Author: Rae Erickson

Location: Namibia

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

As an avid animal lover, I was in paradise when my urban homestay family brought me to their Satanslogch farm. Even just the journey there was something I had not experienced before, since it was truly up and down through the mountains on just a faintly distinguished gravel road. When we arrived at the camp, which is near Daan Viljoen Dam, and they told me I could hold as many goats as I desired!!! My joy only mounted when I saw that they had over one hundred. I do not support zoos in the US, (or anywhere, for that matter), because I do not believe that animals should be kept in captivity unless they need rehabilitation or additional care in order to survive. The opportunity to be around adorable creatures without contributing to a cause I do not agree with was beautiful, and the baby goats’ expressions were hilarious.

Later in the week, my cohort head to N/a’an ku sê Wildlife Sanctuary as a fieldtrip for our Environment and Sustainability course. We rode through grasslands and saw wild dogs, lions, baboons, and cheetahs. We learned about how the tear markings on many animal’s faces are for hunting purposes, to help them see better at night. Among information about conservation efforts happening at the lodge, they also shared with us that they have been trying to aid the San community in Windhoek, as they are often marginalized. While this is done with good intentions, there is some debate about whether this organization is capitalizing on, or exploiting at all, the San people’s culture.

Amongst these outings, I also found myself repetitively coming back to my creativity journal to work on an art piece that was requested from me by a man named Papa at Katutura’s Arts Center. He was wearing a leopard top hat, and talked at length about how his spirituality is not something he often feels the need to pursue, but is simply something that is inside of him. He elaborated by saying it also comes forth in his music, artistic expression, and everyday life. The biggest takeaway from this meeting and discussion is that you must seek your faith or spirituality in whatever you do, not just reflective activities.

My drawing is titled “The Alien Bloodline” because even though this was a very intriguing conversation, it was also quite overwhelming. He directed most of his attention at me, the only white person present, and when I admitted, ashamed, that I did not know a lot about my mother bloodline, he referred to this confusion or tendency to be unsure about your first roots as an “alien culture”. I struggled to not feel offended and be defensive, (which is easy to do so much of the time as a foreigner in another country), but understood what he meant when emphasizing the importance of knowing where you come from. I agree with his belief that your roots, or DNA, or whatever you want to call your heritage, is something that is ingrained inside of you and contributes largely to who you are. While he meant that you need to know in a literal sense, I think that sometimes, it is okay to know in more intuitive ways, such as through your relationships with your extended and immediate family, and what comes out of your hands when you are thoughtful in your personal creativity.

Art has sustained me in my darkest moments, and for that reason, I have created an account with the sole mission to raise money for art supplies and projects at the orphanage I am doing an internship with. The inaccessibility of art in various communities is heartbreaking to me, so I set up an Instagram account to spread publicity for Hope Village with a GoFundMe account as a space dedicated solely to art donations. If you feel it in your heart to give, please click the following link:

https://www.gofundme.com/n44h69-hope-village&rcid=r01-153751773083-2bfc9654b4cf4537&pc=ot_co_campmgmt_w

If you don’t have the resources to donate right now, please help spread the word by following their the new account hope.village.namibia on IG, finding them on Fb, or sharing the link!!

Author: Mark Young

Location: Reutlingen, Germany

Pronouns: He/Him/His

To start out my month, I traveled to Ulm and Blauburen. Ulm is known for its eponymous Muenster. It is the tallest church cathedral in the world. Blauburen is known for its 21 meter deep karst spring. I went alone and while hiking through the mountains, got a bit lost but still found some amazing views (and my way back).

While in Munich for Oktoberfest, we went on a walking tour and enjoyed lively scenes such as this. It was a very fun place to be.

The next day we went to Heidelberg and climbed a mountain to a ruined castle. The view from the castle was amazing. This was the view from another castle looking west down the Neckar River and through Heidelberg.

A few days of rest in between travels…but still some late nights shooting astrophotos. There is much less light pollution in Germany than in America.

After a week of classes, two other students and I went to the train station, got on the first train we saw and ended up in Switzerland! With no plan, over the course of two days we saw Zurich(by night), Luzern(also mostly by night), Interlaken, Meiringen, St. Gallen, Kreuzlingen, and Konstanz. It was quite a wild and extremely fun trip.

This is a typical view in the Jungfrau Region, where Interlaken is. You can see the silhouttes of paragliders in the sky.

A quick stop in Meiringen…an absolutely beautiful town.

A late night view from a beach in Luzern.

Author: Ulises Hernandez

Location: Germany 

On September 20th, I had the chance to travel to Germany along with some of the other students that are also part of the Cambridge study abroad program. From London, we took a plane to a small town called Memmingen, which is about two hours from Munich. From the airport, we took a bus to Munich and we walked around the city before checking in into our hostel. The whole city was preparing for a major annual celebration known as Oktoberfest. Everywhere you turned you would see vendors selling the very famous Lederhosen outfits which are a very important component of the celebrations. After walking around for a few hours, we decided to check into our hostel to leave our backpacks in order to see what Germany had to offer after sunset. For dinner, we stopped at a local market where hundreds of people enjoyed eating smoked meats, bread, sausages, dips, and soft pretzels. After spending some time in the market, we walked to the very famous Hofbräuhaus where we were very lucky to find a table, especially with all of the tourist that were already in the city of Munich for the Oktoberfest celebration. While we were there, we enjoyed eating soft pretzels with our drinks while live authentic German music was being played a few tables away from where we were sitting. After having enjoyed the music, we went back to our AirBnB to make plans for the following day.

On our third day in Germany, we as a group decided to visit the very famous Neuschwanstein Castle located in Schwangau, Germany. It was a three-hour train ride from the Munich train station to Schwangau, but on the way there, we were able to see the very beautiful German countryside. Once we got Schwangau, we took a bus to the castle since the castle is located on top of the mountain. Once we got to the castle, we were able to do a tour through a small section of the castle and hike parts of the beautiful mountain. After spending many hours at the castle, we took the train back to Munich in order to spend some time at Oktoberfest. The next morning we got up very early and took the train back to Memmingen in order to make it back to Cambridge on time for our Monday classes.

Author: Emma Hecht

Location: Ireland/Switzerland/Germany

Two weekends ago, late on a Saturday night, I flew into the Shannon airport in Ireland and got into a cab with three other Valpo students and our very Irish cab driver. He was one of the nicest, funniest people I’ve ever met, but I had absolutely no idea what he was saying for at least a quarter of the drive. Most of his sentences went something like this: “Oh! Yeah, ye hmnhmnhmn Limerick!” Yes, Irish people do say “ye” for “you.” And yes, they’re mumblers (disclaimer: in my own personal experience). We made it to our hotel just fine and the next morning (the morning of our only full day in Ireland) and woke up at a nice and early 10:30 am to take a three- hour bus trip to the Cliffs of Moher. As I ambled off the bus, still trying to wake up from my nap, I was stunned at how beautiful the Cliffs were. They span a little under nine miles long, are over seven hundred feet tall, are over three hundred million years old, and have starred in movies like Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince and The Princess Bride. Maroon 5 even filmed a music video there. And, as my words are totally insufficient to describe them:

(Photos above by Mark Young, markyoungphoto.com)

We spent our entire day at the cliffs, only heading back into Limerick when we thought we were going to pass out from hunger. After scarfing down our late dinner, we headed back to the hotel to go to sleep before we had to get up at 4:45 am to make our flight back to London. Last weekend was another excursion—this time to Salzburg, Austria and Munich, Germany. My friend Claire and I went to Salzburg specifically to do The Sound of Music tour, which is hands down the most touristy thing I’ve experienced since I’ve been in Europe (the bus was packed full of Americans). When we arrived at our Airbnb, our hosts, Luke and Jenny, said that they had never seen The Sound of Music… and apparently, that’s typical for Austrians. Pictured below is one of our stops, which we made not for The Sound of Music, but for the beautiful Austrian view.

Our next stop was Munich for the first day of Oktoberfest. Just a five-minute walk from where we had just gotten off our train, we stood and watched the long parade of floats and bands, which led to the tent where the opening ceremony occurs (in which the mayor taps the first keg with a loud pop and says “O’zapft is”. “It’s open.”

Throughout the day, we walked around. In and out of different beer/food tents, in between amusement park rides, by food stands selling schnitzel and heart-shaped gingerbread cookies. Inside the tents, there was live music, everyone standing on tables… we got to witness over five thousand drunk Germans singing (at the top of their lungs) John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

This weekend we’re off on a class trip to Stratford-upon-Avon and Bath, both located in central England.

Author: Shannon Ilg

Location: Reutlingen Germany

I had never set foot outside the United States before, and now I’m here, in Europe, where I don’t speak the language and it’s great! I have really enjoyed getting to know the area and it’s already beginning to feel like home.

Below is a collection of pictures I took daily of the beautiful, strange, and mundane for me, your good-ol’ average Valpo student. I hope you can take a moment to see and appreciate the little things I have photographed and maybe even be inspired to take on your own journey!

August 29, 2018

At the first night in Reutlingen, I was already amazed! The windows have no screens and they have a three-position handle that allows you to open them in two different ways: either wide open or cracked open at the top. You can also see the shade halfway down which comes in handy if you want your room pitch black in the middle of the day! It’s perfect for when you really just don’t want to get out of bed on  a Sunday morning.

It’s also a good time to note the lack of air conditioning here in Germany. It’s really speaks for the environmental appreciation here, that harmful chemicals are not needed everywhere just to cool down a space. You just open the window and turn on a fan!

August 30, 2018

Believe it or not, these are the refrigerators. But they look so much like regular cabinets! Each is shared with four people on the floor, and the far-right bottom one is the freezer to share with all 16 people. On the left you can see the ‘gelber sack’, or yellow bag. It is the start of the intense garbage disposal process here. There are approximately a billion different categories that you can separate your garbage into including this bag, which is where you put any packaging, plastic or otherwise. Other separations include the bio waste, for any fruit or vegetable garbage, paper, batteries, and the restmull (everything else). There is also one day a year where old Christmas trees are collected, at least that is what I hear.

August 31, 2018

I am just surprised at how the cinder blocks are different. Not a big discovery, but it is certainly an interesting difference. Of course, the first couple days here I saw many subtle differences that you wouldn’t quite expect.

September 1, 2018

Here you can see the fountain statue in the middle of the square downtown. In the back is one of many beautiful examples of old German architecture. Some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.

September 2, 2018

This is the view from the balcony on my floor. It’s especially beautiful with the fog rolling into the foothills.

September 3, 2018

Our first city outside Reutlingen! Tubingen according to our guide was named the most beautiful city in Germany. It was truly beautiful, even though it was a bit overcast the day we went. But we got a lovely  tour and a nice dinner.

September 4, 2018

Meet the Doner! It’s like a Gyro, but with beef and cabbage instead of lamb and cucumber. They’re quite delicious, and not too expensive. They are the go-to food for college students here because it’s so close to campus. It’s also really interesting to see so many of these outlets scattered throughout the different cities in Germany.

September 5, 2018

There are so many beautiful flowers everywhere! Many locals make a point to take very good care of their gardens. It is always really nice to be going for a walk and to pass yard after yard of various plants and flowers that are all so different from the ones that I’m used to.

September 6, 2018

It’s so funny to me how the peanut butter is sold as an American food, with the flag on it. For the record, the sliced white bread also has an American flag on it!

September 7, 2018

Once again, an example of the beautiful and well-kept gardens. These plants are particularly interesting to me, not only because they are so pleasant to look at, but they are so subtly different from the plants I see back in the United States.

September 8, 2018

This was our first walk through Berlin! The city was so different and exciting! Pointing into the sky you can see the Fernsehturm, a very distinctive tower in Berlin. You can see it from very far away and it was nice to know while wandering around that you could never get too lost as long as you could find your way back to the tower.

September 9, 2018

Here are the beautiful details of a bridge in Berlin overlooking a canal. You can tell how great the weather is!

September 10, 2018

This is just some of the beautiful street art in the city. This guy had actually made two different versions of this on two separate days, and after a little while I noticed that there were actually several other faded versions all across the square.

Ooh, also a funny side story. On the top left corner of this picture you can see a pole about three feet high intended to stop vehicles from driving into the square. Anyways, when you are walking in a group of 20+ people, these little buggers come out of nowhere and will knock you right in the hip if you’re not careful. Take it from me… I finally began to notice them after running into them like four or five times.

September 11, 2018

This is just a picture of me, enjoying the sights Berlin has to offer! I was enjoying some street food from near our hotel. I had what is called ‘currywurst’; essentially it’s a sausage with barbecue sauce and curry powder and they taste absolutely amazing. And because it’s street food, they’re inexpensive, quick, and delicious. Hence my happy smile!

September 12, 2018

Our last day in Berlin came with a couple museums, including this industrial museum. In the picture is the proof that a teardrop shape has the best aerodynamics, at least of these four shapes. In this museum there were also really old trains and boats of all sizes—one of which was actually a shipwreck.

September 13, 2018

This was the trip from Germany to Denmark, where our train got a nice ride in the hull of a Ferry! I’ll say  that again for those in the back… One moment I was on a train, the next we drove directly onto the ferry. What precision boating skills that takes to be able to have the train so well lined up with the boat! It was really nice, as well, to get off the train and stretch out a bit, while also getting to see the beautiful skies and waves.

September 14, 2018

Next stop, Copenhagen! It was interesting to be walking along minding our own business and then BAM, we followed the Royal Guard for 45 minutes to the changing of the guards! It really was quite the unintentional, free tour. We ended up seeing a lot of pretty scenery through the city following the guard. Afterwards, we got fish from a nice little shop on a canal, and let me tell you… if you ever get the chance, spare the time and eat some fish from Copenhagen!

September 15, 2018

Fancy that! Another country and yet another kind of window! Still no screens, but this time there are two windows: one opens to the inside, one to the outside. I suppose it could keep the house more insulated in the colder winter months. This might actually be valuable since Denmark is so far north. The difference in temperature even now is a lot from Copenhagen back to Reutlingen and it took me by surprise. It wasn’t quite cold, but long sleeves were comfortable.

September 16, 2018

Just a note: the drying machines aren’t super great, and we get to pretty much hang dry all of our clothes. Once again, here in Germany it is a lot more environment friendly, and not using dryers as much is a big effect of that. Dryers use a lot of electricity and honestly tossing your clothes on a drying rack for a few hours does the job. Plus, your clothes won’t shrink or wear out as fast.

September 17, 2018

This is just a friendly bright-colored bug of some kind walking along.

The bug culture here in Germany is a little different… As the windows are open all of the time and there  are no screens, bees and other insects can fly in and out at their leisure. It is a little different, but I don’t mind it to be quite honest. I mean, catch me the day a giant spider comes waltzing in through my wide open window and maybe it will be a different story, but for now, I kind of like the bees that occasionally visit while I’m just working on homework or making dinner. They really are harmless and having them everywhere kind of gives me an appreciation for the natural world that I never would have thought would be an effect of going abroad.

September 18, 2018

I must say, there sure are a lot of hills back in Reutlingen! What you can see in this picture is effectively a third of the height of this hill. I definitely could have used some physical training before coming here, but it really makes you appreciate the agility of the locals, who spend a lot of time either walking up an down hills or using bicycles, often electric bicycles.

Let’s just take a moment for the electric bicycles – I honestly did not know that those were invented. I suppose it makes sense… electric scooters, electric cars… of course there are electric bicycles… Anyways, the first week or so I was really impressed because I would see person after person glide up a giant hill with ease and I just thought they were just that strong because they were used to the hills. Alas, they were just all using electric bicycles. Not that it is really less impressive: they still have to pedal a lot for those hills, but just not quite as much as I thought they were.

Author: Maddie Morehead

Location: Namibia/ South Africa

Going into my study abroad journey, I had no idea what to expect. Before deciding to study in Namibia, I would not have even been able to point it out on a map. I also had very little knowledge of the colonization that took place in Southern Africa apart from my seventh grade teachings of the Berlin Conference and Scramble for Africa. One privilege of living in the U.S. is that we often don’t find ourselves wanting or needing to know about the current circumstances of the world around us because America is typically the spotlight of the world for many, and because of this, we often make ill-informed assumptions about the world around us. However, throughout my travels in Southern Africa I have seen beautiful landscapes and have met beautiful people that have been able to contribute to my learning and understanding of Southern Africa and the rest of the world.

Cape Town is a wonderful example of both the ugly and the beautiful simultaneously represented in one place. Cape Town is located on the west coast of South Africa. It is a city located between the Atlantic Ocean and a large mountain range. It is filled with lively streets of restaurants, bars, malls, shops, and people from all over the world. At first glance, it is difficult to see the rich, yet turbulent, history that lives within the streets of Cape Town – a history that many people of South Africa  are still in the process of healing from.

During our stay in Cape Town, we headed by boat to Robben Island, an island off the coast of Cape Town where political prisoners including Nelson Mandela were kept during the time of Apartheid. What was once a prison town has now been turned into a commercialized tourist area. We first were taken on a bus tour of the island and shown a church where weddings are now frequently held, a quarry where prisoners were forced to mine for limestone in unbearable conditions, and Robert Subukwe’s house – a prison designated solely for Subukwe’s solitary confinement where he was silenced so that he could not influence anyone else in the prison. (What a guy, right??) The history of the island was heart-wrenching, yet the flowers were in full bloom and the view of Cape Town’s Table Mountain from the island was breathtaking. After the bus ride, we met an ex political prisoner who gave us a tour of the prison where he once was held captive. During the tour, he was asked how he feels about giving tours of a place he was once imprisoned. He responded by saying, “At first, I didn’t want to do it, but my family wanted me to because I was unemployed. But over time it has been a healing process for me to talk about my experience over and over again.” He told us that it took him about two years before he was completely comfortable with sharing his story. Hearing, his story I can’t imagine what it was like to transition into life outside of Robben Island after being locked up and mistreated for many years. The whole experience was a little unsettling and left me questioning what action I can take in order to current injustices that people experience on a daily basis.

The amazing Lucy Campbell is another individual we encountered during the week who uses her voice and her story as an instrument for healing. Lucy gives regular tours to people from all over the world, representing the indigenous Khoi people of South Africa and sharing the brutal history of Cape Town and slavery during early colonialism. Walking through the city, Lucy pointed out the history of colonialism that remains to this day. Part of the tour included a stop at the Slave Tree Memorial, a mere stump in the middle of the street. Lucy explained how this memorial is the only symbol honoring slaves and the hardships they endured when just down the street, large statues of white slave owners still look down on the city, haunting the people of Cape Town with its daunting history. Lucy shared that there are parts of the tour that send chills through her spine still to this day. We were able to empathize with her story and feel how the history of Cape Town impacts her daily. While many people visit Cape Town for the beautiful scenery, Lucy is committed to not allowing the history of her indigenous people die out by speaking truth to visitors from around the globe. You can tell by the way she speaks that she is passionate about what she does and the change she is making by sharing her story. During our tour, she ignited a light in all of us to stand up for what we believe in. Giving tours and sharing the history of Cape Town is her process of healing, and a powerful one at that.

The District Six museum also offered many stories sharing the history of people who were forced from their homes. We were able to talk to Joe Schaffers, a full time educator at the museum. He shares his story of District Six, where he lived for 28 years before moving to the Cape Flats, also known as ‘apartheid’s dumping grounds,’ an area designated for non-whites once District Six was declared a whites only area by the government in 1966. On the floor of the museum was a street map of District Six where former residents are able to come and mark where their houses used to be before being bulldozed, a powerful demonstration in order to share the story of thousands. It amazes me that people were able to do such a horrendous thing such as force people to relocate without considering the lives affected by this. Walking through the museum, I could feel the hurt that they felt, seeing long forgotten objects that once belonged in the houses that no longer exist.

And this is just Cape Town. In Johannesburg, we were able to talk to and make friends with historians, political leaders, and people who experienced violence during times of uprisings against apartheid, where children risked their lives for change. Here we visited multiple museums and had our very first home-stay before heading to the Eastern Cape where we talked to political science students at Fort Hare University, where Nelson Mandela attended university and where many students actively protest against school policies today. It is beautiful to be able to hear about the hardships that people have faced and how it has influenced them and inspired them to take action. Through listening to their stories and ideologies I am able to empathize and connect with these individuals. I am able to feel the pain that they feel and understand what moved them to make a difference and continue to share their stories every day. Their stories are inspiring, moving, and they challenge me to use my voice and make a difference not only in my life, but in the lives of others as well.

An interesting article about a student who visited Cape Town, South Africa and left with a different perspective.

https://www.diversityabroad.com/study-abroad/articles/witnessing-water-shortage-south-africa-privilege