Author: agliwa

Submitted by Nicole Caracciolo on the 2019 fall semester study abroad program in Barcelona, Spain…

My friends and I spent our weekend in Dublin and planned a trip to the Cliffs of Moher for Friday, November 8th. We had to wake up very early because the group was meeting at 6:50 am for a 7:30 AM departure. There were two buses to fill up what seemed like way too many people for the amount of space provided. Once the buses were almost full, they asked for people to split up in 2s or 1s, but we could not because we were 5 people. We somehow managed to be the only people without seats on either bus because people behind us were in smaller groups and were able to split easily. There was no representative from the tour company and the bus drivers had nothing to do with the situation, so they could not explain why there were not enough seats for us. They would not allow us to squeeze either. It was really just the luck of the draw. Had we been the first people in line this would not have happened, but our placement in line completely screwed us. So, the tour left without us. Thankfully, we were able to find another tour that was leaving at 8 AM and we made sure we were the first people on the bus. We ended up having the most amazing time and were actually thankful we ended up on that tour instead of the original plan. I learned that you must be adaptable in all situations because you never know how things are going to work out. That was the most unpredictable thing that could have happened and we were able to be flexible and make a new plan on the spot.

Submitted by Danielle Tahan on the 2019 fall semester program in London, England…

This past week, I volunteered with Centrepoint, a UK charity that supports homeless youth. As someone who strongly values service work, I have been lacking in that area of my identity while being abroad. So, I was glad to take the opportunity when CAPA connected me with their Sleep Out Event in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. This event is a fundraising challenge to support youth who are sleeping rough. Individuals and companies participate by raising money and sleeping in a tent for one night. I was able to assist in the set-up of the event, in which we sorted out the sleeping accomodations for the participants. With the power of a set of passionate volunteers, we situated the tarp and hundreds of sleeping bags for the participants.

It is always incredible to witness what a group of dedicated people can accomplish. I was able to reflect on the universal nature of service work, particularly in the area of homelessness. Since homelessness is very prevalent in many countries, there must be a systemic root to this issue. I was particularly interested in getting involved with this event because I have witnessed the extent of the issue while being in London. Unfortunately, because I have been adjusting to all of my other experiences while abroad, I have not acted on the issue. I am encouraged to improve my advocacy with homelessness during the rest of my time here and when I return home. I plan on incorporating the issue of homelessness in my project for CAPA’s Diversity Advocate Program, so I am glad that I gained direct experience through this volunteer event!

Check out Centrepoint’s work here: https://centrepoint.org.uk/

 

Submitted by Nicole Caracciolo on the 2019 fall semester study abroad program in Barcelona, Spain…

This was my first time spending a holiday in another country. Halloween is celebrated much less intensely in Spain than in the United States. During the day, I saw a decent amount of very young children who were dressed in costume, but no one really above the age of 7 or 8 years old. Only some shops and restaurants had decorations. Trick or treating is not nearly as popular here because everyone lives in apartments, so it would be very difficult to get in and out of the residences if you don’t live there. The only instance of trick-or-treating I saw was in a convenience store in my neighborhood. About 5 middle school-aged children came dressed in costumes and the cashier gave each of them a couple of pieces of candy. They celebrate All Saint’s Day (the next day, November 1st) more seriously. Many businesses are closed and they sell their traditional chestnuts on the streets.

 

Submitted by Danielle Tahan on the 2019 fall semester program in London, England…

I experienced the most magical weekend in Barcelona, Spain! I absolutely fell in love with this city and definitely plan on returning in the near future. I have never been in a city that was a beautiful balance of a tropical, yet urban environment. Everywhere I explored had breathtaking views of a variety of tropical trees and stunning buildings.

This trip was especially enjoyable because of the freedom we had and the bliss that followed. We meandered through the city and stopped wherever we found interesting and stumbled across  several gems of the city. It’s incredible to notice the difference in my capabilities this far into my journey abroad. My friends and I navigated around the city so confidently and independently, something that I would have never imagined myself capable of doing just a few months ago.

I am eager to seek opportunities to spend a longer amount of time in Spain. It’s exhilarating to find new places that you have a genuine connection to. Fortunately, I will be returning to Spain at the end of my program, so I am looking forward to that even more now!

Submitted by Zachary Shulman on the 2019 fall semester DIS program in Copenhagen, Denmark…

This past week, I had the pleasure of taking a drive with my host father and housemate around the entire nation of Denmark. Being a small state in the north of Europe, Denmark can more or less be traversed within 24 hours, sticking mainly to the highways. We left from our town of Køge shortly before 6:00am, crossed over Denmark’s 3^rd largest island separating Jylannd (the large peninsula connected to Germany) and Zealand (the 2^nd largest island closest to Sweden, where Copenhagen is located). We stopped along the way to meet members of my host father’s extended family including his sisters, mother, and middle son. While he had dinner with his family, his middle son drove us to Skagen, the northern point of Denmark where the North Sea meets the Baltic Sea. The wind and hail whipped our faces and made the journey to the tip rigorous, but it was worth it to know that we stepped foot at the northernmost point of the entire country.

After joining my host father once again, we parted from the family and prepared for a long drive south. Three hours later, passports in hand, we crossed the Danish-German border and entered Germany. This trip constituted my third trip to Germany this semester, three times more than I anticipated. We stopped at a grocery store to buy some food and drinks tax-free and made our way back to Køge. We arrived a mere seven minutes before midnight, meaning we had squeezed our traversal of Denmark into a single calendar day. Not only that, but we had an ample amount of time to continue bonding with our host father and saw parts of Denmark most tourists will never get to see.

As I write this, I realize that I have less than five weeks left in this semester. This road trip made me so much more intimate with the country, and I anticipate it will only make the eventual departure even more difficult. I have made a few excursions outside of Denmark so far, and they have been truly wonderful experiences. I felt, however, that calming feeling of restoration and comfort when I finally returned from those trips. Denmark has left a major impression on my development as a person, and as I prepare for my last four blog posts, I will try to highlight all of the ways that the country as influenced my identity and ideas.

Submitted by Caitlin Werner on the 2019 fall semester study abroad program in Granada, Spain…

This past weekend, our program traveled to Fuenteovejuna, a small town outside of Cordoba. In class, we are currently reading the play Fuenteovejuna by Lope de Vega which takes place in this town. The play is about standing up and fighting against injustices. Every summer, they transform this plaza into a huge theater with over 1,200 people in the audience every night. We got to meet some of the actors/actresses and they performed some parts of the play for us. We also dressed up in costume and performed some of the monologue of the main character in the play. It was such a great experience and a very special place for our program director, Amalia. I loved learning more about this small town and how important the play is for them.

 

Submitted by Ceara Stewart on the 2019 fall semester study abroad program in Barcelona, Spain…

Week 7 was midterms for all of us studying at UAB. Lots of studying was done and many cafe con leches were drank. All of my marks were good. The only class I have any difficulty in is Spanish. Over here it is way harder than what is taught at Delaware and with only a year of speaking Spanish it is quite difficult for me. But I’m learning a lot and speaking with my host mom and her daughter helps. Hopefully by the end of this experience, I’ll be able to answer the locals when they ask me directions.

Week 8 I was lucky enough to go to Rabat and Chefchaouen with Morocco Exchange! We left the day after midterms. We flew out of Girona into Rabat and that evening we had a huge dinner with our host families. Usually, only one member of the family speaks English and lucky for us it was a girl about our age so we had a lot to talk about such as boys and life for a girl in Rabat.

The next day, we toured the Mausoleum of Mohammad V and Chellah. We learned about the concept of a mosque and about the Roman history in Salé. After another huge lunch with our host families, we got private tours of the city with local university students. We discussed the many differences and similarities between our two cultures and it was really eye-opening.

That evening, we visited the Hammam or the hot baths that are used for bathing. It was a shock because all the woman bathe completely naked! Some of us got scrubbed down professionally with a weird brown soap, but our skin felt so soft afterwards. Before leaving the baths, we had a huge scare. One of the other girls started to feel faint and passed out from a lack of drinking water and the overpowering heat of the Hammam. She couldn’t leave to be taken out of the heat because she was only in her swimsuit. Luckily, there was an old professor on our trip who knew how to cool her down until our program leader arrived. She stayed the night in a clinic and was completely fine the next day. But it just showed us all how quickly things can turn bad even in the most relaxed of situations and that it is super important to drink water and tell others how you are feeling even if it is embarrassing, because it could save your life.

Saturday, we left Rabat and headed North. We stopped in a little town in Ouezzane and had the opportunity to shop for some food. I bought dates for super cheap! For lunch, we stopped in a little rural village in the mountains and had lunch with a local family. We had a long conversation about rural life in Morocco and what it means to raise a family and move up in society. It was an interesting experience to compare suburban to rural life and it was amazing to hear that parents are very content with their lives and everything they do is for their children to move up in the world and have better lives than them. That really made me miss home and my family.

That evening, we arrived in Chefchaouen and had a big group dinner. We stayed in a nice hostel and before bed we reflected on our trip so far. The next and last day, we got to shop around Chefchaouen and take pictures in the blue city. We got a personal tour from our Rabat guide who loves the blue city. That afternoon though, we had to say good-bye and we left for Barcelona.

Morocco has been my favorite experience since the start of this program. The ability to travel to an underdeveloped country and see how people live their lives and see how happy one can be with very little is such an eye opener to the way I live my life. I always thought I was underprivileged because I come from a lower class family and work towards everything I want independently. I’ve had a job since I turned 14 and I’ve been working towards my goals ever since and every trip I go on, everything I do is the money I earn and I’ve felt different from others because I can’t just lay back and let my parents pay. But going to Morocco, I’ve seen that my ability to even have a chance to work independently towards my dreams is something that sometimes isn’t possible elsewhere and it makes me proud of all my work, but it also makes me feel guilty because some people will never have the chances that I do. So I am overly thankful for the life I live, where I come from, and where I am going.

 

Submitted by Daniel Bailey on the 2019 fall semester study abroad program in Granada, Spain…

This past weekend, my program took a group trip to Madrid and Toledo. These couple of days in Madrid were noticeably different from my experiences so far in Granada. Since it is the capital and largest city in Spain, Madrid is so much bigger with so many more things to do. The first day we got to see the Congress building and learn a little about the Spanish government, which was especially interesting because it was the day before the presidential elections. I was also able to see the Prado Museum, one of the largest and most important collections of art in the world.

However, possibly my favorite part of Madrid came as a surprise. The official Game of Thrones Expo happened to be in Madrid the same weekend I was there, so I went with a couple friends. We saw real props, sets, and costumes that were actually used in the show, which was amazing since I am such a huge fan of the show.

After leaving Madrid, we stopped in Toledo for a couple hours. Toledo is a very small city and had a completely different vibe from Madrid. It almost felt like a medieval village up on a hill. We were lucky enough to find a great spot high up on a hill next to the Tagus River where we were able to get amazing panoramic pictures of the whole city. Both Madrid and Toledo were beautiful and I greatly enjoyed my time in each city. However, I’m not sure if I could see myself spending more than a couple of weeks in each place. This made me grateful once again that my home is now in Granada, because I really think it is the perfect city to study abroad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Submitted by Caitlin Werner on the 2019 fall semester study abroad program in Granada, Spain…

This past weekend, I took a trip to Barcelona. I loved seeing the Sagrada Familia and Park Güell because they are such beautiful sites. I got to take a tour of the Sagrada Familia and learned so much more about Gaudi and his plans for it. I am excited that it will be finished in a few short years in 2026. It was very different to be in a much larger city with more tourists than Granada because I heard so many more languages and a lot of English.

Submitted by Emily Gray on the 2019 fall semester program in Prague, Czech Republic…

I am writing this in the wake of a most stressful ordeal: almost missing my flight to France. My friend and I decided to visit three European cities during our mid-term break this semester, and we couldn’t be more excited at the prospect of discovering the world. However, our journey from Dublin, Ireland to Nice, France was less than ideal. I would like to blame this solely on our airline, which is notorious for being both terrifically cheap and horrifically unreliable. My own inexperience with flying is also to blame, though. Traveling alone or with another friend can be stressful, especially when you don’t feel at home in an airport. There are a few things I intend to do differently on my next flight to ease some of this stress.

Firstly, I want to get to the airport earlier. The general rule is two hours before your flight, but I would recommend even earlier if you don’t know anything about the airport or airline you’re flying. I am also going to familiarize myself more with the details of my flight by checking in earlier and researching luggage requirements. Most importantly, I am going to stay calm. This was my first time “cutting it close” with a flight, and it reinforced all the travel anxieties I’ve been trying to fight. It’s completely normal to feel overwhelmed in situations like mine, but keeping a cool head is essential to navigating your journey in a foreign place. Moreover, you have to remain positive despite the stress. Don’t let a long line in security or problems with luggage ruin your attitude. At the end of the day, traveling is an amazing thing! While flying can be a nightmare, it is a necessary evil to see the greater world.