G’day Mates,

 Afterwards we tromped through some rice patties on our way to try some Balinese foods. I’m not exactly sure what each treat was but the first was a sort of deep fried sweet potato fries and the second was breaded honey balls which tasted uncannily like honey comb.

 

Next stop was to the Sacred Monkey Forest. This was a sanctuary for the wild monkeys live in and it consists of a small village and a temple. Here we could feed monkeys and even though we weren’t allowed to touch the monkeys, they had no problem climbing all over us, searching our pockets, and in Nick’s case, slapping us across the face.

 

Our final stop of the day was a marvelous one. The temple of Tanah Lot is built on a volcanic rock formation just off the coast. During high tide, the island is cut off from land but at low tide a land bridge is revealed and people can walk back and forth. Just my luck, just as I started walking out the tide came in but it was still an amazing seeing it from a distance.

Tanah Lot

Location: Bali, Indonesia

What comes to mind when you think about music in Japan? Of course there is western music galore here and within Japanese music you can find something in any genre. But I would like to think in terms of music born and raised in Japan, Candy Candy sums it up image I have perfectly. 

Location: kuwana-shi, mie-ken, Japan

I got to spend my long Easter weekend in one of the most unique places–Croatia.  I say unique because not many people known anything about Croatia, let alone visit it.  It lies in on the other side of the Adriatic Sea from Italy.  We went to the town of Split which is located on what is called the Dalmatian Coast. We went with one of the tour groups, so we had to take a bus so it was a long bus ride, about 12 hours.  The view as we drove in would have been beautiful, but it was very rainy.  However, it soon cleared up.  We went to the main market in Split. It had some typical things- clothes, sunglasses, jewelry, and food.  It also had some unique things- baby chicks and duckies!! They were selling them for Easter.  They were so cute!  Then, we walked around to see the beach.  It was a little too chilly to lay out, but we at least got to see it.  We found a random little restaurant and I had a phenomenal chicken with some kind of cream sauce. 

Saturday we attempted to walk around and see Split, but it was raining.  We were tired anyways, so we decided to go back to our hostel and take a nap.  Eventually, it stopped raining so we went back to the market.  I have a weakness for jewelry, so I bought a pair of white coral earrings.  That night, we went to Trogir, a little medieval town.  We went to a nice restaurant for dinner.  Croatia is big on seafood since it is on the coast, but I am generally not a seafood eater.  We went home and went to bed early since we were going white water rafting the next day!

Sunday we celebrated Easter by white water rafting.  On our busride there, the leader let us play a traditional Croatian Easter game.  Everyone picks out a hard-boiled egg.  Then, you go around and smack your egg on someone elses.  Whoever has the strongest egg wins.  We drove around some of the prettiest clifts and ocean areas I have ever seen.  WE finally made it to the rafting site.  They picked out wet suits for us- it was definitely a struggle getting them on.  It was kinda hard to get the hang of the rowing movement at first, but it gets easier the longer you do it.  Our leaders name was Marco, he was Croatian and has been a white water rafting instructor for four years.  Rafting is a lot of fun, but a lot of hard work!!  My arms were sore the next day, that’s for sure. 

Monday, we departed for Florence but stopped at Krka National Park on the way home.  It is a very famous national park and is often mention on things like “The Top 10 Things to See Before You Die.”  And now, I know why.  There are tons of wateralls there and they are beautiful!!

Overall, It was a relaxing trip.  Croatia is definitely a cool place. I would love to go back especially when the weather is better.

Location: Split, Croatia

I LOVE AMsterdam!

Friends and Family Come to Visit!

March 5^th-8^th

Monday was probably the most stressful workday I have had abroad so far. In my Gender and Sexuality class, we didn’t have anything major due, but we had to provide an outline to our teacher on our final paper topic, which was extremely difficult to narrow a topic down for a 25-page paper. On top of that we had this extremely long and tedious writing assignment due for our Dutch Identity class. It consisted of three parts, with each part fairly extensive. I definitely should have started this WAY before Sunday night and Monday because it was extremely stressful to finish it on time. I was up until about 4 am on Monday working on it, and then immediately after my first class I went to my new favorite caf� Zappos worked for about 4 hours in between classes in order to finish it. It needed to be submitted by 5pm and I did the impossible and even submitted it a tad bit early, and was able to go and relax for an hour or so before the long three-hour class. After class on Monday night, I quickly rushed to meet Jillian and her dad and brother for dinner down in Leidsplein! They were eating a late dinner and luckily I was able to meet up with them. It is so nice to have friends and family in town – to see familiar faces.

Tuesday we had was our Dutch Art class and all I had to do was a little reading. In class today we were going to visit the Rijksmuseum, which is probably one of the most famous in Amsterdam. It is so nice that we have museum cards that our program provided for us, we get in free to almost every museum in Amsterdam! Jill’s dad and brother actually met us at the museum and went along with us as our teacher gave us a simple tour. After class we went back and got ready to go out to dinner. Our good friends from Penn State also arrived in Amsterdam today, Kevin and Jimmy from KDR so I was extremely excited to see them as well. We all met down in Leidsplein for dinner and drinks. We ended up going to this Argentinean restaurant – most of us got the fajitas and the boys got steaks.

Tuesday nights are very quiet in Amsterdam, so we were pretty much the only people in the bar, but even though it was just us we always have a good time no matter what! After awhile of being there we all decided it was time to go home and get rest for tomorrow and tomorrow night!

On Wednesday I decided to be the tour guide for the boys!! I set up a whole plan for them for Wednesday, what to see, what to do, where to eat, and everything. They went to the Anne Frank House early, and since I had already done that with my dad I ended up just meeting them outside after. I biked down, which was huge mistake because the weather was TERRIBLE it started to rain and was just a miserable day. After they came out of Anne Frank I took them just down the road to the famous pancake bakery, I had been there also but it’s so good I wanted to go back. When we got there, the sign on the door said it didn’t open till 12 and it was 11:15 at this point, so we had some time to kill in between. The boys were so excited to get some good old fashion pancakes, they all study abroad in Italy where no such thing exists. We all got savory and sweet pancakes, and the meal was so good I could go back and eat there a million times. After brunch we decided to go to the Heineken Museum. I had already done this as well, but I decided to go in with them because I think this might be the only museum I actually enjoy. It is so interesting because you always see someone you know randomly in there. The boys ran into some girls from Florence, and I actually ran into some girls that go to Boulder that I knew from mutual friends. It’s so interesting to hear people’s reactions when they find out that I am studying abroad here. A lot of people are like, “wow I didn’t even know you could study here.” The general consensus I get from people, is how much they love the city of Amsterdam, which I completely agree, it is so amazing! After we were done I went back to our apartment to get ready for dinner with Jill’s family, it had been a long day. I rushed quickly down to Leidsplein to meet them for dinner at a very nice seafood place.  We all went down to Rembrandtsplein to our favorite Wednesday nightspot Coco’s!

Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Hey guys-

It was just a taste of the culture shock I know I will go through when returning to the U.S. I found myself accidentally replying with “si” and “grazie” at first.  Then, I would remind myself with excitement, “they can actually understand my English, I don’t need to speak Italian!”  It’s a great feeling to be able to communicate with people.  It’s something I always took for granted.

I really liked the British population.  Obviously, their accents are cool and they were generally very nice.  The downside to the UK is the pound.  I think 1.60$ ish is 1 BGP so everything is extraaaa expensive.  That made it kind of depressing when making purchases.

 Food:

I would say London’s main popular food is Fish n’ Chips!! Trust me, even if you aren’t a seafood fan fish in chips is VERY good.  It’s the only seafood dish I will eat.  If you don’t know it’s basically fried fish with French fries.  It was also another good taste of home (besides speaking English) to have such accurate French fries.  If you get a chance go to the Sherlock Holmes Restaurant.  It had very good fish and chips and was Sherlock Holmes themed of course!  The other awesome food item I had was Popcorn flavored ice-cream.  Yes, you read that right. Popcorn flavored.  I know it sounds like a weird combo but it is SOOO good.  It’s honestly better than any gelato I’ve had in Italy.  IT has little chunks of popcorn and caramel sauce in it.  It is at this well known ice-cream shop called “The Icecreamists” in “Covent Garden.”  If you’re in London, please go. You won’t regret it.

Cool things I did:

 London Eye: aka the giant ferris wheel.  It has awesome views of London.  It runs you about 19 BGP, so it’s pricey.  It’s one of those things you have to do though.

Buckingham Palace:  You can’t go to London without seeing Buckingham Palace.  Everyday at 11:30 am they have the famous “changing of the guards ceremony.”  If you want good views you need to get there at least by 10:30 because it gets VERY crowded.  If you ask me, it is cool enough just to see it, get a picture by the gates, and at least see what the guards look like.  

Westminster Abbey: Westminster Abbey is the really cool looking church right by Parliament/ Big Ben.  I believe Kate Middleton and Prince William were married there too.  I didn’t get to go inside which I am bummed about.  But I heard it’s a really cool place to go inside of.  Its about 16 BGP for an adult ticket, but if you have a Student ID you can get in for 13 BGP.  Apparently a lot of cool, historical people are buried there, including Isaac Newton, Charles Dickens, and Charles Darwin.  You are unable to go inside on Sundays, so keep that in mind.

Tower of London:  We did not go inside of the Tower of London either, because we got there only an hour before it closed and you apparently need 2-3 hours to see it all (it closes at 5:30 generally).  Just so you know, this is the priciest at 20 BGP.  It’s famous for containing the Crown Jewels.

Location: London, England

There was no better way to start 2012 than an amazing two week trip to Yunnan Province, where the largest number of Chinese ethnic minority groups reside. On the day of Chinese New Year, around 60 IES students hopped onto a 39 hours train and ready to start the adventure. Here was our busy plan: Kunming–Dali–Tiger Leap Gorge–Shangrila–Napa Village–Lijiang.

Kunming was one of my favorite places to be. During our two days stayed there, several fellow IES friends and I had twice danced in the Green Lake Park with local elders and other tourists and kicking Jianzi with little children. And not to forget about the delicious Over-the-Bridge Noodle we had, where ten plates of vegetables and meats combined together to make a single bowl of noodle soup.

Hiking Tiger Leap Gorge was also a big highlight and a proud accomplishment of the group. The 28 switchback hike was physically demanding, but the beautiful scenery, the horses and donkeys, and the people we encountered along the way made it all worth the while.

We also had the opportunity to stay with Tibetan families in Napa Village nearby Shangrila for several days, where we observed and learned Tibetan culture personally. My hosted family introduced traditional Tibetan food that I had never even heard of before, such as buttered tea (酥油茶),”zamba,” and Tibetan hotpot. I also had the luck of participating in my host father’s 36 year old birthday celebration that lasted whole day and night long where I met and interacted with different relatives of the family. It definitely felt great to immerse myself into a new culture and built connections with local people. During our last night there, the students and host families had a huge party together and many fellow students and I dressed up in Tibetan dresses. It was lots of fun!

The Yunnan trip was in many ways fantastic! The students bonded throughout the adventure, sharing our “laduzi” stories and helping each other bargain for low prices. By the end of the trip, I felt so much closer to my friends and classmates! The trip provided the opportunity for me to experience things I have never done before, like hiking Tiger Leap Gorge for two days and learning about Tibetan culture. The trip also made me more adventurous, flexible, and culturally aware as a person and those qualities are very helpful as I continue to adapt to China. The Yunnan trip was a unique experience full of learning and FUN! I want to do it again!

Location: Yunnan, China

It’s Sunday, a day to catch up on homework, a day most things are closed and relaxation is necessary.  But it is also a day when I must undergo the most stressful task I have encountered in Italy thus far.    It requires preparation, concentration, strength, speed, time and money.  If any of these elements are absent, the trip becomes almost impossible to complete.  In Italy, we call this endeavor grocery shopping. 

First you must search your apartment for large shopping bags.  If these are forgotten you will have to access how much you have gathered and purchase individual, small plastic bags at checkout.  This isn’t recommended. Then you walk the 10-15 minutes to the closest supermarket.  Upon entering, things begin to get hectic.  In the fruit and vegetable isles you must first find gloves and a bag, choose what you want while simultaneously memorizing then number associated with such item, then go to the scale to weight your whatever you wanted.  Once you stare at the screen for a good amount of time, you finally find the button with the number you were supposed to remember, wait for the sticker to print and put the sticker on it (which indicates the price).  Congratulations, it only took you ten minutes to buy an apple!

After this, I personally meander up and down the aisles because where things are located doesn’t seem to make much sense.  Milk and eggs are not refrigerated, cheese has five different sections to itself, and bread…well that, technically, is a separate store entirely but I settle with the “not-as-good”, packaged, pre-sliced brands for convenience:  specifically, the kind that says “AMERICAN”(literally) across the front. 

When I’m done and can barely hold my basket any longer, I move towards the checkout.  For this one must mentally prepare themselves.  I stand in line planning it out.  I think of how I will take the heaviest items out first in order to ensure that they are the first to be run through.  But by the time it’s my turn and I’m at the front of the line everything becomes a blur.  The cashier starts mumbling things that I don’t understand and I rush to get my things out of my basket and onto the belt:  apples, oranges, nutella, pesto, pasta…faster and faster.  The people behind you are not patient.  If you take too long, they won’t be too happy.  After everything is out of the basket you must run to the other side to start bagging things.  All the planning, at this point goes out the window.  You end up just throwing in bags you brought hoping that it will fit; hoping that you can keep up with the seemingly endless amount of food coming towards you.  And then it happens:  I become…that girl.  The one who can’t make everything fit.  The one who is everyone is now watching (for taking too long).  I’m the one shoving my “AMERICAN” bread, peaches and cheese in my purse.  After listening to the cashier mumble some numbers, handing her a credit card to pay, realizing that I spent too much, I must now walk back.

Finally I arrive back at my apartment relieved that my hands did actually fall off from the weight of the bags and hopeful that the bruises on my arms will go away in a few days.  After not putting, but cramming everything away in to the small spaces I have (and even having to put some things on the balcony), I am finished, starving and tired.  

Location: Milan, Italy