Tag Archives: family

My Kind of Town

 

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Last week I had a break after completing our midterms. It felt like a spring break because in my mind I’m in the mode of spring. But in Buenos Aires in May, the winds are picking up leaves, rains have come, and autumn is bringing colder air. On Facebook, I see tulips blooming at Penn State and my friends finishing up their finals, while I just completed midterms! I still do not know when my local university course’s final exam will be; they say sometime in the first half of July.

Nevertheless, I cannot believe I am already halfway through my semester abroad! I am so happy I choose to come to South America, although adjusting to the opposite of seasons still confuses me and I will return to the US in late summer. Studying in Buenos Aires, I have been able to really get to know one city, one culture. I feel that even after being in this city for five months, there will be things I still wish to see. Every week, there is something new that I plan to visit or do: whether it be another fair of artisans, a bar popular with the locals, or a tango show.

Because it is impossible to exhaust the long list of things to do in BA, I love staying here every weekend and am excited to return when I do travel elsewhere in the country. So when my mom decided to visit me over my break, I had a huge list of things to show her in this city. For the week we were here, we went all over the city. No one in her hotel spoke English, and most restaurants don’t speak English. Some offer menus in English with funny translations. For example, once I saw a menu that translated jamón (ham) as jam. For me, I know Spanish speakers pronounce the letter j like the letter h in English, so jam sounds like ham. But to an English speaker, like my mom, jam is something very different from ham. So in this context, I was able to show my mom the fruits of all my years studying Spanish.

My mom and I at a restaurant.

Traveling around the city, my mom experienced the adventure of the colectivo, the bus here in BA. We successfully hailed buses from unmarked bus stops and arrived safely at our destinations. We went to a lot of museums: the MALBA, Bellas Artes, Museo Bicentenario, Museo Etnológico, and Evita. Many museums do not have English translations, and I was able to translate the descriptions and add what I had learned from my history class about particular periods in Argentine history.

Visit to Juan B. Ambrosetti Museo Etnológico

Visit to Juan B. Ambrosetti Museo Etnológico

A work by Eugenio Cuttica, an Argentine artist in Museo Bellas Artes.

We had a wonderful time. My mom saw my home stay and my favorite tea shop, and we ate Argentine food, like a fugazzeta (a thick crust pizza with cheese and onions), and drank Malbec wine. My host family here also went out to dinner with my mom, my house mate, my house mate’s family, and myself. Although the language barrier sometimes seemed overwhelming, it was very special to share a delicious meal together and enjoy everyone’s company.

I loved sharing this wonderful city with my mother. The more time I spend here, the more grateful I am that I made the decision to study here in this city, in South America. I always thought I would study abroad in Spain, but as advisers talked to me about choosing a place, the more I became disenchanted with going there. Through this experience, I really wanted to become familiar with a particular culture and immerse myself in Spanish. Buenos Aires has been the perfect place to accomplish both of these goals. I still want to go to Spain in the future but am so happy that I chose to study abroad in Argentina.

Exploring new cities

This weekend, I am going to Bariloche with one of my classes. It is an anthropology course about Patagonia. So we have learned about the first conquerors and explorers’ perspectives of Patagonia, Argentine explorers and scientists’ ideas about the region, along with current perceptions of Patagonia, indigenous peoples and their cultures.  Through this trip, we get to travel there and see what we have learned firsthand. In Bariloche, we will see the touristy parts like Nahuel Huapi National Park, as well as the more subtle political and social issues within the city. For example, we will travel to a poorer neighborhood of the city and visit a school in this neighborhood.

At the end of the month, I am traveling to the northwest of Argentina to Salta. I am excited for this trip because this region, unlike the rest of Argentina, was once ruled by the Incans and still retains these Incan cultural influences. But even on this trip, I will continue to practice my Spanish and have the opportunity to get to know another part of Argentine culture.


Location: Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Welp, it’s packing time again

Time to pack up and head on home… to the US that is. I never thought I would feel the need to clarify the US as my home after only six weeks here in Mexico. However, I truly feel that tomorrow, as I board the airplane back to Philly, I will be leaving my newfound home here in Puebla. Although I am leaving today, I would still like to include one or two additional entries summarizing a few of the fun things we did while here… they deserve attention!

However, right now, I want to say how much I will miss my life here in Puebla. I saw Teotihaucan, the largest pyramid in the Western hemisphere, watched La Lucha Libre (Yup! It’s real!), and experience the nightlife of Cholula with fellow college students both from Penn State, and Mexico. I hiked a mountain and swam under a waterfall, played soccer with school kids, and truly experienced the world cup. I learned how to salsa, how to take the bus (and how not to fall off the bus!), and how to bargain. I learned that forgetting to say goodbye can really offend a person here, but also that trying your best to communicate is 100x better than not speaking at all.

I learned that Mexicans are amazingly expressive, interesting, and compassionate people. I feel that I will always be welcome here in Puebla, and I never would have wanted to study abroad anywhere else. I will be leaving my house here tomorrow at 9:00am, and it still has not registered for me that this experience is just about over. I feel that it has motivated me to study the Spanish language more in appreciation of the value of communication, and also, to come back and visit again! I would love to visit my host family again, as well as some of the places I may not have had time to see.

This was quite the sappy love story. But what can I say? Puebla was awesome! I will certainly miss it until I return again.

 

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Location: Puebla, Mexico

A Very English Thanksgiving

This is coming in a few months late, but at the time, I was too busy with the workload to worry about blogging about my Thanksgiving experience. I am all done now, and here it is! Thanksgiving this year was obviously not spent in Lancaster PA with my second family, however it still consisted of well-cooked turkey, cranberry sauce and perhaps a third family? With a bonus of champagne.

I think I speak for most of us American visiting students in saying that Catz was very thoughtful and kind in organizing a thanksgiving supper for us, as we were away from home. The Dean, and the Master among other administrators were not obliged to celebrate this American holiday, but did so and did it well. We began the evening at the Senior Common Room, having some drinks with the Master and casually chatting with our peers. We then abandoned our glasses of champagne and/or orange juice and went over to the dinning hall where we were served a delightful traditional meal. Turkey, green beans, red wine, cranberry sauces, etc and topped it off with a delicious pecan pie for dessert. At the end of the table, a group of us decided to keep American tradition alive and go around the table, stating what we are thankful for. Family was one that got mentioned a good number of times and while it sounds like a clich�, I think it had a lot more meaning at that table that night than it did at any other point. There we were, a group of students, none of whom had known each other prior to taking the huge risk to study abroad. We were out of our comfort zones and away from our families and loved ones, however, we had somehow managed to find a new family amongst each other and create a home away from home in St. Catz.

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The Dean gave a great speech addressing this towards the end of the dinner that put everything into perspective. As an Irish man away from home himself, he related to how we may had been feeling. And although Brynne was unable to make her Jell-o thanksgiving special (because apparently, there is no jell-o in the UK! *GASP*) we were able to form new Thanksgiving traditions so that if ever we should all be in the same area again during the season, we would know how to celebrate it in our own way and while stating what we are thankful for, we will be sure to include our experience at Oxford University, and more specifically, St. Catherine’s college.

PSU Crew I

The PSU Crew at Catz


Location: Oxford, England

Mid-Autumn Festival

Today was one of the 3 day series of the mid-autumn festival that I celebrated! I received some mooncake, had fun with the cohort, and had a chance to see the fire dragon dance in Causeway Bay.  It was very exciting and very packed!! I wished there was more, but I enjoyed what I did get to see. 

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I also had a chance to write down a wish and place it on their wish wall in the open park area.  It made me long for home because this festival was meant to bring families together and enjoy the reunion.  It was a good feeling though… No sadness approached my heart.  Only happiness, wishes to keep them safe, and for them to feel my love so far away was all that ran across my mind..  The Chinese culture stresses family and respect everywhere and I am glad I got to be apart of it and understand how they feel out here.

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Location: Soy Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Missing Home Already

Today was a really good day, but for some reason I missed my family and boyfriend tremendously.  I felt rejected because everyone I called didn’t pick up and no one had the chance to pick up his or her international phone cards to call me in Hong Kong.  I got over it eventually when I got to speak to everyone.  I was just extremely worried because so many things have been happening since I left the U.S.  Before I left, we experienced an earthquake, then on my way to the airport hurricane Irene was heading toward my home city – New Jersey and also New York.  Now there is flooding everywhere.  I just wanted to know if everyone was okay, and thank God they were.  They mean the world to me.  Without their support, this trip would have been a lot harder to manage.   I don’t feel like I was over reacting.  L I am just a family person.  I know some of you can agree with me.  But yea hopefully this is one of FEW depressing blogs!!! LOL  It is a sad story with a happy ending.

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Location: Morningside College, Shatin New Territories, Hong Kong SAR

Catching Up!

I am terribly sorry for my lack of blogging, I have just organized all my pictures from the past few weeks, and will be able to provide a thorough blog on all of our extended trips we’ve taken the past three weeks tomorrow – I promise! In the meantime to tide you over, here’s a bit of what we’ve been doing around Todi.

michelecooking.JPGOur brother, Michele, preparing dinner… He’s a chef at a restaurant in Tuscany, so we absolutely loved this pizza.

cookinglesson.JPGOur mother, Rita, giving us a Friday night cooking lesson… so much fun, and the food is always delicious.

tiramisu.JPGOur tiramisu we made during cooking lessons! Delish

baldo.JPGBaldo (the bigger one) & Pepito, our dogs! Absolutely adorable

1.2.JPGSerena and I with our brother, Lorenzo. The other girl is Tracy, who was also studying at the Language Center in Todi for a few weeks… She actually stayed with our family in 2007 on the same trip!

IMG_0569.JPGSerena and I with our dad at a dinner this past Saturday night!

I love the little Italian family we’ve made here with the Rellini’s. I love all of the friends we’ve made, the food (although that’s a given), the houses, parks, buildings, art…. everything. Our program ends on Friday, meaning that we leave Todi bright and early that morning. I will be then spending the day in Rome, then taking a train to Pordenone that night, and then will be staying with some of my family in northeastern Italy for 11 more days. I can’t believe we’re this close to the end of the trip already! It seems like just yesterday we were Rome, all meeting each other for the first time, and doing our first days of touring. Here we are, nearly seven weeks later, ready to leave. So even though the program is almost done, I’m lucky enough to still be here for two more weeks!

I promise more catch-up entries, with plenty of pictures from Florence and Venice! 🙂


Location: Todi, Italy

Dunedin and Queenstown

The second half of our two week break was to be spent in the South Island of New Zealand. We landed in Dunedin, a major city on the east coast, to much colder weather than we had left behind in Brisbane. My Aunt picked Meg and I up at the airport after about a two hour wait in customs. We had arranged to meet our friends Jenna and Michelle at my Aunt and Uncles house so it wasn’t long before the four of us were catching up on each other’s holidays over a few glasses of wine. My Aunt, Katrina, cooked an amazing dinner of vegetarian lasagne and chocolate puddings which were greatly appreciated after ten days of cheap food, much of it peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We briefly discussed going out but since it was Easter weekend and we were all completely exhausted, we opted to fall asleep in front of the TV with the cats.

The next morning we got up really early and drove down to Boulder beach. We staked out a spot in the grassy dunes and watched for the yellow-eyed penguins to make their morning trek from the dunes to the ocean. We ended up seeing about eight or nine in total and they were adorable. We were also lucky enough to see a huge sea lion lounging around on the beach.

 

family on beach.jpgMe, my Aunt, Cousin and Uncle on the beach ^

After most of the penguins had gone, we drove back along the harbour and tucked into a hearty breakfast of pancakes, raspberries, bacon and sausages. We said goodbye and thanks to my Aunt and Uncle and headed into Dunedin to explore a little. We found Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world and, of course, climbed to the top.

 

steepest street.jpgAround noon we decided it was time to get on the road to Queenstown, which was about a five hour drive inland, however the weather was great and we stopped many times for pictures, fruit stalls, attempted winery tours, etc. Once in Queenstown and booked into our hostel, another Nomads which was right on the shores of Lake Wakitipu, we made a beeline for the Thai restaurant opposite. Later that night, one of the guys who worked at the hostel was handing out free drink vouchers for The World Bar, which also seemed to be known as the “dirty backpacker bar” so we thought we’d give it a go. We ended up having a great night and one guy insisted on calling me “Taylor Swift” the whole time since I was wearing my hair curly!

Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand. It’s situated right between the mountain rages with four ski resorts within an hour.

 

queenstown.jpgShot of Lake Wakitipu with the mountains ^

In keeping with the adventurous spirit, we obviously had to do another bungy jump. With a choice of three in Queenstown, we decided to go big or go home and went with the Nevis, a 143 metre drop from a little cable car strung by wines over a canyon. This one was more than twice the size of the one we had had done in Taupo. Even getting to the Nevis was extreme. They took us on a bus up winding, narrow roads for twenty minutes of so, everyone getting more and more nervous the higher we got. We finally were shuttled over (in an open hanging basket type device) to the cable car and fitted up with our gear. Jenna went first and, like a champ, didn’t hesitate at all.

 

bungy.jpgJenna jumping! NUTS! ^

The weird thing about this bungy was that it was just too high to pull you into a boat on the river when you were done, like they did in Taupo. They told you that you had to pull a red fabric lever attached to your feet on your second or third bounce so that your feet would be released and they’d be able to pull you back up in a sitting position. Really scary to do in practice since pulling at your gear while dangling headfirst over a really really high ravine doesn’t seem like the best idea. All in all, while the Nevis was awesome, I liked Taupo better because the Nevis was just TOO high. You fell for so long that it wasn’t the same rush as on a smaller bungy.

The remainder of the day was spent eating delicious burgers in the sun on the lake front and walking around the cute, albeit touristy, town. It was really nice to lounge around the hostel, reading and sleeping, after the rush of Australia. We had dinner at a little cosy restaurant called The Cow which was Italian fare but had a picture of Queen Victoria on the menu. I wasn’t sure if they were trying to say that Italians eat a lot of beef or that Queen Victoria was a cow.

That night was not one of the best. I got flu later in the evening and being sick in a twelve person room in a hostel is not very nice. We were also booked in to sky dive early the next morning and that was the only time we could do it, not to mention that I would lose my money (lots of money)if I didn’t go. I didn’t sleep at all, and just prayed that I’d feel better by the morning. The sky diving orientation was rough, as was the drive out to the airstrip. However, once they had me all suited up in my dive gear I felt fine, so I just figured that the cure for flu is sky diving.

The dive was unreal. They crammed everyone and their tandem partners into a tiny airplane with mats on the floor instead of seats. You sat with your legs around the person in front of you and the pilot to your back. As Meg and I had chosen the 12,000ft dive and the other people, a 9,000ft, we were the first into the plane and the last out. The plane ride was about fifteen minutes and it was so cool to see the mountains from the air, that I forgot that we were actually expected to jump out. At 9,000ft, the first tandem instructor leaned over and rolled up the door. Your immediate instinct should be to panic since you really don’t want the side of the plane open at 9,000ft, however it was so surreal, it still didn’t really register. The wind was incredible; you could just hear it howling past the opening as the first team made the move to shuffle to the edge. One by one, the teams were sucked out of the opening, literally sucked, until it was only Meg and I left.  5,000 more feet and it was my turn. My photographer went first and climbed out onto the side of the plane and told me to look up for a picture as I sat with my legs dangling out, clutching my harness that was attached to my instructor. It was less of a jump and more of a “rock until you get sucked out” movement and the next thing I knew,  I was tumbling though the air. My instructor pulled a small guiding chute just to keep us level and within seconds we had reached terminal velocity. All you can do is look around you as you’re falling over the amazing snow-capped mountains. Not until we pulled our chute and I saw my photographer fall away beneath us did I realise how fast we’d actually been falling, roughly 122mph all the signs seemed to say! The next part of the fall was to sit back and enjoy the scenery while doing some, at times, almost horizontal spins.

skydiving one.jpgSlightly terrified ^

 

skydiving 2.jpg If you only ever do one crazy thing, skydiving should be it, it was an absolutely amazing experience.

More to come on the rest of the South Island!

Karen xx

 

 


Location: Dunedin and Queenstown

“You have to go to the pub, it’s like our community center.” –Orientation

This first week has been incredibly hectic. 

The flight was fine.  No crying babies.  Watched Easy A and tried to sleep (but failed quite miserably).  I’m almost positive a little over half of the plane was going to U of L (about 65 people?) which made getting past customs and finding our shuttle quite simple.

I arrived at U of L around 10AM.  Once dropped off at reception in my village (I’m living in Kimurry village), we had to fend for ourselves.  We weren’t given any directions on where to get food or what to do.  I was not used to this type of survival at all.  I was in a strange place with no direction.   After getting lost a few times, I found a grocery store and picked up very few items.  This is where I learned that you are supposed to bring your own grocery bags to the store.  I guess Ireland is green in more than one way.

It was then time to sleep.  And sleep.  And sleep.

The rest of the week was a lot of figuring out where everything is, orientations, pub hopping, and figuring out my class schedule.  I start my first day of classes tomorrow at 9AM.  We’ll see if I like it.  The cool thing is that we (international students) have two weeks to test out any classes we are interested in.  After two weeks, we pick our final schedule.

I really like all of my roommates.  I have one from Finland, one from Canada, and the other three are from the states.  No Irish roommates, which would be disappointing if my roommates weren’t so cool.  We had some nice family dinners, and I seem to be the head cook of the household (which may seem funny to some).  We don’t have a microwave in the kitchen, so my other roommates are actually learning how to cook!  Yay!  Life skills!

So, the Irish are a bit crazy.  And when I say a bit, I mean there are people screaming, “I’m on a boat!!!! I’m on a boat!!!!” outside my house right now.  The guys are very forward, so I am learning to get really good at rejecting people.  I’m not quite sure how they wake up in the morning after drinking so much.  I’m pretty impressed.

I am currently streaming the Steelers game and planning on staying up ’til 3AM to watch the whole game.  The time difference is a bit crazy, because it’s usually the middle of the afternoon when I skype my friends who are just getting up in the morning.  Also, fun fact:  Hulu doesn’t work in Ireland, so that was a huge bummer.

Photo time:


^Blue skies the first day. Love it.


^My first Guinness in Europe.


^Family Dinner #1


^We ventured into the city of Limerick and found this.


^My roommate Meagan, and myself. She’s from Canada and brought all of the roomies awesome Canada mittens :]
^At a pub on campus called Stables.   Fun friends :]


^Family dinner for Fleur’s birthday!

Will write later this week about my classes.

Cheers,
Melanie


Location: Limerick, Ireland

Long journey home for a short stay…

+ Getting back home was an absolute nightmare. After my first flight from Heathrow was canceled, I rebooked via the internet on another for the next morning. Well, that was very nearly a bust. Rather than fly to JFK, I was set to fly to Atlanta then to JFK and then to Syracuse. There were almost no flights leaving on Monday, but my plane boarded only an hour late, so we were all very excited. That excitement was premature, though. We sat on the plane at the gate for 5 hours. FIVE HOURS. They took 2 hours deicing the plane and because they took so long, they had to redo it. Then, it started to snow again. Our entire crew, including the pilot, was American so they wanted to get home too. After the initial five hours, we pushed back from the gate only to taxi and wait at the runway for an hour. 

The flight was then 9 hours. I was on the plane longer than I was to get to Japan a couple of years ago. And we only had one meal. Suffice to say, by the time we got to Atlanta everyone had missed their connections. I called my mom on the whole 60 seconds of international calling my iPhone has once we landed and she had rebooked on a flight from Atlanta directly to Rochester. I had just over 2 hours. Customs was easy, but it took me half an hour to get my bag and another half an hour to get a new luggage tag so it would follow me to a different airport. In Atlanta, you have to go through security again. So by the time I took the train to my terminal and got to my gate, my flight was almost done boarding. I hopped on and two hours later I was in Rochester. It was midnight then. My mom and younger sister came to meet me there. We collected my bag and left for the 2 hour drive home. 
By the time I got home I had been awake for a solid 28.5 hours, eaten one meal in that time and smelled horribly. I showered immediately and crashed. I slept for about 10 hours. 
+ Since being home, I haven’t done much. My younger brother is also back for the holidays (he’s a marine and has been over in California). Tuesday, my first full day home, I slept a lot. My dad, mom, brother and I went to Outback for dinner per my request (I wanted a bloomin’ onion). Then we came home and I video chatted Bertie for a bit until my sister came home and the two of us went to Wal-Mart to get something for one of her friends. 
Yesterday I slept even more. My dad and I went out for a snackish dinner, but that’s about it. Today, I’m getting my hair cut so it looks healthier, shopping for jeans and boots as my Christmas presents and running to Wal-Mart to stock up on American things I want to bring back. Tomorrow, Christmas Eve, my dad and I are going to drive to Ithaca to see “Black Swan”, have Red Lobster for lunch, and then my family will play a game of monopoly, have Christmas Eve dinner, and tour our small town to look at everyone’s Christmas lights. Then Saturday is Christmas so we’ll do the Christmas things. Then I leave on Sunday to get back to the UK. 
It’s a short trip home. I am not looking forward to getting on another plane, though. 

Location: horseheads, ny