Real blog posts from Vanderbilt students studying abroad around the world “America is my This quote basically sums up how I feel about Paris. I was lucky enough to go to Paris last weekend with my friends Maggie and Sara. We had such a wonderful time that I wish I had left my weekends free so I could keep going back. At least I get to go back for Thanksgiving! This is the third time I’ve visited Paris and I never seem to get a grip on the city. It is just such a wonderful place to be. We stayed in an adorable little hostel in Montmartre and spent our very short time doing what we call “flâné-ing”. This is sort of a hybrid French and English verb that comes from the French verb, “flâner”, which means to stroll without much purpose. On Friday afternoon, we saw Sacre Coeur and got a late lunch at a cute little restaurant close by. Then we went to the cemetery of Pere Lachaise. I was really excited about this part because my dad has this photograph he took of Jim Morrison’s grave, which is there. I’ve seen that photograph so many times Don’t fret! GEO has plenty of opportunities for students to go abroad over the summer. Many programs offer a summer term, or you can take a Maymester course. Applications for summer study abroad are now open! Featured Blogs Ellen Taylor Guest Blog! CET - Italy http://arcencielduchaos.w ordpress.com/ http://thetayloraffairs.blog spot.com/ http://cetacademicprogram s.com/category/italy/ Can’t go abroad during the academic year? Blogging Abroad Blogging Abroad Issue 2: January 2012 Vanderbilt University Global Education Office country, but Paris is my hometown” -Ellen Reat in Paris, France
Transcript
Real blog posts from Vanderbilt students
studying abroad around the world
“America is my
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This quote basically sums up how I feel about Paris. I was lucky enough to go to Paris last weekend with my friends Maggie and Sara. We had such a wonderful time that I wish I had left my weekends free so I could keep going back. At least I get to go back for Thanksgiving! This is the third time I’ve visited Paris and I never seem to get a grip on the city. It is just such a wonderful place to be. We stayed in an adorable little hostel in Montmartre and spent our very short time doing what we call “flâné-ing”. This is sort of a hybrid French and English verb that comes from the French verb, “flâner”, which means to stroll without much purpose. On Friday afternoon, we saw Sacre Coeur and got a late lunch at a cute little restaurant close by. Then we went to the cemetery of Pere Lachaise. I was really excited about this part because my dad has this photograph he took of Jim Morrison’s grave, which is there. I’ve seen that photograph so many times
Don’t fret! GEO has plenty of opportunities for students to go abroad over the summer. Many programs offer a summer term, or you can take a Maymester
course. Applications for summer study abroad are now open!
Featured Blogs
Ellen
Taylor
Guest Blog! CET - Italy
http://arcencielduchaos.wordpress.com/
http://thetayloraffairs.blogspot.com/
http://cetacademicprograms.com/category/italy/
Can’t go abroad during the academic year?
Blogging Abroad
Blogging Abroad Issue 2: January 2012 Vanderbilt University Global Education Office
country, but Paris is my hometown”
-Ellen Reat in Paris, France
Blogging Abroad Issue 2: January 2012
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Vanderbilt University Global Education Office
The Sienese Streets: A Unique Personality
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If you are a prospective study abroad student looking at Italy and you like to party, I must advise you that Siena is probably not the place for you. While there are plenty of places to hang out at night and many people to met, Siena is a far cry from American college students’ typical weekend social scene. If you can hold off from sweaty dance parties for just a short four months, Siena has an incredible wealth of entertainment to offer, in the form of random, sometimes mind-boggling surprises. I think my first indication of this phenomenon must have been dressed in black and white tights with the outfit of what appeared to me to be a medieval minstrel. My roommates and I were doing homework in our kitchen when we heard the sound of drumming approaching. We got to the window just in time to see a band of several Sienese citizens dressed in elaborate uniforms beating drums and waving flags of the Lupa (she-wolf) contrada while filing down the street outside of our apartment. For the next several
Samantha Leahy of Bowdoin College, blogging for CET in Siena, Italy
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days, these Lupa representatives marched through the streets of Siena showing pride for their contrada. Over the next couple weeks, different contradas sent their own representatives with their own colorful tights and flags to practice just the same form of contrada pride throughout the city streets of Siena. None of the Sienese people were at all phased by the marching minstrels. The music, the flag waving, and especially the medieval costumes, were both bizarre and beautiful to behold. If you have read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, you should be familiar with Professor McGonagall’s giant chess set. I think it is safe to assume that we all wish we could have bore witness to the epic battle between Harry, Ron, and Hermione and giant living chess pieces. Well, Harry Potter lovers, you just might be in luck! During one of my very first weeks in Siena, I was walking along Banchi di Sopra and happened upon some Sienes people playing chess with giant pieces in front of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena
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Gothic revival building. I sat down at the foot of a statue and watched them play while reveling in my confusion and contentedness. On another occasion, I was on an excursion to buy ricciarelli when I came across some Native American musicians playing native instruments and dancing and singing for an audience of Sienese passersby. I must say, I was incredibly tempted to buy their CD. Another time, I saw someone
performing a
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marionette show with a chicken puppet on Banchi di Sopra. Once, we happened upon some fire-throwers. Sometimes, they do clown therapy by the supermarket (not my favorite). It is impossible to feel bored while
Blogging Abroad Issue 2: January 2012
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Vanderbilt University Global Education Office
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Cinque terre is one of the most visited sites in Italy know for its beauty and hiking, so when my roommate david planned a trip for our entire group I was pretty excited. See I might not look like I like hiking, but I actually really enjoy it in the nerdiest I am an old man who wears tivas way. The night before we all decided to go out and celebrate finishing our first week of complete school. I mean it was something to celebrate, so we went out to dinner at the classic italian time 9:30 at night. Yes, they actually start
5 for 1 Taylor Bolhack, CET in Florence, Italy
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dinner when most american people are turning into CNN or even better Americas Got Talent and falling asleep. Still not fully adjusted to this time zone, I had ate through every snack I owned and contemplated eating my arm to make it to then because I normally eat at 5:30 and 8:00 at the very latest. Speed walking to the restaurant for fear of passing out of hunger we finally made it, and I normally would not say near starving yourself is worth it, but it was. IT IS THE ONLY NUT FREE KITCHEN IN FLORENCE... what are the chances. so I was able to eat everything. In joy of that we headed to a bar called SHOTS. creative name I know, we winded up there an hour later after getting lost once and then winding up in the old orphanage ( yeah I feel so wise knowing this from one of my class). This bar was also worth it. They had shots of every kind, but my favorite was a shot called boobs, I think I mostly just liked saying "can I have a pair of boobs?" hahah but the shot is a lemon drop shot with an on fire lemon on top. Needless to say after some more boobs and other pervertedly named shots we didn't role into our house until 5:30 a.m. and we were leaving at 8. Let's just say I was a sight to see
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that next morning. Now on to cinque terre this is a town with 5 towns connected by beach hikes in between each city, and for the faint of heart they also have train stations in each one making traveling easy. Well with our luck the beach walk between the second and third town closed the day we were there because of a landslide. Being our aggressive selves 7 of us decided to take the road less traveled: an inshore mountain hike that was around 2hr 30min ... or as says so on the map. Around 5 min into the hike, not exaggerating, I lost it. I was tired, hot, and didnt really know where we were heading. Christian my roommate convinced me to calm down and just keep hiking. Well I didnt calm down but I really had no other choice but to keep hiking because I had no clue how to get back down into town and to the train station. Walking up vertical for 30 min I thought it was it. I was ready to be done. I saw the end platform. I got up on it... look over the boundary... felt accomplished.. turned right... and saw the most ominous thing ever.... not one flight of stairs, not 7 flights of stairs... stairs literally as far as I could
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see them. It was never never never ending. I looked at my roommate Tess and had a couple of serious words with her about how much I disliked her for this experience... that is me phrasing it slightly... I got my mean eyes on and stamped around wouldent make eye contact. WITH NO CHOICE BUT MOVING UP THE MOUNTAIN I literally took myself out of my mental state... literally just zoned out and before I knew it I was at the top panting... apparently I looked like a running billy goat who just didnt stop. Once we got on top I felt like I was in heaven... literally. There was a vineyard surrounding me on all sides, looking over a beach. It was magical... yes I almost started crying again. From that point on my day was bliss. Minus when I thought there were sharks beneath me swimming because the water was clear that the black rock bottom freaked me out. Learned Lessons: sometimes the detour is really that bad for two hours... like it sucks. but can lead to great views and free grapes italian men like spedoes ... of all ages from 4- 84... and love tanning in them. hot stuff
Blogging Abroad Issue 2: January 2012
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Vanderbilt University Global Education Office
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that I felt like I should see it in person! Unfortunately it has changed pretty significantly. I guess over-eager fans had been taking parts of the tombstone itself and carving things all over the place. So now there is a fence and no more statue. But it was still cool to see. Then we went out to dinner and hit the sack early to get ready for our big day on Saturday. On Saturday we went to
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the huge Parisien markets. They’re like flea markets but ENORMOUS. Like we needed a map and 6 hours to wander around, and we only saw a little of it. After the markets we went on a free (plus whatever tips we felt were appropriate) tour of the Latin quarter. I’d never been there so it was really nice to see that side of Paris. We went to Shakespeare and Company and had a wonderful dinner at a really adorable restaurant. Sunday we decided to try the shops in St. Germain (fail, they’re all closed on Sundays) and Le Marais (fail, they’re all closed on Sundays). So we ended up just wandering around and seeing some fun stuff. I’ll add pictures of that when I can steal them from Maggie. So this weekend I’m going on a
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surprise trip to Barcelona (story to follow in the next post) and my boyfriend Alex is coming to visit. I’m very excited for both of these things and I am sure I will have a lot to say next time. PS – Did I mention that mid-terms are OVER and I now have a 12 day fall break! La vie en rose…
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walking along the streets of Siena. Perhaps the most startling of the random incidences occurred while my American and Italian roommates and I were hanging out on the Piazza del Campo one night. We were in the midst of conversing when an elephant appeared in the Piazza. Yes, the Sienese citizens brought a live elephant into a medieval city. How did they fit it through the narrow, highly inclined streets? We will never know. Those that were leading the elephant around walked it around the Campo before they moved out of the Piazza. I suspect
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the Oca (goose) contrada brought this elephant in to make fun of the Torre (elephant with a tower on its back) contrada. Regardless of the motives behind this stunt, I can safely assume that I will never accidentally see an elephant in a medieval city again. My favorite activity in Siena is simply walking through the city streets. It is true that many strange and amusing things occur on these streets, but the streets themselves are beautiful and fascinating in their own right. Now that it is December, garlands, Christmas trees, and giant stars with Christmas lights have put up throughout Siena’s streets. Because of the beauty of these lit stars, the fact that it now gets darker earlier does not phase me. Even after the sun goes down, the city feels warm and cozy under the white lights. When I return home in a mere couple of weeks, I will miss both the beauty and the personality of Siena’s
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city streets. And yet, whenever I’m feeling homesick for Siena, I must remind myself that I will never truly be without it: you need only to see those medieval minstrels once to burn their image permanently into your retinas.
Blogging Abroad Issue 2: January 2012
Blogging Abroad is brought to you by GEO
The Global Education Office (GEO) coordinates over 100 study abroad programs and scholarships. Students can study on six different continents in a wide variety of subject areas. GEO works with students to guide them through the process of applying to study abroad, preparing and adjusting to living abroad, and coordinating courses of study. Below are the office hours of GEO advisers:
Tom Bogenschild: Wednesday 2-5
Isabelle Crist: Wednesday/Thursday 1-3
Shelley Jewell: Tuesday 10:30-2:30, Thursday 1-3
Arik Ohnstad: Monday 1-3, Friday 1-3
Michelle Lilly: Monday 12-2, Tuesday 1-3
Seth Kohrman: Wednesday 3-5, Friday 12-2
Here’s a look at destinations where Vanderbilt students have studied abroad!
