December 2017 – Page 3 – GW Blogs from Abroad

Thanksgiving When Abroad

AdminDecember 28, 2017December 14, 2018

Truth be told, I didn't start celebrating Thanksgiving until I came to college, when a friend of mine invited me to his family for Thanksgiving break. Growing up in Vietnam, and even after I immigrated to the United States, I never knew why this holiday is important, aside from the lavish festivity of food.

This year, however, is different, in so many ways. Perhaps, it is because my host university organized an Israeli way of celebrating Thanksgiving, where the turkey and gravy mash potato were replaced by a fancy reception and a wild dance floor. Perhaps, it is because for the first time in my life, I felt as if I'm recognized and treated as an American, and thus the meaning of Thanksgiving just became so much more to me. And perhaps, it is because for the past two years, I have been spending it with my best friend, in the most traditional way possible, and thus the separation during the holiday season brings forth a feeling of emptiness and incomplete.

Spending Thanksgiving, or any other major holiday, abroad can be challenging. While the saying "home is where the heart is" could be said in these situations, it is nevertheless still difficult for foreign students to enjoy the atmosphere when they have yet to find home. And given that celebrating Thanksgiving is an "American thing", the challenge of finding home during this holiday becomes less realistic.

But in the end, Thanksgiving is all about reflections and giving thanks. It's the chance for us to pause and look back at what we have done in order to be reminded that we are capable to do so much more. It's about being thankful for what have been given to us, so that we will use our blessings in giving back to others. It's about realizing the most important things in our lives, and vow to continue holding on to what makes us better and stronger everyday.

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Light Night

AdminDecember 28, 2017

Edinburgh takes its Christmas very seriously. So seriously in fact that "Edinburgh's Christmas 2017" as they have branded it runs from November 18th until January Sixth. It seems like a long time but without thanksgiving to get in the middle and make things weird it works. The Christmas Market, which has a reputation for being spectacular was set up over the course of the week and opened this weekend. Today, Saturday the 19th, marked "Light Night," the official kick off of the Christmas season. Complete with multiple music stages, dancers, cheer leaders, amusement park rides, and fireworks, it was a bit of a spectacle to behold.

At exactly five pm (this being Scotland the sun sets just before four this time of year) the brief but impressive firework show coincided with the first lighting of a dome of lights and the festivities were kicked off. Afterwards we(my parents are in town for a week to visit me and make sure I'm actually eating) wandered past the little stalls set up in the streets and toured a very impressive collection of ice sculptures. Sometime last week I was told that part of the market would "smell just like Austria" but, being tired after a long day on our feet we have not located that section yet. The prices for everything for sale were predictably high but the atmosphere was enjoyable and I'm excited to go back and explore more.

One major difference between DC and Edinburgh is the security for street events. Obviously given all that Europe has suffered lately they're working on tightening security at popular events but it still felt very light next to DC. Whereas most police officers in the UK don't carry a firearm (neither they nor the people they serve want to change this) some heavily armed officers were present at the Market.

...continue reading "Light Night"

November

AdminDecember 27, 2017December 17, 2018

By gwujrbenjamin

你好！Hello from my new home stay! I am currently blogging from a village named ShaPing outside of ShaXi town. This is a Bai minority agricultural village, so I am getting a taste of a new dialect of Chinese, and what it is like in rural China. The Bai minority is named after the color white because of the white houses, and emphasis of the color white in their traditional dress. The village is in the middle of a mountain range, and filled with corn fields.

The locals do not speack much mandarin. Yes, this rural area has its unique challenges, but mostly it is filled with lovely people willing to share their culture with you, beautiful ancient architecture, and a ton of shucking corn. This brings me to this blog post’s topic. For this blog I will not be focusing on my service and research that I am going to be starting in just a few weeks (yay!). But, instead, on a very basic and critical part of Chinese culture, familial piety.

Chinese people since the beginning of Confucianism, have put a large emphasis on the family unit. Specifically in the idea that the younger generation helps the older generation, or a continuous service to the family. Young people have an enormous pressure to serve their elders, and often take on this challenge with open arms. Upon entering a homestay in China this same concept flows. I am a 20 year old woman currently living in a house hold with a mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, and a grandchild.

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My #OnlyInIsrael Impressions

AdminDecember 26, 2017

Today marks the half-way point in my study abroad journey. In exactly 2 months, I will be boarding my flight back to Washington D.C. While I look forward to return home, my time in Israel has also been filled with moments that I could never forget.

So, as I consider myself more of a local than a tourist now, I am going to reflect on the #OnlyInIsrael moments that have left me excited, fascinated, or amazed.

Shabbat Shalom: My first and major adjustment comes from the fact that on the 24 hours of Shabbat, Jerusalem almost completely shuts down. I have come to terms and appreciate this tradition, but the challenge of how to become a part of this observance is still a challenge that I have yet to overcome.

Airport security: I would never, ever, forget how tight airport security is in Israel. Throughout my life, I have been in more than 10 different airports across the world. However, Israel is hands down the strictest. Given the fact that I was placed in a special list, the time it takes for me from my taxi to the flight gate is twice that of a normal passenger. To be exact, it was 3 hours.

Diversity in languages: Hebrew is the main language. But like every other Westernized country, English is widely known. In addition, the Arab population shares their Arabic in big cities like Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv. On almost every form of public transportation and services, instructions can be found in all 3 languages.

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The Nile

AdminDecember 26, 2017

A large part of my time in Uganda has been centered around the longest river in the world, whose source is found in Jinja, Uganda. Some of my favorite memories of this country are going to a music festival on the banks of the Nile, and a relaxing boat ride with all of my friends to see the source of this famous river. Rivers have always been important to me and being able to spend so much time on the Nile has been a truly incredible experience.

Since I was eight years old my love of rivers has been grounded in my favorite sport, whitewater kayaking. The White Nile is generally considered to be one of the best rivers for kayaking in the world, and the best whitewater on it happens to be conveniently located right outside of Jinja. I spent the last week kayaking with some locals and some old friends of mine from Canada that I ran into here. The rapids are massive and the wave, Nile Special, is definitely worth the fame it has. I finally got the adrenaline rush that I've been missing in Uganda, and it was definitely my favorite week so far in this country.

Other than beautiful days spent on the Nile, it is also a big part of my academic life here. Part of my program includes a six week independent study project on a topic that you find interesting. Naturally, I wanted to incorporate the Nile into mine, so my project is officially on the geopolitical relations of the Riparian states around the development and use of the River Nile, using Uganda as a case study. Doing research on the river by conducting document analysis and having interviews with officials from places like the Ministry of Water and Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has provided me with unique opportunities to understand the importance of the Nile.

...continue reading "The Nile"

Why not Paris?

AdminDecember 26, 2017December 14, 2018

By paigebradford

“Why not Paris?” is the response I get from pretty much everyone when I tell them I study in Reims, a small town 130km northeast of Paris. Peoples bewilderment towards my decision to study in Reims over Paris is mixed. On one hand, Paris is the most popular city for students to study abroad in, attracting hundreds of thousands of international students each semester or year. Besides its rich history and culture, Paris boasts a dense transportation network.

To travel in and around France, Paris is the hub to access such transportation networks making it easier for students, who wish to travel during their semester abroad, to get around quicker and more cost efficiently. While on the other hand people must cope with the high costs of living, overcrowding, and be aware of the higher levels of crime. Despite Paris’s diverse array of characteristics, I could never put together a clear answer to the question, because my decision was never based on the negative aspects of Paris, rather it was geared towards the newness and uncertainty of living in a smaller town away from anyone I knew or am familiar with. Therefore, instead of focusing on all the aspect of why one should not choose Paris, I thought of all the reasons why one should choose Reims.

For one of my assignments within the GW Global Bachelors program, of which I am a part of, we had to brainstorm and outline a set of goals of which we hoped to achieve during our second time going abroad. Two of my main goals were to form a strong relationship with my host family and secondly to form friendships with international students. My first goal was accomplished quickly. Having grown up with 3 other siblings myself, living with a host family with 4 kids was familiar to me. The conversations and the time I have spent with my host family has been culturally informative and fulfilling.

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Academics in Korea and SNU

AdminDecember 26, 2017December 17, 2018

Something that I've felt from the first day at Seoul National University is how crazy smart everyone at this school must be.

If you aren't familiar with how college applications work in Korea, basically there's this one test that you study for your entire high school career, called soo-neung (수능). It's kind of like the SATs in the US, except far more difficult and important since it's literally only given once a year so if you don't do well and want to re-take it, you have to wait an entire year. I've looked at the practice tests for the English portion, and honestly I don't even know what they're talking about. Additionally, unlike the US where nearly every school boasts about their holistic approach to scanning applicants, Korean universities rely heavily solely on the soo-neung score.

This is a topic that has been on my mind a lot recently, since this year's soo-neung was supposed to be last Thursday and all the convenience stores had huge gift selections to I guess either celebrate or console the kids that just took it. Unfortunately, there was an earthquake in the southern part of Korea the day before so in an unprecedented fashion, soo-neung was pushed to this week; this actually presents a greater problem because I've heard many high schoolers book legendary trips for after taking probably one of the most important tests of their lifetime but now they probably have to pay $100s to reschedule their flights and hotels...

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An American Down and Out and Cold in Europe

AdminDecember 26, 2017

There's a fantasy that grows within every hipster once they hit their twenties. That fantasy is bumming it around Europe. So, for reading week, being the good, muted color-wearing, LCD Soundystem-listening, New Yorker-reading, caricature of a person that I am, I bummed it around Europe for a week. Of course, it was only five days, but I managed to hit three cities--Prague, Berlin, and Amsterdam--in that time.

I took the trip with a friend, whose criteria for a week-long European excursion were the same as mine, which were the trip had to be cheap and low-maintenance. And, on the other side of that week, I think we were somewhat successful.

I have never been particularly drawn to Europe. I've thought very little about actually exploring Europe prior to this semester. As an Asian American, my roots have always been in Asia, and most of my foreign trips have involved going to Asia to see family members. This general apathy towards Europe led to a somewhat profound ignorance of the general vibe of Europe. For example, before I arrived in London, I genuinely had no idea how much of the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe still bears the scars of the second world war. This was probably an obvious characteristic of Europe to others, but it was a genuine culture shock to me. And, traveling through all three of those cities last week, you could hardly go anywhere without seeing some sort of WWII landmark. The evident scars of war have never occurred to me as a characteristic of a city or a country--I guess that's the benefit of living in a nation in which an international war has never been fought within its borders.

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Mixed Feelings

AdminDecember 26, 2017

As of when I first started writing this blog post, I have exactly 17 days, 1 hour, and 33 minutes until my flight from Uganda to the US takes off. I want to be clear that I don’t have this countdown because I can’t wait to leave Uganda; in fact, it’s almost the opposite. I love Uganda. My semester here has been incredible and I have learned so much through classes, cultural immersion, and research. Time has really flown by here and it is hard to believe that we are about to start wrapping everything up. The next two weeks are going to go by in the blink of an eye.

While I don’t want to leave Uganda, and I wish we had more time here, I am also excited to come home. Right now, in my home town of Corrales, New Mexico, fall is in full swing. Fall is my favorite season in Corrales because all the cottonwood trees along the Rio Grande are bright yellow, Pumpkins and decorations line everyone’s driveways, the air is crisp, everywhere you go the air smells of roasting green chile, and Wagner’s Farm is selling the best caramel apples.

I am also missing Thanksgiving, and while my friends and I are planning to have a Ugandan Friendsgiving, I always miss my family around the holidays. Other than fall things, my friends and I all have lists of foods we miss and are going to eat as soon as we get home. Breakfast burritos, BBQ ribs, and steak and mashed potatoes are at the top of my list. Ugandan food is great, but one can only eat so much rice and matoke.

...continue reading "Mixed Feelings"