Mar
23
Well, followers…I am back from Spain: 700 pictures later, exhausted, laundry out the wazoo, and safe and sound!
Since I visited four different cities and took hundreds of pictures (I guess my mommy taught me well) I am doing a blog entry for each city! I will post some of my favorite pictures along in the blog, but the others will be in a slideshow at the bottom!
San Sebastian was perfect, but having to be at the trian station at 6:11…not so much! It was freaking early and I had been up the night before watching my old guilty pleasure: The O.C. We had a picnic in Bordeaux for breakfast because we had an hour wait for the next train. Then, we finally made to Spain! We walked outside the train station to a beautiful new city! Full of life, sunlight, and places just dying to be seen by us!
It was Friday afternoon when we arrived so we decided to find the Office of Tourism (our favorite place in every city) and checked into our hotel. We passed the beautiful Cathedral of El Buen Pastor, shops shops and shops, a pit stop at the beach, and, wait for it…GELATO!!! For those of you who don’t know, gelato is my favorite thing in the whole wide world apart from the Jonas Brothers and BWW. I first had it in Italy when I visited Europe for the first time and was instantly addicted. It’s basically ice cream, but a thousand times better. More flavors, creamier, and just wonderful. I should have kept track of how many I ate while in Spain, but I will say it was one day, and sometimes two 🙂
Enough about wonderful gelato..we made a pit stop at the beach, found our hotel and got ready to sight see! Our first night was pretty laid back. We walked halfway up Mount Urgull and found lots of exciting things: a big Dieu (God), a lizard, flowers, and wonderful sights of San Sebastian!
At the top of Mount Urgull, we met some kids from Nevada, Ohio, and Kentucky who were all studying abroad and passing some time in San Sebastian. It was nice to see students taking advantage of the opportunities the world has, and I am blessed to be a part of it. We visited the History museum where pictures were our best friend because it was all in Spanish! We saw surfer’s beach, sat on top of Mount Urgull and talked, relaxed, keeping cautious to not fall off the edge. Friday night we grabbed dinner and decided to head to the beach. I was determined to swim in it, but after seeing how cold it really was, I changed my mind. Plus, the evenings got kind of chilly anyway! We bought a bottle of this cider that was really cheap and really, really gross. Klara and I weren’t about to waste our 3 euro, so we eventually finished it and I got the great idea to put a message in a bottle! I know it sounds silly, but I think it would be really cool to see if someone finds it and writes back. I wrote to a stranger what we were doing, how we liked San Sebastian, and threw my bottle into the ocean Saturday morning. I will patiently wait for a response and probably forget about my bottle in the next two months.
Saturday was a dreary day. It was rainy, chilly, and ugly. We weren’t going to let that stop us! We walked along the ocean where we found HUGE waves, more churches, took a coffee and spoke French all the day, and shared the joy of Klara’s having her very first churros, or “Churritos” as they came to be known. At the top of Mount Urgull, we found an English Cemetary and there was a small path that invited us ever so nicely to cross it. We began to climb and climb. Did I mention it had been raining all day and that equals mud. One can only guess what happens next…
Thankfully Kelli had some water that I could wash my hands with. It was quite the adventure of climbing the hill. We then walked to the complete other side of San Sebastian to see this art stuff that was on the coast. No one knew it was a 45 minute walk. In the cold, drizzling rain, it seemed like it lasted five hours. We were all bundled up in our jackets trying to stay dry and hoping what we were about to see was worth it. I think I should become a spokesperson for North Face because my North Face rain jacket that I have is my new best friend. It was soaked from all the rain, but I never got wet. It was warm, has a hood, and kept me quite dry. You should know I wouldn’t remember my umbrella but at least I remembered my coat!
After walking the mountains, walking the coasts, we went for dinner at a cafe and then decided we wanted to go out that night. We found a bar on one of the streets around the corner from our hotel and decided to go there. Klara kept mentioning Sangria and I figured what better place to try it than in Spain. Apaprently the bar tender thought so too, and probably realized we were tourists because it was 6 euro! Granted it was a big glass, but that is a lot of euro for one drink! Obviously this bar wasn’t the hopping place because we were three of eleven people in there total, so we peaced out.
We went to another bar when disaster happened. Klara went to the bathroom and I ordered us 2 more Sangrias. When she came back and reached for her wallet, it wasn’t there. We immediately checked the bathrooms, all over that bar, and the previous bar we visited. Klara was a disaster and none of us knew how in the world it happened. We were all wearing our purses the same way, none of us had been alone, and we were not at all throwing our wallets around. It was terrible. We searched everywhere and then Klara’s dad said we should go to the police to get record of it. That took us another hour to find the police station. Thankfully, a nice waitress from our place at dinner saw us. She spoke English and helped us out a lot. During the disaster, all the bars and restaurants we went into were nice, except for the one with the 6 euro Sangria. Even the Police were nice for police. Eventually we made it home. It was quite the long day, but we had done all we could. We had an early train to Madrid so we finally went to sleep.
Honestly, I loved San Sebastian and would jump at any opportunity to go back. Especially when it is warmer to just lay on the beaches or on top of Mount Urgull. We had a nice and cheap hotel with a great location, and there was gelato everywhere! How could I not like it? I kept thinking throughout my entire trip just how lucky I am. I saw so many beautiful sights in all three cities and it makes me sad to think that some people never get an opportunity to see what else the world has to offer. I thought to myself that I am living in landlocked Oklahoma (which I love) when I could live somewhere where I could swim in the ocean while looking at the mountains in the background. I cannot describe how thankful I am that I get to see the world. I have this desire now, more than ever, to travel. I feel there is so much the world has to offer in big and small cities, beachfront or mountains, hills or flat as home, it is just amazing. The Earth, history, art, cultures, lifestyles of different ways of life are fascinating to me. I am sure my Mom will disown me if I go abroad again, but I can’t promise that I won’t do it 🙂 Not for studying, but for working or vacationing or even backpacking across Europe. I want to see it all!
Sorry for my serious moment. I just really appreciate what opportunity I have in front of me right now and I want to share it with everyone.
Check out all my pictures and you will definitely want to go here on your vacation!! http://s1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa345/Teryn0655/San%20Sebastian/?albumview=slideshow
Lovelovelove,
Teryn
Mar
14
The eighth of March – or as it is known pretty much everywhere except the US, International Women’s Day – turned out to be quite the treat for this wet and slushy week. In Russia, the 8th of March is like Valentine’s Day on steroids; everywhere you looked, men were running with bouquets of flowers (odd numbered arrangements only: in Russia, even numbered arrangements are only given for funerals), chocolates, hideous balloons, and various other extravagant frivolities. I was lucky enough to receive an invitation to Anastasia’s for dinner, where her father-in-law prepared an amazing meal. Unfortunately, I confused the first course with the entire meal and ended up eating WAY TOO MUCH, but the food was so delicious that it was well worth it. Some of the food was traditional Russian cuisine, but the rest was a delectable mixture of Greek, Taiwanese, and Italian. Topped with a glass of French wine and some wonderful conversation (in Russian!), the eighth of March has definitely rocketed to the top of my ‘best evenings in Russia’ list. Of course, now I am really at a loss as to how I will pay back such generous hospitality. Whoever it was that said Russians were cold, unpleasant people, must never have gotten to really know anyone from this country….I feel that was a convoluted way to say what I wanted to say, but my English is failing me at the moment. I suppose that is a good thing.
The rest of the week was rather pleasant. We have finally reached a consistent 30 + degrees F, which means the city is turning into a Russian Venice as the streets fill with melted snow and the water from busted pipes. It is a bit of a mess, but encouraging to know that this winter will not last forever.
Oh, and a little side note: I tried my hand at vegan curry the other day, sans recipe, and it turned out quite well. Thank you globalization.
Mar
7
Also known as Butter Week, Pancake Week or Cheesefare week, I think it can be safely assumed this was not my healthiest experience in Russia. Масленица is a week-long celebration born of both pagan and Orthodox traditions; on the secular side, the holiday was used to bid adieu to winter and welcome the sun; religiously, the festival takes place the week preceding Orthodox Lent. Yet regardless of your religious persuasion (which in Russia can be rather diverse), Масленица is best known and loved as the week when every gathering is a chance to make, share and eat wonderfully delicious блины. For those not familiar with this Russian treat, I would describe блины as either an incredibly thin pancake or a thick crepe stuffed with whatever your heart desires, but that really doesn’t do it justice. All I know is it is by far the most delicious thing this vegan stomach has tasted for a while (and then promptly suffered tremendously for, but it was worth it). Блины plays an important part in the festival, for according to pagan tradition, the round, golden pancake represents the sun, and by cooking and sharing and enjoying блины, it was believed the sun would be coaxed out of hiding. Accordingly, during Масленица every day offers a different reason for enjoying блины: one day you are to invite the parents of your husband to dinner, the next of your wife, the next day, the sister of your husband, and so on and so on until everyone is officially stuffed with блины. The week culminates in “Forgiveness Sunday” during which, in the spirit of Lent, family members and friends confess their sins and beg the forgiveness of those who were wronged. In this way, Russians feel they can enter Lent with a clean slate (Clean Monday). Yet Sunday is also known by another name: “Cheesefare Sunday”. During Lent, Orthodox tradition forbids the consumption of meat, dairy, egg, wine and olive oil, so many take advantage of the week and final day preceding Lent to stock up on the foods they will miss for the following 40 days. I for one am extremely excited, however, for I will finally be able to request vegan food without having to explain that, no, vegan is not the same as vegetarian (in Russian it is the same word), and no, fish, chicken, goat and caviar are not considered vegan, or even vegetarian for that matter. Don’t get me wrong, my strange eating habits have been accommodated (for the most part), and, for my part I have learned that travel requires a certain amount of flexibility, but it will be nice to take a break from the rich, sour-cream laden foods that seem to appear at every social gathering.
Apart from a worthwhile week-long stomach-ache, I found this festival to be quite enjoyable. Bring on the sun.
Feb
27
So I’ve decided I need to start posting twice a week. So much has happened this week that I am sure I will neglect something.
The week started quite splendidly with an incredible jazz concert. If you are a jazz fan, check out Igor Butman. He is a saxophone player who is revered in Russia, and for good reason. Three+ hours of inspiring improvisation was not nearly enough.
Spoiler Alert: Butman has asked me to sing with him in Moscow in the coming months. I am stoked!
Tuesday’s concert was contrasted by an interesting rendition of the classic Russian fairy-tale, Snegurochka. While the performers were quite talented, I must admit I was not a huge fan of the director’s interpretation of the show. All the same, the spectacle was enjoyable and the venue was the breathtaking Mariinsky Theatre, so no complaints. Hands down the most enjoyable part of the evening was reconnecting with my friend Anastasia, a former OU exchange student from Siberia. In true Russian fashion, she made sure my every wish was met, providing the tickets, the transportation, the snacks and the explanation for the evening’s entertainment.
Already at a loss for how to repay such kindness, Stasia then extended me an invitation to the country side “to experience the way Russians enjoy winter”. Of course, within minutes of donning my cross country skis I made a class fool of myself by falling on my bum. Yet an hour and a half and a bruised tail-bone later, we we decided we simply could not waste the opportunity to tube down the mountain (and by we I mean Stasia and by mountain, I mean mountain). Needless to say, I had a BLAST. And when we finally returned, snow-covered and exhausted to her father-in-law’s warm car, we were greeted by a delicious hot tea and traditional Russian snacks. All in all, it was quite an incredible day. I must say though, I am finding it harder and harder to figure out just how to repay the generous (and sometimes overwhelming) hospitality of my Russian friends. Hopefully this will soon be resolved
Feb
24
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| Sixteen Tickets for Limoges to Saint Sebastian, to Madrid, to Barcelona, to Toulose, and back to Limoges. Adventure? I think so! |
I was very proud of myself because I went to the train station and bought all the tickets for when Kara comes to visit me. We are going to go to Lyon and hopefully see Mont Blanc, visit a friend in Strasbourg, Andre, who I went to school with since forever and we both went to high school with him, and then spend the weekend in Paris! I ordered all the tickets in French, with times, dates, location, everything. Numbers and time confuse me a lot (since time is military time) and I did it all! I felt on top of the world!
I am very excited for Spain, but a little scared. I’m only scared because I am afraid to get lost with just us 3 girls. However, I am sure Kelly could take anyone down if they tried to mess with us. We leave tomorrow and go to Saint Sebastian. It’s on the northern coast of Spain and is supposed to be beautiful. We spend two nights there and then go to Madrid. We have to go see the soccer stadium because it is supposed to be the BIG thing. Two nights there and on to Barcelona! We have three nights there. My goal for this trip: Jump into the ocean in Saint Sebastian and Barcelona! Our hostels are not far from the beach, so why not? Who cares that it is maybe 50 degrees outside, and the water will be, oh, freaking cold! I just think it will be fun! How many times will I be able to say I swam in the ocean in Barcelona? For me, probably only once so I am doing it! After three nights there we will head back on Saturday to Limoges in the most round-about trip possible. We have a night in Toulouse and then come back late Sunday! It should be quite the adventure. Look for lots of pictures and fun stories!
Here are some pictures from when Kelli and I cooked Lelani some Mexican food. Okay, just quesadillas, but still! In France, that is Mexican enough for me!
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| Kelli was definitely the chef. I grated some cheese and tried to spice up the guacamole and that is about it. Actually, that is it! |
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| Thank goodness for Old El Paso! However, the “queso” and salsa are not quite as good as home! |
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| Finished meal! |
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| Me and my Dr. Pepper! It was amazing, and probably because I hadn’t had one in two months! |
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| From left: Kelli, Klara, Ebony, Martina, Jacques, Lucas, Me. |
*HaPpY bIrThDaY tO mY SiStEr, DiEaDra!* Yes, it is on Sunday, but I will be in Spain having a tapas for her!
Lovelovelove,
Teryn
Feb
20
I am feeling much better! My throat is not near as sore. I don’t have much of a voice, but I can breathe most of the time and my cough is much less annoying 🙂 After a night of no sleep because I was coughing so much, I decided to fill my prescriptions for the cough medicine and nose spray. I even found some “Strepsils” which are basically coughdrops but they are menthol and that clears me right up!
Friday I had my first exam in my translation class. We had to translate a piece of literature from English to French. For whatever reason that type of translation is much more difficult for me. I feel that I did okay but there were quite a few words I didn’t know. I made a list of them and looked them up so now I know them! I also did a load of laundry and watched some episodes of “The OC”. My oldest addiction is back now. I love that show! I only brought the first two seasons with me and I have a feeling someone is going to be mailing me the ones I left.
Saturday I hung out with Kelli and Lelani. We were going to make “Mexican” food for Lelani, make cupcakes, watch movies, and just hang out. We went to another Carrefour that was EVEN BIGGER than the other ones! It’s like every other week there is a bigger Carrefour I discover! In all seriousness, this one really was like the Wal-Mart back home. It was gorgeous and wonderful. I love Carrefour! They had an international aisle where they had (gasp!) DR. PEPPER!!!! Take a breath and wait for this one…PEANUT BUTTER!!!!! You don’t even have to ask. Yes, I got both! The Dr. Pepper was the same and it was wonderful. The peanut butter is the same but it is Skippy brand and I prefer Jif. However, I am not going to complain because my breakfast of apples and peanut butter was the best thing this morning!
We tried to make some cupcakes and icing from scratch. We needed powered sugar and it was nowhere to be found! For everyone’s reference in France who needs it, it is called “sucre glace”. It only took 2 Americans and 1 South African five minutes to find it. No big deal 🙂 We got guacamole, chicken, cheese, tortillas, and salsa to make quesadillas, Kelli’s favorite meal. They were very good! Not quite like my mom’s but a good second place! The cupcakes turned out…interesting. I didn’t think they were that bad, but Lelani thought they were awful. It wasn’t very fluffy, more like “thick cake” cupcakes. It wasn’t bad, but not like the delicious mastepieces I make either. We watched Gulliver’s Travels and “Life as You Know It” which were both good movies. We then chitchatted and I attempted to learn how to French braid….
Sunday I went the the Limoges Ice Skating Rink with Jacques, Lucas, Kelli, Ebony, Martina, and Klara. It was the hopping place and I’m not surprised since 95% of things are closed on Sunday in Limoges. It was a fun afternoon. Sticking seven people into Jacques’ small car was also a fun time. I don’t think we could do that again if we tried. I also cleaned my room. It gets so freaking dusty and annoying so I “Swiffer” dusted the floors and “Swiffer” mopped the floors. It feels so much cleaner. I have homework I need to take care of and then that is it for my night! Five days until Spain! Turns out, because we didn’t book our night train from Barcelona to Limoges in time, that it was all booked! The way we are taking to get back is crazy! We are leaving Barcelona, going to Figueres, then to Narbonne, and then to Toulose. Since we have to stop in Toulose anyway we may as well sight see, right? We are staying a night and day there and will come back on Sunday with a direct train. I think the people at SNCF (train station) probably hate us because we were so complicated. Oh well! I need to Google Figueres and Narbonne because I have never even heard of those places! Hopefully the train station is exciting because that is obviously all I am going to see!
This week I am also going to see a film that UniLim is offering free to students. It’s called “Pauline et Francois” and it’s on Tuesday. I’m sure I might be a bit lost because it will be all in French, but I bet I can handle most of it! Have a good week everyone!
Lovelovelove, Teryn
Feb
20
Yes, that is right, -20, and yes, I am well aware of the fact that Oklahoma has enjoyed a pleasant 70 F for the past few days. Luckily, I have found an enjoyable alternative to the outdoor activities I so love. In the past few days, I have spent my evenings warming both my body and spirit around our small kitchen table with some of the most interesting individuals I have yet encountered in Russia. The stories which have been shared have ranged from comedic to heartbreaking, and though I listen more than I speak, I have come to realize that there are some topics which transcend cultural and linguistic boundaries.
With this particular group, it is music. Jazz music, to be precise. My host mother is actually a well-known jazz singer in St Petersburg, and though her English is not fantastic and my Russian is worse, we have spent hours in the past week sharing our love and appreciation for the one thing that unites us regardless of our myriad differences. She tells me of her childhood in a family of musicians, of the persecution and the hunger. She tells me how she would listen to American jazz in secret, but that any attempt to emulate the soulful, gritty vocals was prohibited. With each song we share, each experience we relate, I realize that this, the simple act of connecting, is more important than a trip to the museum or local tourist destination. I look across the table at a woman who has lived through a history and accumulated scars I will never fully comprehend, and yet I see in her eyes that on some level, we understand each other perfectly. If only the whole world could sit around the kitchen table and listen to jazz…
Feb
16
Hello lovely blog followers! What’s been new?! I’ve been quite disappointed that I missed “SnOklahoma” but I guess being in France is a fair trade 🙂
I hope everyone had a good Valentine’s Day. Mine was spent in my bed, sleeping 80% of the day trying to get rid of what I think is strep throat. Each year around this time I get this wonderful sickness, and after a Z-Pack, I am as good as new. According to the French, I don’t think they know what strep throat is! I went to the campus medical place on Tuesday just hoping to get medicine to help it go away. What an experience that was. Yes, I know enough French to communicate but when you start talking about medical problems it is a bit different! She checked out my throat and listened to my breathing, and decided I needed ibuprofen, nasal spray, and cough medicine. I decided to save my money and self-medicate with alka-seltzer, hot tea, tylenol, and allergy medicine. I feel much better today than I have the past two days, but I still don’t feel wonderful. This is one of the times I wish I was at home with my mommy to bring me Sonic corndogs and a Sprite!
In other news, I found out that my best friend, Kara, is going to come visit me for her Spring Break! I am so very excited to see her! I am living with her next year and we Skype all the time, but it is so hard being without your best friend! I tell her all these things and now she will get to experience them! It’s the same with my family, who is coming in April, but there are only so many things you can do with your mom and sister than you can do with your best friend, too! 😉 It will be very fun!
At the end of February UniLim has the winter vacation! It is a 9 day break from everything, and I am going to SPAIN!!! Never in my life would I think I would get to go to Spain! I am going with Kelli, the girl from OSU, and Klara, the girl from the Czech Republic. We bought our train tickets today and booked our hostels. Our train leaves Limoges at 6:11 am and the buses don’t start running until 6, so we conned Samy into taking us and we said we would buy him dinner! We are going from Limoges to San Sebastian, there to Madrid, and then to Barcelona! I feel like I am spending a lot of money on this trip, but in reality, it is so cheap compared to if I were coming from the US. We found all of our hostels for under 20 euro (who knows yet if that is a good or bad thing!) and even bought a little Spanish phrase book! We already decided we need maps, metro/bus/tram schedules printed out, and a trip to Carrefour to get snacks! If I learn one thing while studying abroad, it is going to be how to pack light! My family will not know what to do with me when they see how I pack somethings! I have a feeling this trip is going to be so very fun and very, very interesting. Three girls in Spain, yes, scary, but we can do it! I’m also exciting about our train from Barcelona to Limoges. It is a night train and will be perfect for 7.5 hours of sleep after a week of fun in Spain!
I think that is all for now! Spain in 8 days and counting…..
lovelovelove, Teryn
Feb
12
Today was my first solo excursion through the slushy streets of St Pete, and I must say it did not disappoint. The first thing you learn when striking it out alone, whether at home or abroad, is to mind your surroundings, but in Petersburg, minding my surroundings has proven essential. Now before I inadvertently insult the kind people of St Pete, allow me to clarify that not for a moment have I felt threatened, insulted, ostracized, taken advantage of or snubbed. In fact, in the past few days, numerous strangers have gone completely out of their way to show me kindness, understanding, and the way to the /train station/ ticket window/ metro/ bank/ produce store. So far, the only thing that has inspired fear on the streets of St Pete is the 10 ft long, unimaginably heavy stalactite of ice that seems to be perpetually about the fall from the eves of every building. Of course, once you accept that your gravestone may just read “crushed by an icicle”, you learn to maintain a healthy awareness and go about your life
I would like to take a minute to list all of the ways in which people have been incredibly nice to me in the past 48 hours. Let’s see, Dmitry, my airport greeter, spent the better half of his day to make sure that I arrived at my host family’s house safely, and refused to let me pay for the taxi. Lena and Nonna, who greeted me with huge smiles and hugs alike, helped me with my every need, and gave me space to think, breathe, and decompress. Over the past two days, Lena has gone out of her way to show me around town, providing me with the perfect amount of assistance while respecting my independence and judgment, all the while suffering through my terrible attempts to converse. Nonna has the patience of a saint, and responds to my every attempt at Russian grammar with encouragement and polite correction. The women at the international office are as sweet as can be, and I have no doubt I will be well taken care of.
But, you may reply, those are the people who have been paid to tolerate your Russian and to make sure that you are happy and safe. While I cannot dispute this point, I will counter it with the equal number of complete strangers who have contributed to my happiness in the past two days. There was the photographer at the photo center, who bent the rules to allow me a second picture when my first somehow managed to resemble a mug shot more than a visa photo. There was the young student who gladly gave me directions to the train station, the random guy at the train station who took 45 minutes of his time to find the ticket office for me and make sure that I was taken care of. There was Igor, the international relations student I met on the way to catch my train who offered to show me around the city and introduce me to more Russian students of international relations in St Pete. There was the kind young woman in my train car that stopped her work to explain to me how to set up my bed (which is rather necessary on the 10 hour overnight to Moscow). And then there was Aleksey.
Overhearing my predicament at the ticket counter, Aleksey offered his services as my ticket broker, gladly translating my broken Russian to the ticket lady, and her perfect Russian in his broken English. After twenty minutes, we managed to secure a (rather expensive) round trip ticket to Moscow. What struck me the most however was not the kindness of one stranger, but the patience and compassionate curiosity of the numerous people standing in line. I have to say, I do not know that people would take so kindly in the States to a twenty minute delay caused by a foreigner who can barely speak the language. By the end of our transaction, the entirety of the line had squished in around us, but as I looked at their faces, I saw no sign of anger, exasperation, or attempt to intimidate, but simple, pleasant curiosity. Aleksey, however, was not curious, he was ecstatic. He was not only able to help someone in need, but found an excellent English tutor in the process. For the next two hours, we conversed, I in broken Russian, he in broken English. Aleksey proved to be a critical teacher, insisting that I repeat a word until I could pronounce it correctly, and, at Aleksey’s insistence, “with confidences”. Yet Aleksey did much more than drill my Russian for free, he opened my eyes to a part of Russia I thought had died with Stalin. Aleksey lives in a commune and not the American counter-culture version where residents choose the commune lifestyle as a social statement. In Russia, there is nothing romantic about commune life. Aleksey lives in a unit with five other families, many of which he either does not know or wishes he did not. They all share one common toilet, one bath and one kitchen. Aleksey rents one tiny room which houses his every worldly possession, which does not include the kindle I insisted upon for this trip, the travel computer, the camera, the special yoga mat, or the $200 snow boots. Aleksey does not even have a proper bed. Down the hall his mother inhabits a similar room. In one room she has managed to create a dining room, living room, bedroom, and makeshift kitchen. And of course, as Aleksey brought me home at dinner time, she insists that I eat her meal. Now I vaguely remember reading something about the persistence of Russian hospitality, but nothing in my grammar book prepared me for this. Politely, I attempted to refuse, averse to the idea of wolfing down his mother’s dinner, and yet she appeared quite offended when I attempted to refuse. So I stayed. And I ate. And I learned a valuable lesson: sometimes it is those with the least to give that derive the most pleasure from the giving.
Feb
12
I have realized in the past week that my exchange to Mexico was a cake walk in comparison to this, which is why I think this experience will be all the more enriching. For my exchange to Mexico, I’d studied Spanish for 7 years, was familiar with the culture, and spent the duration of my stay with the family of my best friend, who, consequently, founded the city in which I resided. Between the maid, the cook and the private pool, I could hardly say that my living situation was challenging. Yet while it may seem ridiculous to bemoan such a situation, it was actually rather crippling. Having spent so long studying the language and culture, I was terrified to make a mistake. In addition, many people in Mexico spoke English, and if they didn’t, they saw my presence as an excellent reason to practice. As a result, my potential for improvement was never fully realized. Yet perhaps that was what I needed at the time, for while my Spanish did not improve by leaps and bounds, my ethnocentricities were laid bare, exposing both my cultural and personal inhibitions.
My time in Mexico taught me not to fear benign mistakes, for I will never improve if I refuse to open my mouth. Thankfully, everyone here seems to understand.
So I continue to blunder my way through, and through my blunders, I have already made decided headway. Perhaps that is one of the reasons study abroad is such a valuable experience. It is simultaneously humbling and empowering. It challenges your every preconception and stretches your boundaries to the point of breaking and yet, if you can let go, if you can learn to embrace flexibility you find the return is invaluable.
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