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Month: April 2013

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By jtmanley

Cristina at Puerto MadrynOn April 2, Argentina observed the Día del Veterano de Guerra y de los Caídos en la Guerra de las Malvinas (Day of the Veterans and Fallen of the Malvinas War). President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner gave an impassioned speech where she reiterated the Argentine position that the Malvinas/Falkland islands (currently under a sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom) belong to Argentina and that the dispute should be resolved through diplomatic dialogue. But just six days later, news from the United Kingdom put the issue back in world headlines.

On April 8, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died at the age of 87. Prime Minister Thatcher, the first woman to hold the position, led the Conservative government from 1979 to 1990. On April 2, 1982, Argentina and the United Kingdom went to war over the Malvinas/Falklands islands. The two-month war, which resulted in a British victory, was decisive in the downfall of the Argentine military government  and the re-election of Thatcher Ministry the following year. But for Argentines, the loss of 650 of its young men, many of whom were forced by the military government to fight, has not faded from memory. ...continue reading "The Iron Lady & Argentina"

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By crstein1

I wonder why it doesn’t bother more Spanish people that much of their television and movies are done with voice-overs.  They were originally American shows or movies, sometimes British, and when they arrived in Spain, were set to Spanish tracks instead of English.  It’s obvious that the words don’t match up with the actor’s mouth and sometimes the expressions don’t exactly follow through either.  I recognize many of the more famous actors, and it’s so strange for me to hear a different voice accompanying them.  I’ve noticed certain intonation patterns are different here.  For example, many times, when people say ‘sí’ (yes) they inflict their voice in a way that seems like a question, even if they are not expressing doubt.  For example, I might say to a friend, ‘have you eaten yet’, and they would definitively respond ‘yes?’  Also, I’ve noticed Spanish speakers tend to be more abrupt with their intonation patterns, whereas English speakers tend to sort-of trail off.  To me, these differences make voice-over movies so annoying.  ...continue reading "The Voice-over Curiosity"

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By unprofoundobservations

Today Paris went above 20 degree (centigrade) and the clouds disappeared. After one of the city's longest winters, this Sunday was the first real day of spring. While every Parisian I have spoken to insists that this is incredibly unusual and one of the longest winters they've ever seen, it is possibly the only winter that I will be in Paris for and it has become a bit rough.

I chose to celebrate in one of the most touristy fashions possible, which is to say that I picnicked under the Eiffel Tower with friends; there was bread, cheese, fruit, and every stereotypical panorama of Paris. While it's not hard to find someone playing "Aux Champs Elysées" in the metro, they were sadly lacking in the Champs de Mars this afternoon. ...continue reading "The more beautiful it is, the more it will hurt without you"

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By rachels522

Tonight is the first night of our second field trip. We are staying in a fairly remote town on the Nicaraguan border named Los Chiles. During lecture outside we heard the loudest music. We then decided to go explore what this loud noise was in this quiet little town. We stumbled into a fair! ...continue reading "Cross Cultural Connections?"

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By rachels522

I have consistently met great ticos. One thing that I wasn’t fully expecting was how amazing the non-ticos are. I have met awesome adventurers and environmentalists from all over the world.
One of the best parts of this program is bonding with the 20 other students on this program. It’s great because by virtue of being here we all have similar interests. Since we spend roughly 13 hours a day together I have gotten to know all of my peers very well. This has taught me so much about myself. For instance, a bunch of the students are from the Northwest US, where bluegrass music is super popular. I have never really experienced bluegrass music before. I now love it! Also since this is an environmental program there is a ton to learn about different fun environmental things to do in the US. It is truly inspirational to hear about everybody’s backpacking, hiking, and camping trips. I can’t wait to start doing all these things when I get back to the States. I even signed up for a backpacking class for next semester! It is very different than the city people I am used to from Boston and GW. ...continue reading "non ticos?"

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By aubreygunnels

After travelling for spring break, I have a new appreciation for Belgium. Some good, some bad.

1) Compared to Italians, Belgians are extremely quiet. I love this about Belgians because I found the Italians to be rather loud.

2) Everywhere has nicer weather than Brussels (everywhere but London) It was so nice to travel South and get some sun. I have returned half way through April and the forecast this week is in the 60’s.

3) Compared to London, Brussels is tiny. London was too big. Not in the over whelming since but in a impossible way to get anywhere. The hour transit and multiple transfers on the tube made me miss Brussels’ simple and quaint system to get around. ...continue reading "Cultural Differences"

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By jadoerge

I’m back! After a 2-month semester break here in Germany, I am back in Munich on a (mostly) permanent basis for the rest of the German school year. I’ve done a ton of travelling over the last few months and wanted to share some of those experiences on this blog before returning again to discussing my life here in Germany. My next few posts will be me recounting all of the hijinks and shenanigans that my girlfriend Morgan and I got into while gallivanting around Europe. First stop: Denmark!

Morgan and I took off on our first mini-trip north to the lovely land of Denmark. A 13 hour journey by train, we made the best of our journey with some excellent french fries (with curry ketchup!) aboard the ferry taking us into Scandinavia. Once we reached our destination of Copenhagen, the real adventure began. ...continue reading "Back in Black (also red and gold)"

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By aubreygunnels

In the CIEE Brussels Business program, the students have a choice between living in a home stay or living in apartment style housing. In this blog, I'm going to compare two options however first I'm going to address the slightly confusing way you go about signing up for housing and how I was a little nervous and concerned about the process.

When you start the program's online to do list items, one is housing. I'm not going to claim this is verbatim of the options but I will try my best to write about what I remember. You have the option of French speaking home stay, Dutch speaking home stay, French speaking apartment style, and Dutch speaking apartment style.  ...continue reading "Home Stay vs Apartment Style"

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By kbartz34

One of our program guides is very familiar with the mountains and hills that surround Valparaiso/Vina del Mar. To help us become more comfortable with our surrounding he offered to take a group of us up a mountain. The hike was significantly harder than any of us imagined. A walk quickly turned into a practically vertical climb followed by a scramble over rocks on all fours. While the day long hike was a challenge, and communicating in Spanish only added to the exertion, the view was most certainly worth it.

Cliff
The final part of the hike included scrambling over rocks to climb atop this cliff.

...continue reading "La Campana"

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By kbartz34

This post is full of Chilean life - both in sustenance and in culture! Pastel del Choclo is a very traditional, Chilean, summer dish. If you have a chance to learn how to cook food from a native, take advantage! Below you will find pictures from my host mom's mini-cooking lesson. Saludos! (Health! Enjoy!)

 

Finished Product
Baked to perfection in a special homemade dish, this hearty and slightly sweet specialty is worth a special trip to Chile.

...continue reading "Pastel del Choclo"

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