To mark the halfway point of the semester, our cohort took a ten day trip to Nicaragua. The first place we visited was an island called Ometepe, where we learned new ways to reuse bottles.
First, we worked on a bench made from bottles, trash, rocks, and cement. The plastic bottles were filled with trash to make them sturdier and to keep the waste material from going into a landfill.
I know it seems like a strange idea, but it worked very well and the final product turned out great! From the outside, the bottoms of the bottles look like colorful flowers.
We also learned how to make these containers out of all sorts of plastic bottles. They can be used as garbage cans, recycling bins, laundry baskets, or anything else you can think of.
It was a long day, but it was nice to be doing something with our hands after spending so much time studying and writing papers the week before.
The island was a beautiful place, so while we were there we took the time to explore. Our guide showed us some spectacular petroglyphs made by indigenous people before the arrival of the Spaniards.
The youth of the island performed a traditional dance for us. Known as the gueguense, it portrays the trickery that the indigenous people used to avoid Spanish exploitation.
Even today, this beautiful place is threatened by foreigners. If the Chinese plan to build a canal through this lake becomes a reality, the natural land could be turned into resorts. Everyone we met there has mixed feelings about it, but I really hope that views like the one above will be around for generations to come.
Sorry for the delay in posts! We have been super busy during the last couple of weeks since we finished up classes at the Universidad Nacional. To finish up our class on the history and ethnography of Costa Rica, we took a trip to Longo Mai, an immigrant community in the southern part of the country.
While we were there, we took a hike around the community to learn about how they live. The individual families don’t own the land, but they have the rights to cultivate different types of agricultural goods like sugar cane, coffee, and cacao. The photo below shows cacao, the fruit used to make chocolate. The white part is covering the seeds that are later roasted and mixed with milk and sugar because by themselves, the seeds are quite bitter. We even got to make some of own chocolate, and the process will be outlined in a guest post later this semester.
We tried some other interesting foods while we were there as well, like fresh sugar cane and termites!
Some of us were brave enough to eat them, and they don’t taste that bad if you can get over the fact that you’re eating a bug. They taste sort of like wood.
Besides being an agricultural community, the people of Longo Mai work to preserve indigenous cultures and the natural beauty of the area. It is said that if you hug one of these giant trees, as seen below, they will take away your negative energy. We didn’t hug them for long enough to see if it worked, but we did enjoy the time we spent there!
Who am I kidding – the classes aren’t really particularly boring, but rather information about classes might not be the most interesting thing. Sorry about that.
First, I’ll focus on the classes offered through Valpo. These classes always take place in the same classroom, and all 16 of us are enrolled in all of them (not quite true, but I’ll get there later).
Here’s a video about our classroom and the building in which the classes occur:
Everybody takes one of the German classes, taught by Swantje. They meet in consecutive hours, and you enroll in whichever one better reflects your German abilities. 204 is the one you’ll need if you’re pursuing a German major or minor.
European Art & Architecture is taught by Dr. Walter Springer, an art historian from Tübingen. With Dr. Springer, we’ve discussed characteristics of gothic cathedrals (think Notre Dame in Paris), the structure of art (form, lines, colors, composition, etc.), and common themes in religious art. Prof. Springer often reserves the end of class for students to recreate famous paintings and sculptures, while he tries to identify the piece of art. He’s fairly good at this, and has even been able to correctly guess some more obscure pieces.
Economics is taught by Prof. Baldur Veit, who also runs the Reutlingen International Office and probably manages at least a dozen other things away from Hochschule. We’ve discussed how Germany and the EU work, what exactly went wrong with VW, and why Baden-Württemberg is a good place to live. We’ve been told that part of the final exam will be spelling “Baden-Württemberg,” a task which still seems to be difficult for many of us.
Utopian/Dystopian Literature and Social Theory is taught by Carter Hanson, who is also the director of the Valpo study center in Reutlingen for the next two years. This class can count for either English or social science credit. It features discussions of the questions raised by utopian thinking, regarding aspects of history, politics, culture, art, and morality.
Luther and Bach is also taught by Carter Hanson, and can count for history or theology credits. One of the early discussions was about how one can assess the validity of a biographical work. This class was also the basis of our second group trip to Leipzig, Erfurt, Eisenach, and Wittenberg.
These classes account for 16 credit hours, and fulfill general education requirements. Since one only needs 12 credit hours to maintain full-time student status at VU (and thus scholarships), not everybody is taking every class. Perhaps they already fulfilled their gen. eds., or perhaps they simply weren’t interested in taking a particular class.
Or perhaps they’re a VIEP (Valparaiso International Engineering Program) or EIB (Enhanced International Business) student, and have other requirements. For VIEP, we need to take one engineering class taught in German at the Hochschule. In the German academic calendar, the Wintersemester lasts from October to February, so you’re basically on two semesters at once. To be able to take these classes without a credit overload, one must drop a few of the Valpo courses. In my case, I left Utopian/Dystopian Literature and Luther & Bach. Though I had been looking forward to Luther & Bach, my schedule without either of them was a bit more conducive to travel.
This german course began for Nick and me three weeks ago. After initially attending a class that was well beyond our abilities, we switched into Kraft- and Arbeitsmaschinen (work and power machines), and found that to be far more appropriate for our level. Though lecture goes by somewhat quickly, between the two of us, we’ve been able to keep up just fine. However, the class so far has also been a review of thermodynamics and heat transfer, which has greatly improved our comprehension of the material. Though this class will certainly be a test of our skills, I’m confident that hard work will pay off for us both.
Although it’s only Thursday (and my last post was Sunday), I will be leaving for our two-week break with Jordan and Mackenzie tomorrow morning and won’t be able to post while on that break, so I’m squeezing one post more in! This past week was nice because the German 101 class met in the evening versus at 8am, so was a nice week to sleep in!
Tuesday afternoon I rode up to the top of the hill visible from my dorm room. We went up there as a group in the first week we were here, but the colors have changed quite a bit!
Wednesday morning the group was invited to a reception with the city of Reutlingen at an art museum downtown. We went on a short tour before the reception that has occurred for every group of Valpo students who have come here. The 50th anniversary of the partnership between Valpo and Reutlingen University will be during the 2016-2017 academic year. It is potentially the second longest U.S.-Germany university partnership.
Our study abroad group (plus Jon Cisneros, the intern from Valpo, our Economics professor, and two city employees) after the reception.
The group went ice skating with our German teacher Wednesday night before going to a Mexican restaurant later that night!
This weekend Reid, Ryan, Teddy, and I all went to Paris. The trip started out a little rough with a 2-hour train delay and mixed up Airbnb (people renting out rooms of their houses) plans, but in the end we all had a great time! We did most of the tourist sites including the Eiffel Tower, the Catacombs, Notre Dame, the and the Arc de Triomphe. Contrary to what some say, the city did not smell bad overall, just in very few certain areas, but that may be different during the summer.
Just me and my new friends in the Catacombs, they aren’t looking so hot!
Ryan posing for a picture in front of Notre Dame.
The Eiffel Tower made a good backrest for Reid!
The Valpo pin during the Eiffel Tower light show.
We rented bikes for part of the day on Saturday, it was awesome being able to see more of the city that way!
The view of the city from the top of the Arc de Triomphe.
Seems like it has been a while since I have posted, so I have lots to tell you. I even forgot to add Miami Marketta to my last post, which happened after my pool dive for my scuba certification. So just to prepare you this might be a long post.
So on the Friday, the night after I finished my pool dive I hurried around and met up with a girl named Julie. I met Julie through try and the dive the week before. She asked me if I wanted to go to the Miami Marketta because there was free transportation provided by the Bond Exchange Club. So I said sure, it was a night to get some different food instead of eating on campus. Miami Marketta is in this little Alley way with some shops, live music, and mainly food. I got some nachos and then some gelato after. We left at 5:30 and the bus back wasn’t going to leave until like 8:30. There wasn’t much to do after you have seen a couple of shops that they have, eat, and listen to some music. So we ventured out around the Miami area. There was literally nothing to see. So we just walked and decided to head back a little after 8, so we would be there early for the bus. We got back at 8:10 and the bus was pulling away. We pulled up the Facebook page and the post says “THE BUS IS LEAVING NOW” at 8:10. Not cool. Luckily, when Julie and I were walking around we knew where a bus stop was so we could get back. From there we had to go out of our way to Broadbeach which is north of Bond and Miami is directly east of Bond. We went to Broadbeach station and transferred buses to get back to Bond. Took a little longer than the free transportation would have but hey at least we know how to get around the area.
Miami Marketta
This past weekend I went on a trip to Moreton Island. It was a two day trip. Moreton Island is located east of Brisbane and where I am, Gold Coast is south of Brisbane. Brisbane is about an hour drive away by car and Moreton Island is an hour and a half ferry ride. The company I booked my trip through picked us up at the university and drove us to Brisbane to get on the ferry. I was a little shocked that it was going to take an hour and half, but I guess it would take longer because we were on a ferry. Moreton Island is the third largest sand island with Fraser Island (which is north of Moreton Island) being the biggest. So basically to get around the island you need 4WD if you are wanting to explore different part of the Island. On the bottom of the ferry many people brings cars over with them. Our tour guide already had his car there so we were already set. Apparently the police had been on the island that day so he didn’t want to put too many people in the sunrover so another girl and I just walked the beach to meet up with them. So we just met him somewhere so he could pick us up to take us to the desert to go sandboarding. Honestly, I was happy walking the beach because we saw so many starfish and it was just gorgeous walking on the beach.
West Side of Moreton Island
So we got picked up and started driving to the desert. Let me tell you, if you get motion sickness easily, walking may be better for you. The car rides can be rough because you are just driving on sand. If you are driving along the water you’ll be fine but in the middle of the island with the hilly trails and stuff it can be rocky, so if you get car sick easily SIT IN THE FRONT.
Sandboarding was fun! It was scary a bit the first time because I didn’t know what to expect. The second time was definitely more enjoyable. You have to make sure you keep your feet up in the back and your board up with your hands. If you don’t hold your board of up with your hand you will most likely get a lot more sand in your face than you are already going to get (close your mouth lol). The worst part is hiking up that dune. My calves killed! I got a good workout that weekend from just walking in sand all the time.
Next we drove on back to the west side of the island to go snorkeling around some sunken ships. But wait, hold up we got stuck first because a bus got stuck in the sand. Busses should not be allowed. Well and other cars get stuck too, but fortunately our tour guide was a really good driver. We ate our lunch because we didn’t know how long it would take but luckily it only ended up being ten minutes. Back to snorkeling… It was really cool to snorkel because coral had grown on the ships. There were lots of groups and groups of fish. I guess some people saw a couple smaller sharks, but I didn’t see any. They like to camouflage themselves into and under the ships. A couple girls said they saw one swim right under them. The water was so clear, a tad chilly, but it was still a gorgeous day out.
After snorkeling we went to our campsite, where there were tents set up and a place to eat. It was really a nice set up. We just relaxed for bit on the beach which was right out of our campsite. We got to watch the sunset, which was beautiful. We then ate some burgers and went back to the beach after to look at the stars. There were so many, it was ridiculous how man you could see. After gazing at the stars we headed back to a camp fire where our tour guide, Rhett played some songs on the guitar. We were all pretty beat from the day so we went to bed early. Oh and I almost forgot to mention at night we saw some pretty big spiders. The big spiders do really exist here in Australia. BEWARE!
The beach outside our campsite.
After sleeping in our tents for a night we got up and ate some breakfast. I had peanut butter with my toast and had a couple of oranges. I get happy when they have peanut butter! After breakfast half of us headed to Mount Tempest. The second group would come later. They past us on the trail as they were coming up and we were going down. The trail was pretty tough. Luckily we didn’t take the two and a half hour route we just took the forty minute one. Walking up sand is pretty hard as you can imagine so we all just kind of booked up the hill, taking a few small breaks. The top was gorgeous, you could see from all directions on the island.
Mount Tempest
Next we went to Blue Lagoon which was a fresh water lake on the island. Is was quiet. A few people ended up coming later but it was nice to hang out there for a bit. We then grabbed some lunch at another campground site that our tour guide company uses. We had a few last stops on our trip. We checked out the lighthouse area and then hiked around Honeymoon Bay which were both cool places. We took the afternoon ferry home and I was pretty exhausted just from those two days. I really had a great time and I am glad I had the opportunity to go to Moreton Island. Also, I didn’t know anyone on the trip and still really enjoyed it. For future study abroad students I strongly recommend going on a trip where you don’t know anyone, at least one. It makes the experience just that much better.
Next week begins Week 6 of classes. Which means I am half way down with classes. That is crazy to think but most of my assignments are starting to hit in the middle of the semester and towards the end. In just a couple days I’ll be home two months from now. Well I better go now. I got to rest up for surfing tomorrow at Bryon Bay. Can’t wait to tell you about it in my next post.
These past few days have been spent celebrating the Fiestas del Pilar here in Zaragoza. Before this week, I had no clue what this festival would include but I did know it was very important to the people of Zaragoza and Spain as a whole because we were given three days off of school for the festival. The festival is actually an entire week but the most important days were October 12 and 13. This festival honors the patron saint of the city, the Virgin Mary of the Pillar (Virgen del Pilar).
The festival officially started on Saturday evening (although there were many concerts and festivities on Friday night and during the day Saturday) with a parade and speech with fireworks afterward. Each year there is a different person that is honored during the festival (sort of like a parade’s grand marshal in the United States), and that person gives a speech to start the festival. After the fireworks, there were concerts right there in the Plaza del Pilar where the speech took place. I cannot even begin to describe how many people were there and how crowded everything was.
The opening speech
There were so many different things to do during this festival all over the city. On Sunday, I went to a light, music, and water spectacular at the fountains of Parque Grande. Later, I went with friends to the Plaza del Pilar again, where there were more concerts and festivities. The main road to the Plaza del Pilar, Paseo Independencia, was full of street vendors, food vendors, concerts, and street performers. Take note that this is probably the main street of Zaragoza and one of the absolute busiest. During the fiestas, this street was closed to car and bus traffic. That alone is an indicator of how many people were walking through this area and how much stuff was going on. This street was also used for the offerings which happened Monday and Tuesday (I’ll get to that in a bit). The ambiance was exciting; there was lots to see and do! The amount of people here for the festival was also quite immense. It was obvious that many of these visitors had traveled far to attend this famous festival. After stopping every so often to watch different performances, look at the traditional foods, and grab some cotton candy (algodón de azúcar in Spanish or candy floss if you’re British), we finally made it to the Plaza del Pilar to watch another concert.
With friends at the fountain spectacular
Food vendors from all over Spain selling traditional food
By Monday morning, I had thought that the festival was a time to celebrate the Virgen del Pilar with concerts, street performances, and fun times. I knew that people brought flowers to the Virgen Pilar (which I will explain later), but I had no clue what that all entailed. I was also not aware of the other two parades/offerings that happened during this festival. There is a huge traditional aspect of this festival that I was not aware of until it was actually happening.
Monday was the main day of the festival as it was October 12. (This is Columbus Day which is important in Spain because King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella funded Columbus’s voyage to the Americas.) October 12 is the day that The Offering of Flowers occurs during the Fiestas del Pilar. For 13 hours, different pueblos (smaller cities in Spain), schools, and other various groups bring flowers to honor the Virgen del Pilar. Some of the groups came all the way from Latin/Central America to honor the Virgin Mary. All the groups were dressed in their traditional costume which is usually unique to their pueblo or community. The groups bring their flowers to the statue of the Virgin Mary in the Plaza del Pilar which ends up looking like a beautiful mountain of flowers! There are hundreds of groups that participate in this tradition every year. The groups were lined up on the streets going toward the Plaza del Pilar. On their way to give their flowers, they were performing traditional songs and dances to honor the Virgen Pilar. Once they finally arrived at the statue to give their flowers to the Virgen, each group usually had another special dance. My friends and I watched groups give their flowers at the statue for over an hour which was very interesting.
Dancing while on the way to give flowers
The offering of flowers to the Virgen del Pilar
The offering of flowers to the Virgen del Pilar
The offering of flowers to the Virgen del Pilar
Tuesday morning was the Offering of Fruit which was is a much smaller offering than the Offering of Flowers. This took only the morning (in contrast to the 13 hours the Offering of Flowers took). In this offering, groups brought different fruits, vegetables, and oils to honor the Virgen Pilar. Many of the donations were what they grew in their pueblos. My host mom told me that these foods are donated to different charities in Zaragoza for people in need. This offering is different than the previous one because they actually take the fruits into the Basilica del Pilar while the flower offerings were collected outside of the Basilica.
Tuesday night was the Glass Rosary Parade. This parade is very unique in that there are glass parade floats to represent the rosary and other themes. This parade was much more somber than the other two and the people were dressed in even nicer traditional dresses. This parade is an offering of the rosary. Most people in the parade had rosaries or candles in their hands. The glass floats were very beautiful and lit up the streets.
A glass parade float in the Glass Rosary Parade
Traditional Costumes
Glass Rosary Parade
I’ve tried to compare this holiday to an American holiday, but there really is no good comparison. In some ways, it reminded me of Thanksgiving. At home, usually we watch the Macy’s Day Parade on TV, enjoy each other’s company, and eat a huge meal as a way of reminding us to be thankful for all we have. On Monday, we watched the Offering of Flowers on TV and later had a nice meal together. A few of my host mom’s friends came over and it reminded me of Thanksgiving a little bit. There is not really a traditional food that is shared during this festival and there are many other differences that make them both special. The main difference is that it is a hugely Catholic holiday which is not common in the United States. Everything revolved around honoring the Virgin Mary by giving her flowers, fruits, and going through the streets with the Glass Rosaries.
In some ways, it was almost like there were two different parts of this festival. One was very traditional while the other was more modern with multiple concerts and other performances. It was interesting to see how both of these aspects of the festival were maintained. I’m sure the festival as evolved a great deal throughout the years to incorporate different aspects, but seeing the traditional aspect was definitely the most unique. There were many other events that happened in Zaragoza to celebrate the Fiestas del Pilar, but the most important was the Offering of Flowers.
” Hey Bree, you want to go to a music festival?” Sure, but where, we’re in China!”
2 weeks later, there I was, at MIDI music festival. At first, I was reluctant to go because I thought, a music festival in China could not possibly be a real thing however, I decided to give it a try. So there I was with my friend Nick, as well as some of my friends from England, embarking on trip that would definitely be exciting to say the least. MIDI festival, located in Suzhou, a city about 3 hrs from our school was known for its unmatched beauty but who
would have known that it would also be known for its night life as well. That morning at 8 am, I woke up, got my suitcase that I had packed the previous night and began a trip that would no doubt change my perception of China and its young people.
Fours hours later, thanks to traffic, there I was in Suzhou, China about to enter a music festival. I honestly did not know what to expect. The two words themselves, China and music festival, just did not seem to go together, because in the states, music festivals are known for being free where any type of music could be played where as in China, considering everything is monitored to a certain degree, I thought it was going to be really uniform.
Nonetheless my expectations were completely shattered. There were DJ’s from all over the world who played a variety of different music over the 3 days I was there. The young people at the festival were so open to all types of music from rock to EDM. MIDI was a huge party that everyone was invited to.
During those three days I did not know what day or time it was and honestly did not care. It was fun to just relax with friends and listen to good music with good people. At first I was reluctant to go to a music festival in China but after going to MIDI, I can definitely say I’m glad I went.
Who knew at the beginning of this study abroad experience that I would be having dinner at a Buddhist nunnery and conversing with Buddhist nuns in English! One week ago, my cohort and I were able to visit one of China’s most famous Buddhist temples, LiYin temple. Thanks to Professor He, a university professor at Zhejiang University of Technology, we were granted special access into a Buddhist monastery and nunnery right outside of the temple. Learning about Buddhism in a classroom and then learning about Buddhism from actual nuns in China was definitely an experience that I will never forget. The nuns were trying to learn English and as my group and I were trying to learn Chinese, it was definitely a language as well as cultural exchange to say the least. They started out by introducing the history of LiYin temple (the temple and its grounds they lived on) and then went on to give us a tour of the place they called home, all of which was done in English. I was definitely impressed that these young women, all of which I believe were not over the age of 35, was okay with just leaving everything they held dear to them and decided to live out the rest of their lives as nuns. Even now, just thinking about this fact makes me think how much both mentally stronger and less attached to material possessions they were, compared to me.
However, these nuns and monks were different than the ones portrayed in Hollywood. Although they did partake in the traditional ceremonies and knew all of the Buddhist hymns, they were really modern. Due to my limited knowledge of nuns and monks, apart from what I had seen in movies and tv shows, I expected them to be completely detached from the modern world, living in monasteries (in remote areas) and basically meditating for 20hrs a day. But to my surprise, they were modern in a sense that all of them had smartphones (mostly iphones) and they even played basketball (which they were really good at by the way), worked out, had art classes and could study English.
This event was hard to put into words just because of how much of an impact it had on me. From the Buddhist religion to just their outlook on life, these women were always so positive and excepted everyone and everything without judgement. You could say that I was “Enlightened”.
This weekend helped continue the trend of never having a dull moment this semester! On Friday a few of us hiked up to a castle less than a half hour bus ride from campus. While some told us it was a 2-hour hike just to get up, Jon and I made it in about 45 minutes and down in 20! It turns out they actually meant it was 2 hours there and back, but we still made really good time! While there we went on a tour inside the castle (unfortunately no photos were allowed) which was in extremely good condition and took in the beautiful fall scenery.
On Saturday, Mackenzie, Jordan, and I traveled to Strasbourg, France. It is right on the Germany-France border so not too far away for a day trip. We saw a beautiful cathedral, a street show downtown, Petite France (a small town area on an island in the city), and drank some freshly squeezed grape juice at a wine festival.
A group of us hiked to the top of the Liechtenstein Castle only a half hour away from campus! The fall colors were beautiful!
A better view of the castle!
Mackenzie having some fun in one of the alleys in Strasbourg, France!
Jordan and Mackenzie figuring out how to cut our French pastry into thirds.
An example of some of the glass artwork that we saw in Strasbourg!
A larger view of the glass artwork Mackenzie was looking through.
d Nick, as well as some of my friends from England, embarking on trip that would definitely be exciting to say the least. MIDI festival, located in Suzhou, a city about 3 hrs from our school was known for its unmatched beauty but who
