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Tag: Packing

A Year in 2 Bags (I hope!)

Packing Light?

August 27, 2014 / / 0 Comments

So in my preparations so far for heading to Germany, I have discovered one thing: I am not a light packer. It seems like the last time I had to pack up all of my things for a year away, it was a bit easier.

In the process of trying to pack things for every circumstance, I think that I’ve forgotten my own best advice: I will inevitably forget something and that, in and of itself is part of the process. Forgetting and not being prepared and learning from the things that you forget are not a downfall, but an opportunity to learn something more. And that brings in a myriad of examples of things that I learned whilst I was previously studying abroad and things that I hope to continue to learn when I arrive in Germany.

I like to think of a quote from Rainer Maria Rilke’s novel The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge:

To what end should I say that I am changing? If I change, I do not stay the person that I was, and am something different than I have ever been. It is clear that I don’t have any acquaintances. And I can not possibly write to strangers.

What I like about this quote is although the character sees himself as a something that is constantly changing and how the changes in himself  relate to other people. He still refers to himself as the abstract “I” and, although this is the grammatically correct way of referring to oneself, the linguistic consistency that it provides asserts a continuity between the present narrator and the person that he expects to become. And it is that consistency is why it is important to be reflective when studying abroad. Not because you will change, but because these changes interact with the people and places that you already know and have helped to shape the perspective through which you see the new ones.

So as I am preparing to make a major change in my life, I think of not only the changes that I want to see in myself, but the connections of past influences have had on my life and how they have shaped my decisions up to this point.  This is basically a long-winded way of saying that I know that this year, although in a country that I have previously lived in, is still going to be a challenge, but perhaps in ways that I cannot predict or know.

And I’m most definitely looking forward to learning everything I can- regardless of what ends up in my suitcase.

Hangzhou, China: Tomorrow*!

August 19, 2014 / / 0 Comments

With the exception of a few hours in Canada I have never been out of the United States, now I’m less than 48 hours away from beginning four months living on the opposite side of the globe. Wow.

At this time tomorrow I’ll be boarding a Boeing 747 at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport with half a dozen of my Valpo peers and a couple students from Luther College in Iowa for a direct flight to Shanghai. At the Shanghai Pudong International Airport we will meet our Valpo advisor for our semester China, Professor Pati who holds the Surjit S. Patheja Chair in World Religions and Ethics at Valparaiso University.

The Chicago Skyline from Millennium Park

Hanging out with Valpo friends at the Bean yesterday.

 

I arrived in Chicago yesterday after spending a short month at home in Eugene, Oregon filled with camping and hiking adventures. Going to school at Valpo and spending my summers working in Alaska I’ve become a fairly decent domestic traveller and I hope my compact packing and public transit experience will translate to an smooth time across the Pacific.

Packing almost done!

My knowledge of Mandarin is nill, as an engineering major the semester in China for me is purely for the experience. I’m especially glad that most of my peers know some Chinese and have travelled to China before. We will be living in an international dorm building on one of Zhejiang University’s campuses in Hangzhou, China. Besides taking Mandarin we will also have classes on Chinese History and East Asian religions.

Given that this is my first time overseas I’m not at all sure what to expect and have thus tried to keep my assumptions to a bare minimum. I expect my biggest difficulty will be the language barrier—I’m not good at language to begin with, especially distinguishing subtle tonal differences in words. (How did I make it in choir? Good question, I still don’t know myself.) Therefore I’m going to have to try extra hard to be outgoing and form connections with my Chinese peers. Hopefully the linguistic hurdles I will undoubtably encounter are more often humorous than frustrating.

Although I will be far more informed about my new city in a few weeks I also realize that the “small” (6 million) city of Hangzhou will be a new type environment as well. The ‘big Alaskan town’ I worked in has hardly two thousands residents and barely 50 miles of roads total, Eugene qualifies as a city with a big university and approximately 200,000 people and Valpo is distinctly small town at 30,000. So my brief visits to Chicago are the closest I’ve come to somewhere like Hangzhou. Luckily Hangzhou has generous green space around West Lake which is located near the city center which I look forward to exploring. And explore I shall!

 

*It might be Thursday by the time we actually get to Hangzhou, not sure how it all shakes out with the International Date Line and time zones.

After packing! Well, give or take a few things left to throw in :)

A Year in One Suitcase…Here I Go

August 28, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Before packing...

Hallo alle!  I’m Hannah, a Valpo junior from Pittsburgh, PA double majoring in German and Spanish.  I’ll be spending the 2013-2014 school year studying in Tübingen, Germany, a small city in the province of Baden-Württemberg about an hour away from Stuttgart.  I’m an incurable language nerd with a passion for travel, and I feel so blessed to study at a place like Valparaiso University.  At Valpo, I’ve been able to have unforgettable international experiences that have improved my language skills and allowed me to see places that, before college, I could only dream about and write on my bucket list.  Last summer, I spent two months serving as an intern at the YMCA in Valparaiso, Chile.    In Chile I made great friends, improved my Spanish, and really learned how to live in and experience another culture firsthand (Want specific details? Read my blog!).  This past winter, I also had the opportunity to tour China performing with VU’s orchestra (I play cello :)).  Seeing places like the Great Wall and Hangzhou’s West Lake were once-in-a-lifetime experiences that I know I wouldn’t have gotten at any other school.

Now that I’ve told you a little about myself and how much I love Valpo, it’s time to get to the reason you’re reading this blog which is…THAT I LEAVE TO GO TO GERMANY FOR A YEAR TOMORROW.  Yes, it’s now 12:14am on August 28th, and after a summer of working 40 hour fast food weeks and wondering how I am even going to begin to prepare for so long a trip, the countdown to the 29th is almost over and I am excited, stressed, and in little bit of denial that I will be gone for a whole year, which is pretty terrifying.  But I’m not terrified in a bad way at all; I have the typical scared/anxious feeling that comes from knowing that you are entering an experience from which you will come out a changed person with a new perspective.  I will miss my family and friends at home and on campus so much, but I know that I’ll gain and experience more from going to Germany than I can even comprehend right now.  Amidst all the changes and confusion that come from living in a new country and learning a new language, God never changes. No matter where I am in the world, I know that I have a home in Christ and that He will care for me wherever I go and lead me to where I can best serve Him.

So now to the real hard part of studying abroad for a year…PACKING.  Two days ago I couldn’t have told you how I planned on fitting a year of my belongings in one suitcase, but it’s finally been done!  I figured that no matter how hard I try, I won’t be able to bring enough clothes or American toiletries, etc. to last me a year.  If I forget or need something, I’ll easily be able to get it in Germany (as if I needed another excuse to go shopping).

After packing! Well, give or take a few things left to throw in 🙂

The next time you hear from me through this blog, I’ll be on my adventure, which is a scary and exciting thought!  I’m planning on making this blog more than just writing.  Maybe some video blogging to come soon?  Check back soon for another post and follow me on Twitter @HannahinGermany.  I’ll be tweeting my study abroad happenings throughout each day as well as announcing new blog posts!  Bis bald!

Peace,

Hannah

 

 

 

Into the Foray

September 26, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Little questions strike me, for instance; Paisley? Knit? Polka-dot? How many of my dozens of ties will I NEED? Well, really the answer is likely one or two, but this little dilemma is representative of the  wider debacle that presents itself in preparing for 4 months studying abroad.

My name is Gregory Maher, and I will soon depart for the city of lights, oui, c’est Paris! Yes, France shall be my home for a semester, and my program, Paris Internship, is coordinated through Boston University. In France I will take classes with professors from local universities for the first half of the semester to prepare me for the second half, ze internship. My placement I know not, BUT I’m interning in Paris, so how could I lose? Well, back to the present . . .

. . .  I am in the midst of preparing my bags for departure, which means I’m making numerous piles of stuff that I “need,” only a portion of which I can actually take. Oh lordy, how’m I to fit my life in these few bags for a whole semester??

As I’m attempting to reserve a shuttle from the airport to my host family’s apartment, my mother tries to convince me I need a passport wallet to wear around my neck at ALL times, while I’m still pondering that eternal question . . . what could Indiana offer that my host family could ever desire as a welcoming gift? Oh well, amidst the tying up of all my loose ends in America, I’ve surely knotted a few in the chaos of preparation. Among the lessons I learned through this process is this:

Truly, it is so easy to get lost in the momentary stresses of packing and preparation- to worry over my ability to revive French vocab long-buried in the recesses of my mind, to wonder if I’ll really be glad I’ve gone when all of my friends and those I hold dear to me are miles and miles away, across the ocean and horizon. I really just have to slow myself down and truly realize the incredible opportunity I’ve been afforded. I smile as I pack away the last of my things, thinking of the new experiences and people I will encounter, and the chance to truly come face-to-face with zis place called Paris. Au Revoir les États-Unis! À Paris!

Do your research: the Boston University website for the Paris Internship program actually contains practical day-to-day info (seems obvious after the fact) from obtaining cell phones in Paris to the location of the closest chocolate shops. And yet I did not discover this until perusing the site a week before my departure. Know that there are resources available to you for every question your (at this point, probably neurotic) mind can come up with. How else might I learn that public restrooms may in fact contain a doorman to assist me in my toileting process!

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