Blogging Abroad Issue 1: December 2011

Blogging Abroad Real blog posts from Vanderbilt students studying around

the world Rome Is Where The Heart Is

Annie, who is studying in Florence, Italy, talks about her experience traveling to Rome with one of her courses and taking in all of the sights…including a riot!

On Page 2

Featured Blogs

Annie http://findingannie.tumblr.com/

Brenna

http://www.brennaincapetown.blogspot.com/

Drew,

Trevor, and

Nicholas

http://copenhangin.blogspot.com/

More information about GEO can be found online at www.vanderbilt.edu/geo

Lekker, lekker: A road trip across the country -Brenna Casey in Cape Town, South Africa

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I feel like every time that I try to begin a bog post, the only sentence that comes to mind is “Last weekend was the best weekend of my life!” But this past weekend, really could have been the single most thought-provoking, educational, fun, spontaneous weekends of my life.

Elin, Michaela (our new friend from Villanova) and I flew to Durban (one of the other 3 major cities in South Africa- Durban, Cape Town, and Johannesburg) and decided to road trip across the country along the southeast coast back to Cape Town! We drove along the Wild Coast, the Sunshine Coast, and the Garden Route of South Africa- staying in hostiles, doing amazing hikes, and experiencing the unbelievable untouched areas of South Africa.

I felt like this was what study abroad is all about it- I actually felt like I was STUDYING abroad. I was LEARNING something in every sight we saw, every activity we did, and every conversation that we came across. Spontaneity? Check. We extended our trip a total of 4 times… it went from being a 3 night endeavor, to a 4 night, to a 5 night and 6 full days trip. A total of 9 people told us that we were crazy. And when we were told by 4 different people to 100% not drive on the dirt pot-hole paths off the major freeway during a rainstorm, of course we did it anyways. And of course we popped our tire along the way.

The highlight of the trip for me was the Coffee Shack hostile in Continued on Page 4

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Blogging Abroad Issue 1: December 2011 Vanderbilt University Global Education Office

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The lyrics “ROAM if you want to” was in my head the moment we stepped off the train for our long weekend in Roma. We were going with my Imagery and Public Space class (art history survey of works “in situ”-in their original location). We began our tours of the city on Thursday, ending on Saturday, with most of Sunday to ourselves before returning to Firenze. Rome was beautiful! We were so lucky with the weather. It never rained, and started out hot and got cold by the end of the week. So no matter what you packed you could only have been half prepared, but it worked out. No one complained because the trip was so well organized that we did not care about much else. After dropping our things off at the hotel, about a 10-15 minute walk from the main train station, we found ourselves walking down a long street to head towards first the Trevi Fountain and then to meet our professors at the Colosseum. On this street however, we ran into TWO churches I had just studied with another girl in our program the previous spring in my Baroque Art and Architecture course at Vanderbilt. The churches were: Sant’ Andrea al Quirinale and San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (the latter by Borromini and one of my favorites!). We made it to the Trevi Fountain and all made our wishes and threw in our pennies, hopefully meaning we will all return to Rome. My little Lonely Planet book had said that about 3000 euros goes into that fountain DAILY during the height of the season!! We had an awesome tour of Classical Ancient Rome: seeing the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Trajan’s Column, Capitoline Hill, and the Pantheon. (There was one building our on-site professor from Rome pointed out to us before that I had thought was striking until she said the Romans all hate it because it is a Rennaissance building made by the government in the 1800s which in the process invested a lot of money from the roman people and destroyed parts of the Antique and well preserved Roman City. They call it “the typewriter” or “the wedding cake”. I think it is strikingly unattractive now. haha it is funny how hearing another individual’s perspective can change your whole opinion of something.) We all tried GREAT gelato, Giolitti Gelato, near the Pantheon at the end of our class. It was good and

they gave you free cream on top. Apparently it was filmed in Roman Holiday and one of the Popes used to have their gelato sent to the Vatican on a regular basis! (I also remembered eating my father’s espresso gelato there, when I realized i actually did like coffee ice cream at the age of 13.) That night we got great pizza with our whole class, professor and advisor included. It was delish. I ordered the Fatty Queen, partly just because I liked the name, but also because it was with tomatoes, ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, and basil. That’s all I needed and wanted in my life at the time. Many of us opted not

to go out clubbing this nice, I did not think I could make it post traveling, walking all day, and the Fatty Queen, personally. So we went to a little wine bar on our street and saw a few of the girls off. The next day my class spent the day walking through the Vatican Museums. It was literally awesome. Then I got the chills and actually felt terrified with how amazing St. Peter’s Basilica was. After throwing out

“Rome If You Want Toooo…” -Annie Zaro in Florence, Italy

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Blogging Abroad Issue 1: December 2011 Vanderbilt University Global Education Office

“It was a success. Rome

ROCKS!! (literally)”

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Vatican. After our class, we wandered the Villa’s Gardens near Sunset. It was so beautiful and we all forgot about the protests until we returned home where we learned just how violent it had become. We stayed in and ate food on our street again. Luckily our street had several great restaurants and a nice gelateria around the corner with fresh daily gelato flavors. Sunday all was well again, although we were all a bit nervous to venture out at first. I went for a jog early in the morning in the Borghese Villa Gardens and it was one of my favorite things I did in Rome. I also went to Catholic Mass at the Pantheon at 10:30am. There was barely anyone there (probably everyone was at St. Peters!). It was beautiful. Also there is a fantastic coffee granita place (con panna-duh, although I took off the top of my panna and then stirred my granita and bottom panna together-THAT was perfect) right by the Pantheon, where I treated myself after mass. It turned out to be such a great day because I got to go to this beautiful, older, but kind of tucked away part of Rome, called Travestere, and meet Hayley Hoffman there for lunch! She is studying in Roma! After lunch we met up with some of her friends that were visiting her, who turned out to be studying in Florence too! We all went to Giolitti Gelateria-too good to not go a second time before we left-where I was meeting all of my friends before we all got on our train. It was a success. Rome ROCKS!! (literally)

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some old sandals that almost broke that morning, my class all met up without our professors for a night out. We had a great dinner in Campo dei Fiori. Then found ourselves at an Americanized Bar called “The Drunken Ship” (a very catchy name). After returning home, some of us turned around and changed and went out to meet Taylor’s friend from home at the Spanish Steps. We did not mind waiting, and took the opportunity to take some photos. We went to club Gilda where the owner is named Alfredo. Yes, I got to shake his hand. It was really fun and “clubby”. I even ran into one of Amanda Kent’s two best friends from home, Emma! It was wild. Our last day of class was jam packed with many churches featuring pieces by Caravaggio and Bernini. (Before heading back, we saw the Fountain of 4 Rivers in Piazza Navona.) This happened to be the day of the riot in Rome, so our professor and directors asked us to just eat by the hotel before we met again after lunch to go on our next site visit. The riot was not yet a riot at this point, but it was just before the protest even began. We exited the subway station at the location where the protesters were gathering. It was supposed to be peaceful, but just got violent when some radicals without any real beliefs, called the “Black Blocks”, joined the peaceful protesters later in the day. We were lucky that our class was in walking distance of the Borghese Villa and that the protest was not affecting that area of Rome at all. The Borghese Villa was unreal. There was SO much art. Our professor was great. I enjoyed it even more than the packed

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Blogging Abroad Issue 1: December 2011 Vanderbilt University Global Education Office

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Coffee Bay (what place with the word coffee in it, couldn’t be good?). It was literally probably the happiest place that I have ever been. We took 2 hour long private surf lessons for 40 rand ($7) and the three of us all got up. Surfing on a beach where we were the only ones on it for miles in Africa could have been my favorite morning of my whole life. We went on a hike to a place called “Hole in the Wall” where we met the COOLEST people from all over the world. (people come to this place thinking they are going to stay for a weekend and up staying for 10 days). The only way to describe coffee bay is ‘the whole world smooshed into one place.’ One way you turned, you were looking at a rolling green hill sheep farm in Scotland. Another way you turned, it was a Latin American beach. And the last third of the landscape was the Himalayas mountains. It was unreal!!! The guide of our hike referred to the 3 of us as “Sister Americas” and said “Lekker, lekker” every other sentence. Lekker means cool, chill, happy.

In the night, we went to a Xhosa village for dinner. I think it was the first time in my whole life, where we were literally the only Americans in the room. The hostile brought 15 people with them to the village ‘homestead’ and they were from Holland, Germany, Australia, Ireland. It was so cool to be surrounded by people with such different, yet such similar mindsets. One huge take-away, was that ‘people are people.’ While we were there, we overheard some Holland girls talking about their dreams for a big wedding and a prince husband. It was in the moment that I realized, “people are people”- no matter where in the world you are. We all share humanity. Another huge take-away from that night, was the realness of language barrier, the isolation of geographic locations, and the authenticity of an “African hut.” So often, we think of huts in Africa as this sort of far out, untouchable entity where the people are starving and sad about life. It was awesome to be completely challenged by this concept and actually visit an African hut and see it up close and personal. The huts actually have windows, studyish walls, and a door. They have pots and pans to cook and sleeping mats to sleep on. It was not at all the marginalized vision that I previously conceived about what ‘living in poverty’ would look like. With that said, I was also challenged by the physical isolation that these people experience. Unlike many of the townships in Cape Town, these people have no connection to Western information and really don’t know any differently than their way of life. At the end of the dinner, we had a chance to ask them questions and they asked us questions. The one guy who was both an employee of the hostile and a member of the Xhosa community translated between English and Xhosa. I have never before felt language barrier act as more of a wall separating two groups of people. With that said, however, the most awesome part of the question session, was hearing the questions that the Xhosa people asked us. So often, I feel privileged to be given opportunities to ask questions to other people… but infrequently do I feel like the tables are reversed. The questions the Xhosa people asked were fascinating- and truly showed the invisibility that they have to the rest of the world. They asked us “Why cant men have more than one wife?” and “Why did you want to come to our country?” and “Do you worship ancestors or God?” It was awesome to have this exchange of

perspective and truly challenged so much of what I believe. After coffee bay, we traveled to Chinsta (every day they have a free

activity- we went on a free wine booze cruise… in a nearly breaking down boat on a small little lagoon J it was awesome). Then, we headed for Tsitsikamma. Through the course of the weekend, I had literally become more spontaneous by the hour. Its like I was a changed person… didn’t make one plan, didn’t control any situation, but let it BE. And by the time the few days was almost over, I was very spontaneous. So, it wasn’t a surprise that I decided to do the bungee jump in the by the time we got to day 5. … SO, yes. I jumped off a bridge and did the highest bungee jump in the world!!! It was SO incredibly

scary and I don’t think I will ever to do it again, but I am sooo happy I did it!! It was awesome. We then had lunch in Plettenburg Bay, stopped in Knysna, drove to Mossel Bay for dinner, and returned

back to Cape Town at 330am on Monday morning.

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Blogging Abroad Issue 1: December 2011 Vanderbilt University Global Education Office

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I guess the big elephant in the room, or cyber-room, is that we haven’t posted in a while. We’re not all that sorry. Although one would think that the lack of blogs is a reflection of a lack of activity and excitement, this just isn’t the case. We’ve had a jam-packed two weeks, despite the dearth of updates from the Copenhangers. Since our last post, we’ve been to two other countries and had some of the most fun we’ve had in a while. Allow me to explain. However'you'imagine'Oktoberfest,'the'real'thing'is'probably'four'times'as'exciting.'I'had'absolutely'no'idea'what'to'expect,'so'I'was'slightly'caught'off'guard'to'walk'onto'the'Oktoberfest'grounds.'It'looked'like'a'Six'Flags,'complete'with'rides,'games,'hot'dogs,'and'overprice'fried'food.'When'we'first'got'there,'I'actually'said'to'a'friend,'“I'think'we'should'ask'someone'if'we’re'at'the'right'place.”'Yeah,'people'were'wearing'lederhosen,'but'so'were'their'4'yearFold'sons'in'the'teacup'ride.'It'was'so'family'friendly,'I'couldn’t'even'find'someone'holding'a'beer.'As'we'continued'our'walk'to'the'back'of'the'park,'however,'the'demographics'changed:'fewer'families,'more'people'stumbling,'and'more'outFofFplace'Americans.'Still,'though,'I'had'yet'to'spot'a'beer'mug.'Until'I'got'to'the'tents.''' For anyone that has been to one of the tents at Oktoberfest, you’ll admit that there’s little that compares to the atmosphere. When you walk in, just about every preconceived notion you had of the place is'confirmed. There are people dancing on tables, toasting'each other, large-breaste women serving drinks, and an overall aura of pure happiness. We spent

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most of our time at the Hofbrauhaus Tent, which is most popular among Americans. On Saturday, we got in line at 7:45 am, where some Italian Stallion Bodyguards ushered in a good 4,000 people to the tent. We hunkered down at a few tables so that one corner of the tent was basically Vanderbilt in Munich (there a good 40

Vandy kids in the tent, so we had our own pseudo-tailgate at Oktoberfest). It was actually so easy to find people we knew, I felt like George Costanza’s World’s Collide Theory was happening. Our friends from home, Vanderbilt, study abroad, and everywhere else found us at some point. After the long weekend in Munich, we

had to face real life when we got back to Copenhagen. Well, it’s tough to call Denmark real life when you consider that only six people in the nation’s history have ever been in a bad mood. Knowing that our Long Study Tours were coming up, though, our professors piled up on midterms and papers during the week. We actually buckled down to work, which explains the lack of blogs during that time. My Long Study Tour kind of snuck on me. All of a sudden it was Saturday morning at 6:45 and I was walking'to the metro station to meet my class at the airport. I felt really'out of'place walking with all my luggage, passing Danes who refuse to stop partying until the sun comes up. I got to the airport to be reminded of the fact that I would once again be spending way too long with – guess who - 25 girls and two other guys (one of which is my professor). I could only quietly smile when the most frequent conversations I heard were about pedicures,

An Oktoberfest Weekend and a Week in October -Drew Taylor, Nicholas Johnson, and Trevor Hoffberger in Copenhagen, Denmark

Blogging Abroad Issue 1: December 2011

Blogging Abroad is presented 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

The Global Education is located in the International Suite (Suite 115) of the Student Life Center and is open Monday to Friday from 8:00am –

5:00pm

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yogurt, and, once again, a one Ryan Gossling. London was definitely a better place than Western Denmark to spend time with this group. I could easily get distracted by the city’s tourist attractions and general activity. The trip was fairly academic, as we visited a wide range of schools in London, but we had plenty of time to take advantage of all the city has to offer. We went on the London Eye, saw Wicked, visited the Tate Modern Art Museum, and toured the Globe Theater. These were all awesome experiences, aside from the fact that I had to listen to 23 girls sing various songs from Wicked for two straight days.

Going to London was refreshing for a number of reasons. I figured this out as soon as we landed, for the temperature was an amazing 80 degrees Farenheit. It marked the hottest October day in England’s history, but it was tough to complain given the cold gloomy days we have here in Copenhagen. Here’s a list of other things I saw in London that I don’t see much in Copenhagen:

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The English Language, the sun, jay-walking, hot sauce, the pronunciation of the letter “J”, income differences/homelessness, khakis, brunettes, a meal for less than $12, normal rule-breaking. Needless to say, it provided a nice reminder that a real world

does exist outside of Utopian Denmark. Now that I’m back in Copenhagen, I’ve finally had the time to write this post. I’m sure we’ll have more breaks like that in our blog, but we’ll certainly make an effort to limit them. Nonetheless, I have a feeling that the rest of the semester is going to

fly by. In two weekends we’re traveling to Amsterdam to meet up with a few friends. Soon after that trip comes our two-week Travel Break, where we will visit Istanbul, Mykonos, Athens,'Barcelona, and Prague. It’s going to be awesome and it’s almost surreal that'we have that'opportunity. We’ll keep everyone posted, and you should look forward to some posts by Nick and Drew when they return from London in the next couple days.

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Vanderbilt University Global Education Office