Down the road..

Wow.. So I haven’t written in a while.. But that’s because I’m truly enjoying Spain! There has been so much going on, I’ve been a bit busy to write. So here’s what has been up with my study abroad:

The first couple of months, I was having trouble assimilating with the culture and truly enjoying it, I was just thinking about home and how much I miss it and everything I didn’t really like about here; I guess you can say I was at a “depressed”/homesick stage. It was a subtle depression just caused mainly by homesickness and some problems that were going on back home that I had no control over! But basically I just wanted to stay in my room all day and not do anything, my roommates knew each other from back home so they would always hang out and sometimes I felt left out, etc. I was just pretty antisocial at times. I felt bad about that, because I really wanted to enjoy everything and I was momentarily happy! But I still felt this weight on me. Another thing, since I’m studying abroad in Europe, you better believe most other students studying abroad are doing a lot of traveling! Most of my friends pretty much had almost every weekend booked to travel to different countries, cities, and such. I did not come here planning nor budgeted to travel, but once you see everyone else traveling you realize how easy and economic it could be! But since I did not plan to travel I did not have enough for my budget, and only being able to choose one country to travel to instead of 10 (per say), I was disappointed. That had me down for a long while as well, being mad at myself for not planning better, etc etc. But after 2 weekends of traveling to two different cities in Spain, I realized how tiring it gets to travel every weekend and how much you miss sleep! So little by little I started to make peace with not being able to travel and am actually very happy with it now, because I’m in MADRID! I need to explore here as much as I can and try to get more assimilated, since I am living here and all. Also, many of my friends that have been traveling all these weekends have told me they wish they didn’t because they realize that they have not spend any time here and wish they had- so that made me more happy with my decision/circumstance.

Everything was starting to look up! We received a new housemate from Guatemala who is doing her Master’s here and she’s only 3 years older then me. We got along from the second we met, and I showed her around much of Madrid and we quickly became very close! She is the reason I started going out, and she has mended any tension that has been going on with us other housemates, and she is just like me! We have many of the same interest therefore we like to go to the same places, meet great people, and have many laughs. I think that’s what I needed- good company that made me feel less alone. So since then I have also started becoming closer to my other housemates, going out more, doing what I have to do to get what I want!

My new housemate Lucia!

One of my happy places! Parque Del Retiro

In that sense, there are about 7 little cafes/ work places in my street alone that I have been wanting to visit. I have now visited most and am so happy I did! It may not seem like a big deal but it is just something I’ve been wanting to do since I first got here and never brought myself to do it. But now I go on a daily basis to do homework, and honestly it is my happy place and one of the things I’m going to miss the most when I leave. I also have a passion for music and have been meeting so many musicians here and planning out jam sessions and going to jazz clubs and having so much fun! It has relit my dreams to sing in public cafes and such. I am truly grateful for that! 

Amsterdam!

On another note, I did travel to one other country and that was Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I am so glad I chose that as my place because it was truly magical! Everything about it was so beautiful and not really what I expected! So many friendly people and beautiful sights to see; I would love to go back. I think it is also just the trip I needed to really appreciate Madrid because when I came back I felt like I was home. 

I am totally loving this city and am so happy to be here and really think this is going to be a life-changing experience! It is bitter sweet to leave and I think many will agree when I say just when you’re getting used to it, you have to go! I am excited to see me family for the holidays though but I feel like I have made a family here too and am gonna miss it!!! 

Singing at a jazz club

p.s: What Kri and Melissa say about the stages (honeymoon/enchantment, homesickness/irritability/anxiety, assimilation/integration, etc)  is totally true! But the length of each stage depends on the person! Just try to make the best out of every phase.

Lamogi Guru Guru (Northern Uganda)

Greetings from Gulu Uganda!
My name is Leissan Sadykova, I am in the diplomacy and military studies program and I am studying abroad in Uganda as part of the SIT Uganda: Post-Conflict Transformation program.

My adventure in Uganda is winding down.  There are only three weeks left before I board the plane back to the US, so I only have about two and a half weeks left in Gulu, Uganda.  Last weekend, my host family and I went, as well as my friend Lindsy, went to the village to climb Lamogi Guru Guru Mountain in Amuru District.  This is a historical site of the Lamogi Rebellion between the British colonizers and the Lamogi people.

The hike was very intense and not something I’ve ever done before.  We were literally climbing on rocks, swinging on vines, and crawling through caves.  There were bats everywhere.  We had an “older man” (ladit in Lwo) lead us up the mountain.  This man, I would say, is around 65/70 years old, and he was showing us up in his climbing skills.  The view was absolutely beautiful, definitely worth the effort.  

(Pictures are out of order).

My host family in my host dad's forest

In the family hut:

Kids' interaction with a mzungu (munu): 

Sugar cane - a road-trip snack:

Starting out the hike, all smiles:

Half-way up:

Ladit (a respectful way to address an elder in Lwo - the local language) leading the way!

Caves:

Ladit showing us up, crawling through caves:

Literally climbing up the rock:

Made it to the top!

The family hut:

Dad inside the hut:

View of Lamogi, from the top:

On Being an International Student

I don’t know where to begin.

Japan … oh Japan.

I’m not going to lie, I was so scared coming to Japan by myself. I mean, I wasn’t (and still am not, unfortunately) conversational in Japanese, I’m probably going to offend people, I’m going to get lost, I’m going to be lonely… I had so many of these thoughts on my mind. The first culture shock I had wasn’t even in Japan – it was right before boarding my Hawaiian Airlines flight and realizing that everyone else was Japanese except for me.

More culture shock was in store for me when I actually arrived on Japanese soil, of course.

In sum, these were my initial reactions:

-          Oh my god, everything is so clean and modern and efficient

-          There are so many people!!

-          I stick out SO much

-          The food. Yes.

-          Public transportation system = another big yes

Somehow, though, I got used to all of these things fairly quickly within the first month of being here. My social anxiety of being the only white person in a crowd of Japanese people disappeared and I figured out how to use the train and metro. I don’t really cook here though… 7-11 bentos, my school’s cafeteria, and the gyudon place in my neighborhood are my primary sources of food.

And although I’m living in Tokyo (Tokyo, actually, is both a prefecture AND a city), I’m living in a really quaint residential section called Nerima. It’s filled with a few vintage clothes shops, a Showa-era themed izakaya that I hold dear to my heart, Western-style dessert shops, cafes, restaurants, a farmer’s market…everything I need is in walking distance. And the atmosphere is so unique... it’s so peaceful somehow and everything feels safe. I just love how it feels like a small town, yet if I want to be in a more city environment, I can get there in 20 minutes or less by train or metro.

Soon after my arrival, I met the other international students who would attend my school, Musashi University. There were people from England, Iceland, Russia, and France, as well as the other students from America. My loneliness faded in no time. The program for international students at Musashi was very very welcoming. I was pleasantly surprised. They arranged activities (such as going to the Edo Tokyo Museum, a calligraphy workshop, etc.) for all of us to do together before school started. (I secretly wish HPU would have something like that for the international students… do we?)

The Japanese students at Musashi are also really lovely – there are actually quite a few who speak very good English! (And I envy them!) I just really wish I could reach out to more Japanese people, so from this point on I’ll study Japanese more diligently instead of indulging in nomihoudai 飲み放題 (all you can drink specials).

Again, though, I have to stress that the language barrier is sometimes really difficult for me to handle. I really want to improve my Japanese, I really want to reach out to the Japanese population more, I want to be able to read the signs!

The main point I want to make here is – although I’m having a good time here and sometimes it feels like I’m on vacation, being an international student is not easy. And because of this experience, I look back on the international friends I’ve made at HPU and start to understand them a little more. What is easy/normal for a citizen of one country might be completely strange for a person from another country. I think that once I return to HPU, I want to be more involved with the international community and help them adjust to life in Hawaii, if that’s possible.