Tag: study abroad

Big Step

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The summer after 9th grade in my home country I made the biggest decision of my 15 years of life. It was the decision to come to the United States. What I wanted to do, was to get an education in the United States and go to college. I first became interested in studying abroad when I went to Australia for a week in 5th and 7th grade to attend a local school. I was shocked by the cultural differences there. The technological advances, the teaching styles, everything was new and fascinating. My parents are very supportive of what I want to do. I was very blessed with my surroundings, and I was a little sad to leave my school in Japan. However, I was more excited about my new life. When I arrived at my current school, it was during the Covid pandemic. However, my mother came with me to the United States. I felt sad to be away from my family, even though it was the path I had chosen. But more than that, I was surrounded by wonderful friends and teachers, which made me realize that my decision was not a mistake. I was sure that this big step would enrich my life.

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Living away from home

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When I was 4 years old, I lived away from my parents for the first time as I went to a boarding school for kindergarten. At the age of 11, I moved even further away, to a foreign country on the other side of the earth. Through living independently (not completely independent, I had to live with a host family or in a boarding school) at a relatively young age, I’ve experienced both positive and negative sides to it. 

I can have a lot more freedom since my parents are far away, and I can do whatever I want in my free time. But this also brings the major downside— the loss of self-control. I always had a hard time with time management, and after I started to study abroad, the situation became worse. I didn’t know a lot of English, so I didn’t understand anything in class, I tried to take notes without knowing even what they meant, but it didn’t work, and I still can’t keep up with my class.  Being the only Chinese student, the overwhelming foreign language and environment smacked me. I gave up doing any school work, resulting in a row of Fs on my transcript.

Although I don’t regret anything about my experience, my suggestion to parents who are considering sending their kids to another country is: to make sure their child knows what they are doing before sending them off to a place full of strangers. 

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Homesick

karolineticoLeave a comment

“Do you miss home?” “Do you miss your parents?” As an international student, these are the questions that I receive most often from people. My answer has always been no, and inexplicably, I’ve never missed home while I’m in a foreign country.

But that answer has changed recently.

During Christmas break, I lived near the LA area, where large Chinese community exists. There, you can find almost anything from China and other places in Asia. I never knew that there could be such a place in the US.

When I had authentic Chinese food in one of the restaurants, I suddenly realized that I do miss home. Or more precisely, the two years of my life in China before I came here. I miss my old school, my friends, and my hometown Nanking. I had a sudden urge to book a flight and go back at that moment. But after 5 seconds, I remembered that my friends are not in China either, they are in Germany, Ireland, Canada… just the same as me.

The feeling of nostalgia was something that I never experienced, and I now I finally understood how other people felt when they say they missed home.

Photo Credit: https://www.welikela.com/

Education Abroad

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Nowadays, personal knowledge becomes much more important with the high development of technology, since the machine and robots can replace the manpower.  Almost everyone is eager for studying more knowledge or letting their children get a better education. Based on this, more and more people choose to attend a boarding school overseas, and the most popular destination in America. However, attending a boarding school in the U.S. is still a controversial issue.

From my own experience of studying and living here, my feeling is very great. I remember the first day I came here, I was so nervous and confused. A totally strange environment with unfamiliar people speaking a language that I could barely understand. But with time, I felt more and more comfortable. I started to laugh again. I could communicate in another language and make my own opinion in class. I made a great number of new friends and we have fun every moment. Without my family’s company and help, I started trying some things that I had never done before. I can put my room in order and sweep the room by myself. I can pack my things for a trip and go to homestay during the break. I can take care of myself and know what do to when I get sick. I feel much more independent and confident than before.

To sum it up, although studying abroad will cost a great amount of money and stay so far away from home, in my opinion it is worth it. What you will learn and what you will experience in studying overseas can not be bought by money. It will make your own life become unique from others.

Photo credit: eliteoverseaseducation.com


Wanderlust

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I want to study abroad.

I don’t mean in the literal sense of going with a program affiliated with my college. Not for a set period of time with a specific set of courses.

I want to get on a plane and leave. Travel to beautiful destinations around the world I decide to go to right before I get there. I want to study the ancient artwork in museums and the architecture of the untouched, historical buildings. I want to go to small concert venues and listen to local music, but also try all the food the country has to offer without being a picky eater.

I want to meet the people who live there and leave being friends with them or at least leave knowing a part of their story even if I never see them again.

There’s a feeling called sonder: a sudden realization that each passerby has a life as vivid as your own with their own experiences, quirks, and interests. I don’t want to know they have them; I want to live them.

I want to be a tourist in the streets someone has grown up in their whole life, but, soon, find myself a local even only for a couple nights. I want to go to a small, hole-in-the-wall restaurant that I may never return to, but is someone’s favorite place to go every night. I’ll learn a few words in every language of the countries I visit, a language that might be someone’s only language that I now have a very small understanding of.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia.org

When I went to Prague and Vienna over spring break, my favorite part was the free time in the cities. Though we were always in the tourist areas, I sometimes caught a glimpse of what life was like for the people who actually lived there every time I walked into an ice cream shop or passed someone on the streets heading to work.

This world is so big. There’s so many countries to explore and I don’t know if I’ll even get close to covering half of it, but it’s also so small. It’s a ten hour plane ride across the Atlantic and a simple text message to talk to someone across the globe. It’s both incredible and horrifying, but I can’t wait to explore it all.

My Summer in Paraguay

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This past summer I went to Paraguay for seven weeks as part of a program called Amigos de las Americas. After a one week training period in Houston, TX, I flew for 16 hours to the country’s capital, Asunción.

From there I met with all 50 of the volunteers, who were from all over the U.S. We then went through a more in-depth training, got our partners, and left for our communities.

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My partner Elizabeth and I were in a community called Costa San Blas, in the Department (kind of like a state) of Paraguarí. It was a beautiful, rural community, with roughly 800 people. We lived with our host family, which consisted of a mom, dad, two sisters and two brothers. Normally, only the mom and the sisters were around.

The community is living in poverty, but we were lucky enough to have running water and other appliances. We had a shower (though no hot water) and even had a washing machine! Surprisingly, we also had a T.V. and huge speakers, almost as tall as me.

A big part of their culture is music and dancing, so they would constantly be blaring their favorite songs and dancing as much as possible. It was so cool to experience.

As Amigos volunteers, Elizabeth and I were required to implement a project in the community, work with our partner agency, SENASA, to provide latrines to those in need, and hold camps for the younger kids at the school.

It was a busy summer!

The seniors at the school were building a playground for the younger grades to play on, and we adopted their project as ours. The kids still did all aspects that they planned – our job was to fundraise and buy paint to add some color to the playground.

We fundraised by holding a soccer tournament in the field behind our house. With the help of the senior girls, we made empanadas which we sold, along with other food and drinks at the games.

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Teams were charged, and the losers bought beer for the winners. With the money we made, we went out and bought paint!

For the latrines, we went around the community and met families in need, who we then taught how to construct the facility. Elizabeth and I helped distribute the materials, and the latrines were built!

Out of all our duties, the camps were my favorite. Held at the school while it was in session and behind our house over break, we worked with children from grades K-6 for two hours each day. We would play game after game, including duck-duck-goose, and games just from their community.

I loved spending time with the kids, and getting to know them all. They always looked forward to the camps, and it was the cutest thing ever.

At home, Elizabeth and I mainly hung out with our host sisters, Leila, 11 and Rocio, 6. Feisty but adorable, they would take us around the community, showing us every nook and cranny, and introducing us to different community members. Back at the house we would also play cards – I must have played at least 100 games of UNO.

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I know I made an impact this summer, and that’s an awesome feeling to have. I have a sense of accomplishment that I couldn’t achieve in any other way.

The fact that I built relationships with so many people, all in a different language and living so differently than what I’m used to, is pretty incredible to me.

I may not have changed the world, but I think I’ve impacted the lives of a few. And I’ve had an experience unlike any other, which I think is amazing within itself.

Happily Lost In Any Light

equestri vitam3 Comments

Traditions, history dates, stories, new tastes, new smells, sounds, words, phrases, feelings, memoirs, happiness, sadness, nostalgia, the joy of going home, the fear of going home, are all the things that I experience every single day while living abroad. The adventure I’m living is taking me places I’ve never been to, neither mentally, nor physically.  With only three months left in this beautiful country there is an abundance of thoughts and feelings racing through my mind.

On occasion I look behind at the person I was when I stepped off that plane, five months ago, in a completely new environment, on the crisp morning of the 31st of August and notice all that has changed. I was scared, oblivious to what would come next, afraid of the unknown, and nervous. When I take the time to analyze who I am now, I see someone who has grown immensely, and continues to make countless new discoveries about herself everyday.

I’ve recognized that I no longer need to keep my guard up for what lays ahead of me or behind me. As long as I remember to take a deep breath when confronted with difficulties, keep true to who I am, and set my mind to what I aspire to do, I can and will achieve it. I’ve discovered that the fact of the matter is: I wanted fresh air, a new surrounding, and I attained it all because I ventured outside my comfort zone and took a leap.

This whole Italy gig has done a great amount to my psyche. It’s allowed me to pinpoint my true persona, toss out the clutter I carried which invaded my mind and untie everything that dragged behind me. The new acquired space allows me to trust, gain, and learn in greater quantities.

I feel lighter like there is nothing I can’t do, I can get lost in any light and still sense happiness and peace. Having had a stressful sophomore year due to personal issues at home, this year is acts as a retreat and cleanse.

This year serves for me to let go, enjoy and find myself through learning, new friends and new experiences. I’ve learned from being in Italy that it is completely okay to break down and show what you are feeling. It’s normal and only human to crack and carry a sad face rather than a constant happy one. I’ve learned to allow myself these days. My psyche grows everyday with every single moment.

Although one small thing haunts me as time goes by, how will my psyche change when I return to America? How will I react to the immediate switch? There is a large chance that the quick alteration of setting will disrupt my new psyche I’ve reached while living here. I’ll be forced to face reality and go on with life without the coliseum practically in my backyard. It’s a scary thought but in the end, I will adjust and trudge on with the fond memories of the best nine months of my life.

(Taken and slightly altered from an english essay I was assigned in my english class)

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The Apocalypse Is Upon Me (In the Italians eyes)

equestri vitamLeave a comment

One of the things that I’ve learned about Italians is that they are utterly terrified of bad weather. No matter how minimal it is, it’s the end of the world.

Every single time it is even slightly grey or cloudy outside, my host mother makes sure I am completely bundled in impermeable clothing before leaving the house. Rain jacket, rain boots, and without question an umbrella must be on me at all times.

This morning has been the biggest example of this Italian behavior I have ever seen in my entire life. As I woke up this morning and went down stairs  it was noticed that it was snowing.  I got so excited, my first time in snow this whole winter. The snow barely covered an inch on the ground, but still, it was snow!

My normal routine carried on, walked out the door at 7:25 to catch the bus, got on the bus around 7:35. As soon as getting on the bus I noticed that less than half the people that normally are on it, weren’t. Two minutes into our commute to town the bus slows down and slides slightly while going down a hill. As soon as it began to slide, every single italian in the bus lets out a death shriek. After five minutes of being stopped we are notified that there was an accident up ahead. In my head I’m saying to myself “Seriously? there isn’t even half an inch of snow on the roads!” But sure enough there was actually a car that had driven off the road into a ditch.

I immediately called our Direttore of school to notify him that we’d surely be late arriving to school today.  When he answered, before even giving me a chance to speak all I heard on the other line is: “NON C’E SCUOLA, NON C’E SCUOLA, NON C’E SCUOLA,”(if you didn’t catch on that means “there is no school”). My classmates that I share the bus with quickly got off the bus and walked home.

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OVS you’ll be with me wherever I go

equestri vitam1 Comment

You never really realize how big of an impact a place has on you until you leave that place.

OVS has stuck with me ever since I left. I first realized it the first day I got to Italy and read our host family booklet, which said that 95% of the students coming here had never had to make their own bed before. And I sat there saying to myself “YES! Thank you, OVS!”

To give you more insight I’ll make a list of the things that OVS has taught me and have stuck with me even though I’m across the atlantic in a completely new culture.

I eat milk and crackers all the time and have gotten my host family into it too!

During our orientation retreat to the sea I was able to keep everyone interested with cool fun facts that I learned from Ms. Davis.

I still do my homework during what would be study hall hour.

I think I’ve formed permanent calf muscles from climbing up the hill therefore the hills in Viterbo are a piece of cake!

I managed to tack up my horse within ten minutes at the barn I’m riding at here. Thanks to Ms. Gustafson and Ms. Wilson always rushing me to get in the arena!

We’re reading BEloved by Toni Morrison in my English class which requires intense annotating to understand and I can’t thank Mr. Weidlich enough for the endless annotating you made us do.

And more than anything, I have a nice reminder of you everywhere I go, due to this awesome Italian clothing store that happens to be called OVS.

I miss you all dearly ❤ I’m excited to eventually be back with you all on the beautiful campus of the Ojai Valley School.

Roma!

equestri vitam1 Comment

Like I promised, here is my post about my first adventure into Roma. I apologize for the delay.

A group of eight friends and I hoped on the fist train on a saturday morning to Roma from Viterbo at about seven in the morning. Of course like anyone of my age, getting up at seven on a saturday is not ideal, therefore I was incredibly sleepy and not in the peppiest of spirits about sitting on a train for two hours.

But as soon I began to enter the outskirts of Rome, everything was so beautiful I immediately woke up and was possibly more excited than everyone else. We got of the train and took the metro to “piazza del colosseo.” Literally right in front of you when you walk up the stairs exiting the metro is the colosseum. BAM right there! It was incredible.

Of course my friends and I had to stand there just in awe, taking touristy pictures, and buying postcards for half an hour. After that we proceeded to tour the colosseum from the outside. It’s rather time and money consuming to get the inside tour, so we figured to save that for another day.

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