During the weekend of September 23-26, I went to a National Park for a volunteer project. The park is called “Parque Nacional Marino Ballena.” The volunteer project was organized by the Universidad Nacional under a group called UNAventura. We were a group of what I would guess was about a hundred students, maybe less, from three different campuses of the Universidad Nacional from around the country. Two other students from the IFSA-Butler program went as well. The trip included two work projects, a couple of presentations about sustainability and recycling, team-building activities, a boat tour, and random hours of free time.

All of us students stayed at an outdoor recreation center. The floor was concrete, but we were blessed to have foam mattress pads to sleep on. During our hours of free time most of us hung out in this area and chatted, slept, or played cards and other games. It was a great way for us exchange students to practice our Spanish meet other students. There was a field near the center too and occasionally there would be pick-up soccer games o other games. For the entire weekend a group of students prepared the meals for us—simple, but they were good too. Even though this group stayed at the center the whole weekend and didn’t participate in the actual work projects, they were still definitely a part of the group and their efforts were well appreciated.

Due to the large number of people we were subdivided into smaller groups and did mini projects; so what I did is not exactly an accurate representation of the entire volunteer trip. The first work project that I did was in one of the main stations of the park with cabins, showers, and a garden. My group raked leaves and cleaned the garden area near the beach for most of the day, while others repainted and cleaned up the cabin areas. The next day all the groups were assigned a specific beach to clean up. Picking up garbage is tedious work, no matter what, but the pouring rain definitely added to the tiresome work.

The boat tour was awesome. There was a dolphin that swam along the front part of our boat for almost five minutes, first one side, then the other, as if it knew that we were watching him. We didn’t see any whales unfortunately even though it is the right season for whale watching and supposedly the area is a well known whale watching area.  

On the last day, right before we packed up and loaded up on the bus to head for home, there was a mini-presentation of certificates for all the participating students. On the certificate is the name of the student, the specific volunteer project, the number of hours completed, and the signatures of university staff. In addition to the certificate we got free UNAventura tee-shirts too!

It is October in Lima, which means a little more sunshine, Halloween (I know, I was surprised too…) and El Señor de los Milagros.  El Señor de los Milagros, also known as Cristo Moreno or Señor de los Temblores among other names, is a mural painted by a black slave in the 1600s.  The story says that there was a huge earthquake during this era in which much of the city was destroyed, yet this mural was miraculously left standing.  In Peru, October is el mes morado.  During this month, devotees visit the church in which the painting stands.  Many stand in line in order to touch the float which is paraded through the streets in various processions at the end of the month.  These processions draw enormous crowds.  The faithful bring pictures of loved ones, rosaries or other objects to touch to the float in the hopes that their prayers are answered or miracles realized.  Others bring flowers or donate money as an offering to el señor.

I went to visit with my host mom and her friend and it was certainly an interesting experience.  We took a combi to the hustle and bustle of the center of Lima.  We got off and as you looked around there were blocks and blocks of little stores and vendors selling all kinds of little trinkets: rosaries, candles, pins, beads… everything purple.  There were also stretches of storefronts selling turrones de Doña Pepa which is a dessert typical of el mes morado.

I’m not a big fan, but people here love it.  It’s prepared with a honey made from stewed fruits and was traditionally an afro-Peruvian dish.

The church was super crowded and at first I felt a bit out of place.  I’m not Catholic, but there is a certain feeling in the air.  My host mom, who is catholic, told me she asked for el señor to bless my family and loved ones and keep them safe.  As I stood taking in the mural and all the people assembled, I decided to use the time to think of all the things, people, and experiences in my life I am grateful for.  It seemed appropriate.  As we left, we saw one women approaching the altar on her knees.  My host mom told me there are some devotees who follow the float along its entire route on their knees.  This image clearly demonstrates the immense devotion many Peruvians have to el Señor de los Milagros and his importance to Catholics in Peru.  After leaving the church, we stumbled upon a sort of altar behind the church.  There, people purchased candles that they then burned for a particular loved one or prayer.

On a side note, I apologize for the crazy filming.  I was trying to be discreet on the streets, because my host mom kept telling me to put away my camera before someone snatched it.  You can hear her warning me in the video   I hope to be able to attend one of the parades at the end of this month, although my host mom has warned me against it.  Maybe we’ll just watch it on TV instead.

There is also a new Peruvain film called Octubre which takes place against the backdrop of el mes morado in Lima.  A group of us gringos went to see it and enjoyed it, so I recommend it.  It just won an award at Cannes.

In other news, I am officially half way through my time here in Peru!  In many ways, I can’t believe how fast the time has gone.  On the other hand, I feel like I have been here for a long time and have gotten into a steady routine.  I feel more comfortable and can feel my Spanish improving daily.  I hope to travel to Puno in the first week of November to see Lake Titicaca (cue the giggles) and to see a little of “Puno Week.”  Tomorrow we had to Caral for the day with IFSA.  Caral is the oldest civilization in the Americas and the 3rd oldest in the world: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Caral.  Pretty bacán huh?

!Chau– un beso!

Find more videos like this on Institute for Study Abroad – Butler University

I just got home (literally just got home) from a week-long trip up to Piura, which is in Northern Perú.  I am exhausted but completely satisfied and thrilled with the trip.

I definitely suggest making that effort to travel as much as you can when you are studying abroad. I feel like I know Lima pretty well now, but there is definitely so much more to Peru than just Lima.

I left Lima on October 12th at 9:00 p.m. with Cruz del Sur (one of the main bus lines down here) and arrived in Piura at 2:30 p.m. on October 13th. That’s right, more than 17 hours seated in a bus. It was nuts. I don’t enjoy traveling by car or bus, I never had, so this was quite the test of my patience. However, I arrived in Piura to SUN! I haven’t seen sun in Lima in what seems like forever, so it was an amazing break to get to see some sun, and actually break out short sleeved shirts and capris.

I spent the past week with the Charity Sisters, a congregation of nuns that is based out of Leavenworth, KS. I have a friend back in the states that knows one of them, and so I got into contact with them that way. They graciously accepted me into their convent for the week, and introduced me to life in Piura.

There are four nuns that live here in Piura. Two of them are American (from Minnesota and Colorado) and the other two are peruvian. They are incredibly nice and welcoming, although I think they didn’t expect me to be so young.. they keep commenting on how it is such a change to have “youth” in the convent.

I settled into a routine quite quickly.. from 8:00 a.m. til 1:00 p.m. I taught a class on how to use a computer. There were two sessions, from 8-10:30 and from 10:30-1. The women that come to the class literally had NO computer knowledge. None of them had ever touched a computer before, so to show them how to use a mouse and a keyboard has been quite interesting. It was definitely an eye-opening experience for me.

After classes I headed back to the convent to eat lunch and the sisters all have their afternoon “nap” that I don’t think I could take if I really tried. Then I went back to their “community center” at 3:10 to prepare for the students. There is a library in this center that kids can come to in order to get help on their homework. I, along with a peruvian math teacher, were the two people that monitor the library and help the kids with their homework. In addition to helping the kids with their homework we were also classifying the donated books by the dewey decimal system and entering all of the information into the computer.

This lasts until about 6:00 p.m. After all the kids leave I went downstairs to help with physical therapy that takes place for a reduced cost. After I finish helping out there (about 6:55) I run up the street to make it to mass at 7:00 with the nuns. After mass finishes, we would go back to the convent to do evening prayers and then start to make dinner (at about 8:30). I dont eat that late ever!!

After dinner, we would upstairs to do jigsaw puzzles and watch the 10:00 news. Life in Piura is definitely scheduled, as literally every day, Monday through Saturday, is the same.

Sunday is the one free day for the nuns. On Sunday I went to Catacaos, a nearby town, and got to see it’s beautiful church and handiwork that is so famous there. I also went to some archaeological ruins nearby, where our guide was only 11 years old! After coming back from Catacaos, I went to a parade in Piura, and then to a procession of Nuestro Señor de los Milagros.

It was a great experience, and now it is going to be hard to get back into school mode. However, our IFSA-Butler salsa dancing lessons start this Friday so I have that to look forward to!

I just got back from the Ifsa-Butler Adventure Weekend last night, and it was amazing.

Studying in London has been an amazing experience so far. There’s so much to see and do, and I don’t feel like a mere semester here is anywhere near enough time to experience it adequately.  Yet there is so much more to England than just its capital city, and this past weekend really helped me to explore more of the country.

The Adventure Weekend for students studying in London was a trip to the famous Lake District National Park, in the county of Cumbria. We were staying near Keswick, in the far northern section of the Lake District, close to Scotland and exceptionally far away from London; the drive took over seven hours! However, the views of the countryside were amazing; I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much green in my life, nor so many sheep. Once we arrived, some of us stayed in the activity center’s hotel, while the rest of us spent our nights at the local hostel. I’d never stayed in a hostel before, though I had looked into online. It wasn’t as bad as I’d imagined when reading about sharing a room with random people; we all got to know each other really well, and were really only in the hostel for sleeping and eating.

The first night, after dinner, everyone went to the activity center for the ‘Pub Quiz Night’, thrown by the Ifsa Butler staff. The categories covered a wide variety of ranges, and things quickly became highly competitive. I was lucky to be in the winning group, and I’m definitely going to need to look into quiz nights at the local pubs around my university.

Saturday was the best day of the trip, with dozens of activities to choose, from the leisurely to the terrifyingly exciting. I chose Archery and Coracle (traditional Welsh boat) building for my AM activity. As expected, I got soaked pulling my coracle across the river, but was lucky in that mine didn’t sink or capsize! Gorge Scrambling, in the afternoon, was amazing; my best way of describing it would be to say that it’s like a combination of hiking, swimming, and mountain climbing. My friend Anya, a literature major, preferred to go on a more relaxed tour of the famous countryside, heading out to points such as the Castlerigg stone circle and Beatrice Potter’s cottage. Later that night, the Ifsa Butler staff hosted a dance party. I’m usually picky with music, but I feel like the DJ did a great job keeping everyone happy despite different tastes.

Sunday I chose to walk around Keswick, the largest town in the Lake District, rather than hike around the lakes; my muscles were exceptionally sore from the fun of the previous day! I’m positive that a lot of people shared my sentiments, as the bus was crowded and from what I could tell only a handful of people went on the hike. Afterwards, around noon, we began to the long journey back to campus.

Overall, I think that the Adventure Weekend was an amazing event. The English countryside is beautiful, but if not for this trip I would never have even thought to explore all that it has to offer. Normally when I think of traveling, I think of cities, or particular sites that I would love to visit; yet I’d never heard of the Lake District before this trip, or understood why it’s such a popular vacation spot for the British and Scottish.  Now, I wouldn’t mind going back again on my own, if given the chance.

Despite my valiant efforts two weeks ago to finally catch up and get myself on track and on time with my blogs, I have once again fallen victim to blogging a week after the fact.  But fear not, I will once again try and set myself straight this week, hopefully for good.  I would also like to pre-emptively apologize for the length of this blog, but it was such a wonderful experience I felt the need to include as many details as I could.

Two weekends ago, I joined all of the other Butler students throughout all of Scotland for an action packed weekend in the Highlands.  I had spent the majority of my time in Scotland with my family a few years ago in the Highlands and absolutely loved it, so I was eager to go back.  Unfortunately, since we were leaving from Glasgow very early Friday morning and not returning till Sunday evening, I would be missing my Anatomy class and valuable time to study for our first quiz the following Monday, however a trip to the Highlands was too good to pass up.

Will and I woke up bright and early and met our fellow Queen Margaret-ers at 7am to make the half hour walk to campus to catch the bus.  We were greeted by a luxury coach, boarded up, and since we were the first and only one’s on the bus, were able to stretch out in a row all to ourselves.  Our bus driver, Blair, introduced himself and said that he would not be offended if we all fell straight asleep…. so we did.  About an hour later we stopped in Stirling, a city to the north-west of Glasgow, to pick up about 7 more people before heading off to Perth to meet up with the remainder of the Butler students.

When we got to Perth, we stopped in the parking lot of Asda, a HUGE supermarket, and had some time to go grab some food.  Will and I knew we had to take advantage of this wonderful supermarket opportunity, so we stocked up on a loaf of bread, some meat, cheese, chips, and drinks, all for only 5 pounds!  Sure, when we got back on the bus people laughed at us a bit, but we were the ones laughing later when everyone was complaining about spending money on food.  Anyways, also inside Asda we were met by a lovely surprise; we bumped into Mike, Alex and Alexa, our friends from Orientation who were doing the internship at Parliament in Edinburgh.  Unfortunately they were the only ones to be joining us, Erika, Kush, and Megan all being held up by other engagements.

The Edinburgh-ites joined us back on our bus, newly christened “Braveheart” and we headed off to the Hermitage, Dunkeld, to take a short walk through the forest to see a gorgeous waterfall.

River leading up to the waterfall.

Hermitage Waterfall

Cool Bridge that Crosses the River

As we made our way to the waterfall, we couldn’t help but notice how many other college aged kids were around us and wondered who they all could be, surely they weren’t all Butler students right? Wrong.  Apparently Butler does seem to know what they are doing, not just in Glasgow, but all over Scotland, because we were accompanied by roughly 100 other students from all over the country!  The two largest groups were by in large those from St. Andrews and Edinburgh, but students simply studying there and not participating in the internship program our friends were.  The size of the group was a little overwhelming at first, and in a way sort of detracted from the beauty and solitude that characterizes the Highlands, but we got used to traveling in a convoy of 4 coaches soon enough (at least Braveheart stayed relatively empty and we were able to maintain our own private rows, highly conducive to napping).

Pitlochry

After our stay in Pitlochry we had about and hour journey northward for a stop at the Glenfinnan Viaduct, made famous for it’s appearances in the Harry Potter films.  The drive up was almost an event in itself as we passed through some of the most beautiful and unique countryside in the world.

Simply breathtaking…

When the time was right, we made our way up the muddy trail, with only a few minor slips…, and got into position to see the Jacobite Express (aka Hogwarts Express), one of the last remaining steam trains in Britain, make it’s way across the bridge.

Glenfinnan Viaduct Look familiar…?

My life now complete, we boarded back onto the busses and made our way to Inverness and our hostel.  I took this time to catch up on some reading Waverly for my Scottish Literature class, a story about an Englishman fascinated by Scottish and more specifically the Highland lifestyle, and consequently gets caught up in the Jacobite Rebellion of the 1740s.  It was really cool to be reading vivid, romantic descriptions of the Highlands while also experiencing them myself.  I guess being a little behind in my reading was a blessing in disguise!

Hootinanny As the sign said, one of Scotland’s best live music venues.

A great local traditional Scottish folk band.

The next morning we enjoyed a complimentary breakfast at the hostel before heading off to the Culloden Battlefield, the site of the last military battle on British soil.  It was the culmination, and dramatic ending to the aforestated Jacobite Rebellion.  For those of you who don’t know too much about Scottish history I will give you a brief lesson.

Many people think of the Jacobite Rebellion as a fight for Scottish independence, but in fact it was a movement to restore the Stuart line of kings, displaced by the Hanoverians in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, to the throne of the newly established Great Britain, formed by the Union of Parliaments in 1707.  It was not simply a battle between England and Scotland, but a true civil war, based more on monarchical loyalty and religion, Catholic vs Protestant.  However, it is true that the Jacobites were comprised majorily by Scot’s and the “wild, uncivilized” Highlanders in specific, and the Hanovarians, the more “aristocratic” English.  The Jacobites were led by Charles Edward Stuart, or more commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, the descendant of the Stuart line of kings and heir apparent to the thrown.

The Jacobites had marked successes in Scotland, re-taking the Scottish capitol of Edinburgh, however their cause was brutally brought to an end at Culloden.  The Jacobites were outnumbered about 3 to 1 and were ill-equipped and fatigued from their march to the battle the night before.  The battle lasted only about and hour and was more of a slaughtering than an actual battle.  The well trained and equipped Hanoverian army simply mowed down the charging forces wielding their broadswords and scattered muskets.  Over 3,000 Jacobites were killed, compared to only about 300 Hanoverians.  The battle snuffed out all momentum of the Jacobite caused and ended the efforts of Bonnie Prince Charlie to take the thrown.  It was a dreadful day in Scottish history and the battlefield serves as a memorial to all of those who gave their life for a cause they so deeply believed in.  On the morning we visited, the entire battlefield was shrouded in a thick fog, creating an eerie atmosphere fitting of so sombre a place.

Culloden Battlefield

Flag marking the Jacobite lines.

This, my second trip to Culloden, contrasted heavily with my first visit with my family which was during  a sunny day at peak tourist hours.  It took a lot away from the scene and I didn’t realize it until my second visit which was much more quiet, personal and moving.  It was a very unique experience I won’t soon forget.

Dog directing a flock of sheep.

Group of dogs keeping the sheep together and calm.

Directing the flock accurately through a gap in the trees. His dogs are world renowned and have one countless herding competitions.

After the display, he hooked one of the sheep and gave us a shearing lesson, even allowing all of us to try!

Me shearing a sheep!

After shearing, we were allowed to meet and play with all of the dogs and some puppies.  I am an avid dog lover, and being away from my Golden Retriever for so long, I start  having canine withdrawls, so this was a wonderful treat for me.  We learned that Border Collies are especially bred for herding and that as early as 8 weeks old they will begin chasing ducks and other small animals around, but if they stalk each other  or another animals as puppies, it is a good indication they will grow up to be the best sheep dogs.

Me with a 3 month old puppy.

Bucket-o-Puppies These little guys were only 8 days old.

Me with a gorgeous Irish Setter- the housepet.

After a quick pocket check and puppy count, we were allowed to reboard the busses and headed off to our the highland town of Aviemore.  This was in fact the town that I spent the majority of my time in Scotland previously with my family, our timeshare located at the Macdonald Resort, so I knew the area pretty well.  After a lunch of fish and chips and a sample of some delicious deep-fried haggis (tastes alot like meatloaf or groundbeef) we went exploring the town.  Since we had seen a few little towns like this already and I knew the area a bit, we decided to forego the shops on main street and instead headed down a little trail down to a river I used to run when I had visited previously.  We, or I should say I, climbed trees, dipped our feet in the river, and had a heated rock skipping competition which I won with an unheard of 15 skip throw.  It was a great little break from the very touristy things we had been doing thus far and helped us really connect with the beauty that is the highlands.

The Road Less Travelled

Chillin at the river.

Sadly we left our little haven and headed back to the bus where we were whisked off to our last destination of the day, the Glenlivet Distillery.  Although this was the fifth distillery I had visited in my life, it was by far my  favorite.  Our tour guide was a delightful elderly man who was absolutely hysterical and simply in love with whisky.  We had a wonderful tour and a taste of one of the most famous whiskies in the world.

Sun breaking through the clouds above Loch Ness.

That’s one big lake…

There’s Nessie!!

Urqhart Castle

Ruins of Urqhart Castle- It was common practice to dismantle a castle if it was going to be overtaken to prevent the invading forces in using it.

Having got our castle fix, we headed on down the road to the end of the loch to Ft Angus for some free time and food.  We all decided to splurge and went to a nice pub for lunch and I enjoyed a delicious venison burger and lentil soup.

River Ness flowing into Loch Ness

Lock system on the River Ness. This is the detail than leads many scientists to truly believe the Loch Ness monster is nothing more than a myth.  They have agreed that it may have been possible for some sort of plesiosaur derivative to have survived all of this time in the deep waters of Loch Ness, evolving into a hermaphroditic species that could reproduce by itself.  However, in order to bear young, the monster would have to swim up the River Ness, out to the warmer waters of the ocean to give birth to it’s offspring, but these locks provide a pretty significant challenge for a giant water monster to slip by unnoticed… Our stomachs full, we boarded up for the last long haul back to school.  However, the ride back was one of the most gorgeous and scenic journeys, and we even took a quick break in the breathtaking mountainous valley of Glenncoe.

Glencoe

Words and pictures truly cannot do justice to the beauty and grandeur of the landscapes found in Glencoe.  It is an incredibly humbling and moving experience to witness it because it makes you, as a single human being, feel so small and utterly insignificant in the grandness of the physical size and age of the world.

Hey everyone,

Life down here in Argentina has been going well. Last weekend I went to Chile for our last Monday holiday and spent four days exploring Santiago, Viña del Mar and Valparaiso. It was beautiful. I spent a night in a hostel for the first time in my life, and it was nothing like I imagined, much cleaner and friendlier. Chile was beautiful in a very different way from Argentina. Since it is right between the mountains and the ocean and so much thinner, it is greener but still has the mountain back drop. The people were also very nice and I didn´t think their accent was too hard to understand, although I did here come ¨como estáy¨ instead of ¨como estás¨, as they are apparently known for. Our hostel when we went to Viña del Mar and Valparaíso was amazing. It was three little houses at Ritoque Beach, a tiny little beach community (probably 20 houses and a restaurante) outside the town of Quintero about an hour from Viña del Mar. It was much, much quieter than the city and as if we had rented a beach house for a couple days. It was awesome to see the ocean again after 3 months of mountains. There is something calming about the ocean and it is almost as if when I don´t see it for a long time I start to get a little  claustrophobic. The little beach community was so calm and friendly that the owner of our hostel, a German woman who one day just decided to learn Spanish the hard way by moving to Chile, suggested we hitch hike into town in the morning. Apparently it was very easy; just start walking down the road and someone will pick you up. It was! We just started walking and this adorable older couple in a nice new car that had just moved to Ritoque from Santiago picked us up and gave us a ride. Apparently the people in Ritoque love foreigners and love to talk. This couple has a son in Florida and a niece in Colorado. They told us all about their trip to their niece´s wedding, and how beautiful America is. So, now I can say I hitch hiked and stayed in hostels! Which sounds silly but were both things I always wanted to do but was leery of.

The route to Chile. There are somewhere between 27 and 47 curves. Talk about mariada.

Santiago, Chile

Ojo!! with the subway.

Viña del Mar

Boat restaurant!

This past week in Mendoza has been very lazy. It has been cloudy and rainy, which is very rare here. Wednesday night we had an intense thunderstorm, which was beautiful. Mía, the little three year old kept saying, ¨trueno! trueno! trueno!” which means thunder.  I´ve been doing a lot of researching for my art history paper. It´s funny because as we don´t really have that much work here, what wouldn´t be so much in the States seems like a lot, especially when you add how long it takes to get to the library, wait for them to find you books, wait in line with a number for photo copies (with a number machine like the ones we have at delis!), and then wait almost an hour in the cold for the bus to take you back.. it is exhausting and you haven´t even begun the actual note-taking part yet!  As you can tell, this was my afternoon yesterday. My morning was filled with notetaking from a previous batch of books and delicious chocolate chip cookies! A week ago, I began the attempt at making chocolate chip cookies here but got derailed and frustrated with the lack of brown sugar in our supermarket. Then, everyone was busy at different times and they just never got made. Yesterday we spent the morning making cookies and eating cookie dough. They came out great even without the brown sugar, just used all granulated sugar instead and they had a hint of sugar cookie to them! They were perfect, and all of them were gone before dinner. So, after dinner we made homemade kettle corn!! Or, po choclo as they say here. It was delicious. Now we are planning what food we will make for mother´s day, which is tomorrow (Sunday).

Hasta luego, un beso,

Nikki

Ignoring the arguably greater importance of discussing what classes and things like that are at Trinity, or maybe things that I’ve discovered or do in Dublin, I opt instead to jump to a more immediate topic which occurred this past weekend and from which my body is still recovering from the abuse I put it through.  Butler took all of its participants from all over the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (Dublin, Galway, Cork, Limerick, Belfast, etc.) to a place called Killary Adventure Company, near Leenane. Killary is one of those “adventure camp/park” places where you can go and do lots of outdoor activities, including, but not limited to: zip-lining, kayaking, laser tag, (clay) pigeon shooting, archery, tubing (called ringo here, crazy Irish), rock walls, and so forth.

The four or five hour bus ride from Dublin along Ireland’s highways was one of the most enjoyable bus rides, if not the most enjoyable, that I’ve ever been on.  Luscious green fields broken apart by small stone walls and dotted with sheep grazing filled your eyes every way you looked.  As we got closer to the coast, gentle but beautiful hills began to rise up without impeding any of the farms, which just continued their way up the sides.  Killary is set on Ireland’s only fjord, which fact they seem to be immensely proud of as they would constantly remind us, and the scenery is something to be seen to be believed.  Seeing the inlet, nestled between sets of hills, which led to the ocean was something out of a postcard, but for once actually tangible.  Of the fifty or sixty people there, I think I heard almost all make a remark at some point about the beauty that lay in front of us.  I think that counts for something.

Unfortunately since there are only two people from Dublin my dear flat-mate and myself were at a slight disadvantage with the groups from other cities, as they had somewhere between ten and thirty people per group, as well having been together for well over a month.  Needless to say there were cliques and all of those sorts of things.  Some exclusion did occur, but for the most part people were quite friendly, open, and receptive, and I did end up making a number of friends.  It also made for a wonderful time for the “Small World” effect to work its magic.  My flat-mate found someone from her home college, and I met a girl from the same town in rural, central Minnesota that I’m from and was best friends with one of my high school classmates.  Small world!

Saturday morning, after a quaint breakfast, we began our “activities.”  I signed up to do clay pigeon shooting and archery for the morning section, since it seemed like fun and not too intense, something I’m not fond of in the morning.  Archery was first up, set to the lovely tunes of Bob Dylan and the Kings of Leon by way of our instructor’s iPod and portable speakers.  I wasn’t a fantastic shot by any means; if I were a William Tell or Robin Hood I would be bragging about it “be not afeared,” but I didn’t fair too badly and I was the first to get inside the inner circle, just outside the bulls-eye.  Shooting was a bit of a different story.  First-person shooters on the computer apparently don’t give you the “real feel” of aiming and recoil of a twelve-gauge, so I was about a one-for-five with that one, but it was still loads of fun.

Lunch was a multitude of different sandwiches, delicious and warm soup, and soda bread that with every slice made you crave it more and more until I think everyone ended up eating an entire loaf each.  Post-lunch had us on our afternoon activities, which for me meant going kayaking, cliff jumping, and gorge walking.  I was hesitant about kayaking because I could see from about a half-kilometer away there were white caps on the water where we would be kayaking.  It was really windy.  And by windy, I mean someone checked and saw that there were warnings for gale force winds in our area, and we would be out in the middle of them.  Rough and windy, just the way I like it.

They gave us wetsuits to change into down near the beach, which would be a saving grace shortly thereafter, because the water was absolutely frigid and the wetsuits kept us from being soaked to the bone.  They told us that the water was actually quite warm that day, but I’ve been told such things before and it’s always been a load of horse-hockey to me.  Granted, I am a huge wimp when it comes to water temperature. Normal outside temps, whatever, I don’t care if it’s forty below, I’m from Minnesota and I don’t care, but once I’m in the water I freak out and feel like I’m going hypothermic.  But not that day!  No, into the cold waters we went, paddles in hand and butts in kayaks.  Unfortunately the aforementioned winds were actually that strong which made it a struggle to get even fifty yards from shore.  We tried playing “kayak games” which ended up with most of us falling out of kayaks countless times and banging our bodies every which way.  But we still had fun, even if it was in a masochistic way.  We walked to a nearby cliff where we took turns jumping off and back into the freezing waters, don’t ask me why.  From there a guide took us on a gorge walk that went through a large portion of the camp, where we climbed up waterfalls and did other gorge-walking related activities.

After a steaming hot shower I was able to raise my body temperature to something above a cryogenic state, aided by another warm and hearty meal.  And bread, lots and lots of bread.  For this evening, the camp had prepared a “disco” for our entertainment, to which most of us were rather wary and apprehensive about what that would be like and if it would be any fun at all.  Certain activities ended up taking place among different groups at the camp which gradually lowered inhibitions and led to most of the people slowly joining in on the “disco” session.  The “disco” was just a normal sort of dance party type thing, with the exception of the DJ being about sixty years old.  Another exception was that the DJ really rocked and played an amazing mix of songs.  I think almost every student, most of the instructors at the camp, and even some of the Butler staff, joined in on the fun, dancing and rocking out like mad until the wee hours of the morning.

Thus following morning came much sooner than desired, along with a bunch of its friends such as bruises, blisters, and stiff necks, mostly from the dancing but a fair share came from kayaking as well.  Fortunately the activity I picked for the morning wouldn’t require much movement or anything that would further stress my body: laser-tag.  We were given camouflaged clothing, war paint, and realistically heavy imitation guns for our game of laser tag in the woods.  This is where my nerdy side kicked in and I was able to try and live out my computer games and war-movie memories and fantasies.  I decided that the best course of camouflage would be to draw a large handle-bar moustache on myself so I’d be indistinguishable from the many moustached-trees and shrubs of Ireland.  I spent quite a bit of time crawling around in the mud, sniping my opponents or creeping up to flank them.  At one point as I was squaring off against someone, during a game of capture the flag, I heard her gun go off saying, “low ammunition.”  She then made a last ditch run for our flag, and I, with full ammo, made chase after her, laser-gun blazing.  She didn’t make it far.  It was through this that I was able to feel like I was in scenes of Platoon and that sort of thing, which was pretty awesome in my lame book.

A couple of hours later, after a big group photo, we said our goodbyes and got back onto our respective buses.  It was a long and sore bus ride home, but again, full of beautiful scenery.  My body feels like it’s been run over by a truck a few times, and I didn’t do nearly enough reading that I should have, but I made some great friends, and had a wonderful time.  Not bad Butler, what’s next?

Hey everyone,

My blog has been mostly about travels and awesome touristy things, and I’ve been thinking that it could use a little bit of a reality check. Studying abroad is all about new adventures, finding yourself, practicing a foreign language and getting out of your comfort zone. They say that at first you are so in love with the new country that everything seems awesome, then you get culture shock and everything sucks, and then you settle in. I think for all of us the everything sucking week was when we were picking classes, but I noticed too that some of us have been more homesick in this third month. I particularly am missing autumn. I want my color changing leaves and hot apple cider. It´s weird to think that my year this year is going from summer to winter to spring to summer to winter and back to spring again. All in the course of a year, 6 seasons! Anyway, I was going to let you guys know a couple things to expect to get upset about so that you don´t have to feel like you are upset alone once your hear. At first, I had problems with how relaxed it is here. When I was nervous about an assignment or upset about being late somewhere, I always got ¨Tranquila¨ or calm, and sometimes this ¨don´t make drama¨comment. Apparently it means don´t make drama for yourself and is similar to don´t worry, but the consoling effect is lost in translation. The micros, or buses, are very rarely on time, and for this and other cultural reasons, neither are the people. Luckily, the majority of people here understand this and are pretty excepting. I have learned this now and am no longer so worried all the time. I can walk into class late, and it´s normal. If I show up to a doctor´s appointment 45 minutes late because my bus never came (last Tuesday), it´s all good, he just gives me an appointment for the next day. But, be careful, there are a few people that still manage to be punctual and cranky when your ten minutes late, even though their friends  kept you waiting an hour or so the night before. Aside from these cultural shocks, you should also be prepared for the food availability shocks. There is no brown sugar here. Apparently they have red sugar which is comparable, but not in the supermarket near my house. There is black sugar, which is normal granulated sugar mixed with caramel and apparently kills whatever cookies you use it in. Also, it seems like hardly anyone cooks with vegetables here. I´m pretty sure my diet is 70% meat, 20% bread or rice, 5% fruit and 5% dulce de leche.

On a high note, I´m finally starting to understand the humor here. Oh, yea, don´t expect the new culture to get your jokes for a while. Argentina, for example, has a really hard time understanding sarcasm. I, in return, had a really hard time understanding why little things they said which weren´t snarkily clever or particularly ironic were so darn funny. Now I´m getting the hang of it. The first time my latin american friends laughed (actually laughed) at one of my jokes felt so good!! There is something accomplishing about understanding the humor of a place.

Well, I hope you guys are enjoying following all the blogs and that everything is going well in preparing to study abroad. I can´t believe how fast the time flies once you are here. It seems like I am just starting to settle into a routine and feel as if I were at home. I can´t believe I´ve got less than two months left.

un beso,

Nikki

Wow, time really flies by when you’re studying abroad.  I’ve been here for almost 100 days now and have much less than time left than has passed thus far.

While I’ve made great progress assimilating in to the porteño culture, and have gotten to know the city so well, there’s one thing that I’ve yet to make a lot of progress on: traveling around the rest of the country!  I went to Iguazu Falls one of my first weekends here, but since then I haven’t ventured outside of the metro area.  There are so many other areas in Argentina to explore, such as Patagonia, the glaciers, Mendoza, Bariloche and more.  Though those places are still on my list, the IFSA-Butler staff gave us an unbelievable trip at the end of September.

Our program director, Mario, owns his own sprawling estate in Colonia Uruguay, and he invited our group of 15 students to stay at his bed and breakfast for the weekend.  IFSA bought us all ferry tickets for the boat trip to Uruguay (it’s only 3 hours across the Rio del Plata).  We left on Saturday morning and it was a beautiful day.  Once we arrived, we took taxis from the center of Colonia to Mario’s and there, his staff served us an unbelievable traditional asado lunch.  Asado is basically when all types of meat are grilled together and served on enormous platters, and it tastes absolutely unbelievable.

Later, we took a walk on the beach a half mile from Mario’s house and returned and relaxed.  He had a full pool, lemon orchard, and ponds in his backyard.  It was incredible to relax in the Uruguayan sun, without any of the noise of traffic that pervades Buenos Aires.  At night, we went to a great restaurant in the center of Colonia.  The next day, we walked around and took pictures of the area and eventually returned on the ferry.

After taking this trip,  can definitely say that although it is definitely important to spend time in the city where you are studying and get to know it, it’s just as important to travel around.  This is an opportunity that you only get once, and there are so many places to go and see!

Well, that’s my post for now.  For more detailed experiences and good reflections, check out my personal blog at http://jfrake.wordpress.com/

After reading over my last blog post I have one clarification. I am not in Istanbul.

Sorry for the long delay between posts. We made it to Alexandria safely after a long bus ride. The city itself feels different from Cairo in several ways. Traffic doesn’t feel as bad. At night busy streets are easier to cross. Of course Egypt never really sleeps so they never are totally safe. But in the morning it takes a half hour or so to drive to school. At night it takes maybe 10 minutes. The air feels better. Cairo’s air is absolutely filthy and you can feel it in your lungs. It smells more fresh here too – especially along the coast. The architecture is subtly different. There is still trash everywhere, but less trash. There are abandoned buildings and half-complete structures everywhere too. On my way to the grocery store i walk down a busy street. To the right is a typical street front full of banks and shops and paraphernalia. To the left is a row of half finished concrete skeletons and no signs of construction work. There is still rubble in random places. Near Rahmal Station, which is the end of the line for the tram and a little shopping district, are huge piles of broken concrete slabs and debris. I hesitate to call the city beautiful. But it does have an endearingly shabby charm to it. There are certainly lovely aspects of the city. There is a beautiful park in the center of the city and nothing quite compares to staring out at the Mediterranean after midnight. On the right the city glows like thousands of little fireflies and on the left the Citadel of Quitbay stands ready against long forgotten enemies, and the waves of the med roll in from the dark abyss and crash against the shore. I can’t help but imagine what it must have looked like a thousand years ago with the Great Lighthouse standing watch and the harbor full of sails from the trade ships.

That might have been a little dramatic but for me nothing I have seen in Egypt compares to the Mediterranean at night. I could sit on the Korniche and stare off into the darkness forever.

Anyway. The dorms are typically Egyptian in that they are functionally shabby. The rooms are small. But ideally you don’t spend time in your bedroom. You’re in Egypt you should be out doing cool things! Not rotting in your room (I say this as I sip a glass of tea in my bedroom…). The international students have air conditioning, but it gave me a cold. So it’s a mixed blessing. By now it’s early October and while the days are warm the nights are wonderfully cool. So I haven’t needed my air conditioning in some time. Our sleeping arrangement is adequate. Although it varies from person to person. My mattress is fine except for the huge depression right in the middle of it from 30 years of people sitting and sleeping on it. There are wooden slats (literally just 2×4′s) providing extra support but they don’t help much. Trevor has fewer boards than I do so he’s fallen through a couple times. I’ve gotten pretty good at sleeping around the dentI. The girls have had worse luck with their beds though. So your mileage may vary. I did buy a new pillow but I almost don’t need it. I haven’t used my comforter. It’s scratchy and I’m not sure when it was last washed. But I have another blanket that smells cleaner and really that’s all I need. Trevor’s blanket was seriously funky but when he mentioned it to someone they got him a clean one.

That seems to be the case in Egypt though. People don’t notice problems until you mention that there are problems.

The bathrooms are there own breed of special. The toilets dont flush particularly well. You literally turn a valve and water runs until the waste is carried away. One of them mostly just floods (clean water, fortunately). They clean it every night but I’m not sure they use chemicals. By evening there is the distinct smell of old urine. The showers are an adventure. They all work and as long as you brought flip-flops with you they’re clean enough. But some work better than others. Some take a while to get hot. Some only blast scalding water. Some have strong spray and some are light mist. One shoots a lazer-beam of water directly down at you. But once you figure out how to adjust the temperature of the water they work just fine. In Egypt all the toilets have a biday. But I caution the adventurous traveler. We have learned that Americans and bidays do not mix and in general they cause more problems than they solve.

Part of the reason for the lack of updates was the serious problem with our internet. It worked some days and others not at all, or just barely. Then one day it was just gone. Then another day it was back – they had brought us a new repeater. So it is more stable now. Video uploads might not go as smoothly as IFSA would like, unfortunately. (I am supposed to be a video blogger). It’s taken a half hour to upload one 65mb video and I have about 20 of them.

Robert and Trevor and I live about 45 minutes from TAFL by foot. So we have to take a cab. This is how you hail a cab in Alexandria:

1. Stand by the road and flag down cabs with the number of open seats you need. Occupied cabs will stop for you.
2. Tell them where you want to go (Smooha, Coleyiat Adab, Mahata Raml, etc).
3. Watch, vaguely irritated, as he drives off.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 until someone decides to go where you want.
5. Go there.
6. GET OUT OF THE CAB.
7. Pay the cabby how much the ride is worth.
8. Walk away.

I have decided that as a non-speaker, if you know about how much it should cost to go somewhere, it is safer not to ask them how much it costs. A trip to down town should cost between 10 and 15 pounds. A trip to school and back should cost about 5. If you ask them how much you want they will likely ask you for too much. Your situation may vary and I’m sure at some point this system will cause me problems. But so far it has worked out.

The cabs are fun though. Some are rank with the smell of gasoline. Others play bumpin music. One cabby was rocking out to Lady Gaga. Some listen to Koran. Others will try to talk to you no matter how much you can’t understand them. Some are conservative drivers and others are eager to get hit by a bus. On one trip the cabby almost ran down old women on multiple occasions. Another cut off an ambulance (traffic does not get out of the way of emergency vehicles). Another cab driver was pushing his car despite the obvious fact to even mechanical idiots like myself that his transmission was one bad day away from exploding. Some are pimped out with all kinds of lights and bumper stickers and shag carpet and chrome. Others are just plain old cars. Most trips are fine. This is not as big a worry as they make it out to be.

The first video is a brief introduction to a band that played for us at orientation. To keep this post from becoming a massive wall of text I’ll start a new post with each successfully uploaded video.

Find more videos like this on Institute for Study Abroad – Butler University