The Scripps Voice

Megan Petersen ‘15
Copy Editor

Photo courtesy of Megan Petersen

When I was a little girl, I always wanted to travel. I played with globes, and I read lots of books, dreaming of the places and people inscribed on their surfaces. I tried to imagine traveling the world, traveling through time, being a grown-up, being somewhere else, wading through time and through the words on the pages of my books or the countries of my globe, and it was all so desperately far; adulthood and world travel were destinations beyond the scope of my eight-year-old imagination.

It had never occurred to me to think of myself this way, that is, in the context of my childhood dreams, until I’d studied abroad in Morocco. Traveling to a country as different from America as North Africa can be was terrifying, exhilarating, beautiful, and thoroughly confusing. There’s nothing that can prepare you for it. What does a serious (and seriously broke) student do when her blonde hair tags her as either a rich tourist or a flirty Westerner? What language does a deist use to negotiate proselytizing by good intentioned Muslim friends? What does an American feminist say when people keep asking her why she shakes hands like a man?

This summer, as I went to the other side of my little globe, I kept thinking back to my childhood, to the dreams that I had of traveling, of meeting people from foreign countries, of wanting to Save The World. Every so often now I step back and think about how far I’ve come, and what little-girl-me would say if I told her what her life would be like in ten, fifteen, twenty years. You will live in California someday. You will speak German and Arabic. You will know people all over America, all over the world. Your writing will be published, and people will like it. Things will be hard. Sometimes you’ll be very scared. But someday you will find yourself doing everything you ever hoped you could do, and you will have stories to tell.The world is as big as you want it to be, and soon you will be too.

Living La Vida Buena

By Julia Scheibmeir ’12
Guest Writer

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JULIA SCHEIBMEIR. Enjoying a beautiful day near the coast in Valparasco, Chile.

“Dang, this place sucks.” That is the running joke between students on my CIEE Valparaiso, Chile program, because it couldn’t be further from the truth. I wake up every morning to a view of rows and rows of colorful houses along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. My host family lives high up on a hill or cerro, and each day as I trek down I can’t help but admire the incredible artistry of the city. Each step of my journey leads me to a new mural or work of street art such as a juggler, a puppeteer or a street comedian. There is a market or feria every day of the year in the city below my hill, where people of all ages sell indigenous jewelry, fruits, flowers and wood crafts.

So why did I choose to study in a place where I was clearly going to be so miserable? Well, Chile has sounded appealing to me for quite some time now just from flipping through pictures in guidebooks, but my interest was reinforced when I spoke to Claremont students Claire Calderon ’12 and Nasya Sierra (CMC ’12) and they assured me that I would have a blast this semester.

Abby Trimble (CMC ’12) and I travelled for two weeks in the south of Chile before our programs began (hers in Santiago, mine in Valparaiso). Every day was a new adventure for us blonde gringas, and we met interesting people everywhere we went. We tried our first Pisco Sour drinks, watched our first handball game (the team resided in our hostel for the night), were serenaded on the street and were even attacked by huge flies in the otherwise incredible mountain resort town of Petrohué. We gave up on planning after our first attempt at chasing after a bus, as we quickly realized that Chileans run on a different schedule—the man behind the counter told us that the bus had “seemed full” so it had left early).

Surviving an encounter with Osorno - one of the most active volcanoes in the southern Chilean Andes.

Chile is famous for having a distinct dialect of Spanish, and I have found that to be very true. There is a “chilenismo” or slang word for just about everything. I have a lot of new vocab words floating around in my head, but the tricky part is figuring out which are okay to say in the classroom and which should be reserved for late night parties with friends. One of the first words I learned here was “chocopanda.” It sounds like a cereal with chocolate panda cookies, but it actually means “mullet.” Chocopandero refers to the young, hotshot male who proudly sports a chocopanda. A second word that will tell you something about Chilean fashion is the “banano” or fanny pack. U.S. style from the ‘80s is all the rage here in Chile, and fanny packs are not a symbol of a geeky tourist, but rather a convenient purse to keep money safe from pickpockets.

Academic classes here at the Catholic University in Valparaiso are quite similar to classes at the Claremont Colleges. An average class consists of roughly thirty students, one professor and an assistant to the professor. Homework assignments can be found on a virtual classroom site, and instead of having to buy books, since many of the students can’t afford expensive books, the teachers have their students pick up photocopies for a few cents from photocopy booths around the city. I find this to be a great system, because it greatly reduces the cost of the students’ education, and photocopies are easy to share and replace.

Overall, my experience here in Chile has been spectacular. I’ve visited Neruda’s houses, I stood outside the La Moneda building in an attempt to spot Obama, I’ve been working daily as an intern for a local newspaper and I’ve been trying to make the most of each day abroad. I highly recommend studying abroad to every underclasswoman at Scripps, and I know that I’m going to return to school with a fresh perspective on life and learning.

By Neva Barker
Director of Off-Campus Study

For students who are unable to fit in a semester of off-campus study, or for students who want additional exposure to the the there are summer options that may be considered.  Opportunities include programs ranging from two weeks to two months.  Subject matter will vary by location with many programs offering classes around a specific theme rather than offering a wide range of course options.  Some programs offer academic credit while others are nice travel experiences with an informed guide and do not qualify for academic credit.  Students who hope to get credit for any study over the summer are wise to check out the requirements for transfer credit with the registrar before enrolling or paying any application fees or deposits.  It may be possible to fulfill general education requirements with a summer program but it is wise to check with your Scripps advisor or a faculty member in the appropriate department about the particular class.

Students do not need to work with the off-campus study office for summer programs but we are happy to provide feedback on what we do know about such programs.  We are starting to collect evaluations from previous students on their summer opportunities and if any students have experience with summer programs they would like to share we are eager to hear it.  The college does not offer any financial aid for summer programs but students may be eligible for some funding either through the program itself or from a limited number of scholarships for summer programs and are wise to ask the program sponsor.

As a caveat, we do recommend that students thoroughly research any program before enrolling.  It is always a good idea to ask for the names and contact information of two or three students who have recently completed the program.  I would be wary of any program that refuses to provide this type of information.

There are thousands of programs offered in the summer, for study, for volunteering and just for the experience of travel and most are well run but there are some that are quite expensive and it always a good idea to practice an attitude of “buyer beware” and carefully check out before you pay any fees.  If you decide to participate in a summer study abroad program, we wish you safe travels and an amazing experience!

By Asia Morris ’12
Staff Writer

A number of students just returned from studying abroad this semester and were willing to share with us what it’s like being back home and living on Scripps campus.

Where did you study abroad and through what program?
Michelle Plotkin, 21, Junior, studied in Rome, Italy though Temple University

Lauren Escobar, 21, Junior, studied in London, England through UCL

Annsley McKinney, 20, Junior studied in Granada, Spain through Central College, Iowa
What were some of your first thoughts after arriving at home?
Michelle: “I was really sad. I remember when we were in the process of leaving and packing up our things, I had mixed feelings about the situation. I was feeling like I could really use the comforts of home, but once I was home I was really sad that it was over.”

Lauren: “I heart America (pauses for laughter)… but I was actually able to get back into the swing of things very quickly. We have everything here, everything is so easy to get, like water and lemon for free …”

Annsley: “I was excited to see my family, and there were certain aspects I missed, like favorite foods, making my own schedule, cooking for myself… but I was really bummed about not being in Spain and I felt, immediately, like I had maybe not done as much as I had hoped. I could think of 10 things I wanted to go back and do. I was also just exhausted so it was weird not having anything to do for the first couple of days. I was super restless, but I needed it. I got sick almost immediately after getting home! My body just gave up after four months of going and going.”

What has it been like attempting to describe your experience to other people?
Michelle: “It’s really hard to describe it, like how do you describe an entire semester of things that have happened? It was just good, and sometimes that’s all you can say.”

Lauren: “Sometimes it’s easier to describe something that wasn’t so great, like Michelle said, everything was just good. It sounds like a really general answer to describe such an amazing experience, but sometimes that’s just all you can say. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what was so great about it, like thinking of a specific event is hard. It’s just great knowing that your experience was good and it’s okay to be sad that it’s over.”

Annsley: “It has been great because I love to talk about Granada because I miss it so much. I often feel like when I am telling stories for example, like usually more specific situations, that I get really excited about and then it ends up being a ‘You had to be there’ moment and its disappointing that they’re not as excited as I am! I always seem to talk about the general things too, like how much I loved my host family, how my classes were really interesting and the city and less about my friends there or what I did on a day-to-day basis. Those seem like less interesting things to talk about to someone who didn’t experience it.”

Now that you are back to school and are “back in the swing of things” do you have a different perspective of your surroundings?
Lauren: “I definitely appreciate the weather here a lot more, it was so shitty in London.”

Michelle: “It took a while to get used to being able to understand and connect with strangers because you can understand the language, and everything here is super convenient. I definitely appreciate the comforts of America; we have everything we’ll ever need, whenever we need it.”

Annsley: “Yes, I think? I would say yes, in that some things that I used to get excited about, like certain parties or meals at the dining hall (haha yeah, I know…) seem like more trivial things to be excited about. Like, I would be much more excited to go to a club or go out for tapas. The college culture here is so different and so sometimes I feel like I do so much less on a day-to-day basis than I did in Spain. I miss the aspect of social culture that involved going out into town and spending hours having lunch or tapas, so I don’t know… maybe everything here seems less exciting, like, less fulfilling maybe.”

By KC Mautner ’12
Editor Abroad

In some ways I already feel like I´ve been here a lifetime. Eating dinner at nine or 10 pm no longer seems out of the ordinary, I´m finding myself able to communicate (more or less) in Spanish with my host family and I can get to and from school each day without getting horribly lost. On the other hand, there are still a million and more things to learn, customs to adapt to and adventures to pursue.

One of the first things that captured my attention about Granada on the bus ride from the airport to the city center was the sheer beauty of the place. With the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains in the background, rolling hills, narrow and winding streets, white-washed buildings dotted with colorful plants on the balconies and ornate fountains in majestic plazas, Granada is undboutedly one of the most beautiful cities I´ve had the privilege to visit. There is a saying in Spain that goes “quien no ha visto Granada, no ha visto nada.” A rough translation is “if you have not seen Granada, you have not seen anything.” The more time I spend here, the more and more I become aware of the truth to this saying. From the sidewalks made out of marble to the magnificent chapels dotting the city center, Granada is truly wondrous.

After spending a while trying to absorb the beauty of this place, the next thing that hit me was its history. Before Spain was Spain it was Al-Andalus, a Muslim kingdom, and the only one of its kind in Europe. From 1236 to 1492, Granada was its capital, and the city still retains many vestiges of its rich history. The most notable of these is the Alhambra, the palace/fortress constructed by the Muslim rulers in the 14th century. Sitting atop the city´s highest hill, the Alhambra looks over the entire city and its surrounding area. The interior of the Alhambra is indescribable—the beauty of the architecture is simply amazing.

The warmth and openness of the people has also been an unexpected joy. The very same day I met my host family, I was already being called “mi hija” (my daughter) and offered platefuls of food, so much that I´m surprised I haven´t yet burst at the seams. Coming from living at the dorms at Scripps, where I can walk into and out of my single room whenever I like, go to the dining halls for meals and generally enjoy quite a bit of freedom, living in another family´s home sometimes seems quite unusual. I must admit though, having a home-cooked meal three times a day is certainly not a bad deal.

Of course, there have been the inevitable complications. Little things that, having lived in the United States my entire life, I had absolutely taken for granted. For one: central heating. Electricity is absurdly expensive in Spain, and as a result most homes do not have central heating. Leaving my bed in the morning is even more difficult than usual, and I typically wear gloves and a hat even inside my homestay.

Having lived at Scripps for two and a half years, I had grown accustomed to being able to leave my room about 3 minutes before the start of class (and still get there early). School is now about a half-hour walk from where I sleep. Each way. Which means actually having to wake up with time to spare before class each morning.

Spain is also (in)famous for its obsession with pork. Pork is found in just about every meal of the day, in numerous forms. In this pork-loving country, many Spaniards cannot fathom why anyone would choose to be a vegetarian.

Spain is an immensely fascinating country with a hugely rich history. After being here for a matter of a few short weeks, I encourage anyone remotely interested in studying abroad or in Spain to seriously consider both. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email! kmautner1742@scrippscollege.edu

Shanghai, China: Where Crossing the Street is a Real-Life Game of “Frogger”

By April Wong ’12
Guest Writer

One of my friends jokes that when they go back home, the one-liner they’re going to use in response to the question “How was China?” is going to be “I found myself there.” That might be an exaggeration for me, but I can definitely say that studying abroad in Shanghai was rewarding.  I came to China not only for academic reasons, but also to get a feel for a country that is and will continue to be a huge player in world politics and economics.  Coming here has shown me just how diverse China is, which shouldn’t have been too surprising considering its sheer demographic magnitude.

There are so many things that I will miss when I’m back at Scripps. I will miss the enticing smell of the street vendor’s sweet potatoes that I always want to buy until I remember that I don’t actually like the taste.  I will definitely miss my host family and all the friends that I’ve made here.  The public transportation here is amazing during the day, although I won’t miss the fact that the subways close at a ridiculously early time. I’ll miss cheap shopping and yuan baozi ($0.15 steamed buns).  Most of all, I will miss talking about life with my host family over post-dinner tea and walks.

Some things in China were not so easy.  Crossing the street is a real-life game of “Frogger” (watch out for the buses because they won’t even slow down if you’re in their way).  At the beginning even buying things from the nearby Trust Mart (the Chinese version of WalMart) was daunting.  I was even more awkward than a freshman in high school because I came to China not speaking any Chinese.  And even despite being in English, some of my classes were hard to adjust to because the professors were Chinese, and thus were not completely confident teaching in English.  Living in a home stay also added some complications because I wasn’t always in contact with my friends in the dorms too often, so I often missed outings to places around Shanghai, and had to figure out things to do on my own.

Despite these challenges, I’ve become so much more comfortable now than I was in the beginning.  It’s always ironic, though, that as soon as you start getting comfortable and finding a balance in life it’s just time to leave.  I’m sure other study abroad students would agree with me that somewhere in the middle of the program you start feeling like you want to go home, but when the time to leave comes, you really don’t want to go.  Improving my language skills was probably the number one thing that made me feel more comfortable because it made me less scared to go places on my own.  Also learning how to bug people (especially my Chinese friends) to take me places so I didn’t have to go on my own made a huge improvement.

I don’t think I’ve become a different person after my short time of study abroad, and I don’t think I’ve “found myself” in China.  I will, however, have gained a lifelong love for Shanghai, and a much deeper and more intricate understanding of what China is.  I’ve created deep friendships with fellow classmates, my Chinese teachers, and my home stay family.  Although my time in China wasn’t always a breeze, I think that overcoming the obstacles I experienced and having this semester to look back on has been absolutely worthwhile.

By Antoinette Myers ’12
Guest Writer

Boa tarde e saudações do Brasil!

Hey y’all! My name is Antoinette and I’m currently studying abroad in one of the most diverse cities in the world, Salvador da Bahia, in the beautiful country of Brazil! I’ve been living here since June and what an adventure it has been! I live in the neighborhood of Barra, (pronounced ba-ha), about two blocks away from the beach, and it is absolutely gorgeous. From my window, I can see the Atlantic Ocean and the island of Itaparica. In the afternoons, the sounds of MPB and Pagode music float on the hot sea breeze towards my room. In the kitchen, there is always bread, beans and rice on the stove, and usually I wake up so late in the afternoon, that my family friends are in the kitchen crowded around the T.V. watching novelas and American movies and TV shows dubbed in Portuguese, like Life Size and Everybody Hates Chris. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been to Praia do Forte, a beautiful beach up the coast; the Pelourinho, an amazing colorful part of town filled with Baianas selling acarajé (deep fried bean fritters) and men doing Capoeira; and my favorite place in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro is beautiful and it’s filled with gorgeous beaches, lush natural beauty, and amazing restaurants. I stayed in Ipanema, ate an American breakfast at Chaika, and danced to Adriana Calcanhotto’s “Maresia” at Copacabana. If you ask me what my favorite thing to do here in Brazil is, I’d tell you that I absolutely love going to the beach and reading in the sun, and I really enjoy painting in my room while the sunshine streams in through my window. In my city, the people are easygoing and time isn’t really of the essence. During my first week of classes, none of my professors or fellow students showed up for class. And even in October, it’s not unusual for professors to not assign any work nor show up to give a planned lecture. While it took awhile to get used to, it’s honestly helped me to be a more relaxed student who enjoys the free time that I have a lot more. I’ve also read a lot of books, blogged for hours on end, watched a lot of movies, and a lot of reruns of American TV shows like “The Golden Girls,” “The L Word,” and “Law and Order: SVU.”

Since I’ve been here, I’ve learned a lot of Portuguese, but it bums me out that it will be hard to keep up once I return to Claremont, due to the lack of a Portuguese program at the Colleges. Hopefully, I’ll be able to help out with a Portuguese table during lunch and of course, I’ll be at the pool in my Brazilian bikini waiting to practice the language with anyone who wants to join me for a chat about life and the world! Some of the best experiences that I’ve had this semester include going to the Cristo Redentor, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, learning the dance of Orixás in Pelourinho, dancing Samba at the very popular school of Samba, Mangueira. If you decide to come to Brazil for study abroad, I recommend that you remember to bring things that you’ll miss from America, like your favorite hair products, must-have clothing items, and favorite books and movies. For me, and you might laugh, I constantly craved Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and maple syrup, two things which absolutely do not exist here in Brazil. If you can, try to learn some Portuguese before you come! Even though we have a required Portuguese class throughout the semester, it’s best to come with some grasp of the language because just speaking Spanish doesn’t cut it. I highly recommend the Living Language series. Also be sure to let go of your pre-conceived notions and misconceptions th

at you have about Brazil, read more than just the Wikipedia article about the country, and be aware of the privileges that you have when you travel abroad as an American.

Brazil is an amazing country If you have any questions about my experiences here, feel free to email me at amyers8398@scrippscollege.edu and I’ll answer any questions, or you could just bug me when I’m back on campus next semester. Until then, tchau tchau and beijinhos!

Seville, the capital of the region in southern Spain known as Andalusia, is one of Spain’s largest cities. The city is full of mosques and synagogues that have been converted to Catholic cathedrals and chapels— conversion that happened after Queen Isabel expelled all non-Christians from the country. The main cathedral, in the center of Seville, is the second-largest ancient church in the world. Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City will take its spot as the largest church upon its completion and will become the largest gothic cathedral in the world. Seville’s cathedral is not only enormous, it is so intricately decorated that it is actually hard to believe that it took only 103 years to construct. The cathedral is not only hard to put into words, but hard to capture with a camera. Honestly, the only way to truly understand the grandeur of this building is to see it in person.

When I walked in I was absolutely stunned. A person does not have to be religious to appreciate a building like this; it is in every sense of the term a true work of art. Walking into Seville’s main cathedral is like walking into a museum. In comparison to my other travels, it struck me more intensely than walking into the Prado in Madrid. I was too busy taking in the magnificence of the cathedral to pay attention to what I was stepping on; so, of course, I managed to trip.
When I looked down to see what exactly it was that I had stumbled over, I realized it was part of the markings for the tomb of Christopher Columbus. Nobody made a fuss about my tripping over the tomb of a celebrated historical figure, though, so it clearly wasn’t a big deal; it was as if it were commonplace to have important historical figures buried in highly trafficked city centers. Tripping over Columbus represents one of the most blatant differences between Europe and the United States, the thing that I will miss the most when I return home: the amount of history in Europe that is mixed within the modern cities. You can literally trip over it.

My time abroad in India has been full of contradictions—days of bliss, days of yearning and days that just do not make sense. But there are a few things that, after a year abroad, can still change the course of my day: rickshaw drivers who actually use the meter, cute puppies on the street, real chocolate cake and a cup of coffee that actually tastes like coffee.
My day starts when I wake up in my homestay, waiting to hear the bathroom door unlock. My homestay brothers and I are in a constant battle for shower time in the morning. They are ages 14 and 11 and completely scared of me. After breakfast I walk into the busy streets of Malviya Nagar, dodging stray dogs, carts of fruits and vegetables and motorcycles with crazy drivers. I then look for a rickshaw, a small taxi the size of a Smart Car, to take me my program center. Some days the commute is difficult, and I have to argue for a good price; when the morning is going right, the driver uses the meter fairly, and I fly through traffic, using the strong morning breeze as my Indian hairdryer.
Half of my time is spent in a real school environment, with three hours of Hindi language class and two-hour lectures on a topic that fits within our theme of “Arts and Culture.” Leading specialists in their field come to talk to us about topics such as the history behind Indian textiles, Bollywood music, Modern Art of India, Buddhist sculpture and many other cultural and artistic topics. But, this is only half my time.
To really learn about India we venture outside the classroom. To appreciate Mughal architecture, we sit inside an old Fort, imaging the previous grandeur and power of the Islamic kingdoms as we listen to a lecture from our academic director. As we learn about Karmic rituals in Buddhism (the stuff you thought was “new-age”) we stand inside a 10th-century temple with our mouths parted in awe, taking in sculptures of scantily-clad women in outrageous positions that we never imagined as “religious.” And, when we learn about tiger preservation, we cram into Jeeps and scan the jungle until we find a beautiful tiger, three feet away, walking to the nearest water hole.
To really live in India, we travel and study alone for the last month of the program. Instead of getting credit for sitting in a classroom, I will be navigating the archives of Delhi to research about the history and practices of Buddhism. I will then take this knowledge with me as I travel to an elevation of 11,000 feet, to Ladakh, an area on the border of the Indian state of Kashmir. It is here that I will complete my research by trekking through the melting winter snow and living in a village with the oldest preserved Gompa, Alchi.
To experience India, you have to take it for what it is. Yes, there are the latest luxury shopping centers and signs of growing wealth. Yes, there are dirty crowded streets and signs of extreme poverty. And yes, there are people. Millions and millions of women dressed in vibrant colored saris, children dressed in a mix of all the latest brands and traditional Muslim men in turbans. But within this eclectic mixture of people, sights, sounds and smells, there is history and tradition. Even on a five-minute drive, I can pass temples and ruins built 1,000 years ago and imagine the beginnings of this vibrant culture—an experience impossible to replicate by looking at art slides in a dark classroom.