Linfield students studying around the world
It’s been a couple months here and the homesick is really starting to kick in, especially since the holidays here and I am not around to spend it with my family. Luckily, my grandparents are flying into London and I will get to spend Christmas with them.
Cierra
Today we went to the ruins of Pompeii, the ancient Roman city that was covered in Todaysash by the 79 CE eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Since the city was buried in volcanic ash, it was hidden and therefore preserved for centuries. The city Today we went to the ruins of Pompeii, theToday we went to the ruins of Pompeii, the ancient Roman city that was covered in ash by the 79 CE eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Since the city was buried in volcanic ash, it was hidden and therefore preserved for centuries. The city wasn’t unearthed until the 1700s and then it’s historical value was revealed. The ruins provided historians with an accurate picture of what life was like in the Roman empire. It showed that the Romans were a sophisticated society with things like amphitheater’s, markets and extravagant villas. Pompeii is also home to a significant number of ancient skeleton replicas from those who perished in the volcanic eruption. The originals reside in the national museum of Naples so they can be properly preserved. These remains give us even more clues about the lives these ancient people lead. From what they ate, to their social status and physical biology.
The entrance of Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background.
ancient Roman city that was covered in ash by the 79 CE eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Since the city was buried in volcanic ash, it was hidden and therefore preserved for centuries. The city wasn’t unearthed until the 1700s and then it’s historical value was revealed. The ruins provided historians with an accurate picture of what life was like in the Roman empire. It showed that the Romans were a sophisticated society with things like amphitheater’s, markets and extravagant villas. Pompeii is also home to a significant number of ancient skeleton replicas from those who perished in the volcanic eruption. The originals reside in the national museum of Naples so they can be properly preserved. These remains give us even more clues about the lives these ancient people lead. From what they ate, to their social status and physical biology.
The entrance of Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background.
wasn’t unearthed until the 1700s and then it’s historical value was revealed. The ruins provided historians with an accurate picture of what life was like in the Roman empire. It showed that the Romans were a sophisticated society with things like amphitheater’s, markets and extravagant villas. Pompeii is also home to a significant number of ancient skeleton replicas from those who perished in the volcanic eruption. The originals reside in the national museum of Naples so they can be properly preserved. These remains give us even more clues about the lives these ancient people lead. From what they ate, to their social status and physical biology.
The entrance of Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background.
This post was written by Greyson Monaghan-Bergson, a sophomore Wine Studies major
At the vineyard with the professors from the University of Naples, we were able to see some of the stuff we were lectured about firsthand. Namely the soil that Dr. Antonello Bonfante spoke of and the pruning methods that Professor Veronica de Micco touched on. On top of that, Arturo Erbaggio showed us the experimental arch trellising method designed to create shade for the berries. They went on to explain that their goal for the project was to preserve the “freshness” of the wine which basically means keeping the acids high.
After the vineyard, we drove to Feudi di San Gregorio. The drive was only about half an hour but felt longer as the temperature of the bus slowly climbed to 30℃. At the winery, we got to look at the fermenting equipment. They had the biggest barrels I have ever seen! Their largest ones could hold 3000L. For comparison, the standard barrel used holds 255L, so those were pretty large. After that, we got to taste some of their wines. I’ll spare you the tasting notes but needless to say, they were very good. The wine they talked up the most was their Greco di Tuffo. This wine is one of the most desirable abroad from Campania and for a good reason. This wine was just beautifully elegant yet took over your palette. On top of that, since it had high acidity it could be laid down and aged. I am definitely going to try that because I bought two bottles.
Next, we went to Quintedecimo to see Luigi Moio. He is a big name in southern Italian wine and certainly earned that reputation. Not only is he a professor at the University of Naples, but he is also an amazing winemaker. We tasted four of his wines and once again the Greco took front stage. The best way I can describe it is as a wine whose depth keeps increasing with every sip. The thing that stuck out to me the most from all the wines today was that they were the opposite of anything people say about Southern Italian wines. They are usually described as big and jammy wines with no depth; but, these wines were insanely light and acidic making them taste super fresh!
As I sit here on New Years Eve, prepping to move back to campus tomorrow, I can’t help but think of the past couple weeks. My sleep schedule is (sorta) back to normal, my cats finally don’t hate me, etc. etc. Things overall are returning to normal. No thanks to the awfulness that was the trip home from France. I didn’t even take any photos. That’s how bad it was. I always take photos on trips: at the airport, on the plane, of my lunch. You name it, it’s probably archived on my phone. I digress. Here is the horrendous tale from two weeks ago of my and Mara’s trip back to the states.
Everything that could have gone wrong, did. With the exception of the plane crashing, luckily.
I woke up at 4am that morning to catch the 6am bus so I could catch my 9am flight. Makes sense, right? Well, I woke up to a flight cancelation. The first flight. Originally, Mara and I were supposed to go from Marseille to Munich, Munich to San Francisco, and finally San Fran to Portland. Well.. now that we couldn’t get to Munich, that plan was out the window. My roommate, who was also on that flight, and I tried to figure out what to do but I ended up just going to the airport anyway to figure it out. She had been automatically rescheduled, whereas Mara and I had not been.
By the time I got to the Marseille airport, Mara was already on it with booking new tickets. Perfect. We get our new tickets after almost 2 hours of waiting, get in line, and check our bags. Insert typical airport protocol here. The only real difference between Europe TSA and USA TSA is that they don’t make you take off your boots, which was nice, because I got new Doc Martens while in Aix and didn’t want to pack them. They’re heavy. Cute, but heavy. We finally get through security and passport check, then board our flight late. Then leave late. Still, whatever, we were on our way to our new first destination: London Heathrow terminal 5.
Now, I knew that airport well after my trip to London a couple months back, so I was excited. I was gonna show Mara the Harry Potter store, we would get lunch, and board our flight. It was gonna be great. While those things did happen, I did get stopped at TSA for the stupidest reason. The guy said that we just needed to take out our laptops and ipads, and any other technology could stay in our bags. Well, I did what he said, and my bag got flagged. Thanks TSA agent. I stood for probably 20 minutes waiting for each person who forgot their acne cream in their bag to get checked just so I could tell the guy that it was my switch that got flagged. Awful.
We hit the HP store (I got a wand because I’m a stress shopper), got lunch, and took the in-terminal subway to get from the A gates to the C gates. The our flight got delayed. Then it got delayed again. And again. And again for the fourth time. Our flight got delayed for a total of almost 4 hours. The plane had a technical issue, then there was a security breach that halted all planes, then those two events took so long that they had to find new crew because some had timed out. Even after we boarded the plane, we sat on the tarmac for another 30 minutes before FINALLY taking off 4 hours after we were supposed to. At least the English Christmas dinner was nice.
Nine and a half hours later, we arrive in Seattle, our second location. The US, finally! If only we knew what we were in for. The weird thing about SEA-TAC is that for international arrivals, you have to grab your luggage and recheck it for connecting flights. Strange, but okay. So we waited for our luggage. And waited. And waited. We waited so long that we were no longer the only flight in baggage claim. Eventually, I got both my bags, but Mara only got one. Along with about half of that British Airways flight. Mara ended up missing her flight because of how long we waited, and I found out that I didn’t even have a flight. Let me explain.
So when we got our flights rescheduled, we were given little slips of paper to hand to the British Airways people so we could get our boarding passes. Mara got all three of hers, but I only got the first two. The lady said that I would need to pick it up in Seattle, since it would have been through Alaska, and not BA. I said okay, but I couldn’t help but be uneasy. I told my mom that I was confused about how the whole system would work, as I wouldn’t have a boarding pass to get through any security I’d need to or get onto the flight. She looked into it and turns out: I wasn’t even on the flight! The lady said I was but I wasn’t. I would have been stranded in Seattle had my mom not looked into it and driven up almost 4 hours in rush hour traffic to pick me up. It worked out though, because we ended up taking Mara home, but what the heck? As we were reaching hour 30 of being awake at that point, neither of us wanted to deal with flights.
I got back to my house at about 1am, my mom and her Fiancé having to work at 7 that morning. I felt bad for Mara though, since she had another hour and a half to go before she got back. We were exhausted. I think we ended up being awake for about 36 hours with very little sleep in between. I was very happy to be back in my own bed.
Travel doesn’t always go to plan. I have terrible travel luck, so I knew it had to come back to haunt me after multiple flights and trains that worked out with no issues throughout the trip. I just didn’t think it would come back with that much force. It woke up and chose violence and chaos. We can’t control airports, weather, etc. so I don’t want our experience that day to be a deterrent for everyone, but it’s good to show others the downsides of it all, especially for those about to go abroad for Jan/Spring term. Not everything is sparkling seas and rustic cups of coffee. To this day, I still don’t think Mara has her luggage.
Happy New Years,
Felicity
(12/21/22)
I find myself recollecting all the sights and sounds and smells and tastes and feel of Hong Kong. From the dorm room that has come to feel like home, as they always do, having somewhere to come home to even in a place so far from home. To the particular beep of the Octopus card when I scan it on a bus or at the metro. To the closeness of the city and the skyscrapers all around me. To the lights and designs that light up the sides of those same buildings. To the brilliant greens of trees against a blue sky. To the comfort of a warm cup of tea, even on the hotter days at the beginning of my exchange abroad. To the sound of laughs around the table at dim sum as we struggle to divide the dim sum dishes that usually come in quantities of three, between a group of four. To the distinct rattle of a two-story bus that is somehow comforting, familiar as a moment of calm on the way to some activity, or else a companion on the ride back after a long day of delicious food and beautiful sights. To the sweet smell and taste of a custard bun or the pepper of the pepper beef dish that I discovered here. To the dazzling sunsets bright against the buildings clustered at the horizon…
It’s my last day in Hong Kong and I join my friends in going to the Tai O fishing village again, wandering around by the water and between shops, counting eight or so cats over the course of our trip. Then we take a ferry to the place where a cable car will take us to the Tian Tan Buddha. On the cable car, we realize that all four of us are to some extent intimidated by the distance between us and the ground, dangling by only a strengthened cable over water and hills on our trip to the buddha.
It turned out that the last cable car returned at 6 pm, and we only had half an hour to see the buddha and return to the cable cars. The stairs up to the buddha also closed at around 5:30, so we weren’t able to walk up to it, but we did get to see it from the bottom of the stairs.
On the way back, we ended up in a car with a see-through floor, as at the end of the day, all the cable cars were used, regardless of one’s kind of ticket (we had opted against paying the additional cost for the cable car with a clear floor). But taking the cable cars at the end of the day and being able to see the sunset over the hills in a 360, with absolutely nothing obstructing the view, blew me away.
As we approached the destination, it was getting towards dusk, and we could only see the vague outlines of trees beneath us, and then the lights of the city and the cars reflecting in the water. A last, lingering view of Hong Kong.
Until next time,
Kelsi
I just took my last final this afternoon. While I’m very glad to be done with finals after weeks of stressing over them, I’m starting to feel that the tether tying me to Hong Kong is unravelling as my time here dwindles. My roommate also returned home yesterday. I have five more days here, including today. I’m caught between missing my family and being unready to leave behind Hong Kong, the friends I’ve made here, and all the experiences and things I have known here. I’m not ready to recollect Hong Kong from the United States, to consider it as an experience gone by, knowing that I most likely will never experience anything like this study abroad again.
It’s starting to really feel like winter, as a couple weeks ago the temperature dropped from the upper/mid 70s to the 50s and 60s. With only air-conditioning in my room, I feel like the humid cold has settled into my bones… I’m always bundled in my three to four layers when I leave the dorm halls.
But before I talk too much about that, I’m going to talk about my exams. For one of my classes, I just had a couple projects to finish. For my other classes, I had more or less traditional final exams, although they differed a bit from the type of exams that I’m used to taking back at Linfield.
The Cantonese-speaking final was like the midterm: we met with the professor and demonstrated our pronunciation ability and that we could respond to simple questions. However, for the written final, it was much more formal than exams I’m used to taking in college. We had a one-hour time slot outside of class time, in a different building than our normal class took place. Additionally, we were assigned a seat number; both classroom and seat number were posted on our school accounts. The environment reminded me of an AP exam, as we had to wait until it was exactly 1 pm to start the exam, and the exam paper had a front cover to fill out with your information.
The final for one of my literature classes was perhaps the most differently-structured exam I took. We had 24 hours outside of class to write our responses to two essay questions. We received the prompts at 6 pm on the first day of the exam, and we had until 6 pm on the next day to submit our responses.
For the next exam, we received four essay questions that we had to respond to in approximately five hundred words. We had five days to write our responses to that exam. I submitted it last night.
Today’s exam really reminded me of an AP exam. It, again, was in person, in a different classroom than the one where we had normal classes, and we were assigned seat numbers. I believe they combined our class (perhaps two different sections of the same class) with another one, as there were two professors proctoring the exam – my professor and one other. When I arrived at the exam room and saw so many people outside that I didn’t recognize, I was originally worried I had gone to the wrong building. Fortunately, that was not the case. I would estimate our class had around 25-ish students, and there were nearly sixty exam booklets set out. We had two hours to write responses to two essay questions. I haven’t had to write an essay in a timed limit since high school, so it was a little bit stressful having to do that again, but it ended up being alright. And now all my exams are over.
Then, my friends and I went out for dinner. 🙂
Until next time,
Kelsi Otto
(11/30/2022)
It has come to the last week of classes. Next Tuesday is my last class, and then the rest of December, until the 22nd when I depart for home again, is dedicated to finals. No matter my initial uncertainty about studying abroad and being so far away from home and everyone and everything I have ever known, I now find myself very uncertain and melancholy at the thought of returning home, although I’m excited to see my family, friends, and cats.
As a very introverted person, I was concerned about making friends abroad, but I have found amazing friends here, with whom to laugh, to learn about and explore Hong Kong and each other’s cultures, share about our different experiences… It’s a difficult thought of making friends while abroad knowing that, at the end of the semester, everyone will go their separate ways, and that even if one keeps in contact over WhatsApp, that you might never see those friends in person again. But I suppose life takes you that way with people you meet whether or not there is a definite deadline assigned to your relationship. I know I will always treasure the experiences and friends I have made here in Hong Kong.
Change as a person is a hard thing to define as it is something that occurs in slight degrees and shifts, ups and downs, over weeks and months and years. I can’t say with certainty in what ways I have changed this last semester, but I know it has changed my perspective on life in many ways. It has changed my worldview, for one. There’s something about living on a different continent, some 7,000 miles away from home, interacting constantly with people from different places than you (although I do have a few friends who are from the U.S.), that makes the world seem so much smaller and closer.
I have been fortunate enough to travel abroad prior to coming to Hong Kong, but traveling around for a couple weeks, and mostly to visit historical sites, didn’t give me the same sense of perspective that studying abroad in Hong Kong for over three months as of now, has given me. I remember how I felt looking out the window of the bus to take me to my quarantine hotel on the day I arrived. After midnight, after my 24-ish hours of travel from Portland to Hong Kong, looking out at the lights that we passed, the bridges we passed over, the signs in English and traditional Chinese. The buildings taller than I had ever seen before; the crowdedness; the markers of a big city; the anxieties of knowing no one and nothing; being handed a bunch of papers after arriving at the quarantine hotel; and being sent to my hotel room for the next three days of quarantine.
Now I see the beauty of the multiplicity of buildings reaching to the sky, the lush green of the trees that are plentiful around Hong Kong, which I wouldn’t have expected in a big city (Hong Kong has more greenery than I’m used to seeing at home).
I have to admit a certain uncertainty about returning home after this experience abroad. And while I plan to enjoy every second I have left in this beautiful city and culture, I’m not sure how to fit who I am now into the place of who and where I was before. This experience has certainly given me a perspective on who I want to be in life, and how to move forward.
Talk to you again soon!
Kelsi
After three weeks of hel- I mean midterms, fall break arrived. Students had been talking about where they were going to go for months and finally the time was upon us! Slowly but surely, the IAU students inhabiting Aix made for the airport or train station, vacation bound. I was one of the last to leave as it was cheaper to leave on a Monday than during the weekend. Understandable.
While others had elaborate plans of which 4 countries they were planning to hop to in the span of the week, I kept things simple. I was headed for England. Specifically, I was going to spend my fall break in London. The land of Harry Potter and Royals, Tea and Rain. Perfection. That’s where I was headed. So on Monday, October 31st, I set off towards the Marseille Airport. First stop: Paris.
My plane trip was pretty uneventful. I flew Air France for the first time, which was pretty nice. They gave me a Madeline as my in flight snack and within an hour and a half I was across the country in Paris. Getting from the Charles De Gaulle Airport was a bit… tricky. The subways were being worked on and even if I was to use them to get to the train station I needed to be at, there was something going on involving SCNF staff and police in bullet proof vests, so I opted for a Bolt instead.
An hour and 17 euros later, I arrived at the train station I needed to be at: Gare du Nord. Of course, I was still a bit early, so I got lunch at McDonalds across the street and then explored a bit. The train station isn’t that big, but it was a bit confusing to navigate. Especially since I needed to be in a specific part for the Eurostar trains. I went through the strictest security i’ve ever been through. Those Eurostar people don’t mess around. I went through most of security blind since I had to take off my glasses for multiple face scans. That was fun… But once I was through, I was in this whole other section I didn’t know existed. It was pretty snazzy. And when i bought Pringles at the little convenience store, they spoke English with me! Without question. I knew right then that it was gonna be a good trip.
The train ride itself was pretty average. I couldn’t see much out the windows since it was dark out, but I did buy my first alcohol on a transportation vehicle. That was an experience. I just happened to get up at the exact moment it got rough. The cider was good at least.
After two hours and a time zone change, so it had only been an hour, I got off the train in London St. Pancras. International Station. It was cold. And rainy. It was perfect. I stopped into the Platform 9 3/4 store in Kings Cross briefly, then set off with my dead battery to my hostel.
My hostel was pretty cool. It was kind of like a party hostel but not quite that intense. It was trying (probably too hard) to be hip with the kids, adding # to things and having each floor be themed to a different British pop media franchise. Mine was Alice and Wonderland. I checked in, put stuff in my locker to deal with later, and tried to charge my phone upstairs in the bar. It was pretty packed since they were having a Halloween party, but I managed to find a seat and pull a Gabriella from HSM by reading during a holiday party. I had two drinks during the night, a cider and a really fun Halloween cocktail in a “blood bag”. Fun and delicious, but kind of messy.
Moving on, the first true day of London was spent quickly hopping from place to place, but the places I went were fantastic! I just need to remember next time to space things out. I hope there is a next time. London is amazing. I started out walking in the rain to my subway station, then took the tube for the first time to the Covent Garden stop on the Piccadilly Line.
Piccadilly and I became great friends as it was my closest station and really just goes everywhere I needed to go (with a few exceptions). I had breakfast at Starbucks and went to my first event: the Harry Potter Photographic Exhibition. I tried getting a ticket for the studio tour but those were booked up through the end of the year. If you ever plan on doing that, I recommend booking months, if not a year in advance.
That’s not to say the photo exhibition was bad. Far from it actually. It was a mix of photographs from the production of the movies, stills from the films, and real props from the movie. Walking in, the first thing you see is one of the 16 flying car props they used for the beginning of the second film. It was super cool.
Walking down the stairs among floating Hogwarts letters, one is whisked into a world of production and props, all ending in a butterbeer bar and HP gift shop. I… may have bought too much on this trip. So many Harry Potter stores!
Then I caught another tube up to Marleybone and had lunch at this adorable cat cafe. It also doubles as an adoption agency for the cats, as all of them are rescues. If I lived in London, I would have adopted every one of those cats.
It was the second cat cafe I’ve ever been to and I don’t know how common this is, but I had to take my shoes off? Is that normal? The cat cafe here in Aix doesn’t make you take your shoes off. I’m genuinely curious. The food was good, the cats were cute, and it was over way too quickly. But I had another appointment. An appointment, with a detective.
A fictious one, anyway. I made my way over to the Sherlock Holmes museum at 221b Bakers Street. It was an English major’s dream. With the exception of the wax figures at the top, everything was beautiful and thought out, from the living room, to the desk set ups of both men, to the bullet holes on the wall. So cool.
Then I had Taco Bell and it was disappointing. The British don’t know what they’re missing out on. So many menu items missing…
I lounged around back at my hostel for a couple more hours, then it was off to see my first West End show of the trip: Matilda. Matilda as a musical opened on the west end on December 9th, 2010, and it’s been running ever since. Quick fun fact – the movie adaptation of the musical is coming out in the US on December 9th of this year, exactly 12 years after the curtains rose for the first time. Don’t know if it was intentional, but fun none the less.
Matilda was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. It truly lives up to its set expectations, even with the injury partway through my viewing that halted the production for about 30 minutes. I hope that actor is okay. With some scooters and swings, my first night came to a close.
Day two was a bit more frustrating. Just because this was a more tourist type day and tourists suck. They make everything kind of unbearable. It didn’t start out that way though. I started off my day how I did most of the days: at Starbucks. I was waiting for the Globe Theatre to open, because I was gonna take a tour. Located on the bank of the River Thames, it is a reconstruction of the original two globes, and it is beautiful. I’ve been to some cool theatres, but that’s definitely up there. It was also interesting to learn the history of both the original theatres as well as the new one. Super cool. I don’t normally do tours because I hate being seen as a tourist, and typically only older people do them, but this one was well worth it. And I wasn’t the only under 40 person there. Score!
Afterwards my next stop was the London Eye. I thought I could get some cool photos from there, so I paid the exhorbitant amount that it costs to do it and walked down the river towards it. The walk itself was pretty chill, but actually getting on the Eye? This is where my day took a turn. The line was SO long, and everyone was passing the time on their phones, so it took even longer since people weren’t paying attention.
Also, personal space? The people around me had never heard of it. Finally got on and everyone hogged the front window for nearly the entire time. Hello, the whole thing is made of glass for a reason! Needless to say, I was frustrated. I got some photos, but not as many as I’d like.
I got off and walked the 40 feet to SeaLife London, since I like aquariums. This’ll be cool. No. I mean, yes, but also it was all underground, chlostrophobic, and packed. There weren’t even that many animals bigger than a small fish. I got some decent photos but I can’t wait to get back to my big open aquariums and zoos.
Overwhelmed, I briefly stopped in the dream works experience gift shop, laughed at some awful merchandise, bought a build-a-bear Hedwig next door, and went back to my hostel for the next few hours.
My show that night? Book of Mormon. I knew it was supposed to be funny and good, but that’s all I knew. I did’t know anything about the story or music, just that the writer of South Park was the creator. So after some overly expensive dinner at Hard Rock Cafe (gotta catch them all, even if I’m not a big fan of it), and a quick peak into the largest Waterstones I’d ever seen, I sat down with my cider feeling a bit sacrilegious and settled in. The show. Was. Hilarious. I could not stop laughing the entire time. My favorite song has to be “Turn it Off”. If you’ve never heard it, I’d recommend. No injuries in this performance, thankfully, and that ends off day two.
Day three was the first day where I didn’t really have anything planned that I had a time stamp for. It was more a day of meandering about the city, seeing sights. Started once again at Starbucks, but I had a reason this time. The holiday drinks and merch were back. Red cup day was 11/3 and I was right there, buying myself a peppermint mocha and a holiday cup keychain. Then I went to the Disney store in Soho that was 3 floors of amazing-ness and bought a few items before moving onto my first intentional monument: Buckingham Palace.
It was beautiful and grand, though kind of sad to look at. I remember that we were eating dinner when we got news about the Queen, and it was still sort of sad. Not much going on, guards dressed in black and grey, etc. The park and grounds around it were stunning, and I’m glad I went, but I couldn’t help but feel a little forlorn.
I had my lunch that day within the park next door at the St. Jame’s Cafe which was of course fish and chips. I couldn’t go to London and not get fish and chips. It came with mushy peas, which I was lo-key kind of scared about at first, but then I tried them and I can now safely say that they are delicious. Maybe its my English roots, but they taste so good. I forgot how much I love peas. It’s been so long since I’ve had them. Delicious.
Some more shopping and a few hours later, I decided to get to my theatre early. Luckily, it had a bar that had some snacks and drinks I could get. I ordered fries and a cider and read for a while, charging my phone because it was dead. I’d had some charger issues the past few days and so any chance I got, I took. This show was one of my highly anticipated ones of the trip, that being Heathers. I went so many times when we did it last semester so I was looking forward to seeing the real thing. I’m so happy I went. I was able to compare and contrast the two shows, and honestly, I think we did a few things better. I personally think our Martha did a better job than West End Martha. I’m not saying this because she’s my friend, but W.E.M. was just a bit too fast I think. Overall though, it was probably my favorite show of the bunch, and I’m so happy I saw it. I bought so much merch too.
Day four, the penultimate day. I mainly dinked around in Leicester Square all day, bouncing from shop to shop, lunch spot to dinner spot, theatre to theatre. I did go off the beaten path slightly in an effort to kill time and ended up in Paddington Station, where I had to stop myself from buying the entire store, and a humongous Westfield mall on the outskirts of my Oyster card. That place had four floors of wonder, massive shops, and an indoor tennis court. I was astonished, to be sure.
Eventually, I made my way back into town and grabbed dinner at McDonald’s, checking England off my “Try McDonalds in every country I visit” list, and walked around a bit more before seeing my show of the night. Despite visiting The Cursed Child building, I was in for a more classic show: Les Miserables. I thought, since I’m studying in France and did a presentation on the movie for class, I should see it. It’s a classic. Well, the show itself was amazing. The costumes, sets, and casting were all spectacular. I just had crappy seat mates. A whole family in the row behind me speaking loud Italian for a good chunk of the first hour (shushed multiple times by many around us) and an old man next to me who kept taking photos. Like sir, I get that you’re older, but theatre etiquette is a thing.
One of the downside of traveling by yourself is that you’re more easily picked out by dangerous people. I was on my walk back from the station to my hostel when a homeless lady tried getting my attention. I knew she wanted money, but I didn’t have anything but my card on me, so I politely apologized and kept walking. She cussed me out but I thought that was it. I deal with homeless people back home all the time, no big deal. I kept walking, eventually reaching my hostel.
That’s when a homeless lady appeared out of nowhere in front of me, like she had apparited from thin air. I tried to handle it like a normal adult without anxiety, but that didn’t last long. She started verbally harassing me and when others tried to help, she tried to turn it on me, like I was the one following her back. I’m thankful for the random guys passing by and the hostel security team. I don’t know what I would have done without them. I’m still shaking now, weeks later, just writing this out. A girl in my room who heard me crying when I entered stayed up with me for a while and tried comforting me. She was nice.
Final day I laid in bed for a long time. I rightfully didn’t get much sleep that previous night. Despite the strong urge to stay there all day, I did have time sensitive plans, so I lugged myself out of bed and hauled my exhausted body towards Kings Cross Station. I was meeting a friend for the first time IRL, which I was both excited and nervous about. He and I have known each other for a couple years, bonding on discord over a comic we both read. I wish that chat was still as active as it used to be. That was fun. Anyway, he lives not too far from London, so he caught a train in to meet me.
They are super nice, just like online. While it was a little awkward at first, like every first meeting, that quickly melted away. We visited the Harry Potter store, the Gays the Word book store, and a couple other stores, then somehow ended up at the National History Museum. That place was cool, but it was kinda sad that the underwater creatures area was under construction. That’s always my favorite section.
Eventually we parted ways and I met up with another friend, this time from IAU, and got dinner. I got ramen, which I had been craving for so long. There’s no good ramen places in Aix. Bummer. I also tried Takoyaki for the first time, and they lived up to their anime portrayal. Right down to their hot pocket of lava temperature.
Final show of the trip was Six, another highly anticipated show. It was also the shortest show, which I did deliberately as I had to catch a really early tube to the airport. Not that I ended up sleeping anyway. Regardless, Six was amazing. I would love to see it again at a different angle, since I was pretty high up. West End may be cheaper than Broadway, but I bought 5 shows. Money needed to be saved somewhere.
I anxiously walked back to my hostel, packed, and after staying up all night, took a 3am tube to Heathrow Airport. Surprisingly packed tube for it being the dead of night, but I digress. I caught my flight which was occupied by quite a few other IAU students funny enough, slept though it, and arrived back in Marseille two hours later. Both sad and glad to be back, I made it through the impossibly long customs line, grabbed Starbucks, and hopped on the bus towards Aix. 90% of us on that bus were IAU kids. It was funny in my sleep deprived state, but looking back on it now, it’s really not.
Fall break was a blast, despite some of its downsides. Not every vacation can be perfect. Especially with my luck. It was a fun way to reward myself for finishing midterms, and it made me realize that my love for London that I’ve had since I was a kid thanks to things like Paddington, Harry Potter, and House of Anubis was rightfully warranted. I would gladly go back. Honestly, I would live there. It reminded me of home in all the good ways while still being unique. Plus the access to all those museums and theatres? I was in heaven. I am broke now though. No more trips for the rest of my study abroad journey.
Felicity
(11/20/2022)
I went on a trip with some people from my dorm hall to Tai O, a fishing village, today. It was a two-hour trip out to the village, split between two bus rides, but it was definitely worth the trip.
After arriving, we had lunch. And if I had to say which meal has been the best meal I’ve had so far in Hong Kong, this would definitely be among the top ones to come to mind. There was a fried rice dish; a beef with rice noodles dish; calamari; a dish with pineapple and chicken; a beef and bell pepper dish; and then a noodle dish which I think may be chicken in a sauce on top.
We didn’t really talk at all during the meal, we just alternated reaching across the table for food, but it was delicious. One interesting cultural difference that came up was where one was supposed to eat one’s food from. We had a bowl and plate, and it seems that in Hong Kong and China, one puts food in the bowl and eats from the bowl, while the plate is for bones. In contrast, in Malaysia, I believe, it appeared to be the reverse: one would spoon food onto one’s plate and eat off the plate.
After lunch, we walked back through a little market, where among other fish and seafood were pufferfish hanging from the ceilings of the shops. There were also what I think were small dried pufferfish, with googly eyes put on them and a hat as decorations to be bought. These were both things I definitely would not have found in the U.S.
Then we went on a little boat ride, which was called a dolphin boat ride, so you know what we were looking out for. It was quite a nice ride, first between seaside-houses, and then out into the open water, with the late afternoon sun, gazing at the green hills covered with trees to our left and right, out to seeing the bridge between Tai O and Macao.
At one point, we came across a shiny moving object. We all collectively held our breath, thinking it… a dolphin. At varying moments as we approached, I thought it was a dolphin, then a flip flop drifting about, or some sort of other circular object. It turned out to be a poor fish at the surface of the water, swimming around in circles, with something wrong with one of its fins, poor thing. The boat master circled around for upwards of ten minutes trying to come alongside the fish, and I, in my happy-ending hopes, hoped it would be to help the poor fish, perhaps release it if it was caught on something, or else try to right the fish. However, instead, he caught it with the net.
Next, we landed and took some pictures against the nearing sunset, and went on a hike. However, first, at the foot of the hill we were going to hike up, there was a stand with some local snacks. I ended up getting a frozen watermelon (my favorite fruit) slice. Some of the other people got frozen pineapple or one of the warm snacks. I found the watermelon quite good, although it was hard as a rock when I first got it. We ended the hike around dark, got dinner, and then headed back to HKBU.
Until next time,
Kelsi
(10/17/2022)
It’s the seventh week of classes and midterms are coming up in the next couple weeks. I’ve seen so many things and experienced so much that it’s impossible to recount it all. But for this post, I’m going to try to focus on classes and studies.
Most classes here are three credits, so I’m taking five classes: two literature classes, a mindfulness class, intro to Cantonese, and a science fiction film classs. Rather than two or three classes a week, most courses have a single, three-hour session, a week (however, my mindfulness class is only two hours/2 credits, and my Cantonese class is split up into a one-hour and a two-hour section, but the rest are three hours). I have to admit that concentrating on classes for three hours is rather difficult, although sometimes professors will let us out early, and usually give a ten-minute break in the middle. Lunch/breakfast is very welcome after my 8:30/9:30ams.
Classes tend to have more lecture component than those that I’m used to in the U.S., although participation is still counted toward the grade in some of my classes.
However, course grades at HKBU (Hong Kong Baptist University) tend to be based on much fewer, but more heavily-weighted, assignments – for one of my classes, for example, the grade is determined by a midterm paper, final paper, a presentation and presentation report and participation.
Okay! So, the presentation! It appears that presentations are a key part of the grades for classes here at HKBU, and my three main academic courses all have an important presentation. For one of my literature classes, I gave a presentation a few weeks back. It was the first presentation of the semester (there is a presentation for every class session for half of the semester), which perhaps wasn’t a wise choice, given I didn’t know anything about how it was expected to be structured. And it was not a one-minute presentation—not two or five or ten. But a fifteen-minute presentation, for each of me and my two partners… so, I’ve now given a fifteen-minute presentation!
The other two presentations are five-minutes long, so around a normal length for presentations back home. I’ve now given two presentations, but I haven’t received any grades yet, so I have to admit I’m a little uncertain about how things – presentations and otherwise – will be graded here, as there were no concrete guidelines about the presentations.
My classes at HKBU are much smaller than I expected, somewhere between twenty and forty students, so larger than most Linfield classes, but nowhere near the size of classes at state schools — I think HKBU has around 10,000 total students.
Talk to you again soon!
Kelsi