After having a full night’s rest, I knew that I would be able to take more advantage of today, as opposed to yesterday’s insomnia-driven (yet still fun) day. I started the day with a morning jog to Barceloneta, a popular beach in the southern direction that took about thirty minutes to reach. Normally any run would tire me out well before 20 minutes and yet I couldn’t help but keep pressing on so I could see more of the city.
My six-week trip through Scandinavia (finally) kicked off on May 17. I will spend the first four and a half weeks in Finland, touring Helsinki and taking courses in Jyväskylä. So far, about a week and a half in, I have thoroughly enjoyed every part of Finland: the beautiful scenery, the evident history, the unique teaching style, the list goes on. It is hard not to compare back to life in San Diego, but I am definitely finding things in Finland that are quite brilliant.
Stairs and stairs and stairs and stairs, and just when you think you reach the stop, you’re staring at another 3 mile long staircase. Once I finished up my school program at Tsinghua University, I eagerly took the earliest train out of Beijing and headed toward west Xi’an.
The second two places I visited had my mind working a million miles and hour and jumping around like an Amazonian spider.
Continue reading “Passing Judgement: Amazon Boat Rides, Cultures, Giant Moths and Cariacu”
When traveling it is important to be open and willing to see something from a new perspective. Other cultures can do the simplest things completely different. For example, in Germany it is customary to sit and have heated discussions in the beer gardens whereas it might not be as widely accepted here in the United States. The best part about traveling is seeing through a new lens.
Continue reading “‘Seeing’ Through a Different Perspective”
I have never felt more spoiled and understood why people have this love-hate relationship with the United States until I walked into a classroom in the country of Georgia. I came with a group of about 18 other students from various majors for a two-week immersion on the geopolitical importance Georgia in the South Caucasus region. Yet I found myself in “classroom shock.”
Continue reading “Post-Soviet Universities and the American Perspective”
Before I left for Ecuador, a good 90 percent of the people I told about my upcoming trip warned me that it was too dangerous, the country too unstable, that I was going to get sick, die in an earthquake, maimed, drugged, robbed, killed etc. The general consensus seemed to be “dude, why didn’t you just go to Europe?” and “I don’t think you thought this through.” Stubborn as I am, I took most of this advice with a grain of salt. And I’m glad that I did.
If you haven’t heard, less than a month ago a referendum across the United Kingdom passed meaning that the UK would leave the European Union. This coined the term ‘Brexit.’ This all happened a few days before I left America to come to England. So, as you can imagine, it is a very interesting political time to be living in the UK.
For my study abroad class, our professor created our schedule in such a way we have all of our Fridays off – one of the numerous reasons why I adore this professor. He’s from the Imperial Valley Campus of SDSU, which is two hours away from the main campus I attend. I came into this study abroad trip blind, not knowing any of the other students and not knowing the professor. However, he and all of my peers far surpassed any expectation I previously set up for myself.
Mosquitos. Everything and everyone is covered in mosquitos here, ha. Perhaps that’s an exaggeration, but certainly something that I took note of the second that I entered my dorm.
The global experience, as told by SDSU students 