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Cultural Dimensions

Update: I am now writing this in English and Spanish! Bajen para leerlo en español! In addition, the friendly souris (mouse) and I are no longer on speaking terms after finding him in my luggage. I think my mosquito net at this point is not even for mosquitos but to create a border between my new nemesis.

On another note, you may remember from my last post that I spent my week in Kribi. We stayed at a beautiful hotel where the ocean was our backyard. The hotel had air conditioner and amazing water pressure! It's the little things that make my heart skip a beat here!

Well as mentioned, we met two different Bagyelis communities. The first community had been taken out of the rain forest (their home) by a company just two years ago. They seemed miserable and were having troubles with land ownership.  The second group had moved out of the pure rainforest 30 years ago due to competition and complication between their father who was a traditional medicine man and  the l medicine man of another group called the Bantus. This second group is now moving away because Kribi's new deep water port needs their land.

A common theme in our questions to the Bagyelis was culture conservation. In contrast, the first group simply asked us to help them get some land that was theirs while the other group did not ask us anything. A friend in our program later that day brought up how privileged it was for us to ask about culture when these peoples biggest worry was just having a stable home.  How could they worry about their culture when they did not even have a place to call a permanent home and restart life at their own measures?  For the Bagyelis this is a whole new world, they have to learn French (because at most only one person spoke) and even have to learn the sense of citizenship and what it even means to be a Cameroonian.

...continue reading "Cultural Dimensions/ Dimensiones de Cultura"

This week, people at GW began to brace for mid-terms while UCL students tried to figure out how to spend this week of nothing before classes start on Monday.

I really had no idea that UCL classes didn’t begin until the first week of October when I applied to the university last spring. I’m not complaining about it. If I were doing anything close to that, I’m sure everyone back at GW would remove their world’s smallest violins from their tiny cases and play a concerto just for me.  I’m grateful for the free time; it makes me feel like summer is breathing its last breath. But deciding what to do with free time is a challenge, and one that I’m sure a lot of American college students can sympathize with. Like a lot of American college students, a dogged pursuit of learning about who you are has led to me being very busy since I was probably 12 years old.

This is really the first time in my life where I don’t have some kind of club, activity, practice, class, internship or job I have to go to every day. It’s jarring to be taken out of that as abruptly as I have. While a lot of college students quickly stumble into adulthood, we build up a culture among young people where one’s busy-ness and even lack of self-care is a telltale sign that you are a Very Serious and Very Motivated young person. So to have a week in London as a study abroad student where I don’t have any responsibilities would surely make anyone in my situation feel anxious, and even a bit guilty.

So what do you do with all this free time? How do you spend it at least somewhat productively? Well, you try to learn in other ways. You learn about the people around you who are from different nations and cultures. You learn how you can form a daily routine here. You also learn how to save money because it’s finally hit that you shouldn’t be spending money like how you would if you were vacationing in London, but rather like you would when you’re actually living in London.

...continue reading "Much ado about doing nothing"

By keeganblogsfromabroad

It is hard to believe I've already been in Scotland for three weeks. Of those three this most recent one was definitely the nicest weather wise. I still had to take my jacket everywhere for risk of showers but the weather was gorgeous. 60s, sun, I almost (I stress the almost) felt like this wasn't the overcast and dreary land that I was warned about (but then again, I've got no complaints.) I live in a school flat near Bruntsfield which is a bit to the southwest of the George Square Campus where I have all of my classes.

My three quarters of a mile walk to classes runs past and through the meadows, a large park. Half, the Bruntsfield links, (which I can see from my window) offers free golf, and the other half is just open land for sports or barbecues. The walk this time of year is beautiful, some of the trees are beginning to change colors while the grass remains a beautiful verdant green. For the 11 minute hike I get to enjoy a warm sun and a stiff westerly breeze while I take in Edinburgh's impressive intermingling of new and old buildings. The trees do warn that it wont always be this pleasant though. As I walk though the center of the park I can't help but notice they all lean quite obviously and somewhat ominously away from the prevailing winds which makes me glad I've got a good jacket for when winter hits.

I've been getting to classes a consistent ten minutes early, which appears pretty standard for the University of Edinburgh. Students gather to wait around the doors for the lecture hall to empty of students from the preceding lecture and almost everyone enters at the same time. Classes are large by my standards, but, being in the honors program at GW has meant that I was lucky enough to avoid a lot of the large lectures that I would have ordinarily been subjected to.

...continue reading "Classes and Castles"

By mariekevanhaaren

Exploring Australia and finding things to do is definitely exciting, but it can also be overwhelming when choosing a destination, finding cheap tickets, and trying to make the most out of a short period of time. Here are the websites I frequent the most to find the best of the best!

  1. theurbanlist.com

This site has sections for all major cities in Australia, and is my go-to for finding events or restaurants. The website posts each week about weekend happenings, new and delicious places to eat, and other Buzzfeed-esque features, all centered on each city. Finding the best café or a fun festival is only a few clicks away!

  1. bookme.com

Bookme is a wonderful tool for traveling, as this site posts amazing ticket deals for all kinds of adventures around the world. The activities can be discounted by up to 80%, saving lots of money to spend elsewhere. All you have to do is select the date that you want to go, and depending on availability and time the tickets will be really cheap!

  1. skyscanner.com

Skyscanner finds the cheapest possible flights to wherever you want to go. I’ve used it a lot to check the best dates and times to fly to Sydney, Brisbane, New Zealand, and more! My suggestion is to enter a destination and click “Whole Month” on the date option to search prices for the entire month. This finds you the best option, as sometimes flying out on Saturday is way cheaper than a Friday! 

...continue reading "My Top Resources for Exploring Australia"

By AshleyLe

 

The question that I've had to answer no less than 50 times, to the point where I have memorized how to answer in 3 different languages.

No doubt, Israel is a fascinating country. It is perhaps the only country where peace and war exist together, or where armed soldiers in uniform march down the city streets while also dancing through the night in Jerusalem's most popular clubs. Israel is not my country; Jerusalem is not my city; but surprisingly, they have become my home.

As a daughter of Christian missionaries, I remember learning how to read, in both Vietnamese and English, by reading the Bible. Since I was 4 years old, I have always imagined myself roaming through the streets of Israel, where I can picture the scene of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, the fall of Jericho, or the walk to Jesus' crucifixion on Via Dolorosa. As I got older and became more aware of international politics, I find myself not only interested, but saddened by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as other tensions within the region. Subsequently, Israel became my "promise land", where I made a commitment to myself that I would visit soon.

...continue reading "So, why Israel?"

By jlee4946

Hi everyone! So this week is actually a really long break in Korea because of 추석 (Chuseok), Korean Thanksgiving. So while the holiday is technically 10/3-6, 10/2 is a Monday so the government made Monday a holiday, and then 10/9 is 한글날 (Hangeul Day) to honor the creation of the written Korean language. Therefore, basically Koreans have 10 days of vacations that started Saturday, and I took advantage and am currently in Hanoi, Vietnam! But here are some of my favorite Korean foods that I'm excited to eat for the rest of the semester:

• Fish cake (오뎅): for me, it's not necessarily the fish cake itself, but more of the environment of standing around the street food cart eating fish cake off the skewers, drinking the soup and conversing with the cute lady in charge of the cart. It's probably one of the things I was looking forward to the most about being in Korea and I wanted to wait until wintertime when it's really cold but gave in 2 weeks into my time here.

• Spicy rice cake (떡볶이): this is a dish that is served as street food as well as in proper restaurants. The first 떡볶이 I had in Korea was from this little restaurant next to my aunt's apartment complex and even though I'd had 떡볶이 hundreds of times over, nothing can quite beat the 떡볶이 in its takeaway box (other than my mom's).

• Korean sausage (순대): this is another dish that is often served on the streets and if you couldn't tell, I really really like street food. 순대 is basically a Korean sausage stuffed with various ingredients such as vermicelli noodles. It's definitely less meaty than American sausages and hits the spot when looking for a midnight snack.

...continue reading "5 Food Favorites from Korea!"