Author: Marianna Guerrieri
Program: CIS Summer in Florence
There are many hidden gems within the streets of Florence. There are many different open markets throughout all of the city, and when you happen upon one, you know you will find something great. Fresh pasta, Italian clothing, and fresh fruit and flowers. The locals are extremely helpful and you can always make a deal. There is so much variety and uniqueness in these markets; they are a great way to see the locals and find out what they have to offer.
Author: Ellie Ashbrook
Program: CIS Summer in Thailand
My name is Ellie, and I will be attending Chiang Mai University located in northern Thailand. I will be a junior in the College of Nursing program at Valparaiso University this fall 2016.
Why Chiang Mai? My family gave me the opportunity to choose any place in the world to study abroad (I had to do some convincing…and well, it worked). I have always been in love with outdoor excursions and have always been fascinated by Buddhism and Buddhist Art. As part of my studying abroad experience, I will be participating in many outdoor activities and will be taking Buddhist Philosophy and Thai Language courses.
Why NOT Chiang Mai? It only takes a total of 19.5 hours to get there with one connecting flight (if you are lucky). The first leg of my trip is 15.20 hours to Shanghai, China (the country’s biggest city), where I will have a night to rest for my second flight. The flight to Chiang Mai airport should only take 4.5 hours. I will be staying at the Chiang Mai Gate Hotel while I attend Chiang Mai University for 4 weeks. I have been interested in the CIS Summer in Thailand program since my sophomore year of college. This past spring I took Professor Corazzo’s art history class, Ancient to Medieval Art History, and if you know Corazzo and her enthusiasm for that class, you would fall in love with the various forms of culture and art just like I did. Each class, Professor Corazzo would comment, “You WILL go to these places.”
There are only a few days left until I board the plane, and I have so many mixed emotions. I am excited, frightened, nervous, and pretty much any emotion you can think of. I am so happy to be sharing my first independent trip you with. I hope that my passages interest you and get you thinking of planning a study abroad experience of your own.
But someday you WILL visit Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Author: Marianna Guerrieri
Program: Summer in Florence
Italy is know for its historic buildings that are admired all over the world. These buildings have been modified to fit the needs of the current population and residents, but the look and history is still the same. I captured a few ways that the architecture has changed a little for the new residents, such as flowers, but also the street art that has been added. Some is harmless while most of it destroys the historical look of the building. While I admire some of these artistic releases, it is very sad that it had to be on these beautiful buildings, but just as well interesting how the buildings can remain intact and still function well for the residents.
Well no I’m not leaving yet, I still have about a week left here in Spain but as I’m writing this post, I am beginning to feel a little sentimental thinking back on the past four and half months I’ve lived here. That’s right. I LIVED here; my life has been completely changed. I’ve experienced a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’ll never be the same.
While I have done a bit of traveling and most of my blog posts have been about that because I wanted you to see the incredible opportunities you have when you study abroad, particularly in Europe (I can’t vouch for any other area). For this post I’d like to highlight a few of the common everyday things I experienced while living in Granada that I will miss.
These are only a few of the things that I will miss. I’m sure there is more but I feel like I won’t notice them until I am back in the states and I’ll be walking to class and I’ll miss having to dodge pigeons or saying hi to someone I know as they walk by. The closer it gets to the day I have to leave the more it hits me that I have made Granada my home and I’m really sad to leave it behind. The next time I come here, I possibly won’t be a student anymore and I most definitely won’t see the same people everyday like I used to. Coming here has really made me think about “change”, with all of the traveling I’ve done and hopefully will do, I have become accustomed to change. I know that sounds weird, but it’s true. I have lived in a completely different culture the past almost 5 months and during that time I have traveled to other countries and experienced doubly different cultures. It’s difficult to fathom that I will miss having to adjust every few weeks because of this cultural change.
In short, I have learned that there is much to learn and I’m not done learning. Granada, Spain has introduced me to the travel bug and I’ll forever be infected, gladly. Today in one of my classes, a classmate presented on a muslim traveler, Ibn Battuta, who said a famous quote, “Traveling leaves you speechless then turns you into a storyteller.” This is 100% true. I’m glad I made the choice to study abroad and I’m even happier with the location I chose. It was the right choice for me even though I had people tell me otherwise. I made so many new friends and gained a new perspective on everything basically. It’s like I see the world with a new set of glasses and I hesitate to think how my life would have turned out if I hadn’t taken this opportunity. I’m sad to leave Granada and my new found friends, but I am glad to be heading back home soon. Granada, I’ll miss you but I will be back soon!
I’m ready to go home. Not because I’m sick of Costa Rica or because the last four months have been horrible. In fact, it’s the opposite. I want to go home because I have absolutely loved Costa Rica. Because I can’t wait to tell everyone about all the crazy adventures I’ve been on and incredible sights I’ve seen and the million things I’ve learned. Because I have lived these four months to the fullest, and it’s time to move on. Part of what makes studying abroad so sweet is the fact that it’s so short. We try to pack in as much as we can into four months, when really we are only scratching the surface of learning about another culture and way of life. Saying goodbye to Costa Rica will truly be bittersweet.
This last week in Costa Rica has been pretty calm. We have ended our internships and classes, so we have had a lot of free time to hang out and enjoy our last days here. One thing we decided to do was go to a soccer (fútbol) game. It was a really big semifinal game, so the atmosphere was crazy. There was constant cheering and yelling, and I’m pretty sure I got my fill of Spanish curse words for the whole semester. It was a really fun cultural experience, though, and very different than any sporting event I have attended in the United States!
The stadium was full!
Another thing we got to do our last week here was take a trip to Poas volcano. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to see the volcano, but we got a very scenic drive and got to see a pretty waterfall. It was still a fun way to be together and say goodbye to one of the best things about Costa Rica—the nature.
The waterfall was huge!
This week was one of goodbyes. People who were total strangers four months ago are suddenly close friends. I not only have my host family to say goodbye to—but ALL of the host families. They all made me feel just as welcome in their homes as their own students. Part of what made my study abroad experience so unique was not only being welcomed into one home, but into a community.
Goodbyes are never easy. I have never quite gotten over how strange it feels to say goodbye to someone knowing very well I may never see them again. Or walking around a new neighborhood that feels like home for the last time. But what comforts me most is knowing that it is time to leave. That after this I will be moving on to bigger and better things. This semester I accomplished far more than I ever thought I was capable of and learned more than I could have ever imagined. It’s going to be hard to adjust back to life in the United States and to adequately sum up my feelings about this experience. So please be patient with me, friends and family. I will be different but I will learn how to live back in the States again. These four months have been phenomenal. But it’s time to go home.
Exciting stuff, I know.
How do you find a co-op placement for your spring semester?
First, you need a résumé (der Lebenslauf), formatted according to German sensibilities. Mine looks like this:
Write your own before you even head to Germany. Fill in any of the blanks (telephone number, address) once you arrive. Also, be sure to get a few sets of professional German eyes to proof it for mistakes or unnecessary bits. One such professional German told me to throw a scan of my high school diploma on the second page.
The cover letter (das Anschreiben) is the other part of the application materials (Bewerbungsunterlagen, plural) that you’ll need to prepare. Since this is a more complicated piece of literature (e.g. an actual piece of literature, as opposed to a list of facts and achievements), you’ll want to be getting some professional German help with this, regardless of how good you think your German is (or how good you Dunning-Kruger know it is).
Herr Veit in the Reutlingen International Office can be of assistance. In my case, I had help from a German colleague at Siemens last summer with the first draft, and further revision help from friends Isa and Jojo.
Herr Veit can also be useful in getting the Bewerbungsunterlagen sent out to various firms. In my case, my placement came through a family friend of family friends Isa and Jojo.
What are some of the details of my co-op?
Glad you asked. Bosch is probably more common in Baden-Württemberg than Wal-Mart is in the states. There are at least 2 plants in Reutlingen, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn of additional facilities in town.
While Reutlingen is certainly conveniently located for people living in Reutlingen, my placement ended up being in Leonberg, a town (imagine a nearby suburb by US standards) west of Stuttgart. This means a decent commute each day, which would be inconvenient if I had to personally control any of the vehicles that get me there (somebody doesn’t particularly enjoy driving). If everything is on time (a bold request of Deutsche Bahn – German trains aren’t nearly as punctual as they’re rumored to be), I can be there 64 minutes after I leave Reutlingen, but it usually takes a little longer to get back. Commuting is super cheap with the Anschluss Studi-Ticket, and the travel time provides ample opportunity to fully wake up, eat breakfast, read, stare out the window at the subtle beauty of the Swabian Jura, and be fully ready to work by the time I arrive.
The facility in Leonberg is for development (no production), and much of the activity there centers around automobile proximity sensors and associated software. Think cruise control where your car will go as fast as you tell it to on the interstate, but will automatically slow down if traffic slows down. These sensors may also beep at you when you get close to scratching your paint as you back up, and will eventually be the eyes of self-driving vehicles. Anyway, at the facility, there’s a garage with several test vehicles, and modest capability for small-scale prototyping, but most of the work seems to be carried out on computers.
My tasks are varied, since they’re used to accommodating 6-month interns, while I’m only there for 4.5 months. So far, I’ve helped with error analyses, proofread translations, mounted test samples of different materials for easy comparison, and examined the feasibility of using different materials in place of currently-used ones for production models. It’s a ton of fun, and really fulfilling – just what a co-op should be.
How does payment work?
Pretty mundanely, in fact. Set up a bank account, fill out the correct numbers on the form, get paid.
The trickiest part of this was setting up the bank account. I talked my way in without an appointment, and they were willing to accommodate me, but it’s probably best to just set up an appointment at a bank sufficiently in advance that you’ll have an account before your placement begins.
Don’t worry about not knowing the right German to open the account. You’ll be able to talk your away around what you want to know. And in the event that you completely miss something, every piece of information is also presented in the traditional German manor – printed out on many many pieces of paper.
I did have to do a perspective switch regarding currency. From August to February, I was happy to see the exchange rate decrease from €1=$1.15 all the way down to 1:1.05, eventually settling at around 1.08. Now that I’m earning a non-zero amount of Euro money, I’m happy to see the rate increasing again. Currently, it’s at 1.14. While I used to see that and think “Ugh, could be better,” I am slowly retraining myself to appreciate an increasing number.
How do taxes work?
Good. Question.
I have a little less than €10 automatically siphoned off my monthly wages, including €0.58 of Kirchensteuer (church tax – the evangelical and catholic churches in Germany receive some support from the taxes paid by their members).
I’m not presently sure how taxes will work once I get back, but I have 11 months to figure things out before the IRS comes knocking. Each possibly relevant piece of paper is in a folder that will be coming home in my carry-on. I also have it on good faith from colleagues and other professional Germans that I’m not doing anything illegal by proceeding without further action on taxes, so stuff should work out.
You’re going to spend a year abroad. This is no small feat. You have been well prepared, and it’s unlikely that anything I could possibly write will change that. Despite that, here’s some stuff that I wrote to try to help you prepare for your year.
Some of these things are (hopefully understandably) centered around southwest Germany and the Reutlingen program. Sorry about that. Just kidding, not really.
VIEP = Valparaiso International Engineering Program. Take five years instead of 4 to finish your undergraduate degree by adding a semester of overseas study and an internship abroad, and end up wth a language (German, French, Spanish, Chinese) minor or major.
Skype your family as often as you please.
Foreign language faculty at VU advised that exposure to the English language should be limited as much as possible. The thought behind this is to allow yourself to the opportunity for as thorough immersion as possible. This makes sense – the more German (or French or Spanish or Chinese) you hear and use, the better you will be able to consistently and accurately speak and understand it.
This advice, though well-intentioned, is bogus, or at best unnecessary. For one, English is the common language in the dorms (at least in Reutlingen – I cannot speak for the other programs), even before German. You’re automatically in an environment where you’ll need to hear and use English all the time. No need to impose false barriers on your experience that won’t make any difference.
Next, you’re probably going to be plagued with some homesickness, at least once during your time abroad (if you’re not, maybe see somebody about that). Skipping home is a great way to help some of this go away. Your family is important (understatement), and it’s important to maintain that relationship.
Granted, you should not spend 100% of your free time calling home. You have a new place to explore (and getting out can also help with homesickness). But if you do your thing, you’ll experience plenty of immersion as-is. You’ll be just as fluent as you otherwise would have been, and you’ll also get to share your experiences regularly with your loved ones.
Find a family.
I can’t give advice on how to do this, as I more or less had a family waiting for me when I arrived (though I have heard that churches can be good, if that’s your thing). Back in 1980 (or something), my mom did a 3-week (or so) exchange program. She stayed with the Neumärker Family, and fortunately stayed in touch over the years. The then-12-year-old, now-decidedly-older-and-altogether-wondeful-year-old Isa conveniently lives with her husband Jojo and children Rebecca and Cassian near Stuttgart, which is conveniently close to Reutlingen, which is conveniently where I am living this year.
Hopefully, you will have the sense to see a substitute family as more than an outlet for laundry and meals. Spending time around kids is therapeutic, no matter how active or crazy they may be. At the very least, it gets you outside for exercise, and it also exposes you to a facet of German language that you otherwise wouldn’t be hearing. In my case, these kids are less familiar with Americans than the dorm crowd is, so the quality of questions is WAY better for meaningful introspection about myself and my country.
Furthermore, immersion better than this does not exist. You get people who will correct your deutsch in a snap, and who will get it right 100% of the time way faster than any classmate or dictionary ever could. You’re also not in an environment where you can get away with just doing your thing (in my case, programming and playing with twisty puzzles and reading Game of Thrones). You are expected to converse and follow directions. Instead of having to make the choice to put shoes on and go outside for immersion, you can get it from the comfort of your pajamas.
A family can also provide irreplaceable insight into local traditions. Sure, you can read about this stuff in books or on Wikipedia, but experiencing it gives you far more insight and appreciation. Plus it’s more fun than reading about foreign traditions on Wikipedia, and I can say that because I’ve tried it.
Buy your own plane tickets.
I fell for the trap of going with the group plane ride, and along with it, the group prices. The logic that “group prices mean discounts” does not apply for flights, or if it does, it sure didn’t for me.
You can even buy your outbound ticket on the same flight as the rest of the group, but save a few hundred bucks by doing so.
Don’t go for a round trip ticket either, unless you are reasonably certain that you can change your return flight for free. This will most certainly not be the case with the group rate. Round trip tickets are good for short trips, and on the short term, they can even save money. Since you can’t book flights until a year in advance anyway, these savings will not be present by a round trip booking for VIEP participants.
Public Transportation
There’s a thing called the Anschluss Studi-Ticket, which is an extension of your Naldo pass into the Stuttgart region. Super cheap (in the long term, meaning ~$300 one-time), and way worthwhile. If the Naldo region gets boring for you (it shouldn’t, but just in case it somehow does), this gives you a (somewhat) big city to explore. At current prices, it pays for itself in just over 9 visits.
Networking
Herr Veit is the most important friend of VIEP at the Hochschule Reutlingen. He’s so well-connected that I’m pretty sure the only German official who doesn’t answer directly to him is Angela Merkel. He’s a huge support for VIEP participants, and will gladly help you secure a co-op during your second semester. (It’s also possible to accomplish this through other means – Herr Veit is certainly not the only path to a placement)
However, he’s a busy man. You may have to be more explicit with him than feels polite in order to get your point across. He also comes with a very quick turnaround time. Just be prepared to hit the ground running, and you’ll do just fine.
This has not been an exhaustive list.
So as the semester winds down to an end, I decided to look back on my semester to find some of the highlights of my time abroad. I went through a variety of categories and attempted to find my top 5 highlights for each.
*note: they aren’t necessarily in order of most favorite
Top 5 Places Visited:
1. Cape Town, South Africa
2. Windhoek, Namibia
3. Livingstone, Zambia
4. Swakopmund, Namibia
5. Johannesburg, South Africa
Top 5 Weirdest foods:
1. Caterpillar
2. Goat head (sorry, I didn’t get any pictures. I know you all wanted to see)
3. Every animal liver imaginable
4. Traditional drink (some sort of super sweet drink made with Mahangu grains)
5. Freshly slaughtered cow, goat and chicken
Top 5 restaurants in Windhoek:
1. Andy’s (Best pizza in Windhoek)
2. La Bricante (it’s a restaurant in an antique store with live music) Atmosphere 10/10
3. La Bonne (because French food is always fantastic)
4. Garnish Indian restaurant
5. Sardinia Italian restaurant
Top 5 Activities in Windhoek:
1. Ultimate Frisbee at University of Namibia
2. Internship at Physically Active Youth after school program
3. Walks around downtown
4. Hiking in the hills
5. Markets: Craft Market, First Quarter Market, Informal Markets
Top 5 Concerts:
1. Windhoek Unplugged- Warehouse Theater
2. Open Mic Night- Warehouse Theater
3. International Jazz Day Concert- Franco-Namibian Cultural Center
4. Song Night- Warehouse Theater
5. Live music at random bars and restaurants
Top 5 Adventure Activities:
1. Gorge Swing at Victoria Falls
2. White water Rafting in the Zambezi River
3. Paragliding in Cape Town
4. Quadbiking in the Namib Desert
5. Surfing in the Atlantic Ocean
Top 5 most beautiful views:
1. Table Mountain, Cape Town, SA
2. Victoria Falls, Livingstone, ZA
3. The Namib Desert, NADEET, NA
4. The vast hills surrounding Windhoek, NA
5. The Atlantic Ocean
Top 5 things I will miss:
1. My amazing and unique group of 19 peers
2. Being able to learn from so many different people and experiences
3. My wonderful, loving, and welcoming homestay families
4. Deep conversations by the pool, at the bar, or around the dinner table
5. The breathtaking beauty of the land that constantly surrounds me
Southern Africa has challenged my personal beliefs, taught me to look at the world differently, given me the opportunity to grow and try new things, gain a better understanding of what my future might entail, and create a group of life-long friends.
It has come to my attention that not many really truly understand what it is to study abroad. Most think that it’s just a time to party and go out every weekend, traveling across Europe, and escaping the pressures of the taxing American norms. Well, while most of that may be true.. study abroad is so much more.
Study abroad is:
I know the last two bullets are somewhat cliche but it is true. When you’re on your own not knowing anyone in a foreign country, your best friend, at least for the first couple of days is yourself. You get to learn who you really are because you are depending on you to get you through the day. Studying abroad is having everyday events happen abroad where you can’t deal with them in the same way. You get hungry at one a.m. you can’t just head out to the nearest McDonald’s and order drive-thru. You can’t drive to Wal-Mart or the pharmacy if you get sick at night and need Tylenol. You lose your debit card you can’t just walk to your bank and order a new one. Living abroad is having to change your lifestyle to fit in because you are not going to be living the “American” way anymore.
Some just don’t realize that there are bad days too. Everyone tells stories about how they got lost in Germany or they saw the Louvre, they walked the Great Wall of China, they took an African safari, but no one wants to tell you that they spent the night crying because they were so overwhelmed by all the changes. That they were having a rough time adjusting. They felt out of place, like they didn’t fit in. When they write their blog they only write about the good times, their travels because they want you to believe everything is all rainbows and sunshine. Well it isn’t.
When I was in Rome, I lost my wallet. Now it wasn’t smart of me to carry everything that I did in that wallet, but we were in a hurry to catch our flight to Rome from Barcelona and there was no time to think clearly. When it happened I was so frustrated that I could not find what I was looking for, I couldn’t understand a lick of Italian and I became careless. When I finally figured out that I didn’t have my wallet I lost total sense of …well everything. I couldn’t even sit down and cry because I had no idea what to do. I lost everything and there was nothing I could do about it. We raced to the police station to report my wallet but of course with my luck, it was closed. -_- Thank God for friends like mine because they helped keep me cheerful even though I was feeling down in the dumps.
Some of you might be reading this and thinking to yourself, “But you’re in freaking Europe, what is there to be sad about? At least you get to travel.” Yes, I know that. What I am trying to convey through this post is that, yea, I am having a great time. I had the opportunity to travel and I took it. Who wouldn’t? But every incredible and amazing opportunity has its risks and downfalls. You have to be prepared for those days that aren’t going to be so great. The days you will cry at night. The days you will find yourself feeling alone. The days where you will miss your family and home the most. The days where you realize that taking this chance wasn’t so you could enjoy yourself abroad but so that you could truly realize and appreciate what you have at home.
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