April 2014 – Valpo Voyager

Month: April 2014

On Arthur's Seat!

The Weekenders

Warwick Castle

I think when my friends and family picture me here, they think I’m constantly traveling. They think I have days on end to hop on planes, trains, and automobiles and spend masses of my time outside Cambridge. Although we are lucky enough to have two breaks that combine to make three weeks off, on weekdays we have to be in town for class (I know that sounds like an obvious observation, but sometimes even I forget, though it’s more out of hope than anything else). In order to travel outside of our breaks, we have to cram certain trips into the weekend, which is made easier by the fact we have Fridays off. Yeah, I know, woe is me, having to confine trips around Europe to three-day weekends. My life is so tragic. Fortunately, my purpose is not to evoke pity, but to inform future study abroaders (definitely a word) or anyone else who’s interested about popular types of weekend trips you can take as a student abroad. And if you think I’m only doing this, not out of concern for future study abroad students, but as a desperate attempt to tidily sum up what I’ve been doing for the past month, well, frankly I’m appalled (by how accurate that thought is).

Class Trips

Brendan sleeping on the bus

Okay, these are mandatory and we have no control over them whatsoever. Our director Matt, a beautiful soul, plans the whole weekend and pays for basically everything. This makes planning, booking, and budgeting a total cinch. We have three class trips this semester: the London trip I already wrote about, the “Castles Trip” (though we only saw two castles) that we took in March, and a trip to the Lake District, which we are taking next weekend. One common theme is that we always have to wake up at some ungodly hour to leave (meaning 7 am). On the Castles Trip, we at least had a few hours to sleep on the bus before we got to our destination, which basically turned out to mean everyone else sleeps while I take embarrassing photos of them.

Getting our tan on at Stonehenge

Matt is a whiz at balancing out the typical tourist activities that you feel you have to do (Stonehenge. The sheep beside it were more interesting. I worked on my tan. But still, you have to do it) and some really interesting, more off beat activities. For example, we met up one night in Stratford for a ghost tour. It was very entertaining, except for the fact my toes were slowly going numb because apparently I haven’t yet learned how to dress appropriately for the weather. During these class trips, we get a lot of free time at night, giving us the option to relax or go explore the city on our own. I particularly liked the Castles Trip because I’d been to all the places before when I was 14, and it was really interesting getting to re-experience the various sites, unfortunately remembering 14-year-old me and what a weirdo I was (“What a weirdo you were? I don’t remember that ever becoming past tense!” Oh look, I just saved my parents a comment).

Crashing With Your Friend Trips

On Arthur’s Seat!

Or, in my case, crashing with Julia’s best friend’s boyfriend, a bit too specific to have its own category. Toward the end of March, Julia and I went to stay with Brooke, who was visiting her boyfriend in Scotland. Leo and his roommate Nick were incredibly generous to offer up their couch to us as well as offer to show us around Edinburgh for the weekend. Because we used our Britrails to get to and from Scotland and stayed with friends, the trip cost basically nothing, aside from the occasional nourishment in the form of some Scottish delicacies (okay, McDonald’s).

“photo break”

One of the best things about staying with someone who lives in your destination is that they know the must-see places as well as cheap or free activities. For example, Leo told us paying for a castle tour wasn’t really worth it but accompanied us on a hike up to Arthur’s Seat. I blame my rampant cold for my constant need to stop during the mountain hike (note the word “mountain”) in order to take a breather, or as my mom calls them “photo breaks.” The foggy view at the top was worth the trek up, though the journey downward was very unconventional and led to Julia and me crab-walking down a steep hill.

Out of Country Trips

From Ireland to Germany to France, close approximation and cheap ticket prices made it easier than ever to hop a plane to

Amsterdam canal

continental Europe (or Ireland) for a weekend. Julia and I recently kicked off our two week break with a weekend trip to Amsterdam. We used Couchsurfers again, so we were able to avoid weekend hostel prices. Another way to save money on any trip is to be ignorant. Now, you have to be careful in which situations you choose to be ignorant because you could inevitably end up losing money if you choose incorrectly. This strategy works best in foreign countries. In Amsterdam, we didn’t really understand the tram system. We would just hop on and get off at our stop without paying because we honestly didn’t know where or how to buy tickets. It wasn’t until our host filled us in on how you need to buy a card (ranging from 1 hour to 2 days) at a desk upon entering the tram and check in and out with the card. Although I found this information out the night we arrived, I played up the dumb American stereotype a little bit, so that I only had to pay for 1 one hour pass the entire weekend (I’m not sure if I’m officially allowed to recommend this, so I’m simply just relaying what happened). Amsterdam also offered a free walking tour, a cool way to learn about the city’s history.

Market on the wharf

Although the tourists are the most prominent on the weekends, these trips are the best for experiencing the thriving night life of any city you visit. In Amsterdam, we got to see the Red Light District in full swing. The Van Gogh museum had live music on Friday nights, which made the atmosphere a lot less like a stereotypical museum. But we also got to hop on a ferry (which was either free or didn’t have any clear way of collecting a fee) during the day to a weekend market on the wharf. Some of my favorite parts of traveling are experiencing what the locals do on a daily basis, such as attending the market. To me, weekend trips to mainland Europe were relatively stress-free because even if we didn’t do much during our days there, the trip itself was pretty cheap and it always beat the alternative (staying home and binge watching all the rom coms in the house while feasting on pita bread). Plus, I imagine it’ll be quite fun once I’m home to say, “Oh yeah, we just hopped on over to the Netherlands for the weekend. No biggie.”

Although I have spent a good number of weekends right here in Cambridge, it was fun to get out of town for a few days at a time and experience the other countries and cultures that are currently at my fingertips. Julia, Hannah, and I spent the rest of our two week break in the UK, falling in love with the British all over again. As my last few weeks in Cambridge wind down, I am getting progressively more sentimental. So it would be wise to expect my next blog to be about all the things I’ll miss about the UK. Expect tears as well.

Danielle

At the Botanical Gardens

Visiting Friends and Valiant Intentions

April 24, 2014 / Danielle Steinwart / 3 Comments

Two days after Julia and I returned from our trips to Barcelona and Paris, one of our best friends Sam came to visit us for a week. It had been two and a half months since we had last seen her (over 7 months for Bryn), and it seemed that we could talk of nothing else in the weeks leading up to her arrival. Over text and Facebook, we had raved to each other about the impending reunion and inadvertently crafted a tower of expectations built on a foundation of shimmering, yet freaking unstable sand. Here were some of those unrealistic expectations paired with what actually happened:

1. Epic Reunion: We were fully ready to embarrass ourselves in front of the general British public. Originally, I had pictured meeting Sam at the airport with Bryn and Julia. As she rolled her swanky Vera Bradley suitcase through customs to the arrival area (and hitting baggage claim sometime around there too. I admit, I didn’t have all the kinks worked out), the three of us would mob her in a huge hug that encompassed all the hugs we didn’t get to have during the months we were apart. Squeals, laughs as our collective lack of balance would have imminently led to toppling over, and tears (mostly on Sam’s part) would all have been part of this experience. It would have been a hug to end all hugs, with the least appreciative audience to witness it: tired British people in a hurry.

Our beloved Crepe Cart, this picture becomes relevant later

Reality: Well, if you have an incredible memory, you’ll remember that as soon as Julia and I got back from our break, we had a 10 page paper due for our art appreciation class that Monday. Being the two go-getters that we are, neither of us started until Sunday afternoon. When I woke up the next morning to print my paper out, all the photos I had were out of order, and it took a couple hours to fix. We also had class that morning, so we couldn’t pick up Sam from the airport with Bryn. We were also going on a trip to Ely Cathedral, and because of the paper mishap, I hadn’t showered. Or brushed my hair. Or done anything to make myself look in any way presentable. As the taxis were pulling away from the house, I saw Bryn and Sam walk in front of the car. I screeched, “Wait, stop!” I then proceeded to kick the car door open (because apparently too much excitement leads to a loss of hand mobility) and half tackled Sam, twisting her ankle in the process. Two seconds later, I was back in the car. Julia managed an enthusiastic wave from her taxi. It was magical.

2. Adventures Worthy of a Movie Contract: I’m going to admit something that I feel comfortable sharing with you, now that we’ve gotten to know each other over the past few months. I was pretty sure we were going to meet One Direction on this trip. Not positive, but, like I said, pretty sure. I had no plan of action, no schemes or strategies. I was just confident that since Sam was able to come here at all, a miracle in itself, more miracles were bound to ensue. Then we and the boys of 1D would become best friends and get up to all kinds of British mischief. I’m just saying, I didn’t think it was entirely out of the realm of possibility.

That could have been us.

Reality: Turns out that this goal was safely nestled within the realm of impossibility. Honestly, having one of my best friends visit us was such a surreal experience that I never really felt the need to do anything particularly daring. I was so happy to just wake up and see Sam snoring away on the top bunk or to hear her cracking up to one of Julia’s “jokes” in the other room. I just wanted to spend time with her, and it didn’t matter that we weren’t living it up with famous British pop stars. It was paradise just sitting around, having a movie marathon and pigging out on anything that had a dangerous amount of carbs in it. Twist: When Sam was leaving for the States, she was at the airport the same time as two of the members of One Direction. She didn’t find out until the next day. Oh, the bitter taste of irony.

3. Showing off: Because we had been here for two and a half months, Julia and I considered ourselves to be posh Cambridge experts. We were planning on showing her all the sights of our beloved town: the colleges, the parks, a bunch of really old stuff, a haunted pub here and there. We would be her tour guides, pointing at old buildings and rattling off the half-remembered facts that a tour guide gave us our second day here. She would gasp and be in awe of our vast knowledge (or at least appreciate our abilities to completely make up a believable history of the town), and be quite envious of the convincing British accents we would undoubtedly be putting on for the entirety of the tour. In addition, we would introduce her to all of our British friends, impressing her with our ability to successfully charm the haughty natives.

At the Botanical Gardens

Reality: Our idea of the best of Cambridge turned out to include only two things: the Crepe Cart and the Botanical Gardens. No regrets on the Crepe Cart. That place is happiness on wheels. Regarding the Gardens: let’s just say that Sam took around 500 pictures during her time here, and 250 of them were dedicated to our trip there. Being a biology major, Sam is instantly interested by all things leafy. Most of our time in the Botanical Gardens was spent sitting on a bench and watching Sam run around in front of us raving about some rare tree bark or a species of bird that she had to know about for a test. Although Sam did meet our British friends, we all much preferred to spend our time gossiping about them instead of actually socializing with them.

Sam fit right into our house dynamic, and I wish we could have somehow made her stay for the rest of the semester (I tried to tempt her with stories of magical trees only found in Cambridge, but she didn’t go for it). However, in three weeks we will be back home, and I’ll get to see her and all my friends and family again. Thinking about it now, I realize that I need to take advantage of the time I have left, meaning making a lot more stops at the Crepe Cart before I leave.

Danielle

PS: Shout out to Brooke, Julia’s best friend, who graced us with her presence for a few magical days as well before heading off to Scotland! Tune in next time for my next blog, in which we join up with Brooke in Edinburgh!

The Old Capital

April 21, 2014 / bryncooley / 0 Comments

So this semester has been a little different for me. First off, I came back from Germany and almost immediately had a house full of new people from Valpo who I didn’t really know very well. That was a bit of a shock, because those of us from the previous semester may have started out the same way, but we became very close in the four months we had together. Second, I wasn’t technically a part of the Cambridge Program anymore, despite the fact that I live in the house. I’ve been going to Anglia Ruskin full time this semester, which is pretty fun and interesting, but kind of makes me feel a tad left out of house activities. This did, however, mean that I had a full month after the house was filled before I had to go back to school (Anglia Ruskin’s classes didn’t start until February). Third, my cousin came over to England to study in Winchester, a city southwest of London and the Anglo-Saxon capital of England. So, naturally, I decided that visiting her was the best course of action.

Winchester Cathedral

Because I had basically nothing to do, I showed up at the train station in Winchester at a time that worked for Cora (that’s my cousin). She greeted me with Starbucks, which I appreciated, because I had gotten up pretty early to make my trains. We spent that first day wandering around the cemetery that separated her campus from the town and the area around the big cathedral in town. We did a ton of exploring that first day, walking up to a lookout point that boasted a gorgeous view over the whole city–it wasn’t lying. We headed back down the hill after climbing a few trees and seriously contemplating rolling down the grassy slopes. To be honest, the only thing that stopped us was the fact that it had rained earlier and the ground was a bit muddy. We wandered around town a bit more, and found the old town walls from Anglo-Saxon days. There was an overflowing river and a ton of mud, as well as fun bridges and supposedly a castle, although we didn’t see it at that point. We continued wandering until we came upon what looked like a hiking trail up something called St. Catherine’s Hill. So, naturally, we decided to go up it.

Didn’t really matter to us that the sky was getting progressively darker with rainclouds, or that the wind was picking up a bit. Or that climbing a decently steep hill would be kind of difficult given the mud content of the area. Nope, we wandered right up the hill anyway. And it was pretty fun, we ran into a few cows and a couple other people who were playing with their kids in this copse of trees at the top of the hill. The rain, however, did get to be too much eventually. I didn’t let that stop me from trying to pet a cow that appeared to be sleepy, although the part where it stood up and glared at me was scarier than I’d anticipated. Cora laughed at me for a solid five minutes and swore up and down she wished she’d caught it on camera. We did realize, however, that we’d been walking around for a very long time and headed back to her dorm. I even got to meet a few of her new British friends.

The next day was much sunnier than the previous one had been. We started out by exploring the University of Winchester campus, which is pretty modern looking. Surprised me a bit, because it is one of the oldest cities in England. Also one of the hilliest, which led to a lot of stair climbing, something I’m not used to as a resident of Cambridge. We then wandered downtown to see the Great Hall, which is where King Arthur’s Round Table is displayed. Unfortunately for us, it was closed for restoration work when I came this time (which just meant that I showed up a month later and saw it then!). We then headed back toward the Cathedral, because it’s where Jane Austen is buried. With the both of us being avid Austen fans, this was definitely a must-see. Even better, the Cathedral was free to get into that day, because it was a Sunday. It took us quite a while to find the grave marker, but when we did, I’m pretty sure we spend a good 20 minutes freaking out over it. It was certainly a powerful moment. The only sad thing about the Cathedral is that we were unable to go into the crypt due to flooding.

After our celebrity encounter at the Cathedral, we wandered around the town of Winchester for a while again. I got to see the big statue of King Alfred, the last important Anglo-Saxon king who made his capital at Winchester. We also meandered back through the cemetery, and because it was such a nice day, we spend a good hour or so sitting at the top of the cemetery, just looking out over the town. It turns out chilling in the cemetery is not such a strange thing to do, because there were a few people doing the same thing. There was even one guy playing frisbee with his dog between the gravestones. We got some food at the cafeteria and watched a movie, then crashed because walking all over town can exhaust a pair of 20 year old girls.

The next day we did even more exploring, heading off in the opposite direction this time. We found another park on the other side of town, one that led to some great hiking trails. Unfortunately for us, most of these trails were flooded from the excessive rainfall of the winter. Even more unfortunately for our shoes, the two of us didn’t care much about the flooding. We decided to go ahead and walk through the puddles… which kind of turned into glorified wading by the end of the walk. The area was gorgeous, though, and so was the day, so we didn’t mind too much, despite the fact that it was January. We ate our makeshift lunch of nutella and croissants while sitting on a bench waiting for our shoes and socks to dry, before heading back to town. On our way back, though, Cora misjudged the distance between herself and a pair of swans and was almost eaten by one of them–a funny story that is much better in person than online. After that, we explored this new side of town that neither of us had really been to yet, and discovered a much more modern side to the old city. We ended up at the train station after a little bit, a place we definitely knew how to come back from. As we headed back to her dorm, the sun was setting and it cast these gorgeous shadows over the cemetery, and made for a pretty impressive backdrop to the church steeples of the town.

That was our last night in Winchester… this time. I did come back a month or so later to see the Round Table, which was admittedly really really cool. I’m really glad I got to see all of these great things in this ancient city, but I’m even happier to say I got to see them with my wonderful cousin. We’ve been partners in crime for a long time (…sometimes literally, whoops) and the fact that we got to be over here together was pretty much a dream come true. I wouldn’t trade her, or this experience, for anything.

With nostalgia, happiness, and much love,

Bryn

The Best & The “Worst”

April 17, 2014 / Maddy Rainaud-Owens / 1 Comment

I have 16 days left in Namibia and 23 left in southern Africa, WHAT? Crazy, right? So this past week was full of classwork and projects, so instead of telling you about that, I’ll give you a little glimpse into how I’m feeling as this last month of the semester rolls in – as hard as that is for me to admit. My semester has been 100% all I have ever hoped for and so much more. I’ve learned things I never would have even thought I would learn about myself and about the world around me. I ‘ve made new friends, tried new foods, seen beautiful places, gained family members, and fell in love with every little bit and piece of Namibia. I can say with my entire heart that Windhoek has become my home, and I know that when I leave, I’ll long to return.

As I was writing in my journal the other night, I was trying to make a list of what I’m excited for about going home vs. what I know I’ll miss about southern Africa. Seeing family and friends definitely tops the first list, but the latter? I could go on for days. I’ll try to make it as short as possible:

Things I’m excited about:
1. Seeing Family & Friends – This goes without saying, I miss my family and my friends like crazy. It’ll be awesome to see their smiling faces in person again. Thank God for FaceTime.
2. Fruit – I can’t wait to sink my teeth into a fresh strawberry – scratch that how about an entire fruit salad. I’ve had plenty of apples for just about the rest of my life – but it’s all those good berries I miss.
3. Salad – You’ll notice a lot of this list has to do with food. My apologies. As one Namibian student put it here.. “You guys just eat leaves in America.. Is that even good?” YES.. yes it is. I’ll be having a nice fresh salad when I get home. (And some in-n-out)
4. Clothes Dryer – Don’t get me wrong, a clothes line works just fine, but there’s something so nice about knowing you can wash & dry your clothes in around an hour instead of 6… unless it rains. Then give it another day.
5. A gym – Running around our neighborhood has been nice, but the same loop gets boring after a while. It’ll be nice to be back in a gym again.
6. Driving – If I even remember how or which side I’m supposed to drive on, it’ll be nice to drive again.
7 . Baseball games – Hey.. it’s baseball season.. I can’t help myself
8. The radio –Of course we have radios here, but it’s about a year behind the U.S. I couldn’t tell you one song that’s being overplayed on American radios right now. It’ll be nice to hear all the new stuff that’s been released in the past 4 months

Things I’ll miss:
1. Sunsets – if you’ve been reading my blogs, I’m sure you’ve caught onto this by now. Sunsets are by far one of my favorite things and in Namibia, they’re just about as beautiful as they come. The pinks, the purples, the oranges, the blues… nothing beats ’em.
2. Days spent laying by the pool – Pretty self explanatory, nothing beats a poolside nap. Have a ton of reading to do for class? Oh, I’ll just lay by the pool and do it. Can I do that at Valpo ? No. Will I miss it? YES.
3. The mountain/sky duo – Oh my goodness… The picture perfect white clouds in the light blue sky meeting the green mountains that encompass Windhoek.. pure beauty right there.
4. The pap – Despite my hate for carbs that has been created by this trip, I really will miss the pap – eating it with our hands, and all the delicious sauce – ah perfection!
5. Non-stop beautiful weather– Again, if you know me, you know I don’t do well in anything but sunshine = aka Valpourainsnow can be torture at times. There’s nothing better than not having to look at the weather app, just knowing that shorts and a tank top will do no matter what. (Or a bathing suit poolside)
6. CGE House- This house has become a home to me, no doubt about it. I remember getting here the first day and being like whoa this place is huge. It’s familiar now – especially after being gone for 3 weeks.
7. $1 Taxis- Sure the taxi drivers are pushy and annoying at times, but what’s better than only paying N$10 ($1 USD) to get wherever you need to be in the Windhoek area
8. Nights out on the town – Whether it’s seeing a play, watching a sunset at three circles, staring at the city lights, or out at the club, nights in Windhoek have made for some amazing memories.
9. FHS- My heart breaks leaving this place, especially the people. I’ve made a family over the past 4 months at FHS and these people have touched me more than I could have ever imagined – those I worked with, and the little ones I taught every Monday & Tuesday. I long to see their smiling faces again, but I know God is constantly working in their lives.
10. The people- I’ve said it time and time again, but I’ve made a family here in southern Africa – in Johannesburg, in Windhoek, in Katutura and in Khorixas. Whether it’s my home stay families, my teachers, my coworkers or the group of 15, my trip would not have been the same without these amazing individuals. There’s not much more I can say besides that it kills me to know I may never see some of them again. And a huge thank you goes out to each and every one of them for touching my life in a way they probably don’t even realize.

I could go on for days, but I won’t. I’ve never been happier than during my past 3 months I’ve spent in Namibia. I still think every day about how lucky I am to have been given this incredible opportunity, and thank you for letting me share it with you! But hey.. I still have 23 days, 7 of which include CAPE TOWN! So peace out for now.

This photo doesn’t do it justice, but see what I mean?

Here’s what my third month all around southern Africa looked like:

Thanks always for reading!
All my love,
xoxo
Maddy

Missing my little Marvelous already

Love, Laughter & Lessons Learned

April 3, 2014 / Maddy Rainaud-Owens / 3 Comments

My apologies for the lack of posts recently – I’ve been out of internet touch for a little while now. So bear with me as this post will be quite long. These past weeks have been some of the greatest of my life, ones I will absolutely never forget. We left from Windhoek on the 18th, en route for our last and final home-stay on a farm in northern, rural Namibia. We set out for Khorixas and once again, to say I was nervous to meet my new family would be an understatement. Knowing there was only 1 guaranteed English speaker in each home, and my lack of success speaking Damara, I wasn’t quite sure how I’d navigate through the week. I was placed on the Inhoek farm about six kilometers from the town of Khorixas with five other students- each of us with a different family to call our own. (We were on a family farm so most of the houses were all related to each other in one way or another.) My nerves were quickly forgotten as I was welcomed by my host mom Dena, two sisters (Buyela 23, Immseline 9) and three brothers (Sydney 17, Delvin 14, Marvelous 3).

My host siblings - minus Marvelous

One of the beautiful sunsets

As the week went on, all of the young kids on the farm spent time together – whether it was sitting around talking or dance parties at night, I constantly found myself smiling and laughing uncontrollably. Each morning when I woke up and went to use the bathroom (a bush) and brush my teeth, I’d hear the pitter patter of footsteps behind me. Every time I turned around, I saw Marvelous running up behind me and as he got closer his little hand reached up and grabbed my two fingers. Marvelous didn’t speak or understand a word of English, but he’d always greet me with a smile and we’d walk hand in hand (or hand and finger) everywhere we went. This happened every morning and each time, I couldn’t suppress the large smile that overcame me. Needless to say, as the days passed I came to love this family as my own. We spent days playing soccer, going on hikes, playing volleyball over the clothes line, riding in donkey carts, learning new games, telling stories, milking cows, herding goats & sheep, and whatever else we could think of. The sunsets each night were absolutely breathtaking, unlike any I’d ever seen before. I found myself dreading the day we’d have to say goodbye.

Marvelous and I on our morning walk

On one of the days, we decided we’d pass the time by walking into town. We rode in on one of our host dad’s trailer because he figured we wouldn’t want to walk all the way there considering the heat. We spent a little time in town eating ice cream and just walking around. On our way back we took a “short cut” that ended up being more of a long cut, but it left us laughing later that night. Every night after dinner we’d all gather at one house and have a dance party under more stars than you could ever imagine; we’d dance for hours until we couldn’t dance anymore. As I was admiring the stars one night, one of the girls asked me if we had stars in America. I laughed a little and told her we did, but we don’t get to see them like theirs. We told the story of Cinderella and Goldilocks and they told us a few of their traditional stories. All of the young kids our age spoke great English and they made an attempt to teach us more Damara. I think I can successfully count to 10 now. Much to my dismay, the days passed, and the Monday I was dreading finally approached. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have to fight back tears knowing I may never see these people again, but I can’t help but be filled with joy knowing I got to spend a week with such an amazing group of people, filled with joy knowing I’ll always have a family in Namibia.

Missing my little Marvelous already

After our week in Khorixas, we spent three days camping and going on safaris in Etosha. On our multiple game drives we saw zebras, giraffes, an elephant, cheetahs, lions, rhinos, wildebeests, warthogs, a hyena, and lots and lots of springboks! Following Etosha, we headed even further north to a guest house for the next two nights. Though the previous weeks were incredible, I have never been more happy to see a bed in my entire life. We visited a few museums in the most northern part of Namibia before we made our way to Tsumeb to catch a bus to Victoria Falls for spring break.

Giraffes!

…But before that could happen we had a 9 hour wait for our bus to arrive. As we sat and waited we wondered why everyone was staring, until we realized there was a group of 14 of us sitting in a median under a tree with lots of luggage. To pass the time, we walked to the grocery store, climbed the tree and played cards. Much to our surprise the time passed quickly and we made a mad rush to the bus when we finally saw it arrive. 12 hours later we were at the Namibian/Zambia border and spring break was officially beginning. Another two hours passed and we finally arrived to Vic falls. Most of the group stayed in Zambia for two nights before heading to Zimbabwe but myself and two others went straight to Zimbabwe. Little did we know the walk from the border to the customs office was about a mile or so from the border. Not so bad until you remember you have to carry your 30 pound bag in the heat of the day.

Once we finally arrived to our hostel the activity planning was immediately in order. The hostel we stayed at was absolutely beautiful and just a 15 minute walk from town. Our first night in Victoria Falls we went on a sunset cruise on the Zambezi river, and to add to our list of animals we saw hippos and crocodiles. The next few days included a trip to see the falls, elephant riding, zip lining, and canoeing on the Upper Zambezi. It’s no surprise why Victoria Falls is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Seeing the millions of gallons of water pour down minute after minute, creating rainbows every where you looked was awe strikingly beautiful. We spent a few hours admiring the falls and got absolutely drenched from the rain the falls created. Knocking one more thing off my bucket list, elephant riding was amazing too. Sam and I rode on a 24 year old girl elephant named Star. She was pretty small compared to the others and had a short trunk because she was attacked by a lion when she was just a baby. After the hour long ride, I got to sit on her leg while she knelt and feed her some pellets. An elephant is a lot more comfortable to ride than you would imagine, and it was a funny feeling when she sucked the pellets through her trunk off of my hand. Of course, nothing compares to skydiving, but zip lining over the gorge was stunning as well. Canoeing down the Zambezi was loads of fun and very peaceful at the same time. Sam and I got caught in a few rapids but it definitely made it more exciting.

A day at the falls

As I sit on the 24 hour bus ride home to Windhoek, I’m sad to say my spring break is coming to an end, but I know it will most likely be the best of my entire life. I look back on these past two and a half weeks with great memories, so many new faces met, and so so so much happiness. I learned so much about myself and the world as a whole especially in my first week with my family. The week I lived with in Khorixas vs. my life in Claremont and Valparaiso are obviously different, but I’ve come to love so many aspects of each. No way of life is better than the other, none right or wrong – just different. It’s hard to believe that a month from today I’ll be in Cape Town. Time to make the most of my last month in Windhoek.

Elephant Ride

Thanks for reading.

Xoxo

Maddy

Ps- since I was gone and not able to post it, here is what my second month looked like:

At the Louvre

Paris: Surfing and Skimping

April 2, 2014 / Danielle Steinwart / 4 Comments

Whenever I travel with my family, my mom always insists that we get to the airport at least 3 hours before our flight. This almost always results in us sitting at our gate for two and a half hours. “It’s better that we wait now than get here late and miss our flight,” she always said (and always will say). When I travel on my own, I thought, I will never take such superfluous precautions. I will cater to my impatience and make sure I’ll only have to do the least amount of waiting possible.

I was wrong (cue Mom’s smug look).

As close as we got to the Arc de Triomphe

Julia and I had a flight out of Barcelona that left at 9:45 AM. We left the hostel at 5:45, and got through the empty security and to our gate before 7. We were one of a dozen people in the whole area. On the bright side, we were one of the first in line to get on the plane. Also, general advice: make sure that the airport you’re arriving in is actually located in your end destination. Case in point, while in line for the plane, we discovered that this Parisian airport we were going to wasn’t actually in Paris, but actually over an hour outside of the city. A bit loopy on the bus ride into Paris, Julia and I entertained ourselves by pretending to be French tour guides, pointing out popular sites like the Bridge de Croissant. And I wonder why the French don’t like Americans.

Eiffel Tower

After getting dropped off in the giant city, we hit two monuments that are perpetually littered with tourists: the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. Since we are both extraordinarily cheap, we didn’t pay to go up close to the Arc or to go up the Eiffel Tower. Although both sites were incredible, the random lurking homeless guys were a bit off-putting, as were the countless old ladies that all seemed to have crafted the same sign exclaiming they had 17 children and 3 dogs and therefore obviously needed spare change.

Aurelien's flat

Eventually, Julia and I made our way to where we would be staying that night. We were using Couchsurfing for the first time, and we were honestly a bit worried about the whole ordeal. For those who don’t know, Couchsurfing is a website that promotes cultural exchange by acting as a hub for travelers and willing hosts. You create a profile (trying to be as thorough and likeable as possible, since this is what possible hosts look at before responding to your request), then Surf for hosts depending on the city you’re traveling to as well as the time and duration of your stay. You want to find hosts that have similar interests as you and, more importantly, have positive reviews from people who have hosted or been hosted by that person. When you find someone you think you want to stay with, you send them a request, telling them about yourself, your plans for your visit, and why you would like them to be your host. I wholeheartedly recommend this website for anyone who wants to meet people who are a part of their destination’s culture as well as anyone on a tight budget (the stay is completely FREE).

Hall of Mirrors in Palace of Versailles

Julia and I had two different hosts in Paris. Our first night was with a guy in his early twenties who lives in the south of Paris named Aurelien. We met up with him at the underground station a few minutes from his flat and then, after dropping our stuff off at his place, went to the grocery store to buy food for dinner. We cooked pasta and garlic bread together and had apples drizzled with chocolate for dessert. Aurelien was really kind and interesting; we had conversations about our travels, reggae music, and s’mores (he didn’t know what they were. We introduced him to pure magic that day). He had a futon that Julia and I shared, and he let us leave out stuff at his place the next day so we didn’t have to lug it around Paris all day.

The weather was less than pleasant

Our second day in Paris was admittedly miserable at the start. We got up around 8 and headed off to Versailles, which is only half an hour from Paris by train. But it was rainy. And cold. And very windy. And I didn’t have an umbrella. See where the situation gets tricky, here? I was able to buy an umbrella from one of the street vendors, though it broke within 30 minutes of purchasing it. The Palace of Versailles was gorgeous, ornate, and full of history. However, we were only able to go outside to see the famous gardens for five minutes before feeling that we were in serious danger of losing some appendages due to the cold weather. As soon as

Maeva and Julia in the dorm

we left Versailles, the sun came out (typical). We ventured to a place called the Anticafe, a cafe that charged you based on how long you stayed, in order to meet our Couchsurfing hosts for the remaining two nights. They were two roommates who lived in a building owned by their engineering university, and all their friends were on their floor. After grabbing our bags from Aurelien’s, we went to the girls’ dorm room (Virginie and Maeva) and spent a fun night with them and their friends. They had a student-run bar on the ground floor, so we were able to score a couple free drinks as well (seriously, Julia and I are all about the free things).

The Notre Dame

Our final day in Paris was spent hitting some of the sights close to our hosts’ dorm, like the Pantheon, the Notre Dame, and the Lovelock Bridge. The Notre Dame was amazingly beautiful and did I mention completely free? Julia had a lock that we were going to use to secure our bags at the Barcelona hostel, but we hadn’t needed it. So we wrote our names on it and the date and added it to the bridge. It was a pretty cool moment, adding our friendship to a bridge thousands of others had utilized—next to a grim Scottish guy complaining about the irony of having his picture taken alone on a bridge symbolizing everlasting love.

Our lock for the Lovelock Bridge

We had both grown quite hungry at this point, which is a dangerous situation, since we also both suffer from high irritability when our blood sugar is running low. Thankfully, a small sandwich shop saved our friendship (and, more importantly, saved the integrity of our lock). We had big toasty subs with a large chocolate crepe for dessert. It’s the only crepe I’ve had that compared to the those at the Cambridge Crepe cart.

Selfie with the Mona Lisa (don't judge)

After regrouping at the dorm for an hour or so, we headed off to the Louvre, since you get in free after 6 on Fridays. It was the perfect mix of interesting and fun. We were surrounded by thousands of art pieces crafted by some of the world’s most brilliant minds. Julia and I got to experience first hand what the Mona Lisa and Venus looked like; we learned a lot about foreign and ancient cultures through their art. However, that did not stop us from making fun of a few of the paintings’ subjects or adding stupid captions to some portraits or fist bumping the occasional statue. In the end, I was with one of my favorite people in the world at the most famous art museum in the world. How could it not

Fist bumping the statue

have been a blast? Three and a half hours later, we dragged our tired butts back to the dorm, where we cooked pasta and spent the night without our hosts, oddly enough (they had gone back home for the night).

Julia and I on the bus back home!

The next morning was very stressful because we had realized the night before that we had to print out our tickets for the bus ride home. The only problem was that no one had a printer, and our hosts weren’t there to help us. An incredibly nice friend of theirs offered to take us to his university that morning (a Saturday) to print out the tickets, but all the printers were jammed. Thankfully, the bus driver accepted the confirmation email on our phones as tickets and let us on.

It was a long bus ride back to London. At one point, our bus was put on a train that rode under the channel (and under the Chunnel). After a 6-7 hour bus ride, an Underground ride to King’s Cross, a train to Cambridge, and a 40 minute walk back home, we were more than ready to flop onto our beds and not move until Monday.

Until we remembered that 10 page art paper due Monday that we had neglected to start all break.

Dun. Dun. Dun.

These are the cliffhangers of my life, people. Exciting stuff.

Danielle

Field Trips and Travel Tips

April 1, 2014 / kaitlyncarzoli / 0 Comments

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted an update on my life here. That’s mostly because I haven’t had the opportunity to travel for the past two weekends, but in that time, I’ve still had a few little adventures, and I’ve made a point of taking the time to enjoy the simple pleasures of European life. The sunny and 75 degree weather we’ve had here has really helped with that! So I’ll share a few of those little things, and then I want to switch gears and offer some practical tips for travel and hosteling. Not that I’m an expert or anything, but I’ve learned a few things I wish I had known before.
In addition to all the free time we have for international travel, there are a handful of shorter field trips organized by the program, as well as several independent day trips we can do for fun. Last month, we went to Rottweil for the Fasching, or mardi gras parade. This is a very strange, but wildly popular phenomenon here, that’s hard to compare with anything in the US. Then, there’s something the whole world can understand: The chocolate factory.

Ritter Sport, my second favorite chocolate brand, conveniently has a factory very close to Reutlingen. It has two small museums, but the real attraction is the back room of the factory store, where they sell broken chocolate, discontinued flavors, and experimental test flavors for less than half-price. I came home with about 5lbs of chocolate.

Last week, we took another field trip with our econ class to the Daimler (Mercedes) Factory. Cars aren’t really my thing, but it was interesting to learn about how they are built.

Finally, tomorrow we are going to a nearby castle and then a wine tasting event, so I’m excited, and I will report on that later.
The other way I’ve been occupying my time lately is with planning my spring break. In our 17 days, we will go to Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Venice, Rome, Cinque Terre, and Florence. I’m extremely excited about all of those places. Dozens of people have told me that Prague and Budapest are amazing, before I ever went to Paris, Vienna was my favorite city in the world, and Italy as a whole has been on my bucket list for years. It’s an amazing blessing to be able to go to all of these places, but the planning process is not easy. Here are 10 things for future study abroaders to keep in mind when planning budget travel:

1. Be realistic about distances in Europe.
Before I got here, I said I wanted to go to about 15 different countries, including Greece, Croatia, Spain, Denmark, and more. But those places are really farther away than they look on a map. Now, many people studying here in previous years have gone to these places, either by plane or overnight train. But overnight trains are just not for me, and I’d rather use my rail pass than fly, so I had to scale back my plans a little. I decided to stay closer so that I didn’t end up spending half of my trip on a train, but of course, this is a personal preference that is different for everyone.

2. Don’t be too picky about accommodations.
This one is really hard for me. Most hostels are not as nice as most hotels, and there’s no good way around that. Read reviews before you book, but try not to let one or two bad ones cancel out 100 good ones. My paranoia has taught me that if you look hard enough, you will inevitably find at least one horrifying review of every place, but odds are, your experience there will be at least ok.

3. You get what you pay for.
It’s not always best to pick the absolute cheapest hostels. In some cities, I have seen them for less than 5 euros, but something seems off about that to me. There must be a reason. Usually it has to do with the location. While it may seem convenient to stay right next to the train station, in most cities, this is generally not the best neighborhood. The hostels I have stayed in have all been between 15 and 30 euros, which is still a steal compared to hotels.

4. Don’t settle and listen to your gut.
I don’t expect luxury at any of these places, but if I have any rational reason to believe that a hostel is not clean and safe, I won’t settle. Of course you don’t really know until you get there, but odds are, if your gut is telling you no, theres a better option out there. Be patient and keep looking.

5. Have a city map before you go.
Hostels will give you city maps for free, but that doesn’t help you when you just got off the train at midnight and need to find the place. And don’t rely on cellphone GPS.

6. Know the difference between hostels and hotels.
In most hostels, the beds are bunked. You can usually get sheets at check-in, but you have to make the bed yourself. You may or may not be sharing a bathroom. Some hostels have lockouts in the middle of the day for cleaning. Some offer free breakfast, some make you pay for it, and some don’t have it. Free wifi is rare. There is usually no furniture besides beds. None of these things are really a problem, but I’m always amazed at the reviewers who whine about these things like they didn’t expect them.

7. Bring a towel, pillow liner, combination lock, and flip-flops.
Hostels can charge over 5 euros just for a towel. Some have lockers without locks. Some of the pillows could be cleaner. Be prepared, and you’ll be fine.

8. Always get the cancellation insurance.
ALWAYS. It’s about 2 extra euros.

9. Don’t wait until the last minute.
Most of the time, we haven’t had problems booking about 5 days ahead, but the earlier, the better. Especially in the bigger cities (i.e. Paris and Rome), the best places sell out faster than you’d expect.

10. Look for alternative accommodation.
Most of the time we pick hostels from popular sites like hostelworld.com, but there are other options. Some people suggest looking for “budget hotels.” In my experience, this hasn’t been a very viable option. However, with a little research, you can find some other gems. For example, we found the only hostel in the 1st district of Paris directly through their website, but it wasn’t listed on booking sites. In Rome, it’s apparently very popular to stay cheaply in convents and monasteries. Since those were booked up, we emailed the most popular hostel in the city, and even though they were full too, they directed us to their blog of recommended accommodations, where we found an affordable B&B in a great location. Sometimes you have to hunt a little or send a few emails, but it’s worth the extra effort.

So that’s my two cents about hosteling. It’s definitely a learning experience, but it can be very rewarding. I’m off to Paris again this weekend, and then break starts the week after that!

Valpo Voyager

Student Stories from Around the World

Month: April 2014

The Weekenders

Visiting Friends and Valiant Intentions

The Old Capital

The Best & The “Worst”

Love, Laughter & Lessons Learned

Paris: Surfing and Skimping

Field Trips and Travel Tips

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