Wofford College - Study Abroad

Still in disbelief

After being here in the Dominican Republic for almost my complete 4 months (I go home in just a week and a half now), I am still constantly in disbelief at my experiences here. I am amazed by how independently I functioned living in a big city for the first time, amazed that I was actually able to interact and get by speaking my Spanish here, and just when I thought I was getting used to the gorgeous ocean views, I was absolutely stunned by the pristine beauty of Isla Saona. I can't believe my time here is almost up, and as many days as I was just frustrated at so many of the cultural differences and the problems encountered in a third world country, the thought of leaving here is making me appreciate everything this country has to offer a lot more. While I am still very much ready to head back to the comforts of home and my beloved Wofford, I will always look back on my experiences with great appreciation for the people here who took me in and the beauty I was able to experience. Here are a couple pictures from my great trip to Bayahibe and one of me with my classmates:

Here I am with some of my classmates from Centro Bono, a Jesuit school that trains priests and religious workers. Can you pick me out in this picture? I know it was a tough one to find me! Being the only girl and a clear minority in this class, I felt very aware of how different I was, but I never felt unwelcomed. At the beginning I was absolutely mortified- these guys were nothing like I was expecting. Being told I'd be taking classes at a Jesuit school, I imagined more mature and solemn types, but these guys are just loads of fun and love cracking immature jokes wherever possible. Being a foreigner and not knowing what's going on half the time, and not knowing why it's going on the other half of the time, these guys really looked out for me. Francis for example, dreams of being able to speak English perfectly and was always trying out new words of me, while Ruben would always listen understandingly to my complaints about the majority of Dominican men and their unwanted attention before leaving class halfway through because he found it so boring. On top of adjusting to the Spanish in the classroom, I also found myself adjusting to aspects of Haitian culture, as about half my classmates were Haitian and would speak Creole among themselves. They made me feel a lot better about my horrible Spanish though, as for many of them Spanish was not their strongest language.

While I have seen a lot of beautiful places here in the DR, my daytrip out to Isla Saona was by far the most beautiful. My friend Ellie from Georgetown and I headed to Bayahibe for the weekend and boarded a large Catamaran sailboat early in the morning to head out to the island off the southeast coast.

Here's the view from the beach of Island Saona. I was in shock the whole day and must have said a thousand times, "I can't believe I'm here" or "This place is so beautiful I can't believe it's even real." The island is pretty deserted except for the tourists who head there for day trips. It's the most isolated beach with the clearest water I've seen here.

This was one of the coolest parts of the trip. The boats took us out to the "Piscina Natural" which is a natural pool in the middle of the ocean. The water is only about waist deep, perfectly still and crystal clear. There are starfish in this area, but you have to be careful because holding them out of the water for more than just a few seconds can kill them, and the tourism industry has already started to take its toll on the population. I was surprised though by how spiky and heavy the starfish was. It was incredibly gorgeous though and one of my most prized pics so far.

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Well, I've not posted in a good while, so I'm going to hit the highlights.

My friends came to Guanajuato!  Alice Harvey and Lindsey Gates, on their Wofford spring break (Ok Lindsey has already graduated, so she would kill me for saying that) came to visit Guanajuato.  Joining them in their arrival to Guanajuato was Vanessa Lauber, this year's presidential scholar.  We all enjoyed a few days together before the Lindsey and Alice went to the beach and Vanessa went to work once again on her project.  It was really nice to see some familiar faces for the first time in a few months.

During my spring break, I did a service project in Mesa Cuata with a handful of other students.  We taught young kids how to make recycled paper from scrap paper, picked up trash around their school, played a little soccer, wrote letters to their sister school in the United States, and on the last day took the kids to Guanajuato for a little treat.  Attached is a picture with my little friend Marisol when we went to a mine on that last day.  I think the camera surprised her.

Last week, the CIEE students and myself took a group trip to Zacatecas.  The city was really gorgeous and had some great ruins in the surrounding area.  CIEE took us to tour the facilities of large beverage producer named Modelo Group Inc.  I was quite impressed with Modelo Group Inc.  Their facility featured a zoo, several greenhouses growing young saplings to be planted in the surrounding area, and boasted an incredible amount of recycled waste, water which was in turn used to nourish the young trees they planted.  During the same weekend, I was informed I was the recipient of a grant that will send me to Germany next year.  I am terrifeid and excited all at once about this prospect, but I know that another Wofford student and one of my best friends, Claudia Winkler, will be in the Rheinland as well.  It is comforting knowing that even though my time as a Wofford student is ending, I am about to take another journey with a fellow grad and dear friend.  I am confident it will be a very special year, just as these last four have been.

A month from yesterday, I will be hoping on a plane bound for upstate South Carolina.  It's hard to believe that my time in Guanajuato, and as a Wofford student, is nearly to an end.  I have two days to catch up (and say goodbye) with my friends before graduating on Sunday, May 18th.  I wasn't there to try on a cap or gown to order for the ceremony, but my mom was kind enough to take care of that for me.  Hope it fits.

Vanessa Lauber will be returning from Oaxaca and her research at the end of next week.  We will have a couple of days to catch up before she herself hops on a Wofford bound plane.  I am sending my regards via Vanessa to everyone at convocation at the beginning of May.

I hope everyone is enjoying the remainder of their semester as I soak up the remainder of my time as a Wofford student in Guanajuato.

Saludos desde México,

John

An interesting week!

 

A quick update!!

So last week, just after Patagonia, my parents and younger brother came to visit.  It was my brother's Spring Break so it was a good time to travel south.  Unfortunately, they were only able to stay for about 2.5 days and then had to head back. 

Although the visit was short, we packed in a lot of activities.  We explored a few "Cerros" of Valparaiso:

Watched the sunset from Hotel del Mar:

We also drove up the coast, had dinner with my host family, and my brother and I were able to play "baby futbol" one night.  Overall it was a good visit and I am happy they were able to experience a little of what I do and see everyday.

Last Saturday, I was able to do one of my favorite things in Chile: Go to an Everton Soccer Club game in Vina.  Everton is Vina del Mar's professional soccer team.  The games are crazy and everyone is pretty obsessed! They are definitely the best games I have been to.  Here are some pictures!

So on to this past week.  School has been going pretty well so far.  Each week, for the most part, it becomes easier and easier to understand and communicate in class.  It definitely takes some time!  This past week though I really only had University class one day.  Our classes were "en paro" which basically means they are suspended.  Starting on Tuesday, the university students all around Valparaiso began huge, full stage protests.  The base of these protests stems from the raise in student bus fares on the Micros (buses that are used all over to get from place to place).  In addition to this, other issues pertaining to equal education, food quality, and textbook availability were also being challenged. 

Until they come to an agreement with the school and government, we are in a stand still.  I find this entire situation so fascinating.  I have never been around/experienced such passion for change.  They are upset about something and are actually doing something about it, instead of waiting for something to happen.  Although, in my opinion, some of the issues they are focusing on are quite small, they are still making a difference.

Hopefully, they will be able to resolve the issues soon and I'll keep you updated!

The real Patagonia!

    

So here we go.  At the University, last week was entitled "La Semana Novata."  I still am kind of unsure as to the exact meaning of the week but I do know almost all classes are canceled and there are big parties around town to "celebrate" the beginning of a new school year.  This, therefore, is essentially my spring break.  With this time, my two friends and I planned a trip to the southern region of Chile (region XII, Austral) to begin an adventure into the immense region of Patagonia.  This has been something I have been looking forward to since I had considered studying here. 

We left Saturday morning March 29th at 5 am and began our day long travel journey.  Tyler (a friend from New Hampshire) and I started with an hour and a half bus ride to Santiago from Valparaiso.  After this we took about a 2 hour flight to a city called Puerto Montt.  In Puerto Montt we had a 4 hour layover until our next flight which was semi-torture.  The PM airport had only 3 gates or "puertas" as they call them, so as you can assume there wasn't a whole lot to do!  The next hour and 15 minute flight to Punta Arenas brought us almost to the end of the world.  Only a few more hours south and you will hit the end of South America and all thats left is Antarctica, which is pretty far south.  We got to PA about 7 o'clock and had to take a taxi from the airport into town (30 min) to find a bus station.  We made it there and bought tickets for a bus to Puerto Natales at 8 pm.  The ride to PN took about 3 hours and went through the absolute middle of nowhere...literally.  And for some reason in Chile, the bus conductors love to use heat.  Its a normal temperature outside and sometimes a little A/C would even be appropriate but instead they blast the heat thinking everyone is freezing cold.  The reality is that you can sweat more inside a bus than if you were running a marathon outside.  It was quite uncomfortable but the trip was necessary!  We arrived in PN at around 11 and found our way to a hostal called "Backpackers Kaweskar."  Kaweskar is the name of an indigenous group from southern Chile.

At the hostal we met up with Doug, the third member of our group, and five other girls from our program that had arrived the day before.  The hostal was quite nice, fully-equipped with sheets and an included breakfast.  (By the way, our traveling isn't over yet)  The next morning Doug, Tyler, and I woke up at 6:45 am to eat breakfast and catch the bus to Torres del Paine National Park at 7:30 am where we would begin our journey.  This bus ride is about 2 to 2.5 hours and then we finally got to our destination! Quite a trek but in hindsight completely worth it.

After about a 30 minute boat ride across Lake Pehoe, we arrived at a lodge and began the most physically demanding and difficult task I have ever encountered.  We all had large packs with all the necessities, plus some, that we had to carry the entire trip.  I don't think I really knew what I was getting myself in to!  We hiked the "W" trail, named so cleverly after its actual trail shape.  I have included a link to a very basic map of the trail:
http://www.besthike.com/southamerica/chile/images/w_sm.gif

So here is the basic rundown on our 4 night/5 day trek through the park:

Day 1: hike 4 hours - 11km, Camp at Refugio Grey at the base of huge Glacier Grey

Day 2: hike 6 hours - 18.6km, Hike back down 1st part of "W" and over towards the middle part, camp at Campamento Italiano

Day 3: hike 4.5 hours - 9.5km, Hike up into the middle of the "W" and back down (Valle Frances), and hike over to right side of "W" and camp at Campamento Los Cuernos (this is where we had a mouse in our sleeping tent and storage tent...it so nicely woke us all up at 1:30am and thoroughly freaked us out, quite an experience!)

Day 4: hike 7 hours - 19.7km, Hike from Cuernos all the way around the bottom right point of the "W" to Campamento Las Torres at the base of the parks landmark, Las Torres (the towers)

Day 5: hike 4.5 hours - 10.7km, Hike at 5:45am in the dark and rain to the base of the Torres (you are supposed to be able to see the sunrise reflection off the Torres but it was rainy and kind of foggy but still very beautiful).  Hike back down, pack everything up in the rain and head down to Hosteria Las Torres to catch our bus back to Puerto Natales.

 

During the trip we made friends with two Australians, a Spanish girl, and two girls from London.  All of them were doing some kind of long journey through South America and made me very jealous.  The instant bond you make on the trail with people is pretty cool.  All of them are going to or already have passed through Valpo and Vina to visit.  We also made friends with plenty of mice on our trek.  They get in your tent, in your packs, in your food...everywhere! Each night we "bear bagged" all of our food and put it in trees.  None of this seemed to bother the mice because every morning we would wake up with a new surprise.   

Wow...by the end we smelled bad (good thing everyone else was in the same boat!), were exhausted, and all we wanted was some pizza and a hot shower.  I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. The trip was amazing and the park was unbelievable, I will definitely be going back sometime in the near future. 

I finally got back to Vina del Mar on Sunday morning April 6th and was happy to welcome my parents and my brother on Monday morning to my new hometown.  We had a great time together touring Vina and Valpo and I enjoyed showing them around some of my new favorite places.  It was a short visit but a full one!

I hope everyone is doing great! I'll be in touch!

Chett 

So its been a month...

So it has been a month since I last posted.  Forgive me please!  My last blog post was a recap of my times in Paris.  I left off saying that I was headed into a weekend meeting my mom and grandmother in Paris.  Let me just say that seeing your mom and grandmother come around the corner in the airport is one of the most fun things ever!  We had a great time in Paris, driving to Normandy, and staying in one of the best bed and breakfast's ever (La Ferme du Pressoir in Villers-Bocage).  The picture opening up this blog is from my latest excursion to the capital with some friends from Columbia, SC.  We had quite the amazing race experience in the metro to meet a friend at the pyramid at the Louvre that definitely involved running through the metro and jumping into a car as the buzzer is sounding!  I find it so amazing that I have the ability to know my way around a city as large, exotic, and fascinating as Paris.

So I have also just finished the week of 'devoir maisons'--the literal translation of 'home work' but the actual translation of 'research paper'.  5 pages of single spaced information on art history, in French, was less than simple!  I also had similar assignments in my Middle East class and French Romanticism.  Now it is over and I can breathe-until finals that is!

Life with my host family is going excellently!  When my mom came she brought Jelly Bellies and a pizza cutter.  She brought Jelly Bellies because it was around Easter, and she brought the pizza cutter because she had asked me what my family needed.  I found it kind of strange, but the first thing I thought of was a pizza cutter for their various tartes and homemade supreme pizzas.  Well the Jelly Bellies were a hit.  My 16 yr old host brother found it hilarious to give the root beer flavored one to all his siblings.  The pizza cutter is also now the most commonly used utensil in the kitchen, I believe.  I am fairly sure that you can get them in France, but my family just hadn't given the pizza cutter a chance yet.  Also when my mom and grandmother came, I was sort of surprised to find out which members of my host family spoke English.  We only speak French in the house, unless my host mom wants my 16 yr old brother to practice for an English test, or she is translating something we are eating for dinner. 

Today is the start of our spring break, so I am going to miss my host family a lot!  To match with the university here, we have two weeks to travel and discover Europe!  So tonight I head to Paris where a plane awaits to take me to Malaga, Spain.  I'll be there for a week.  Then I'll head to Dublin, Ireland and on to London.  It is crazy that I have the opportunity to see Europe like this!  I'll update you on my travels when I get back!

A bientot!

Julia