Another adventure begins...

As the semester is winding down and students are preparing for final exams and projects and presentations, there are select few that have even more stress in their lives.  Next semester, several students will be embarking on adventures that will test them and allow them to grow as individuals.  The locations for study abroad next semester are Australia, Germany, Italy, London, New Zealand, Spain, France, China and Greece.  I asked a few of them what they are most excited for, and what their biggest fears are for their upcoming journey.

Amelia Capuano ’14, is afraid of getting fat on Italian food, getting homesick, and getting lost.  She is looking forward to the food, the culture, the people, and in being a completely different place.  “Everything is new!”

            Sophomore Matt Myers is most excited about meeting the new students when he studies in London, and interacting with the people of England.  “I am a huge history buff and really like World War II.  I want to go over and see where some of the most famous battles were fought.”  He is also looking forward to meeting some pen pals that he has gotten to know over the years.  The thing he is most afraid of is the unknown.  “I know what to expect, but I don’t know if that is how it will go.” 

            Jillian Jacobs is a junior who is also studying abroad in London next semester.  She is most excited to see famous places like the London Eye and Big Ben.  “I’ve wanted to travel to London since I was a little kid and now that’s becoming a reality!”  She can’t wait to travel the Europe mainland and make friends and connections that may help her out in the business world.  One of her fears is that she will not want to return to the United States after studying abroad.  “I’ve wanted to live in Europe my whole life.”  Another fear is losing her luggage or getting lost in the city.  “Overall, I think my excitement outweighs the fears that I may have.  I’m ready for an adventure!”

            Katie Ulrich, also a junior, is heading to Spain in the fall of 2013.  She is most excited for is learning about the Spanish culture, architecture, and everything she has learned about in her classes.  She is also looking forward to traveling all around Europe.  One of her fears is living with a host family.  Not all study abroad students will have this experience, but the ones going to Spain will.  Katie is hoping that she will be able to communicate with her host family and that she will able to have enough independence to travel around on her own.

            Emily Robenolt ’15 is also studying abroad in Spain.  She is also most excited about being in a new culture and experiencing new things.  “This experience, being able to study abroad and travel, will open my eyes to things I never would experience here and it will help me understand differences amongst individuals.”  He biggest fear is being away from home and missing the important moments with the people she cares about.  “I have always been very close to my family and knowing they will be an ocean away is kind of scary.”

            In my infinite wisdom of studying abroad, I wanted to give some tips to address some of these students’ concerns.  I knew how helpful it was for me to hear from students who had traveled to London the year before I did, and I wanted to offer them some advice as well.

            Don’t worry about being homesick.  It will most likely happen to you, but as long as you keep yourself busy exploring the country you won’t even think about it.  It also really helps to keep in contact with your friends and family back home, especially with Skype, because then you can actually speak to them face to face. 

Take lots of pictures!  Of everything!  You can delete them later if you have to.  Pictures are the things that people want to see first when they ask you about your trip.  And you will want to look at them too, probably more than anyone else.  I still look through all of my pictures nostalgically and I think I will still want to look at them when I am eighty years old.  They are that important to me.

Even though I did not keep a budget, I would advise you to keep one if you spend money really easily.  It’s hard with the exchange rate because you are spending more money than it seems, or less money if you are in some countries.  Keep a budget, but don’t follow it religiously.  You saved money for this trip so you should spend it and splurge some times.  Just don’t go crazy or you will definitely be broke in a month.

I know I’ve said this earlier in one of my other blog entries, but I really encourage everyone to keep a journal.  I tried to keep a journal, but I got through half of one and I stopped.  I don’t know if it was out of laziness or just because I didn’t want another added to my list of things to do, but I did not write down anything that happened to me.  It is one of my biggest regrets that I didn’t keep a journal or blog.  You will think that you won’t forget any of your experiences, but you eventually will.  My friends who studied in Greece wrote in their journal every single day when they were abroad, even the insignificant details of their day.  It seemed kind of unnecessary to me, but then I came to realize that nothing you experience when you are abroad is insignificant.  Every moment is a piece of a larger journey that changed your life, and you shouldn’t forget any of it.

I am green with envy that you are just starting your journey and that mine is over.  I hope your thirst for travel and adventure will never leave you and that it will only grow with this experience.  I know mine did.  Best of luck to all of you!

English to English

            One of the strange things that I encountered when I was in the UK was that even though the people around me were speaking English, I still had trouble understanding them.  Part of the reason was the different accents, but a lot of it had to do with the different words they had for things.  I’m sure people who have traveled to other English speaking countries like Australia have also experienced this.  Even if you travel outside of your area in this country you will find people who have unique ways of saying things.  I still look at people funny who say that they want to drink some pop, instead of soda. 

            Below I have some English to English translations for the UK culture.  Some are ones that I picked up on while I was there, some I learned from movies and books, and others I looked up on the Internet.  Some are pretty common and most people know them, but others might surprise you.  These are only a few, and you can Google many more.

Key: UK word – US word

Loo – bathroom

Jumper – sweater

Biscuit – cookie

Drink driving – drunk driving

Loft – attic

Rashers – bacon

Cooker – stove

Hob – top of the stove/burner

Bum bag – fanny pack

Nosh – food

Telly – TV

Fairy cake – cupcake

Bin – trashcan

Jam – jelly

Jelly – jello

Pants – underwear

Barbie – grill

Tomato sauce – ketchup

Lounge – living room

Chips – french fries

Crisps – potato chips

Bonnet – car hood

Boot – car trunk

Pudding – any kind of dessert

Garden – front yard

Trainers - sneakers

Snooker – billiards/pool

Fanny – uhh … a female body part

Sources: www.effingpot.com

New Location: Beijing, China

            Ever wanted to travel to China?  Beijing is the newest addition to the LVC study abroad program. Jill Russell, LVC’s study abroad advisor, answered a few questions about this new location.

            “LVC is always looking to expand our study abroad offerings to underrepresented areas of the world,” she says.  “After visiting three different cities – Hong Kong, Chengdu, and Beijing – we decided that the Beijing program located at Capital Normal University was the best for LVC.”

            Students who choose to study abroad in China will be enrolled at Capital Normal University and live on campus in apartment style dorms.  Students take three to four classes, in addition to learning Mandarin!

            “Our students will enroll in a 3 credit Mandarin course, 9 – 12 credits of culture courses taught in English and have the opportunity to participate in a 3 credit internship in an English-speaking placement site.”

            I think that this is an amazing opportunity for students.  China is a country that is growing rapidly, and becoming more of a world superpower, contending with countries like the United States or the UK.  Since China is becoming more and more influential in the world, it is important that people learn about the culture and especially learn the language.

            As for actually living in China, Jill can also enlighten us, after traveling there in 2009.  “We visited three very different cities,” she says.  “English is spoken in Hong Kong so it was easy to navigate the city and the infusion of different cultures was most realized in the variety of foods offered at the restaurants.

            “Our last stop was Beijing, a well-manicured city, vast and clean.  I can best describe the city as having a “corporate” feel – more business oriented than Chengdu.  There is so much to see and do.  I had to pinch myself when we were actually standing on The Great Wall.”

            The program offers trips to see The Great Wall, as well as Tiananmen Square and Shanghai.

            There is one student who is going to be studying abroad in the fall of 2013.  “I am confident he will be successful both academically and socially – and he will certainly have a stellar experience to add to his resume upon his return,” states Jill.

When asked if the study abroad office is considering adding more countries to the program, she responded, “Yes, we are always investigating new study abroad program offerings.  Stay tuned for possible new locations in Latin America!”

Big Adjustments

On Monday night, there was a Study Abroad Night, in which students who are interested in studying abroad can meet and play games and eat snacks with students who have already studied abroad.  I attended, and while I didn’t talk to too many interested students, I did reminisce with my fellow London travelers about all of our interesting and often hilarious moments abroad.  Replaying all of those memories made me realize that I am homesick for London sometimes.

We were warned that when we came back the US we would experience this kind of backwards homesickness.  It seemed strange to me that I would have culture shock when I returned home, but I did.  Especially when I came back to LVC.  The first few days of this semester were kind of hard for me, and it was a lot of change to deal with.  First of all, I had to adjust back to living in a tiny dorm room again, not a furnished apartment.  In addition, since I had a small selection of rooms to choose from when I returned, I ended up on the third floor among a bunch of noisy freshmen.  I got over it eventually, but at first I felt really strange sitting in my room, and having to share the bathroom my whole floor again.  It was also kind of a let down to go back to eating Metz food after being able to cook all of my meals in my apartment.  It was like I got a taste (no pun intended) of real life and really living on my own and then I had to return to being more dependent.

            The workload of my schoolwork was also much easier when I was abroad.  I only had four classes from Tuesday to Thursday, so I had a four-day weekend every week.  I wasn’t really assigned any reading or homework, and I didn’t have any exams to study for.  All I had to do was write essays at the end of the semester.  Coming back to five classes, five days a week at LVC was a little challenging.  I still feel like I don’t have any motivation to do homework anymore.  I was also accustomed to having lots of free time, which was nice because I could explore pretty much the entire city over the course of the three months I was there.  Now more than ever I realize how excruciatingly small Annville is.  I was used to being able to walk or take the tube or buses anywhere I needed to.  Now that I’m back in Annville, there is not much to do that is in walking distance, and when you don’t have a car on campus, you are a little bit stranded.  I severely miss just being a short tube ride away from Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Oxford Street, and other exciting attractions.  There is a virtually endless list of activities that you can do whilst in London.  It made me very spoiled when I came back to Annville.

            It was also very strange when I came back to campus and I felt like I didn’t know anyone.   I don’t know if it’s just because I didn’t know the freshmen class, but I felt extremely disconnected from the rest of the students.  It was definitely a bit of a depressing feeling.  I’m glad that I had friends here who also studied abroad who could relate to me.  I also sorely miss all of the friends that I made while I was abroad.  It’s kind of heartbreaking when I think that I will most likely never see most of them ever again.  I would never regret making them though. 

            I don’t know if I will ever fully return to how I was before I went to London, I hope I don’t.  I hope that I can maintain the changes that happened to me.  And I really hope that I can adjust to considering both the US and the UK as my home.

Money, Money, Money

Unfortunately, money is one of the most important things you need to consider before studying abroad.  I had to save a lot of money in order to go London, and even then I had to skip out on some of the trips to different countries because I couldn’t afford to travel to every single country that I was planning on visiting.  I had to pay roughly 45 dollars every week for my transportation on the underground and buses.  I had to pay for groceries.  Count in souvenirs and the ridiculous exchange rate between dollars and pounds and I was pretty much broke.

            Exchange rates are something that you might want to consider when you decide which country you want to study abroad in.  For a lot of countries, like Australia and New Zealand, the exchange rate is pretty similar to the US.  In other countries, like Argentina, the dollar is worth a lot more once it’s converted.  In most European countries, however, the dollar is very weak, which means that whenever you convert your money, you are losing some of it.  Almost all of the European countries use the euro for their currency, so that makes it easier when you travel around to different countries.  When you convert dollars, to euros, however, the conversion rate is 1 to around 0.75.  It may not seem like a big difference, but it is.  When you buy something for 20 euros, but really you are buying it for 26 dollars.  It was even worse for me after I converted my money to pounds.  I had to keep in mind that I was not spending 20 dollars, but actually 30 dollars.  I had to be very conscious of the exchange rate or I would have very quickly run out of money.  My friends who were studying in Greece visited me for a few days and were in shock at how quickly their money dwindled.  It was kind of amusing that they now understood my pain of spending money those three months I was in London.

Below I have listed all of the exchange rates (currently, they change all the time) for all of the locations that LVC offers in their study abroad program:

Euro (Greece, France, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Germany):  $1 converts to 0.764 Euros

Pounds (England):  $1 converts to 0.659 pounds

Australian dollar:  $1 converts to 0.971 Australian dollars

Argentine peso (Argentina):  $1 converts to 5.034 Argentine pesos

Yuan Renminbi (China):  $1 converts to 6.235 Yuan Renminbi

New Zealand dollar:  $1 converts to 1.195 New Zealand dollars

The Dreaded Culture Shock

Research shows that up to 70 percent of students experience homesickness when they first start college.  I couldn’t find a statistic for how many students experience homesickness when they arrive in another country to study abroad, but I’m sure that it is a much higher number.  Starting college for the first time is it’s own kind of culture shock.  You are somewhat living on your own, you have a school workload that you aren’t used to, you have to adjust to living with a roommate, and you have to worry about making new friends.  It’s a lot of stress.  Now add traveling to a country you have never been to before, and you will most likely end up a nervous wreck.

            I am usually a calm and composed person, and I consider myself to be pretty flexible.  Traveling has definitely helped transform me into a more flexible person.  When I was sixteen I went on a mission trip to India with my grandmother and two other women.  I was unbelievably excited for the trip, but when I arrived and the unimaginable heat and stink and noise of the city of Delhi hit me, it felt like I was on another planet.  I remember lying awake that first night in Delhi and crying because I just wanted to go home.  However, I got over it and was able to have an amazing two weeks that changed my life and my perspective. 

            While I did not cry on my first night in London, I did lay awake that first night and completely stressed out about all of the new things that I experienced in my first day of being there.  I have virtually no sense of direction, so I was terrified that I would get lost if I ventured outside of my apartment.  I didn’t have Internet for the first week so I was pretty much starved of any contact with my family.  I never had to cook for myself before, and I had no idea where to start.  On the first trip to the grocery store I bought some grapes, bread, cheese, and a few prepackaged meals.  Not a great start. 

            I learned to adapt to these changes; it just took time.  That is the best advice I can give to those who are experiencing culture shock and homesickness.  Another is just getting out of your apartment and exploring the country you live in.  You will be amazed at how much you will come to love the country and actually feel homesick for it when you come back home.

Sources:

www2.warkwick.ac.uk

"How was your trip?"

Last Saturday, I attended a family reunion on my dad’s side of the family.  Most of them live at least an hour away from me, so I don’t get to see them very often.  Of the family members that knew I was in England last semester, the first question out of every one of their mouths was of course, “How was your trip?”

            I don’t think people realize how difficult that question is to answer.  I was living in another country for three whole months, how can possibly sum up three months in a couple of sentences?  So I answered with my usual, “It was amazing!” and just leave it at that. 

You see, I never know if people are generally interested in what I have to say about my experiences, or if they are just asking to be polite.  If they are the latter, I don’t want to bother them telling them things that I found exciting, when they probably will have no idea what I am talking about.  Even if they are genuinely interested and ask specific questions that I can actually answer, they still aren’t as interested as I expect them to be.  Jill Russell, the study abroad adviser, warned us about this.  She told us to expect that people would not be as interested in our stories as we expect them to be.  It’s not that they are apathetic or think I am boring, it’s just that they don’t understand.  Jill also warned us that we would have a hard time putting our experiences into words.  Even though I knew to expect it, it still frustrated me.

How can I explain in words what it felt like to stand before the vast Loch Ness? Or walking on the street where one of my favorite TV shows was filmed, or eating in the restaurant where J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books?  How could I describe how enraptured I was with the British culture?  Or how impossibly happy I was the first time I saw Big Ben, or walked beside the Thames, and realized that I was actually in London, the place I had been dreaming about all of my life.  It’s impossible.

I think part of the reason that I have such a hard time with this is that I find it very difficult to talk about myself and my feelings.  Now this trip is part of me, part of what defines me, so for me it is naturally difficult to express it.  One thing that I find helps get your stories moving is pictures.  I know I keep stressing taking tons of pictures but it’s the best way to preserve your memories and bring you straight back to that time in your life.  So whether you are back in the US for five months, five years, or fifty years, you will still be able to tell people everything about that experience. 

So take your pictures to family reunions.  Show them to your roommate.  Show them to everyone who will listen.  You were on an amazing journey that a small percentage of college students embark on.  Show it off and be proud.