I actually put into this project. That is why I find solice in coming home because I feel that I have grown as a human being for what India has taught me.

Going Home

Posted on September 7, 2013 by Mario Barba Jr.

Well what can I say. These six weeks and flew by and I honestly don’t know where the time went. I know its cliche but its like a blinked and it was gone. Although I do miss my family and I hope that everything flight ways goes as smooth as possible. I know that there are somethings that can go wrong and I just really don’t want to deal with any crazyness tomorrow so fingers crossed that all goes well. I will be arriving back in Portland saturday at 8:30pm meaning that I have a 14 hour trek home but I am ready. I will miss my host mom and her family the most out the entire trip. They did a great job in making me feel at home and I know that they will miss me as much as I am going to miss them. I will forever remember them and hope to come back either next year or a little after. Queretaro is such a great place with a lot of culture and mexican history that I want to bring my family back. What I miss from home has to be my girlfriend, my family (mom, dad, sisters, nieces, nephews) Food, I haven’t been eating that many things in fear that I would get sick but after the 6 weeks I can say that I didn’t get sick once, but I’m ready to have me some pad thai for some reason I have been craving that for the past few weeks and I can’t wait to have it.
I do want to say that this stay has really opened my eyes culturally and I have the travel bug now. I know that after a few weeks at home and Ill be ready for my next big adventure. Although I hope my girlfirend could come with me next. It been a great six weeks and I’m sad its done but happy I’m going home. I’m happy from the memories I’ve made and I’ve made even better friends. I will miss them but know that they are only hours away from me.
Its been a great time Queretaro, See you soon.

Mario

Week 6

Posted on September 7, 2013 by Mario Barba Jr.

Well, well, well! The time has come where it is the last and final week. I can safely say that I am ready to go home, although dreading my 14 hour travel plans back home. I know it will all be worth it in the end. Well lets start off on Monday we were all dreading our final essays, presentations, and test which I had the pleasure of having all three. The only thing that kept me moving forward has been the fact that I will be back home by saturday night. My Señora has also been meaning to make some tamales with me since she didn’t know how to make them and I told her that I knew from my mom. So she asked me to write her a list of the things she needed to get and she would get them for me. Well monday she went and got all the things I needed and we made them on tuesday.

She also invited her sister and her brother in law and their 3 adult kids who are my señoras nephews who also brought their wifes and kids over to eat. They loved them! They turned out to be very good and I don’t think there were any left after the 100 plus that we made. They ate most of them and what was left where taken home to enjoy. I felt great being able to teach my señora how to make mexican food. Then I basically had to write two 5 pages essays 1 10 min speech and 1 final exam that I did pretty good at. Here in Mexico they have to show their students their final grade and if the student doesn’t agree with that grade then they can petition the grade. So today friday I had to go to all my classes and get my grades. I am happy to announce that I received two A’s and a B. I feel like I did a solid job this term and I am happy at my over all grades. Its been a great time but I am sure ready to go home. I only have a few more house here and I sure will miss it.

J’ai arrive!

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Kacy Helwig

So I woke up on Saturday super early , 4 am because I got a Charlie horse in my left leg and I couldn’t sleep. The time zone jet lag was causing havoc. I decided to hop online to talk to my people while I still had Internet access not knowing if my host would have it or not. Next thing I knew it was 6 and I was staying up to Skype Thad who was still at dinner with his work group for another half hour. I was tired I could tell but too excited and nervous to sleep. Finally I skyped and then took another nap until my alarm went off at 9:20.

Then I took another shower and got water all over the floor. By then it was only a few minutes and breakfast arrived. I happily ate it though i wasn’t hungry and then packed up my stuff and headed down to checkout. From there I took the shuttle to the airport to meet an IAU representative at 11. Only I didn’t know where to meet them.

So after 10 minutes of walking around I decided they weren’t there and that if they didn’t arrive in half an hour that I was going to go and call them. But then while I was standing there an older lady on the phone saw me and came over and started telling me she was from the college and stuff and that Madame Raibaud (my host) was so sad that I didn’t come stay with her for last night and that her son in law was going to come get me but that fell through so she was putting me on the bus to Aix and paying my ticket. She rushed me on and told me not to get off until I stopped twice paid my ticket and ran away.

So I sat on the bus while we drove out of Marseille looking like a total tourist as I took a bunch of pictures. But whatever. We stopped and I didn’t get off. And then once we got to Aix I wasn’t sure whether this was really my stop because I wanted to be totally sure.

The driver said it was so I hopped out and saw an older woman and a little ginger boy holding a sign with my name! We got my stuff out of the bus and Madame insisted on carrying one of my bags. Ginger headed Paul tried to help but was discouraged that my duffel was heavy but was delighted to find that my suitcase with four wheels could be pushed around. Once he got tired of that Madame and I both pushed it around stopping to lift it out of little storm drains or holes in the ground. Madame pointed out budings to me as we walked about 15 minutes to her house. It was also really hot and my vocal cords were starting to act up from carrying this heavy suit case up hills.

Once we turned onto Rue novembre Paul ran ahead to a man that I learned was Jean-Claude who is Paul’s dad and Madame’s son in law. But not because I guess they aren’t really married yet but they say they will be. He speaks some English so he started asking me how my trip was. We spoke English a bit and then Paul got mad so we switched back to French. Paul is probably like 7 or 8? They call him “Paul the Terrible” because he is a free spirit.

When we finished lugging my suitcase to the third floor (Paul, Jean-Claude and Madame’s daughter live below us) Madame insisted that we eat. Which as really not high on my want to do list since my stomach already wasn’t handling eating breakfast well. I begrudgingly said sure. We talked while she made lunch.

She asked me what I wanted to drink and I said whatever she had was fine. Then when she came and set the table she put a one liter bottle of absolute vodka on the table. And my bought was “ohhhh no this lady goes hard I do not want to do this.” And then she says ” it’s water” and I felt so much better!!! But I was still apprehensive drinking it! 🙂

She asked about what I like and don’t like. Then made me lunch which was tomatoes and mozerella, salad; and an avocado. Not wanting to be rude I tried to eat it even though I a) wasn’t hungry b) don’t want to be picky but I really can’t stomach tomatoes well at all. Avocados either but it is easier to chew those and not taste them than it is a tomato. So after trying to eat them and getting most of the avocado down I had two bites of tomato and my tag reflex kicked in and sold me out… I literally almost threw up… Which made me feel really bad because I was trying to be good about it. But she told me I didn’t have to eat it so I didn’t. I told her my stomach wasn’t adjusting very well and I wasn’t very hungry. She sort of understood. Then we went back into town and walked around. She showed me some buildings like the office de tourisme and the marie which is like the town courthouse. We also passed by a church that was super pretty and old looking and of course a lot of fountains.

We stopped at the monoprix which is like the only supermarket place in town, otherwise everything oh buy comes from a store that is specific to a type of product. There I bought soap and face wash, lotion, an adapter for euro plugs and toothpaste. We had to go to a pharmacy to get contact solution. After walking around we came back and I was so tired that I took a nap for 3 hours. Oops…

After that we had dinner which a was pasta with stuff in it. Really specific I know but I dunno what it was perhaps spinach stuff? Again I wasn’t very hungry and she told me that if I didn’t eat more I would come back skinny and my mother would say that I was never fed! After every meal she offers me fruit or cheese or something but I am always so full. But it is nice here.

After dinner we watched a really cool game show that I can only compare to the end part of Legends of the Hidden Temple but harder and one room at a time. The concept is that there is this big castle and the wizard has a treasure so you have to collect keys to unlock it by winning them doing all these crazy things in each room. It was really cool. And had no commercials for two hours! What! I wish American game who’s were like that. Anyways at the end they won 18k € which all go to charity so it is pretty cool.

After that we went to bed and I figured out how to get Internet for my iPod. So now I have communication again! My room:

Faby’s Introduction

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Fabiola Rivera

Hello everyone, my name is Fabiola but I usually go by Faby. I was born in a town in Guanajuato Mexico and at the age of three my family immigrated to Oregon. Since then, I have been living my whole live in the Salem area. I am the third child of my family and a first generation student. As a child I played soccer, basketball, and was in track. Also, I have been in band, orchestra, and theatre. I am currently a part of an Aztec dancing group where I have gotten the opportunity to know more about my culture in Mexico.

I graduated from McKay High School in June of 2010. At Mckay I took several French classes which lead me to going on a three week trip to France. Being in France I learned a lot of valuable things such as being independent, knowing how to communicate with my own group of people and others, and most importantly, I was able to improve my language by practicing and hearing it constantly while I was at a family stay for ten days. That was actually one of the reason why I decided to do an internship in France. I initially wanted to do a study abroad program but that didn’t work out so I decided to instead to an Internship. The internship is at the Office of International Relations at the University of Poitiers. Poitiers is a semi small city south of Paris. The other reason is because I just wanted to know how it felt to live in a different country and experience a completely different culture from my Mexican-American culture. Since I said that I had previously been here, I already knew how it was over here before I left. So a lot of what I will be experiencing wont be knew to me. Culture shock should not be that big of a problem.

I am now a senior at Western Oregon University in the process of completing a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences (CJ) and a minor in French. So, If everything goes well, I should be graduating this following spring. I am very happy to almost be done but at the same I can’t see my life not going to school. I am definitely interested in continuing to get my masters degree or to get into Law school.

My internship actually started this Monday but I wasn’t able to start the blogs earlier because there were a lot of other things I had to do for the internship that I almost forgot about the blogs. Since my computer was stolen I have no pictures of the last time I was here in France if not I would have posted them as well.

Well, I hope everybody is getting the most out of their stays abroad. Bonne chance a tous!

Week 5

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Mario Barba Jr.

What!! Only one more week to go! I can’t believe the time has come where I will be able to count the days left on one hand. Its been such a great experience and I have nothing but awesome memories. I am ready to go home though. Like I said I miss my family and my girlfriend. We have talked a lot the past few weeks and I’m glad cuz I think that time would have been so much longer and I wouldn’t have had such a great stay if I would have been homesick the entire time.
This week went by incredably fast and i’m a little happy about that. I will miss my mexico family but the teachers here are very hard to get and understand. The reason being is that they let us do our work and expect us to be able to do great work without needing specific guidlines but we all know that in the USA the teachers tell you how many pages the paper must be how many cites what kind of cites and they also tell you the font the spacing and even the margins for crying out loud but here they tell you to do a paper and then the questions start getting asked. “How long?” “What font?” “MLA format?” things like that. The teachers honestly let you do whatever you want as long as its good work. That’s something interesting I noticed during my time here in mexico.
This week we went to San Miguel Allende for our last trip before we are done. It was such a pretty place. Like all the places, although this place seemed more like the poster place for mexico. It has horses in the streets, marichi bands playing on every corner and awesome smelling food all over. It was honestly like what people expect from mexico shoved into a little block.
The cathedral was so big and pretty and to top it all off as we were walking by there was a wedding going on and the wedding party was walking out. It made for an awesome photo op.

There was also a really great taco place that had some awesome Micheladas which are beers with flavors and chili peppers. It was pretty awesome I enjoyed it. Some people didn’t like the flavor but I think they are good. Also you can’t knock it till you try it so go out and get yourself one.

We all stayed in a hostel and there was a women who was from Sweden and she was going to school in San Miguel to learn how to make jewelry. She spoke very good spanish and I talked to her about languages around the world and how the USA is falling behind because she knows 6 languages and she was only 27 years old. I told her how I wanted to be a bilingual teacher and she was excited for me and excited for the USA that they are starting to come around in their thought process.
We came home around 1 pm on sunday and I had a six page paper to complete by monday so thats how I spent my week. Very hectic for being a such a pretty place. I have had a lot of fun and I love my mexico family they are honestly the best!!!!

Explorations and Roma

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Ann

The second week in Siena passed by rather quickly. Between classes and exploring the city, I kept busy. One thing I can testify to is exploring Siena will get you in shape. I’ve lost eighteen pounds thanks to the steep hills and stairs of the city. Woot! Anyways, throughout the week I would get out of class and wander. The sun didn’t set until late in the evening so I always had plenty of time to see what was around the next corner.

I explored almost half of Siena during the week. It was fun to find a video store with titles that I recognized such as “Despicable Me,” “The Princess and the Frog,” and “Dragon Ball Z.” Myself and a few others explored the local market as well. It was like Denios at home in California. A huge flea market that can take a few days to travel if you visit every booth. We found everything from clothes and tools, to food and pets. I was looking around one of the pet shops and spent a few minutes debating bringing home a turtle. One, they were awesome. And, two, it would spite my brother since he loves them. I opted out though…I’m nicer than that…

Two of the booths at the market had a morbid sense of humor that I liked. One was a butcher’s shop with a decorated boar’s head on a shelf.

The other was a fish shop with a marlin’s head. The marlin’s “sword” wouldn’t fit in the display case so one of the workers decided to be clever and hooked up a power saw. He cut a hole in the display case for the fish head.

I laughed so hard at how proud he looked that he blushed. He then gave me a slab of salmon at no charge since I enjoyed his little show so much. The man told me to stop by his booth again next time I was there…I stopped. His name’s Giovanni…ok, moving on…

Here are some pictures I took throughout the week. Just some of the sights:

That weekend, all the study abroad students, our instructors, and a Deaf interpreter hopped on a bus and went to Roma (Rome). We visited the Colosseo (Colosseum), the Tevere (Tiber River), and Vatican City. The entire trip took all day. Literally, all day. We spent over twenty hours in Rome. We didn’t get back to Siena until 3am the next day. An exhausting but amazing trip.

First, we went to the Colosseum. Our Deaf interpreter was also our tour guide for the day so everything was in Italian Sign (LIS). In fact, it’s because of this that our LIS class was cut short. We spent all our class hours that were scheduled for the following week watching and discussing what we saw in Rome with the interpreter/guide and with each other. Our instructors were there so they saw how much we were learning and how involved we were making sure to only use LIS so they agreed that we more than fulfilled the requirements for the LIS class. We all liked this arrangement since it meant we got out of classes earlier and could explore Siena more. I don’t have any pictures of the interpreter because I recorded all her information lectures throughout the day. I’ve been using them to practice LIS.

I have learned so much about Italy that I want to share the information such as why the colloseum is missing pieces and where the original Vatican was before it was moved to Rome. Alas, I do not have the room to pour all my new-found knowledge here. However, such facts only make me want to travel more…ha ha, I’m never going to survive a desk job.

After one of the many short but intense rainfalls that are experienced during Italy’s summers, we took a bus across the border into Vatican city. Did you know that? Italy actually has two countries inside it. The Republic of San Marino and Vatican City. Yep, Vatican City is its own country. When we arrived at the Vatican Museum, we had to go through a security check just like at airports. X-rays, passport checks, the works.

Truth be told, I have so many pictures of the Vatican it’s ridiculous. But, everything was so pretty I couldn’t help myself. I’m only thankfull cameras have gone digital otherwise I would have needed a separate suitcase just for the film.

The details on every inch of every building, painting, and statue were astounding as well as thought provoking. Careful lines on a statue’s lips, gracefully sweeping arches standing over fifty feet tall, the complexity and attention to detail of every mural…I really have no words (nor will I wax poetically) for the shear power of the Vatican’s artistic embodiment. All I can do is share a few of the photos I was allowed to take and hope you see a glimer of what I saw.

A wooden, to-scale, model of Vatican City.

The most recent Pope’s temporary crypt. The public are not allowed near but you can see a man at the bottom working…this place is huge!

Me and a marble wolf…I wanted to bring him home with me…still do. He’s sitting just like my dog sits.

Something to mention here, Vatican City has its own army. These are some of the soldiers standing guard and this was as close as I could get.

The Sistine Chapel (Cappella Sistina). No pictures, no admittence if you had bare shoulders or knees (had to cover them up), no grouping together, and no talking (this includes sign language). Gaurds were constantly patrolling in there but it was really cool to see Michelangelo’s murals in a crowded room and hear my heart beating (it was amazingly quiet in there). One woman tried to get some shots and the gaurds got very…lets just say they weren’t happy. One told her she could delete the pics while he watched, let them wipe the entire memory, or give them the camera (no she wouldn’t get it back). Guess which choice she made hahaha. Come on people, show some respect!

That evening the whole group went down to the Tevere (Tiber River) for a big Deaf social with the local Romans. There was a radio staion there too. It was cool. Why was a radio station at a Deaf social? Because Italy is currently going through what America has already finished. A Deaf uprising for acknowledgement. For example, in America, hospitals are required by law to provide interpreters for Deaf patients. Not in Italy. In fact, in Italy, LIS is not recognized as a foreign language like ASL is in America. Worse still, the Italian government doesn’t even recognize LIS as a language period.

Tevere.

The radio staion, Radio Kaos Italy, is funded by the Deaf Italians in order to make Hearing individuals aware of their culture which has gone mostly ignored since WWII. It is mostly an online station since much of the music has videos with Deaf singers. Yes, you read right. Look it up and see it for yourself. It’s awesome!

The social with the local Romans lasted around three hours at which time we were all wiped. We eventually made it back to Siena and back to our apartments. Everyone slept like the dead that night and no one got up before noon the next day. Even after waking up, most people just moved to a different location and slept on. But, it was worth it.

Spain bound in just a few days

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Adaleni Lopez

Just a few days left in the states and I will be Spain bound. At this point I’m beginning to get a feeling of mixed emotions. From scared to beyond excited to experience such a wonderful opportunity. I don’t think it will all sink in completely until I am on my long 10 hour flight to Spain.

I think my host culture will be kind of like Mexico. I know there will be many differences between the U.S and Spain. Some of the things they do in Spain are quite different than those of the U.S. Something I’ve been learning about are siestas and how there are specific times to take naps in Spain and then the night life begins. Also that they eat their meals at times we may consider to be late.

In regards to the food I’m going in with an open mind. It’s all about trying new things. We will see what I discover. But I’m really excited to try gelato and churros con chocolate! yum!

Gelato

Churros con Chocolate

Although I do speak Spanish fluently I’m a bit nervous to be surrounded and live somewhere where all that is spoken is Spanish. Speaking Spanish will be a plus for me because I will be able to communicate well with others but I’m pretty sure the people in Spain speak a different Spanish than I so we will see just how different their Spanish is to mine.

Getting myself from place to place will all be by foot or public transportation. I’m excited to see the beautiful landscapes Spain has to offer and to see all the beautiful architecture and castles. I will visit Alcazar of Segovia and the Cathedral but I am really excited to be walking through the beautiful Aqueduct of Spain every day. I can only imagine how beautiful it will look in person.

What I will be walking through every day!

Alcazar of Segovia

Cathedral in Segovia

I can’t wait to live with my host mom because I know that will make a big difference to my experience. Soon I will be posting my arrival in Spain!