Monthly Archives: May 2011

Pre-Trip

Hello to all!

First I wanted to thank you guys for taking the time to follow me on this adventure. I leave in about 30 days and there is still so much to be done! I am trying to figure out what to pack, my courses, my living arrangements, and travel goals. Its alot more planning than I thought, haha! Those who know me well also know I am not a light packer, so the packing in itself should be interesting! Since the climate is almost opposite i’ll have to take into consideration i’ll be entering winter in NZ. (NZ has a rather mild climate, it never gets below 45 degrees, or higher than 75 degrees)

I will be living in Wellington, New Zealand, which is the capital! There are many awesome YouTube videos you can find which have great video clips of the city and all it holds, so definitely look those up! The unviersity I will be attending is University of Victoria, which is home to four campuses and about 35,000 students. As I was looking on the school website they have all kinds of things for students. Theres over 30 sports teams and 60 clubs, so there’s no shortage of ways I can get involved and meet new people. Also as I was reading up on other PSU students who are currently abroad in Wellington its getting me so excited to see how gorgeous the city is! Travel Travel Travel!! Apparently every weekend i’ll be able to find a huge fresh fruit open market and along the harbor which is like a five minute walk from my flat, there is a large fish market where you can buy freshly caught whole fish (I believe they sell about twenty different types). Already im pumped!

There is truly so much I want to accomplish by taking this trip. I’ve wanted to study abroad for quite some time but I never felt like I was ready to do it, but nowI am truly ready to take on this adventure. I am so thankful to my parents for financially making these dreams happen and I am so eager to learn how God is going to mold me for the better through this tripl I hope to grow more independence for starters. Going to a foreign country alone and allowing myself to be open and immersed in a new culture is surely going to be life changing. I just want to try new things! Sometimes I feel like I get to used to my little “life bubble” that I dont take enough time to venture into areas of life which are out of my comfort zone. I truly feel this area of my life is going to be changed greatly for the better and I cannot wait!

I hope to blog about three times a week and add lots of pictures, videos, links, etc. I can’t wait to tell you all about my trip as I near closer and I hope you will all enjoy reading! I hope to be as reflective as I can being that this is a memory I hope to be able to read back upon. Thanks for your support!

Love you all!!

Erin Sterner

Location: Pennyslvania, United States

August 23rd Can’t Come Soon Enough!

Hello All!

My name is Alison Pavilonis and I will be a fourth year architecture student in the Fall semester traveling to Italy to live and study in Rome!! In only 12 weeks, 5 days, and 10.5 hours!! (Can you tell I’m counting down?) Right now I am living at home in New Kensington, PA (near Pittsburgh) and saving up money so that I can live somewhat extravagantly while abroad (by a college student’s standards.)

I think it is finally starting to sink in that I will be in Europe for the next semester because today I booked my hostel for my trip to Oktoberfest in Munich!! (They do their dates backwards.)

Much to my surprise, it is actually not in October but begins in the middle of September! I will be traveling there September 16 and believe it or not I still had a hard time booking a hostel this far in advance! Although I’m planning to stay for the entire weekend, I could only find a room for Friday night! I’m wondering if this is going to be a hint as to how traveling will be on a budget. It should be an interesting experience to say the least! I’m sure that there will be more to come on this particular adventure.

Until August 23rd when I fly out I will be making lists upon lists of what to pack (yes, I’m one of those people) and getting more and more excited!! On a final note…

Location: New Kensington, Pennsylvania

Weekend at Xitou

This past weekend, I went with my aunt on her company vacation. Every year, Taiwanese employers give the company a certain sum of money that the company must use on their employees. Most companies use the money for company vacation in which most or all of the expenses of the employees are already paid for. My aunt’s company decided to go to 溪頭 [xi tou]. We left early Saturday morning and took a small rented tour bus down. There was karaoke and movies on the bus. I was surprised because we watched Thor. That movie recently just came out in Taiwan so I didn’t think it would be out so soon. I think the tour guide PPS-ed it. Hahahahahaha!

We stopped by 紫南宮 on the way to 溪頭. It’s a temple that’s famous for bringing wealth to the people who go there. Those who go can borrow money, around 600 NT (around $18-ish), from the 土地公 to invest in some kind of money making business or investment. When a profit is made with that money, borrowers will repay the sum along with a little offering. Generally, the rule is whether you make a profit or not, you should repay the money within a year. When my aunt’s co-worker went to borrow some money though, she found out that she didn’t repay her debt from about 10 years ago. So she had to repay that debt before taking out another loan. While we were there, we saw a man who would take sticks and knives and beat himself, drawing blood out. Where his blood fell on the ground, people would spread paper money which would later be burned. I forget what you call the people who do this but basically, they believe that while they’re doing this, they aren’t completely themselves, there’s a spirit or someone else that’s within them so when they get beaten and cut, they aren’t really hurting themselves. It was a little hard to understand but it was something like that.

The temple

The place where you can borrow money from the 土地公

After the temple, we visited the 5 Star Restrooms of the area. The building was built to look like bamboo shoots because the area is famous for the bamboo and sweet potatoes. I didn’t think there was anything particularly special about the bathroom besides the architecture and design of the building…and that it was cleaner than most restrooms in Taiwan.

Later that day we went to 竹山天梯. We had to climb a million stairs and climb a billion hills to finally get to the 天梯 which was basically a suspended bridge. It started to rain when we were halfway to the bridge. Though very uncomfortable, the whole trip was an adventure and I like adventures. The view was also a sight to behold. I was unable to capture the beauty of it all on camera but these things are usually best experienced in person anyways. I almost died on the bridge though. It was amazingly slippery on the bridge so I almost fell twice. I’m surprised people were still allowed to go out with such bad weather but I’m glad I did.

That night we stayed at 米提大飯店, a 5 star hotel in Taiwan. The moment we pulled up in front of it, it felt so familiar to me though I was sure that I never stayed there before. It looked a lot like the hotel in a drama I recently watched called “幸福最晴天.” I wasn’t sure the whole time I stayed there even though the feeling kept getting stronger and stronger. I finally confirmed it when I came home Sunday and checked online. So if you ever watch the drama, well, I was there. 🙂

Location: Xitou, Taiwan

3….2….1….Take-off? not quite :D

I’m horrible with letters… I feel like that is something I should tell everyone right now. I do love telling stories though. And this is a story about a girl named Megan (That would be me :D) and her chance to explore the world (London to be more specific)…

Before i get any further I’m going to apologize, yes i love telling stories – but i ~~kinda~~ suck at it… *shrugs* that’s life for ya.

But yeah, I’ve been honored with the chance to go to another country; more specifically another continent (for the first time in my life) and I couldn’t be happier! On the other hand, I couldn’t be more nervous! I’m starting to worry that I’ll gain more gray hairs then my gram before I even leave for Boston tomorrow…KIDDING…I’m a little too young for that 😛 . But seriously, this is a chance in a life time for me, and the fact that I get to express it lyrically (…okay maybe not so much lyrically but a girl can dream right? haha ;]) what I experience; well honestly, it blows my mind. The Fact that I get to study Theatre and British Literature while I’m there? -Well if I knew what came after “it blows my mind” that’d be what’s going on right about here. So bastically, It’s a dream come true!

Now, not that any of you needed to know, but I still have to pack and I only have minus-24-hours to do so before I leave for BOS; so I wish all the best to everyone everywhere; and to the rest of the GeoBlogers from PSU (and to any person studying abroad) I hope you see everything to wish to see, taste every unique dish that is placed in front of you, embrace the differences, and that you learn, and live, and BE everything you’ve ever wanted while there…. And most importantly, I hope that you achieve everything you set out to achieve.

N�hd��n pian Lontooseen! (See you soon London!) 😀

Location: Newport, New Hampshire

Puerto Rico: Isla del Encanto (Island of Enchantment)

I cannot believe that an entire week has passed since we arrived in Puerto Rico. At the same time, I have no idea how we fit our entire agenda of outings and day trips into seven days. The first couple days we explored our local small town of Rio Piedras and the campus of the University of Puerto Rico. We also began our classes on Thursday and Friday of last week. However, the weekend was completely academic-free as we visited Old San Juan and El Yunque Rainforest. Our first stop was a historic fort called “El Morro” which means “the hill” in Spanish.
The construction of the fort started in 1539 and was authorized by King Charles V of Spain to protect Puerto Rico from any competing nations. The island was very strategically placed due to being at the entryway to the Caribbean. Although the fort was attacked multiple times by British ships, Spain miraculously maintained control of the island for hundreds of years until eventually selling it to the United States.
After the fort, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at a local restaurant. We have already noticed that in Puerto Rico, you must be prepared to have rice and beans as a side dish! We then walked around Old San Juan and saw local houses, the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista (where the remains of Juan Ponce de Leon are buried), and the Capital Building.
The Ben and Jerry’s of Old San Juan. =)
I have so many more pictures on my facebook page of Old San Juan and the fort. If you would like to see them, add me as a friend “Kathryn Elizabeth Clark” and include in the message something about the geoblog.

On Sunday, we went to El Yunque Rainforest, and we definitely experienced some rain! We took a two hour hike to the top of the main mountain and then explored an area with a large waterfall. We were actually able to swim at the bottom, which was such a neat experience! Pictured below is our group at the Waterfall at El Yunque. There will be much more information to come as I have the time!

Location: Viejo San Juan, Puerto RIco

Shopping and Laundry

Is it sad that my happiest moment so far in Spain was shopping in a store that looked like H&M and smelled of Abercrombie? Today I FINALLY went shopping and it was amazing! The first store we went to was a Spanish one called Stradivarius and I absolutely loved it. The clothes were all so cute, seemed to be of great quality, and weren’t too expensive! I was so happy as I browsed the store and I felt SO at home with the cute clothes, American music, and potent Abercrombie-esque perfume. I know that I’m supposed to be experiencing very Spanish things, but I really needed that retail therapy and realized how much I missed shopping. I was really good though! I only bought 3 things all afternoon and only spent 38 euros. I was pretty proud of myself because Ginny spent almost 150. I cannot wait to get more Spanish clothes. Before I left, I told myself that I would be spending my money on experiences like food and travel rather than commodities… but I think I’m going to buy lots of clothes anyway and just not shop for literally a year once I get back to the States! It’s pretty easy to not shop in State College anyways; I have barely bought any clothes for the past 9 months.

I also did laundry for the first time here. In Spain, we don’t really have dryers. We hang our clothes on clotheslines (often on the roofs of apartment buildings) and I actually had fun because I was singing in the privacy of a rooftop courtyard while securing my clothes to metal lines with clothespins. Since the sun is so strong, my clothes didn’t take long at all to dry, but they did come out a little stiff. I think the stiffness was caused by sunlight (no idea how) because I dried one shirt in my room and it was still soft after it dried.

Location: Sevilla, Spain

Mission Complete

Immediately following my experiences in China, I’ve spent 21 days in the motherland of South Korea. I spent most of my time staying with different relatives and eating delicious Korean foods, but did some interesting things like going to Jejudo, the Korean version of Hawaii, and Lotteworld, the Korean version of Disney World.

So this is my last official day abroad. I wish I had more to talk about on such an important day, but I kind of don’t. Its bittersweet to say the least, but in truth I’m all Asia-ed out at this point. I miss green money, relatively low population density, and the abundance of cheese.

Cultural similarities between China and Korea is great. I think this is because a lot of Korean culture is derived from the Confucian notion of respect and lifestyle. There are things like respecting the elders, gender roles of men as workers and of women as house people and the like. However, Korea is also very westernized too. I would describe it as almost fully modernized with lots of flourishing industries with some trickles of Confucian culture remaining in everyday interactions. I think it was a good transition between China and going back to the United States.

After successfully enduring 4 straight months of super intense Chinese, I thought Korean would be a piece of cake to catch up on during my 3 weeks here. I was mistaken. Korean is pretty hard too. The alphabet system is a lot more straightforward than the Chinese character system, but everything sounds the same and all the letters look the same. I’ve found I had a hard time memorize new words at the speed at which I was able to memorize Chinese words. But maybe this is because in Korea I was just chilling and in China I studied the hardest I’ve ever studied in all my life. In any case, I bought a bootlegged copy of a Korean drama called Secret Garden in China with Chinese subtitles, so maybe I’ll be able to practice my Korean listening and Chinese reading simultaneously.

I hate the prices here. It’s so similar to American prices, it’s almost disheartening. I hate currency rates and their constant fluctuations that makes me regret not exchanging all my foreign cash earlier (and possible saving $30!!). But travelling is good for the mind. I feel like I understand the world more and would like to embrace the culture differences rather than squirm at it idea. Cup successfully emptied and refilled.

Location: Kimpo, South Korea

Labyrinths y La Catedral

I am. So. EXHAUSTED!! I left at 9:30 this morning to go to class and was out all day till just now (6:45pm), and I have to leave again in 15 minutes. Since we walk everywhere, it takes a long time to go everywhere and on my way home, my feet are always killing me! It doesn’t help either that the sidewalks are not paved. I love Sevilla though, I’m already starting to get a sense of the city, and sometimes I can go home without getting lost!! Haha, it sounds bad, but that’s actually kind of impressive. This city is just so crazy because there are no straight streets and clear-cut intersections. You can’t really say “take the second left and then the first right” because there are probably 3 lefts and 2 rights spread out over a plaza. Also, their street signs are written on buildings rather than on posts at intersections like ours; they are typically at the ends of streets so if your intersection hits the middle of a street, sometimes you can’t even tell what street it is. Before I came here, I thought I had a good sense of direction, but boy is this place hard to navigate.

We had a tour of the Catedral and Giralda today and the view of Sevilla was so beautiful from La Giralda (the famous tower of the cathedral). The Catedral in Sevilla is the 3rd largest cathedral in the world and it took 400 years to build so there are all sorts of architectural styles inside, it’s really cool. From the top of the tower, you can see the whole city. The main part of Sevilla (El Centro) really isn’t that big, you can probably walk from one side to the other within 45 minutes. Last summer, I thought that I walked a lot in Tokyo, but we also took the the train a lot to different parts of the city. Here however, we literally walk everywhere.

After the Catedral, Ginny and I went to the Universidad de Sevilla to interview some Spanish students for our Spanish class and it was so much fun! I was apprehensive at first, but all the students were really friendly and I loved talking to them! I was also really impressed with myself that I could actually understand most of what they were saying! Then on the way home Ginny and I talked completely in Spanish. I have improved so immensely in just the past few days, it’s amazing. I really hope that I can become almost fluent by the time I go home! And it’s SO much fun to talk in Spanish!

La Giralda

Inside La Catedral

View from the tower

Catedral from the outside

Location: Sevilla, Spain

Classes started already!

Hey everyone! I’m really excited for my classes this semester so I wanted to share them with everyone already. I’ll also be traveling to Rome and Cinque Terre this weekend so I won’t have a chance to update. I am studying Architecture: Villas and Gardens, and Cross-cultural Psychology at Palazzo Rucellai. The school is amazing! This is one of my classrooms.

In my architecture class we have on-site lessons every day! Most sight visits are within Florence and walking distance from the school such as to Palazzo Medici, Palazzo Davanzati, and more. We also have trips taht we have to take busses to that are outside the city suc has the Medici Villas, and Fiesole. On the first day of class we had a course introduction and then went to tour Palazzo Rucellai and Palazzo Strozzi. The following picture is from the courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi and is absolutely breathtaking in person.

The picture doesn’t do it justice, and I imagine I’ll be experiencing this a lot this semester! In my cross-cultural psychology class, we did many interactive excercises to get to know each other and compare the Italian and American cultures. My professor is Austrian and slightly difficult to understand but he has a great humor and I imagine he’ll make the topics very interesting! Don’t take this post wrong though. My classes will be very interesting but I think they will also be very difficult.
I also have gotten a lot more sight seeing in. Here are some pictures of Florence.
The Piazza Della Republicca:

Sant’Ambriogio Market: an open air market that is definitely your best bet for groceries and more! It’s cheap and fun to immerse yourself into the Italian culture. Many locals go here so it is easy to pick up on the language and cultural cues.

Piazza San Croce:

Picture of the shops of Ponte Vecchio: These shops are beautiful and festive. They are mostly shops filled with fine gold jewelry and other valuables. In the center of Ponte Vecchio you have a beautiful photo opportunity where the shops split and while you’re at it you can fill up your drink bottles at the fresh spring!

I have to get going so I’ll put up an update of my weekend traveling as soon as possible!
Ciao a tutti!

Location: Via Della Vigna Nuova, Firenze, Italy

Welcome to Mexico!

Wow. So, my first weekend+ has come and gone in Puebla, and I feel like I’ve been here forever! Thursday’s travels went smoothly, but to get from Bethlehem to Puebla seemed to take ages. At this point, I don’t even know where to begin, so I’m just going to roll with a quick overview of a few of the most notable/ my favorite things so far.

The city itself. Yeah. I’m a bit of a history nerd, so, while I don’t know too much about the history of Puebla yet (and my Spanish and memory capacity aren’t too grand either), I absolutely LOVE the buildings. The old, the new, the colors, the styles. This city reminds me aesthetically of Spain, but it has a whole different feel to it. I love it. This is not the palm-lined, beachy Mexico of the movies or tourist trade; it’s not the violent, gritty Mexico that the news so loves. It’s just a real place with real personality.

My family/ house. I feel so spoiled here. I’ve got my own room, a bathroom to myself, and there’s Wi-Fi! I’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with them, and this weekend they took me to see a lot of the sights of Puebla! My Mom is so doting and caring; she’s constantly trying to feed me delicious food, which can be a catch-22 because the more I eat, the fuller I feel, and therefore the less I can eat. My Dad is very funny. He’s always trying to sneak English into the conversation so he can practice, too, and I love listening to him talk about the history of Mexico. My brother and sister are both great; they’re both very witty but also both very friendly and patient. Oh- and Benny the Chihuahua? Adorable!

I also enjoy (sort of) the fact that I am terrible at conversing in Spanish but it’s okay! Most of the time I just sit and listen to my family as they talk to one another, and I feel like I have a general idea of what’s going on. But then, of course, they’ll ask me something, and I’ll sit there like a complete idiot, trying to stammer out something- anything- that makes sense. I have the vocabulary of a four-year-old right now, but I feel like things are starting to register a lot more quickly even after just 4 days. I’m sure it will improve, but I wish it would improve faster.

We had Orientation at La Universidad Iberoamericana de Puebla today; it’s a lovely campus! A LOT smaller than Penn State, but it has plenty of lovely places to relax or study and lots to offer. I’ll be sure to take some photos and talk about it more soon; even though we had homework tonight, classes officially start tomorrow. I keep forgetting that I actually have to do work, but I’m sure with my lineup of classes, it will be interesting to keep up with!

Nos vemos! (PS: Photos, in order, are of: a street in downtown Puebla, The Cathedral of Puebla, another church– the name escapes mem sorry– next to the hotel we stayed at (and whose roof I was on), a view of Puebla from the highest point in the city, a Mejica dance in a park, a market close to the Bario de Artistas downtown)

Location: Puebla, Mexico

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