Month: September 2016

Hi again from Granada! It’s been a week filled with adventure since I last posted! I continue to take classes every day, but in my free time I’ve been able to do some cool things!

On Saturday I was invited to go to the birthday lunch and dinner of my host mom’s grandson! One of her daughters picked us up at took us out to a suburb (where another daughter lives). We had “barbecue”, which consisted of delicious fish and kebobs. I even helped the oldest daughter with her English, because she was about to leave for England! The adults all had questions for me about how Americans really are, rowing, and of course, Donald Trump. After awhile, we went to a cool park so that the grandson (who turned 9!) could have a party with his friends. All in all, it was a super cool day.

Then on Sunday, I went to Carmen de los Mártires with some friends (pretty much just a gorgeous park). It had beautiful views and we had a picnic there. Then, since we were feeling adventurous, we climbed to another panoramic view spot, which was amazing. I definitely feel like I’m getting to know Granada better!

Finally, today I just got back from a tour of the Albayzín, a neighborhood in Granada. There were amazing views of the Alhambra, even though it was a total workout to climb the hilly, narrow roads. At the end, we even got to see the sunset from above Granada. We visited a church where you can get homemade dulces (sweets) from the nuns. However, you aren’t allowed to see the nuns, so you have to ring a doorbell, put the money in, and there is a revolving window that they put the sweets on. It was very interesting!

 

That’s all from Spain for now. Hard to believe I’ve been here for almost a month! Hope time trials went well for everyone.

Hasta luego,

Bix

 

Hej,

I apologize for not being able to write last week; I was on what DIS calls “core course week”, a week dedicated to spending time and travelling with the main course of your semester.  For my travel trip, we ventured into Western Denmark, exploring Jylland and Fun, the two parts of Denmark other than where Copenhagen lies.  While on the trip, we visited places that pertained to educational experiences, such as the Østerskov Efterskole, which is a boarding school for students in eighth through tenth grade.  At this school, they only learn through role-playing activities and lessons, such as the Salem Witch Trials, Murder Mystery, WWII, and toga week.  It was a crazy experience, but I loved the alternative way of learning and teaching that takes place in the classroom.  We also visited a Vikingcenter, where I toured recreations of authentic Viking housing, made “viking bread” over the fire, and actually learned how to fight like a Viking with wooden swords and shields.  It was an amazing week of travel, learning, and bonding time with my classmates.

On Saturday night, I attended the filming for Danmark’s Har Talent, the danish version of America’s Got Talent.  Even though I was only an audience member, this is the first time I have ever been “filmed” for a real show.  If you aren’t doing anything on October 1, 2016 and have access to Danish national television, you should turn on Denmark’s Got Talent and look for me in the audience!  It was a great show to watch, with some really good performances and some that deserved the four x’s.   It was weird to have to redo certain scenes, like the entrances of some contestants or the entrance of the judges.  Also, the makeup crew came out between every other act to fix the makeup of the judges; like was that really necessary?  All in all, it was a fantastic experience, even if everything was in Danish and I had no idea what was happening most of the time…

I can’t wait to write again next week!  Take care,

Bethany

It’s hard to believe I am starting my 3rd week here in China. I’m caught in some strange limbo where it feels as though I have been here for months, but then again it feels like a few days.

This past week was filled with various adventures. I joined a gym about a 10 minute walk from where my program is located and was thoroughly impressed by it’s sophistication. It has two floors which include a yoga/dance room, a crossfit training room, a weight machine room, a free weight room, a strip of countless treadmills, and a locker room with really great showers. There are also spinning and dance classes that I might jump in on as well.

Thursday was the Mid Autumn Festival which is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar corresponding to a full moon at night. It is an occasion for outdoor reunions among friends and relatives to eat mooncakes and watch the moon, a symbol of harmony and unity. Our academic director treated us to a delicious dinner and for dessert mooncake was served. A mooncake is a rich thick filling usually made from red bean or lotus seed paste and is surrounded by a thin crust that may contain yolks from salted duck eggs.

Also this week, we visited the Western Hills which are formed by the Huating, Taihua and Luohan mountain ranges rising above the eastern and northern banks of Dianchi Lake, the largest lake in Kunming. Here we visited a Buddhist Temple and climed to over 7,000ft to what is known as the Dragon Gate.The gate complex was built throughout 72 years of hard work (1781–1853). The Dragon Gate consists of 3 parts: a stone archway, a platform, a stone room and a number of sculptures, all carved out of the same rock. We hiked all the way up, a tough climb at that altitude, and took a ski lift down the mountain with spectacular views of he city.

Yesterday, we arrived in Beijing and will be here for a few days. Today we saw the Forbidden City. It is enormous and seems to go on forever with its 9,999 rooms. It was very surreal as it is a place I have always dreamed of seeing. Afterwards, we had some free time to explore the city so I decided to go with some friends to a market in one of the Hutong neighborhoods that has all sorts of exotic foods. I decided to test my luck with the scorpions. Despite their appearance they actually aren’t half bad, salty and crunchy, it almost tastes like pumpkin seeds!

Tomorrow I’m off to the great wall. I’ll check back in next week!

平安