“Auspicate” : to initiate with ceremonies calculated to ensure good luck; inaugurate.

Today is the first day of classes in Rome and I cannot be more (nerd alert) excited to start learning again! Furthermore, I begin learning the Italian language, so I will finally be able to find my way around Rome without exaggerated pointing and pulling out my word list every 5 seconds.

During our welcome week we were all exposed to the best parts of the Roma area. Some highlights of the week were:

1. Becoming a part of the nightlife on the river in downtown Roma.
2. Seeing the Colosseum and the Forum all in one day.
3. Speaking incredibly broken Italian with cab drivers on the way home from nights on the town with friends.
4. Getting lost looking for the Nike store because no Italians know what the word “Nike” means and obviously repeating the word and pointing to your shoes does not suffice.
5. Going to the beach for an entire day full of good food, seawater and volleyball.
6. Taking a scavenger hunt all around Roma and whilst getting lost, finding yourself in the most beautiful areas of the world that you could every imagine to see in a big city.

Cheers,

Megan

After I went out for sangria with some of my friends in Puerto del Sol last night, we found a churro and chocolate place (I have been craving these FOREVER), which were MUY deliciosa. I can get used to ending nights out with churros… except I need to make sure to exercise the next day!!

Today some other friends and I went to mass at the Royal Cathedral next to the Royal palace. This church is AMAZING, and one of the most ornate churches I have ever seen. The mass was completely in Spanish so I was a little lost, but I tried to comprehend as much as I could. We had to dress very conservatively for church, most girls wearing dresses and a cardigan on top. Men dressed in dark jeans or dress pants with a collared shirt. After mass, we all went to eat at a cafe near Puerto del Sol. I had a Spanish omelet for the first time, which consists of eggs and potatoes, and was presented as a pie slice. I also had iced coffee for the first time, and it was given as a small cup of black coffee, with a side of sugar and a glass full of ice. It was a lot stronger than the cafe con leche I am used to, but it was something I would order again. Afterwards, we made our way back to the metro, but first stopped to enjoy the beautiful scenery surrounding the Royal Palace. The gardens and sculptures are beyond comprehension.

I have discovered my new homework/hangout spot- Retiro Parque. I went on a run around the park with my roommate, not sure what to expect, and left it more than impressed. I am so lucky to be living near Retiro, because it is absolutely beautiful- It reminds me of Central Park in New York due to its proximity to the city, but I think is even more beautiful. There are many different types of gardens around the park, a central lake where you can paddleboard, people playing and singing music, and others walking, running, biking, rollerblading… everything!! I love that the park is also enclosed by huge, intricate black iron gates that give it a separate feel from the massive city that is right next door.

I start school tomorrow at the local university, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. I will be taking 18 credit hours, with 4 spanish classes, 1 English class, and 1 Spanish medical terminology class (most excited about this class). It’s crazy to think that all my friends back at Loyola have been in school for a couple weeks already, and our first day is tomorrow! I feel like a freshman all over again!

-Things I have noticed so far:

-People push their services on you- hard. From beer to club passes to roses, each time we go out, we have to say “No gracias” many times.

-The Spaniards are very helpful when approached. Today we got lost trying to find the royal cathedral, and an older man went out of his way to walk us to where we needed to go.

-Churros and chocolate= a dream.

Hasta manana!

 

The acholi word for “home” or “compound” is gang (pronounced “gãŋ” for all you phonetics buffs). Anyways, I have been living with my Ugandan family in their gang for about a week now. I am happy to say they are amazing, and I this blog is about my life with them so far.

The house itself is three bedrooms, a kitchen and a common area. Our kitchen doesn’t have a fridge or a stove, but we have two grill-like instruments used for cooking that we call “anafres” in Mexico. I don’t know the name in English or Acholi, so here’s a link to the spanish Wikipedia article about it: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anafre. My bedroom is pretty small, and basically only has room for my bunkbed, the nails on the walls serving as closets, and just enough space for the door to open. I share the room with my brother Andrew. Andrew is a mystery to me, as he spends most of his days lying on his bed and testing my Acholi language knowledge by firing off long sentences and laughing at my confused look when I don’t understand what he says. He also has the unique hobby of waking me up at 7 am with strong statements that lack introductions. For example, yesterday he poked my shoulder and said “WHERE IS YOUR COLGATE?”. “Colgate” is a proprietary eponym used in Northern Uganda to refer to toothpaste. What Andrew meant was: “Hey roomie, sorry for waking you up on your day off, but I need some toothpaste and I was wondering where I might find yours”.

Normally, that’s as far as conversation between Andrew and I goes, but today was a special day. His choice of wake-me-up command this morning was “GIVE ME YOUR CLOTHES”. Even for Andrew, this was a little on the shocking side. I jumped out of my top bunk ready to explain that my relationship with him was more friendly than anything else he might be insinuating, but then I realized what he meant was this: “Hey roomie, sorry for waking you up on your off day, again, but I’m about to go do laundry and it’s come to my attention that you’re not well versed in the art of hand-washing your clothes. How about you bring your laundry on down and I’ll show you how it’s done. In fact, let’s make a day of it”.

After this, we proceeded to walk out of our home with our clothes in tow and kept going for about ten minutes (which confused me even further). We met up with a friend of his who works as a gate-keeper at a compound that has plenty of water that you don’t have to get from a well, like you do at our house. When we got there, him and his friend showed me how to hand wash clothes, and told me to give it a go. After about 30 seconds of sudsing my pants, the pair exploded in a bout of laughter and said they would wash my clothes because clearly I had no idea. I didn’t object. Once we were done, we sat down under a tree to chat and had an exciting conversation about Spanish League Football, East African Politics, the possibility of them migrating to the US, and everything in between. After about an hour, once the conversation had stagnated, I realized that Andrew’s plan was to sit under said mango tree until our clothes dried, which is a five hour process. It’s come to my attention that Ugandans are rarely in a hurry. I, on the other hand had to go work on a paper that I have yet to start (This blog got in the way). It’s easy to forget about the word “Study” in “Study Abroad” when you’re in a place that’s as amazing as Gulu.

The rest of my family isn’t quite as quirky as Andrew, but they are definitely no less interesting. I’ll start with my Ugandan mom, Pastor Karoline. Her day job is Born-Again Christian Pastor, in the afternoon she runs an organization of about 25,000 Acholi widows who she basically teaches to be more like her, because she is also a widow and has sustained a household, put all of her kids, many of her nephews, and a bunch of her grandkids through college and into great jobs. In between, she has time to grow all the vegetables her family needs in her backyard (she also has enough left over to sell in the market, one of the things she teaches the widows to do), host a muzungu kid named Jeronimo in her house, and have great conversations that go into the wee hours of the night. Mom speaks four languages (English, Acholi, Swahili, and French), and her and three of my sisters are making me teach them spanish (their Spanish is better than my Acholi), she’s lived in Tanzania, several Ugandan cities and Kenya.

I don’t think I’ll go into explicit detail about the rest of my siblings for one simple reason; I don’t know how many I have, what their relationship is to me or to each other, whether or not they live in my house full time, and how some of them came to be in our house. Don’t judge me, blog reader. For several reasons, it’s not as easy as it seems to answer those questions. The Acholi conception of siblings, parenthood, and family are very different from ours. Your cousin’s daughter is your daughter, your close neighbors are your brothers, your “auntie” can also be your sister, and everyone who walks into our house basically calls Pastor Karoline “momma”. Furthermore, if I mention them by name, you’ll probably get confused and stop reading, if you haven’t already. There are two “Winnies” (big and little), two “Chrises” (old and young) and enough guys named Dennis to start a club. There is also a Steven, a Sharon, a Monika, a Dee, a Lee, and a Desmond. These are their English names, which they use when introducing themselves to me, but they also each have Acholi names, which they sometimes use with each other. My Acholi name is Acellam (Pronounced A-che-lam, which means “the only man in the family”, a reference to my status as the single male in my study abroad group of six girls). It is also important to note that only an average of about six people sleep in the house at one time, and everyone else is either a visiting relative, a neighbor, or someone looking to talk to Pastor Karoline about life and it’s subtleties.

It’s hard to describe the socio-economic status of my family, because despite our pit-latrine, bucket shower, and lack of a fridge, my mom works on a laptop and runs a huge organization, my sister works in the administrative side of a regional bank and is working on her master’s degree, and most of the adults are college-educated. Not that this matters, because they truly are amazing people regardless of economic rank, but I think the ambiguity speaks to region’s process of development.

Ever since I arrived, this family has been nothing but welcoming and loving. They are eager to share their culture with me, even though their values are quite different from most Acholi families here. They are very progressive. They reject a lot of traditional Acholi customs, partly from education and exposure to other countries, and partly because of their strong Christian beliefs. They have also hosted ten SIT students before me, so they’re used to misinformed questions and blunders like having no idea what to do with a bucket instead of a shower head. They’re also very curious about my own culture. Fun fact: Ugandans watch “telenovelas” dubbed into english religiously. Naturally this makes my family very interested in my being from Mexico, and in the fact that my real brother’s name is “Bruno” just like the main character in the hit novela “Una Maid En Manhattan”.

That’s all for today, folks. I have a lot to talk about, so I think approaching this blog topically instead of chronologically will help to get most of the information across. Coming up, I’ll talk about the academics, the food, my understanding of Uganda’s post conflict situation, and how much I absolutely despise all the girls I’m studying abroad with. Just kidding, you guys, I know you are reading this and neglecting either a bucket bath forced onto you by your homestay family or that paper due tuesday.

 

– Acellam Out

你好！I am very excited to start blogging about my experiences in China. My fellow classmates and I actually arrived in Beijing almost four weeks ago and have been through orientation, then a two week trip across the entire country and finally our first week of classes. The trip followed the old silk road trail from Beijing to about 50 miles away from the Pakistan border! It was a very eye-opening trip to see the different minorities of China as well as the beautiful and diverse landscape. TBC (The Beijing Center) did a wonderful job of coordinating our trip and ensuring that we not only had a good time but were safe and reflecting on our own assumptions about China. It was very well planed to do the trip before classes started. Now we have a better understanding of China and have knowledge entering our China-specific courses.

So far my classes have been not only extremely interesting and thought-provoking but challenging, too. This program is less of a typical “study abroad” program and more of a “learn about China in China” program. The difference I believe is that our academics and language courses are taken very seriously and the professors and staff expect a lot our of you throughout the whole semester. We are encouraged to venture out and utilize the knowledge we learn in our classes and apply them throughout our experiences in Beijing and beyond. The professors at TBC come from all over the city to teach in this program and their resumes are phenomenal. Many of these professors are known around Beijing, China and the world for their works and studies. I feel very fortunate to be learning under such knowledgeable people.

Now, just because academics are taken very seriously and a majority of every student’s weekday evenings are spent reading or practicing Chinese, Beijing is full of amazing opportunities and fun activities. In such a large international city you can find just about everything. Just outside of our campus you can find hundreds of large and small restaurants of varying cuisine. There are numerous festivals around the city celebrating Chinese culture as well as expat cultures. Also, China holds one of the oldest societies in the world and therefor have thousands of historic sites throughout the country. Yesterday the entire TBC group had the opportunity to visit the Great Wall, probably the most famous historical site in China. It was amazing to think about all of the work it took to build this enormous structure and that it still stands today.

Almost one month down in China and I have already seen parts about China I did not even existed. Being in such a rich culture has helped me to think about my own culture back home in the United States and reflect on the differences as well as similarities. The people are very welcoming and enjoy talking to foreigners so it is easy to become friends with people walking on campus or down the street. The language is also so different that communication can be difficult and simple tasks such as going to the grocery store become a long and tiring process. However, through these struggles and misunderstandings I am learning more about my new home and falling in love with China each strange conversation at a time!

What a whirlwind of the past couple of days it has been. This has really been my first chance to blog since getting to Madrid. On Tuesday, September 3, I headed to O’Hare airport where I met up with all the USAC students studying in Madrid from the Chicagoland area, which consisted of 3 other Loyola students and 2 from University of Iowa. We then took a group flight out of Chicago to Newark, New Jersey, where we had a 3 hour layover and met up with all the other USAC students else going on the group flight to Madrid. After a rough 7.5 hours on the airplane, we all arrived in Madrid at 3am (10am Madrid time) the next morning, where we met up with the rest of the group. I made a couple new friends in the process of traveling, and we explored Madrid and found a really cute and delicious cafe where I had cafe con leche and a vegetable quiche with some hummus in a little cafe down a street in Madrid. The streets aren’t like Chicago’s at all- They are narrow and can only fit one car, in which their cars are typically a bit smaller than American cars. Later we had orientation and then a welcome dinner, and after some of the USAC students and I bonded over a couple pitchers of sangria. I knew going into this trip that sangria is a big deal, but in order to put things a little more into perspective, alcohol is typically cheaper than wine, so people are always drinking here. After being up for 30 hours straight and the sangria making me drowsy, I headed to bed.

 

Today we took a tour of the famous sites IN Madrid, including all of the famous plazas and the royal palace which was absolutely BEAUTIFUL- I plan on putting some pictures up within the next couple of days! There are well over 2,000 rooms in this palace, but all are currently uninhabited, and the royal family currently lives in a different part of Madrid. I learned that the king and queen are celebrities, but are not very liked due to the monarchy that still reigns. After the tour we broke off into groups for lunch and exploration of the city. The group that I was with split a pizza and some sangria on the plaza- It was the most relaxing and wonderful part of my day. Later in the day we (finally) moved into our apartments/homestays. I am living with two other girls whom I think I will get along with very well, we went to dinner, oriented ourselves around our neighborhood, relaxed, and unpacked. I am glad to finally be in a semi-permanent place of residence. These days are absolutely PACKED with things to do and go by quickly!

 

Things I have noticed about Madrid:

-Emphasis on the sangria love.

-Most Spaniards can speak basic English.

-Madrid is overwhelming- I cannot wait to slowly explore the city.

-You cannot typically ask for a glass of water at restaurants. You will be charged and given a bottle of water.

-Food/most items are relatively cheap

-There is no Netflix, Hulu, or Pandora here.

-Spaniards do not know what oatmeal is.

-There are Starbucks, KFC, Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds here, except their menus are extremely different.

 

Hasta Manana! 🙂

I haven’t had a chance to catch my breath let alone blog until now, as we have been insanely busy this last week. I don’t think it has truly set in that we are in Rome, the Eternal City, but I am slowly starting to believe it. Before I dive into the awesomeness that is Roma, I should probably tell you a little bit about myself.

I’m a second semester Junior at Loyola. I have transferred a few times, but the most recent school I attended before Loyola was Purdue and this is actually my first semester at Loyola. I couldn’t think of a better way to kick off my Loyola experience than spending the semester in Rome, and so far this has been one of the greatest decisions I have ever made.

I’m an English major with an emphasis on creative writing and and even more particular emphasis on poetry. Yes, I am well aware that is not going to pay my bills.

Besides a wonderful trip to Canada, this is my first time out of the country

Another early day here in Italy! The whole campus is off to Orvieto for a day in the Tuscan countryside.  Like I said before, never pass up a school organized trip! You have already payed for it and they are really fun and allow you to see places that you wouldn’t have thought to go see otherwise. Driving through Tuscany was so beautiful, it has fields and fields of sunflowers and is breathtaking. It was so early in the morning and I was so tired, but it was just oo beautiful to even sleep. I had never heard of Orvieto before this trip but I am so glad we went! This little Tuscan town is so beautiful with the typical Italian feel. It is only a mile long so we probably walked around the entire town about 4 times throughout the day.

When we first arrived, we got a tour of the town and the beautiful church. The tour guide was amazing and knew so much about the history of the town and even the church’s architecture. After our tour we got to walk around a bit and then we all met up for a cooking class and lunch at the restaurant, Zeppelin. I definitely took up the opportunity to volunteer to help cook, too. It was so much fun watching the chief cook, and we actually got to eat all of the food that we helped make.

After a delicious meal, we got to walk through the town to explore and shop. We climbed the towns clock tower and enjoyed beautiful views of the countryside because Orvieto is on the top of a hill. (We also got a little surprise when the bells on top of the clock tower started going off haha) We all bought a lot of cool souvenirs too. Orvieto has beautiful ceramics and I was able to buy a really cool butterfly for my room at home and also some wine corks with painted ceramic tops. I would say it was a pretty successful day! Back to Roma for more studying and sightseeing! Ciao!