Four Reasons Why You Should Study Abroad (Any Where)

At the end of August 2014, I found myself on a plane going from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, where I would catch a train and go to Leiden, the Netherlands and spend the next four and a half months there.  I was scared out of my mind upon landing, but living in Leiden became the best experience I could have asked for.  I know that a number of other people who decide to study abroad feel similar by the end of their experience.  With that, here are __ reasons why you should consider studying abroad, whether that means this coming spring semester if the deadlines haven't passed or in the summer or fall, depending on your program.

1. Explore the Places You've Only Read About or Seen in Movies.  Since I lived in Europe and near a big international airport (Schipol Airport), the world was my oyster.  I ended up visiting eight countries (if you include the Netherlands and also if you include Vatican City, which is a city state) during my semester abroad.  I went to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris when my family came to visit, I saw the Colosseum on my 21st birthday, I saw Brandenburg Gate in Berlin when my fiance came to visit, I went through the Anne Frank House twice while living in the Netherlands.  Being in these places in person is so much better than keeping at a distance with books and films.  It's very hard to describe.

2. Get to Know Yourself Better.  This is a very important one.  While living abroad, you're usually away from your family and people you know and so you have to figure things out on your own.  You learn your limits-- things that you're okay and comfortable with and things that you're not okay with and may even make you feel unsafe.  My solo trip to England comes to mind immediately.  I was comfortable using the Tube and finding my way around London on a map, but I was not comfortable staying out after dark in this strange city while I was on my own, so I made sure to be back at my hostel by then.  On a more positive note, you learn about what you're capable of.  I never thought that I would be able to walk into a grocery story in the Netherlands and not speak a word of English while I found my food and checked out with an actual Dutch person.  If you can't tell, I'm still very proud of myself for this.  You also learn what it important to you when you learn about a part of history or a culture that truly moves you or when you prioritize going to see one thing over another when you visit another place for a short while.

3. Live Like a Local.  If you've been living in roughly the same place all your life, it can be hard to fathom what it's like for other people around the world to live in their day-to-day life.  When you study abroad with a program that doesn't do everything for you, you shop at the same grocery stores that local people shop at, you know when market day is, you celebrate the holidays as they are happening in the city... you basically become one of the locals, if only for a short period of time.

4. Learn a Language.  There is nothing like total immersion when it comes to learning a language.  Doing DuoLingo or even studying a language in school can compare to total immersion.  My experience is probably not the best example, because a number of Dutch people speak English, especially in the University town where I lived, but for people who live in smaller cities abroad or who find the special pockets of the big cities and practice what language they know will be able to practice with native speakers and you try and work out what you want to say and what other people are saying to you.  I won't say that there is no "out" to using the native language of the place where you're living, but there are fewer opportunities for switching to English that if you were doing DuoLingo or studying at school.  You struggle through the interaction, but you're a lot better speaker of that language for it.

There are a million reasons why you should absolutely study abroad, but here are four you should take into consideration as you prepare for your great adventure!

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

Over One Month Since Coming Home

It's weird to think that about a month and a half ago, I was still in the Netherlands, although getting ready to board a plane that would take me home to the U.S.  As I said before, I was beyond not ready to go home.  But I had no choice.

Now I'm home.  I returned to school, caught up with a lot of my friends (although not all of them yet), went back to work at O'Shaughessy Theater on my college campus, and just generally tried to keep busy.  That really worked for me.  Study abroad students who have recently returned from their host country or will in the next handful of months after their semester ends, I highly recommend this strategy, especially after making such an important connection to another culture.

Now that I've had a little distance from my semester abroad, I feel more comfortable going back to it-- looking at pictures, telling stories, etc.  My university runs an art and literary journal, so I decided to submit six photos from my European adventures.  Wish me luck on that front, I'd love to be published, even for photography (someday I'll get my act together and submit writing).  The Global Studies office at my school is also hosting a photography contest with the categories Cultural Connections and Katies Abroad.  I'm going to send in these photos later today.  Again, wish me luck!

What's weird is that when I look back at all of the pictures I took over Fall 2014, I get this feeling of disbelief that that's me in those pictures and that I saw those things that I photographed.  Those memories are mine, I know, but they feel so out of reach to me.  They happened so long ago, you know?

I've noticed a lot more Dutch things around me.  The gas station a few blocks from my house?  It's a Dutch company (Shell).  I see Old Dutch chips everywhere, once while I was at work I saw a lady waiting in line to get inside the theater and she was reading "The Goldfinch" based on the Dutch painting.  The teacher I volunteer for saw that I brought Stroopwaffels to put on my tea cup and she knew exactly what they were.  People pop up out of no where and they either know someone who is Dutch or have visited the Netherlands or passed through Schipol airport.  It's a small world and the Dutch seem to be everywhere.  In a way, it's comforting because it's like the country that I've grown to love so much isn't all that far away (or at least things reminiscent of that country aren't that far away).  

I'm doing okay right now, but I don't think that I'm engaging with Minnesota the way I used to before leaving.  I'd like to change that, since this state will be my home for the foreseeable future (not that it wasn't my home before, but my point is that my home feels different in a way I can't explain).  I need to start exploring parts of my state that I haven't already explored.

Traveling around Europe has sparked my interest in traveling once again.  I know that someday I'll return to Europe, but I'm ready to explore other continents now.  I think that South America is next.  Honeymoon in Ecuador?  Sounds good to me.  Australia sometime after?  Absolutely!  I'd like to go to a different part of Africa too, although I haven't decided where I would go or when I would make that journey.

So that's where my brain is right now.

Tot Ziens or Hasta Luego!

--Jude

Fall 2014 in Numbers and Lists

I was thinking about this on my flight back to Amsterdam from Italy: what if I posted numbers, to the best of my knowledge, about the places I traveled and things I experienced during my semester abroad?  Once I started "crunching the numbers," I was kind of floored by what this semester consisted of (in a good way), so I thought I'd share with you too!

Day-to-Day Things

Number of Hours Spent in Class per week (between 6 classes): 14.25 hours
Longest Class: Political Philosophy (2.75 hours, consistently once a week)
Shortest Class: History of Modern Philosophy (1.5 hours, consistently once a week)
List of Classes: History of Modern Philosophy, Political Philosophy, The Netherlands and Its European Context, Drawing in Leiden, The Art of Photography, History of the Low-Countries
Time From School To My Leiden Home: 5 minutes (biking) or 15 minutes (walking)
Total Number of Days Away From U.S. Home: 131 days
Amount of Money Spent on Food for Roughly Two Weeks:  20 euro (about $26)
Cost of a Normal-Sized Bottle of Wine: 2-6 euro, depending on the brand (that's between $2.66 and $8)

The Netherlands

Number of Cities Visited in the Netherlands: 10
Number of Cities Visited Listed: Leiden, Amsterdam, Leeuwarden, Breda, Haarlem, Rotterdam, Texel, Katwijk, Appeldoorn, The Hague
Longest In-Country Train Ride (From Leiden): 3 hours-- Leeuwarden
Shortest In-Country Train Ride (From Leiden): 15 minutes-- Haarlem, The Hague

Travel

Number of Planes Taken (including U.S. to Netherlands and all return journeys): 12
Long Distance Trains Taken (to and from destination): 4
Total Distance Traveled Between Plane and Long Distance Train: 15,818 miles
Countries Visited: 8

List of Countries: Netherlands, England, Germany, Belgium, France, Morocco, Italy, Vatican City

Number of Languages Spoken: 7

List of Languages: Dutch, English, German, French, Flemish, Arabic, Italian

Languages I Had A Grasp On: 3 (Dutch, French, English)

Languages I Didn't Know But Tried Any Way: 2 (Italian, German)

Number of Hostels Stayed In: 7

Number of Hotels/Bed and Breakfasts/Apartments: 7

If there are any other statistics you want to know that I didn't think of, leave a comment down below and I'll figure out that number to add to this post.

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

Netherlands Adventures!: Visiting Berlin

Tuesday

A few days after Jack and Matt arrived in the Netherlands, we all took off for Berlin where we would stay until 4 January.  As soon as we took off, I burst into tears as I watched Amsterdam get farther and farther away.  I had to remind myself that I would see Amsterdam again.  It didn't help that when we flew over Berlin and the surrounding area, I saw snow covering everything and it was at least twenty degrees (Fahrenheit) colder than it was in Amsterdam.  I should have been excited about going back to Germany (I went to Munich, Germany in November), but I was just sad.  

The first day we didn't do too much.  We arrived at the apartment where we were staying and stayed for a while.  Naps were had and then Matt and I went out into Berlin (Jack was too tired and stayed behind the first night).  Since Matt is now my future father-in-law, I thought it would be a good time to get to know him better and also it was a good time to go out and see Berlin for the first time.  In retrospect, I think Berlin is more beautiful at night than it is during the day.

Wednesday

Our first full day in Berlin, we ventured out of the apartment late, but we still ventured out.  We started at the Sony Center which was basically a big mall, technically outside, but it was covered so it had that indoor feel as well.

There really wasn't a place we wanted to visit inside, so we walked around the outside of the Sony Center.  There, we found a giant LEGO giraffe.  I made a friend.

Jack made some friends too :)

After finding lunch and exploring this area more, we went down to the train station to catch a train to go back to our apartment.  In the train station, they have these long tubes protruding from the ceiling.  It's basically an extending skylight.  I thought it was really neat.

We went back to the apartment to rest up a bit before going back out into Berlin to ring in the New Year.  When we did go back out, we decided that we would go to Brandenburg Gate because there was going to be a bunch of live music playing and fireworks.

It was actually a little terrifying to be out at night in Berlin on New Year's Eve.  There didn't seem to be any rules about where you can set off your own fireworks or how big they can be.  People were setting off fireworks that I can see at the Fourth of July displays at home on the side of the road in a public place.  A couple of times, we got dangerously close, not intentionally, but we were in the wrong place at the wrong time.  If the fireworks weren't being set off near us, they were exploding not too far from us.  It's terrible.  The only thing I can think to compare it with is a war zone and that's not a fair comparison at all (especially since I've, thank goodness, never been in an actual war zone).  

As we got closer to Brandenburg Gate, you can imagine that it got a lot more crowded.  We had to go through two security checkpoints so get anywhere near the monument.  It was a lot of sensory overload.  Too many people, so much music playing at once, lots of smells, and on top of that, trying to maneuver everything while holding a cup of Gluhwein and a pretzel.  Dinner of champions.  Gluhwein was actually decent.  I really don't like red wine, but I discovered that it's not bad when it's hot and has things like cinnamon and small fruit (raisins, usually) in it.  I drank it faster than I should have though.  I was really tipsy afterwards and that didn't help my overwhelmed cause.

We stayed for a while, but didn't stay until midnight.  It was too cold and being introverts, all three of us, it was exhausting to be there, stuck in the middle of a crowd.  It was fun to see and we can say that we were there, but I was relieved when we left.  We rang in the New Year in our apartment, which was perfect.  It was quiet and the person who owns the apartment/hotel place left a bottle of champagne for us, so that was nice.  I was able to go right to bed afterwards.  It was glorious.

Thursday

The next morning when we left the apartment, we bore witness to all the wreckage left in the street.  Hundreds of euros worth of fireworks sitting used up in the street.  I couldn't help but wonder who would come to clean it up and I was surprised that the people who were shooting them off didn't clean them up themselves.

We ventured our way back to Brandenburg Gate, where we were last night.  I had found a self-guided walking tour on TripAdvisor that would take us to see Third Reich sites around Berlin.  We picked and chose and edited our route before and throughout the day.  The forecast said that it was going to be some of the nicest weather of our trip (it turned out to be just one nice day out of an unexpected few nice days), so we spent the day outside as per my request.

A large timeline of the rise and fall of the Third Reich, near Brandenburg Gate.

Brandenburg Gate

Reichstag, which is the seat of government.  It's a very beautiful building.

A memorial to the government officials who resisted Nazi rule.

We walked through the park nearby.  There was a lot of construction because the structures used for New Years the night before were being dismantled.  We found a monument to musicians such as Beethoven and Mozart.  You can still see bullet holes left from World War II.

One of the stops on the self-guided tour was this former site of a euthanasia hospital used during World War II.  Another scary part of that war...

A relic of the former East Germany.

There is also an entire street where there are markers for where the Nazi leaders once had their offices.  Hitler's bunker (where he ultimately committed suicide) used to be in this area, but it was filled in and is now a parking lot.

Our last stop of the day, since it was getting dark out, was the Holocaust Memorial.  This was a very surreal memorial.  It looks like there are just blocks of cement that you walk between, and that's true, but there's no visual cue that the ground angles downward so suddenly you're standing between these blocks of cement that are three or four times your height (or at least, that's how it feels).  Since we were walking through this at night, it was especially scary, which seems appropriate, given what those who suffered through the Holocaust, whether they were Jews or another enemy of the Nazi party, suffered through.

Friday

Friday we headed over to the area near the Berlin wall that separates the former East Germany from the former West Germany.  In this area, there was a lot of street art.  Actually, street art is pretty ubiquitous around Berlin.

Our ultimate goal by being in this area was to go to the museum of technology.  This was on Jack's list to see.  We didn't realize before going just how vast this museum is.  If I remember correctly, there are four floors (possibly five) filled with things to look at, everything from airplanes to parts of ships and entire smaller boats, and train engines and some cars.  There were also smaller things like cameras and video equipment.

Jack is very into computers (one of his minors is in computer science... smarty).

An entire computer.  Thank goodness they don't come this big any more, am I right?

I like using computers, but I don't care to know the complete history and evolution of computers.  So Jack left me in the area and I built this.

This bike is not my size... I'm too short.

We moved on to trains and it was strange, but I found this part really interesting.  I've never really taken a huge interest in trains before, but this part of the museum was cool for me.

Engine

I thought it looked like the Hogwarts Express from Harry Potter :)

Nazi train :(

This was rather surprising for me to find, but they had one of the train cars there that used to transport Jews to concentration camps.  Jack insisted that I be part of the picture, but it didn't feel appropriate to stand in this car and smile, because I'm sure that those who were cramped in this car before me were not smiling.  They were more likely to be scared, whether they knew what was going to happen or not.

We moved on to flying objects after.  Jack likes flying objects much better than trains or boats.

Omnomnomnom.... yummy plane.

After the museum, we headed over to another, smaller, museum called Topography of Terror.  It outlines how the National Socialist German Worker's party took hold and what they did to perpetuate fear everywhere.  Before we went inside though, there were a couple interesting things just outside.  First of all, there was an expanse of the Berlin wall that was mostly intact.  Below, there was the ruins of the Gestapo.

"Madness"

"Astrid, maybe someday we will be together."

Former Gestapo headquarters

As we were trying to find Checkpoint Charlie, we came across this mural.

We went on a bit of a walk afterwards because I wanted to see the memorial to the book burning that happened in Berlin.  It was in front of one of the Humboldt University buildings.  I thought that the memorial would be a little more obvious, but it's mainly underground.  It's a stark white room filled with empty bookshelves.  No books, no libraries.  No knowledge.  It was a very moving memorial.

Saturday

One of the things that I wanted to do while in Berlin was go to see a concentration camp.  I hoped that I would get to see Bergen-Belsen where Anne Frank and her sister Margot died an untimely death just a short amount of time before the camp was liberated.  But when I looked up directions on how to get there, it was a three and a half hour train ride away.  So it seemed that this hope of mine was dead, at least for this trip.  Not only is Bergen-Belsen very far away from Berlin, but I seemed to be the only one out of the three of us that wanted to go.  Then Jack chimed in and said that just the two of us would go.  But we didn't go to Bergen-Belsen, because it didn't get any closer to Berlin.  Instead, we went to a former camp called Sachsenhausen.  It was only about an hour and a half away from Berlin, in Oranienburg.  

The train ride wasn't so bad.  We got to Oranienburg station and then we had to walk a ways to get to the former camp itself.  It was strange walking through this residential area and then having it end in this camp.  And I know that this camp at one point had "ovens," so I wonder, how much did people living here at the time actually see?  Did they know what was happening behind the walls of the camp?

Those who were imprisoned in this camp were subject to a death march.

This prisoners of this camp were a mixture of Jewish people and Soviet prisoners of war.  Most of the camp has been bombed by now, leaving only a handful of buildings to give you an idea of what life was like here.  The "infirmary" was still standing and I think a barracks (although we didn't go in) and then some houses of the people who acted as wardens (I can't remember the title that went with them, and really, does it matter?).

Shattered stove in a broken kitchen.

A map of what the camp used to look like when it was intact.

After a while, we realized that it was getting late and we still had some things that we wanted to see in Berlin.  Besides, when visiting a concentration camp, it's not a light-hearted experience.  We're just fortunate that we get to leave whenever we please.

We took the train back to Berlin and walked to the base of the TV Tower, one of Berlin's icons.

I'm so nice... what an attractive picture.  Those pretzels were totally delicious though.  Completely worth it.

A trashcan that says "Thank you for the hot dogs."  I actually laughed out loud, this was so adorable :)

After taking in the TV tower and finishing our pretzels and a croissant that we shared, we walked ove to the DDR museum, which is a museum that is very interactive and gives you an idea of what it was like to live in East Germany when it was its own country.  Some of their ideas were good, but other ideas were just scary to me...

How a typical East German home was set up.

Children were essentially trained for war from a young age.

Really heavy helmet that was part of the East German army!

There was a simulation where you could try driving an East German car on the roads.  It's a very touchy car... one guy before us somehow managed to flip the car over and got stuck... I don't get it.

Sunday

Sunday was the day we were to fly back to Amsterdam from Berlin, but we had a little time in the morning.  Jack's dad heard about this car place where people store their fancy cars and come to work on them whenever they want.  So it's kind of like a free fancy car museum.

How creepy...

I definitely touched most of the cars I looked at... one guy even left the doors of the car unlocked.  How silly of him!  He was just asking for his car to be touched!

Any way, we hopped on the train to get back to the airport and we flew back to Amsterdam for our last night in Europe.  I was happy to leave Berlin, but I knew that once I got back to Amsterdam, that was basically it.  That was hard for me to handle.  I wasn't ready to leave Europe yet.  I'm sitting at home in Minneapolis as I write this and I'm still not done with Europe.  I'm especially not done with the Netherlands.

I guess with this last post, this is it for my study abroad adventures.  I still hope to keep writing about this life-changing experience that I've had, but those posts won't be the same as the posts I've been posting with tons of pictures and a recap of what I did and such.  The things I write about my study abroad experience from here on out will mostly be thoughts, I think.  I might have to physically be back in the U.S., but my mind can keep going back as much as it wants.

With that, a final Tot Ziens!  Thanks for Reading!  We'll see where this blog goes after this...

--Jude