Learning About Other Cultures

ANGELA

Age: 18

Major: Studying Communications at St. John’s University

Hometown: Oxon Hill, MD

Where have you traveled?
So far I’ve been to Spain (Pamplona, Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo, San Sebastian, Segovia and Hondarribia) and France (Biarritz and Hendaye). In a couple weeks I’ll be adding Rome, Italy to the list of places that I’ve travelled to.

What inspired you to go abroad?

What inspired me to go abroad was ultimately my love for travelling. My mom and I had always taken our “mother-daughter trips” to different places in the U.S. such as the Mall of America in Minnesota or Orlando, Florida, and I wanted to expand my horizons and truly see the beauty of other countries. I’ve always wanted to see how other people lived and taste authentic cuisine from those places, and the more I traveled, the more I fell in love with it. Another big reason I began travelling was that I was taking Spanish at the time and I wanted more experience at the language, and where’s a better place to practice than in Spain? After that experience it became more than just wanting to practice the language and more about wanting to see the world. At this point I consider myself a “travel junkie” and I’m always looking for the next opportunity to travel abroad.

La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain

What has been your best experience? The worst?

My best experience had to be seeing La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. La Sagrada Familia is an absolutely stunning work of architecture, and what’s amazing is that it isn’t even finished being constructed yet. Every touch of detail is beautiful in that church. From the birth of Christ being depicted in the architecture and design on the front of the church to his arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection on the back of the church, it is a breath-taking design. It’s definitely a must-see for anyone in Barcelona. I was in complete awe at that church, and no other church or cathedral we saw in Spain compared.

My worst experience probably had to be visiting France. The parts of France that we visited (Hendaye and Biarritz) are absolutely gorgeous, especially Biarritz. However, even though those places were in Basque Country (meaning the people were essentially of Spanish descent) they spoke French, and unfortunately, myself and the other students did not. The French people we encountered were rude in a way that if we didn’t speak French, they didn’t speak to us, which made it hard for us to enjoy our time there. Fortunately, one of the Spanish host students spoke French, and that made our day much better. But I now know to learn some French for the next time I go to France!

How did you hear about these opportunities?

San Sebastian, Spain

Every trip abroad I’ve done has been with my schools. The trips to Spain and France were with my high school, the first in Spring 2012 was solely travel, but the trip in Spring 2013 was partially an exchange program where I stayed with a host family the first half of the trip, and then we travelled the latter half of the trip. My upcoming excursion to Italy is with St. John’s, and it is one week abroad while taking a one credit course.

How did you fund these opportunities?
I have to thank my parents for these opportunities. I never fundraised or received a scholarship for these trips and my parents paid out of pocket for me to go to Europe, not once, but now for my third time. I can’t even begin to explain how grateful I am for these opportunities my parents have blessed me with and continue to bless me with.

Royal Palace of Madrid

What have you learned from your travels?
I’ve learned that I truly enjoy learning about and partaking in other cultures. I can even say that I’ve adopted many of these customs and I still use them to this day, such as, putting olive oil on my bread and salad instead of butter or salad dressing. It’s amazing to see how other cultures live as opposed to our own. I learn new things every time I go somewhere and I can’t wait to tell people about what I’ve seen. I’ve also learned how much I like food from other countries! Being in another country did make me miss foods like Chick-Fil-A, but there is nothing compared to eating authentic Spanish Paella or a croissant from a French bakery or having helado (ice cream) for dessert. One of my favorite things about Europe besides the food, has to be how laid-back the people are and not in a lazy way at all. It never once seemed like people were in a rush to get to work or had road rage. Everyone would be at the park with their pets or their loved ones just enjoying life, soaking in the European sun. It was relaxing and refreshing to see.

Where do you plan to visit in the future?
In the future I plan to study abroad in the Spring spending a semester in Seville, Spain,

Biarritz, France

Rome, Italy, and Paris, France as well as possibly visiting places such as England, Ireland, Germany, Amsterdam, and Morocco. Other places on my list that I definitely want to visit are Portugal, Australia, Brazil and South Africa, just to name a few.

 

Want to get in touch with Angela? Email her at anjieamore@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seizing “First-Time Opportunities”

NANDI

Age: 22

Major: Studying Public Health and Spanish at University of Maryland

Hometown: Brooklyn, NY

Where have you traveled?

I lived in Costa Rica for four months and visited Panama, Brazil, Antigua. While my heart beats for international travel, I don’t neglect the treasures that lay domestically. I’ve been to about 12 states and counting. Outside looking in, it may seem that I’m always on the go but I like to take my time with my travels and really get to know a place as much as I can. I’m not traveling for the sake of travel or for the passport stamps. It’s truly for the people met, the late nights, missed flights, new and lost loves, breath taking sights, personal growth and experiences. I chose Costa Rica because my high school teacher who encouraged my Spanish development is Costariccense—so that was sort of to pay homage to someone who paved the way for me. I’m West Indian, so naturally the Caribbean countries will know me. As for Brazil, I had the opportunity to explore what Afro-Brazilians experience, and I’m always down for any Black and beautiful learning experience.

 

Cachoeira, Brazil

What inspired you to go abroad?

My parents always taught me that there is life outside the town you grow up in, no matter how much you love it. The world is a vast place. So moving from New York City to a southern town wherein people are born, live, and die was probably the driving force of my travels. Meeting people in high school and even college who classify the entirety of the Caribbean as “Jamaica” inspired my travels. I knew that I couldn’t change the perspectives of those people with mere words, but that by ensuring my worldview is progressing upward, I could show them the door leading out of their town and into the world. I read a lot, and it is said that a good book will take you to places you’ve never been. But that alone just wasn’t good enough for me. I needed to go to the places I was reading about, breathe the air, engage the people, and speak the language. All things considered, there are 196 countries, which allows me to safely assume that my personal mantra is true– life is not meant to be spent in one place. I grew up in NY, attended secondary school in SC, and moved to MD for undergrad. I didn’t know it then but those small life moves were setting me up to have an insatiable thirst for travel.

 

What has been your best experience? Worst experience?

My best experience this far was living in Costa Rica. Because of that experience, I can say I have roots in the country. I have friends, and family that I can always go back to visit. I love my host family and they love me; we’re friends on Facebook and whatsapp! They tell me they miss me and how much it meant to have me as their daughter for the time I was there. That means so much to me. The guys I met there were…the sweetest and most kind. I perfected my handling of the Spanish language and as a result am bilingual. There are schools there that I would love to have my children (when I have them) attend where I know they’ll get a worldly lens. I can dance a vast variety of Latin Dances impressively, my bests being bachata and merengue. Being able to see the close similarities between Latin and Caribbean culture, made me so happy. The lifestyle there suited me well; I started my days early, ate healthy, traveled domestically inexpensively, and worked out and loved every minute of it. Pura Vida! (Costa Rica’s motto, translating literally to ‘pure life’ but loosely as ‘full of life’, ‘real living’, ‘plenty of life’; used as a greeting or farewell.)

 

Worst Experience: I went to Panama for a week and didn’t get to enjoy it as much as I wanted. Why? One night our

Panama City, Panama

group went out for dinner at the start of the trip. We went to this awesome restaurant built on the mar that had swimming holes situated throughout the restaurant. Literally…the ocean was steps away from our table. After we ate and danced, we were all socializing and people decided to go swimming in their undies (as none of us had brought swimwear to dinner).They were doing backflips into the mar and having it up! My conservative friends from the program were discouraging me but I had to join—it was a first time opportunity! (I don’t believe in once in a lifetime.) So, I did a smooth front flip in (with my clothes on) swam about for a bit. I’m swimming around and decide to get out. At that precise moment I decided I was over it, I sliced the bottom of my foot on something crazy sharp in the water. Have no idea what it was. Could have been coral or a rusty pipe, who knows? All I know is I had this 2 inch gash, gushing blood, on my foot. These (cute) guys at the restaurant bandaged me up and I got dressed and prepared to head home. This guy from the program offers to carry me home. Cool. Worst mistake of my life. He was inebriated and drops me, and to add insult to injury I get glass stuck in my toe of my other foot. So I end up in the bathtub of the hotel, screaming as my friends play doctor and pull the glass out of my toe, while my other foot is on fire with pain. Our program coordinators take me to the hospital where thankfully I didn’t have to get a tetanus shot but was administered a painkiller injection to the culo (they love to give vaccinations in the backside in Latin America I learned). It hurt. I didn’t get to dance the night away with the cute guy at the bar, I missed a boat ride and seeing where Survivor was filmed, and was always last to everything–all because I couldn’t walk flat on my foot. -_- The WORST.

Now, I have to go back and re-do Panama and get to know it because I missed out on so much because of my lame foot (which is now fully healed).

 

How did you hear about these opportunities?

I frequent the study abroad site for UMD, just to see what I can finesse and milk from the university. But most of my travelling I come up with and plan on my own. I keep a running list of friends, family, and acquaintances that I have in various countries, cities, and states. This makes for less expensive travels as I’ll usually have a place to stay comfortably. Outside of housing, it’s always nice to have someone you know in an unknown place to look out for you and show you the gems of that particular place. As vacations/breaks approach in school, I refer to my list to see what move I would like to make and start coordinating.

People watching in Parque Central, Heredia, Costa Rica

How did you fund these opportunities?

I mostly save to fund my travel. Because I typically plan far in advanced, I start saving for the flight and lodging as soon as I can. I put a certain percentage of each paycheck from my job aside to go toward anything I want. I mean I don’t have many bills to pay, I’m not much of a shopaholic—what else should my money go into besides a rewarding and memorable travel experience? I read a quote once on the Humans of New York page that said “travel as much and as far as you can while you’re young, even if you have to borrow money to do it.” While non-conventional, I do if I have to. My family will give me what they can when I tell them I’m planning a trip and I do good deeds to “work” it off. I funded my Brazil study abroad trip with a crowd funding website, Gofundme.com. I shared that on every social network I have until I reached goal. I also look for scholarships and financial aid opportunities for study abroad. I take advantage of our international studies and diversity offices on campus for funding. I try to do a lot of travel as study abroad as well, because there is no cheaper and quality travel than when you’re in school! Yes there will be work, but what is the sense in traveling without learning? Being away from the US is relaxing and vacation enough, but I use my travel to learn something…anything.

 

Underground Atlanta, Georgia

What have you learned from your travels?

I’ve learned a great deal. I’ve learned to keep my travels private to an extent. Why? Because people have a tendency to live vicariously, instead of just doing what it is they desire. If I post my entire photo album from Costa Rica or my zip-lining video, yes it may encourage them to go and do what I have done but it may also encourage a sense of complacency! As I travel, people tell me to keep going because my 20s are the best times of my life. I’ve learned that my life is the best time of my life. I can do this for as long as I want. Married? I’ll take my husband. Children? They’ll learn Spanish and come too. Life commitments shouldn’t hold me down and discourage learning and horizon expansion. Honestly, to go into detail about other cultures would take another interview but there is beauty and mystique in EVERY culture. I’m a picky eater, I’ve found. Willing to try a lot but very picky. My street smarts have amped up—getting your freshly cashed wallet stolen at a police station of all places will teach you a lot. In regards to people…wow- people are just people. It takes meeting and living with people that I’m unaccustomed to dispel preconceived notions, stereotypes, and judgments. Traveling is the one thing that tests my patience to the max…but I’m able to remain level-headed. I’ve become confident in my travel knowledge and abilities to where I can book trips for others and lead groups. I’ve learned to take the time to myself…observe, people watch, appreciate nature, etc.

 

Where do you plan to visit in the future?

I’m very interested in Latin American and Caribbean people and culture so I intend to travel to every country

Swimming with Stingrays, Stingray City, Antigua & Barbuda

classified as Latin or Caribbean. I know I want to go to Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, and Egypt. I have to go to Australia, because it’s trill– it’s the only continent country. I’m not closed to anything, as long as there is a culture to learn about—I’m down for it. As for up and comings on my calendar, I have Antigua this July, next October–Miami for Carnival, next winter Ghana, Spring Break 2015 –Paris, Summer 2015 Barbados for CropOver, and February 2015–Trinidad and Tobago. I’m always looking for dedicated travel groups and partners so if you’re up for it hit my social media page and we’ll make something happen!

 

Want to see more of Nandi? Follow her on twitter and instagram @TheNandiLion, friend her on facebook as Debz Nandi or email her at thenandilion@gmail.com!

Just Want to Get Up and Go!

BELLA

 

Age: 21

Major: I am a senior at Wagner College in NY studying Education and Spanish with two minors (english and philosophy).

Hometown: Columbus, OH

Where have you traveled?

Well I have traveled around the US to different places such as San Antonio, Texas, Seattle, Washington, Washington DC, Florida, Philly, Boston, Chicago, etc. but my abroad travels have been to Canada, Mexico, England, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, and Haiti.

What inspired you to go abroad?

WELL I never really knew I had a love for traveling until I went on my third trip abroad by myself to London, England. The trips before were just fun little vacations with my family but I had a friend who was studying to get his PhD in Oxford and he asked me to visit him because he was very lonely. I begged and begged my parents for the longest time (they actually thought it was a joke that I asked). They finally allowed it and I was overjoyed. It was scary leaving by myself like that for a little over a week but I had been away at school for about a year now and was a little accustomed to it. London opened my eyes to a whole new world (sorry for that copyright Aladdin). Just being in front of Big Ben made me want to see every major monument I could. What can I say, I fell in love.

So after that I decided that I wanted to live somewhere new for an extended period of time and that’s when I looked into studying abroad. I really didn’t pick Costa Rica for any reason other than it was the cheapest place to go haha. I was actually quite ignorant and didn’t even know about it as a country…embarrassing. So my best friend and I decided to go together and man did we have an amazing time. While in Costa Rica we were fortunate enough to go on an excursion to Nicaragua for a few days and then spend our Spring Break in the ACTUAL Panama City. We thought it was funny because everyone wants to spend break in Panama City, Florida and we were in the actual Panama City. When I returned from Costa Rica I diagnosed myself with “Post Travelers Depression” haha. It was the worst…I just wanted to get up and go. Anywhere! Everywhere!

Around January or February of last year I got an email talking about the Military Extension Internship which allowed you to intern on a military base and work at the youth center there. Of course I was hooked, being a military brat myself, so I applied right away. I was awarded the internship and was lucky enough to be selected as one of the four other interns who were chosen to go abroad instead of stay on a base in the States. I was so pumped I could hardly wait. I think my mom and dad really inspired me for that one because I would have never thought to apply to work on a military base if I didn’t grow up around it and already understand the surroundings.

Haiti was inspired by my want to go to places that no one would think to go. I also wanted to go on a trip where the sole purpose was to help people. It was truly amazing.

 

 What has been your best experience? Worst experience?

It is hard for me to pick my best experience because all of them were so different and life changing in multiple ways. I will say that the experience that changed me the most as a person would be my mission trip to Haiti. Going from a first world country to a third world country is a truly humbling experience. There wasn’t a day I didn’t reflect on my surroundings and just break down from it. But what really got to me was the conditions these children were living in…many without families or clean clothes…and the smiles that they had everyday. It made me really rethink the way I go about my day to day activities and the attitude I put into it. Those kids taught me way more than I could have ever taught them in that short week. Living simply is all people really need. America really has an excess of material that could be cut down to make things so much easier.

Some bad situations that I had were mostly in Costa Rica. I got very sick at one point and had to be hospitalized. It was really scary because my family wasn’t with me and the doctor was speaking in a language that I didn’t quite know at that time. I was very lucky to have my best friend from back home with me so she comforted me a little. I also wasn’t looking and  fell down a big hole (there are HUGE potholes in the streets of costa rica…its ridiculous) and sprained my ankle. I just had to laugh at that one though haha. Then, I found out that I am allergic to red ant bites because I couldn’t walk for a few days due to my foot inflaming from a few ant bites. Lastly, I got over $400 dollars of merchandise and cash stolen from me in a hostel. I wouldn’t call them bad experiences…I would just call them experiences because…well…I lived didn’t I? 🙂

How did you hear about these opportunities?
Well I heard about Study Abroad through my spanish class I was taking. It is also a requirement for language majors to study in a country where their language is taught so I didn’t really have a choice haha. I actually heard about the Spain opportunity a few days before the application was due and was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get that application done. That was right around the time of a major breakup of mine and I knew I needed this opportunity to just get away from everything. I was fortunate enough to get it! While in Spain I made friends with a family who loved to travel and they took me everywhere with them! Again I was quite lucky because without them I wouldn’t have been able to go to many of the places that I did. Haiti was actually an accident trip. I was signed up to go to Israel through a course that I’m taking at school and it got cancelled because of lack of people SO i quickly looked at different extended spring break trips that my school offered and signed up at the last second.

How did you fund these opportunities?

Costa Rica was actually very difficult to fund even though it should have been easy. You see, my mother awarded me her Post GI Bill from the military so it pays for most of my college education. We thought that it would pay for studying abroad as well but there were lots of paper work issues and I’m actually still to this day confused on how Costa Rica was paid for haha. Spain was an all expense paid internship. They paid for my flight to orientation in San Antonio, my flight to and from Spain, and awarded me a stipend of $1,500 every other week. Long story short I made BANK last summer haha. My parents made sure I saved some of it instead of go crazy like I probably would have. Haiti I paid for all on my own…I was kind of proud of that 🙂 It was $600 for everything! It was really a great deal.

What have you learned from your travels?

I have really learned to be by myself and what that entails. Its helped me to find myself and learn to love that person. I’ve learned to not judge ANYTHING before you try it (i.e. foods, zip lining, 2 second showers, etc). Most of all I’ve learned that this world is full of amazing and inspirational people. I’ve learned to not complain, for someone out there has it sooooo much worse than me. Those guy troubles I was having, that flat tire I got, those shoes I couldn’t buy…thats nothing compared to the struggles that some go through on a day to day basis and THAT has humbled me.

Where do you plan to visit in the future?
My number one bucket list place is INDIA!!! I am trying to plan a trip there this summer. I am in love with their culture and oh my goodness their weddings are beautiful. I also want to ride an elephant in the water. One day…one day…

 

 

 

Want to see more of Bella? Follow her on Instagram @peace_love_puravida

New People, New Places

Beach in Tobago

Hello FYM Readers!

Posing during the Hike in Asa Wright Nature Center

 

As May brings in warm weather and summer fun, I know for a lot of us, the summer also comes with the excitement of new travels!

Family vacations, trips with friends, road trips, whatever! we all love the opportunity to escape for a while. So this month on the blog, the theme will be TRAVELLING!

Going to new places not only opens our eyes to different cultures and experiences, but it also shows us different sides of ourselves. By leaving our little bubbles and comfort zones, we learn about parts of ourselves that have never been tested before. My first opportunity to leave the country was to take a class on queer identity in Trinidad & Tobago. I applied for the class through UMD and went to Trinidad for 2 weeks with 10 other students. Needless to say, getting 3 credits to go to an island is more than ideal. Between class time, we went on field trips around Trinidad & Tobago to experience the people and culture. We visited a mas camp, ate doubles, attended a fete, hiked the rainforest at Asa Wright Nature Center, went downtown, went to Maracas Bay and ate shark and bake, and roamed Tobago.

Port of Spain

Mas Camp designs for Carnival

Two weeks was hardly enough, it was my first time out of the country and away from my family for more than a few days. And aside from meeting other students and learning about the culture, I also learned how independent I could be. In the two weeks I had learned the different areas and figured out the public transit, knowing which maxis to take and which stops to look out for. Even though it was a short trip, I felt as if I was a different person coming home and I can’t wait to travel again.

This month, I’ll be featuring several fellow travelers whose passports are much more filled than mine! We’ll be discussing the countries they’ve visited, how they funded their trips, what they learned and so much more!

Shark and Bake at Maracas Bay