minneapolis skyline

Bailey: Final Dinner & PostSecret

This finally feels like the end. Last night, everyone in the program got together for a final group dinner at Doytao Thai restaurant in Newtown. When we walked in, we were given a Post-It that I don’t even remember writing that listed my 3 goals for my time in Australia, as of the day after my arrival. Mine read:   1. Climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge 2. Go to the Great Barrier Reef 3. Try and learn to surf   ….and, I was 1 for 3. But I’m not upset [...]

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Kelli: An Ode to My Host Family

I should be packing right now.  I’m going to Belgium tomorrow for the first part of our spring break to see my pen pal from high school.  I’m really excited to see her since I haven’t seen her in 5 years!  But I’ve never been good at packing and besides, I just got really nostalgic which is never conducive to productivity.  My host sisters just came in to give me “bisous” goodnight since I won’t see them for a couple weeks, and I almost lost it.  When I get back [...]

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Bailey: The Bucket List Revisited

The bucket list, 3 months after having originally written it: 1. Take a picture with a kangaroo and/or koala 2. Climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge 3. Go to a show (or at least take a tour) at the Sydney Opera House 4. Visit the Great Barrier Reef 5. Become a master of Australian slang or, even better, develop an accent! 6. Explore the Australian Outback 7. Avoid seeing any spiders the size of a dinner plate 8. Go skydiving [Dear family - pretend you didn't read that one :)] 9. Spend excessive [...]

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euro

Kara: Why I Love (and Hate) Euro Coins

Why I Love Euro Coins. 1. Everybody loves rainbows and Europe’s currency IS the rainbow. Grey, red, blue, orange, green, yellow, purple. Every bill is a brilliant shade of something wonderful for the eyes. Dollars are boring and green and kind of ugly. Yes, I said it. Ugly. America’s currency is an eye sore. 2. If you are visually impaired you can still buy things on your own since-guess what-Euros are different sizes! The 5 Euro is smaller than the 10 so the blind can use their spidey finger senses [...]

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mehek

Mehek: Bedlam Hospital

Bedlam Hospital Museum!!! The paintings and art are contributions from PATIENTS! They encourage artistic expression for patients, and it is known as “psychiatric art.” I’ve shown the paintings, and then the corresponding explication of the piece. Sad, but extremely trippy stuff. I love the statues of “Raving and Melancholy Madness.” They were originally put on either side of the hospital gates. Something very “drama” and “comedy” about it. I bought a post card of the anorexia piece. My GOD. Look at it! And inside the angry being, it’s holding a [...]

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Anya: Housing

Now that I’m nearing the end of my time here in Montpellier, I thought I would write a little bit about my housing experiences, since I haven’t really mentioned it much. I wanted to wait until I had more to go off of than just my first impressions. I chose a homestay. This was a tricky decision, whether to pick staying with a family, or in an apartment. Ultimately, I chose a family stay so that I would be immersed in the local culture, living with a real French family, [...]

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Anya: La Bambouseraie

Last Saturday, we had another group excursion. The weather was beautiful–the first time it’s been nice on an excursion, and it was great to be outside. The longish bus ride and the winding, bumpy roads made me a bit carsick, but it was worth it.  We got to ride an old-fashioned steam train to the bamboo forest… We got to hang around all sorts of cool plants (mostly bamboo, of course)… And we even visited a cave with some really cool formations… France does surprise me sometimes. Who’d have thought [...]

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bailey tennis

Bailey: The Highlight Reel

I have lived an absolutely incredible three months in Sydney, Australia. I was looking through my old pictures today and remembering all the different things I’ve done since arriving here, and the beginning of the trip seems like a million years ago. I’ve decided to post a little highlight reel, featuring my favorite moments of my time abroad: 10. Camel riding – I mean, it’s just kind of a cool thing to say I did. 9. Blue Mountains hike – When we all really got to know each other for the [...]

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Bailey: The Last Weekend

This weekend marked my last full weekend in Sydney, as next Sunday I will be spending my day in the airport and over the ocean. While I wish I could say it was a crazy last weekend full of good stories, I must admit that it was not. The end of the semester here is just like the end of the semester back home. Even if I got to relax the other 12 weeks, finals week never fails to stress me out. Even though two of my finals were last [...]

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Bailey: Now and Then

It’s crazy how many things can change in three months. Was it really just January that I was crying at the airport before going to sit at the gate by myself and wait for my journey across the world to begin? And is it really only ten days until I’ll be at the airport again, but this time with all the friends I’ve made? I remember first walking in to our apartment – big and completely clean and empty. It didn’t feel like a place that was going to be [...]

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Sophie: Hello Goodbye

Greetings are important here. You greet everyone: vendors, family, people on the bus, friends, your boss, the cleaning lady, people who are praying, eating, talking, sleeping. For good measure I even throw a “Ça va?” towards the neighborhood mutt. It’s a way of manifesting politeness and showing respect. “I see you. I’m acknowledging your personhood. I recognize that you are here with me.” This different mode of interaction took me a while to internalize. In the States, we don’t like to bother people. If someone is in the middle of [...]

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pillow fight

Mehek: National Pillow Fight Day

Today was National Pillow Fight Day! Trafalgar Square was TEEMING with people throwing pillows and feathers at each other. I can’t even really describe how it all was, or how it all really felt. The best I can say is that it was RANDOM, EXHILARATING and FIERCE! It lasted for an hour, but wow, that was a lot of time to be hitting and getting hit with pillows. Another thing I will say about this experience that it was just what it seemed – a HUGE pillow fight. Everyone understood the [...]

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Luke: Parental Supervision & Chinese New Year

In early February my parents came to Beijing for two weeks to visit and go sightseeing. During the first week we visited Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven, and the Lama Temple. Reunited! Campus in winter Forbidden City Great Wall at Badaling   The following Sunday was Chinese New Year, the country’s most celebrated holiday. Also known as Spring Festival, Chinese New Year is a traditional holiday based on the lunar calendar, so the exact date changes from year to year. My good friend [...]

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Kelli: What Is Art?

Sète was only about a few euro train-ride away from Montpellier, and the word was that there was a view of the Mediterranean that I had to see.  The day was perfectly sunny so my friend and I decided to make the day trip. Sète is a port town with canals running throughout (though not as many as Venice!).  While small, this town is full of color, from the yellows and pinks of the buildings to the bright blue of the canal and sea.  Canal We stopped for some lunch and [...]

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Bailey: A Weekend in Melbourne

The past 3 days, Julie and I have been enjoying a wonderfully long weekend in Melbourne. We knew we had to take one more trip before the semester was over, and Melbourne was on both of our lists. We had a great time exploring the city and relaxing but, as with Cairns, I once again confirmed that I made the right choice by studying abroad in Sydney. While both of the other cities I’ve visited have been great, there is no where else in Australia that I think I could [...]

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