Valpo Voyager

Student Stories from Around the World

Tag: ValpoAbroad

Deep Scottish Love and Cultural Encounters

Author: Jennifer Kvasnicka

Program: CISabroad Summer in Scotland

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My last full weekend in Scotland was an absolute success. I toured the Highlands of Scotland for three days. We stopped in Inverness, Glencoe, and stayed overnight in the Isle of Skye. The thing is you can see google images, but nothing compares to the real thing. No quality camera in the world could capture the absolutely stunning beauty of the Highlands.

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Our driver, Chris, told us about #DeepScottishLove. It’s a feeling you get in the Highlands of complete awe and love of Scotland. It’s loving every hill and valley of skyline. I definitely fell into this category. The days we were in the Highlands and Isle of Skye were cloudy, but it amplified everything. The fog was so thick and low to the ground that you could almost touch it.

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One of the highlights of my weekend was climbing Old Man of Storr. It’s about 8 kilometers, or 5 miles. It took almost 3 hours to complete. The terrain was so rocky that I was honestly scared of falling at times. I’ve found it so interesting that when looking at a mountain, I think, “Oh yeah! I could hike that EASILY!” Then, the closer and closer I get to it, the taller and wider it seems to get. I still made it though. Getting to the top of this one was the most difficult, but worth every minute. You could see for miles, including the lake!

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My absolute favorite moment of this trip was when I was able to experience so many different cultures and people in one sitting. While waiting for the tour to start, I was stopped by a Chinese girl named Tao. It was my first extended experience with someone from China. She studies in Lancaster and works in Singapore at times. It was interesting to compare and contrast our stories and cultures. She’s now a good friend. My other experience was later that night.  We ate in the hotel kitchen. I was the only American sitting with one girl from China, three women from Japan, a German couple, a man from Spain, a woman from Thailand, and a man from Austria.  How many people can say they experienced this? Especially in Scotland!

We went around the table talking about our native language and how to say different things. I had it the easiest because everyone could already speak English. I was able to keep up with the Spaniard though! We all had another cultural experience with haggis. I did it.  I tried it, and I loved every bite. More specifically, it was chicken stuffed with haggis. It was a double culture shock in one! On this trip, I not only saw the sights, but I got to meet some pretty incredible people with some awesome stories.

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With my time in Scotland coming to an end, I can’t help but reflect on every moment and realize they have all been good. I haven’t had one single bad moment. This week wraps up with a Ceilidh, a party with traditional Highland dancing, as well as seeing one more site. I can definitely say I have #DeepScottishLove, and I hope one day I can come back and share this incredible place with my family and friends. Farewell, Scotland, and thanks for treating me so well. Cheers!

-Jen

Packing Light?

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.

The Beginning

 

Hi there, everybody. I know we haven’t actually left for this incredible adventure yet, but every trip begins with the planning–unless you’re the spontaneous sort. If you are, I applaud you. I, however, like to be organized and prepared to the point of…. well, I like to pack about two weeks before a big trip, in any case. I did this last summer too, right before I left for my freshman year at Valpo. I had painstakingly packed the ‘really important stuff’ in boxes and  piled them up in my room, while shoving the ‘everything else’ into my closet so my brother could take over, when there were still three weeks left of summer. Safe to say I was a bit excited. Even safer to say that I am more excited right now than I can remember being in my whole life. I’ve packed and repacked my suitcases, trying to figure out how to keep my things under 50lbs for the checked bag and how to shove the rest of it into a carry-on bag that MIGHT be an inch over the regulations, but I’m hoping to get away with it anyway (*crosses fingers*). Those suitcases are standing up in the corner… so the extent of  my ‘stuff’ looks like this right now:

 

… And it’s been like that for about a week already. Whoops, guess I’m trying to make the next few days go by faster so I can finally get to England. It’s hard to describe what England means to me…. There’s a moment in the life of a child where you realize there is one place in the world you want to go someday, more than you’ve ever wanted to go anywhere before. There’s a moment when you realize that the world is bigger than your backyard, your city, your state. There’s a moment when your eyes are opened to how big, complex, and exciting the world is, and all of a sudden you are gripped with wanderlust. You begin to ravenously devour books about the wondrous places the world has lovingly developed over the course of history, of the people who have lived before you in places you’ve never seen. And soon, soon you realize that one place has held your attention for longer than the others—one place that your heart is firmly set on seeing. For me, that place is England. I suppose, more broadly, it would be the United Kingdom, because Ireland and Scotland are part of it too. But England—England is the place for me.

I hope I get to explore more than see–I don’t want to see England the way every other person who goes there sees it. I want to experience it, authentically and truly and dirtily and scarily and all that comes with knowing where you are. I want to see the things no one else sees, the beautiful scenes that take place far off the well-worn path and the moments that happen to occur far from the normal tourist traps. Don’t get me wrong, places like the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace and the British National Museum are on my list of ‘must-sees’ too. But I want more than that (… and now I sound like a Disney movie. The Little Mermaid, anyone?). I want to see the little things.  Being a tourist has always had a bit of a negative connotation for me, and I’d rather live there than just visit. That’s why I’m staying for so long, even though I know it’s going to be difficult. Nine months away from home is a long time to prepare for, so I’m just going to have to accept that there are some things I’m probably missing. But as long as I have my wanderlust and sense of adventure (along with a bit of common sense, of course), I won’t be missing anything too important.

Although I have to say, I’m gonna miss my phone.

With love, excitement, and wanderlust,

Bryn

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