Over a week since that first plate of rice at 3 AM half-way across the world from Chicago, there have been far too many stories and topics to address in a single post. For the continued duration of this blog, I will attempt to address posts by specific topics rather than try to create a chronological narrative of my adventure in Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh City is a fascinating city; a kaleidoscope of sights, sounds, and smells that are both familiar and bizarre. Its people continue to surprise me everyday with their hard work, determination, and character. I feel that my experiences for these next 4 months will be undoubtedly shaped by my interactions with the Vietnamese. However, ever present in my thoughts will be the Vietnam–both the idealized and the actual–that my parents raised me by. I only hope that these juxtaposition of these two dynamics will enrich my study of Vietnam.
However, in my first few days living in district 1 of HCMC, I’ve been able to explore a great deal and meet a lot of remarkable individuals. Foremost, all of the Vietnamese roommates that we Americans have been paired with are incredible. They are each intelligent and talented in their own ways. Some of them have worked for the Argentine Consulate, others have traveled far from home to seek higher education, one teaches English 7 days a week to foreigners, and there is still more to learn about each of them. My roommate, An, has essentially become an adopted little brother to me. We have similar majors, and family stories and its just been wonderful to explore this city with him as a guide. Sometimes we know we’re going (because of his leading), and other times we end up discovering new diamonds hidden in the rough.
HCMC itself is host to a vibrant culture and city life that strikes a balance between the sleepy-town of my parent’s past and the bustle of a metropolis like Chicago. Many businesses are still managed by family, and they often close near dinner time, leaving the nightlife to commercial ventures and specific districts. By nighttime, many retire and if you are a night owl you’ll have to venture out to districts such as Pham Ngu Lao (Backpacker’s District) which cater to a foreign crowd used to a nightlife that wanes when the sun rises. Even though I’ve only extensively been through District 1, I feel like I haven’t seen nearly half of it yet and there’s still 20 other districts to visit!
To avoid rambling on in a single post, here are some pictures of my first week in Vietnam. With each picture is a story that will be expanded upon later.
One week, one day, one month? Who knows on Vietnam time, either way it’s a blast!
It has been a week and all I can say is WOW. Vietnam is exactly what they say, a totally unique study abroad experience. Everything is dramatically different than life back in Chicago. From the millions of motorbikes crowding the streets to being able to barter for anything, even groceries and on to buying a decent DVD copy of Skyfall for 10,000vnd. Loyola University Chicago’s Vietnam Center is a truly immersive study abroad experience. Vietnam has everything from living with an awesome Vietnamese roommate to getting a ride on some random guy’s motorbike. Just walking down the street is like a sensory explosion from the sights and smells. Cell phone stores line the streets next to family run bakeries and restaurants. This program is everything a student who wants to study abroad somewhere unique wants.
Globalization is very prevalent here, Vietnam was ruled by the Chinese for over a thousand years, then the French colonized it and the Americans were here in the sixties and even more. Even though it is not a truly developed country, the effects of globalization can be seen everywhere. Here I am, typing this up on a computer that was designed by an American company, then built in China. Then, I am sipping on some of the freshest orange juice I have ever tasted while savoring some ice cream from New Zealand and listening to music from the United Kingdom. I would say the orange juice rivals Spain’s.
Now I bet you are wondering what I have been up to other than class and homework. I have been exploring Saigon a lot by foot, walking around is great because you get to capture every sight as it happens. I’ve visited the backpacker’s district and it was pretty crazy! I visited a museum yesterday, and it totally changed my perspective on the Vietnam War.
The War Remnants Museum here in Ho Chi Minh City, I honestly have never been so impacted by a museum. At first you get there an are amazed by the American jets, helicopters and tanks, but then you get inside and read the stories and see the pictures of the monstrosities that occurred during the Vietnam War. Now I know that this museum is very propagandaish towards the Vietnamese, they did ‘win’ the war so they can tell any story they want, but it truly made me feel a wide range of emotions while walking through the exhibits. They had a section on American war crimes of aggression, I always knew a lot of bad stuff happened during the war, but they had pictures of everything. There was a picture of American G.I.s waterboarding a Vietnamese, another where someone was being unruly while being transported in a helicopter and they threw him out, another of a G.I. holding up a man ripped apart by a grenade launcher. There was a section though in that exhibit that hit me the hardest, it was pictures that were taken by journalists. One that sticks out the most in my mind; of an elderly man who was so weak he couldn’t walk who looked like he was begging, his face showed one of pure terror. The photographer noted that he was ushered away after clicking the shutter and a minute later heard two shots. In another exhibit, it displayed the dramatic effects of Agent Orange, a defoliate agent used by American troops to clear the jungle canopy. Agent Orange devastated the country, from destroying land and farming livelihoods to birth defects seen by pictures in the museum as late as 2008. I do not want to share too much of the museum though, because I feel that it is a must go place to anyone coming to Vietnam, even if you come with a main purpose of spending the 15,000vnd to get in and experience it. After some reflection, the propaganda side of the museum comes out; with portraying Americans as evil and the Vietnamese as peace loving farmers, but the facts are still there. I highly recommend everyone to visit the museum.
Well, on a lighter note, living with a Vietnamese roommate is one of the greatest things about Loyola’s Vietnam Program! My roommate, Trung, is an amazing guy. I feel like I got really lucky, especially since we both love to sleep in past the time the cleaning lady comes in to clean on weekends. Which is one of the most vivid differences between America and Vietnam to me. When staying at a hotel, at least the guest house, when it is time for the cleaning lady to come clean your room, even if you are still sleeping, she will come in and clean the bathroom and sweep/mop the floor. At first this really shocked me!
Vietnam truly is an amazing place, and I cannot wait to explore more of it! With Tet coming up, I will have a break to walk around Saigon with less traffic and people about. I cannot wait to see and experience as much of it as I can. I hope everyone had a great weekend!
So about a week ago I got the chance to do- or be, rather- something I’d never been before: a cat owner.
What you first need to know is that Santiago is a city full of abandoned/stray dogs and cats (primarily dogs). The cause of this (or perhaps this is more of an effect rather than a cause) is that there’s a lot less love for them [cats and dogs] than in the states. Also a lot less shelters!
In any case, I was walking my friend to the metro station near my apartment when we saw two kids (well, 18 and 19) on the corner. The guy had a box in his arms and when we came closer we saw two adorable, mewling, ridiculously tiny kittens! (pic) The guy had found them (and 3 others that they had already found homes for) in the park in the shade of a rock formation, and were trying to give them away. I ran home (quite literally, I was out of breath when I got there) and burst in the door to ask my mother if I could have a cat.
Unfortunately, my wonderful mother’s one flaw is that she hates cats and dogs. So I ran back to the corner [where my friend was waiting as well] but just can’t bring myself to leave these two teens and these sad, sad kittens.
So I stayed with them for two hours, talking and trying to see if any of the passer-by would be willing to give a home to one of the sweet kittens. They also told me that the refugios, or shelters, in Santiago only kept cats for a week to a month before euthanizing them, which is why they were trying so hard to find them homes.
So I called everyone and their brother [in Chile] to see if they would be able to take in a cat. Finally I called one of my friends from another program also attending UAH (Universidad Alberto Hurtado, the Jesuit University that I attend here in Santiago) who lives in an apartment rather than with a family. The conversation started with something like…
Me: Oh hey Nealy! So, random, but… do you like cats by any chance?
I was so lucky that the answer was yes. And that Nealy and Rachel [the girl Nealy rooms with who I’m also friends with] were wonderfully accepting of housing two kittens each under a month old.
Gatitos with Rachel! That first night.
We had to feed them special food and buy special flea remover meds, and even bathe them in a certain way so as to teach them how to bathe themselves (like their mother would have done). We basically went in blind, using google as our guide dog/walking stick, and acted like ridiculously obnoxious mothers of newborns, cooing every time they stumbled (newborn cats and drunks are close cousins in matters relating to walking), ate, cleaned themselves, and even when they pooped (TMI, I know. Deal with it).
The girls’ program director was even happy to have them! Unfortunately, the apartment management didn’t feel the same way, and so after a week with our lovely kittens, I had to start looking for new homes for them.
Mijo(what I called the male kitty, short for ‘mi hijo’/’my son’) was adopted within a day of my posting the ad by a wonderful Chilean, who brought me blueberries from his family’s farm as thanks for finding him a kitten!
The last night- Mijo spent it at my apartment and preferred my laundry basket to the bed I’d painstakingly made for him. The stinker.
Anyway, that was just one more wonderful Chilean experience that gave me not only my two kitties for a bit but also introduced me to two new great people in this great city.
You may have heard the phrase “chulo!’ before; in some countries it refers to someone being attractive, in others it’s just ‘cool’. The second meaning is what I understood it to be when I came to Chile. Luckily, my Chilean mother stopped me the first time I said it in front of her (although it took a ‘chilena’, a chilean girl, to fully explain how the term is perceived here) and prevented any future faux pas; in Chile, ‘chulo’ is the equivalent of something trashy.
The substitute word that Chileans have given me to use is the term ‘Bacán’.
This is just one of the many new words that I’ve learned since coming to Santiago. It means ‘cool’, and is a word [apparently] only used in Chile.
(Offbeat information: The term actually comes from the American term ‘Rock on!” – they sound very similar when said quickly and heard by someone who doesn’t speak both languages fluently.)
This is just one example of the ‘chileanisms’ or ‘modismos’ (a word that means ‘idioms’ but also used for ‘slang’) that are used so often here, and one small example of something I hadn’t even though about encountering.
Some others that I particularly like:
Pellolo, which is both a bug that’s attracted to light and also a boyfriend (or pellola for girlfriend). The term ‘novio’ and ‘novia’ here usually refer to fiancé and fiancées
The verb ‘cachar’, meaning ‘to catch’ is used as ‘to understand’ in slang terms. ‘Caches?’ (you catch?) is the equivalent of ‘do you get me/it?”
Additionally, the ‘word’ ‘po’ is added on to the end of a lot of things as a kind of emphasizer (words from the mouth of a chileno). The add-on is actually a shortened form of the Castillian/Spanish term ‘pues’, which means ‘well’, ‘as’, or ‘so’. As such, it’s very common to hear ‘sípo’, ‘nopo’, or even ‘yapo’.
Although these terms aren’t exactly academic and aren’t words that will aid me tremendously in furthering my educational Spanish/Castillian, they are the things that I love learning because it’s part of the Chilean lifestyle- part of the culture. Knowing these things is [to me] a sign that I’m starting to integrate, starting to [partially] become a more like the most important part of Chile- its people.
It’s been exactly two weeks since I left for Santiago. In the short amount of time I’ve been here, I already feel like a Chilean. Their lifestyle fits me perfectly. They’re casual, laid back and like to have fun. Above all, they know how to live in the moment.
Chileans show a lot of affection towards one another. The first time someone went towards me for a kiss on the cheek, it definitely threw me off. However, it’s how people greet each other here as well as to say goodbye. After two weeks, I’ve come to like this custom. It’s more personal and meaningful than shaking hands.
I’ll admit, learning a new language is hard. Back in Chicago, I volunteer as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher. This is how my students must feel! It’s frustrating not being able to express myself fully. However, this is one reason I came here: to learn Spanish! Mi mamá only speaks Spanish. At times it’s difficult to communicate, but it’s good practice for me! Mis hermanos know some English, so we help each other learn the other language. My classes are difícil, but I can already tell I’m learning so much!
Last weekend, I went to the coast to see one of the houses of Pablo Neruda, a famous literary icon from Chile. His home was unreal. Everything was so beautiful! Afterwards, I ate some of the most delicious seafood of my life and explored the coast. I also happened to stumble upon the largest pool in the world!
Mi hermano, Ignacio (aka Nacho), has a friend named Nicolás who happens to have a beautiful house! My friends and I compare it to a hobbit hole in the movie The Hobbit. His front door looks just like Bilbo’s! There’s a pool in the backyard and it feels like a private resort, especially with the palm trees. The best part though is hanging out with the Chileans. 🙂
The nightlife here is definitely in full swing! It’s great to be able to dance to my favorite music in Spanish, such as Daddy Yankee’s song ‘Limbo’ which is currently number one in Chile. Staying out late to dance is normal for Chileans.
People here don’t say adiós, they say ciao. So… ¡Ciao mis amigos!
I flew from Chicago, Illinois, to Dallas, Texas, and then on to Santiago, Chile. On my first flight, I pulled out a book on Chile and Easter Island. A woman sitting next to me noticed this and asked if I was traveling to Chile. (She had traveled there before.) Our conversation led to her giving me an inspirational pep talk. Her last words of encouragement were “Conquer the world!” I took our meeting as a good omen. On my second flight, I became even more excited because I was hearing conversations in Spanish all around me. And then the words “Bienvenido a Chile!” were said and they couldn’t have sounded more beautiful.
Everyone in Chile is so friendly. I couldn’t find mi mamá at the airport right away, so a man offered to help me search for her. When we found her, she came up to me and gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. We were both so excited to meet each other. After our initial meeting, she and I had coffee together. Anyone who knows me well knows my obsession with coffee, so I knew that we were a good match.
I absolutely love my new family. First is mi mamá. Her name is Orietta. Next are mis hermanos. Their names are Antonio, Felix and Ignacio. I love having older brothers. I am so grateful to belong to such a wonderful family.
The first night I was here, Chile was playing Bolivia in fútbol. Mis hermanos told me that it’s tradition to throw un asado before a game, which is the equivalent to a BBQ in the United States. So that’s exactly what we did. I got to meet many friends and learn a thing or two about fútbol. I also got to try Pisco for the first time! Pisco is a famous beverage in Chile and Peru. I was told that Chile and Peru argue about which country has the right to claim Pisco as their own. (It’s Chile, obviously.)
Everyone here is happy to help me with my Spanish. That is one thing that I really need to work on — being able to speak fluently. Tomorrow I start my Spanish Intensive Class with the other gringos. I’m excited to make improvements!
Packing up and leaving Chicago has been a lot harder than I expected. To be honest, I’ve had a few good cries along the way. I’m going to miss the city I’ve grown to love and call home — especially the people who have made it all worthwhile. But alas, I had to take this opportunity. A quote from Mark Twain comes to mind and this sort of mindset influenced my decision to study abroad.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Many people wonder why I chose to study abroad in Santiago, Chile, of all places. I did so for many reasons, some of which include:
I wanted to study in a Spanish-speaking country to improve my fluency in the Spanish language.
Loyola University Chicago has an affiliate program with Universidad Alberto Hurtado, which also provides a Jesuit education — something I have grown to appreciate.
I have the opportunity to live with a host family, allowing myself to become better immersed in the local culture versus if I were to live with other Americans.
Both Santiago and Chile are extremely beautiful and include a wide range of geographical landscapes.
As I embark on my journey, I face a mixture of emotions. I’m excited, nervous, and scared; but I’m more excited than anything. I want to experience all that is Chilean. I’m anxious to be on my way, for I have a long trip ahead of me: 12 hours and 15 minutes of travel time, including a layover in Dallas, Texas.
¡Hola amigos! I’ve been in Santiago, Chile, for two weeks now. I’ve been keeping my own study abroad blog and now I have this amazing opportunity to share my experiences for Loyola University Chicago! Since I’m just now activating this blog, I’ll include my previous posts from the past couple of weeks. I hope you follow me on my adventures! 🙂
My name is Ryann Howard, and I am a junior at Loyola University. This is my first time blogging, but not my first time studying abroad! I was in Rome last semester, and my four months there were some of the most incredible of my life. I traveled to places I only dreamed about prior. In total, I went to 13 countries and visited over 25 cities from the time I left America (August 21, 2012) to the time I returned, (December 20, 2012). I met the greatest people, both teachers and students alike, that I hope to stay close with for years to come. I wanted to remember all my experience so I kept a journal last semester to document everything. I admit that I struggled to write in it every night or every weekend. I hope to change that this semester though by keeping up with a blog instead. I also hope this will be a good way to reach out to others, especially Loyola students, about how amazing studying abroad is. I intend to write here at least once a week. Who knows what I will write about – could be a wonderful weekend I spent exploring or how I struggled with a paper and homesickness. I hope my experiences will enlighten others about the study abroad experience as well as documenting how I am changing and growing from spending a whole year abroad. I believe blogging will be a great method for reflection, as well as my outlet for emotions and stories, the good, the bad, and the downright hysterical ones. I have a tendency to babble a lot too, but hopefully I can control that 🙂
Okay, well now that I have gone over the basics, I think I can begin sharing my time in Spain so far. First, I decided to go to Alicante, Spain for several reasons. USAC and the Universidad de Alicante offered all the classes I need to take to finish my Spanish major, as well as some other courses for my Sociology degree. I did a lot of researching beforehand to make sure this would be the best, which everyone should do. I also chose Alicante because it is considerably smaller than Rome, and even Chicago (my hometown) for that matter. I have always been a city girl, and decided I should change it up and go somewhere smaller. Alicante is on the coast of southern Spain, so it is much more tropical and beautiful than the Windy City. I also wanted to be in a home stay, something I didn’t get to experience in Rome (campus dormitory). Considering my options, it was clear to me that Alicante was the place I wanted to spend my second semester abroad.
I was so excited for Alicante that I started to plan for it even before I left for Rome, filling out all the proper paperwork (course approvals, home stay requirements, etc.) and planning my trips while there. This planning process was fun, when it wasn’t stressing me out, of course. One of the most important and time consuming of Alicante preparation was the scholarship application process. I know studying abroad is not something for most, particularly because it is so expensive. I knew this long ago. However, back in high school when I first started thinking about college and studying abroad, I didn’t let cost stop my dreams. I had always dreamt of studying abroad and traveling around Europe when I was older, which is the reason I began working as a lifeguard at the age of sixteen and started saving for Europe with my first paycheck. I worked multiple jobs (hostess, party planner, and student leader, etc.) throughout high school and college, saving as much as possible. Don’t get me wrong, I still had plenty of time to enjoy my first two years of college. I also applied to every scholarship I could possibly find. I didn’t win all, but I was able to get a few, and it was those couple that helped my dream become reality. I won the USAC Scholarship as well as the Gilman Scholarship for Alicante, both within a week of each other while I was in Rome. My face hurt for days after the good news because I could not stop smiling! I worked hard for these awards, and knew the work would not stop there. I knew the struggle was, and would continue to be, worth it. The scholarships were the final part of preparing for Alicante. Once those were settled, my flights booked, my courses approved, my host family ready, and after three wonderful but busy weeks home with my family and friends, I was ready for Alicante!
I practiced packing my suitcase multiple times, like I had before I left for Rome, and found myself just as excited as I was for the first time I went to Europe. I knew this was going to be a completely different experience, and I counted down the days before I left. Some of my friends thought I was crazy for going abroad for a whole year, but I can’t think of another way I would rather spend my junior year. I left America at 4:45 pm on January 8th, and arrived in Madrid, Spain the next morning. From there I spent a week exploring Madrid with the USAC group, with visits to the ancient cities of Segovia and Toledo. I loved watching other student’s reactions to everything European, from the signs in other languages, to the food, to the beautiful foreigners, and, of course, the old castles and buildings that were thousands of years older than even the oldest building in America. I knew I did the exact same thing when I first went to Europe. Even so, I still found myself gapping at various things. I had to remind myself that I was in Spain, and I was spending the entire semester here, not just a short visit. I had never felt so fortunate as I did when I arrived at my host home. I was ready for another completely new experience.
Alright, I realize this post is rather long, but I had to get the background in! My next post will be after I spend my first full school and home stay week in Alicante, and I promise it won’t be nearly as long. I can’t wait to share more about my experiences!
We’ve been here for roughly three days so far. My first reaction is that I am really, really REALLY not in America anymore. The city is chaotic, stressful, loud and hot. The worst is the feeling of helplessness that accompanies this type of situation. You don’t know the language, the customs, the structure of daily life. Plus, everyone stares at you because you’re ‘big and white’ (as we like to say). At the same time, the city provides with its amazing food (I had the most amazing veggie spring rolls today) kind people and thriving day and night markets. It doesn’t hurt that everything is incredibly inexpensive compared to America. I love dem $1 meals!
We’ve been taking the city in stride. All of the Vietnamese roommates have been incredibly helpful. It’s safe to say we’d be very, very lost without them. Either way, I think we are all struck by how different everything is. It’s going to take a little while to get used to this city. I just really can’t wait until we get to see the country side. I’m especially excited for Hanoi and Cambodia.
In short, I can’t wait until I start feeling more comfortable with the city, right now it’s incredibly intimidating but I’m hoping that feeling won’t last too long. However, there is a sort of organized chaos to it all, a sort of puzzle. I think once I put all the pieces together, I’ll get the bigger picture.
