Week 5 in Vienna

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Reina Morgan

I am writing this on my last morning in Vienna. In 45 minutes I will be getting into a taxi headed back to the airport for a dreaded 17 hour flight. There isn’t a whole lot to report on for this last week. Mostly I rested and got over my sickness and studied for finals. Overall I think my finals went well. My German final was super relaxed and not like any other final I’ve ever had before. Our teacher even let us ask some questions and told us what some words meant! My Music History final was a lot more tough. I didn’t feel too great about it because there was so much material covered and it was all way over my head. My teacher gave me some really good comments on my other assignments this term though so I am sure that overall it will be fine. Last night we had a concert that all of the music students had to play in and I had a violin solo. I think the concert went really well and it was a lot of fun visiting with everyone after the concert for the last time. I think this was the first time that I was sad I’m leaving. It was hard saying good bye to my teachers and site directors. They were all really emotional and sad to see us leaving. Well I need to finish getting my stuff together now. I am excited to get home. My boyfriend will be picking me up from the airport and then the next day I’m off to a leadership conference where I’m being hopeful that I can do laundry and get sleep as well… I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their trip!

Argentina Week 4. Mostly a picture gallery this week.

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Lucas Ashland

This was my final week of taking Spanish intensive courses so I have been pretty busy cramming for the exams. The finals are worth around 75% of my grade so I have been pretty preoccupied making sure I am familiar with all of the material we have covered. I am excited because I will have an entire week off before I have another 4 weeks of intensive Spanish classes. My girlfriend is also going to show up for a week during my break to come visit me. I have been spending a lot of time trying to find her a nice hostel to stay at while she is here. I did a lot of shopping and walking around this week. Somehow the value of the dollar went from 7 pesos to 8 pesos this week so I thought it would be a good time to check out the markets. One of the markets I went to is called San Telmo and it’s in a very old part of Buenos Aires. Thousands of people come out to this market which stretches to about 20 or more blocks in length. I ended up buying only a few things, but I took several pictures of the booths that were there. We went to a second market with my advisor, but we traveled by taxi and I forgot the name it. It was really far west in Buenos Aires and it was a much more poor area of the city. I don’t really know how to organize all of the different thing I did this week so I’m just going to post a bunch of pictures with captions underneath them. ith all of the material we have covered. I am excited because I will have an entire week off before I have another 4 weeks of intensive Spanish classes. My girlfriend is also going to show up for a week during my break to come visit me. I have been spending a lot of time trying to find her a nice hostel to stay at while she is here.

I did a lot of shopping and walking around this week. Somehow the value of the dollar went from 7 pesos to 8 pesos this week so I thought it would be a good time to check out the markets. One of the markets I went to is called San Telmo and it’s in a very old part of Buenos Aires. Thousands of people come out to this market which stretches to about 20 or more blocks in length. I ended up buying only a few things, but I took several pictures of the booths that were there. We went to a second market with my advisor, but we traveled by taxi and I forgot the name it. It was really far west in Buenos Aires and it was a much more poor area of the city.

This building is known as the pink house and is located right next to San Telmo. The building is pink because it was made with a pink colored clay. I believe that this building has a similar significance to the White House in the United States.

A few of the more quirky market stalls in San Telmo

Below are some images from the second market I went to.

These bottles are everywhere here. They are used to make mineral water.

Meat on the street

This is some sort of game that was going on outside of the market. The jockey has a small pen that he has to stick through a small ring that dangles between two posts. I don’t know what the game is actually called but I call it the Lord of the Rings. Hundreds of people line up to watch this event.

Churros and other homemade pastries.

Dancing gauchos. I believe that these people are not in costume and are actually from the Argentine countryside.

They had a paintball range. This little guy was probably excited to be shooting a gun for the first time.

Funny “in case of emergency” items.

Area just outside of the market. The markets are completely packed with people on Sundays. It’s the place to be in Argentina.

I don’t really know how to organize all of the other things I did this week, so I’m just going to post a bunch of pictures with captions underneath them.

Not the best picture, but I found an amazingly big horse racing track in Buenos Aires a few miles away from where I live.

Probably the best/quirkiest thing I've eaten since I've been here. It's a triple waffle breakfast sandwhich with egg, cheese, bacon, avocado, ham and tomato.

Probably the best/quirkiest thing I’ve eaten since I’ve been here. It’s a triple waffle breakfast sandwich with egg, cheese, bacon, avocado, ham and tomato.

Mexico Pre Departure

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Study Abroad

Hello everyone!

Before I make my pre departure post I just want to introduce myself really quick. My name is Aaron Cole and I will be studying spanish in Queretaro, Mexico for 6 weeks. I picked this trip because I wanted to better my spanish skills, and I know that there is no better way to do that other than to go to be immersed in a spanish-speaking country. I am minoring in spanish, so this program is a really great opportunity to get some credits that I need and greatly improve my spanish. I know several other people who have done this trip in the past and I have heard nothing but great things about is, so I am really excited to go!

(I am especially excited about the food)

I am going up to Portland tonight and catching a plane tomorrow morning, so the moment of departure is finally here. The entire summer I knew it was coming, but it hasn’t really sunk in until now. Part of me still doesn’t really believe all the way that is it happening. I know I will get off the plane in Mexico City and be overwhelmed with all the spanish, but I will get used to it.

One of my goals for my time in Mexico is to look as little as possible like a gringo. I realize that this will be extremely difficult since I am really white with blonde hair and blue eyes, but I want to fit in as much as possible. I want to experience the culture from the inside rather than see it from the outside like a tourist.

I will try to blend in better than these guys

Now I think I will go spend the next 24 hours or so switching my mind over to spanish so that I’m not so culture shocked tomorrow.

Week 3!

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Kevin Kronenfeld

Week 3 can be summed up in a picture or two, but I cannot upload pics to this blog so I will try my best to explain what I experienced. This week, I traveled to a remote village in the valley called Kuda. Our group took a bus to get there and every time the bus passed some small towns it felt like we were going back in time. The more we made it into the valley, the less amenities there were. Once we got to the village–which was a farming village–we were transported back in time. There were farmers using oxen to plow the fields, and mothers using stone tablets to cook food on. Then there were farmers sewing the fields with rice. I even got to help them plant some rice. Like I said, we were transported back in time and it was a humbling experience. I got to see what most foreigners never see. Usually foreigners stay in the city and see tourist attractions. As for me, I rather skip all the tourist attractions and see how real people live and interact. The attractions will always be there to take pictures.

Other than traveling I have been hard at work at the internship.

Tending to the fields

Just walkin the oxen

It was raining pretty heavily

from the left: Bhargov, Jatin, Dharmavirsingh, Vinish, Manda

Just being happy

This is one of the interns named Bhargov

Workin real hard

Homeward Bound

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Reina Morgan

Tomorrow I play violin at a concert here in Vienna and the next morning I get on a plane headed back home! I think for the most part my experience has been close to what I expected it to be, though I did not expect so many things to be done differently here. I have never really traveled before so I didn’t have a good idea of what to expect. I also have to say that I had a harder time adjusting to life abroad than I thought I would and I don’t think I ever fully became comfortable with life here.

I have really enjoyed my time in Vienna but I am very excited to be back home. I am really going to miss the incredible architecture and the great pastries! I am looking forward to knowing where I am and not having a language barrier to deal with all the time. I am so very excited to see my boyfriend, my horse, and my family.

Week #2

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Ayat Sexton

Oh my goodness! I’ve been so busy I totally spaced writing in this blog! I keep a journal though so I’ve been keeping track of everything I’ve been doing! I absolutely love my family here and I don’t even want to think about leaving soon. Let’s see….we’ve had a bunch of activities going on after school. We went to cooking class but that wasn’t at all what we were expecting because it was at the same restaurant where almost everyone got sick from the food. I did get sick. Went to the doctor when I thought I wasn’t feeling well and he said he thought I had appendicitis or maybe some ovarian cysts. I freaked out. I had to go get blood drawn for the first time in my life…in Mexico. But I’m fine! No appendicitis as far as my blood test goes! A couple days later I actually got sick from food poisoning so I just slept all day. I’ve met quite a few people here through my ESOL class and I’ve been hanging out with some of them and helping them with english! I’ll explain in Spanish and talk in Spanish and they’ll reply in English! It’s actually really fun for me to teach them even though it’s difficult! They’ve been telling me that I don’t even need Spanish classes because I speak so well and understand a lot which is good to hear! I don’t exactly agree because there are still a lot that I don’t know. We’ll see how the rest of this trip goes! I’m having fun though!

Week Three!

Posted on July 21, 2013 by Joshua McGraw

This week was very fun, but also very tiring! During the weekend (last weekend) the group and I went to Mexico City. Mexico City reminds me a lot of New York, everyone always moving, the city coming to life after dark, people dressed nicely… With saying this, Mexico City I would have to say was (so far) my least favorite place on this program. There was just too much packed into such a short time. My favorite place was the Frida Kahlo Museum, in my past Spanish Classes I was taught a lot about Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, so to be able to actually see their house and their art work, was just amazing. The other place that we went to was Teotihuacan. This place was just amazing, the history that is held deep in the walls of the places and the work that went into creating these enormous structures was just amazing. Climbing the Pyramid was an amazing experience as well! I am just so overwhelmed with how nice the people are here and how willing they are to help you find where you are going or help fix the way that you said something, if it was wrong. Some friends and I got a little lost this last week looking for our school and we ran into this very nice man who was walking in that direction and was willing to show us where to go…later we realized that he miss understood us and took us to the opposite university, but it was still nice of him, and we also got a chance to communicate with another local! My uncle was here these past 5 days just visiting and that was so amazing! Im glad that he was able to be here, because his host was able to recommend places to eat and visit, giving me an advantage of knowing more areas! I also now have more friends in Queretaro, for future visits! Any ways its getting late here so this is all for now! 🙂

Introduction: Courtney Barrett (China)

Posted on July 21, 2013 by Courtney Barrett

Hello!

My name is Courtney Barrett, I wanted to take the time to introduce myself to the WOU study abroad blog. In just 2 weeks I will be leaving for China to study Traditional Chinese Medicine! I chose to travel to China because their culture is completely different from ours; China is a country with so much history, culture, and tons of people. Ever since I was little my dad often traveled to China on business, I was always so fascinated with the currency they use and the special desserts he would bring back. It has been a dream of mine to study abroad and now I get to travel to the country I most desire. I am thrilled for the opportunity and I cannot wait to share my experiences!

Thanks! I will be posting again in one week right before I depart!

Week 3!

Posted on July 20, 2013 by Courtney Daniel

Week three is just about over! Classes have been a little stressful lately but I’m pulling through. Being here is difficult but so much fun! I love the city of Querétaro and am thrilled that I get to spend the day with my host family! We’ve been continuing to go nonstop and today has been so relaxing which I needed.

Mexico city was interesting last weekend. It is a huge city! I’ve never been in such a crowded area so that was an experience in itself. It was so different than Querétaro and it was fun while I was there but I was thrilled to go back to my host family. In Querétaro I feel safer and more relaxed than Mexico city but the museums we visited were really neat!

Last night most of the people in our group went to a professional fútbol game. I had a blast! It’s not a sport that I typically watch but being in the stadium with the die hard fans made the experience unforgettable! I’m so glad I went and would do it again!

Today I’m hoping to go do some shopping so I have some gifts to bring home to my family and boyfriend! 🙂 Then tomorrow we’re going to a water park! I’m hoping it’ll be supper sunny and warm the whole time we’re there!

Well time for me to do some homework, shop, and visit with my family!!

Week 4 in Vienna

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Reina Morgan

I have been noticing some things around Vienna that would never happen the same way in the US. For instance they do road work with traffic still flowing by basically figuring out what to do and where to go on it’s own without any flaggers or detours or anything. They have also been doing a lot of work on and near the sidewalks and they will have people working giant machinery while pedestrians walk right beside it and it isn’t blocked off at all. Giant CAT claws will swing right by your head and machines will be lifting things up in the air and they just keep letting people walk through while this is happening and most of the workers don’t wear helmets or protective gear of any sort. This has been pretty shocking to me since in the US we constantly see road work areas barricaded off and people showing you exactly where you can and can’t go, while here it seems like they basically let people figure it out on their own.

This week I have been a lot more focused on violin and classes as the program is nearing its end so I need to prepare for finals and a concert I have to perform in. A couple of days ago my German teacher took us on an excursion to an apartment in Heiligenstadt that Beethoven lived in. While he was living in this apartment he finished his 2nd symphony and some piano sonatas and variations.

View from Beethoven’s window

Beethoven’s apartment

After we left Beethoven’s house we went to a cute restaurant and got some wiener schnitzel!

We ended our day by going to the tree circle of life in the Vienna woods. It is a big circle made up of a bunch of different types of trees. We all walked around and found the trees that corresponded with our birth date and they have a plaque in front of the trees that talk about the characteristics of people who were born then. My tree, the kiefer, is in this picture.

After we left the tree circle we walked on a long trail through the Vienna woods that led back into the town where we could get on a streetcar to get back home. Also, last week we went inside the Votivkirche (Votive Church) but I forget to include a picture of it then!

Those were the most significant things that happened since my last post. Unfortunately I have become sick so I missed classes yesterday and today I am actually supposed to be in Salzburg right today and tomorrow but I ended up staying home. My site director didn’t think it made any sense for me to go if I would just be miserable and she said that being surrounded by people and walking long distances in the sun would only make me feel worse and I think she is definitely right. Staying behind was a really hard decision because I so badly wanted to be there, but when I woke up this morning I didn’t even feel like going to the subway station let alone on a train for 3 1/2 hours followed by touring places all day long. When I went to the store today to get some tea and soup I realized I had made the right decision because the store is very close to where I live and when I got back I was absolutely exhausted and my throat was bothering me and I kept coughing really badly so there’s no way I could have had a good time there. It is better that I rest and heal before my finals and my concert!