08 March 2010

March 8, 2010

Hey!

I will do my best to update you again on what's been happening over here. Also, I have now added to my photo album on Picasa (a web-based photo storage made by Google), so here is a link to it so that you can see what all I've been up to. I am not finished with the London album, so please be patient with that one. I should have done that while in China also, but didn't, so perhaps if I'm bored one day I'll try to upload some China pictures to it as well.

http://picasaweb.google.com/SarahMelecki


I think I sent the last update just before we went to Granada. I really enjoyed Granada! It's a little bit smaller than Seville, but still large enough to have plenty to do. We left for Granada on Friday morning and it only took about 2-4 hours by bus to get there. We stayed at a nice hotel very close to the Alhambra (the palace used by the late Muslim rulers). On Friday, we did a little looking around our hotel and then went on a guided tour of the Cathedral there, which is smaller than the Cathedrals in Toledo and Seville. It is where Isabela and Ferdinand are buried, and we were able to see inside of their tomb. My roommate, Anjali, and I went looking around the various shops and things Friday afternoon and found that most of the shops have quite a bit of Moorish influence, probably because the Arab Muslims were able to maintain their presence in Granada much longer than they were the rest of Spain. They weren't kicked out by the Romans quite as quickly as people in other parts of Spain were.

Friday evening, we got to see a Flamenco show at a little place where we were all packed in very tightly. It was great, though, because it meant that we were all able to see the Flamenco very close up. I loved seeing the dancing and hearing the music! I think that everyone in our group was very impressed by the Flamenco show. We explored a few of Granada's bars but didn't stay out very late on Friday, because we had to be up early Saturday to go tour the Alhambra, which was amazing! It was added onto a little bit by the Romans, so there were a couple of parts with Roman influence, but mostly it was Moorish architecture and it was beautiful! I doubt we were even able to see half of it because it is such a large palace. Apparently it used to be painted with very bright colors, but most of the paint has come off over the years. The walls and ceilings are still carved very intricately, though, because (I learned this in my History of Spanish Art class!) the materials used in its making weren't considered very strong, so in order to take away from that aspect they were decorated as much as possible. This is true of all Moorish architecture from that time period. We saw many of the rooms inside of the Alhambra as well as the gardens next to it and the outside of the Summer Palace (which is located in the gardens). We then went to eat lunch before we had to go back to Seville. The following Monday was the birthday of one of my roommates (Megan), so she chose where we ate out on Sunday night and chose a sushi restaurant not far from us. I don't really like sushi, but I do like other Japanese foods and got some really great chicken at the restaurant, as well as very good egg roll type things. Our host mom cooks every meal for us except for Sunday night dinners (because she takes Sundays off) so I feel pretty lucky about that! Also, on Sunday nights its nice to be able to eat out so that we are able to explore some of Seville's restaurants.

Monday, we ate a dish of Megan's choosing that Mama Rosa made for dinner, and got to have birthday cake afterwards for desert. It was wonderful! I went out with the group Monday night to help celebrate Megan's birthday for a little bit, but I have a 9 am class every Monday-Thursday so I came back before everyone else to get some sleep. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday preparing for my trip to London! Wednesday evening, I met my friend Tracy about 8:15 pm at the bus stop to go to the Seville airport. We got to London about midnight their time (only 6 hours ahead of central time zone in the U.S.) and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel because the buses and trains had stopped for the night (we didn't fly into Heathrowe, we flew into Stansted which is about an hour outside of the city center). Our hotel was very nice, and only about a two minute walk from Paddington Station. We got it pretty inexpensively because it is not peak tourist season. It was by no means a 5 star hotel, but we weren't looking for that!

Thursday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel's complimentary breakfast (mostly bread, croissants, fruit, yogurt, and cereal) before venturing out. We walked first through Kensington Gardens, which was beautiful, and saw Kensington Palace there (most famously the home of Queen Victoria, and I think where Princess Diana moved after she and Charles got divorced). It was beautiful, but we didn't go inside. I'm not really sure how you get inside, actually. We wandered around London a little bit after that, getting lost (I think everyone should get lost in foreign countries, because you see more interesting stuff that way!), before finding a bus to take us towards the British Museum. We ate at a cute little pub that had quotes written all over the ceiling and then went to the museum, which was free by the way! I loved the British Museum - we could have spent days in there. We mostly went to see the Egyptian sections because that's what I've always heard of when I hear about the British Museum, and they were really great. Most notably, we got to see a large bust of Ramses II and the Rosetta Stone!

We went to Chinatown after the British Museum, which was very cool. It is about 4-6 blocks big and has a lot of vendors with traditional Chinese things as well as Chinese restaurants. There were a lot of Chinese medicine stores with things like acupuncture offered, as well. One of the best Chinatowns I've ever seen! We ate dinner at a restaurant there, which was good but not the best either of us had had. Tracy's family is from China and her parents always always cook Chinese food, so she knows good Chinese food when she has it, and she said this restaurant was alright, but not like her mom's cooking. We also wandered around some of the shops. At 7:30 pm, we had tickets to a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Twelfth Night at the Duke of York's theatre in the West End. The show was absolutely amazing! I also love Shakespeare, so I was just really excited to see anything by the Royal Shakespeare Company (supposedly the best Shakesperian actors in the world). It was tied for the best Shakespeare performance I've ever seen with a production of Hamlet my dad and I saw in Minneapolis a few years ago, that was done excellently. I can't wait to go back and see more by the RSC!

Friday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and then caught the Number 15 bus from Marble Arch to the Tower of London. Meredith sent me a guidebook to use that was really good, and one of the things it recommended was to take the Number 15 bus because you can see so many sites on it and it is much cheaper than going on a bus tour around the city. It is one of the big red double decker busses, and we were able to sit in the very front of the 2nd floor, so we could see really well. I also really liked the Tower of London! I wasn't expecting it to be laid out the way it is - I was actually expecting one large tower. Instead, it is basically a fortress that was used at the king's palace as well as a defensive fort way back in the 1200's. It is like a large square with a big courtyard. They had some actors showing what used to be the king's living quarters, and also showed where the soldiers used to "man their battlestations" if under attack. We saw the crown jewels there, as well, because they have been stored there for hundreds of years. They were insane! The largest piece of the largest diamond ever found is in the royal scepter, and I bet it's as big as my hand.

We went from there to St. Paul's Cathedral, but it was just closing, so instead of going there for the afternoon we decided to go over to Convent Garden, which used to be a fruit and vegetable market and has since been converted into shops of all kinds. I really liked Convent Garden! It was just a nice little area in general. We found a good pub to eat dinner at and shopped a little bit, including going to a really great tea shop called the Tea House where I picked up some freshly made Apple Cinnamon tea for my residencia and some tea for my mom. On the way home, we went to King's Cross Station and found Platform nine and three quarters (from the Harry Potter books!) That was pretty fun!

Saturday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and then went to check out St. Paul's Cathedral. It's only about 300 years old, which isn't nearly as old as the other Cathedrals I've been able to see in Europe, but the tour information said that there were three previous Cathedrals built on that site that had been destroyed. It was beautiful! I got to climb to both an indoor and outdoor observation deck, where I could see a top view of the Cathedral and a nice view of all of London. We took a ride on the London Eye next, which was just across the river and sort of resembles a very large ferris wheel. The compartments you go in are like glass rooms that slowly spin on the Eye and they put in 25-30 people in each compartment. It takes about half an hour to go all the way around. We were able to see a lot of the city that way. It is right on the River Thames.

We walked over to look at Big Ben and Parliament House after the London Eye, which is beautiful. The entire Parliament House is not only massive, but also all done in a gothic style of architecture. Westminster Abbey is right next to Parliament House, so we looked at that next. We weren't able to go inside of any of these places because they were already closed, but the outsides were amazing. After eating a very late lunch, we decided to go back to the hotel and nap a little bit because we were both so tired. We ended up taking pretty long naps and then going to dinner in Paddington, just a place near our hotel.

Sunday morning after breakfast, we checked out of our room and left our luggage with the front desk staff to go see Shakespeare's Globe theater. It is not the original Globe, because that burnt down quite some time ago, but it is an historically accurate model that was completed in 1997 and has an adjacent museum. They only do shows beginning in April because of the weather, so we didn't see a show, but we did go through the museum and take a tour of the actual Globe, which was very cool! Our tour guide was also really funny (I think he might actually be an actor, based on his performance). I spent just a little too much money at the shop there, but I was so excited that I just had to buy a lot of different (and cool) things!

We walked on the outside of Buckingham Palace before we had to go back to our hotel, but didn't go in. It was beautiful. Our taxi driver the first night told us that when the flag is up it means the Queen is home, and the flag was up so the Queen must have been there. I wasn't able to get close enough to any guards to try and make them smile, which was a little disappointing to me, but I will have to try next time I get to London. After Buckingham Palace, we began our adventure home.

Going home turned out to be the absolute worst travel experience I have ever had. Because we were flying a budget airline (RyanAir) we had to fly out of London Stansted, which you either have to take a bus or taxi to. We elected to take the bus because it was about 30 Pounds cheaper per person than a taxi would have been. Unfortunately, the bus was almost an hour late. We were planning on being at the airport between 2 hours and 1 hour 45 minutes before our flight, but with the bus being late, and after having to find our luggage on the bottom of the bus, etc., we only got there just under 40 minutes before our flight was supposed to leave. RyanAir has a strict policy that you cannot check bags onto a flight any less than 40 minutes before the flight leaves, and also that each passenger is limited to one carry-on only (I even had to put my purse into my backpack). Tracy had two bags, and my bag was too heavy on the way home to count as a carry-on, so they wouldn't let us board our plane. They told us our only option was to book a later flight, but they had no more flights that evening going to Seville, and they had one the next day but there was only one ticket left. So, we elected to fly to Madrid where we could try to catch the train or bus home. We got to Madrid and found that there were no more trains to Seville that night, and that the only bus left to Seville was full. By this point, I was very frustrated! We ended up having to take a bus from Madrid to Cordoba (about a 5 hour ride) and then a train from Cordoba to Seville (about a 45 minute ride, with a 2 hour layover beforehand). We finally got home at 8:30 am. It's a very good thing we didn't have classes that Monday!

Last Monday, I stayed home and slept most of the day, as well as doing homework. I had a mid-term on Wednesday and a mid-term on Thursday that I needed to study for. I haven't gotten the results back from either yet. I felt that my Spanish mid-term went alright, and that my politics mid-term went really well, so I suppose I'll find out this week. I have one mid-term left, in History of Spanish Art, and it is this Thursday. This past weekend a lot of my roommates went to Barcelona. I stayed home because I was scheduled to go on a hiking trip to Mulva, Spain for Saturday with our program, but it was cancelled due to rain. It has rained quite a bit here this spring, though I'm told that is quite odd. Usually it only rains a couple of days out of every year, apparently. It was nice to relax all weekend, even if I didn't do a whole lot. I did go to some free salsa lessons on Thursday night, which was fun, and to a tea house/hookah bar on Friday night. I really liked the tea house/hookah bar, and will probably go back.

I think I'm updated now on everything I've done the past couple of weeks. This coming week, I'm going to go to Extremadura, Spain with my program Friday-Sunday. I'm not really sure what is there, so I will let you know after I've been! Then the following weekend I'm going to Berlin, Germany, to visit my friend Nathalie - she was a foreign exchange student I got close to during high school (not the one who lived with us, but a different one). I'm excited for both of those trips, as well as exploring more of Seville during the week!

Love you!

Sarah

DN Column March 3, 2010: U.S. Citizens Should Become Bilingual



Coming to Spain to learn Spanish was one of the best things I’ve ever done. I’m learning quickly, though it’s still frustrating. But I can communicate pretty much everything I need to. I’ve even gotten my hair dyed, cut and styled here without help from anyone bilingual — and it doesn’t look half bad.

The key is just to jump in and try. I say the wrong thing all the time, but people don’t care because I’m trying to learn, and I’m usually fairly close to whatever it is I’m trying to say. At any rate, you don’t learn unless you practice. So I’m practicing as much as possible.

I figured I’d better start learning Spanish now or I’d never do it. Becoming fluent in Spanish is one of my life goals. I have a lot of life goals, of which some seem more attainable than others. Speaking Spanish is one goal that shouldn’t be overly difficult to work toward, even if it takes me forever.

Being able to speak Spanish is also a matter of practicality. In a country such as the United States where there is no national language, it is important that we learn how to communicate with a variety of people.

I’m referring, of course, to the vast immigrant community from Latin America that grows larger every year. The reasons for immigrating are numerous, which include everything from escaping poverty to getting a higher education. But the reasons are unimportant. The fact is, the United States is quickly becoming a bilingual nation, and we need to adapt with it.

I have probably heard every excuse possible about why Spanish speakers should learn English when they move to the United States, and why English speakers in the United States have no reason to learn Spanish. But when it really gets down to it, it’s not about which language was “here first” or which language is used by the government. It’s about which languages will help us to productively lead our everyday lives.

Spanish is, of course, not the only language used widely throughout the United States. But it is the most widely used outside of English, as well as the fastest growing. In 2007 the U.S. Census Bureau reported that more than 34.5 million spoke Spanish at home. That’s about 12 percent of the population, and the number is expected to rise at a dramatic rate as more immigrants of Hispanic and Latino ancestry move to the United States.

Spanish is spoken by approximately 500 million people worldwide and is the fourth most spoken language in the world, according to a language-learning software company, Rosetta Stone. It’s statistics like these that make me realize that learning Spanish isn’t just a life goal for me, it’s a necessity.

If Americans want to maintain any level of competitiveness in the world, we need to study languages other than English. Spanish happens to be widely used in the United States and around the world right now, but it isn’t the only language worth learning. In fact, the most widely used language in the world is Chinese — a language most Americans cannot speak.

But the point is not that we need to learn every language. Rather, the point is that English is no longer the language of choice around the world, and the world is smaller than ever. While speaking English is important and has many advantages, choosing a second, and even a third, language is more valuable than being fluent in only one.

The rest of the world gets it. In industrialized countries, and even some nations that are still developing, learning a second language is mandatory from a very young age. Last summer I visited China, for example, and spoke to 6-year-olds who were fluent in English. They might come along on the global job market about 15 years after me, but they are going to be some major competition.

So if Americans are at all interested in staying competitive within the job market, we need to become bilingual. It isn’t about immigration, and it doesn’t matter how you feel about immigration. It’s about the future of our economy, our political alliances and our lives.

Not learning a second language is just another form of laziness. If you don’t want to be able to communicate with countless other people, go ahead and forget about becoming bilingual. If you don’t want to get a good job in a variety of fields, don’t take language classes.

If we continue to expect others to conform to our needs, we are going to get left behind. The rest of the world is moving ahead, and it’s time for us to, also. ¡Vaminos!

Sarah Melecki is a senior Political Science major. Reach her at sarahmelecki@
dailynebraskan.com.

February 18, 2010

I'm going to try to write a quick update. Things are moving very quickly now, because from now on I don't think I'm going to be home for an entire weekend until mid-May when I have final exams. I wrote out my entire itinerary for while I'm here, and right now it looks like this:

Jan. 18-20: Madrid, Spain (study abroad orientation and sight seeing)
Jan. 21: Toledo, Spain (arrival in Seville, Spain to semester residence in the evening)
Feb. 12-13: Cadiz, Spain (beach with study abroad group and Carnaval with friends)
Feb. 19-20: Granada, Spain (sight seeing with study abroad group)
Feb. 25-Mar. 1: London, England (sight seeing with a friend)
Mar. 6: Mulva, Spain (hiking with study abroad group)
Mar. 12-14: Extremadura, Spain (sight seeing with study abroad group)
Mar. 19-21: Berlin, Germany (to visit Nathalie, my friend from high school who studied in Lincoln!)
Mar. 26-28: Barcelona, Spain (sight seeing with a friend!)
Mar. 29-30: Dublin, Ireland (sight seeing with a friend!)
Mar. 31-Apr. 1: Paris, France (sight seeing with friends!)
Apr. 2-4: Barcelona, Spain (sight seeing and Barcelona futbol game with friends!)
Apr. 9-12: Fez, Morocco (sight seeing with study abroad group)
Apr. 17-18: Venice, Italy (sight seeing with friends!)
Apr. 19-20: Rome, Italy (sight seeing with friends!)
Apr. 21-22: Florence, Italy (sight seeing with friends!)
Apr. 30-May 2: Lisbon, Portugal (sight seeing with Mama, Meredith, and a friend!)
May 7: Donana, Spain (sight seeing with study abroad group)

Obviously the trip I was hoping to go on to Egypt didn't work out, but that's alright. I would love to get to Poland, Austria, Amsterdam, Prague, and Greece as well but I will have to wait until later on in life to get to all of those places. That's alright, because by the time I'm through with this trip I will have been to 5 of 7 continents which means that I only have to get to South America and Antarctica to meet one of my life goals (traveling to all 7 continents). I have the entire rest of my life to travel around the world!

In the past couple of weeks I have been mostly working on school, but have also spent some time getting to know Seville better. I also got a chance to go to Cadiz, Spain this past weekend twice. One time was on Friday and it was with my study abroad program. First we went to a winery, had a tour, and did a wine tasting of various Sherrys (I don't know how to spell that, so I'll spell it like my mom's name). Then we went into the city of Cadiz, which seemed nice except that it was very cold and rainy that particular day (apparently it's very unseasonal for it to be so cold and rainy here, but it's almost all I've experienced thus far). We were supposed to go to the beach and have a nice day on the shore, but it was so cold and rainy that we only spent a few minutes there. Then we didn't really know where to go but had a few hours left in the city so we explored various candy shops (for some reason there were quite a few candy shops) and got some coffee/hot chocolate. All in all, it was alright but I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more if the weather had cooperated. On Saturday, we left for Cadiz around 8 pm to go to Carnaval, which I can only describe as something like Halloween on steroids. There were about 350,000 people in the streets of Cadiz, all dressed in costumes of every variety and all having a great time. People were everywhere! It was a lot of fun to see all of the different costumes (some groups of people dressed as fun things, like Catholic priests and nuns with a pope, families of chickens, three guys dressed as pop singer Beyonce and her back-up singers - they even did the song and dance to her single "All the Single Ladies", it was very funny!) There was a stage with different music going on, which was cool as well. We got back to Seville around 5 am and slept for most of Sunday.

Because Sunday was Valentine's Day, all of the girls in my residencia put together a "Secret Cupid" event in which we each picked one name out of a hat and got them a Valentine's gift for 7 Euro or less. Before we did the gift exchange, we all went out to dinner and included the guys we live with and two other people who come over to our residencia quite often. We ate at a really good Italian restaurant, and I had pizza for the first time here. Everyone wrote a little funny poem for the person they were Secret Cupid to, which we each read out loud before we opened our gifts. The gifts were great. I got three chocolate bars and a little scarf! It was a good time.

I don't remember too many exciting things happening week before last, so there must not have been too much going on besides school and exploring Seville with friends. But this weekend our group is going to Granada, which will apparently be really nice but also very cold. I'm excited to see it, though, as well as to get to spend some more time with the people in my program. I am beginning to feel much more comfortable with the people in the program and am making a lot of friends.

I will try to write more when I get back from London in a couple of weeks, because I think that will be the next time I'll have exciting updates. I am excited to go to London for many reasons, but most recently because I was able to book tickets to see the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Twelfth Night in London's west end. I am very excited about that! I am trying to decide if I would like to see a musical while I'm there, as well. I am also looking at the best/most cost effective way to get to the sites that I want to see. I will be going with my friend, Tracy, and she told me that she doesn't care what we do so I should plan everything. I always ask her if she is interested in doing something before I book it, but it will be a great trip partially because I get to plan out exactly where I want to go with pretty much no exceptions!

Everyone have a good next few weeks!

Sarah

DN Column February 3, 2010: Columnist Faces, Conquers Initial Shock in Spain

Editor’s note: Daily Nebraskan columnist Sarah Melecki is studying abroad in Seville, Spain for the semester. This semester she’ll be publishing a monthly travelogue for the Daily Nebraskan. This is her first column and an introduction to the travelogue. Enjoy!

I took a leap and moved to Spain for four months. I don’t know Spanish. So far, I can say “hola” and a few other simple phrases, but don’t ask me to read a sign to you. I’ll give you the same look of confusion that I give Spaniards who try to speak to me. I usually just end up saying, “Lo siento, no hable Español” or something to that effect.

Apparently it’s pretty easy to pick out americanos over here. One of my friends’ professors told her that we all wear North Face or Columbia fleece jackets, and none of us wear socks with our flats even though its winter. As she told me this, I was bundled in my red Columbia fleece wearing black flats with no socks. I might as well tattoo my nationality to my forehead.

I came prepared for cultural differences. I was ready for different foods, but I’m a picky eater so I was nervous. My host mother is an amazing cook, so it hasn’t been too much of an issue. She is from Peru, and cooks more Peruvian dishes than Spanish dishes, but so far there really hasn’t been anything I didn’t enjoy. It took a few days to get used to eating lunch at 2 pm and dinner at 8 pm (sometimes later). It’s also considered rude to leave food on your plate in Spain, which has been difficult for me because I’m used to eating many smaller meals throughout the day. Luckily, I live with 11 other students, two of whom function fairly well as garbage disposals. I usually just give them my leftovers and they take care of it.

People bike a lot more over here than they do in the United States. It’s much easier to bike here, because Spaniards actually know how to create and use bike lanes. Instead of making them in the middle of major streets like the city of Lincoln decided to do, the city of Seville has made numerous bike lanes on their extra wide sidewalks. Does this make more sense? Of course.

It’s no secret that Europeans are, in general, healthier than Americans. However, this doesn’t deter the Spanish from making the best pastries I’ve ever eaten. The people here walk quite a bit more than those in the U.S. and seem to enjoy physical activity more in general, making it more of a social activity. Kids play soccer on the street and no one minds. The tennis courts are almost always full. Most people don’t just crowd into a gym, grab an elliptical machine, and turn their iPod on. At this rate, I’m going to be able to eat more desserts and come back to the States weighing less than when I left.

I’m in love with Spain. But that doesn’t mean I don’t miss some things about the U.S., or that there are some things about Spain I would change if I could. I miss the heat in the U.S. The apartment I live in is constantly cold, because it’s January and even though it’s in the mid to high 50’s Fahrenheit outside, the building isn’t insulated too well and I’m pretty sure there’s no heating system. Instead, we crowd around our space heaters.

I also miss the dollar. The Euro is expensive! Every time I go to buy something, I multiply its price by one and a half to get a general idea of how much it costs in American dollars. The exchange rate fluctuates constantly, but it seems to usually be somewhere around one and a half American dollars to every one Euro. Even this past month, when all of the traditional January sales were going on in Spain, I was paying the equivalent of full price in the United States for clothes and things. And don’t even get me started on how expensive ice cream is! I still buy it, because I’m addicted, but it’s quickly depleting my bank account.

Spaniards are very nice people for the most part. But it took me a couple of days to get used to how close they get to strangers – I was a little uncomfortable at first. Also, at restaurants you have to be aggressive in order to get the waiter or waitress to serve you. They don’t constantly check up on you. Apparently in Spain, it is seen as offensive to interrupt like that, and so they allow you to take your time and motion them when you are ready for them.

A lot of Spanish men seem extremely interested in American women. Most Spanish women aren’t as interested in American men. On one hand, I find this humorous. On the other hand, it is a little creepy when you are in a bar or café and a man literally stares at you for 10 to 15 minutes straight. Luckily for me, I’ve only had this experience twice thus far. Because I was with friends both times, they saved me after only a few minutes of awkwardly close conversation.

I’ve only been here for two weeks. I have at least 16 to go. Don’t be surprised if my impressions of this country and its people change with time – I won’t be. All I can say for sure right now is that this is a beautiful country with a beautiful culture, and I’m excited to experience it.

Sarah Melecki is a senior political science major. Reach her at sarahmelecki@dailynebraskan.com

January 30, 2010

This past week to week and a half I didn't see too many sites because we've mostly been doing things around Seville to get settled. I did, however, visit the Cathedral here (where Christopher Columbus is buried!) and Alcazar, which is a beautiful castle built in the Moorish style. Otherwise, I've been trying to get into a routine and also have been getting school started.

Seville is such a wonderful city to be living in! It is large, but the residencia I am living in seems to be close to absolutely everything. I walk almost everywhere, with the exception of school which I ride the metro to. I have gotten into a taxi twice, and both times I would rather have walked but the people I was with wanted to get a ride.

There are a lot of differences between here and home, but not as many as there were when I went to China this past summer. Let me walk you through some of the things I do each day. We usually eat toast and jam or butter for breakfast, which we get ourselves. We can have breakfast whenever we want, and my host mother Rosa served it at 8:30 am before school began but now that we have school I get it about 8 am because I have a 9 am class. I leave no later than 8:15 am to head to the metro and school. The metro ride is about 20-25 minutes long, and its pretty enjoyable for me because I love to people watch. It also wakes me up, since I’m not a morning person. My first class is at 9 am everyday (most classes are only Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday, but because I’m in the beginning level Spanish class, we meet everyday so that we can learn more intensively).

So far I am enjoying Spanish, but it just began on Wednesday so I don’t have too much to go off of thus far. On Mondays and Wednesdays, it is my only class. On Tuesdays, I go directly from my Spanish language class to Spanish language lab, which is only a one credit course and therefore only meets once a week. I haven’t yet had this class, but I understand that it is supposed to help with my pronunciation. I have U.S. – European Union Relations Since WWII every Tuesday and Thursday at 12 noon, and follow it up with History of Spanish Art every Tuesday and Thursday at 1:30 pm. My U.S. – E.U. Relations class hasn’t yet begun because the professor was out of the country or something this past Thursday, so I’m not sure what that class will be like yet. I am excited for my art history class, however. It doesn’t seem too difficult and the professor is both very knowledgeable and very nice.

On Mondays I am going to be volunteering at an elementary school to help teach 5 year olds English. I am really excited about this opportunity! It doesn’t start for a few weeks, but it seems like it will be very cool. I also was paired up with a Spanish student who is learning English as an “intercambio,” sort of like a language partner and also just a person to befriend at the university. She will practice her English with me, and I’ll practice my Spanish with her. I emailed my partner this past Thursday or Friday but I’m told the Spanish students are taking exams right now so I told her that it isn’t a big rush to get back to me. Hopefully soon though, I’d like to meet her! There are supposedly some sort of university-sponsored intercambio events on Wednesday afternoons that I want to begin going to, as well. I’m not sure when they start up.

On days when I'm not able to be home for lunch, Mama Rosa makes me a sandwich to take to campus. She's such a nice person! I take a sandwich on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but Mondays and Wednesdays I'm able to be home at 2 pm, which is lunch time. We eat dinner at 8 pm and she feeds us all of our meals everyday except for Sundays, when she doesn't feed us dinner because she takes the day off and goes to her families home (they actually live somewhere else in the city, I'm not sure where, but Rosa stays here at night and all during the week except for Sundays and her family comes and goes from here). I definitely understand why she takes Sundays off - if I had to do her job, I would also. Last Sunday I went with some other people to a place that served Tex Mex food because some people wanted to watch the NFL games and that place was showing them. I'm not sure where I'll eat tomorrow, but I am interested in a pizzeria that looked pretty good on a road not far from here.

Because we don’t have classes on Fridays, most of the students in the group I am with go out on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. I tried it this weekend but went home early every night and I’m so tired! I’m not going to be very good at three day weekends at this rate. But I have been having fun, especially when we go places where I can dance. I try not to drink very much. I don’t drink that much at home, so my tolerance is very low, plus alcohol is very expensive and I have better things to spend my money on here. I’m doing fairly well at not spending too much on it thus far. Actually the past two weekends my main problem has been that late at night I crave ice cream so I go buy some Ben & Jerry’s which is expensive at home, but even more expensive over here.

I am also working on planning a few side trips. I want to go to Barcelona, but need to figure out who will want to go with me. I am planning on going to visit my friend Nathalie in Berlin in March, and I’m really excited about that! For Spring Break, I’m actually thinking of possibly going to Egypt which I think would be very cool. It takes a lot of effort to plan trips, especially planning multiple trips all at once. Hopefully I can get to Paris, Greece, Italy, and London as well. If not, I want to go to at least one or two of those other places. I’m sure I’ll get plenty of places!

I love y'all, and hope you are having a great week!

Sarah

January 27, 2010

I got my schedule of classes today and I think it will be pretty good. I won't have any classes after siesta time, and only one class on Monday and Wednesday! Here it is:

Lunes (Monday):
Spanish 101-102 Español Elemental (9:00 am - 10:20 am)
Martes (Tuesday):
Spanish 101-102 Español Elemental (9:00 am - 10:20 am)
Spanish 112 Laboratorio de Idiomas (10:30 am - 11:30 am)
Political Science 363 U.S. - European Relations Since WWII (12:00 pm - 1:20 pm)
Art 313E History of Spanish Art (1:30 pm - 2:50 pm)
Miércoles (Wednesday):
Spanish 101-102 Español Elemental (9:00 am - 10:20 am)
Jueves (Thursday):
Spanish 101-102 Español Elemental (9:00 am - 10:20 am)
Political Science 363 U.S. - European Relations Since WWII (12:00 pm - 1:20 pm)
Art 313E History of Spanish Art (1:30 pm - 2:50 pm)
Viernes (Friday):
No classes

I found the Metro stop on my own today and it was really easy, so I'm all ready for that, and I found on the map where all of my courses are, so I think I'll be ready for that. We only have our Wednesday and Thursday classes this week, so tomorrow I'll go to my beginner level Spanish class (the only one I have 4 times a week, but it'll be a good thing because it will help me a lot). Thursday I'll go to Spanish class again and two of my other classes, and will only have to wait until next week to have my first day of Spanish lab because it is only on Tuesdays (it is supposed to help with pronunciation, and apparently there are only 6 of us signed up right now so it will be very good I think). I'm kind of excited to find out what classes will be like!

Sarah

DN Column October 21, 2009: Studying Abroad Teaches What the Classroom Can't



“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” This was one of Mark Twain’s most famous quotes. One we should take note of as students, not because we need to completely forget about classes and assignments and professors, but because we need to realize that these years are for learning so much more than what a classroom has to offer us.

If there is one thing I wish I had done more of during the past three years, it is traveling abroad. I am a senior this year and took my first study abroad trip just this summer. It was by far the most eye-opening experience of my life.

When I got back from the trip this summer, I began to re-evaluate things. I realized that sticking to my original plan of getting two majors, four minors and a certificate in four years is great, but not if it is going to get in the way of my actual education. I was looking to take a lot of classes because I was legitimately interested in the coursework. However, in taking those classes I was limiting myself from having the time to experience the diversity of life around the world first-hand.

Now, I am getting only one major and two minors, but I’m going to go abroad for an entire semester this spring and then take another short trip with a group of University of Nebraska-Lincoln students in the summer. It was totally worth it!

I can’t speak for math or biochemistry majors. I will be the first person to admit that I am grateful for you all because I sure as hell have no idea what is going on in your fields of study. But I’m willing to bet that you can find something relevant to your coursework in the people and places around you.

Why would we build something, or make a theory for something, or spend time on anything for that matter, if it didn’t seek to better the environment around us in some way? I’m a political science major, so everything I study is about people. When I look at theories, even if they are Machiavellian theories of gaining power for powers sake, they have to do with people. When I study public policy issues, I am studying how to best use the resources of the community to benefit that same community. When I look at international relations or compare the politics of the United States to the politics of another nation-state, I am constantly thinking about how those politics affect the people.

All I ever think about is how to use the government to better society.

We are all in classrooms studying something that will (hopefully) benefit society in one way or another, so it only makes sense that we should get to know the society we are trying to benefit. You might think this doesn’t pertain to you, that you will never do anything that has an affect on another part of the world, and therefore traveling to other places isn’t important for you. Wrong.

First of all, we are all intertwined, whether you like it or not. The world is full of ties from person to person that we aren’t even aware of. When we affect one person, they then go affect someone else, and the chain continues on forever and ever.

Secondly, we need to get a grasp on how to handle difference. I am a white, upper class, straight, mid-westerner who grew up in a family that attended a Christian church on a fairly regular basis. I am what a lot of Americans would call “normal,” and I’m treated as such. I have never felt like the outsider. But it’s important for me to understand that I am not “normal” and that, in fact, there isn’t any “normal” to the human race. Traveling the little bit that I’ve gotten to thus far has helped me learn that lesson.

For example, last summer while traveling in China, I got my first experience of being singled out as part of a minority group. Any time I would go somewhere in the “small” city of Xi’an (which has a population of around 9 million), at least a few locals would stare at me. When the group I was traveling with went places together, it got worse. Every time we sat down at a restaurant the kitchen staff came out to take pictures of us on their cell phones. We stood out, and there wasn’t any way of hiding it.

You don’t have to love everyone; you don’t have to like everyone. But you do have to respect everyone, even the people who show little respect to you or those around you. Traveling to new places and learning about other world-views makes this respect a lot easier to have. When you educate yourself about the people you are going to spend the rest of your life working for, you gain an understanding that is difficult to replace with a simple lecture in a college classroom.

I realize I’m extremely lucky because my parents had the means and were willing to help finance my study abroad experiences. Most people don’t get that luxury. But don’t let that stop you. There are a few places you can look to for funding to get an international experience while you’re in undergraduate school.

If you qualify for a PELL grant, there are a few scholarship opportunities reserved for studying abroad that you are eligible for that will cover an entire semester or even year of study. If you don’t qualify for a PELL grant, don’t worry because there are still numerous scholarship opportunities offered through the universities International Affairs office and other private donors.

I suggest checking out the International Affairs Web site and looking at their section on financial aid for study abroad. They have a great list of scholarships. They also work with the Office of Financial Aid to help get any current scholarships or loans you have credited toward your study abroad.

I am going abroad in spring and found four scholarships I am eligible for, which will probably cover my entire program if I am awarded all four.
Even if you have to save up a lot of money or go into a little bit of extra debt to get an international experience, it’s highly worth your time and money. Don’t discredit how much you will grow as a person and how much your experience will teach you about the human experience.

Don’t be afraid to learn some things that a classroom can never teach you. Take Twain’s advice and never let a school get in the way of your education.

Sarah Melecki is a senior Political Science major. Reach her at sarahmelecki@dailynebraskan.com.