HELLO READERS!

Wow can’t believe it’s been almost a month since my last blog entry. As you have read, I had my spring break during the beginning of April, traveling to four countries in a matter of 18 days. And honestly, as fun as it was, I am EXHAUSTED. I will try to do a quick recap of everything that happened without drawing it all out to long and making you all jealous 😉

First Stop: Aix-en-Provence

Since I had already been to all the major cities (Paris, London, Berlin, etc.) last semester, I decided to visit some lesser known places and focus on visiting friends and relaxing, as compared to going crazy with sight-seeing and touristy adventures. My first stop was to Aix-en-Provence, a small city in the south of France, to visit my good friend Phoebe from Loyola. I would compare Aix to Alicante in that it is a rather small city, but it is beautiful and relaxing and has almost no tourism, which I personally prefer. The first couple days I was there, Phoebe took me around the city, showing me where she hangs, her school, the museums, favorite restaurants, etc. I met a couple of her friends and we went out for drinks and dinner a couple nights, but for the most part, we just talked and relaxed over a cup of coffee at the café below her apartment. We went to Marseilles for a day with one of her friends, which was fun, but spent most of the time just hanging out in her apartment and cooking homemade meals. It was nice not having to pay any money for a hostel and spending practically nothing on fresh produce to make our food the whole time I was there. Being in France and catching up with my friend was a very relaxing and fun way to start my spring break.

Stop Two: Greece

After 6 days in France, I was off to Greece to join two of my good friends that are in the USAC program. I arrived in Athens a day early, and after checking into my hostel, I decided to spend that first day alone exploring the city. I walked around the Acropolis and ate some delicious Greek food by myself, and did some light shopping too. I did not mind being alone at all, especially in a city with so much beauty and history. However, around 8 pm when I returned to the hostel, I met some really nice Australian girls who invited me out for dinner and drinks with them. It was fun hanging out with them and getting to know more about them, what they were doing abroad, where they were going next, and of course, more about their Australian culture. The next day my friends joined me, and we took it easy just walking around the city and shopping. The following day, however, we were up bright and early to go on a 5 hour free waking tour of Athens. Our tour guide was an archeologist, so he was able to give us more information and details about certain ruins, buildings, and life styles of the Greeks back then. Of course I had learned about a lot of this back in Loyola, but it was quite the experience to actually be able to see and experience these things. We explored museums, the Acropolis with the Parthenon, Zeus Olympus, the Agora, the ancient forum, and numerous churches. We were all exhausted by the end of the tour, that after a nice dinner and some repacking for our adventure tomorrow, we were in bed by 11 pm. That Friday we headed off to Mykonos, a small Greek island that is part of the Cyclade islands. Mykonos was absolutely gorgeous! It was the island that you image when you think of the Greek Islands- amazing sunsets, warm temperature, bright white buildings with blue and red accents, and incredible food. It was quite the island adventure, exploring this tiny island and enjoying the sun and beaches. The tourism season of the city hadn’t started yet, so we got to see the island in its natural setting- old men and women going to church, children playing at the beaches, people cleaning and working, etc. The crazy partying tourists hadn’t arrived yet, which allowed this trip to be very enjoyable and continue my Spring Break of relaxation. We returned back to Athens after two days at Mykonos, and parted our separate ways to spend the rest of Spring Break in different cities. I absolutely loved Greece, and truly hope I can return some day.

Stop Three: Rome, Italy

There was no way I was not going to return to Italy during this second semester, to revisit my friends and my second home, Rome. I was only in Rome for two days, but it was enough to make me nostalgic for last semester. I visited some friends that are still studying in the JFRC center and was immediately overcome with a mixture of feelings. I was so happy to see my friends and return back to my home last semester, seeing my favorite sites and eating at my favorite restaurants, but I was incredibly sad too that not all of my friends from last semester were there to accompany me. It really made me miss them all and appreciate the community and love that I experienced last semester. The second day in Rome, I was joined by my friend Lizzy, and I took her all around to the famous spots and ruins, acting as her free personal tour guide. It was fun showing her my favorite spots and reliving some of my memories from last semester. We ate at the best gelateria and pasta restaurant, and had a great time simply strolling the old Italian streets, as everyone should when visiting Rome. My time back in Rome was short and cheap, but it was nice to revisit this gran city.

Stop Four: Milan, Italy

I had a one day layover in Milan between Rome and Barcelona, so I decided to message a friend of my family who was living there, seeing if she was available to take me around Milan and show me what a local does. She was delighted to have me for the day, and showed me a wonderful time. She took me around Milan, showing me the great shopping and bar areas, the breath-taking church, the main plazas, and her favorite restaurants. She took me out for Indian food (my favorite!) and even took me out to Pavia, a small city on the outskirts of Milan that has an incredible medieval feel to it. There is an ancient and beautiful monastery there which we spent a couple hours at, admiring the incredible paintings, architecture, gardens, and interior designs. My stay with Jane was very short, but it was lovely. It was nice having an older woman showing me her city and taking me out, just to treat me and have fun… also helped me save some money!

Last Stop: Barcelona

After 15 days of traveling, I was coming to my last trip during spring break- a weekend in Barcelona with my friend Allison. I arrived mid-afternoon that Thursday, checked into my hostel, and slept until my friend arrived. I was so tired from all the planes and buses that a nice long nap was necessary. She arrived around 8 pm, we went for dinner and drinks, and decided to go to bed early for the night so we could take advantage of the next day. That Friday morning we went on a three hour free walking tour around Barcelona, seeing all the famous sites of course- the medieval churches, the Jewish quarters, the Gothic buildings, all of Gaudi’s unique buildings, and the Picasso museum. I had not walked that much since the first month in Rome, and my body was incredibly sore by evening time. We did some more exploring after the tour, checking out some flea markets and other museums, and of course we did some shopping and eating. I really like Barcelona, but it was way too touristy for me. I heard more English and German there than any other country or city I had ever visited before. It was fun being able to talk and understand the people more, but I felt like the true Catalan culture was lost in the midst of all the foreigners and concentration on tourism. Nonetheless, the Sagrada Familia, the beaches, the seafood, and the lively atmosphere made this trip very enjoyable. It was not nearly was relaxing as my previous adventures, but it was nice a bang it the end of my spring break.

Back in Alicante…

I was actually incredibly excited to head back to Alicante after being gone for almost 20 days. I was missing my host family a lot, even though we had texted and talked on Facebook several times. I was missing my bed and home cooked meals, and I was tired of flying and tours. I was ready to sleep and enjoy my last month back in Alicante. School was hard to get back into when I returned, but it was easy being back with my family and friends. I realized though that I only had a month left in Alicante, and I became very sad this past week. I have two more trips left, one to Scotland and one to Portugal, and although I am excited, part of me just wants to stay in Alicante with my family and the beach. Can’t believe this semester is wrapping up so quickly… it feels like it went by so fast! I still have a couple weeks of school, internship at the museum, and free weekends, but I know it will fly by right before my eyes. I am starting to worry about how I am going to return to real life after this!

I really hope students are reading my blog and learning a bit about traveling, like all the ups and downs and the numerous opportunities that come about from traveling. I hope they, or yourself, see that it is possible and totally worth working hard and applying yourself to set out on an adventure like this. I honestly wouldn’t give up any of it. I hope that I can really share my experiences and my advice to students who want to study abroad, whether it’s suggestions on where to study or advice on how to save money and apply to different scholarship programs, like the Gilman scholarship, to help with this adventure. If anyone is interested in some more one-on-one communication, I would love to help out! I really want other students to have an incredible time traveling the world and growing as an individual, no matter where you are now or where you want to go.

Please find me on Facebook (Ryann Nicole Howard) or email me (rhoward4@luc.edu) to find out more!

Atentamente,

Ryann Howard

Hola Todos!!

Well, I have  less then a month left of this wonderful experience.  I am going to miss this place soooooo much. Since I only have a little bit of time left, I am trying to do everything I wanted to do here before I leave!  The weather has really turned around here!  For most of the 3 months, it has been cold and rainy but this past week the temperature has averaged about 70 degrees!!  Everyone in the USAC program has been taking advantage of this amazing weather.  That being said, I have spent a lot of time outside walking around and sitting on the grass in the parks, just enjoying being in Europe with such great weather.   Last Sunday, my friends and I went to a Bull Fight!  I never ever thought I would actually go to a bull fight.  Thought I did get a little queazy, I thought I would cry the whole time or puke or get up and leave, but I didn’t, I sat though the whole ceremony.  I can appreciate the art of Bull fighting, but I do not think I would ever go again, it seemed like animal cruelty.  The atmosphere was awesome and they let one bull go because of its bravery, so it was not all bad.  I would recommend it.  I also went to a Cirque Du Solie Show last week!  I love those shows and it was really cool to see one here.  Tonight, my friends and I, are going to a Futbol game!!  We are going to see Real Madrid play at the stadium here, I am super excited!

I just found out that I got an A- in my most recent spanish class which is awesome!  I am so glad I am having fun and working hard, it makes me feel good.

I am going to Malaga in a couple of weeks for independence day weekend!

 

Okay so some things that I have noticed:

Spaniards do not really like people from Latin America, they see them as immigrants and they call them bad names.  (I think that is one of the reasons I have gotten mean glares, they think I am Dominican.)

Apparently 80 degrees is not hot enough to wear shorts or a dress cause all of the USAC students got mean glares on the metro for it.

Spaniards are not good at speaking english, it is too hard to pronounce the words so they just do not try.  I am not sure why it took me so long to realize this.   My professor said that  one of the things most spaniards make as their New Years Resolution is:  to speak english-more or at all.

I do not think I ever told you guys this, but I call myself Jordana (Jordan is my middle name)

because I HATE the way spanish speakers say Tyler.

 

Alright that is all!  Stay tuned 🙂

Tyler Monroe

 

 

Hola Todos!

I have the travel bug!!! I want to travel the world 3 times!! I love TRAVEL.  I know I have not posted in a while but I am going to try to post once a week for the next 6 weeks.  I have had a really fun few weeks.  Basically all of Europe has spring break during Holy Week or Semana Santa so that was technically our second spring break.  My friends and I went to Italy!!  We went to Rome for a couple of days and then went to Sorrento for a couple of days!  It was the best trip I have ever taken!!  Italy is such an amazing place.  My motto on the trip was “Gelato:  everyday twice a day.”  If they spoke spanish I definitely would have studied there.  Rome is not as clean as Madrid, and I thought the people were a lot more down to earth and nice.  Rome is much more touristy then Madrid, for example, the metro said the stops in both italian and english.  The food was out of this world.  I had pizza or pasta for every meal.  We went to Palm Sunday mass AT THE VATICAN.  That is right folks…I saw Pope Francisco!!  Seeing the Pope and going to Palm Sunday mass was the greatest experience of my life. I can not even describe how happy I was that Sunday.  He rode around in the Pope mobil after the mass and we were so close to him! Seriously the best experience of my life, just indescribably wonderful.  In Sorrento we rode motor scooters for a day.  It was the most exciting and fun thing I have ever done.  The Amifi Coast is just beautiful and Sorrento was such a quaint little town, riding bikes was definitely the icing on the cake for my Italian adventure!

When I returned from Italy my mom, dad and sister came to Madrid!  It was not until my parents came that I realized that there is not that much to do here.  Walking, sleeping, and drinking is the spanish way of life.  We walked through the parks and walked around the center a bit, but for the most part we ate and drank the whole time!  It was a very relaxing vacation for them.  I was really glad my to see all of them and to hang out together as a family in a foreign country.  I showed them my all of my favorite restaurants, took them to churros con chocolate, and we went to dinner with my host mother which was pretty cool.  All in all it was a very fun second Spring break.

My host mom has started teaching me how to cook spanish food!!! I love cooking and it has been sad not being able to cook here so I am really glad she is teaching me how to make things!!  I am going to be a worldly chef before I leave!

I have decided that I am going to start going out more and taking advantage of the drinking age 😉 I went to el tigre, a nice little bar last night with a group of friends and it was a lot of fun.  In my final blog I am going to list all of the places I recommend going for drinks, tapas, dessert, and more if any of you, my readers, decide to go to Madrid in the future!

In school we are almost done with our 3rd class out of 4 and the work load is getting pretty intense.  We have to write compositions once a week and they have to be 350 words…all in spanish.  Our final for this class in next Thursday.  I realized that I need to speak more spanish, I can understand spaniards really well, but when it is my turn to speak I get my verbs confused so I just end up saying “vale” which means “okay.”  So, for the next six weeks I am going to speak as much spanish as possible so I can be as fluent as I can when I return to the States.

 

Alright now here are some things that I have noticed:

PDA is OKAY here.  People of all different ages make out everywhere.  On the metro, in the park, in restaurants, on the street, just everywhere.  I am not talking pecks or just a little make out session, OH NO it gets pretty intense, and they do not care who is watching.

In my last blog I said I would find out what the center of their lives are because it definitely is not their job, well it is just living.  They live.  Hanging out with their friends, going for walks, traveling, whatever makes them happy, that is what they do.  It is a really cool and interesting way to live your life.

Old people are everywhere.  Their old people are not like our old people.  Their old people ride the metro, they take the bus, they walk around, they sit on benches and stare or talk to friends, they are out and about all day long!  I do not know where they are going or why it is so important to get out of the house, but these old folks are always out of the house.  This city is covered in old folks.

They are in a crisis right now.  There are a lot of strikes and marches that go on every weekend.  Well two weeks ago there was a metro strike so there was not a lot of people to drive the metros.  This was a problem.  The metro normally runs every 3-5 minutes in the mornings but that week it was every 12-15 minutes.  This means that all of those people are waiting for a long time and by the time the train comes it is packed and there are a million people trying trying to get on the train with the million people who are already on the train.  Getting to school was rough!  I have to transfer trains once but some of my friends have to transfer twice to get to school.

It is not getting warmer 🙁

Everyone smokes

Being on time is an option.  If someone is running late, they do not call and give you an explanation they simply show up late. And what do you do while you are waiting for them?  Nothing, look up and enjoy the trees or the beautiful buildings and enjoy life.  It is strange but also very cool, no hurry and no rush.

Most cell phones are pre-paid or pay as you go so they do not use there phones like we do and text all day long.  The younger generation uses a texting app to text each other called Whatsapp.  So if you come to Spain and you think a guy is hitting on you do not be alarmed if they ask for your “whatsapp.”

 

Okay that is all for now!! Stay tuned 🙂

Bianca, Matt, Me, and Jordan in Sorrento!

Papa Francisco!!

My sister, Kennedy, and I having (non alcoholic) drinks 🙂

Besos everyone!!

 

Well, it’s been about three weeks since my last blog, a good indicator that I am pretty busy traveling and enjoying my time here in Spain! After the Granada trip at the end of February, I have spent the last two weeks doing a lot of homework and studying (we just had our midterms) and planning for my Spring Break. I will be traveling for 18 solid days in April, hitting up four different countries- SO EXCITED!!! Flights and hostels were all pretty cheap, and I am excited to be crashing on some couches at the apartments of other friends who are studying abroad hahaha. I sense a long blog post after that chunk of traveling!

But any who, I have also been continuing my internship at the M.A.R.Q. museum, which has been really fun and interesting. I’m still learning a lot about the museum and possible career choices for someone like me with my majors and ambitions. I also picked up a second internship, where I am an English teacher’s assistant at a small school in Alicante. Every Friday, Luis (the director of the USAC Program) drives me to Aire Libre, the school I teach at, and I spend about 6 hours there assisting Maria, the English teacher, with teaching 3 classes of twenty kids English. It’s actually a lot of fun, and pretty hysterical too. I’m impressed at how good their English is for being only 10-13 years old. A lot of the boys ask me if I have a boyfriend and flirt with me (they are romantics even from a young age), and the girls are interested in knowing if I have horses and what America is like. They are all very smart and goofy, and I have never had more fun playing Simon Says with English commands than I have with them. I am usually not a big kid fan, but I really enjoy going to the school and working with them. It’s even starting to make me think if teaching Spanish in the states could be a possible career choice for me in the future….

Now as for my title, last weekend I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go to… AFRICA. A bunch of USAC students and I got together at the beginning of the semester and we planned a trip to Morocco, Africa, through this travel agency that provides safe tours to students in Africa. We planned it all a while ago, and now finally it was here! I had always wanted to go to Africa, and now that dreams was actually going to be realized. We left at 3 am on Friday morning (pretty miserable, but it was the only time that there would be a bus going from Alicante to Malaga, the port city). We arrived around noon that day, met with our group organizer, and headed for the port. We had to take a ferry to Africa, which surprisingly only took about an hour. There were 16 of us USAC students total going to Africa, and we were all ecstatic. We arrived around 7 pm in Ceuta, a small Spanish city in Africa, and then took a bus to our hotel in a small city near Tangier, starting our African adventure.

Morocco was beautiful, but it was not at all what I thought it would be honestly. I admit, I thought it would look like the Saharan desert, or the plains of Africa with a lot of animals and small towns- I blame Hollywood for those ideas. Instead, northern Morocco was incredibly green and mountainous, humid and wet, and appeared more like Ireland than the Africa I had envisioned.  The cities were small, and all the buildings were white or blue (blue paint keeps mosquitoes away- check the pictures!). The people spoke Arabic, obviously, but also French and a little Spanish, and they were extremely modest in the appearances, with the women wearing the head scarves and men wearing full body robes. Us Americans really stuck out, and I had never felt more out of place and different in my whole life. Now this isn’t a bad thing- I liked feeling that intense culture shock. It was the first time I had ever been somewhere that was completely different in every aspect- how the people looked, their language, their mannerisms, their food, buildings, interactions, homes, etc. It was a completely different world, and it was exhilarating to see something so different from America and even Europe. I am not going to lie, there were some challenges to this though. My snow white complexion and red/light brown hair brought a lot of attention to me, since all the Moroccans have very dark hair and complexions. The locals stared at my friends and I, especially the blonde haired, blue-eyed girls. It was definitely uncomfortable sometimes, knowing that everyone knew I was not from Morocco, and having them treat me different, but I didn’t let it bother me.

During our trip, we visited three Moroccan cities; Chefchaueoun, Tetuan, and Tangier. They were all different and unique in their own way, but all equally interesting. We did a walking tour in each city, learning a little bit more about it’s history and culture. We learned quite a bit about Morocco’s history as a country as well, but I won’t go into detail here about all that information 🙂 My friends and I did a lot of walking, shopping, eating, exploring, and learning everywhere we went. We learned that they paint the walls of the city blue to keep the bugs away, and that tapestries, rugs, Argon oil, and leather are very popular merchandise there. We learned about their religion, like how often they pray, where they do it, and their religious rituals. My friends and I learned how to bargain at the little shops and market places around the city, some of us scoring great deals on objects. I bought a beautiful blanket and some postcards, as well as a tea cup set and fridge magnet for my host family (my host mom loves collecting magnets from everywhere she goes, so I thought it was perfect…. she loved it a lot!) I took a ton of pictures, everything that was interesting and beautiful, and even learned some Arabic words and phrases along the way. I only really learned the basics, like Hello, how are you? in Arabic, but I made sure to say them as often as possible, trying to communicate with the locals.

We visited a couple cool spots during our transition from one city to the next, checking out the beach point where the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean meet, as well as the famous cave of Africa. I think my favorite part though, however, was our camel ride. It was probably one of the funniest things I have ever done, and I loved it. The camel ride was included in our tour, and was one of the last things we did. We stopped at this one beach on our way to Tangier, and saw a bunch of camels and people riding them. Everyone was super giddy about it, and we were pushing each other around trying to get to the camels first. The ride itself was not long, maybe only ten minutes, but it was awesome. At first it was terrifying getting on the camel and having it stand up, and boy those things are a lot taller when standing, but it was really scary when we started to move and the camel trainers made the camels run. My friends and I were laughing our butts off because it was just so fun and we were all freaking out. We took tons of pictures and just had a blast. I love saying that I rode camels in Africa now- still feels unbelievable to me that we were able to do that. We left Africa Sunday night, after our visit to Tangier, exploring the city and watching a belly dance show at an incredible restaurant. It was sad leaving Africa, but I was ready to go back home to Spain.

We spent one day in Sevilla during our transition back to Alicante, and it was incredible! Sevilla is honestly what I pictured all of Spain to be like- old and majestic buildings, lots of bull fighters and flamenco dancers, and a rich historical setting. I learned a lot about Sevilla during our walking tour, such as the fact that Sevilla had the oldest tobacco factory, and that a couple of the beautiful buildings and plazas that were built for the World Fair during the 1900s were settings for certain movies, like Star Wars. It was a great time spending the day walking around and hanging out, and it was a nice close to a rather adventurous weekend. When I got back to Alicante, I spent the next couple of days resting and recuperating from that weekend, and getting all the rest of my stuff ready for Spring Break. I have also been spending a lot of time with my host family, because I missed them a lot over the weekend and I know I will miss them a ton over Spring Break. They told me how much they missed me as well, and even said they wouldn’t let me return to the states after the program because they love me too much. It was a joke of course, but it was so sweet knowing how much they like me.

Alright, I got to study for a big test tomorrow, because unfortunately school work does not stop while you’re abroad. Probably won’t be posting for a couple weeks until I am back from Spring Break, but I promise to come back with great stories and adventures!

Hasta luego,

Ryann

Time is flying by here in Chile! I realized I forgot to post to this blog earlier, so here is something I wrote on the 25th of February to my personal blog.

I apologize for not updating this blog in a while — it’s summer here in Santiago so everyone is on vacation, myself included. As my friends in the United States are currently facing their midterms, I confess that I haven’t even started the actual semester yet. With all of this extra time before classes start, I had the opportunity to do some traveling in the south of Chile.

I’ve always dreamed of traveling as a backpacker and I finally got to do so! I took a backpacker bus tour called Pachamama (which means Mother Earth in Spanish) through the Lake District with some of my gringa friends. We left from Santiago and traveled to our first stop, an indigenous town called Pomaire, famous for their empanadas that weigh half a kilo (over one pound)! We also made stops at the Rapel Dam and Punta Lobos. We ended up staying in Pichilemu that night, a town known as the capital del surf. That being said, when staying in the capital del surf, one obviously must surf. So that’s exactly what I did — or at least attempted to do. I took surfing lessons and by the end of the session I had actually caught a couple of waves!

The next day we left Pichilemu.  Our first stop was Santa Cruz, where we visited Chile’s most famous museo.  After that, we saw Villarrica Lake and then headed towards our final stop for the day, a town called Pucón.  In this town, we got to go white water rafting.  It gave me such an adrenaline rush!  The rapids were crazy and at one point we even had the opportunity to cliff jump!

We also got to see Ojos del Caburgua Waterfalls and Lake and then  the Pozones Hot Springs while in Pucón.

We then left Valdivia and stopped in Puerto Montt, where we jumped off the bus because we wanted to visit Patagonia and Torres del Paine.  Patagonia is the Antarctic of Chile and Torres del Paine is a national park within Patagonia famous for hiking and trekking.  They are both so far south that we had to take a plane to get there.  It was cold but so worth it!  I got to see penguins, snow capped mountains, glaciers and a magnitude of other gorgeous sights!

After our adventure in the far south, we headed back to the Lake District to hop back on the Pachamama bus, where we continued the rest of the tour.  On the rest of the journey we ventured to places like Puerto Varas, Llanquihue Lake, Frutillar, and Salto el Laja Waterfall.

Other things we saw include San Javier, where we got to see a volcano, and Balduzzi Winery, where we got a tour of the winery and tasted many varieties of wine!  Then it was back to home sweet Santiago.

I wish I had more time to describe what a unique experience this was.  I believe backpacking and staying in hostels is one of the best ways to encounter a culture and meet new people, both locals and foreigners alike.

There was one instance in which it was raining cats and dogs and we were drenched to the bone.  We were desperate to get out of the rain and reach our destination.  A truck was driving past us so we decided to take a chance and see if we could catch a ride.  Sure enough, after we put our thumbs up the truck pulled over for us.  Inside was a nice Chilean man on his way to work.  He reminded me of my friend Ernesto back in the United States.  We had a wonderful conversation — it was nice to chat with a local.  When he dropped us off, he gave us apples.  It was such a kind gesture and it definitely put a smile on my face.

I met people from so many different countries during my trip that I’ve lost track of where they all came from.  Many people I encountered were not only traveling through Chile but were also traveling the world!  Some of the most memorable people that I met was a couple from England.  They have been traveling the world for a year.  They even sold their house in order to do so!  They have inspired me to take risks and the road less traveled.

Now I have a week or so to explore Santiago until the semester starts. I am excited to have even more stories to share about my explorations in the city.  (Be on the lookout for a new blog post dedicated to Santiago!)

“Confieso que he vivido” is a quote from Pablo Neruda (he is a famous literary icon from Chile, as mentioned in a previous blog post).  Translated into English, his quote means “I confess that I have lived.”  I hope over time this becomes more relevant to my life.

Besitos.

It’s strange how you can drive for five hours and be in a completely different place. A little under a week ago, we trekked through Vietnam and into Cambodia on a chartered bus. Luckily, the program reserved two seats for each of us since we are generally larger than the Vietnamese. I found the bus to be comfortable, although sleeping was not an option (and really isn’t an option on any road trips in East Asia) because the roads are incredibly bumpy. Yahoo for developing country roads! When we got to Cambodia, we checked into the hotel and almost immediately went to our first historical site, a school-turned into a prison during the Khmer rouge rule. Cambodian people were tortured in order to get information of the whereabouts of their friends/relatives (simply for the sake of killing them, too). The Khmer rouge completely ruined the country, killing millions of people in order to create a ‘perfect race.’ They also destroyed a lot of the infrastructure of the country. Anyone with education was killed, maybe they would kill you if they didn’t like how you looked that day. Education was a threat to the rouge, as you were thought to be more likely to attempt to try and stop the revolution. To say the least, it was terrible. There I was, in the midst of a country destroyed by genocide. In the 70′s … not that long ago ..  innocent cambodians were slaughtered in the room where I stood; you could still see the blood stains on the tile floors. Yet, no matter how long I looked at a picture of a now dead victim or the clothes they once wore, I could not comprehend the horror.  I couldn’t imagine the situation or hardly believe something like that had ever happened. … and is still happening now somewhere in the world. The most haunting part were all the pictures of the victims tortured in the prison. We didn’t know when these pictures were taken,  most likely as they entered the prison for the first time, or in the moments right before they were killed. Their eyes stared right into yours as you looked into their almost expressionless faces. Did they know they were about to die? Some of the faces were smiling .. some in a suppressed state of confusion or horror. Each was different.

Although a somber afternoon, it was thought provoking. The realization of what our role as a generation became incredibly obvious; that everything should be done in order to stop acts of genocide. I was so frustrated, wondering how we let this happen, how the U.S. was ignorant enough to not understand the situation and instead fund the Khmer rouge with weapons and money, too afraid of supporting the Communist government that was being overthrown by the rouge. America’s No1 enemy were the communists; it was all about image. The U.S. also had just lost the Vietnam/American war and, since the anti-war sentiment was so strong in the states, the U.S. government didn’t want to get involved in another conflict, let alone the neighbors of Vietnam.

In the morning, we traveled to ‘The Killing Fields’ — which is exactly what it sounds like. The area that was once an execution site for the Khmer rouge was turned into a memorial, luckily we had audio guides so were able to go through at our own pace. It was the most well done audio guide I’d ever listened to, so I think we all learned a lot. Of course it was upsetting, but compared to the day before, it seemed more like a time to be reverent and reflect on all we had seen and learned. Afterwards, we went to a delicious restaurant called “Friends.” It’s an organization that helps poor, disadvantaged youth learn how to run a business, starting them at the restaurant. After seeing all the horror that had been inflicted on the Cambodian people, I was thrilled to see an organization that worked to better the future. My favorite part of the first two days was visiting ‘The Center of the Dove.’ It was about a 45 minute ride outside of Phnom Penh — again over the bumpy roads — as we traveled to the center. I honestly had no idea what to expect on arrival, I only knew the center was a sort of special skills school for the physically disabled with a concentration on victims of land mines that are still being discovered all around Cambodia (due to the Khmer rouge). There is an absolutely awful sentiment placed on those with disabilities, as some religions believe the loss of a limb/having a physical disability means you were an awful person in a past life, thus life is very difficult for the disabled in both Vietnam and Cambodia. The Center of the Dove goes around the villages, encouraging those with disabilities to attend their program in order to learn a skill (carpentry, machinery, sewing, etc.) they can use in the real world; they don’t have to pay a thing! It was genuinely one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen, and after the emotion of the two Khmer rouge sites, I was completely overcome by emotion while watching the students carve beautiful statues out of wood, designing and building their own specially designed (and cheap!) wheelchairs. Although we couldn’t speak to each other, we smiled at each other as a way to show a sort of mutual respect and understanding. After that experience, I realized how much I take advantage of things like my ability to walk onto a bus, take a walk, ride a bike …

 

The next day we headed for Siam Riep, the part of the trip I was most anxious for. After a short evening of exploration and a quick swim in the pool (I will not divulge certain information concerning things purchased at the amazing night market …), I was out. We didn’t do much that night because we planned to get up at 4AM to go watch the sunrise on Ankor Wat. Waking up was difficult but it was stunning (although we kinda got jipped on the quality of the sunrise). We were out all day seeing the different temples around Ankor and I don’t say this often, but I felt like I was in a movie. All the ruins seemed to be unnaturally beautiful… it was hard to believe I was even there.  Until I started throwing up from dehydration, it was a wonderful day. I especially enjoyed seeing monkeys running around a small temple we saw .. Jungle book anyone?

 

Cambodians are incredibly nice people. They don’t try to rip you off like the Vietnamese do, they give you a good price and are willing to bargain. They, for the most part, don’t shove things in your face, although we had a bad experience at a road-side bathroom break (Note: people in the states, I hope you all appreciate toilet paper and hand soap) when we were haggled by a large mass of children trying to sell us fruit. I wish we were able to spend more time in Siam Riep, the trip was short and I could have stayed for another week. I definitely wanted to see more temples around Ankor park!
Cambodia has such a heartbreaking, beautiful story. A country ruined by genocide, it’s amazing how much those people smile. Our guide told us that people smile/generally seem happy because their lives are exponentially better than when they were under the Khmer rouge. They smile because they are literally are happy that they don’t have to fight for their life; they are thrilled to be alive every day. It’s such a neat experience to be around people who treat each day with reverence and happiness.