January 2015 – Page 2 – Valpo Voyager

Month: January 2015 (page 2 of 3)

Paris: A City United

January 21, 2015 / jzemke / 0 Comments

Arrival Day here in Paris was one of momentous historical importance here in Paris: the manifestation where more than 1 million people and 40 world leaders united in a moment of tragedy. Charlie Hebdo is a French publication which produces satirical-like articles and images. For many years, tension has been growing in France between Muslims immigrants and French natives, making some anti-Muslim images a tipping point for the tension. The attack was extremely targeted, meaning we as students are not in danger.

At the manifestation Sunday January 11, world leaders from around the globe stood together with the people of Paris, taking in the tragedy together. A few days after the rally, we had a Boston University Alumni panel, where they each explained their perspectives on the attack and unification as a group. It was interesting, for each person acknowledged the importance of a moment where the French united, but each had a different view of why this unification occurred and what will happen in the future. Paris is back to normal, but it seems as if each person here is still trying to sort out the confusion of the matter and come to terms in their own way.

Trip to London!

January 20, 2015 / mstoughton / 0 Comments

This past weekend we visited London. It’s such an amazing city! Where else can you find medieval castles intermingling with skyscrapers?

: Emily looking at Tower Bridge – London, UK

: Tower of London – London, UK

: View from St. Paul’s Cathedral (Business district) – London, UK

Horseback Riding to a Waterfall in Puriscal

The Marienkirche

Germany, the Land of Bread and Small Streets?

January 19, 2015 / apittman / 1 Comment

Hallo everyone! This was our groups first week in Germany, which of course meant the start of classes this past Monday, January 12. The class itinerary is as follows in no particular order: European Art and Architecture, International Economics, History of Modern Germany, a Luther and Bach course, German 204 (for the advanced speaker), or German 101 (for the beginner), or German 102 (for the awkward student who took a semester of German before coming and did not want to repeat German 101, but yet German 204 is too advanced for them so they sit through class with their mouth wide open because they do not understand a word the teacher is saying). The reality of German 204 is not too bad to be honest, I have sat through the class for a week now and I can honestly say that my listening has improved at least 2 fold as well as my speaking. Although I may look constipated during the class, I am getting better and it helps to push yourself! (no pun intended) Thursday was a special day for our study group however. There is a Reutlingen specific holiday celebrated by Reutlingers in early January called Mutscheltag. Mutscheltag is an old schwabisch traditional holiday that involves playing dice games for bread prizes. However our group did miss the actual holiday, but Herr Viet, our Economics professor (and an authentic Schwabe) put on a special event for anyone interested in the holiday. The dice games are quite simple and loads of fun to play. All you need is a group of at most 7 and 3 dice and you are good to play! One game for example involved just having to role a one-two-three straight with all three dice once. In total we played 7 games, and the individual from each group with the lowest score got to go to the winners table. Thursday there was enough for five groups so five individuals made it to the winners table. After one short game at the championship table to determine final placement, individuals received their prizes and contemplated how they were going to eat all of that bread. I myself did represent my group at the winners table and got 3rd place overall! I counted it as a personal victory and was glad I could make my table proud. Below is a picture of my prize, and just to give you a picture of how large it actually is, the center ring by itself is as big as my head.

SO MUCH MUTSCHEL

However, the Mutschel itself was delicious and I enjoyed every bit of it! I did share it with people on my floor because no one man should have all that bread (yes that was a Kanye West joke). Also on Friday was the Valpo Study Cener groups tour around Reutlingen. We were able to see various statues of important individuals of Reutlingen’s history, the Marienkirche which is the largest church in Reutlingen, and also the Guinness Book of World Records smallest street. Yes that is right, the worlds smallest street is in Reutlingen. Pictured from left to right are some pictures inside the Marienkirche and on the far right is the worlds smallest street.

Inside the Marienkirche

Yes…this is real

The Marienkirche was absolutely beautiful and there will be plenty more pictures to come when I bring my DSLR camera inside. One fun fact about the Marienkirche is that there are more than 600,000 small triangles that make up the entire ceiling of the church that have to be cleaned individually by hand. In blogs to come I can include the story of why the Marienkirche was built if that sounds interesting to you readers! Coming back to the smallest street however, the reason it is the worlds smallest street is because it is not privately owned. The city of Reutlingen owns the street and therefore is a registered street. The street itself is about 1 foot wide and a good 20 or more feet long. Myself with the group did make it through to the other side, but needless to say, it was a tight squeeze. For you starwars fans out there, you could say I felt a little like Jek Porkins in my X-Wing in “Starwars Episode IV A New Hope”. Sunday, myself and a few other of my classmates decided to climb to the top of the Achelm, the tallest mountain in Reutlingen. The climb itself was very exhausting but beyond worth it. The trip took us about 2 and a half hours walking from our dorm to the top so it was definitely a full day event. My roomate Ross told me his pedometer counted 15,000 steps on the trip so it was a great workout with breathtaking scenery! Unfortunately the weather was rather gloomy so the pictures did not turn out so well, but I do plan to go back in the spring to get everything blooming! Overall, this was an eventfull week and I felt like I have been here a year already with all of the activities our group has done but thats what keeps it fun! Tonight our group got together and had a quesadilla night while watching the news in german. Nights like these may seem insignificant when compared to climbing a mountain or going through Guinness Book of World Records, but nights like these form great memories and great friendships. This Saturday our group may be visiting the Hohenzollern castle just up the road so be ready for some awesome castle shots! I can also include photos from the Achelm if y’all want as well! Just comment and leave your opinion! This is Austin Pittman signing off from Reutlingen and wishing you all a good night and week, until next time. Tschuss!

Class Outside!

January 15, 2015 / Navy Browning / 0 Comments

One of the many benefits of studying at the University of Costa Rica, is that we get to explore during class! There are swings, botanical gardens and and small creeks surrounded by fruit trees throughout the beautiful campus. For my class today we walked around campus interviewing native students to practice our Spanish.

Pictured here is my friend and classmate, Teo who is a student of Spanish from Seoul, Korea.

Soweto, Guateng, South Africa

Welcome to Johannesburg!

January 15, 2015 / Katie Wilson / 0 Comments

Greetings from South Africa! It’s been a crazy last couple of days since arriving late on the 11th of January. The weather is warm, the sky is blue, and my heart is open to everything around me. The beginning of our trip (Jan 11-21) kicks off with ten intensive days in Johannesburg, South Africa and the surrounding area. Believe it or not, the flight here wasn’t horrible. The journey started with leaving home at 5 in the morning, flying out from O’Hare at 9, landing in Washington Dulles and hanging out there for six hours and then boarding South African Airlines. We also had another layover after seven hours of flying in Dakar, Senegal but most passengers did not deplane. Finally, after a few take-off delays we landed in Johannesburg at 7pm (which is 11am CST). Everyone was pretty exhausted so we ate some dinner and toddled off to bed.

Flying South African Airways

The first two days were spent learning about the South African liberation struggle and the Apartheid. We had an incredible speaker and guide named Moleffi who was personally active in the liberation struggle. The culture here in South Africa is something to be embraced, and I am so excited to absorb every second of the next four months. We traveled around Soweto which is the largest township in South Africa, home to 32 communities and estimated 4.5-5 million people.

Soweto, Guateng, South Africa

We also visited many sites that are significant to the liberation struggle such as the Hector Pieterson Museum and Kliptown where the Freedom Charter is inscribed. The Freedom Charter is a set of core principles “made for the people and by the people” that the South African Congress Alliance developed and contains such statements such as: ‘The People Shall Govern’, ‘All Shall Be Equal Before the Law’, ‘All Shall Enjoy Equal Human Rights’, and ‘There Shall Be Peace and Friendship’. Yes, it is an idealist document but a revolutionary one at that.

Looking up in the Freedom Charter monument

Hector Pieterson Museum

We also drove around Kliptown, which is one of the oldest communities in Soweto. It’s beautiful and resilient here and I’m getting use to being stared at as our big bus drives by. Most people are super friendly though and if you gibe a smile, you’re guaranteed to get one back.

One of my favorite places we traveled to was Orange Farm. Orange Farm is small in land, but large in community with an estimated one million people which makes it one of the largest informal settlements in South Africa. While we were there we visited a rycycling center which is a source of many women’s income. It’s awesome to see a community creating and developing an eco-conscious program which directly benefits back to it’s community.

We also visited the local preschool and since it was the first day back to school for the little ones, we got to visit them too (yay!). In talking to some of the lovely women who run the preschool, it was great to hear how passionate they were about these children and providing them with an education. After visiting Orange Farm, I’m walking away with a new appreciation for how much I have but also an appreciation for the Human resilience and determination. The hearts and hopes of the people we met there are bigger than the sky, which is incredibly inspiring, and they do so much within their community from the recycling plant, support groups, and the preschool.

On Friday, I departed for my first homestay in Soweto with Maddie another girl from my group. We stayed at a B&B (Bed and Breakfast) and had the most incredible time. Friday Maddie and I both were sick (which was really unfortunate) but our Hostfamily was incredibly gracious and understanding. When we were feeling better, we spent most of the weekend hanging out with our host-sisters, going for walks, hanging out in the park, going to the mall, and just getting to know eachother.

Maddie and I with our beautiful host-sisters.

We had a ton of amazing conversations and I loved asking my host sisters and their friends questions and answering their questions in return. Just in conversation alone, I learn so much about the culture and the daily life that goes on. We also visited some of the other people in our group that were staying with their host family to have lunch. I’m pretty sure I could have died completely happy that day from the amount of fantastic food MaChanza made for us.

Homemade Bread with MaChanza and Abbie

For me, it’s an amazing experience to be immersed in such a beautiful country that is rich in both history and culture. Each place we visit is not only historically significant in regards to the Apartheid and liberation struggle, but often also a juxtaposition between what used to be and what currently is. There’s so much to look forward to this semester and this is only the beginning so stay tuned!

Hugs from around the world,

Katie

The German Orchestra: A commentary

January 14, 2015 / katherineackerman / 0 Comments

So, in my intercultural communications class, we were recently presented a model with which to examine culture that focuses on metaphors. The metaphors are meant to roughly explain the culture as a whole, not necessarily the actions of individual people. Which made me ask myself if culture is really something that can exist in an individual, or if it only really exists in a collective instance, but I will get back to explaining the model and its application to German culture specifically.

The orchestra is the specific metaphor that relates to German culture. This has to do with the fact that the individuals within the orchestra operate seemingly independently of each other, yet work together to produce a common work (in this case, socially instead of musically). Each individual has to practice on their own, and there isn’t anyone who checks up to make sure that they are practicing enough. They have to learn how to judge for themselves whether or not they are doing a good enough job, and take personal responsibility to make sure that their portion of the end product is good enough for the group.

For me this metaphor made a lot of sense. There are a lot things in Germany that fit well into this metaphor. For instance, you do not need to buy a ticket in order to get onto the bus here (or at least within the confines of the city limits of Tübingen). Instead, each person is expected to buy a ticket either in advance or from the automat located in the entrance to the bus. A lot is left up to the honor system, but when seen through this metaphor, it sort of makes sense. Each person riding the bus is responsible for their own accountability to pay for a ticket, and because the people here are used to this accountability being put on them as individuals, so the system works and the buses can be sustained financially. The same goes for the cleaning schedule in my apartment. Although it merely hangs on the wall, the sense of personal accountability is what keeps my kitchen floor clean, not the paper itself. Just as the orchestra is the collective effort of individual muscians, the structures of German society such as the social system are made up of a collective decision towards individual accountability.

Like the importance of written word in German culture, music helps to guide a musician’s actions, but does not control them.

Another instance that comes to mind when I think of this accountability is the phenomenon of having your shoe untied. This has happened to me on many an occasion, since I tend to wear an old pair of lace-up boots around town. When walking down the street with an unfastened shoe, people tend to stop, or in passing alert you to the fact that you need to tie it. This is a bit strange, in a society where people tend to keep to themselves, but it is a form of individual accountability to another person.

Another way that the orchestra fits well into German culture is the idea of criticism. As an American living in Germany, I have often been warned not to get too easily insulted. This is because Germans are used to a direct style of talking and a culture that focuses on improvement where possible. This means that people in general, do not shy away from pointing out flaws, like a aforementioned shoe lace incident. In the U.S. it would seem like a bit of a breach of personal space to simply tell a stranger that their shoe is untied in passing, but the normality of critique in German culture makes it generally okay to point out things like this without social repercussions. This is similar to the constant critique that members of an orchestra receive from one another and the conductor.

Again, this model is not designed to describe the actions of an individual, but more of the collective structures and attitudes that are required for social interaction.

This metaphor was taken from the book Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys through 17 Countries by Martin J. Gannon.

In case you were wondering, the metaphor for American culture is an American football team, but perhaps for reasons you might not expect.

Bis bald!

Gannon, Martin J. Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys through 17 Countries. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1994. Print.

Walks to the City Centre

January 13, 2015 / mstoughton / 0 Comments

The Market Square in Cambridge, UK – built originally by the Vikings

The River Cam (Cam-Bridge)

Start of Something New

January 12, 2015 / stephanieblack / 0 Comments

Hello everyone! For those of you who don’t know, I am studying abroad for the entire 2014-2015 school year in Cambridge, and I’m back blogging again! I had a wonderful Christmas break in Cambridge, but I am really excited to get back into a routine with classes again.

As the title indicates, a new year and new semester have begun. The new Study Center group arrived last Thursday, and they have been getting settled and getting to know Cambridge for the past couple of days. It’s fun to watch people discover new things in the town. It was also a good conversation starter between the group and myself. If they had any questions about where to eat, where to shop, or anything of that nature, I could answer them.

On Friday, everyone took a guided tour of Cambridge. While everyone was taking their tour, I decided to take a tour of my own. I walked around the market, down past King’s College and Queen’s College, and then walked around the backs of the colleges. It was a gorgeous day and the sun was shining. Walking around on my own reminded me of why I chose to study here, and how even though I’m not new in town like the rest of the group is, I can still enjoy all of the culture and history I have around me.

The back of King’s College Chapel

The River Cam from the Clare College bridge

On Friday evening after their arrival, we went to see a pantomime (or panto, as they call it) of “Aladdin” at the Cambridge Arts Theatre. A panto is the British slapstick comedy play. They only run for a few months out of every year, so we were lucky to get to see one. These kinds of shows almost always feature a man in drag, and include a lot of audience participation. For example, the audience knows that when a character says, “Oh, no he didn’t!”, they yell back, “Oh, yes he did!”, and they boo and hiss at the villain. It also featured many songs pulled from all sorts of genres, including, “One Way or Another” and “Roar.”

Cambridge Arts Theatre presents “Aladdin”

For the most part, I think everyone enjoyed the play, and I know I thought it was funny. It was different from the Disney version of Aladdin we have come to know and love, with the setting in Peking, China, and Aladdin living with his mother and brother and running a laundromat. The night after the play, we all gathered around the TV to watch the “real” Disney version of Aladdin together.

Our next adventure is London this weekend, where we will have a chance to see the Tower of London and the play “Wicked,” which are two things that are on my bucket list. I can’t wait to travel with this group and spend some time in one of the greatest cities in Europe!

First Impressions of Germany

January 12, 2015 / apittman / 1 Comment

I have made it safely and soundly! The plane ride was a little bumpy but Swiss air gives you plenty of chocolate to forget about that. Our group landed in Zurich, Switzerland then took a conecting flight to Stuttgart, Germany where we finally took a bus to Reutlingen. Quite honestly this four day span has been surreal. It still has not hit me that our group will be studying here for an entire semester, but I have (mostly) nothing but great things to say about Germany so far. As soon as we got into Reutlingen we were welcomed by Professor Ostoyich (our study abroad director) and his family. They make you feel right at home from the start. In fact so at home that on Friday we played a game of tag with his daughter while getting a tour of Reutlingen University. It seems as though every now and again I have to pinch myself to remind me that I am indeed in Germany. My first impressions of Germany are quite simply the beauty of the region Reutlingen lies in and also the friendliness of the people in and around Reutlingen. As a group, we have visited downtown Reutlingen and Tubingen, which are both spectacular. Our groups European Art and Architecture professor, Professor Springer, gave us a tour of Tubingen, a university town that has the Nekar river running through it. In the tour, our group saw the Tubingen castle, city hall, market square, and also a fantastic dinner at the Nekarmuller restaurant that was covered, free of charge, by the program. Tubingen University is one of the oldest in the world, dating back to the 15th century, and has currently over 30,000 students. Valparaiso University also offers a Tubingen study abroad program that lasts a year, while also having the courses taught in German. Speaking of the German language, myself coming from a 101 background felt fairly confident in my German conversational skills, but I was soon mistaken. The region that Reutlingen lies in has a very interesting and different accent compared to the rest of Germany. It can be hard to understand exactly what people are asking you or talking about, but once you get the hang of it, it is really no trouble at all. Although it may be scary going to a country where you do not know the language, I can assure you that you can still survive in Germany. Mostly everyone can either speak or comprehend English so communication should not steer you away from visiting. Although I would recomend learning some German beforehand to get the full experience. Monday marked our first day of classes and so far, it seems as though they will be very informative and manageable. Each class brings a special something to the table that helps us understand and comprehend modern Germany. However, the only bad thing I have to say is that internet can be scarce. The dormatory I live in does not have Wifi or a very stable ethernet connection so internet can be very difficult at times. Especially if you have a cellular device with a provider other than T-Mobile because T-Mobile for example has an international plan that offers mobile data and texting for almost nothing, while Verizon, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular can be pricey.Be prepared to be unplugged for a while and disconnected. However this is not such a bad thing. Not being able to use my phone has acutually let me be able to take in the beautly of the region and also the atmosphere here in Germany. Unforedtunentaly, I was unable to get some pictures included in this blog, however the next one I will throw in some from the Reutlingen and Tubingen area so you can get a feel of how breath-taking the area actually is. Also, I forgot to include a lot of umlaut’s because I do not know how to put them in, but hopefully I will figure it out by my next post. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for my next post! Tschuss!

Valpo Voyager

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