After spending 2.5 weeks in Costa Rica and landing in Prince George, I can safely say I’m already missing it. During this last week we have done some pretty amazing things. This includes ziplining, river rafting and swimming in the ocean. The zipline course included 12 lines with the longest line being over 800 meters long. Riding through the canopy is very beautiful. It allows you to view from the top of the canopy instead of viewing everything from below. Rafting was also very cool, we spent all day rafting down the Pacuare river. As you float down this river you see hanging carriages strung across the river. These are used by the indigenous people to cross the river into town. Swimming in the ocean was also a new experience for me. The water tastes like salt and it burns when it gets in the ey...
I can honestly say that I have started and stopped writing this post a few times already. The magnitude and variety of new things I experience each day is sometimes overwhelming. How can I write just a brief post about a sliver of this adventure when I want to go on and on?
I chose to write about the top 3 things I am fascinated about in China so far.
Food (of course!)
I was excited about discovering a little more about the vast array of food in China before I left home, so it’s no wonder that I am even more excited now that I’m here. Where to start? For one thing, I love the street food in China. No matter where you are, you can wander down any side-street and find little storefronts and carts selling everything from fried chicken, flattened skewered fried s...
While adjusting to life in England, there were definitely some cultural differences to get used to, even as a Canadian student. Now, having lived in the UK for a few months, I am finally beginning to adjust to living in a ‘flat’, going up ‘lifts’, wearing ‘jumpers’, and eating ‘chips’ instead of fries. However, I was pretty confused when my English friends discussed going to the ‘chemists’ (apparently a pharmacy).
A huge part of living abroad is experiencing the local culture. Luckily, my host institution provides many opportunities for international students to travel and see the area surrounding London. They had trips planned to visit Cambridge, Oxford, Manchester, Bath, Stonehenge, and the Queen’s weekend home: Windsor Castle. Having attended the majority of these trips, I was able to o...
I still can't believe it, but here I am - China. Today officially marks one month that I've been away from home participating in a field school opportunity offered through my nursing program and traveling around China. To put into words what this time has been so far is seeming to be an impossible task. It's been a month of time change, language barriers and culture shock. A month of new smells, new food and new people. A month of realizing that a simple smile really is a universal language as I try and navigate myself around this giant country using sign language and interpretive gestures. I have learned so much during this field school experience so far - both related to the curriculum in which I participated in Shanghai but even more about myself.
I didn't know what to expect when embar...
If you are an introvert—like me—you can probably imagine that being in a group setting in a foreign country 24/7 for thirty days will pose some challenges. Introverts need quiet time to recharge, so being in a group all day can be draining. Before departing for my field school I pondered how I would navigate the upcoming reality of very little quiet time in addition to the regular ups and downs of a field school experience. I have now spent the past three weeks in a group of mostly extroverted individuals, and it has been a great experience. Here are my top three tips for enjoying your own field school experience as an introvert:
- Take time to recharge. Extroverts thrive in groups whereas introverts need quiet time to re-energize. Some extroverts have a hard time unde...
This first week in Costa Rica has been very enjoyable. Flying for the first time has been very exciting and long. The first thing I noticed once we landed in Costa Rica was the extremely intense humidity. It’s like opening the door to the steam room at the swimming pool. The driving style is very different from driving in Canada. Pedestrians do not have the right of way, and there is constant honking in the streets. Drivers are also very aggressive not hesitating to cut each other off to get onto the road.
During this past week, I have been to San Jose, the dry Pacific coast, the mountain town of Monte Verde, La Fortuna, and just recently the Caribbean town of Tortugaro. The town of Monte Verde is very cool. To get to this place you ascend from the lowlands of the pacific coast up into the...
In less than 1 week I will be in China! On May 16th I will land in Shanghai with my group from Langara College in Vancouver, BC. I almost can’t wait! I realized that one of the things I am most excited about in China is food! I decided to seek out and try one special dish in each area that we will visit.
Shanghai & “Stinky Tofu”
I figure I may as well tackle this one right out of the gate. I’m not a vegetarian, but I do have a particular fondness for tofu. Stinky tofu is apparently terrible smelling and is even described as “ugly”. It’s made by soaking tofu in a solution of vegetables, meat, and fermented (aka spoiled milk) with the optional add-ons of things like dried shrimp and bamboo shoots. After months in this curious bathwater...
It was only a couple months ago that I packed my entire life into a suitcase, leaving Canada and everyone that I knew to begin my study abroad trip. Finally, I am beginning to get used to converting currencies in my head at the grocery store and having nearly everyone I talk to comment on my “Canadian accent.” School in England is very different from what I was expecting, but it is an experience to see how digital media courses are taught in a different country.
One of the hardest parts to wrap my head around academically were the assignments here; back in Canada it is common to have an assignment due every week for a class. In England, none of my classes had more than 2 assignments for the whole term, some of them only have 1 assignment worth 100%! Having assignments worth more definitely...
Helen Keller said, “life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all”. Her words express a longing in my heart for adventure- to experience new places and culture, climb new summits and meet new people. Today however, as I sit here thinking about my impending departure this coming Friday to embark on the biggest adventure of my life, I feel as though I am grasping at the strings of that longing as something to hold on to, and frantically trying to stop shaking in my boots.
It was many months ago now that I was sitting in class, and one of my professors came to announce an opportunity for the Nursing students of Douglas College to go participate in a pilot field school experience in Shanghai, China, to experience firsthand the health care system there. Without a second thought I jumped a...
Why are you doing this? I recently attended a pre-departure workshop on building cultural competence and was asked this question. Each of the twenty-five or so attendees shared with the group their reason for participating in their respective field schools. Feeling a bit on the spot, I answered the first thing that came to mind: "I have always wanted to go to another country and volunteer, especially with children, and thought it was a great opportunity to do so through my program of study (dental hygiene)". After the workshop, I started to think more about that question. Why am I doing this? Why have I "always wanted to volunteer in another country"? Is it because it sounds like fun? What does that mean, exactly?
Many of us don't take the time for self-reflection. In the digital age, our...