Valpo Voyager

Page 123 of 125

Feria Fun!

I’ve learned that no matter what culture you are in, people love fairs. No matter how grand or small, fairs somehow seduce individuals to join a throng of people to eat overpriced food and buy items that we really don’t need. After we return home, with our wallets much smaller, our feet aching and in a general state of exhaustion, we look back at the day and think, “Can’t wait for next year!” After surviving a variety of fairs my entire life in the US, I was curious to see how the Feria Milenaria (the annual fair here in Cholula) would be.

At the fair, you can buy pictures of saints.

Boarding the bus on Saturday afternoon, our group headed to San Pedro, the downtown section of Cholula. Downtown Cholula on any given day is colorful and beautiful. However, with la feria, it became more vibrant than ever. Young and old mingled among the roller-coaster rides and endless stands of clothes, masks, shoes, pictures of saints, fruits, candies, bread and beer. Just imagine: only in Mexico could you go to a fair where one of your friends somehow manages to consume two micheladas while you are drinking a delicious pina colada and eating the best fish taco your palette has ever experienced. All this time, you listening to the sounds of Chino y Nacho (please look them up on YouTube!) as they proclaim their love for “niña bonita” and admiring pictures of revered saints-all in the blazing Mexican sun. Somehow the opposites, whether in age or activities, seem to function and flourish here in Mexico.

These kids were laughing their way through this ride!

Despite the fact that la feria was different from the fairs in the US in terms of food and such, there was one thing that was the same: the reactions of people. There were people that were tired from the heat and from one too many Coronas and others were excited as they bought their new shoes that they will probably wear only once. However, my favorite? The reactions of children: watching the niños as they laughed their way through various rides and eating food that their mothers allow only during this time of the year. It’s a simple truth: no matter where you go in this world (in this case, when it comes to fairs), despite differences in language, food, and general way of doing things, people still get frustrated with the weather and too many people but somehow manage to smile, laugh and create memories. Hmm, I guess we are more similar than we think.

After the heat and rain (and ruined hair), we were still smiling!

Saludos (and with a delicious fish taco)!

Walking through the streets of history to Sachsenhausen

September 12, 2010 / Amber Will / 0 Comments

Today we had a guided tour around the concentration camp of Sachsenhausen outside of Berlin. Starting out, we walked down the path that all prisoners would have had to travel down. It was really fascinating to think of all the people in the city that would have witnessed the prisoners being forced to work for their lives. Most people in Germany were led to believe that these prisoners deserved to be put away for the sake of the country, but it is hard to imagine that nobody could see through this false facade.

Our tour guide, Joe, was really insightful on all things about Sachsenhausen and many concentration camps in general. The camp served as a forced labor camp rather than an extermination or death camp like Auschwitz. This made the overall experience different than I expected. Rather than gruesome pictures of medical experiments and astronomical figures of casualties, the camp was much tamer than many stereotypes about concentration camps would assume.

However, this does not take away from the contemplative nature the site has to offer nor the devastation that was brought to many of the victims. We got to walk through a reconstructed bunker that housed hundreds of prisoners; these included political prisoners, social hazard ones, homosexuals, prisoners of war, and Jews. Conditions were horrible, and the lifestyle unimaginable.

It is hard to imagine that such terrible atrocities took place in the last century when the world was supposed to be more modernized and humane. Therefore, it is important to see these kind of sites first hand to try to understand everything that happened so nothing similar happens again. Our tour guide closed with a really powerful quote from Edmund Burke that I will repeat here. “All that’s necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”

Hot chocolate and churros: an excellent greeting

September 11, 2010 / John Webster / 0 Comments

Two flights, three subway rides, a bus, a taxi, and 24 hours later, I’m here in Granada. I was about to collapse from lack of food, so I put my things down, told my loved ones I had made it, and headed right out to find food. Apparently this city really never goes to sleep (except for siesta, which is during the day, maybe there’s a connection to the suffering economy here…) so I knew there would be lots of places open. It didn’t take me long to see Cafe Futbol, a place I had heard about many times from the Valpo group that came last year. It was hot chocolate (chocolate hecho) and Churros time. Definitely hit the spot. Chocolate hecho is so thick, it’s almost like pudding. It might have been a bit of a sugar overdose on my already tired system, so now I’m off to sleep before I start writing gibberish.

Holocaust Memorial

September 11, 2010 / Allie Sauber / 1 Comment

Berlin, Germany isn’t what I expected. Then again, I don’t really know what exactly I was expecting. It’s a city very different than anything I’ve experienced, both structurally and historically.

This morning’s tour of Berlin was everything from strictly informative to highly emotional. We were exposed to many historical aspects of Berlin, including the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the President’s home, and various embassy’s. It is always so enlightening to be able to physically see what the textbooks have historically taught.

The more emotional part of the tour was the viewing of the Holocaust Memorial. What one tends to imagine about a particular memorial isn’t at all what Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial is. The memorial consists of over 2,500 cement blocks, all of different shapes and sizes. When introducing us to the memorial, our tour guide informed us that the architect of this particular memorial had no underlying purpose in its creation; he wanted it to be up to each individual viewer to pursue their own inspired meaning.

When walking through this vast memorial, I was consistently contemplative about what coherent meaning I could create about the memorial. My interpretation is as follows:

The simplicity of the cement blocks that make up this memorial are seemingly complicated; they have no order. No single block is like another. These individualistic cement blocks represent the various generations that are faced with their shameful German history. No one generation could possibly feel the same as the next; for some are far more removed from the tragedy than others.
The memorial isn’t necessarily beautiful in the sense that it is pleasing to the eye, but upon profound thought and ample reflection, it becomes such a beautiful representation of what constitutes the German people. Even though they wish they weren’t a part of their inevitable dark history, they realize it is just that: history, and it cannot be changed. Instead of ignoring what was once a shameful time, they humble themselves by allowing such an interpretive monument to speak for the whole of the German people; all the while allowing it to speak to each German individually.

What a beautiful experience this was today, and a true preparation for tomorrow’s horrific, yet necessary journey: Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

Two Weeks Already?!

September 9, 2010 / Julie Johnson / 0 Comments

Today is the two week anniversary of my arrival in Cambridge, and I can’t believe how quickly time has flown! I find myself getting busier and busier all the time, which has been a great help since this is the kind of lifestyle that I’m used to while being at Valpo. With the start of classes, field trips, common meals, and weekly Tuesday excursions, there is never a lack of things to do.

Classes in Cambridge are definitely different than what I am used to, but in a good way. Our program director, Mark Farmer, teaches our Mythology and English Life and Culture classes, while we have three very different and unique British professors for Theology, Art, and History. Mythology is surprisingly interesting, and I find myself picking up the stories and characters very easily. Our English Life and Culture class consists of our group discussing how we adapt to living in a new country, and we also pick a new place around town to experience every week. We weren’t able to go anywhere this week due to the weather, but next Tuesday we are going punting along the River Cam. For those of you who don’t know what it is, punting is what you typically see in the movies in places like Italy, with a punter rowing the boat along a river, while you get the great opportunity to check out the view. We have also had the chance to check out a lot of great art museums through our Art class, and our professor is a riot. Our Theology professor is actually a Reverend in the church next to our house, and one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. Mike Murphy, our History teacher, is an absolute riot. He has opened my mind to a lot of opinions that the Brits share about the United States and vice versa. I’m sure by the end of the semester I will have a wide range of cultural opinions.

We also had our first student cooked common meal last night, and I must say, it was delicious! Every Wednesday, one or two of the students in the group pick out what to cook for a huge meal, while the rest of us help to clean up and prepare as well. We had a Mexican theme, and it was delicious! Everyone had a great time, and our group grows closer all the time. Speaking of food, we came across a very interesting find last weekend. The closest comparison I can make is the equivalent of “the Jimmy John’s / El Amigo” of Cambridge, but here, it’s in the form of a giant trailer in the middle of the city center.. appropriately called “The Trailer of Life.” it has definitely become a staple of our weekends. Off to the Lake District for the weekend — lots of hiking and sore muscles to follow!

Cheers!

Julie

heaven in the form of a trailer

Football: More Than Just a Sport

September 9, 2010 / Jeff Harbert / 2 Comments

“And its Cambridge United, Cambridge United FC, we’re by far the greatest team, the world has ever seen…”

As I walked into Abbey Stadium in Cambridge, England I didn’t expect to hear too much noise in the 9,000 capacity stadium. Instead, the above song was being sung by a large portion of the fans and the atmosphere was absolutely fantastic. By the sound of it, you would think this was one of England’s middle sized clubs. Not even close. Cambridge United is a non-league team and currently plays in the Blue Square Premier League, the fifth tier of English football. If this was Baseball, they wouldn’t even be Single A.

Regardless of the team’s lack of stature and just 2,637 people in attendance, it was still a cracking atmosphere and a great match. Standing in the East side of the stadium, my friend Bryan and I were surrounded by the home support. We heard various chants sung throughout the game and countless insults hurled at the opposing team, some even unsuitable for this blog.

If there’s one thing I’ve always known, it’s that England football fans don’t lack passion. It could be two of the biggest clubs in all of England playing each other or unknown Cambridge United vs. the even more anonymous Gateshead, yet the enthusiasm and fervor of the fans is always on full display. After all, football is more than just a game over here. It’s a religion. I’ve only been here two weeks and that’s already became very clear!

Despite missing an early penalty kick, Cambridge United romped to a 5-0 win – much to the delight of the home side’s fans. For having less than three-thousand fans in attendance, I was amazed by the atmosphere created by the Cambridge United faithful. If this is how the atmosphere is for a non-league team, I can only imagine how spectacular the atmosphere would be attending a Premiership match (England’s top football league). I guess I’ll just have to find out!

Cheers!

Getting Accustomed to the German way of Doing Things

September 8, 2010 / Amber Will / 1 Comment

Being in a different country, especially one with a different language, typically brings about culture shock for the travelers. I have been able to travel around the world for a few weeks here and there, but I have never experienced this phenomenon. I have only now come to understand what culture shock can mean.

Living in Reutlingen, Germany is an absolutely wonderful place to be. The view outside my window is of some mountains in the distance, and, besides the weather, there is nothing really to complain about. The only difficulty comes with understanding all of the surroundings. Coming into this program with a French background and an eventual Chinese minor has not set me up with the necessary German language skills, but I am trying to learn as much as possible.

The most obvious difference is being around people that typically do not speak your own language. There is very little English spoken on a regular basis unless I am trying desperately to converse with someone. Therefore, every time I have ran into a British tour group or another bunch of Americans, I have become overly excited. English never sounded so good.

Other differences are smaller – like trying to do my laundry. My roommate and I decided that we would just know how to do laundry; I thought it was a part of my womanly senses no matter what country I was living in at the time. I could not have been more wrong. There are a vast amount of buttons on German laundry machines and a variety of different cycles. When this happens, my best advice is to watch the video posted on YouTube about doing laundry here. Rather, we took a guess and ended up with a pile of sopping wet clothes that we had to ring out in the nearby sink. That experience has taught me to always read the instructions in your own language first. Here’s some help: watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=essQiVHV9rA. That will get you started!

I cannot wait to see what new things will challenge me in the future. Hopefully, I will be a pro at laundry from now on, but I know there will be new cultural differences to face. And that is the fun of it all. What better way to grow as a person in confidence and tenacity than living in a foreign country for a semester? Future fiascos aside, I know this will be the best time of my life.

A weekend in Cologne

September 7, 2010 / ajarratt / 0 Comments

04.09.2010 – 17:16
Phew. My feet are finally up! The soreness of your feet from constantly walking everywhere is one of those aspects of traveling that you know but never really expect. However, my tiredness was rightly earned.

This is our first weekend of traveling for the Reutlingen program. My friends Amber (who is also writing on this blog) and Cate worked out the plans for the entire weekend, so I was able to sit back and let them figure things out. We had thought that a weekend in Köln (or Cologne in English) would be an easy start to our traveling and leave some margin for error, which is bound to happen our first couple of times. So far, my expectations have been vastly succeeded.

Yesterday we left early in the morning from Reutlingen and hopped on a train to Meinz, transferring trains several times. I was tired from the Stuttgart wine festival from the previous day, but the southern German countryside is far too interesting and beautiful to fall asleep. We loosely followed the Mosel River, which is surrounded by rolling, wooded hills and steep vineyards on the hillsides. It is like nothing I have seen in the US; words, like always, fail to fully convey the true experience.

We decided to stop at Meinz to see the castle Burg Eltz. The beginning of the hiking trail, which is about 5 kilometers long through the hills, began in a beautiful little town on the Mosel. We stopped for a quick lunch at an Imbiss, and left our belongings with the proprietor, a very friendly old man. I know what you are thinking….”Why did you leave your belongings, including your laptop, with a complete stranger?” Well, I was wondering the exact same thing. Fortunately, everything was in perfect shape when we got back, so I guess it was ok. If you want to know more about that crazy adventure, email me!

It has been a beautiful weekend, sunny and mid 60s, and a perfect time to go hiking through the hills to a beautiful castle! We just turned a corner, and there it was (of course, after 5 km of hiking). Sometimes I had to push Cate to get us all there, but of course, it was worth it.
Last night we arrived in Köln, just expecting to sleep. Just as we were getting our pajamas out, our hostel-mates came through; they were three girls from Stuttgart who were just spending the night in the city. They invited us to go out, so…..you can’t pass up opportunity, can you? I’m sure glad we didn’t. Dane, Laura, and I went with them to a club, which happened to be overpriced for both cover charge and drinks, and it really wasn’t an atmosphere that I enjoyed. We all agreed to leave and find a bar, were at midnight we celebrated Laura’s 21st birthday.

Köln is an amazing city. The Dom (cathedral) in the middle of the city is absolutely massive, and it has very elaborate gothic architecture and styling. It is very impressive, and I suggest that anyone in the area should visit. You literally can’t miss it, it’s that big. We plan on going to church there on Sunday morning. That should be interesting, since it will be in all German. I suppose we will feel like the non-nobility before the Renaissance, since everything in the church was spoken in Latin.

We have only been here for about a day, but it feels familiar already. Time to visit the city’s chocolate museum! Hopefully I will be able to waddle back and write a follow-up. Tschüs!

Climbing Scotland

September 7, 2010 / derekschnake / 0 Comments

Facing oblivion, you learn a lot about yourself. You don’t want to trust yourself; you need someone better than yourself. But with no ropes, no harness and no stretch in your jeans, there’s not much there but you.

There I was, fifty-ish feet up with the Scottish air breezing in off the North Sea. I found a convenient spot to wedge my knee, rest my hips and look out. Before me I saw sparkling waters and a stampede in the stratosphere. I soaked it all in and was soon ready to move on.

Looking upward, all I could see was beach grass and soil. Bad news. The vegetation made it hard to find good hand holds, and it was safe to assume that the rock wasn’t safe; plant roots break up rocks, making it brittle. With a heavy sight I looked down, all fifty feet of rock face. Suddenly I remembered a famous mountaineering quote:

“The summit is optional. The descent is mandatory.”

urbandictionary.com

September 7, 2010 / Christiana Redman / 1 Comment

Boy, do I wish I had an urban dictionary this week. I am spending 10 days with a host family in Katatura, which is an urban part of Windhoek. Although most people in my area speak English, I am always curious to know what they’re saying when they’re speaking Afrikaans or their native tribal languages. The sounds are so intriguing.

There is no language requirement for the Namibia program, which is nice because it makes it open to everyone. In my opinion, that is good because you get a variety of majors and people with a variety of interests. It is also less stressful because we don’t have to adapt to a whole new culture AND try to figure out the language.

Later in the semester we will be doing a rural homestay in northern Namibia. There, they are much less likely to speak fluent English. The program requirements say that during each homestay the host family will have at least one person in it that speaks basic English. To prep us for the language barriers that we might encounter, we have started Oshindonga lessons at our house. Oshindonga is similar to Oshiwambo, which is one of what are called “recognized regional languages”. It is a tough language to learn, but once you learn a few things it comes to you more quickly. I am feeling confident that by the conclusion of our lessons I will be at least fairly prepared to communicate with my rural host family.

Student Stories from Around the World