This Week Abroad - 3/13/15
Blogs Abroad: Oh The Places You Will Go...
This is Arcadia's weekly roundup of highlights from student blogs abroad.
Oh The Places You Will Go this week, with Lauren traveling to Normandy to revisit the sites of the infamous World War II invasion, Margaret traipsing about the Highlands in Scotland, Brenda adventuring to Sabadell for a fiesta and Allison traveling to the Fields of Athenry. None hold a candle to Kristi, who's epic Spring Break adventures took her to Budapest, Istanbul and Prague.
In addition to these travelers, Eien is terrorized by The Bird, Ananya is thoughtful about her time abroad so far and Remy reflects on the South African Way of Life.
But first, let's start with Naomi, who catches us up on the places she's been since we heard from her last.
Oh The Places You Will Go
"I realize that what I should have written about is the fact that I have officially been in Istanbul for a month! In actuality, I’ve now been here for about a month and a half but, this is what happens when you’ve got writers block. I think I want to talk about my expectations of the city, how I felt when I first arrived, versus how I feel now. Here I have a couple of rules/things I realized and jotted down in my journal, from my first week in Istanbul."
A Weekend in Normandy
"Like many Americans, I have deep roots within the war. My great uncle Gerald flew into France as a young boy upon one of America’s flimsy gliders. These wooden planes were towed in behind C-47’s and were incorporated with terrible tragedies killing soldiers before they even had the chance to fight. Fortunately, my uncle was able to land in a field where he described seeing mud coming into the plane through the floorboards that were destroyed on landing. My uncle managed to make it through the war but he never managed to make it passed the terrible images and experiences he was exposed to. He spent much of his life suffering from nightmares and PTSD from the war and after witnessing what he flew in on, I will never be able to fully grasp the terrifying experiences he was tossed into. I sympathize with anyone involved with war, it’s truly an unhealed wound on the youth of that time."
Weekend Trip to the Highlands
Margaret in Edinburgh, Scotland
"One of the perks of studying abroad through Arcadia is that they organize optional trips for you to join in on. One of the trips I signed up for was an activity weekend at the University of Edinburgh’s Firbush Outdoor Center. So last Friday, I packed my bags and headed to Killin for an exciting weekend."
The Bird
"Alright, let me tell you about The Bird. This creature is pure malice. My interactions with the bird began my first night/second day in Weerona (my residential college). It was an amazing first night with a talent show and everyone getting together for some beautiful music and funny skits. This event ended around 10 and after the day of travel I had endured, I needed to go to sleep asap. So there I was, comfortable in my bed (though it was hot and humid that night) sleeping like a rock and enjoying the sweet silence that comes with the end of the day. The next thing I knew, I was awakened. Something outside my window was screaming. Not a human kind of screaming, a shriek of raw energy, exploding into the pre-dawn morning. I looked at my clock, wondering when it was that I had awakened.
Fiesta Time
"This week, school was fine. I had another academic field study but this time, it was for my documentary photography class. I went to a town called, Sabadell. It's forty-five minutes away from Barcelona by train. A lot of people do not go there for a tourist place because there is basically nothing to do there, but that´s exactly the reason why we went. The mission for the trip was to understand the meaning of what is going on in a background that we usually wouldn't take. It was pretty interesting to see that something that I wouldn't have normally taken be something so beautiful in itself."
The South African Way of Life
Remy in Cape Town, South Africa
"There is a movement happening in Cape Town to revive the language of the Khoisan people that were believed to be the first inhabitants of southern Africa. The language is essentially endangered, and many people who are direct descendants of the Khoisan do not know anything about where they came from. The Khoisan are not recognized or appreciated as much as they should be. The quote above came from a documentary we watched in our Intro to South Africa course taught by our program director. South Africa is in an identity crisis as a whole due to the apartheid, but people are very proud of their familial ancestry and culture if they have the knowledge of it."
Pride and Prejudice
"It is a testament of how busy I have been adjusting to and enjoying life in Scotland that this is only the third blog post I have written so far. But wow, do I have a lot to talk about now! From living in a self-catered flat (read: cook for yourself) and trying not to get blown away by the wind to conversations about British English versus American and hour long debates about movies, life here has been swell. But, everything is not perfectly peachy either, and if anyone is wondering why I’m suddenly talking/ typing in such a strange fashion, it’s been because I’ve been holed up in my room too long, binge-banging Heroes and House on Netflix. Not so great."
The Fields of Athenry
"Eager to travel, I took my first day trip with my new friend, Adrienne. We originally planned to go to the seaside village of Kinvara, but the Bus station rudely informed me that the only bus going to Kinvara would leave Galway at 3 p.m. That was too late for our day trip, so Adrienne and I power walked to the visitor’s center to make other plans. Inside the elaborate tourism center, we found a friendly employee who was incredibly helpful with informing us on which destinations would make good day trips for the day and how to get there. She explained a medieval town called Athenry that had a cathedral, castle, and a stone wall and had Adrienne and I sold. It didn’t take long for us to gather the train information and rush to buy our tickets at the station."
Spring Break 2k15
"After 10 days of surviving on only enough to fit in one backpack, sharing my room with 10 people and my bathroom with 40, not understanding anything anyone said ever and getting lost at least 3 times a day; it was amazing to get back to our tiny, perfect Perugia. To lay in our own beds and have consistent Wi-Fi really felt like home. However, I wouldn’t change one thing about our spring break. I’ve made friends I still talk to and got to go places I never even dreamed I could be one day. All in all, it was a perfect last spring break."