Tag Archives: school

AKARAKA!!! 아카라카

I used to think Penn State had the most school spirit in the world, what with our overwhelming school gear, screaming fans at our packed football games, and our ability to never let any “We Are” go unfinished.  That is… until I studied Yonsei University for this semester.

Don’t get me wrong, Penn State is Penn State. It’s my #1. Nittany Lion forever.  A part of me felt like I was cheating on PSU when I put on my bright blue Yonsei shirt and decided to attend the annual school festival called Akaraka.

Akaraka was something that the school told us about on the very first day at our international student orientation.  Our program said it was something we definitely did not want to miss.  When the ticket sales began, it was all I ever heard about on campus.  The amount of lines I passed of students waiting for tickets was overwhelming. Lots of the international students struggled to find tickets and it was a long drawn out process for many. Luckily I didn’t have to try hard to get tickets, because my drum club got it for us.  I had to just pay 11,000 won ($11), give my student ID number, and boom. I was going to Akaraka.

But the thing is… I didn’t even know what Akaraka was.  It seemed so hyped up and overrated.  A part of me didn’t even really want to go.  A school festival?  Would it even be fun?

Why did I ever doubt Akaraka.  Why do I ever doubt if anything in Korea is going to be fun? The default assumption should always be yes. Yes yes yes.

To begin the festivities, Yonsei had a pre-game for the festival.  We’re talking a two day pregame.  Koreans go hard, to say the least. The sports stadium was completely overrun by students, performers, booths, everything!  And on a Wednesday and Thursday night.  Here are some pictures, courtesy of my girl Anne.

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(A pop up bar on campus. That’s something you don’t see in America)

Performers, friends, cheap food and drinks. What more could anyone ask for?

On Wednesday during this pre-Akaraka festival, my drum club had our big performance! In classic Korean style, we practiced every. single. day. for a total of three weeks beforehand. The preparation was intense, with the practices lasting three to four hours.  My poor feet. Even my blisters had blisters.  But it was all worth it in the end! Shoutout of my incredible club members for giving it their all, and for every single one of my friends who came to cheer us on. There’s a part of the performance where audience members come and stick money in our hats, and some of my friends gave me money! :’) That’s when you know the friendship is real.  (Also big thanks to them for these great pictures!)

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When Friday came around, I was starting to get excited for Akaraka. Although I didn’t fully know what it was, the pregame activities managed to fill me with enough school spirit.

Akaraka ended up going from 2:30 to 10:00 pm. And I stayed for the entire thing, cheering and having the time of my life. For the entire seven and a half hours!!!!! The first hour or so was school cheers (which I can’t exactly explain in words… it’s something that needs to be experienced) There are multiple cheer songs and each one comes with fun moves and dances the crowd does. It was great being with my club because I was surrounded by Yonsei students who all knew every word and every move.  When that ended, famous korean celebrities came to perform. Among those was Psy. That’s right, Mr. Gangnam Style himself. He performed for an entire hour and absolutely killed it. I felt like I was at his concert! Some other celebrities were EXO (really popular boy group), Kim Bum Soo, Rainbow, and the rapper duo Leessang 리쌍.  Once the performances were over, we finished with another hour and half of cheering!!!

Akaraka totally lived up to the hype. If I could do it all again, I would. Thanks to my drum club for entertaining me throughout the whole thing! From seeing the girls go crazy over the celebrities to having my president practically destroy me during the cheers (I fell over multiple times ㅜㅜ), it was an awesome experience..

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Location: Seoul, South Korea

Class, Culture, and Cuca

This is a view of the roof of the “centro comercial” (shoping mall) de Nervi�n, a barrio in Sevilla about an hour walk from where I live. We went there to see a movie for our class, and I took a long walk there yesterday.

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These are love locks, couples write their names on them, and put them on the bridge. It’s illegal, because I guess it’s considered a form of vandalism, but I think it’s super cute!

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And another view from this bridge (Puente de Isabella II), one of my favorite places to stop and just take in the city every time I walk past.

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Intercambios

I mentioned in an earlier post that we’re supposed to have groups that we practice Spanish and English with through CIEE, but because of the inconvenient timing of my group’s meetings on Thursday evenings, I’m either going to switch to another, or do it independently. I’ve met a number of Spaniards that would really appreciate some extra practice. The other day, I met a girl named Cuca (pronounced, KOO-KAH), who said she’d really like to have native English speakers to talk to, so hopefully we’ll start that soon.

Still a lot to Learn

Some days I feel like I have a pretty firm grasp on the Spanish language, and that I can express myself and communicate “bastante bi�n,” (well enough), but other times it’s the complete opposite. Apart from the issue of establishing a linguistic identity, and temporarily accepting it as a somewhat less sophisticated, less expressive version of the self, there are a number of things that hold the second-language speaker back. First off, having to ask native speakers to slow down and annunciate better (especially with the lazy, syllable-chopping dialect that is Sevillano!) gives us away, and the limited vocabulary, which sometimes makes me feel like I’m not quite understanding or explaining well enough. Aside from those things, there’s also the  issue of trying to stop the bad habit of improperly using false cognates – words in English that look like direct Spanish translations [or vise versa], but aren’t.  A few that I noticed Cuca, Randa and myself tripping over the other day were the words for “speak” and “talk,” and “hear” and “listen.” The word “hablar” (to speak) is meant to have the more general implication of using language, while “decir” (to talk, or say [something]) is used to mean something was, is, or can be said. Similarly, the difference between “escuchar” (to listen), which has an implication of intention attached to it, and “oir” (to hear) is pretty important when used in context. Telling someone, “No te escuch�” makes it sound like you weren’t listening, while asking someone to repeat himself by saying, “No te o�” generally makes more sense. However, with the wonderfully distracting touch of ADD that I live with, I often find myself using both with equal intention! :-p

Intensive Spanish Grammar: Done!

Our first class in Spain is over! It’s weird to think that I just earned credits for an entire semester in two weeks, but it’s nice that that’s what the intensive course is.  We went over all of the tenses and aspects of Spanish verbs in the short 10 days of class, with take-home, and in-class essay exams at the end of each week. We also had an assignment to go see a movie called, Silencio en la Nieve, which is a new historical fiction about Spanish soldiers fighting against the “Ejercito Rojo” in the forties. It was interesting, but very hard to follow, as my “oyente” isn’t very fine-tuned, and it was also just one of those days where I wasn’t feeling as able in Spanish. Watching shows and movies on tv certainly continue to help though, and hopefully I’ll go back to the “cine” (movie theater) sometime soon.

As for the rest of the semester, I got my “ahorrario de clases” (class schedule)! It’s not 1000% final, but I’m pretty sure I’ll end up taking everything I have planned right now

Definitely a lot less than “A Million Minutes in a Day”

Now that we’ve adjusted, and life in Seville is pretty regular, time is passing much more quickly. The days go by a lot faster, especially when we have set schedules to follow. That might change once I start normal classes – but it might only mean my days are fuller and go by even faster! Fortunately though, I’ll only have classes Monday through Thursday, which makes our weekends longer for traveling and getting work done. Speaking of which, I need to start making plans to take trips to other cities! Instead of going on a day trip to C�rdoba next weekend, Hannah and I decided to sign up for an overnighter in Granada, which should be pretty cool. We heard from another friend that it was a great time, and beautiful place to see. We also want to take a weekend in Barcelona, where Hannah’s stayed before for a different program, so we need to book our flights ASAP!

Fashion…Men’s, Women’s…both?

The fashion here is pretty typically European, based on what I know and have seen of the “EuroStyle,” as I like to call it. Women almost always wear heeled or wedged shoes or boots, nice pants or tights with a blouse or dress and this time of year, a nice heavy coat! It’s been suuper cold here, I don’t know why it’s not getting warmer, as I expected it to over the course of the semester. Anyways, rebajas are still going on in most places, and it’s fun to shop around for things I wouldn’t find in the States.

As for men’s wear: The other day, I saw a man wearing the EXACT same scarf that I have…did I get robbed somehow?! And not know about it?? And then I realized: couldn’t be, I left that scarf at home in the States! Men’s fashion ALMOST looks like women’s sometimes, something I noticed especially when I went into H&M on Friday. The men’s section was a floor between the two women’s, and there were a few items – a nice white sweater, some shoes, a (man) purse that struck me as particularly…feminine. But that’s just the metro style, and really, I love it! Despite the fact that many Americans seem to think the metro style looks or seems gay sometimes, it’s pretty easy to see the line between metro and homosexual here. It’s an interesting dynamic though, because I don’t think the stigma here about being gay is quite the same as that in the States. Truth be told, I’m not 100% sure the extent of that stigma in Europe, or Andalucia and the rest of Spain specifically. In our CIEE student handbook though, there was some info about it saying that people are accepting, but as with many other minorities, there’s not much censor against derogatory jokes – even if nothing is meant by them.

Cultural Norms: Flamenco, flamencos and flamencas!

More lately than before, we’ve been watching a lot of flamenco singing competitions on tv in our apartment, and I’m noticing how pertinent it is the culture here. It’s taken some adjusting, but I can appreciate the art pretty well now that I have some comparisons to make. A lot of “famosos” (famous people) appear on game and talk shows, and sing a cappella during the episode. It’s kind of funny to see grown men and women singing and dancing around in the middle of a show like a musical or something – it’s different, but very cool.

Aside from witnessing them on the tube, I had a pretty interesting cultural experience with my friend Carlos. He took me to a flamenco spot near where we live, and he kept pointing people out, telling me, “That guy’s on tv,” and “Those girls are models,” etc. “�Tantos famosos, que raro!” (So many celebs, it’s weird!). The place itself was pretty high-end. When you walk in, there’s a giant ornate golden flamenco dress with an enormous train on display in the main lobby. Then in the main room there’s reserved seating around the perimeter, standing tables, a bar, and of course, a stage, on which people were singing and dancing – more playfully than seriously, as I’m accustomed to seeing flamenco. There were also people dancing all over the place, around the tables and through the crowd, each seemingly moving to their own music, until the last note of a song would play, and everyone would simultaneously throw a hand in the air!


Location: Triana. Sevilla, Spain.

Dance, dance, dance!

052.jpgToday was my first performance abroad, so I have made my international debut as a dancer, if you can even call me that. At Penn State, I was involved in PSIDE (Penn State International Dance Ensemble). I felt quite global and cultural doing dances from different lands, but dancing hip hop in Japan is a whole different track. It’s been a roller coaster ride of emotions, to be honest.
The dance club I’ve joined in Japan is called PRIME. Essentially, they are an all girl dance club with multiple groups within. I thought it wouldn’t be too hard core, just a fun extracurricular activity. Apparently speculation is not my strong suit.
We practiced twice a week for about 3-4 hours. Getting the choreography down was a challenge since the girls were clearly well versed in hip hop and didn’t really hold back for us poor international students. The rhythm was hard to understand and the delivery still baffles me even now. The moves are so fast and because of that, each move has to be crisp and neat. Most of the time I felt like I was just flailing limbs instead of hitting moves.
019-1.JPG Not only that, but the language barrier is still pretty high and thick for me, so a lot of the time I didn’t know where we were starting from or even where practice was. Luckily, everyone is so nice and patient that I never felt pressure from them because of my mistakes. Unfortunately, I am not so patient with myself. It’s one thing to not be able to speak since you can get away with having a shy personality. When you don’t understand, however, the other part gets involved and that`s when the guilt sets in. I know they feel pressure to just explain it in English, which they don’t have to, but they always try. 

025-.JPGLanguage aside, we managed and I think it all worked out. Of course I was nervous, but it did not take long for the atmosphere to take hold of me. I wanted to dance bigger and harder and before I knew it, the dance was over. In fact, compared to PSIDE, the routines were rather short–about 2 minutes for the one I was in. I really wanted to perform more, but alas my time was up. There are more performances, but today was the school festival, so it was kind of like being on our home base.
I’d like to thank Shiho for teaching us her dance and Mire for giving me some one on one training. Though it gets difficult and frustrating at times to dance and manage the whole Japanese thing, I’m glad to have such a well rounded opportunity while being surrounded by such lovely people.

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Location: Showa-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi-ken, Japan

Sometimes being a Nuisance is Good

 

This is going to be a quick one because I barely get any moments to sit down and write a decent blog. 

Basically, I have been pulling my hair out because the process for everything here is so taxing when it simply doesn’t need to be.  The campus is widespread and when the staff here has the students running around doing work that seems like their job gets many of us very frustrated.  I have gotten different information from staff on the same questions I have been asking for days.  Some times different answers from the same person I spoke to in a matter of 1 hour. 

Thank God for the patience I was blessed with.  I just stayed calm and did not cut any corners.  Out here it seems like constantly asking questions and being under someone’s hip does the trick…… YES!! All is well and everything is solved!  I still do not like how everything was handled between PSU and CUHK.  But this is giving me practice for the real business world.  I just won’t have to pay thousands of dollars to everyone else to end up doing what I thought was their job, MYSELF.

Another good thing is SOME people here rather not give you answer right away and its the wrong thing, so they take longer to figure things out and get back to you just to be sure.  I can understand that.. 🙂


Thanks for reading!! Gotta go!


Location: Cheung Yu Tung Building, Shatin, N.T. Hong Kong

Classes and Ibero

Well–my experience in Puebla has come to its end!  I can’t believe it! But, before I write my farewell/final post (and about my travel fiascos), I thought I’d write a quick one about my actual STUDY abroad experience. I’d wanted to post this before I came home, but I got sick on my penultimate day, which put me behind work and packing.

 

IMG_4081.JPGAnyhow, our program was a PSU faculty-led one, and we were housed at one of the many universities in Puebla, Iberoamericana de Puebla. It is nowhere near the size of Penn State, but I absolutely loved it!

 

IMG_4079.JPGIt’s a pretty campus with gardens and a pond–and lots and lots of birds!

 

school2.JPGschool3.JPGWe earned 9 credits during our 6 weeks here. 2 classes were Spanish-based with our PSU professors. I took Legends and Myths of Mexico with Roxana, and she alternated teaching Mexican Culture and History with our other professor (who also taught a Conversation course), Monserrat. They are both giant sweethearts, and I enjoyed my classes so much! The workload wasn’t even toooo bad (aside from the crazy last week of essays and exams). Our third class was an Art class that was taught by a professor from Ibero, Hilda. Even though I do not have much artistic talent, her class was fun, too! We had a little exhibition of our works at our last group dinner with all our families!

 

IMG_3892.JPG Hoping to put a video or something together soon and post about the great farewell/ terrible travel fiasco. It’s so weird to be home. I’m loving it, but my thoughts at the moment are still just full of my experience in Mexico.


Location: Puebla, Mexico

Cuetzalan: The Final Countdown

Our final trip together as a group was this weekend (que triste), and even though Cuetzalan is a tiny little town way up in the mountains, we certainly made an adventure out of it. It was beautiful, and it was probably my favorite trip of the entire program.

 

Our first stop, however, was the highlight of all highlights. Since the early years of the Puebla Mexico study abroad program, Penn State has been helping out a growing school in a teeny, tiny rural village called Yohualichan. We were able to give the Escuela Secundaria (essentially a middle school) a nice donation, and our group raised money and bought food, amenities, and sports supplies to bring for the kids. Seeing their smiles when we arrived was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. The teachers and caretakers there really do a great job at making education a priority for these kids, who live in rural and indigenous areas. Not all of them even spoke Spanish too well; Nahuatl, the native language, was more common.

xIMG_4122.JPGxIMG_4119.JPG We got to eat a typical lunch (burgers and fries!), play school games with the kids, and we even had a few early matches of US vs. Mexico. The kids were amazing at futbol, so it wasn’t too surprising that we met the same fate as our professional soccer counterparts. We’re hoping we’ll be able to continue helping out the Escuela Secundaria in the future.

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Afterwards, we got to visit the village church and our final archaeological site– Totonac ruins!

 

xIMG_4204.JPGSaturday was essentially a free day, and almost the entire group decided to go extreme and visit the nearby waterfalls and caves (photo thanks to Rhianna and Bill!). We got to swim in freezing waterfall pools, hike up and down mountains (sliding at some points), and clamber way down below the surface. Most of it in the rain. It was scary at some points but all around an incredibly fun day! And, of course, we got back in time to watch some of the actual US vs. Mexico match.

 

 

cascadasrhi1.jpgxIMG_4236.JPGgrutasbill1.jpg On Sunday, the center of the town was filled with people thanks to the weekly market that takes place. There were crafts, food, toys, clothes, shoes–everything! It was a sight to see. We also got to witness a mass in the church which was unlike any church service I’ve been to before. The people there managed to incorporate indigenous rituals into the Catholic system. Afterwards, we also got to see Voladores de Papantla! This time, the tree was a LOT bigger than the one in Cholula, and I got to be a lot closer. It was breathtaking to watch!

 

xIMG_4295.JPGxIMG_4319.JPG I’ve got a few more posts I want to churn out before I head home, but it’s getting down to the wire. I can’t believe I leave in three days. It’s going to be devastating and comforting at the same time. Even saying goodbye to our amazing bus driver, Orlando, got a bit sentimental. He was a complete boss– I would never be able to drive our giant Mextur bus on these crazy roads! It really is the beginning of the end, but Cuetzalan was a perfect finish.


Location: Cuetzalan, Mexico

The Final Countdown

Hei Alle!

As usual it’s been quite a while since my last post. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

– Our little PLU family has expanded! Two girls (Becky and Alison) from the University of Washington have arrived and are both teaching at Charlottenlund. It’s really great to have more native English-speakers at school! Plus, now Megan and I have people to sit with at lunch! Hooray!

– On March 17th our school had its ski day. This is very common here in Trondheim. The entire school (students and teachers) loaded up on buses to Mer�ker. Fans of the blog (or people who can actively use the scrolling function of their browser) may recognize Mer�ker as the place I nearly died attempting to learn how to downhill ski. Needless to say I was a bit anxious about this trip. Our teachers had been telling us/warning us/secretly plotting against us about ski day pretty much since the day we arrived at Charlottenlund. After my adventures downhill skiing (and on the evil chairlift/ people-mover) I was not too keen on finding a pair of downhill skis to borrow. I asked around to see if anyone had extra cross-country skis but to no avail. Each teacher was responsible for manning an activity so I decided to go sledding (or sledging as they call it here). Of course the day of the trip I had about four teachers tell me that I could have borrowed their extra cross-country skis. Too late. : (

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Becky and Megan getting ready for their cross-country skiing adventure!

Overall the trip was awesome! We had absolutely incredible weather (very different from the last time I was in Mer�ker). The sledding hill was more like a sledding cliff so I did not participate. I ended up just hanging out with students who did not feel like participating in any of the activities. It was really great to talk to some students who I would not have normally had the opportunity to interact with. Megan and Becky (one of the teachers from UW) were able to get cross-country skis and let me borrow them for a little bit to try. I actually really liked cross-country skiing! I wish that I were able to get skis earlier in the trip because it would have been a blast to go skiing every weekend. This is one activity that I think I will try to continue next winter back in the States. For lunch we sat around a large grill and cooked hot dogs. Interestingly enough this trip was BYOHD: bring your own hot dog. I figured that if the school had enough funding to send 400 students and their teachers on a free skiing trip they would provide lunch, but whatever. Here in Norway we eat our hot dogs (or p�lse as they are called) wrapped in something called lompe, which is kind of like a potato tortilla. Super delicious. It was super fun just hanging out with all of the teachers and students.

– Ski day also fell on St. Patrick’s Day! St. Patty’s Day is not super-popular here because no one is really of Irish decent. However, Norwegians are always up for a party so it is celebrated. Megan, Becky, and I went to the only Irish pub in town (Cafe Dublin) and paid an exorbitant amount of money for green beer but it was fun regardless.

St Patricks Day.jpgBecky, myself, and Megan celebrating our Irish heritage in Trondheim. (Please remember we had been outside all day! =])

– This past Monday (21 March) my supervisor from PSU visited Charlottenlund to observe me teach. I think it went well! I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a good report so I can officially become a certified teacher!

– This past Friday Megan and I finally made it to the Ikea in Trondheim! We literally pass it everyday going to school so it was fun to finally go. I LOVE Ikea (I think its fun to go through all of the mock houses) and it was Megan’s first time so we had a blast walking through the store. The Ikea here in Trondheim looks exactly like every other Ikea I’ve ever been to but instead of the just the furniture names being in Norwegian/Swedish, EVERYTHING is in Norwegian/Swedish. We had a late lunch at the cafe…the food was delicious! We took the free bus from Ikea back into town, which was super convenient. Fun fact I learned from that trip: it’s actually pronounced EE-KAY-AH. Who knew?

Broccoli Man.jpgMy new friend I made in Ikea. Who says vegetables can’t be fun? =)

– For the past week Norway has been experiencing some of the most miserable weather I’ve ever seen. I’ve named it the snowicane or snowpocolypse (mainly because I am a big How I Met Your Mother fan). We have experienced all sorts of precipitation: rain, snow, sleet, hail…everything. Oh, and gale force winds. Awesome. I think that the worst part is the fact that it will be snowing/sleeting sideways and then 10 minutes later be sunny. Ten minutes after that it will be hailing. Sideways. The pictures below are from my room in Steinan. They were taken less than 10 minutes apart.

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– This upcoming week is my last week here in Trondheim. It’s really bittersweet. I’m excited to go home and see my friends and family but I’ve become quite attached to my life here. Charlottenlund is one of the greatest schools that I’ve ever had the opportunity to see/be a part of. I know that there is no school quite like this in the States: the teachers have a lot of autonomy, the students have a lot of personal responsibility, the teachers and students have open communication, there is no dark cloud of state and federal standardized testing looming over everyone’s heads. It really is a wonderful place to teach and go to school. I’m really going to miss everyone that I have met and worked with, both teachers and students.

That’s pretty much it for now! I’ll try to get in another post before I head back to the good ol’ US of A!


Location: Edgar B Schieldropsvei 42-18 7033 Trondheim Norway

O Week Tommy Style

I can’t believe I’ve already been in Perth for two weeks!  This past week was very busy it was O-week (Orientation) for all international students and 1st year (freshers) as they call them over here.  I was just getting to know the 30 international students here at Tommy More, and how there are 50 new people to get to know. 

 

James Oval at UWA

On Sunday we had a mandatory mass in the chapel here at Tommy More.  The residence hall is run by the Catholic church so it was a different experience to go to a Mass with all the first years.  Monday was more orientation over at UWA, just roaming around the campus getting to know where all the buildings and everything is.  Tuesday we had a global dinner that split up into countries, I was put in Sierra Leone and we were only given 3 bowls of rice for 8 people.  Meanwhile students in the United States were given steak and potatoes.  It made everyone think how fortunate we are to live in a country, whether US or Australia, where we have food. 

 

Wednesday was probably the most interesting day of the week.  We went down to the river in the afternoon and met up with the other residence halls at UWA.   There was a friendly dragon boat challenge between the 5 residence halls and we got some food after that was over.  Thursday was my day to meet people within my major, and I got to see some of the labs and buildings where I would have class.  This weekend was a lot of fun as the Tommy More Freshers went on a camping trip.  We went to a boy scout camp in the Australian bush for 2 nights.  There were a lot of get to know you activites which was really great. 

 

Tomorrow is the start of class which is kind of weird because its felt like I’ve been on vacation for the last two weeks.  I haven’t been in class for over 2 months, but it’s a new experience.  


Location: Tommy More, Australian Bush

School = One big melting pot

Monday was the official first day of classes at Fundaςão Getulio Vargas. In Brazil, this school is considered to be the best in the country. All of my classes are in English and the classes are about 60-70 percent international students with the rest as Brazilian students. In São Paulo they divide the semester into 2 parts. I will be taking three classes this module as they call it and three the next module. This module I am taking BRIC’s, Brazilian Economy and Politics and Culture. The best part of my schedule? No Friday classes!

                They amount of diversity in each class is really unique and creates a very different atmosphere. Students come from France, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Columbia, Nicaragua, Netherlands, Italy, Costa Rica, Australia and others as well. Each class is a melting pot, including the professor as well since they all do not speak English as their first or even second language sometimes. The classes consist of mostly reading and group projects. In all of my classes the final exam counts for 40% of the final grade. The rest of my grade depends on one other group project, a midterm exam and class participation. That’s it.

Just yesterday we had our orientation for international students. After all of the speakers and whatnot, FGV (the shortened name for my school), the school had “Brazilian surprises” for all of us. We were entertained by a band that played loud, samba music and to every guy’s delight, 2 samba dancers accompanied them as well. I had a blast watching them play and dance. They interacted with the audience and had everyone dancing at the end (including myself). After that, they had a capoeira school perform for us. Capoeira is part dance, part martial arts. It consists of kicking and ducking to the beat of drums and music. They also had the audience participate which was quite amusing considering most people had no idea what to do. A cocktail soon followed. It may sound strange for a school to provide alcoholic beverages and whatnot, but that’s exactly what they did. The cocktail consisted of an open bar serving endless caipirinhas, rum and coke, some coconut drink with vodka, beer and other drinks which I do not know the names of as well as appetizers. Brazilians are not as politically correct as Americans are when it comes to alcohol, but then again I think every country is less strict with the alcohol than the States.

Below is a picture of the samba dancers along with the band. Also pictured is a scene of the capoeira school perform. Enjoy!

CapoeiraSamba


Location: Home, Sao Paulo, Brazil

One week of classes; a bit overwhelming

Sometimes when I was at Penn State, I was so caught up in the fun of it all that I forgot completely about my academic responsibilities. This is one of those times.


It’s not that I’m irresponsible; I certainly wasn’t at Penn State! But getting sidetracked is easy, and put studying abroad in one of the biggest cities in the world on top of it, and things get complicated.

When I came here, I was thinking about all the sights I was going to see, the shops I would shop, and more importantly, the other countries in Europe that I want to visit. But I forgot the most important thing; the whole reason I came here in the first place: classes.

After the first day of classes, I felt EXTREMELY overwhelmed. There’s a lot of homework, but it’s not like it is at Penn State. It’s all reading. Sure, they tell us in class we have to read but since the classes are bigger and they teach it anyways, you can get away with not reading. Not here. You must read material to understand the class and lecture is mainly for questions about the reading. So if you don’t read, well good luck passing the class.

And there is A LOT of reading to do. Thank goodness there’s only one day I have two classes and it’s a Monday. But that’s not all. Midterms and Finals are going to consist of me locked up writing 2,000 word papers for 5 classes! And finals will be even more. Some classes are papers, some are examinations. It depends, and there are of course papers in between. Participation is necessary because the classes are small. I believe my largest class has 19 students in it. I think that was my smallest class back at Penn State!

Now that a week of classes has gone by, I’ve calmed down a bit. I like the set-up here a bit  more at times because I only have my classes once a week for 2 to 2.5 hours. And although the homework is all reading, I can manage it well. The thing I must worry about is concentration.

The professors are very good though. They are a little strict but they’re engaging, which I like. The classes here are very interesting and for the most part, we are all learning something completely new for the first time. One class that I’m excited about is the Theater in London: An Introduction. We get to see theater productions almost every week! We saw one last night in this theater (which used to be a pool). The production was called “Amphibians,” a new show about Olympic swimmers 3 years after they win the gold medal. The show was made for the set and theater it was performed in, known as a “sight-see production.” I love having the opportunity to explore the arts in London too- it helps me gain insight to the culture.

One week has gone by and there are 13 more weeks of classes! It’s going to be a whirlwind of a semester class-wise, and I still need to make time to explore not only London, but Europe! Time management will make or break me.

Location: Bloomsbury, London, United Kingdom