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Tag: FOFAC

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By rlubitz

So I’m off. I’ve got about four days left of London. The time is split by a trip to continental Europe where I’ll be able to compare the awesomeness of this city to a lot of others. But I know nothing can compare to this place. Nothing can compare to walking to the coffee shop and seeing Big Ben in the distance. Nothing can compare to being called ‘dear’ on a daily basis. Nothing can compare to constant dog sweaters.

I’ve spent roughly three months in this city and I could spend the rest of my life here too. Never once was I homesick for the regularity of Washington, DC or the charm of Florida, my home state. It was like this city absorbed me, body and soul and then I just existed. I was always excited to get out of my room, just walk around, maybe go to a market and look at pretty things all day. And I didn’t even have to go to a market to see pretty things all day, I could just take a stroll through Hyde Park or by the Thames.

Beauty was so regularly available that it became the norm but I can see myself waking up to the sounds of emergency vehicles again in DC and whimpering for the beauty back.

When I first arrived I was so anxiety-ridden that the time seemed to zoom by. It was only when I realized my days were numbered that I began to savor. And I’m so glad I did. It started to become a game in my head where I would not let a day go by without doing something new, without being pleased with my day and those were the days I’ll remember for a long time. It could be a simple thing like a walk or a museum outing for under an hour. I just had the self-motivation to do pretty much everything and I’m so glad I did.

Travel is stressful and you can have an absolutely crippling breakdown thinking of all the things that could go wrong. Your bag could get stolen, you could break your iPhone, your hair straightener could erupt in flame, you could be forced to have the most awkward breakfast of your life at your Berlin hostel. All of those things could happen and you could be left in a state of absolute misery but what you have to remember, totally and absolutely, is that you are in a foreign country. I know people who have never been on a plane before, who have never seen snow and if you remember how lucky you are to have traveled to be living in London then everything becomes fine.

I could not have asked for a better stay here. It felt like I could finally breathe without stalling after I got over the initial hump. It was like taking a shot of happy every morning.

I’ll be riding on those memories when I go home. I’ll be nostalgic to the point of annoyance. I could be having a wretched day but then I’ll think of the red buses and almost getting run over and the dog sweaters and the stress will pour off. I have these memories to ride on and I’m so thankful.

I’m going to miss a lot of things. I’m going miss the smell of croissants and expensive coffee. I’m going to miss escaping into the city by myself with my own motives, on my own terms. I’m going to miss the red buses and the tube. I’m going to miss Parisian weekends and bus rides through the countryside.  I’m going to miss the trees and the roses. I’m going to miss the sound of my neighbor’s voice. I’m going to miss the bottles clinking at three in the morning. I’m going to miss how the air felt after a day of rain. I’m going to miss how my hair has looked for three months. I’m going to miss my hairdresser who cut my bangs and spoke zero English. I’m going to miss boys who wear oxfords and argyle. I’m going to miss the horrible Chinese food in Camden. I’m going to miss walking down Drury Lane and Fleet Street. I’m going to miss the scooters and I’m going to miss the city. I’m going to miss this city but I know I’ll be back. I have to be.

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By littlemisadventures

Mumkin is probably the word I hear and say the most. My friends and I use it when we’re discussing homework, dinner plans, travel plans, and politics. It even slips out when I’m Skyping my family. It means “maybe.” People have been saying mumkin even more than usual in the past few weeks, in the wake of Morsi’s new declaration of power. Nobody knows what’s going to happen, and predictions are running rampant. Many people are confident that people will check the president before he takes any more control, or at least that the Muslim Brotherhood will find a solution to the dissent. Others are more pessimistic and see this as a blow to the prospect of Egypt being a “real democracy.”

Following Morsi’s decree, students and professors alike have been a little on edge. For better or worse, our neighborhood is isolated from most of the action. We’ve been following updates on our computers, when the internet connection is working. People’s personal politics differ, of course, but everyone is comparing this situation to the last revolution. Even people who voted for Morsi are outraged by his actions and see it as a power grab that is too reminiscent of Mubarak. I’ve spoken to women who are worried that Egypt’s constitution will not protect them from discrimination. At the same time, Morsi has huge support from the Muslim Brotherhood. Violent clashes have happened between them and the more liberal protesters. ...continue reading "Another Revolution? Mumkin."

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Yesterday I picked my parents up at the airport. It's a landmark I've been looking forward to all semester, and now that the presentations are wrapped up, final papers are in, and we've all talked our ears off about returning to the US, tonight is our last night, one last hurrah at the wonderful 1905 restaurant, and it just doesn't quite feel real.

All semester I've been keeping note of all the amazing places and things to see with my parents, to show them all of the amazing things I discovered and lived these past four months.  But on this second day of getting dragged around Boudha my dad's reptilian gaze makes it clear that that's just not possible. Kathmandu is exhausting on its own, I can't shove months worth of wonderment into these few days, it's enough that they're here to enjoy the city with me. And when we go down to the Terai to see Chitwan National Park and up to Pokara and Jomsom to trek and spend time in the mountains we won't get to see all there is to offer, that isn't realistic, but I am so excited to see what  we can discover in these whirlwind few days. ...continue reading "Boudha"

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By rlubitz

To prepare for my impending departure I’m having a very slight, slow breakdown both physically and mentally. It’s going to be a while before I leave Europe, I’ll be going on a 2-week mega adventure with my mom between now and then. Think The Amazing Race except it’s me and my little mama trying to not get mugged the entire time. I see hilarity ensuing and hopefully I can update you here on that.

But I’m in the middle of final paper time and my body is completely shutting down. I set my alarm every day for 9am and I can’t seem to wake up before noon. It’s not that I’m all that tired but it’s that there’s an entire season of Freaks and Geeks online and it trumps sleep every single night. I’m making pretty much 0 progress on papers now, instead choosing to wake up late and think of all the things I’m not going to see when I’m really gone. (grim, right?) ...continue reading "How to Have a Breakdown Without Really Trying"

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By oncptime

https://vimeo.com/54572598

Not a lot of people know this about me, but…I kind of, secretly, passionately, desperately dream of being a filmmaker. If you take a look at my resume, you’ll see a fair number of projects that scream “video production.” They’re not there by mistake—I absolutely love video editing. More than editing though, I like telling stories using more than just words. I love creating brief glimpses into make-believe worlds that are occasionally fantastic or sometimes mundane, but are always borne of my imagination.

In short, I like to mess around, write stories, and shoot them out with my camera. You can imagine my excitement when I heard word of Florence’s second annual “Florence Fone Film Festival.” The premise was simple: a competition amongst American and Italian students in Florence challenging them to use the cameras build into their phones to make 2 minute films.

I’m no stranger to making tight little videos in the pursuit of a glamorous prize. This year, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners received an iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPod Nano respectively. “I can do this,” I thought.  It’d be easy. I’d sit down, plan out an idea, and execute it—bada-bing, bada-boom. And so I did.

...continue reading "I Was Robbed"

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By jfbarszcz

Today is Sunday, December 9th, at about 2:30 PM CET. Exactly six days from now, I will be boarding a plane and leaving the city I've called home for the last three months, with no idea when I'll return. I definitely have mixed feelings about having to come back to the States. On the one hand, I'm very excited to be able to see my family and friends again, and there are many comforts at home that I simply do not have here. On the other hand... I desperately want to spend another semester here. I feel like the amount of time I've spent here hasn't been enough to really, fully explore and experience everything I've wanted to just in Prague, to say nothing of the Czech Republic and Europe as a whole. While I spent my first couple of weeks here practically overdosing on new experiences, as classes started, the weather got colder, and the days got shorter I inevitably had to slow down. If I could do another semester in Prague, I absolutely would without question. Unfortunately, my academic obligations make this impossible. But I'm not sweating it, since in all likelihood this won't be my last time in Europe. ...continue reading "Departure"

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By bbuck92

Valpo Surf ProjectThis week my volunteer work with the Valpo Surf Project came to an end. One of my last acts was leading a found object activity with the students. In our lunchtime discussion, after surfing in the morning, we presented our objects and our stories about the environment. Some objects included a mint leaf from the garden, trash we had picked up from the beach, and a pot of natural Chilean honey. Using these various objects as a springboard for conversation we talked about what we felt defined the environment and the role of the VSP in respect to that environment. Overall, our conclusion was that the VSP is a vehicle to organize to protect the environment, an environment that not only included the beach where we surf but also the neighborhoods where we work in Valparaiso.

This conclusion had much to do with my research for the semester. I was able to incorporate these definitions into my investigation of environmental citizenship, and explored in which ways the VSP promoted stewardship though molding young active environmental citizens.  While I suggested that the VSP has room to grow by explicitly incorporating a program of environmental citizenship rather than implicitly supporting it, I also recognized the successes of the VSP in instilling the values of responsibility and obligation in its students through activities such as trash collection each surf session. I hope to continue to study the ways of promoting active and responsible individuals committed to sustainability be it in a citizenship setting or otherwise. George Washington University offers a unique opportunity to present these ideals to a new group of “citizens” within a different community. ...continue reading "y todos deben cuidarlo!"

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Obermaier's colorful churches
An example of Obermaier's colorful churches, with the Wiphala, the Aymara flag, and the Bolivian flag out front.

Right now, I am sitting in a sustainable ecolodge that runs completely off of sunlight and local donkey power, on the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world and largest in Latin America. As I look out my window, my gaze travels across fields and hills that have held the same terraced stone walls since the Incan Empire, then across miles of the perfectly blue water of the lake,  to the far golden and indigo rolling shores of the Altiplano, and finally stops at the incredible snow capped peaks of the Cordillera, one arm of the Andes Mountains. The Island of the Sun is simultaneously claimed by Aymara, Quechua, and Incan myths, as well as local Catholic mixtures of those, as the birthplace of gods and humanity. Sitting here, I can understand why; we are so high up and the distances so great around us that the massive dark cloud formations jump across the lake like a stop motion video, creating a constantly changing pattern of rain and shadows and brilliant sunlight on the water-scape.

The program ends the day after tomorrow, after which I will spend ten days travelling around as much of this country as I can, and then I will go home. Since this will be the last post I write about research  in Bolivia, I decided to start it the same way as I started my first: full of the descriptors of a travel blog. We are in the evaluation week for the program, and as such our Director, Carmen, decided to send us to el lago for a nice send off. We have all now finished our Independent Study Projects, our papers, and our final presentations in front of the SIT community in La Paz. Last week I accomplished one of the most important and hardest things I have ever done: I wrote 42 pages in a academic Spanish, a language I could barely speak 4 months ago. ...continue reading "Padre Obermaier: Spacialized Conflicts of Power in El Alto"

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By oncptime

The brochures warned me that something like this might happen.

These people, they’re…different than I am. Their music is foreign to my ears. They use phrases that I’m not entirely familiar with. I can’t make sense of their senses of style and I struggle to understand their jokes. Lost in translation does not describe.

I’ve expressed this to death to anyone willing to listen from back home and to the few Florentines I’ve met around town.

“I know.” My friend Stefano states flatly in exasperated English. “That’s why we’re going out tonight. Now no more Italian please, you need to practice more.”

You see it’s not the Italians I’m having difficulty with. They’re fine. They like olive oil, I like olive oil—it’s all very simpatico. It’s my American roommates that I’m finding myself at odds with.

...continue reading "Culture Shock"

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By hfirlein

A few weekends ago, my housemates and I went back to the township of Strandfontein to visit the informal settlement that we had made food for previously. This time, instead of making the curry, we delivered and served it to the residents of Klapteinsklip. We stopped at Auntie C’s to pick up curry and fat cook, and then drove about ten minutes away to a small, one-room community hall. Children had gathered outside, and while a few people went inside to set up the food and chairs, my housemates and I sang a few American summer camp songs with the kids. They were pretty shy at first, and we looked a little crazy, jumping around and singing, but eventually they warmed up to us and joined in. The Macarena was especially popular! ...continue reading "Every Little Bit"

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