England: Mid Program: “A Day in The Life” by Mikayla Lawrence

 

A DAY IN THE LIFE

3/31/2017

I knew I was going to love London, but the one thing I didn’t expect from studying abroad was how nice my neighborhood was going to be, and how little I would want to leave it every day. Don’t get me wrong: Westminster Abbey, Piccadilly Circus and all the other tourist spots are amazing, and I love just exploring random parts of the city. But when you live in an area so wonderful that locals ask if you’re a millionaire for being able to afford it, you can understand the appeal (p.s. I’m not a millionaire — I think I just got lucky with dorm assignments).

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A Guide to Housing: Navigating your Housing Situation Before & After you Study Abroad

 

Are you excited about study abroad, but stressed about navigating your housing situation – before you leave, while you are away, or when you return to WWU?

We are here to tell you that it IS possible to work out housing during the school year and that you are NOT limited to only summer programs. Education Abroad, University Residences & Off Campus Living are here to help you navigate your housing situation with resources and tips!

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Tanzania: Mid Program: “A Day in the Life” by Tara Quattrone

 

A Day in the Life

Every morning for the last month and a half I have woken up in my mosquito net bunk bed to the sounds of birds as the African sun rise makes the sky around me orange. The sun rises and sets much faster on the equator, also creating a much more dramatic coloration for this short time period. Most mornings I take a daily jog up to the Moyo hill (meaning heart in Swahili). This might be one of my favorite activities in this study abroad experience. I am alone which is rare here, and as I get to the top I get to see the Rhotia village below me along with the surrounding villages and mountains. I also get the view of the Manyara lake and conservation area where I got to see my first large African mammals. This open view makes me feel free and reminds me how special it is to be where I am at in that moment.

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South Korea: Arrival: “It’s a New Week!” by Allison Ogle

http://boldnewadventures.weebly.com/

 

Things here at my school are going really well! I’ve co-taught one English lesson so far and I have taught a lesson about my hometown(s). Because I am in a public Korean elementary school, a lot of the instruction during the day is in Korean. This means that it is really hard for me to be a regular classroom teacher. Instead, I am what the teachers call a “subject teacher” my job is essentially to provide English instruction as a native speaker of English as well as to share lessons about my home culture. I am planning on teaching a 10 week (one lesson per week) unit on America and American culture. The scary thing is I will be teaching these lessons to all of the grades in the school. First grade through sixth grade. That is kind of scary but I’m really excited to take on this role of being a bit of an EFL (English as a foreign language) specialist which is extremely similar to my endorsement that would allow for me to teach ELLs (English language learners) back home. I will essentially be teaching the same lesson to every class but it will be tailored to meet the language and developmental abilities of each grade. I’m supposed to start with some fourth and fifth grade classes on Thursday so I hope it goes well!

Last night, we as a school went out to dinner! It was really great! We ate a lot of traditional Korean foods and we also went out for coffee afterwards. I posted pictures of this in the pictures page here. (Click it, it will take you to the picture page 🙂 ). I had a lovely night and tried several new foods like stingray/skate. It had a good taste but the texture was very different from how it looked.

I had a lovely time after school today with several of the teachers. Every Tuesday, the teachers get together to play badminton and have a good time. I really enjoyed badminton all throughout school but I never really had the opportunity to play it recreationally so it was really nice to be able to go play a fun sport with several of the teachers from the school (even the vice principal!). It was a great time! I really enjoyed how we could all play a sport together and not really need to use our language. We were all simply having fun! I am now glad that I was forced to take some of those PE classes in school 🙂 knowing some of the rules to badminton came in handy!

I know this post was a lot of different things smashed together but a lot has happened in just a few days! Please go look at the pictures page if you want to see some of the pictures that I have taken while I’ve been here! It’s a bit more interesting than just reading all of this :).

South Korea: Arrival: “Personal Space” by Allison Ogle

http://boldnewadventures.weebly.com/

 

Personal Space

3/11/2017

So, I’m learning a bit about personal space in Korean public spaces.

I had read online before I came to Korea that because Korea is such a small country and there are so many people, it is common for people to bump into other people and not really worry about it. People wouldn’t say sorry or excuse me because it was so common and normal. I’m really seeing this now. It’s really weird for me!

When I was walking around and shopping in Myeongdong, I was often in a tight spot with a lot of people around me. I was bumped into several times and I even bumped into other people a few times. It really wasn’t a big deal and even when I said “excuse me” to pardon myself, people didn’t really care. It was an interesting feeling. The same thing happened on my subway ride home. On the last leg of my subway journey, there were so many of us in the car that I couldn’t move. People weren’t being rude or pushing and shoving. It was very civilized and everyone was very chill about it. Again, it was weird for me but I think I could get used to it.

South Korea: Arrival: “It’s Been Two Weeks!” by Allison Ogle

http://boldnewadventures.weebly.com/

 

It has been two weeks since I arrived in Seoul. Now that I’m here, I’m really enjoying a lot of things about Seoul! Everything is really close and convenient. I have two convenience stores within 1-5 minutes of walking distance. These convenience stores have EVERYTHING! There is packaged and processed food and there is fresh food like eggs, meat, vegetables, and fruit. There are also household items and cleaning supplies among many other things. I’m also very close to the subway station. This means that I can go basically anywhere quickly for quite cheap. I’m also really close to the school where I’m student teaching. It makes my mornings really easy! There are so many things that I really like about Seoul, it’s hard to name them all!

There are a few things that are challenging. Culturally, Korea stays up very late. Though I like staying up late, I think it’s a bit tough for me to stay up late on a school night. I’m also having to learn a lot about speaking Korean. I wish that I would have studied a bit more Korean but I’m getting by. I can say a few things and get my point across as well as understand the point of the person with whom I’m speaking but it’s still a challenge. There’s also a difference in personal space! Overall, Seoul is living up to my expectations and very often exceeding my expectations which is great!