Hello everyone! This is my first post from Ecuador. In less than 24 hours, I will have officially been in Ecuador for one week. It has been amazing thus far! Today was my first day of classes at CEDEI (Centers for Interamerican Studies). I can tell that the classes are going to be challenging; however I am going to stay optimistic about them because I know that I am going to learn a lot.
I met my host family Saturday evening, and so far I am in love with them. They are the Carvallo-Solis family. There are five members in the family, but only one son still lives at home. Their home is absolutely gorgeous. Inside the home there are two kitchens, three dining rooms, three living rooms, a spiral staircase, a garden, and a house for the maid in the backyard. I feel extremely blessed to have the opportunity to live in such an extravagant house.
Cuenca is a beautful city. The city is separated into two parts: the old section and the new section. El Rio Barmaba (The River Baramba) is what separates the two sections. Cuenca is lined with cobblestone streets, French-inspited architecture, parks, and 17th century churches. There is a perfect combination of new swanky clubs mixed with colonial architecture.
While everything has been great, I would be lying if I said that I was able to understand and speak Spanish perfectly. My first evening in Cuenca my host mom Marina took me out to their family owned reception hall called La Floreana. What I didn't know before arriving was that it was there reception hall and she wanted to show me where their family worked. Being a little shaky on my Spanish skills, I thought that Marina was taking me to a welcome party that was being hosted in my honor. As soon as we arrived at La Floreana, my face lit up with excitement and I turned to Mariana and repeated over and over "Muchas Gracias" (Many Thanks). I walked into La Floreana and was immediately greeted by my host brother Santiago. Not wasting any time I turned to Santiago and said, "You did not have to go through all this trouble just for me". With a confused look on his face, Santiago replied "My mother brought you here because she wanted to show you where we all worked". I immediately tried to look serious and nodded my head pretending that I knew that was the reason all along.
Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I promise to continue to keep you all updated.
Peace and Love :)
Well, it is time to leave the country once again. My destination this time is Cuenca, Ecuador. I am both excited and slightly nervous. Before I left for Vietnam, I felt as if I had months to prepare. I do not know if it is due to the fact that I have less anxiety about this trip or what the underlying cause may be, but I feel extremely calm about this trip. The scary part is I am heading to the airport in less than 24 hours!
What I have discovered after traveling to Vietnam is as long as you have your passport, money, underwear, and comfortable walking shoes you are good to go... at least for a a few days :). This trip is going to be different from Vietnam. First, is the length of the trip. I am about to embark on a ten week trip where I will visit Guayaquil, Quito, La Costa, and El Oriente. I will be taking 16 credit hours of Spanish classes with 18 other Ohio University Students. One graduate student is traveling with us. She will serve both as our chaperone and one our professors.
I will be living with a host family. I just received their contact information yesterday. They truly sound like great people; I cannot wait to meet them.
With an open mind, lots of sunscreen, and my malaria medication, I am ready to leave for Ecuador. Look out Ecuador here I come!
When people notice the fleur de lis tatoo on the back of my neck, it seems to trigger a vast amount of questions. Some of these questions include: "Are you from New Orleans?" or "Are you a Saints fan?" My favorite question is "Do you know that the fleur de lis the symbol for the boy scouts?" In order to clear up this confusion, I have decided to dedicate this blog post to the reasoning behind my fleur de lis tatoo; and also to share some of my experiences in my favorite city in the world New Orleans.
The fleur de lis which means "lilly flower" originally began as a symbol of French royalty. King Louis VI was the the first French King to use the fleur de lis on his shield. Since then, the fleur de lis has become the symbol of numerous organizations across the United States. The fleur de lis can be seen everywhere from New Orleans from jewelry, to paintings, street signs, and on the New Orlean's Saints jerseys.
There is not one main reason that I chose to get the fleur de lis as a tatoo; but rather multiple reasons. First, my love for the city of New Orleans helped to introduce me to the symbol of the fleur de lis. While visiting New Orleans for the first time in the spring of 2008, a tour guide told me that after Hurricane Katrina the fleur de lis became a symbol of rebirth. I didn't truly understand what this meant until after touring the Ninth Ward. As I looked out of the tour bus windows, I saw hundreds of abandoned houses with black spray painted numbers across the doors and outerwalls. The numbers represented how many were found dead inside the house after the hurricane. Seeing house after house with the same black numbers spray painted across the doors, made me realize just how many lives were lost during the hurricane. I could not believe that the city of New Orleans especially the people were able to overcome this tragedy in such a short amount of time. Like a pheonix who is reborn from the ashes, the people of New Orleans were able to welcome by family to their city with such hospitality and gratitude that forever touched my life.
Building upon the symbol of rebirth from New Orleans, leads me to my next reason that I got my tattoo. After the passing my mom, I went through one of the darkest periods of my life. However, after time I was able to gain a whole new perspective on life that has helped to mold me into the person that I am today. I really do feel that although I am the same person that I was five years ago, there are parts of me that have been changed.
Finally, my sister and I wanted to get the same tattoo to show our love for each other. The fleur de lis made perfect sense to us to show both the love for our mother; but also to show our strength and unity as sisters.
New Orleans is certain to change anyone's life as I know that it did mine. New Orleans I love you :)
Sorry for the delay everyone. Nadine and I have had one hectic quarter. Now that we are finally finished, we are ready to give our attention once again to our blog. While many things have happened this quarter, I have decided what I am most excited about is two travel opporutunities that are approaching quickly. The first is the two week trip to Nha Trang Vietnam that I, along with the Global Leadership Center, will be leaving for this Friday, November 27th. The second is a ten week study abroad program in Cuenca, Ecuador.
While some people tend to associate Vietnam with death and destruction, I am proud to be able to debunk this preconceived notion. After working with students at Nha Trang University, I have come to realize that these students are some of if not the kindest people I have ever been blessed enough to meet. Apart from the kindness of the people, Vietnam is a beautiful country with crystal clear oceans, majestic mountains, and state of the art hotels. The Global Leadership Center first year students will be working with nine businesses in Vietnam. My business in JSC Nautral Cosmetics; and my teammates and I are researching how employee morale can be improved at the company.
I am so excited to travel to Vietnam. Seriously, words cannot even come close to describing the emotions that I feel. Aside from Vietnam, I applied to study abroad in Cuenca, Ecuador during spring quarter. It took a lot of decision on my part to decide if I would be able to go. Thoughts of guilt plagued me as I mulled the decision on whether or not I should go. Although I have commitements on campus that at times make me guilty on leaving for a quarter, I have decided that if I don't go this year I may never go.
This leads me to my question of the day- Does it hurt someone's goals or provide opporutunities to study abroad for a quarter? I feel that it is only going to provide opporutunities and allow me to grow as a person. For those of you who have any desire to study abroad, I suggest that you do it while you can. Who knows if you do not go you may be wondering in a couple of year... What if I would have gone?
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I will post a new blog post after returning everyone. As always, peace and love!
Bethany
As the summer draws to a close and my birthday fast approaches, I have decided to reflect on my past eighteen years and also discuss the exciting adventures that next year holds.Although I know that I still have a lot to learn, I feel that I have experienced some memorable life experiences to be able to offer some advice.
Tip #1- Hard work never goes without reward
I know that a lot of times in life it seems as though no matter how hard someone works there is never a light at the end of the tunnel. I have to disagree with these skeptics. Although at first you may not see how hard work is paying off, I can assure you that over time you will be able to see the satisfaction and/or payment that is recevied through hard work and patience.
Tip #2- Sometimes life has to knock you down in order to able to appreciate things
Even when life is bad, there is always something to be learned after every situation. Sometimes you have to go through hell to experience heaven. I often think about this with the passing of my mother. It was a very terrifying experience without question; but somehow in a weird way I am thankful that it helped me to become the person that I am today.
Tip #3- Always stay true to yourself and never compromise your beliefs to satisfy someone else
I feel like this is the hardest thing to do in life. In high school, I was definitely a people pleaser, and I would find myself in situations doing things that I did not want to do. I feel like that it is important to realize that no matter what you do or try to get along with everyone, there is always going to that person who does not agree with you or like you.
This is hard to deal with. The best way to handle these situations is to just shake it off and realize that no matter what at the end of the day you did the best you could do and you are the best person that you can be.
Tip #4- Don't be afraid to get involved.... but also don't be afraid to say "No".
If there's something that you really want to do, just give it a try. Always go into a situation thinking to yourself, "What is the worst that can happen?" Often, you will find that there is no bad that can come out of the situation. Sure, you might have less time and be more busy. In the end, however, you will notice that jumping into things is never a life or death situation.
At the other end of the spectrum don't be afraid to say "no". If you don't feel like going out on a Saturday night and would rather stay in to watch a movie just say "no". Often we get over-stressed because of our inability to say "no" because we try to please people before putting our own wants and needs into consideration.
On another note, I am so excited for my sophomore year to begin at Ohio University. Heather Farr and I are account executives for ImPRessions and our client is... Athens Humane Society! PRSSA is going to rock as well. I hope that by being the VP of Member Relations I can help increase number of students in our chapter and develop the mentor/mentee program. Finally, I can't wait to do media relations for UCM.
I hope all of you had a great summer! Until our next blog entry! Peace and Love :)
New life ambition: to become detective Olivia Benson and work as an NYPD detective in the Special Victims Unit.
Seriously. She kicks so much ass. This is the type of woman we SHOULD be seeing on television. The next time you see me, I very well may be on my way to becoming a badge-flashing, gun-wielding, rapist-catching brunette bombshell with a fierce attitude. Stay tuned.
-Nadine
All right, I apologize straight up for the gender-bias inherent in this post, but this has been on my mind for a while. Have any of you, dear readers, seen the movie or read the book He's Just Not That Into You? Well, I had the pleasure of seeing this film when it was playing at Baker Center (hooray for thriftiness!) and some of it has just been weighing on my mind as of late. For those of you who are unaware of the book/movie franchise, let me sum it up for you in a few words:
If a guy really likes you, there's nothing that’s going to get in his way.
The moral? Women need to stop making excuses as to why a guy doesn't want a relationship (i.e. he's confused, afraid of commitment, etc.) and just accept when he's just not that into you. I'm floored. It makes so much sense, yet these are some incredibly disheartening facts to face. I'll make this brief, since I have some sociology studying calling my name, and list off some of the key signs that the book says warrants you to throw in the towel and face the cold, hard truth. Ready? Deep breaths. Here goes.
He's just not that into you if:
He's not asking you out
He's not calling you
He's not dating you
He only wants to see you when he's drunk
He's breaking up with you
He's disappeared on you
He's married (and other insane variations of being unavailable)
...the list goes on.
So, this is where you come in. Are these rules set in stone? Are we really all dating the same guy who will give us the same telltale signs that he's just not interested? To be honest, I have no clue. But I'm thinking this might be the wake up call that I needed recently. Leave me your thoughts, concerns, suggestions...I'd love to hear what you think about these (maybe not so new) insights into the male mind. Until next time, good luck on finals and have an amazing summer!
-Nadine
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