Meet One of Our Study Abroad Peer Advisors!

Hi there! My name is Megan Fulmer and I’m a senior studying Spanish and psychology. I’d always really liked the Spanish language and when I was 16 I begged my parents to let me go on a class trip to Spain where I fell in love with the Spanish culture.

Last spring I spent the semester studying in Heredia, Costa Rica and it was the experience of a lifetime! For 5 unforgettable months I lived with a host family, attended the local university, volunteered teaching English at an elementary school and traveled to all parts of Costa Rica. I canyoned down the side of a waterfall, ziplined through the cloud rainforests of Monteverde, and I went white water river rafting for the first time on class IV rapids!

Canyoning in the waterfall

Not only did I have amazing adventures and improve my Spanish fluency, but I also learned so much about myself and who I am as an individual. I feel so passionately and positively about my experience abroad that I came back to the U of A and applied for an internship with ISA!  I now work with the office of study abroad to raise international awareness on campus and encourage others to go abroad. Studying abroad is an experience I would never trade and I wish everyone had the opportunity to do it as well!

 Megan Fulmer
ISA Global Ambassador
University of Arkansas Office of Study Abroad

Out of Sight Friendships

So my glasses broke. For those of you that do not know me personally, that's a rather big deal. I am not blind without them by any means but without them everything is a blur. The colors of the world all run together and faces become unrecognizable at a distance of greater than five feet.

When I woke up Saturday morning a half-hour before our excursion to Pushkin, home of the Catherine Palace with the flamboyant amber room and gold-adorned ballroom, I was noticeably upset. I went to the dorm lobby with my glasses in two pieces, torn almost down the middle. Professor Brill's wife brought me some medical tape to try to put them back together but it wouldn't work.

We had a half-hour train ride ahead of us. Margarita volunteered to take me to an "Optika" to try to find a new frame. Margarita is a student from Samara who will be spending a year in law school in the States next year. Why she chooses to subject herself to that torture I will never understand, but I'm sure she'll have a great time. She is one of those people who never ever stop smiling. She takes everything in stride and literally brightens up a room when she walks in and starts talking, her short bouncing as she excitedly nods her head while speaking.

We went to two places nearby that were closed. Third time's the charm, however, and she explained to the optomatrist my situation. They found a frame and said they'd have them ready for me Monday. Margarita gave them her number, I paid for my glasses, and we headed to the train station.

When we got there everyone asked why I wasn't wearing glasses. Valentina, one of the Russian professors teaching us Russian criminal law, told me that I looked like a "very serious" Russian man without them. I was very annoyed. Here I was surrounded by beauty and unable to enjoy it. It's rather frustrating.

Luckily I had Lera. Lera is one of the first Russian people we met. She is from Novgorod. She took the bus from there to the St. Petersburg airport to meet our group as it arrived. She's incredibly friendly and madly in love with her little town. She was a great tour guide in the city and showed us some great sights that even our professors missed. She forgot her camera at home and so I offered mine. She excitedly took it and snapped pictures for the next hour during our tour of Catherine Palace. Though for me the place was a blur, thanks to her I am now able to relive the experience and really see what I thought I saw when I was there.

Whit Cox is one of the University of Arkansas students. He's a relatively quiet guy with a very dry and clever sense of humor. He said he had a spare pair if I needed it that night. I tried on his glasses and we are nearly the same prescription. He's just a bit blinder than I so though everything up close for me looked good, far-off objects were still blurry. It worked for the night I needed them and for that I will be forever thankful.

By the way, I can't mention all these people without mentioning Masha Luneva. She is the reason I am able to write any of these blog posts. She has an air card and lets me use her computer without objection or question. She was on the bus with Lera, too, on the first day and she's probably the sweetest person on this entire trip.

I love meeting new people. The great thing about meeting new people is that it creates a foundation for a long-term friendship and a better life. We are nothing without each other. I'm glad I've met these people and so many others on this trip. Every moment, every conversation, every person, has given me a new way of looking at the world. It's a good feeling.

-Alexander Barrio

Sydney Mardi Gras Parade

Hello friends!

I have a free moment and thought I'd let you in on my experience at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade!

It all started with the commercials on tv.

And then the group from KU that we met was planning on going.

So they sent us all the info.

And we booked a hostel.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Since none of us had class on Friday, we took a train right after we got done with our classes on Thursday night. The concession train ticket to King's Cross station was only 3.90!!! Yaay! We did, however, have to get off at Central Station and hop onto an inner city train to get us all the way to KX, but it wasn't hard or anything. Oh and to keep entertained on the train for 3 hours, we took loads of pictures and made a video. Pictures can be found on my FB page in the future at some point!

We stayed at Brado's Backpackers in King's Cross. To say the least, it was super sketch. There are lots of shady people and places hanging around there. There are lots of "adult" places and we were told several times to watch out for needles in the street from the junkies. Cool. ON the other hand: we were SUPER close to where the parade was, it was SUPER cheap, and we met LOADS of cool people. What can I say? You win some, you lose some.

Our plans for Friday afternoon were just kind of a whim, but it worked out well (enough)! We woke up and walked around KX for a while before deciding to go to the beach! The only problem was we didn't know which to go to. Another girl suggested Manly Beach, which could only be a too perfect return for me, since that's where V&M lived once upon a time! We walked about 2 miles to get to Circular Quay (pronounced Circular Key, just fyi) to take a ferry to Manly. They ferry was definitely more than any of us expected to pay, and they wouldn't let us get concession, so we got stuck paying 13.30 for roundtrip ferry tickets. YIKES!

Ferry ride was fun, the usual fresh air, nice views, crying children. We got off and it was crazy how much I actually remembered from my first trip there almost 4 years ago! But I definitely knew exactly where to go and saw all the familiar stores in the little shopping area, and walked straight to the beach! Crowded would be an understatement when we got there, but we found a patch just big enough for the 3 of us to lay our towels. The water was beautiful, and the sun was shinning! The water was colder than it is in Newcastle, but after laying out a while, it was just the right temperature for me.

On the way back to the ferry, we stopped to pick up slurpees from the 7/11 convenience store...delicious! And I'd say they were pretty close to prices back home too! Pear lime is a new flavor here and it's amazing!

As for our plans that night, we started at a pub in KX before being advised to go to Star City Casino. The advisor told us that it would be a quick train ride and short walk to where we wanted to go. Since I have never been in a real casino, I thought it might be fun to go. Well, the train may have been short, but the walk was definitely not. We get there expecting something great, but to me it looked just like any casino I've seen on tv. But it was in Australia. We hung around a while and realized that basically everyone there was much older than we were and it was not in fact a place we would want to hang out. We ended up going different ways and 5 of us were trying to get back. Of course, the train doesn't run that late. There wouldn't be a bus in that direction for about an hour and none of the taxis would take 5 people in 4 seats. It was basically a nightmare, but we called a bigger taxi and were finally able to get home! Well, KX.

For the parade on Saturday, we all decided to dress up and get into costume. Some people in our large group had wings, some had masks, there were hats, boas, fishnets, sequins, glitter, feathers, hairspray, wigs, and every color of the rainbow could be seen! We were advised to get there early since the street would fill up early for people wanting the best views. Luckily, I'm a professional getting places too early person, and we arrived 6 hours early. The parade was supposed to start at 8 and we got there at 2. Certainly, it was boring, but because of how many people were with us, we were able to take shifts saving our place while others would walk down the street looking, or getting something to eat.

When the parade finally did start, it was utter chaos! We certainly did have the best seats in the whole place...we were in the very very front on the corner and were able to see all the cameras from local tv stations and the famous people coming to host it! We took pictures of the parade and people would run to us and get in pictures with us! The parade lasted hours, but it was ok since we had let the anticipation build all night! It was simply fantastic!

We rode the train back Sunday afternoon, early enough to get to the grocery store and catch a bus home. We watched the parade again on tv that night, only to see ourselves on the screen about a million times. Thank goodness for the costumes or it might have been hard to spot us!

That's all for now! But here's a picture of the Arkansas girls dressed up with some of the volunteers that we made friends with on our 6 hour wait!

Greetings Again, from Italia!

Ciao tutti!
These past couple of weeks have certainly been hectic ones! The internet in my apartment has OFFICIALLY and FINALLY been COMPLETELY fixed! What a relief! Now I can blog with ease!

Since I blogged last, I have been on a weekend excursion to France, have explored the small town of Lucca, and have been to Venice for the opening weekend of Carnival! All three have really been amazing trips, with each one teaching me something different and letting me experience something drastically new! In France, I went to the French Riviera (for some much-desired sun and beach time!).  We explored Monaco, and I got to see the church where Grace Kelly was married.  After that we headed to Nice, and explored the beach and went to the flea markets set up all around the town.  We were taken to a very nice dinner, with a typical French menu.  I felt like I was in the movie Julie and Julia, there was so much food!  The next day we went to St. Paul de Vence (a small town in France which has a great assortment of modern art), Cannes (where the infamous film festival is held), and Eze (where we went to a perfume factory!).  All the places were wonderful, and it was nice to see the small towns of France.  The whole trip was through the school, so I met new people in my program and didn't have to worry about transportation!

The trip to Lucca was with a few of my roommates and some people we met on the school-run excursions.  Lucca is a small town about an hour and a half train ride away from Florence.  It was beautiful the day we went there, I got to wear shorts in February! We rented bikes for the afternoon, and spent the day in parks and riding around the streets of the town.  There was a huge open market that we browsed, with very cheap (yet very nice) clothes and food and other various goods! When you think of Tuscany, you think of small Italian villages, and Lucca is the epitome of this image!

As relaxing as Lucca was, Venice during Carnival was anything but! Venice, from the moment we got there to the moment we left, was complete chaos and crowds! Everyone there was dressed up in some fashion, whether in intricate masks or decorative costumes (most often, both).  Despite the huge amounts of people, everyone there was extremely nice and friendly.  Saturday night, the school took us to a traditional Carnival dinner.  There was a DJ there, and it wasn't long until us students and some local Italians were out on the dance floor!  We taught them the Macarena! It was a blast!

The trip is definitely going by faster than I could have imagined.  Sorry to get kind of preachy on anyone prospectively looking to study abroad, but I will.  Take advantage of every opportunity you have over here, and never settle! It's truly a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and you need to take it by the horns.  But be safe and smart about it!

And just another sort of tip: Take very very very good care of yourself.  Much more so than you would at home!  I can't tell you how many people I know who have gotten sick within the first month of being abroad, and if you don't keep up good health, it only gets worse! I've only been sick once since my freshman year at the U of A, but here I've already had a cold and am just now getting over some stomach virus/ food poisoning.  Just a little tip for those prospective abroaders!

I'll be updating soon, hopefully feeling a little better! My goal is to feel well enough to get out of my apartment on Sunday- I'm supposed to go to my FIRST Italian soccer game!

Ciao mi amici!
Rachael 

G'day Mates!

Hello all! I am Amanda Compean, a Junior Chemical Engineering major studying abroad in Newcastle, Australia this semester! As of today, I have officially been here for 3 weeks and have loved every second of it. Well, almost every second...

The program that I'm in is the Newcastle Direct Enrollment Program, which is a little different from other Study Abroad programs. In my program, we get enrolled as students, but are basically in charge of everything else. Everything else including, but not limited to; flights, finding housing, and planning side trips. None of the above have been too difficult, considering I've never had to worry about any of it, but I have been planning and looking for things for a long time before now.

So my first piece of advice is to start planning early. I started looking for my flight tickets in November. Once all my funding came in and I figured out how to pay for everything, I started looking for places to live. I started by just googling "rooms for rent in Newcastle, Australia." Eventually, I used the Gumtree website and looked under flat share and just took down names, numbers, and addresses. When I got here, I just started calling and making appointments and it was so much easier than getting here and having no idea where to start. Also, before arriving in Australia,  I booked a weeks stay at the hostel and figured that I'd be able to book more nights depending on how long it took to find a permanent residence. Luckily, it only took a week to find a place and move in! We stayed at the Newcastle Beach YHA, which is a 2 minute walk from the beach, clean, safe, and a really social place to stay.

When considering a place to live, my only advice is that you'll want to live near the beach. My walk to the beach is literally 10 minutes. There is everything here! Restaurants, shops, grocery stores, pubs, the wharf...plus all the trains and busses come down here so it's never a problem to get anywhere!

Another piece of advice is to budget before you get here and then again after you find a place to live. You'll realize it's easier to save money than you might have thought, so you can spend more on side trips. And when it comes to side trips, definitely plan ahead. We'll have a week off later this semester and we've already talked to travel agents as well as locals trying to find the best places to go!

This past Monday was my first day of school, and even though I only had one class, it was super overwhelming. I felt very unprepared and behind, but I had the second class for it today, and it wasn't nearly as bad. It's just important remember that this isn't forever, it's just one bad day, it's certainly not worth going home over, and it's 1 million times better that at the end of the day your in a different country! This is a new experience for me, there are bound to be bad days, it wouldn't be life without them. I'm excited for everything to come and I'm excited to share my experience with fellow travelers, and potential study abroad students.

That's all for now!

Amanda

Ciao!

Ciao tutto! Hello everybody! My name is Rachael Reagan and I'm studying abroad in Florence, Italy for the Spring 2011 semester! I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to post an entry, out internet has been in and out since I arrived about 2 1/2 weeks ago!

Even though I've only spent limited time here, it feels like I've been living in Florence for months.  The city is very easy to get around (it actually reminds me of Fayetteville in that sense), and you walk EVERYWHERE!! Bringing a good pair of walking shoes was definitely a good call, because I find myself walking probably close to 3 miles a typical class day.  My class are going really well- all of my professors are very passionate about what they teach, and take ever opportunity they can to extend our learning our of the classroom!  One of my favorite classes is my Food of Italy class, where we learn the history and practice of the Italian culinary tradition.  Last week we went to the chocolate factory, and learned about the history of chocolate in Italy.  It was amazing!

I live in an apartment with 3 other girls in my program.  We're literally from all over the US- which is cool, because I get to learn even more about different parts of my country while learning about different parts of the world! You meet a lot of people really fast, just because you're all in the same situation of being somewhere completely new!

While I was thinking about this post, I thought about some "words of wisdom" I could past down from my study abroad experience thus far.  First one I can think of is to NOT expect everything to go the way you plan.  My flight to Florence got re-routed to Bologna, and I had to take a 2 hour bus ride to get to Florence!  Also, laundry isn't anything like it is in America here (no dryer in my apartment, it's all hang dry!).  Also, ladies, be sure to stock up on feminine products once over here- they are NOT the same!

That's all for now-with my study abroad program, I am able to take faculty-lead and school-sponsored excursions to various places in Europe.  This weekend we are heading to the French Riviera, which I am very excited about because I can finally put 3 years of French to use!  If your program offers this, seriously take advantage of it! I've met so many people through these excursions, and they are a BLAST!

Arrivederci!
Rachael

Preparing to live at Sea

Hi everyone! My name's Leah Humphrey and I'm a student of Fulbright. I'm a Sophomore, a Creative Writing Major, and I will be spending this Spring Semester on the beautiful MV Explorer for the Semester at Sea Program.

During this semester, I will be sailing around the world and stopping at ports in select countries. I'll be seeing the rain forest, the Taj Mahal, and the Great Wall of China among other things. I'll be taking four classes, English, History, Anthropology, and Philosophy, and studying with hundreds of other kids from all over the world. But before I can do all that? I need to pack four months worth of clothes, school supplies, and other living necessities. Which is proving to be a nice little challenge.

Luckily though, I have my friend Stephi helping me out, and my family. So after three days of putting months of planning in my head out on my Basement floor, I have two bags packed to the bursting point...and I still don't leave for two days.

Even with everything ready to go for this trip, I've been getting a little stressed out. I have to bounce around my town preparing, and I also have to get ready to leave my family for the first real time ever. I've always lived close to home, even though I live at the UofA, so leaving for four months is going to be really hard to do. But this experience isn't just about me getting credits for school or seeing places many don't get a chance to visit, it's also a trip of personal growth for me too. When I come back for this trip, I hope I'm more ready to face the real world after college then I am now.

Till next time everyone! And when that time comes, hopefully I will be facing a beautiful view from my hotel room at the Bahamas, my first stop before I board the MV Explorer.