Japan: 3 Months Later

Hello future HPU travelers!

My name is Conor and I am studying abroad in Japan at Musashi University (武蔵大学) for one year . I have been in Japan here now for just under three months and I thought I would give my thoughts on Japan after being here.

I arrived in Japan on August 5th, 2017 to Haneda Airport (for those of you who are interested in coming to Tokyo, I would highly recommend flying into this airport as it is closer to Tokyo and easier to navigate). After having jet lag being 16 hours ahead of my hometown, I finally arrived at Musashi University Asaka Plaza Dormitory (武蔵大学朝霞プラザ). I personally really enjoy living here as everyone gets their own room and two meals a day (breakfast and dinner). The only thing that may bother some people but has yet to bother me (because I enjoy doing it everyday) is the commute to the main campus. It takes about 1 hour (Walk-Train- Walk). There is a bus that goes every morning from the dormitory to the station but walking around Asaka is beautiful and doesn't get old.

Since my arrival in Japan, I have fallen in love with the country and culture. Every month, there is an outing to a different part of Tokyo. Ive included a few photos of the outings I have gone on so far. One outing, the group went walking from Ikebukuro (池袋)to Akihabara(秋葉原). Along the way, we stopped at many shrines and temples. The picture directly to the right is a famous shrine for students to go and pray at for good luck on their studies/ entrance exam.

 The Next one I went on brought me to a town right near Asaka called Kawagoe (川越). Here we got to see a fall festival. The photo to the left is of a performer in this procession of traditional floats representing the god Inari. It is a really incredible thing to see, especially since this tradition is ages old.

One of the last things I have done so far being here in Japan is visit Mt. Fuji. This is the #1 thing I would recommend everyone that comes to Japan to do. I went to a small town called Kawaguchiko (河口湖) which is the same town with the famous Pagoda and Fuji picture. While there, I visited some more shrines and explored the surrounding area. I also had my first Onsen experience here. An Onsen is a traditional bath which is heated by geothermal energy to produce these amazing hot springs!

Overall my experience in Japan here has been amazing so far and I can't wait to see what happens next during my stay here in Japan! Until next time!

PS: I am planning on Starting a vloging channel on Youtube soon! hopefully I can keep everyone up to date more frequently!

Studying abroad in Thailand

Hi everyone!

My name is Mariken. I’m doing my semester abroad in Thailand, at Mahidol University.

I thought I was brave when I moved from Norway to Hawaii all by myself, but Thailand has challenged and inspired me on a completely new level.

Little did I know about the Thai language, culture and religion when I moved here, and it was honestly a big cultural shock. My university is located in the suburb of Bangkok, so the locals here barely speak any English, which was really challenging at first. Because I don’t live with all the other international students (most of them live in a huge student accommodation called Bundit), I really get to experience the authentic Thailand. I had the option to move in at Bundit, but chose to stay in my Thai accommodation to embrace the local culture. And trust me, that feeling of finally being able to interact with the locals, having my neighbors smiling at me every morning when I walk to school – it’s incomparable. At first I thought it would be impossible to feel at home here, but now I actually feel like a part of their society. And it’s the best feeling! 

My campus on the other hand, is as international as it can be. MUIC is the college in Thailand with the highest percentage of international students. A lot of our professors are international too. I've literally made friends from all over the world here, which is really cool. The school system is similar to the one in the U.S. Only difference is that we have to wear school uniforms. 

The classes I’m taking here are pretty intense, so most of my weekdays go to lectures, studying at the library, and trying out new food with my friends. Food is a HUGE thing here! Restaurants, street food, and food markets are everywhere. Half of the time I don’t know what I’m eating because of the language barrier, but I have learned to accept that. If locals can eat it, I can probably eat it too 😉

During the weekends we usually travel somewhere. So far I have visited Phetchaburi and Ayutthaya in central Thailand, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in the north, and Kanchanaburi in the west. I also got to travel to Cambodia and Siem Reap one weekend to see Angkor Wat (largest religious monument in the world!). Traveling around here is very cheap. A 3 hour bus ride from Bangkok to the west would cost you $3, and the 11 hour bus ride to the north around $15.

Here are some pictures from my adventure so far:

Visited an elementary school during orientation, and met these cute little ladies.

A young novice monk (samanera) in Wat Pho, Bangkok.

Elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai.

The White Temple in Chiang Rai.

Sunset in Bangkok.

Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Finding Your Seoul

Aloha everyone!

If you're interested in studying abroad in South Korea, definitely go for it! It's a unique fusion of modern and historical architecture that comes together whenever you walk around the city. The food is amaaaaaazing and there are so many awesome things to list, but I wanted to describe how life has been for me during the first phase of my study abroad living in Seoul and attending Ewha Woman's University.

LIVING

I was told by another student who studied abroad that if you had visited the country you were studying abroad before, then it was pretty unlikely you would feel homesickness. She was right for the most part. I only felt homesick on the plane ride going to Seoul because I was questioning whether this was the right decision for me. The thoughts of, "It's too late to go back, did I make a mistake?" Or, "Living in Seoul is going to be different from just visiting, will I adjust well?" All of these doubts and hesitations made me worried during the 9-hour flight over.

But as soon as I saw we were landing, I knew I had made one of the best decisions of my life. Landing in South Korea symbolized my freedom--the first time I would ever live on my own, live in a dorm, live with a roommate, live in another country for college.

That was the extent of my homesickness, and it will be different for everyone. Some people, myself included, felt more of a culture sickness, if anything. Not necessarily a culture shock, but missing aspects of our home culture as we first adjusted to living in South Korea. Koreans are much more reserved and tend to keep to themselves in comparison to foreigners such as Americans or Europeans who are much more open and show more energy in their mannerisms.

I arrived in Seoul a little over a week before school started, so I moved into the dorms and quickly became friends with my awesome roommate, Anne-Laure, and other international students living in my building. So what did we do during that week? Explore and eat.

King Sejong Statue

(My awesome roommate and our friend Kyle)

One of the things I highly recommend students to experience is to wear a hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) and visit Gyeongbokgung Palace. It is free entrance into the Palace for those who wear hanboks. Many shops nearby offer affordable rentals. I brought the one I owned and we visited the palace grounds on a SUPER HOT day. I do NOTadvise you to do this during hot/humid weather, Fall may be a good time to do this since it will be cooler and you can see the foliage.

Some of the things my friends and I saw while we were hiking up a hill to see the Ewha Mural Village, which is perfect during sunset time because the lighting offers a very peaceful aesthetic.

STUDYING

While it's so easy to have ALOT of fun in Seoul, I also came to study at Ewha Woman's University. The most bizarre part of university in South Korea is registering for classes, and it is extremely stressful. Here's why:

All exchange/international students register for their classes on ONE day, and that day only essentially. The time begins at 9am and finishes at 5pm. Students must have arranged their schedules and classes beforehand so they know which ones to automatically register for. On that day, students were awake at around 8am, prepared to register. It was crazy. Some classes will only accept a few exchange students (ex. I had a class where only 3 exchange students were accepted out of a 60 person lecture class). If you are unlucky in registering for a class on that day, there is another period where you could register in case someone drops the course, etc. If that also doesn't work, you can also email the professor to request that you be added to the class.

Overall, registering for classes at Ewha was very stressful and time-consuming when you needed to figure out a different class to take that would fit your schedule.

One thing that might be really appealing for students interested in Ewha is that it is HIGHLY LIKELY that you will lose weight. The campus itself is built on rolling hills and it is a hike to get from the dorms to classrooms or from class to class. It takes awhile to get used to walking/running up the hills between classes (it took me longer than a month). Also, South Korea has some hills as you stroll through the city so you're getting a great workout while you're exploring!

Classes are mostly lecture-style, which is something new for me since I'm accustomed to small-size classes with more emphasis on discussions. Since these classes are fairly big (60-100 people sometimes), the exams are the biggest part of your grade (midterm and final exam). I prefer to do projects, rather than measuring your understanding through a test. The courses are much more relaxed in comparison to the work load at HPU, however, this means you need to be very responsible about your time management.

During my time at Ewha, there is only one class out of five that I have made Korean friends. There's a couple of reasons for this: 1) this is the only class I have based solely on discussion, so we must interact and discuss with each other, 2) the lecture style doesn't allow for international and Korean students to take advantage of verbal interactions 3) as mentioned earlier, Koreans are much more reserved than foreigners. I also think there is some intimidation about their English skills when speaking with a foreigner, so there's also a language barrier.

I hope you find this helpful if you're studying abroad in South Korea! :)

- Kula

Argentina pt. 3

For anyone really interested in studying abroad in Argentina, you'll most likely find yourself in Buenos Aires, so here are some tips. Get an apartment, roommates are so much more helpful with immersion than a homestay. Trust me, I've done both multiple times. Take advantage of the nightlife, it really is unlike any other and gives you the most natural contact with locals. That being said, the city is dangerous, really dangerous, but if you employ common sense and stay in a group you shouldn't have any problems. The most common crime is phone stealing, almost every local and foreigner I met there has had there's stolen, many of the exchange students had more than one stolen throughout their stay. Keep valuables in your front pocket and keep your hand over them, people with purses actually had them stolen more. Don't do to La Boca after 5pm, just don't, you're not missing anything. For me, Argentine cuisine is good, not to die for good, but good. However, a lot of the foreigners I knew really hated the food, which is funny because I was vegan for the majority of my stay. Barrio chino hands down has the best and most diverse food in the city, there are also great natural food stores and ethnic restaurants in Palermo. The music scene in BA is spectacular, they love rock there as well as boliche EDM and raggae. Bomba de tiempo is a must, there are speakeasys in Barrio Chino, and music festivals throughout the year. Crobar, Bayside, and Rose in Rio are the best boliches. Makena Club! Makena Club! Makena Club! My biggest regret is only going there once. Argentine Spanish is very different but not impossible, different pronouns, pronunciations, accent, conjugation, and slang. I love Spanish rioplatense, it sounds like Italian and is truly unique. The locals are really friendly for such an urban city, I made great friends there from different Latinamerican nations. The only way to make friends is to make an effort to talk to people, don't be afraid of sounding stupid no one cares. There are dozens of museums and they're all great, CCK, MALBA and Bellas Artes are lovely. There's also a lot of ferias like San Telmo, Buenos Aires Market, and really in any large park on the weekends. But the city will drive you crazy, so go exploring out of the region or even better out of the country. You can never experience too much or travel too far.


Chau, argentina

Argentina pt. 2

If anyone is interested in courses in the International Relations sphere, the Universidad de Belgrano in Buenos Aires is seriously top-notch. Human Rights and Cultural Representation, Estudios Culturales, and Latin America in the Modern World were just some of my favourite classes. My teachers were engaging and empathetic and classically-late. I was so unaware of almost the entirety of Latin American history that having professors who have lived through military dictatorships and civilian coups d'états was eye-opening to say the least. 

I owe so much to Buenos Aires and everything it has offered me. The city has shown me a whole new side of Latino ways of life, what the people have endured and how much they have given to the rest of the international community. Living in an apartment with Mexican, Argentine, and Spanish roommates means ten different accents in every conversation, each with its own dialect, innuendos and sense of humor. I am so grateful to be surrounded by people and friends so open and intelligent, the day each one of us left there was always the same phrase being said, "cuando vengas, tenés casa," we all move on and we may not speak for months or years but the best people don't notice, the best people are home.

Argentina pt. 1

Argentina really is so diverse both culturally and geographically that it can be difficult to take in absolutely everything. Buenos Aires is enormous and picturesque and ruthlessly urban. Salta and Jujuy are traditional argentine and almost surreal in their historical customs. Mendoza is wine country, and very proud of it. Iguazu is mystical and natural and a connection between the higher nations. Bariloche, where I am writing this from, is postcard Patagonia, if Geneva and Lake Tahoe had an environmentally pristine lovechild. So here are some fotos to put a picture to my take on the wondrous cities of Argentina.

Israeli cuisine is amazing!

Aloha everyone!

There are so many delicious dishes here in Israel to try out, largely due to Israel being a huge melting pot of cultures and religions, and I have already started trying them out. These are some dishes I have fallen in love with, and I strongly suggest you try them out whenever you are here!

Falafel // Hummus // Shwarma // Tahini // Baba Ganoush // Bourekas // Rugelach

Plus seafood and shabbat dinners! Oh, and a traditional Israeli salad! And shakshuka! Israel has so much to offer when it comes to food, and the best part is that most of it is actually healthy - its full of fresh veggies, fruit dishes, fish instead of meat, etc etc. Definitely worth trying out. And if you want pastries and the like, then don't worry, the Israelis have a sweet tooth too ;)

BRAZIL Half-way

So much has happened since my first weeks in Brazil. I have been robbed twice, had my bank details stolen, traveled to 5 different states, made some amazing friendships, and have become more involved at my school (PUC Rio).

I will start with the negatives- it is pretty unsafe in Rio, I am extremely cautious and do everything to prevent being robbed yet I am a huge target because I have blonde hair and white skin, and I have been a victim of two robberies and another attempt in just 4 months. The ATMs (even inside the banks) are also insecure, as I have only used the bank "Bradesco" to withdraw money, yet had my card copied and used. Unfortunately, the international mail service here is so bad that I never received my new bankcard and have relied on Western Union to receive cash transfers from my parents.

There is also a lot of "machismo" here in Rio. This word is difficult to translate into English, but is basically when guys shout sexist comments to women when they are walking in the streets. It's very strange behaviour that I have never experienced before, and makes me uncomfortable walking alone in the city.

However, there are so many positives to Rio. Some of the people you find here are unlike anywhere else. For example, one day I was cycling to school and my handlebars broke. I was about to have a meltdown knowing I would be late to school, but another cyclist stopped and helped me- he had tools and fixed my bike. There are a lot of kind people here who will go out of their way to help you.

My school is also amazing. My professors are awesome- really interesting, and my classes are in Portuguese which makes it even better- in just 4 months I have become basically fluent. I have participated in a student documentary about veganism, and did an interview in Portuguese about why I became vegan and how difficult it is to be vegan in Brazil (it's so hard because this country relies heavily on animal products). I will send the documentary over to the Study Abroad office once the students have published it. PUC Rio also organizes loads of events and they are really good. Right now we have the Primavera Festival, with many different activities going on everyday. We also have a lot of holidays, which has allowed me to travel.

My first trip was to Curitiba. I went there to visit my Brazilian friend that I met in Hawaii, and we drove down to Florianapolis. Floripa was very different- many American students were there, and it didn't feel like Brazil. It was extremely touristy, but had some great beaches and surf spots. Curitiba also didn't feel like Brazil simply because it was so developed.

My second trip was to Brasilia. I went there to visit another Brazilian friend that I met in Hawaii, and we drove up to Bahia (the North). This trip was amazing because I got to see the true Brazil. Bahia is very underdeveloped, and looks impoverished- it was hard even to find a bank there. The culture is very different- intimate communities, everybody knows each other in the town and helps each other out. I stood out very much there, but it wasn't like Rio- people didn't shout sexist comments at me or just randomly approach me and start asking me where I am from etc- it was more respectful, and I liked this. The coast of Bahia was very similar to Hawaii, extremely beautiful, and coconuts all over the place- my breakfast, lunch and dinner.

My most recent trip (last week) was to Minas Gerais, to visit some Brazilian friends that I met at the beginning of my trip. One of my friends there owns the whole city of Uberaba, and I was treated to a week of luxury- his family had chefs in their houses, swimming pools, tennis courts, you name it. It was a really nice get-away from my student apartment in Copacabana.

Since I have been here, I have fallen in love with Tapioca (Brazilian food), Graviola (a fruit) and salgados (like pastries). I have become thinner, and my skin much healthier, so I think that the food here must be more natural than in the US. I have been surfing here in Rio, but really don't like the conditions compared to Hawaii (the waves here are too short, too strong, and unpredictable). I have been to many different music events since Rio has so many different types of music - Samba, Jazz, Bossa Nova, Samba-Jazz, etc. I also got to go to Rock in Rio for free (one of the biggest Rock festivals ever), because The Who were playing (and I used to work with Roger Daltrey's manager). That day was awesome! Guns n Roses played for 4 hours, and I would have had to pay 500 reais if I didn't have this connection with The Who (that's a lot of money here).

I will be very sad to leave Brazil next month, and I really wish I could have done my Study Abroad for a whole year. Despite all the bad aspects, I have a very strong connection with this place. My friends here are irreplaceable, as are the experiences I have had.

Shalom Israel!

Hello HPU students! And shalom :)

My third week in Israel is coming to an end, and I am starting to adapt to my new life here in Haifa. From my relatively short flight to Tel Aviv, and the ensuing travel to Haifa by train and bus, to dorm- and student life at the University, I am hoping to give you guys a short glimpse into life here in Israel as a visiting student from HPU :) I hope this will help with some questions you might have regarding a study abroad experience here in the Middle East!

A view of Haifa from the university

First of all is travelling to Israel. If you wish to study at the University of Haifa, one of HPU's partner universities, remember that Haifa is situated north in the country, about 90 kilometers north of Tel Aviv - and 90 kilometers north of the Ben Gurion Airport; the main international airport of Israel, and the airport you need to land at (as it is the closest international airport to the city of Haifa). From there, the easiest way to get to Haifa is by train. But don't worry! There is a train station at the airport :) Take the train to the Hof HaCarmel station in Haifa, and take either a bus or taxi from there to the university. And again, don't worry. Almost everybody here speaks English, and they all know of the university and where it is located. Getting to the university is not as difficult as people make it seem.

View of Jerusalem from a hostel I stayed at

Second is the dorm life and the student life. The campus is located on the historic slopes of Mount Carmel, with a view overlooking Haifa (as seen on one of the pictures above). The view is amazing! And so are the dorms. While I chose to live at the Federman dorms, where we live in double bedrooms, you can also choose to live at the Talia dorms, where you live in single bedrooms. Both are located right next to each other. You share an apartment with other international students, but are surrounded by apartments with Israeli students - a great way to get to know everyone on campus!

Furthermore, the student life here is very including. There is an amazing staff at the international school who are organizing all kinds of parties and excursions for us, while the Israeli students also organize several parties and events for the university students, just like at HPU. And everyone is welcome to join! I can't wait to explore more of what life here in Haifa has to offer :)

One of the beaches in Haifa