Tag Archives: home

Homeward Bound

I’m heading back home tomorrow after nearly 6 months hanging out here in New Zealand. I have to say I am really excited to be going home. I can’t wait to see my family and friends. 

I had so much fun here and met so many great people. I know I’m going to miss all of them, all the Kiwis and the other foreign exchange students. Its been sad seeing them all leave one by one.It has just fermented that this is all coming to a close. 
Coming here, I learned so much about myself and what travelling alone really feels like. What its like to be in a foreign place with other people who just want to see the world. I formed a makeshift family here, life long friends and its been my reality for awhile. It just feels odd knowing that once I get on the plane this will just be a part of my past. 
All I can say is that this has been one heck of an experience and worth every moment. 

Location: Lincoln, New Zealand

The Return: Reflecting on Mexico

My oh my, how the time flies. I have been home from Mexico for over a month now, which is frightening to realize. I’ve been so busy, yet my study abroad experience feels like it just happened, still.

 

The last few days I was there were CRAZY. Not only did I have oodles of studying to do and essays to write, but I also finally got sick. I’d been pretty lucky to be one of the few people to stay healthy the whole time, but, of course, with my luck, I had a terrible allergic reaction my second-to-last day. Luckily, the university doctor was very helpful and, with a lot of rest, I managed to finish everything in time and get back rolling for the last day.

 

All of my tests, papers, and presentations went well, and before I knew it, it was time for the Farewell Dinner. All of us students came with our families to eat together at a nice restaurant, joined by our lovely coordinators, professors, and administrators from the Ibero. They gave us all certificates and, of course, delicious comida! Our one professor, Roxana, even hired a mariachi band to play! All of the families sang along, and we all got up to dance for a bunch of the songs! It was an amazingly fun time, but it was so sad to say goodbye to everyone. It felt surreal that the trip was really coming to an end, and that soon we’d all be back, doing our separate things, here in the US. And even though I’m in Facebook contact with my family, I miss living with them terribly.

 

It takes 2 hours to get to the Mexico City airport by bus from Puebla, and the earlier group of travelers, including myself, got to depart at 2 AM. Everything was smooth checking my luggage and getting through security, but the rest was a NIGHTMARE. The plane out of Mexico City was delayed about 2 hours which, sadly, was enough time to make me miss my continuing flight out of Chicago. After grumpily passing through customs, I got put on a standby flight to Allentown, which my luggage made, but I was not able to board. Long story short, it then took me 2 failed flights, lots of pointless waiting (on runways and near gates), tons of distraught phone calls to my parents, a night in the creepy, cold Chicago airport, and over 24 hours since I’d left my home in Puebla to FINALLY get home here.

 

Since then, it’s been a blur of Harry Potter premieres, family vacations, and catching up with friends–not to mention getting ready for the Fall semester. I think I’ve been putting off writing this last entry since it means that it really is over, that I really am back. Now, though, I feel like I can really look at the bigger picture of what I encountered.

 

The Mexico I experienced was neither one of pop culture dreams nor of horrific news stories. I wasn’t kidnapped or murdered, and though I did visit a lovely beach, it was far from being the highlight of the program. The true highlights were much more real. The highlights were chatting with my family for an hour after each meal, walking to the tienda down the street where the workers knew my name and taught me the names of all the fruits and vegetables, stopping to play with a friendly dog on the way to the bus stop. They included standing on the edge of a pyramid built hundreds and hundreds of years before, steps too small for us nowadays, and viewing paint strokes on pieces created only decades ago.

 

Mexico is a clash of the past and the present. Ancient temples are found in the middle of bustling cities, and buildings are built over the remains of others. There are literally layers and layers of history, all coexisting together to make the present what it is. And it’s not just in the lay of the land; it’s in the people, as well. Traditions, old, older, oldest, are all woven finely together like a beautiful tapete in a world just blooming with New, as well. Mexico is indeed related to Europe; it was and is still a kind of New Spain, only it’s so much more. Every state, every city, and every tiny pueblo has a different personality. This is a place where poverty and wealth coexist hand in hand, where different cultures have both parted and blended in every imaginable combination. The people know their past, however confused it may be, and are willing to teach it and learn from it in ways that make me question my own historical knowledge of my own country.

 

In my opinion, the Puebla program must be one of the most overlooked Spanish study abroad experiences. If it hadn’t been for a chance presentation and my own curiosity, I may have missed out on the experience of my lifetime. Many of my peers tend to look to other great cultures that are an ocean away when we have something so rich, so touching, and so beautiful right below us. We earned a solid 9 credits over 6 weeks in a summer, and of course our language skills improved, but I feel like we all gained much more than just that. The families, the professors, the university, the places we traveled, the things we saw, the people we met… If there is anything I have learned, it is that there isn’t ONE Mexico. It’s layers; nothing and everything is inherently Mexican. I’ve learned to go beyond stereotypes or expectations of a place and have found so much more than I ever expected.

 

I miss it and all the people who I shared the experience with, but, in the short amount of time I was there, I know that I discovered something that I will take with me for the rest of my life. Here’s to hoping all of your experiences are as great! Adios!

 

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Location: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

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

One Week

So so so so so sorry I have not been writing/photo-updating!  Finals are crazy!

So, I’m just going to write about Italy and not photoblog about it, because I don’t have time to photoblog right now.

We flew into Milan and slept in the airport night #1 in order to save money, because hostels in Milan are CRAZY EXPENSIVE.  Just like the rest of the city.  Everything was very elegant and there were just dozens of designer stores everywhere.  We explored a bit, got some solid gelato, and wandered around a big flea market.  There really isn’t too much to do except shop in Milan, so we headed to our hostel in Genova a bit earlier than expected.  HELPFUL HINT:  We had a ton of luggage for our trip, and we didn’t want to lug it around Milan all day.  SO we ended up storing it at the train station for very cheap.  I highly suggest doing that if you aren’t checking into your hostel right away when you are traveling.  That was awesome.

Anyway, Genova was sweet.  It was SO HIGH UP.  The roads are very narrow and windy.  Seriously the craziest bus rides ever.  But the view from our hostel was spectacular.  And we went out to dinner and got some delicious pizzas (the first of many we would get on this trip).  We left Genova early in the morning to get our train to Monterosso in Cinque Terre.  We arrived and it was BEAUTIFUL.  We stayed in an apartment than an American girl and her Italian boyfriend owned.  It was awesome.  There were 6 of us total, so it was a little tight, but our view was spectacular and we had a grape vine and a lemon tree (AWESOME).  It was also very close to everything (though the towns are very small, so unless you are halfway up the mountain, everything is rather close).  We were beach bums most of the time.  On my 21st birthday, I decided to do a 3 hour hike into the next town with my friend Brittany. HELL OF A HIKE.  Holy hiking, seriously.  It was the scenic route since all of the coastal trails were closed due to rock slides and such in the winter.  And it was HARD.  But we made it to the other town, and saw some incredible views.  We also went out for a full 3 course Italian meal on my birthday.  SO GOOD.  Then we passed out (hell of a birthday, huh? haha).  The rest of the week we explored more of the towns, hiked some more, and laid on the beach.  Our town was by far the best town out of the 5…mostly because we had a huge beach and they didn’t have any.  I don’t know what you would do there without a beach, really.

So. Came home from Italy on Easter.  Started to prep for finals.  Have had my Irish Music and Dance, Geoscience, and Irish Folklore exams so far.  I only have one left, and it is for my Psychology course…and it is on a Saturday (really?! Saturday exams? That sucks). 

I am also very torn about coming home.  I want to see all of my friends from home. A lot. I miss them so so so so so so so so much.  But I don’t want to leave my housemates and friends here.  But I am INCREDIBLY sick of the immaturity level of Irish people.  The series of events that have led me to hate Irish people:

1.  These kids were in my house one night and threw my shoes out of my house.  MY NICE RUNNING SHOES.  And I found one in the neighbors bush the next morning. But the other is nowhere to be found. Thanks for that.
2.  That same night, my friend Katie and I were getting kebabs before going to the pub.  Katie gets hers and pays for it, and this Irish guy literally takes it right out of her hands and runs away with it. Her response, “MY KEBABBBBBBBB!!”  But…really? REALLY? It’s 5 euro. You can’t get your own damn kebab?
3. Someone stole my housemate’s student ID card.  They checked out a book at the library then returned the card. So now she’s receiving all of these emails saying she owes money for this book she didn’t check out (late fees). And she’s going to end up paying for the damn book.
4. Someone broke into my friend’s house one night while we were all hanging out and broke the “break in case of fire” box.  250 euro fine.  STUPID.
5.  Eggs. People throw eggs everywhere. DISGUSTING. GROW UP.
6.  I was walking home happy to be back in Ireland after a trip, and these guys drive by in an SUV and pull out a giant super-soaker…and I get soaked (good thing the name rings true to its outcome, huh?). 

I am so lucky to have awesome housemates and friends, cause if I was stuck purely with college-aged Irish kids, I would be pissed off.  My best Irish friend here is 28 years old. Go figure.

So. Yeah. One week til I go back to the states. The first thing I am going to do is go to several doctor’s appointments, because Ireland has destroyed my immune system.  Then I am going to go to Fatheads in Pittsburgh, order a bangin’ sandwich with their homemade french fries and ask for a vat of ranch dressing.  Seriously. Why don’t they have ranch in Europe?!

Might do one more entry before I leave, depending on my time constraints.  Packing is NOT going to be fun.

Cheers,
Melanie

Oh, PS. I also won a photo competition at UL for my photos in Ireland.  Won a hoodie and 40 euro (could have taken 80 euro, but the hoodie is pretty cool. haha). SO YAY!


Location: Limerick, Ireland

stranded in England…

A rather unexpected ending to my first semester abroad experience happened when my flight home was cancelled due to the “tremendous” snow storm! As I stayed with my host family a few extra nights and prayed for the snow to subside and allow me home by Christmas, it made me laugh at such a huge cultural difference – one inch of snow completed halted everything in England, whereas in Pittsburgh, things would run smoothly with one foot! 

The last few days spent with my host family were the best! We had a pizza party, went shopping, watched movies, and lounged around in our PJ’s by the fire! I miss them all very much and am so thankful for my England adventure!
As for now, I made it home for Christmas and take on the illustrious task of packing for 5 months of Sweden… wish me luck!!
Peace, love and happy holidays!

Location: pittsburgh, PA

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

The Post-Abroad Post

Being home is comforting and strange. I constantly catch myself saying “pardon” (pronounced with a very nasal French accent) instead of “excuse me” in public places. Hearing English everywhere is confusing. I was walking around the King of Prussia mall with a few friends yesterday, and they laughed when I stopped and spun around when I heard two people behind us speaking French.

It’s difficult to respond to the question “How was France?” I don’t know how I could possibly sum up the past four months into any sort of decent reply. So many days, so many experiences. I think I’d rather leave the answer vague, instead of attempting to reduce my time abroad into simple adjectives of praise. I’m feeling more and more that France and the French language are my own private world, a place that none of my friends or family can really know. It’s my reality, tucked away for now in memories and a bag of ticket stubs and photographs.

That being said, I’m looking forward to talking to other students about studying abroad. It’s a hard decision to make – leaving everything you know for a few months to a year to go somewhere completely new and unknown, where you may not speak the language or understand the culture. But it’s an experience I think everyone should have, and that I’m looking forward to having again.


Location: Bethlehem, PA

Goodbye Tanzania. Hello Kenya.

I’ve made the switch! My time in East Africa is now halfway over. I’ll spend the rest of my time here in Kimana, Kenya. KBC (Kilimanjaro Bush Camp) is so different from our Moyo Hill camp in Tanzania. First of all, it’s so much bigger. We have tons of free space, a soccer field and volleyball court, two fire pits, a mile long running trail, twice as many bandas, a tv room, and an amazing library. There are tons of trees and flowering bushes in camp and vervet monkeys, baboons, bushbabies, and dik diks are often seen inside our fence. Every morning I wake up to the sight of Mt. Kilimanjaro’s snow capped peaks. It’s really quite incredible.

 

Leaving Tanzania was difficult, though. I truly loved the staff there and loved every day we spent together. On our last night in TZ, we had a sort of going away dinner. They had set the tables and chairs up outside around the fire circle and there were candles on all the tables. We had a feast like never before. There was ugali, rolls, and chapatti bread, scalloped and mashed potatoes, chicken, beef, veggie burgers, fresh juice, and more. As I sat in the firelight, watching the people who had become my family eating, talking, and laughing, I couldn’t help by tear up (…okay, I cried like  baby). I was just overwhelmed by the happiness around me, the simple perfection of it all, and the realization that it was coming to an end. I knew that I was in for more amazing times in Kenya, but still… I had found so much joy in this place and I wasn’t ready to leave Tanzania.

 

Our environmental policy professor, Mwamhanga, traveled with us to Kenya, and before he went back to Tanzania he hugged me and said to me, “Every time you see Mt. Kilimanjaro, think of Tanzania. That is your home.”  (Even though we can see the mountain from our camp here, its not actually part of Kenya.) I will never forget that.

 

So, now… we’ve been here for about a week and everyone is starting to feel more comfortable. We are getting to know all our new staff members and they have been keeping us busy with lots of academic work. Here are just a few of the things we’ve done in the past few days:

 

  • �      Field lecture. We hiked up to the top of one of the Chyulu Hills, a pretty intense and steep climb actually, to look out over the Rift Valley and talk about land use in the area.
  • �      Interviews. With local guides as translators, we conducted interviews with farmers in our community about human-wildlife conflicts (most people have problems with elephants and zebras tramping their crops in the dry season and want the government to fix an electric fence that will keep the animals out).
  • �      Rangeland assessment. We conducted ground surveys in small groups throughout the Tsavo-Amboseli wildlife corridor, looking at erosion, trampling, herb cover, grass height, canopy layers, etc.

 

Also, on a non-academic note, we had an awesome Halloween party with costumes, pumpkin carving, and candy! We’ve done a couple of nature walks in the mornings and watched some movies on the projector at night. Sometimes it’s still hard to get used to the fact that I’m not in Tanzania anymore. But we are having tons of fun here and there is so much to keep us busy that the days are passing by quickly! I miss our Moyo Hill camp a lot but I hope by the end of my time here I will consider this place home too. 


Location: Kimana, Kenya

Back to America

After one last day at a beautiful beach in Zanzibar, I started my 40 hours of travel home on Friday morning.

We first took a ferry from Zanzibar back to Dar where we caught our 4:50pm flight to Dubai. The ferry pretty much sucked. We were going so fast and against the current so the boat was flying all over the place. We had 4 of our students get sick and about 5 more feeling like they were going to be sick. It wasn’t just us either. People all over the ferry were in rough shape. It was kind of amusing in a way but really it was just bad. To top it off, after being on the boat for 2 hours of rough riding we had to go straight to the airport – no showers or refreshment. I bet we all looked good!

The flight to Dubai was alot better than the flight in from Dubai. The plane was bigger and nicer. We had a couple hours of layover in Dubai. That airport is insane. Especially after spending my trip in the rural villages of Tanzania, the upscale, flashy ways of Dubai airport seemed ridiculous to me. We left Dubai for New York at 2:00 am – Dubai time. And after 14 hours of flight we landed in New York at 7:30am. From there I had a longer layover till my flight to Pittsburgh at 2pm.

I was a mix of emotions. Through all the travel I felt fine. Being in the crazy Dubai airport made me a bit uneasy – all that flashy stuff seems silly when you put it into perspective. Through the flights I felt good, focusing on the next leg of travel. My first episode came on the last flight from New York to Pittsburgh. As we were flying into the airport, I was looking out the window and noticed how huge some of the houses are, and how much open land we have. Add in my fatigue and travel-weariness and I was almost in tears. How lucky we are to live in America! My mood improved when I made it off the plane and into the airport. I was very excited to see my family, give gifts and tell all my stories.

The first evening passed by smoothly for me. I was content to be home and happy to be reunited with my family. The next few days however, I have been having a harder time. These new emotions have surprised me. I expected to have some culture shock and homesickness when arriving in Tanzania – but when arriving home? I never expected it to be harder to come home. And for me it has been harder. A lot harder. I felt pretty comfortable in Tanzania. I had a few moments of homesickness and discomfort here and there but I was never that bad. Being back in America has been hard. I know I shouldn’t feel guilty for the way I live but I do. At this point I don’t know how to look at our lives and not feel guilty or wasteful or ignorant. The differences between America and East Africa are bigger than me.  The two places are two completely different worlds. Going from one world to another in a matter of days is hard to adjust to. I’m sure in a few days I will find it easier. The improvement between today and yesterday has already been extreme. I look forward to feeling comfortable again but at the same time, I don’t want to loose this outlook. I don’t want to go back to the way it was- spending money on useless things, being wasteful and secluding myself into work and school. Hopefully, with some thought and effort I will be able to integrate some of the Tanzanian qualities into my own life.

The study abroad trip was amazing. I can’t stop thinking about going back. I don’t know how or when but I am defiantly persistent in making my return to East Africa. The thought of spending my summers or years after graduation at home is really unappealing. I have the travel bug. I’ve seen another new place and now I want to see everything. The whole world lies out there – I’m itching to see it all!

I promised a photo blog entry and it will be coming soon. We all traded pictures so I literally have thousands to go through, transfer and edit. But soon enough I will post them. Expect a couple or entries too. I’ll try to post as I go through them, or else it would be a while for the whole group.


Location: Murrysville, Pennsylvania