Jaime Enjoyed Her Time in New Zealand

Jaime studied this past semester at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.  Her orientation began in Auckland, on the North Island of New Zealand, which she found similar to cities in the US.  The students were able to explore the North Island a bit before heading to the University on the south island.  She, along with some new friends, discovered a beach perfect for swimming, and a quick hike up a dormant volcano within a short drive from the city center.  They also explored Rotorua, which is known for it's geothermal hot springs and geysers, which they all thoroughly enjoyed, despite the smell of rotten eggs that the thermal springs exude.  Another one of her more unique experiences was going "zorbing."  She described this as, "rolling down a hill in an inflatable hamster ball," and actually enjoyed it quite a bit!

After this Orientation, they flew to Dunedin on the Southern Island where the University of Otago was located.  The south island has a much more temperate climate, remaining around 65 degrees F from roughly Oct.-Apr.   Here she discovered some great recreation experiences, better told in her own words.  

"[The] campus is sprawling and surrounded by a beautiful 10 mile botanical garden which was a relaxing place for me to go on runs! I really enjoyed the close proximity to the water and the fact that there were at least 10 different beaches within a 45 minute drive. I went surfing for the first time and went many more times within my short 6 weeks abroad."

Jaime described the history of Dunedin as being unique in that it was originally designed by Scotsmen who came over from Europe, thus creating a town center with a European "feel" which Jaime enjoyed. 

Educationally, her studies included history of the indigenous people to New Zealand, the Maori people, as well as a criminology course and two psychology courses.  The University has about 30,000 students, so her class size varied from 75-450 students, so it was VERY different from her educational experience on the Middlebury campus.

The living situation for this University was one of Jaime's highlights of the semester.  She lived in a two story "flat" with 4 other flatmates and had a short 5 minute walk to campus. These new flatmates became fast friends and they traveled around together quite a bit, and are pictured to the left in front of their flat with their collective traveling van.  

One of the places they visited was Queenstown, which is apparently the adventure capital of the world.  Jaime would agree with that as she went bungee jumping there (see scary picture to the left!)  She also enjoyed exploring the Catlins, which are known for beautiful waterfalls, wildlife, a pineapple track, and hikes overlooking the city of Dunedin.  Dunedin is also home to some famous glow worm caves, which I'm going to have to ask her more about.

Another highlight for Jaime was a day hike known as "routeburn."  In her words, the "hike was insanely hard. It was a hot summer day in New Zealand and the trail was going straight up for about 80% of the time. Not to mention we had a time limit and had to make it back to the bus by 5 pm. Long story short we hiked 19 miles in 8 hours! The view not only at the top but the entire way was absolutely beautiful. We saw blue glacier water running along the trail in addition to huge green peaks and mountains all around us. We were also the first people to hike the trail after there had been a huge flood which completely destroyed the path for a couple months."


A recent MCVB alum, Alice Roberts '18 also spent time in New Zealand, and after seeing Jaime's pictures, she reached out and mentioned that she'd been on that same routeburn!  How fun.  It was definitely an experience that Jaime will never forget, and I'd bet that holds true for Alice as well?!  

Because the semester was cut short, Jaime has a list of places she still wants to explore down there, giving her plenty of incentive to return someday, in addition to the many new "kiwi friends" she now has there!

Emma Loved Coursework Abroad

Although a lot of what students talk about when studying abroad is the ability to travel a lot, especially when studying in Europe, but Emma truly loved her course work.  She was studying Child Development, and part of that class involved working part time for practicum in a Danish kindergarten to get a better feel for their overall educational system.  Here is how she described their system. 

 




"The central theme of their early education is free play/nature play, which often includes risk and always includes creativity. As you can see, the outdoor playground materials are very ambiguous to foster creativity (the children always wear full snow suits so they can get as muddy as they please) :). One of the kindergartens has a wood shop where they actually learn how to use saws, axes and other seemingly dangerous tools as early as age 4!"






















Emma said that although her time there was cut short, she was "super grateful" of for the time she spent in Copenhagen.  She was able to travel some while there, and one of those weekend trips was to Amsterdam to the Van Gogh Museum. 







Additionally, she was able to spend time with teammate Shea, who was in the same program as she was and lived in a separate apartment with a different group of students, but in the same apartment complex.

Another one of her trips was to Switzerland to visit teammate El, where they went skydiving!  Emma and Shea started their program earlier than both El and Jaime and were gone from MIDD after the Christmas Break, while both El and Jaime were on campus for J-Term before starting their respective Programs in Prague and New Zealand.  In that sense, both Emma and Shea had a slightly longer time abroad due to when their program started, in addition to when they were sent home due to the global pandemic.

I'm so happy that all four of our juniors were able to have some sort of abroad experience, even if it was cut short.  Now we just have to find a time for Jack to get his abroad experience in.  Jack was due to travel to Japan in mid March, so not only did he not get his abroad experience, he was left without a semester since it was too far into Middlebury's semester to join late, and because his program never started, it was just cancelled rather than moved on-line.  We'll hope to get an update from him sometime in the future when we know more about the status of future abroad trips, and when that sort of travel might again be permitted and deemed safe.

El Cherished Her Time in Prague

Here's our second installment of our Juniors Abroad!  El studied in Prague, Czech Republic for the semester.  She notes that while she enjoyed the several MIDD KIDS in her program, she also "had the opportunity to make the most incredible, lifelong group of friends, many of whom were from other NESCAC schools."  One of those friends was actually also a volleyball player, and although a purple cow, they became tight nonetheless!

One of the other many benefits of study abroad is typically the ability to travel and see a lot of different places while studying in your specific program.  As a side note, most Midd students report that study abroad is easier academically than Middlebury courses on campus.  Her travels included visiting Amsterdam, different cities in Switzerland and several other towns in The Czech Republic, and some of those excursions were to visit other MIDD friends studying abroad in Europe, including teammate Emma Walsh, who was studying in Copenhagen! On one excursion, they met up in Switzerland and even went skydiving together!

Although traveling was exciting and fun, El fell in love with the city of Prague and everything it offered.  She cited the experience of being able to "live in a culture that differs so greatly from home was incredibly unique and valuable."  El, as so many Midd students, feels that the study abroad experience was integral to her college experience, and although her time abroad was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic, she was extremely grateful for the opportunity!

Shea Grateful for Abroad Experience

Junior year abroad is a very common and popular experience for many college students, and certainly a large percentage of MIDD students take advantage of this wonderful opportunity--roughly 60% of the student body studies abroad at Middlebury.  This year, all four of my juniors were studying abroad, and our student-assistant, Jack, was about to leave for his program in Japan right when the world-wide shut down was happening.  The other four were already settled in their programs and had to return home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  We're not going to focus on their trials of getting back home, even though some had extreme difficulties and were somewhat harrowing, they all returned home safely, so that's the main thing.  Despite the total disruption of the semester, our juniors still had memorable and profound experiences in their respective countries.

Both Shea and Emma were in Copenhagen, and had apartments across the hall from each other in the same apartment complex.  During her time there, Shea mentioned being lucky to have traveled a lot with her roommates and close friends from MIDD. They visited Belgium and Scotland, as well as different cities in Switzerland, France, and Germany.






Shea described it as, "the most incredible experience that I will cherish forever."  She also mentioned, "the thing I miss the most about Copenhagen is the city's biking culture. There's nothing like biking on a sunny day along the water to class, my apartment, or to a fabulous brunch place.  I am very grateful for my time there and being home has made me even more grateful..."

Belated (and partial) Update from Our Juniors Abroad

I'm a little late with my updates from our juniors abroad, but I'm trying to catch up on sharing a bit about their adventures with everyone, so here goes:

Mel was in Cordoba, Spain, and had a fabulous time.  She even emailed me a bit in Spanish, but I think that means she was loving her time there!  :)  She wrote that she'd visited the Mezquita a few times (although, I'm honestly not sure what/where that is), and said the city itself was a beautiful mix of ancient and more modern streets and architecture with a lot of orange trees making the air fragrant when walking down the streets.

 She also said that winter there is like early summer in VT, which is pretty nice, I'd think.  She also did some traveling to places like Malaga, and commented that she enjoyed watching shows like Law & Order dubbed over in Spanish.

Hannah was in India and even played some volleyball with her school for a month or so until their season ended, which was fun!  She was studying Hindi and Urdu (which she said was close to being Hindi, just in the Arabic script), in addition to taking Indian history and an Indian authors writing in English class.  She commented on the pollution in Delhi and the trouble that she and other students had breathing when trying to exercise outside which was appalling to hear, but interesting in a weird sort of way.  (Thank goodness for the clean VT air!)  A highlight for Hannah was eating the delicious food there, and also getting to travel around.  I think she went to Himachal and Darjeeling, which she said were beautiful natural places at the foothills of the Himalayas--very cool.  She's now living and working back at MIDD for the summer and is working out with Alice, who's also working at MIDD for the summer.  

In the next installment of "what I did while studying abroad", we'll highlight both Gabi and Charlotte, so stay tuned!  Happy Summer everyone!

Katie Studies in New Zealand for Spring Term

I've been meaning to post this update from Katie for a few weeks now, so I apologize for the lateness of this post.  Katie has spent the Spring Semester in New Zealand and sent some great pictures.  It sounds like she's having a great time! 

She apparently bought a car with some other students (which is common, she said, for international students to do) so they can all travel more easily on the weekends.  One of the places she visited was Mt. Cook (the tallest mountain in NZ) where they saw two avalanches!  I think it's in the background of the picture on the right. 


And, at the time of her email they were planning a trip over the break to the South Island, and into the Abel Tasman National Park to hike, camp and sea-kayak.  Sounds FUN!!  Here are some pictures she shared, along with her testimonial that, "I've honestly never seen a place as beautiful as New Zealand."  Having been there one time myself, I'd have to agree, Katie.  Thanks for sharing!!

Amy is Enjoying Prague!

Amy sent me a great update from Prague, and she's even been keeping up with our team emails bouncing back and forth about team happenings, recruits coming to visit, and logistics for next year like new jerseys etc. Thanks for keeping tabs on us while you're away, Amy!

A couple of her highlights include the great history of the city, and it's amazingly well-preserved architecture, and also the central location making her many travels easier.  So far she's been to Vienna, Budapest, Madrid, and Amsterdam, and will get to Munich, and Berlin before she leaves.  Her appreciation for different cultures and ways of life is growing with all of her travels and experiences, and that is a great benefit of study abroad, I think.   

She's learning to speak Czech, which has been interesting for her, but certainly helps when ordering in restaurants and getting around town.  Amy also expressed how much fun she's having traveling a lot.  Every time she travels somewhere, it makes her want to keep traveling; however, she's also realized how tiring that is, and realizes that even though it's very exciting, it takes more time to refuel during the week.  Nonetheless, what an experience!!  I'm so happy for Amy to have this opportunity to grow and push the boundaries of her educational experiences.   Amy, thanks for the update, and keep having fun!!  Here are some pictures she shared:

MJ and Amy Meet Up in Madrid!

MJ is studying in Madrid, and Amy in Prague, but the two recently got together when Amy traveled to Madrid for a visit.  And, with all the great sights to see, and places to go, where do they end up....Dunkin' al la Spain!  MJ sent me this picture, and I, of course, loved it!!  Where else would they meet up and immediately think of MCVB?!  They call it Dunkin Coffee in Spain, which makes sense since they're more known for their coffee than their doughnuts anyway.  I'm still waiting for the update of their "real" experiences abroad, but SO happy to get the picture with those wonderful smiles!  Thanks for sharing, guys!!

Meg Studies "Down Under"

Meg has safely made it to her destination down under--Australia!  She's started a blog so we can all keep up with her adventures.  Thanks Meg, and have a fabulous time!!

Here's the link:  megcanderson.tumblr.com

Stud Enjoying Cordoba!

Sarah has been studying for the Spring Semester in Cordoba, Argentina .  She reports that she's having a great time there, and has shared a couple of her thoughts about her experience.  She traveled to Buenos Aires for "semana santa," or the equivalent of our Spring Break, and said this about that trip: , "It was a really fun place to visit, with lots of things to see and tango shows to go to at night, but BA is a ridiculously big city and it made me quite glad that I'm studying abroad somewhere a little more manageable."

She also had this to say about her living arrangements over there:

"My host family is wonderful, and their two year old daughter is the cutest thing ever.  We color together a lot in my free time, which is a nice counterbalance to the logistical stresses of Argentine living."

After quite an extensive effort to get "cleared" medically to be able to participate in even recreational athletics over there, she's happy that finally she's going to get to play some volleyball, so hopefully we'll get an update on how that's going pretty soon.  

Stud, we miss you, but it sounds like you're having an amazing experience in Argentina!  Before too long, we'll all be back together again for preseason!  Happy Spring everyone!!

  

Pictures from Abroad

Well, I heard that two of our travelers are back now after their semester in Spain, so congrats to them for finishing up already!  They sent a few pictures from their Spring Break travels that took them to Paris, Florence, and Berlin.  Apparently, they had one minor encounter with some bed bugs while in Paris, but other than that, they had a BLAST!

They also traveled to Switzerland at some point for a winter feel in the mountains.  I had asked Caitlin about what her favorite foods were in Spain because I've always heard so much about great Spanish food, and she had some great comments about that.  She is living with a host family, and her host mom is a wonderful cook.  She's from the Canary Islands, which is part of Spain, but has a lot of African and Moroccan influence.  Caitlin says: "I've eaten more meat here than I do at home, which is different, but also a nice change at the same time. We actually have a pig leg in our kitchen that you can shave ham right off of whenever you want to. Sounds weird but its some of the best ham I've ever had! My host mom makes a lot of traditional spanish food. Paella is very popular, which is basically rice flavored with a bunch of spices (mainly saffron), and then with veggies, chicken, chorizo, seafood, or whatever you want. It's definitely one of my favorites. Another favorite are these things called croquetas. I can't really describe them, they look kind of like mozzarella sticks, but they're not made from cheese. Hard to explain but they're pretty much some sort of fried dough with any kind of meat, cheese, or fish chopped up in the dough. My explanation is not doing them justice and probably makes them sound disgusting but if you ever get the chance to try them you should. And the third big food here, and something I could eat every day for the rest of my life, is tortilla española. It's Spain's take on frittata pretty much, and is usually made with potatoes, egg and sauteed onion, but my host mom sometimes put tomatoes or zucchini in too. Tastes great hot or cold, or put in a sandwich."

Caitlin has a fabulous attitude about it all, and this sentence sums it up pretty nicely: 

"...it's always some sort of culinary adventure and I always try everything before asking what's in it just in case."

Notes from Abroad

I've recently heard from Caitlin and Maddie, who are both in Spain, and having a wonderful time! This picture was taken at the 18th hole of St. Andrew's Golf Course in Scotland. (The taxi driver told them to take a picture there for their dad's, which I think is priceless!!)

Anyway, Caitlin reports that she's living with a family in the city center of Madrid with two kids in their 20's and also another foreign student from China, so it's quite a family all together. She reports that there have been several funny miscommunications, which is part of the deal, I'd imagine, but I can't wait to hear more about all these fun experiences! Her host mom is a fantastic cook, so Caitlin is enjoying all the Spanish food, of course! She and Maddie are actually taking a few classes together, which is very nice, but doing a home-stay is perfect because it really forces them to speak Spanish all the time.

Maddie reports that it's taken a while to get used to the Spanish way of life, but she's loving it! She said life there moves at about half the pace of MIDD life with siestas, long lunches, and late dinners. Maybe we should all learn something from that example?! :) She's very happy to have a familiar face and good friend in Caitlin there to share the experience with, and what a great experience it is!

They miss everyone at MIDD, but thanks to modern communications, they've been able to email and even Skype with a couple people. We miss them both, but are very happy to hear about their fun experiences. I'll try to get some information from Stud about her archaeological dig soon, too. Lizzy talked to her, I think, and said that she's loving her experience as well. More to come later...

Elissa Blogs from New Zealand!

I've heard from both Jane and Elissa a couple of times, and know they're enjoying themselves, but have yet to get a good, comprehensive update on what they've been doing down there. However, Elissa did start a blog to share her experiences, so thanks Elissa! Here is the link: http://www.egkiwi.blogspot.com/ Also, Caroline is in Italy, but I haven't heard much from her recently, so I'll take that to mean that she's having a fabulous time! :)

Caitlin's Blog about J-Term in Africa

Here is a link to Caitlin's Blog about her experiences in Africa. I'm sorry to be getting this up a little late, but check it out to read all about her J-term abroad. Can't wait to have you back, Caitlin, but so happy that you're enjoying the experience!

middofmalawi.blogspot.com

Nat's update from Uruguay!

Thanks to Natalie for keeping in touch while abroad in South America this semester! Here is an update from her, in her own words. Sounds like she's having an amazing time, but there may be more talk of futbol games than studies?! :)

These are excepts from her email:

"whatsup yall?! long time no talk, but Happy Easter! eat some chocolate for me because i'm really missing fatty snickers. i went to santa fe, argentina again with my family and Clare Zutz (a midd friend) and we spent the day at my gma's house in Sauce Viejo. we had an asado of course and played volleyball and a crazy version of poker called truco, that i still have no idea how to play. and we danced a little...[utube video available if you ask her for link!]..."

"life here in uruguay has been really awesome so far! my uruguayan family is turning out to be more than i expected. last saturday we went to the southeastern coast of uruguay (la paloma, punta del diablo, cabo polonio, and more) and got to see amazing beaches and hippies, which was awesome! we saw the one and only recycling can in cabo polonio where only 80 hippies live (sorry this sentence sounds awkward... my english is getting worse and i'm not so sure yet that my spanish is compensating for it...). but it was sick and if any of you all come down, we'll def go 'cause it's my favorite place so far in uruguay. our exchange group also got to go to the World Cup Qualifier game with Uruguay and Paraguay and uruguay won 2-0!!!!!!!!! SOOOO FUN! and i definitely fell in love with soccer, and #10 diego forlan who plays for Atlético de Madrid : ) "

"on a less fun note, i like my classes a lot (modern uruguayan history and democracy and dictatorship). but because uruguay has never been important in the world, i have no clue about what they are talking about. so i'm trying to read more about uruguayan history before i go to our 3 hr-long classes! yeah sooo long, partially because most of the time to say one thing in the spanish language takes double the time than it would in english (another terrible sentence--sorry). and also because there is absolutely no class structure and students talk whenever they want. OH and our classes are essentially half 30/40 yr olds and a few young uruguayans. so i havent had the greatest luck friending natives, but then again we've only been taking classes for 2 weeks! but the professors are incredible and pretty nice to us foreigners."

Whit is enjoying Italy!

Our juniors (or sophomore Febs) have been great about keeping in touch with us here at MIDD this spring. Here is what Whit had to say recently about her semester in Italy! This is in her own words, which is much better than me trying to recount her tales!...

"I thought I'd send an update about life in Italy...

So for the month of January, I just traveled a lot. I got into Florence January 4th after a 14-hour delay in Chicago (we planed & de-planed a total of 3 times) and went to see the David, the Boboli Gardens and mostly just wandered. Then I did a pretty whirlwind tour...I went to Paris, Edinburgh, and Copenhagen, and made it back to Italy for the start of our semester here. Since then I have mostly remained in Italy except for one weekend in Prague.

Ferrara is a pretty small town, where I believe there are more bicycles than there are people, but it's very friendly and not very touristy so we get a lot of Italian practice here. It was a medieval town, so there is a large castle in the center of town, complete with a moat! There is also a big stone wall that surrounds the old part of the city, and it's a great place to walk/ run around and see the city. I am living in an apartment close to the wall with an 2 roommates, one Italian girl, and one English girl, and I love them both! Our apartment is cute, small and cozy...and the ceiling of my room slants so that I can only stand up in the doorway, but I don't mind! I am most definitely very tall here...France and Italy especially...I blended a little better in Scotland.

In general, Italy is wonderful...the people are all loud and friendly, and they are serious about their food...they love pasta and pizza! Our spring/ Easter break is coming up, so we are doing a 10-day trip to Scotland, Germany, and Ireland!! I am soo excited to see Dublin and Galway!"

Nat and Mal Experience Argentina

Natalie and Mallory were together for a while in Argentina before studying, and it sounds like they had a crazy, and very fun time exploring and visiting family etc! Buenos Aires, followed by Santa Fe to visit Nat's family, and then on to Cordoba. A lost wallet; dancing until dawn; visiting family that Nat hasn't seen for 5 years; a dog named Jack Sparrow; futbol games--and that is no joke down there!!; awesome food; and sticking out like total Americans while just walking down the street are just a few of their exploits. Here a couple of excerpts from Nat's email:

"There are so many huge neighborhoods and each one of them has its own estilo. but one thing in common: BEAUTIFUL people!...i wish you all could be here to see all of these things with me because everything is amazing! but even more amazing... is the night life and of course, fútbol!...the best thing ever [was] going to the boca juniors game! it was a whole day event too. we got there at 2 and waited for the game to start at 5 and then got back to the hostel around 10. waiting for the game was the best part! for hours we stood in the popular (general seating section), jumping and throwing our arms in the air chanting sounds. it mainly consisted of spanish curse words and DALE BOCA, DALE BOCA! i couldn't really understand any of the cheers, but the environment was so contagious that it didn't stop any of us from clapping, shouting, and whistling at the other team. once the game began, the crowd instantly hushed to watch the game.....

so, after buenos aires, we took a bus to santa fe where my mom's family is from. we had the greatest food ever! an asado from my tío ricardo in which i'm pretty sure we just devoured a whole cow, alfajores (cookies with dulce de leche essentially), awesome italian food from my abuela, and the argentine staple, yerba mate with orange juice (té de rey is the name of it) to name a few. we stayed in my tía pipis house and i had a painful love with their dog, jack sparrow