Finally in Germany...

Hey! We finally made it to one of the most beautiful places on Earth. It is absolutely amazing here! I have only been here for a couple of days, but I can already tell that I will definitely be back!

We left the Atlanta airport on Sunday night around 7 p.m. We ended up getting to Frankfurt, Germany around 10:00 am Monday morning, Germany time. After we got to Frankfurt, we had to take a train to Karlsruhe. VSU assistant professor Courtney Droms and Dr. Fred Ware made us stay awake the entire day to help us get over our jet lag. We went down to the Europaplatz to eat lunch in a local mall. After lunch, we went to look for fans, money and towels (things we didn’t pack because of the weight limit on our luggage). Later on that evening, we had dinner at the hostel. The food was surprisingly good! It was different, but really good.

After dinner a couple of us went to a local Starbucks to get a taste of home! After Starbucks, we found a local Pub, Scruffy’s, where we enjoyed a couple of drinks before heading back to our hostel. I don’t know where I found all of the energy to do all of that during the day! I was definitely running off of adrenaline!

On Tuesday, our German Language and Culture teacher met us at our hostel at 10 a.m. to give us a tour of Karlsruhe. We went to a local castle and explored the burial site of the founder of

the city, Karl. Afterwards, our entire group decided to plan a spontaneous trip to a nearby city called Heidelberg. It only took us about 45 minutes to get there by train. We toured a castle called Schloss Heidelberg. It was huge! It was way bigger than the castle in Karlsruhe. We had to walk up over 200 stairs to get to the top! It was well worth it! We spent all afternoon exploring the castle. We then took a short walk over to one of the nearest restaurants to eat dinner. Then we headed back to Karlsruhe. We all went straight to bed. We were so tired!

Today, Wednesday, we had an official welcoming from the mayor of Karlsruhe. He gave us a speech on the history of Karlsruhe and showed us a video of things to do in the city. We

learned there was a water park somewhere in the city, and I can’t wait to go! This afternoon we have been running errands and getting ready for our first weekend trip to Munich! We leave tomorrow afternoon after our first class!

I can’t wait to get back to tell you all about the fun things we did in Munich! I can already tell that this is going to be a trip of a lifetime! I have already started to form close friendships with the people on this trip. We are like one big happy family having the time of our lives in one of the coolest places in the world!

* Mallory is participating in a study abroad program in Karlsruhe, Germany, organized by Valdosta State University's Langdale College of Business Administration and International Programs.

One week left!

Hey! It’s Mallory, again. I can’t believe it is almost here! It is exactly one week until we leave the Atlanta airport and we are on our way to Germany. I feel like I have been planning this trip for months, and it is finally time to have fun! I have been so busy these past few weeks booking and planning our trips for the weekends. We get four full weekends to do whatever we want in Europe. We get out of classes every week on Thursday afternoons and we don’t have to be back for class until Monday mornings.

We are planning to go to Munich the first weekend, London the second weekend, Rome the third weekend, and Paris the fourth weekend. We have been using Ryan Air (www.ryanair.com) to book our flights to London and Rome. Ryan Air offers some really cheap flights! We booked our round trip tickets to London and Rome for about $100 a trip. We will be taking the Eurail (www.eurail.com) to get to Munich and Paris. We are allotted 8 days on our Eurail passes, which were included in our study abroad packages, so these trips won’t cost anything!

We have also already booked our hostels in each city. We will be staying at the Euro Youth Hostel in Munich, which was recommended to us by the study abroad group that went last year. They said they absolutely loved it! I hope we get the same experience they did! The hostel we booked in London I found on www.hostels.com. It’s called the “Bestplace in Waterloo.” It had very high approval ratings and the previous customer comments looked pretty good. When we go to Rome, we will be staying in another hostel that the group from last year recommended, the Alessandro Downtown Hostel. It is located in the downtown Rome. It is very close to all the major attractions we hope to visit while we are there. Dr. Ware and Dr. Droms booked the hostel we will be staying in while we are in Paris. It is called the Fiap hostel (www.fiap.com). Dr. Ware has been to Paris many, many times at knows the area like the back of his hands. He is such a knowledgeable person when it comes to Paris and I can’t wait to get there!

Well, the next time I “blog” will be when I am in Germany. Only one week left!

* Mallory is participating in a study abroad program in Karlsruhe, Germany, organized by Valdosta State University's Langdale College of Business Administration and International Programs.

Meet Mallory Harris

Hello everyone! My name is Mallory Harris and I am so excited to be leaving for Karlsruhe, Germany in less than a month! We leave Atlanta on June 21 and come back July 22.

I am currently a junior pursuing a degree at the Langdale College of Business Administration in finance. While studying abroad, I hope to become culturally aware of the many different societies that are in this world.

I plan to travel to Munich, London, Rome, and Paris. All of these cities are unique and diverse in their own special ways. I look forward to tasting the different foods, hearing the different languages, and experiencing the very different and diverse cultures. Karlsruhe, Germany is centrally located to all of these cities, which will provide me with an even bigger opportunity to experience Europe.

I also hope to be given the opportunity to learn some of the different language while I am abroad. Being able to communicate in different languages is a very important and a valuable asset to any person, particularly those in the business community. Studying abroad will not only be a trip of a lifetime, but an incredible learning experience. I plan to take full advantage of this educational opportunity!

* Mallory is participating in a study abroad program in Karlsruhe, Germany, organized by Valdosta State University's Langdale College of Business Administration and International Programs.

Meet Katelyn Toler

Hi, my name is Katie and this summer I will be studying abroad in the Peru program. I am an upcoming senior at VSU. I hope to graduate next May with a Spanish Degree and an ESL endorsement so that I can teach English as a second language. I am applying to the Peace Corps and hope to get placed teaching English in South or Central America.

I’m pretty stoked about this trip because it will be the first time I have been out of the country for such a long time. I have been to Costa Rica and Mexico. We will be living with host families while in Peru and I am excited to be experiencing another culture so closely. I hope to improve my Spanish greatly and to learn a ton about their customs, beliefs, etc. We will be going to see Machu Picchu and travel around to see the country.

* Katelyn is participating in a study abroad program in Lima, Peru, organized by Valdosta State University's International Programs and Modern and Classical Languages.

Meet Stephanie Brearley

Bienvenidos! Hi, my name is Stephanie and I’m a Junior here at Valdosta State University. I am majoring in Spanish and loving every minute of it! This past Spring I decided to finally sign up for the summer 2009 Study Abroad Program to Lima, Peru and surrounding areas. I am so excited to be able to explore the different cultural aspects of this wonderful country!

Our group will have the pleasure of studying at one of the oldest universities in the America’s (Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos) and staying with a local host family for three weeks. After that, it’s time to discover one of the seven wonders of the world (Machu Picchu), Cusco, The Sacred Valley, Pisac Indian Market, Puno and Lake Titicaca. Needless to say, we will be having one jam packed, adventure filled month. Although at times I really wish we would be staying longer, I plan of making the most out of every moment there. Until then, I must simply wait patiently until July 4 when our plane will at last leave Atlanta.

For anyone who may be following these postings throughout my trip, I will be writing weekly (most likely more). I will also be posting pictures so you too can have a small window into my world!

With much love…Stephanie

* Stephanie is participating in a study abroad program to Peru, organized by Valdosta State University's International Programs and Modern and Classical Languages.

The end of an Adventure

By Ryan Chapman

“Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got 'till its gone…” I think back to the Counting Crows and Vanessa Carlton remix of this song as I laid in Frankfurt, Germany’s airport floor waiting for the Lufthansa Airline strike to end.

I thought back to all of the sights I saw, people I met, things I had learned, and fun times Russia and Study Abroad offered. As the song played yet again in my head, I realized it was not describing my Russian experience at all.

My initial goals for going to St. Petersburg, Russia, was to try everything and partake in as many experiences as I possibly could. I kept the time I was sitting in the dorms to a minimum, as I always tried to make the most of time seeing the city, talking to Russian people, eating at local restaurants, and learning the Russian Language. I never left Russia with a “wishing I had of done…” feeling. I truly felt I got the most out of my Study Abroad experience.

As the song in my head grew more annoying (especially the parts where Vanessa Carlton sings, “Mmm bop bop bop, Mmm bop bop”), I tried to figure out what exactly I took for granted over the last 31 days. Then it hit me, America!

Arriving in the states near July 4 was absolutely great. I have never been the type of person to sleep with American Flag undies on, but after being gone from my country for a month it was great to be back at a time of semi-unity for our country.

I had taken America for granted. If you think about it, it’s quite easy to do. I hear so many Americans say they despise our country for various reasons. While it is certainly each person’s right to be able to criticize our country, I feel like if more people were to travel abroad and have other countries to compare America with, than many people's mindsets would be different.





(From left) Ryan Chapman, Caitlyn Mobley, Lillie Steele, Kyla Rodgers and (front) Stacey Oksam.)

Study Abroad has been a great experience that I would recommend to everyone. I hope my blogs have helped anyone interested in studying abroad become well informed of the positives and negatives of traveling. If you have any more questions about my experiences or about Study Abroad in general feel free to contact me at rkchapman@valdosta.edu.

My Experience Abroad

By Nakita Dziegielewski

Now that I am back in the beautiful U.S.A., it is now time for me to reflect on what I have learned and gained from my trip abroad. This self-reflection is necessary in order to see what I have taken away from this trip. This self-reflection is good because it allows me to see what personal view or attitudes, if any, have changed from being away. It is also necessary because self-reflection will allow me to see what I would/could have changed in order to make my Russian adventure and future adventures successful and enjoyable.

One thing that I have most definitely learned about studying abroad is that immersing myself in another culture was a lot harder than it looks. A person cannot just do one thing to become apart of a culture, but many. From what I have experienced, the essentials that are needed in order to be totally immersed include: learning the language (the most important in my opinion), adopting the clothing, hair, etc. style, knowing the cuisine and actually eating it, knowing the traditions, and in the Russia, the superstitions, and knowing the basics of what drives and motivates the culture. All of these aspects are what allows someone to totally become apart of Russian culture.

I realized from my experience that I didn’t have all of these essentials mastered, but I did try to incorporate them into my everyday life in Russia. I tried to communicate to the best of my ability. I tried to shape my clothing style to that of the Russians, but more times than not, I was not terribly successful in that department. I did eat the local cuisine, and I somewhat knew the basics of Russian culture. Even though I didn’t master the essentials, I still feel as though I was able to be a part of Russian culture and I was able to gain insight from a culture so different from my own.

Now when it comes to self-reflection on changed views or attitudes, I would say that only a few views or attitudes have changed. One is that my experience abroad made me appreciate the U.S. even more. I have always valued my country, but I have made judgments on the faults that our country houses. Now, that is not a bad thing by any means, as U.S citizens we need to recognize our countries faults. But after visiting Russia, I have become much more aware about how much our country does do for its citizens, and I have become much more appreciative of the United States of America. While this trip has provided me with new perspectives, overall my views and attitudes have not changed from this trip.

Lastly, when it comes to self-reflection on things that I would have changed in order to make my trip better, my number one answer is language. I never realized how not knowing a culture's language would tremendously influenced the outcome of my trip. I believe that my experience abroad was great, but I know for a fact that it would have been better had I know the language fluently. I knew the basics, but it definitely wasn’t enough. I hated that I couldn’t bargain at the market in Russian and that I couldn’t have full, detailed conversation with the locals. Besides the language there is nothing else I would change.

My month abroad was filled with mostly positive (and some negative) experiences, but it was an amazing experience overall. I have learned so much about Russian culture, and I have learned a lot about myself. Will I ever visit Russia again? I’m not sure, but I do know that my traveling to foreign lands has just begun.