After being here a week, I still can’t believe how fast time is going by. Which is a little relieving sometimes, when I think that I have to survive here for 5 more months. Since getting off the plane last Sunday, I’ve been experiencing a lot of the infamous culture shock.

For one, the different language is so hard to adjust to. Sitting here next to my host sister’s niece, it’s hard not to be envious of the ease at which a 3 year old can speak Spanish, as I struggle to buy and set up a cell phone here. And after listening to the orientation advisers lecture us for hours about life in Buenos Aires, and what to expect, it was frustrating missing out on important information because they were speaking too fast to understand completely. I’m trying to soak up as much of the language as I can, watching cartoons because the language is easier to understand, and reading the paper, so hopefully it will come soon.

Navigating around the city is another challenge. Any one who knows me will tell you I’m the worst with directions, I’m the person who has to Mapquest everything, and forgets which way to walk after leaving a store in the mall. So needless to say, I’ve been looking like quite the tourist sneaking peaks at my maps wherever I’m going. It’s also been a big adjustment not having a car here. I don’t mind walking, but when I have to take the subway or bus, it becomes a bit of a challenge. Again, the maps or “Guia T” as they have here are a must.

And finally, the food is so different. I never realized how much variety we have in our diets until I walked into the supermercado and saw 5 different types of cereal. Everything about their diet is so different. The typical Argentine eats 4 times a day, breakfast, lunch from around 1-3, tea from 4-6 and dinner from 9-11. But the portions are drastically smaller, breakfast for example, is a piece of toast and tea or coffee and lunch or dinner would be something like a small piece of meat with 1/2 cup of some vegetable. Meat is huge here, that and bread are the main components of the diet. Which sucks for me, as I’m pretty much vegetarian, with a piece of meat now and then. But I get so hungry here that there’s no choice but to have meat, as the stores don’t really carry a nice selection of produce and what they have is expensive.

But I’m managing, and know that things will slowly get easier.

 by Penny Schouten

We have been very lucky with obtaining passports–although many of them have arrived at the last minute.  So far, all of our students and faculty have gotten their passports before departure.  We still have about 10 students going on fall programs who haven’t gotten theirs yet, but they have a bit more time before we need to panic.

The following methods have worked for us in obtaining overdue passports:

1.  Call your congress-person 2 weeks before your scheduled departure.  Most now have a staff member assigned to getting delayed passports.  Be prepared to show your travel itinerary to prove your imminent departure date.

2.  Be prepared to drive to the issuing passport office to pick up your passport.  We had a faculty member who had been waiting months for his renewed passport.  He went to NYC, but was told if he could go to Philadelphia that day with copies of his completed forms, he could get the passport that day.  He drove to Philly and after about 2 hours there, had his passport.

3.  Call your local TV News problem-solver.  One student contacted ‘Ask Bobby’ after their local congress-person dropped the ball.  Bobby got them the passport with 2 days to spare.

Thank you everyone for posting your comments and experiences!  If you’ve successfully gotten your passport, please share your advice!

Please note: the students and faculty I refer to above didn’t use an expediter.  I have heard tales of people paying upwards of $300 extra to an expediter and getting the same result (and panic) we did without one.

So I write this as my last post….I think. Anyway…its so strange how 6 months flys by faster than I could have imagined it. I feel as though I have a sort of reverse homesickness right now. I am gunna miss this place. The laughs, the good times, the stories, the faces, the smiles, the weather, the beautiful beach. It will most likely make a trip back though, when I have the money and the time and when I am not in school. Australia is such a huge place with much to be explored. I am happy with the amount of travelling I did, but in no means am done.

Everyone on exchange and study abroad have pretty much left, except for the ones who are staying 6 more months. I can only reccommend studying abroad with the highest promise of having an amazing experience that you will never forget. I have made some great friends for life, from all over world, which gives me even more reason to travel.

The people you meet. the friends that you make, the places that you see and go, and the experiences are so worth while. While I am sad to say goodbye I know that I am not saying goodbye forever. Home will be nice, different but nice. You become so familiar with this one place, you make it your home and then BAM…you have to leave. It’s a little surreal almost. Anyway…enough with me blabbing…so my main message….DO IT…GO SOMEWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD….its amazing and so rewarding. Thats it…NY here I come!!!

Lauren

Sunrise at the Bay of Fires

Man building a snow bear at Mount Wellington

View from the top of Mt. Wellington

Salamanca Markets

Cradle Mountain

Mole Creek Caves

I arrived in Rome about a week ago, and things have been craaazy hectic..

In February, i accepted a scholarship for Italian-American students to study abroad in Rome for a month, learning about Roman culture, italian history, and generally being nice little diplomats. Rome is a beautiful city. There’s no words. Everywhere you go there’s a palazzo, a piazza, a church, or a monument that’s unforgettable. Already i’ve discovered one of my favorite things to do…

I went to the campo dei fiori for a few nights in a row to party, and on the way back, i take bus number 40 to Termini. When it’s dark there’s an amazing view of the Campidoglio, or Capitoline Hill, lit up with floodlights.

Today we went to Palazzo Montecitorio, where the italian congress meets, and met some people afterward who run the Rome Film Festival. It was a pretty sweet day.

So these things have all helped me take my mind off of the fact that i left my Urbino!!!!

I miss it so much! One of the strangest feelings is that knowing the friends i’ve made and spent so much time with, i may not see again for a long time..maybe years! Even stranger, is knowing that we will never be all together again at the same time… that’s why i’m so happy to even have had the experience at all.

I miss getting drinks in the Piazza Della Repubblica and people-watching (day and night)
hanging out on the terrace

la guerra di acqua!

the bartenders at Piquero

the beach in Pesaro

gelato at Romana

dancing like idiots at Makkia

bonding with other foreigners over a shared language

English slang

Irish slang

piadina

marchese wine

i torricini

my room in Il Tridente

the People!!!!!!

I’ll never forget everything i’ve done here. Leaving Urbino feels like leaving home when i came here. It really started to feel like where i was from – i was so comfortable. Looking back i probably should have done a full year. Maybe then i’d feel ready to leave it.

I’m glad to be in Rome…it’s making the transition a bit easier for me, because i have so many things to do and such a tight schedule, that i don’t have time to relax until i go to sleep! This, however, has brought on a cold…i have a bad cough and a bad headache. On that note, i need to get some sleep…