Took a trip to the 798 Art District yesterday. It was a slice of Beijing that was a beautiful mixture of the modern generation transforming the ancient China into a cultural, colorful and creative country (so many C’s!). It was very similar to American street fairs and urban areas. There were plenty of modern art, and some pieces of old art that have been revamped. Also, there was an area dedicated to spray painting where anyone could buy spray paint and contribute to the ever changing murals.

There were many shops and cafes all with individual flair. Numerous retro pieces from the Cultural Revolution and Communist Takeover. A majority of the population was my age or in the 20’s range. It was definitely a place that we all could fit into. It takes up a few blocks and and is very easy to get turned around in the alleyways and galleries.

 

SCHOOLWEEK: Earlier this week for my Spanish Medical Class we took a trip to the Centro de Salud in Madrid, which is located a couple blocks away from the Prado in the downtown area. Spain currently has public healthcare, and since it is broken into autonomous regions, each region has its own “Centro de Salud,” or health center, that all citizens can access for general healthcare. At the Centro de Salud, people are assigned to a family doctor, pediatrician, social worker, etc. We received a tour from the director of the center, who was very nice and welcoming of questions. The biggest surprise of mine was that due to lack of space, the patient check-up rooms were in the same room as the doctor’s offices. I immediately thought of the germs circulating from the sick patient to the doctor’s desk…

BARCELONA: On Thursday night I took an 8 hour overnight bus with 7 other people to Barcelona, and arrived early Friday morning. After checking into the hostel, we headed over to the immensely beautiful and intricate La Sagrada Familia, designed by Antoni Gaudi. It was my main mission in Spain to view this marvel, and we were fortunate enough to have bought tickets to go inside and explore. The inside of the church is quite different from the outside, but equally as beautiful and ornate. Later in the night we went out to the bars/discotecas, which turned out to be an interesting experience. On Saturday, we bought hop-on-hop-off bus tour tickets to explore the city most efficiently, which I would recommend to anyone wanting to visit Barcelona. Along the bus ride, we saw Parc Guell (a Park that Gaudi designed), Las Ramblas (where Gaudi’s house is located and is the main shopping center of Barcelona), Plaza Espanya (home to beautiful architecture and important government buildings), and many other famous sites in Barcelona. On Sunday I visited Montserrat (thanks to the recommendations of many), which essentially a city on top of a mountain, and is the site of a beautiful monastery, great views, good eating, winding (and steep) trails, churches, and plazas with beautiful architecture! This unique adventure started with our mode of transportation to access the mountain- We rode on a small tram-on-a-rope vehicle (basically a pulley) to the top of the mountain! I was very impressed as to how clean the city was, and I had to keep reminding myself how high up I was. As we were walking on the trails, one of my friends pointed out that as we looked out, we could see each individual cloud and the whole shadow it cast onto different areas of land below us…A very unique perspective on our altitude.

During one of the weeknights this week, I went paddleboating in Retiro Parque with 3 of my friends, 2 of whom were visiting from Rome. Even though it required arm strength I do not have, I enjoyed many laughs and a great time. In order for my Rome friends to completely enjoy Madrid, we took them to El Tigre later in the night for massive mojitos and yummy, greasy tapas. To my delight, we went for churros and chocolate as well!

Friday I am going on a day trip to La Mancha with my USAC progam, which is the location of the book “Don Quixote” by Miguel Cervantes. I am planning on staying in Madrid for the remainder of the weekend, and revisiting/re-appreciating the famous sites Madrid has to offer.

THINGS I HAVE NOTICED:

-Barcelona is part of an autonomous region called Catalonia, which is trying to become its own, independent country.

-Catalon, (the language spoken in the Catalonia area, including Barcelona) is NOT the same as Spanish.

-People wear shirts with American sayings, and I don’t think they fully understand what those sayings mean…

-People walk slow, everywhere.

-Gaudi=Barcelona

-I’ve had churros y chocolate three times since I have been here.

-I am craving paella.

For many of Loyola students, no matter where from, Chicago is another place they can call home. But what is really “home” anyway? What do we really mean when we ask someone where they are from? Do we want to know where they were born? Where they grew up or where they are currently living?

For my part, home is where the heart lies. I know, it’s really cheesy and cliché but it is also very true. I have called many places home at the same time. I was born and raised in France, my mom is from Benin and my dad is from Congo. I have studied abroad in Spain, Canada, and China and this is my last semester as an international student in Chicago. In this sense, to me home is at the same time the place of origin and the place where you find comfort. I call Paris home because it is where I grew up and where my family is but I also call Chicago home because I have been here for the last three years now.

Studying in Chicago I have found many friends that I hope to keep around me forever, and familiarized myself with places that were unknown to me three years ago. You need to be away from home to know you miss it but then you make another one without ever forgetting where you came from before.

 

So yes, I realize I am the world’s worst blogger at this point but you’re just going to have to forgive me because not only has Rome captured my heart it has also captured most of my spare time. That, and it’s midterms week(s) so yeah, sorry everybody.

Fall break was absolutely amazing. I met my lovely parents in Venice to kick things off. Don’t get me wrong, I love living here but it was really great to see my parents- seeing them made me realize how homesick I am at times but also how much I have already grown throughout this adventure. Day 1 of Venice we spent avoiding the rain, touring the insanely gorgeous San Marco Church, trying some strange cuisine (pasta with cuddlefish ink sauce anybody?), and traveling by boat. everywhere. Venice is absolutely beautiful with it’s waterways, singing gondoliers, and beautiful art. While I kind of felt seasick the entirety of the time, I fell in love with how romantic this city is, particularly at night when all the lights reflect down the canals.

We spent 3 days in Venice and then took a highspeed train to Florence. Florence was an entirely different kind of beautiful and gave me another reason to love Italy. Florence is very much how I imagined Italy to be, it’s a quaint little town with gorgeous scenery and even more astonishing works of art. The highlights of this trip were the Uffizi Muesuem, Michaelangelo’s David (breathtaking), and the LEATHER. Determined to get ourselves some gorgeous Italian leather, my mother and I scoured the leather markets for a good half of the day in search of the perfect bags and I can very happily say we found them. I’m starting to get more comfortable haggling prices with the vendors so I put my skills to use and knocked the prices of our new purses down quite a bit. It was an extremely sastisfying day. We also checked out the impressive Duomo, enjoyed the Chianti Classico that Florence is known for, and walked around Ponte Vecchio.

As much as I loved Venice and Florence my favorite part of fall break was showing my parents ROME (we spent the last few days here). I have come to consider this place home and I enjoyed showing my parents all of my favorite spots.

that is all.

 

 

“Analysand” : a person undergoing psychoanalysis.

I use this word to describe these two weeks with the utmost seriousness. The first reason is because these two weeks took me through a journey that sent me diving deep deep down into myself and asking “What can I do to help the world?” Not only did I spend my fall break traveling through Poland learning about the atrocities the Polish people have endured, but I also turned 22.

We will start where it began:

I boarded a plane around 9:00am having no idea what the week had in store for me. Luckily I was surrounded the entire time by some incredible people (faculty, alumni and students) who would share my feelings along the way. We arrived in Warsaw where we had free time and then took a tour of the historic Jewish Ghetto. Previously, I must mention, we were given a book by Jan Karski, A Secret State, that outlined his experience as a member of the underground movement in occupied Poland during WWII. When reading of the atrocities he witnessed in the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto I was immediately nauseous, but witnessing it full force in Warsaw everything really came to life.

That was just the beginning. We continued onto Torun (the hometown of Nicholas Copernicus), a small university town, where we met Polish college students, sat in on a symposium based around Jan Karski and the fight for Poland during WWII and the Cold War, and spent some downtime visiting a gingerbread factory. Luckily, our SLA Jenny Ruffing was conscientious of the fact that we would need some cheering up after the horrors we were first hearing about and added that last little adventure into our itinerary.

Now, let me take a moment to describe the symposium and the people that we met in Torun. We arrived at the college library early in the morning and sat among 2 other groups of college students to listen to 4 of the most educated people I have ever had the privilege of meeting speak about human rights. We learned about the underground government that was able to continue during occupied Poland and then the way that the allies sacrificed Poland to the Soviet Union even after they promised they would never do such a thing. We learned about Poland’s first fake liberation and then its real liberation with the ending of the cold war. We learned about the sacrifices that millions of individuals made in order to serve and save the country that they loved with a deep compassion. And we learned that we, as American students, had no idea what it meant to suffer, to be oppressed, to fight or to love anything the way the Polish people had in their lifetimes. In the end, we were taught what it meant to love your country and to be a human being in the face of disaster and death.

The people we met included my 3 favorite alumni of all time (who accompanied us throughout the entire trip) John, Leonard and Jim. These three men devote a large part of their lives to teaching young people, especially my generation, what it means to believe in human rights and the ability to do good in the world.

After the symposium we headed to Krakow where we had downtime and then saw Auschwitz. I cannot even begin to describe to someone who has not been there the way that a place like that can make you feel. I think the only way I can even try is to say that afterwards none of us felt much like eating or talking. My most vivid memory was walking through the room where they had preserved the hair that had been shaved from the Jew’s heads after they had been killed in the gas chambers. A whole room that was dedicated just to this part of the process of extermination that had children’s braids that had been thoughtlessly taken from them after they had been murdered in masses. Now before I described this part of my experience I thought about warning my audience that they should not read on if they did not wish to hear of such atrocious acts, but then I realized that that is what America has taught us to do. We allow our children, our citizens, my generation specifically to simply avoid such horrific matters. We give the choice to ignore all of the inhumane things happening in the world instead of simply teaching them and telling us to go and do something. If we all went and did something, do you think these things would still be happening around the world? I don’t. As we walked into the next room there were millions of shoes crowding the glass case and finally in the room after that there were dishes and silverware and briefcases that the Jews all brought with them simply thinking they were taking a trip to work camps that had been set up for them. At this moment I began to cry. It wasn’t one of those cries where it racks your body with sobs, but an internal cry that only lets out a few tears but makes you feel more beaten down and tired than you would have had you physically let everything out. What struck me even more was that no one else around me was crying. I don’t think it was because they were desensitized though, I think it was because they could only numb themselves down with all of this new information flooding their brains. How could people be so cruel?

We had a nice finishing dinner the day after when we were all able to stomach our food again and luckily the air was finally vibrating with the energy put into what we could do. What can you do? Well, that’s exactly the psychoanalysis we began to undergo.

From Poland I traveled to Prague. On the way there I met a woman who, back when she was younger, worked as a nurse in Northern African countries. This further fueled my realization that I could do something and I could do something big.

Then, being in Prague and turning 22 it began to hit me that I am maturing and now is the time to change whatever I can for the best. I began my morning with a more self-indulging gesture by getting my nose pierced. Ultimately it symbolized the change I was undergoing. Sometimes a change in appearance helps to solidify an internal change. I spent the rest of my weekend in Prague vacationing with friends and taking a small break from the difficulties I had experienced vicariously through my fall break trip.

Upon returning to Rome (now I can call it home, though) I opened up my Peace Corps application and started even more intensely to finish it as soon as I can.

I hope everyone can have an experience like I did during fall break because it is eye-opening. If everyone could go through that and come out with the positive outlook that I have now, the world could be a better place.

Cheers,

Megan

Last week my friend Natalie came to visit me from Rome. It was great to get a little taste of home while being so far away!

Low point in the week: Really missing my American peanut butter.

Highlight of the week: Discovered ‘Sainsbury’s  Lemon Curd’, a sweet, lemon, jelly-like spread. I ate it with shortbread cookies, ritz crackers, and straight out if the jar with a spoon.

This past weekend I went to Germany with Catie. It was a really great time! We left London on Friday morning and flew to Munich, where I had my first European foreign language encounters. Luckily, the ATMs and train ticket machines had language options so we knew what we were buying. However, pronouncing names (especially figuring out what sound “ß” makes), locating points on maps, and communicating with locals wasn’t so easy. The Munich City Center was a huge shopping complex in the middle of the city. I bought a German wool hat and ate weinerschnitzel for dinner. On our second day in Munich we took a trip to Dachau Concentration Camp. It was absolutely the most uncomfortable place I’ve ever been. I’ll never forget that experience. After Dachau we took an overnight bus to Berlin.

At first, I had doubts about Berlin. It was more difficult to travel through and didn’t seem to have the same energy as Munich. That afternoon we took a free walking tour and learned a lot about the city’s history and development. To my surprise, Berlin by night was much more exciting than Berlin by day. The city was hosting a Festival of Lights, and there were some very impressive displays throughout the streets. On our second day in Berlin, Catie and I visited the Reichstag (German parliament building). There is a huge dome on top of the building for visitors to get a birds-eye-view of Berlin. We could see the changing leaves in Tiergarten (huge park in the middle of Berlin) and the constant construction taking place. Overall, I would consider the Germany trip a complete success…even though I left my watch on the overnight bus.

I’m still not loving the study part of studying abroad. I feel guilty for neglecting my schoolwork, but it’s hard to think about studying when there’s an entire continent waiting to be explored. I do make it a point to keep up with my developing creativity course. This was my latest homework assignment: http://www.toondoo.com/cartoon/6717451

I’m leaving tomorrow morning for a 3-day guided tour of Paris, and I’m really looking forward to it! It’s a great feeling to be able to experience so many new things in such a short amount of time. If only my whole life could be like this…

 

Merci, Paris, for a spectacular weekend!

London will always be my favorite, but spending this past weekend in Paris made me realize why everyone loves it so much. It was beyond gorgeous. Even in the wind and rain, the beauty of the white stone buildings made the whole city feel like a palace. The Eiffel Tower was much bigger than I had imagined, and the view from the top was amazing! When we came back down, I ate a crepe under the Eiffel Tower, probably the most ‘French’ thing to do possible.

The second day our tour group walked through Montmartre. I saw the largest mosaic art piece in the world at Sacred Heart Church, bought a really nice silk scarf of a Monet water color painting, saw the Moulin Rouge, and then departed Paris for a trip to the Palace of Versailles. I’ve studied Versailles a lot, but never completely grasped how massive it was until I saw it in person. No wonder there was a revolution! It was over-the-top decorated with more paintings and gold trim than imaginable. Unfortunately, the huge crowds packed in each room took away from the awe, and it was an additional fee to visit the gardens, which would have required more time to fully appreciate than I was allowed. That night I ate dinner at an old wine warehouse with a few other people from my tour group. The food, wine, and creme brulé were delicious!

We spent our last day in Paris visiting the Louvre art museum. It was a bit overwhelming to see so much art in one place. The building itself was huge, but again the crowds of people really took away from the experience. I risked my life pushing through tourists to snap a shot of the Mona Lisa (which was surprisingly smaller than I pictured).  After the Louvre we took the Eurostar back to London. The trip was expensive, but I valued having a guide and not stressing about how to get from place to place like in Germany.

In other news, I shattered my iPhone by dropping it down the center of a spiral staircase. I’ve had an iPhone for almost 3 years and never even scratched a screen until now. Fortunately I brought my old phone here with me and can use it when I’m on wifi. Europe in general has been good about having wifi connections, so I’m not too worried.

My goal this week is to do at least half of the things on my ‘To Do’ list, which includes writing papers, reading books, and sending post cards. I’ve vowed to stop buying clothes and only spend money on food, respectable souvenirs, and memorable experiences. We’ll see how long that lasts.

It’s hard to believe my time here is already half way over. I’m homesick for my nieces and American food, but I can’t say I’m at all looking forward to leaving London.

 

I took advantage of my 10 day fall break and traveled to Berlin, Rome, Florence, Paris, and Versailles with some friends. Needless to say, I was exhausted after this trip, but had many wonderful memories, have become more culturally diverse, and have strengthened my friendship with some great people.

My first destination was a 3 day trip to Berlin, Germany. As soon as my friend and I got off the plane, we went straight for a huge pretzel and a brat, both of which were delicious! We stayed at a hostel that was 5 minutes from the Berlin Wall and the downtown area of Berlin. I liked the vibe of the area in which we were staying- It was full of young people who were hip and laid back. One of the days we went on a bus tour that highlighted the major attractions of Berlin, which included the international embassies, a Holocaust memorial, “Checkpoint Charlie,” Tiergarten, and a very beautiful cathedral. The architecture of Berlin was unique, beautiful and ornate, distinctive from the rest of Europe. The language barrier was ever present, and we had a very hard time communicating, especially since Spanish and English are so dissimilar to German. We found a cute pizza place near our hostel, and went out for drinks and burgers another night (sounds like I was in the US!). My favorite part of Berlin was walking along the Berlin Wall and looking at the beautiful murals along the wall. Berlin was a lot colder than I expected, and though there were some interesting things to see, I would have to say it was my least favorite city I visited.

We were in beautiful Roma for 4 days and stayed in a hostel with a 5 minute walk to the train station Termine, which proved to be very advantageous when we took a day trip to Florence. We visited the typical tourist attractions found in Rome, including The Trevi Fountain (both during the day and at night), Piazza Navona, The Spanish Steps, The Pantheon, The Colosseum, etc. On our last day, we visited Saint Peter’s Basilica as well, and saw the Sistine Chapel. I absolutely LOVE the Roman style architecture and the cobblestone streets, even though they take a toll on your feet. I had margherita pizza or pasta for dinner/lunch, and gelato for dessert every single day, and loved it. I even experienced the nightlife- One of my friends from Loyola who is studying abroad in Rome took us to a club called Mood, where we danced and let loose for a couple hours. We lucked out because the weather was so nice when we were in Rome, so we were able to explore outside all day.

Florence was a nice day trip away from the hustle and bustle of Rome. We took a train about 4 hours away from Rome. We saw “David” by Michaelangelo, toured some churches, climbed a lookout point of the city during the sunset, and discovered a castle. My favorite part of this voyage was standing over a bridge at dusk and looking at the gorgeous cityscape. I went with a close group of friends, so that made the experience even more enjoyable.

The more I think about it, the more I realize Paris was my favorite city to visit so far, and was a lot more beautiful than I originally expected. My favorite/most surreal part of Paris was going to the summit of the Eiffel Tower at night with my two friends. The whole time I had to keep reminding myself where I was, and the view was absolutely breathtaking. The Eiffel Tower “sparkles” for 5 minutes on the top of every hour, so I was able to see this from outside the Tower, as well as at the summit! We visited the Rose Window at the Notre Dame Cathedral, but not before we stopped for some CREPES from a street vendor. During my 2.5 days there, I had a caramel crepe and a nutella crepe (which was by far my favorite). We also visited the Mona Lisa at the Louvre and went to Museo d’ Orsay, which houses some of my favorite pieces by my favorite artists, such as Cezanne, Monet, Rodin, and Degas. Our last stop was at the famous Lock Bridge, where couples write their names on a lock and chain it to a bridge. I was blown away as to how many locks there were… So many, in fact, that my friends who brought a lock to put on the bridge had a hard time finding a place to put theirs! Needless to say, it was a really sweet end to our trip.

We visited Versailles as a day trip on our last day. The city is a couple hours outside of Paris, and there we visited the Palace of Versailles which was INCREDIBLE… Definitely worth the travel. The palace was built for the Spanish royals in the 1660’s, and this was probably the most expansive, beautiful, and ornate palace I have ever seen. We were on a time constraint, and couldn’t view all of the palace or the gardens, which are extremely expansive and are the major attraction of the palace. I would love to go back someday and finish touring the palace.

What I have noticed:

-Europeans and PDA- No boundaries

-Paris is very expensive. One morning, I paid 7.50 euro (around 10 US dollars) for a chocolate croissant and half a cup of coffee.

-Germans cannot locate the spot where Hitler committed suicide, because it is now a  parking lot.

-German men= very handsome.

-The Museo d’ Orsay (in Paris) was the old train station that was turned into a museum.

-You have a high chance of getting hit by a bicycle in Berlin. No mercy.

-If you are a student, museums are typically free. I don’t think I paid for entry to one museum while traveling.

The Beijing Center hosts many programs and opportunities to travel around Beijing and greater China, most of which is included in tuition (saaweet!). At the beginning of the semester we went on a 16-day trip from Beijing to the western border, about 50 miles from Pakistan. Mid terms week occurred two weeks ago, and as a “treat” we went on a week-long trip to the province of Shanxi. Shanxi is just southwest of Beijing and was very famous for the successful merchants and is now famous of their coal production. Unfortunately Shanxi is an extremely polluted province due to the high consumption of coal, but there are many beautiful historical and natural sites, too. Here is a small map of our course: 

Our first stop was in Datong where we visited the Yungong grotto. There were multiple cravings into caves and rock walls of Buddhas and other Buddhist symbols. Our next stop was in a traditional Chinese farming village. We had time to explore on our own and a few of us ended up chatting with a local elder who was 90 years old and had lived there his whole life. There were two middle aged men who were sitting with him and the group of us held a conversation for a lengthy amount of time. One of the men proceeded to tell us about his time in the Chinese military in the 1980’s and took us to his home to show us pictures of him and his battalion. There he and his wife offered us hot water and told us about their two children, one boy and one girl. The daughter was 20, so right around our age, and had left for university in the city. She is studying music and piano and has concerts that run expensive tickets and usually sells out. The family was very proud of her and insisted on having us listen to her recorded music – very beautiful! Afterwards we returned to our courtyard where we were served traditional Shanxi food which wouldn’t be complete without numerous noodle dishes.

Next we visited the ancient city of Pinyao where the area was very well preserved and still enclosed by an ancient Chinese wall. There were plenty of shops, temples and restaurants. Our hotel was a converted traditional Chinese mansion and the beds were a traditional kang style (one large bed elevated off the floor). Every evening there would be a group of Chinese girls dressed identically that would pass through the streets with a man carrying a speaker blasting traditional Chinese music. It was amazing to be sitting in the lobby with wifi and then look out and see this hundreds of years old city light up with a mixture of traditionalism and modernism! 

 

Our last two nights were spent in a village in the Taihang mountains, which are located in the very southern part of the province. We were the first group of westerners to visit this village so we were welcomed with open arms, county and village leaders, and a news crew!  After our television debut, we visited a local school with children in the first through sixth grade. We introduced ourselves and they returned the deed. Unfortunately our first day and a half it was rainy and the village was encased in a giant cloud. So, many of the beautiful peaks were invisible. But, on our last morning in the village, we had blue skies and it was as if the entire area lit up. The mountains and peaks were marvelous, varying colors and dramatic drops.