Follow-Up Project at UMass!

So as the days of 2011 continue, the stronger my sense of nostalgia becomes.  Until this day, I still feel and live the adventures of 2010!  I am beyond happy that I decided to do something so drastic with my life and I wouldn’t change not one bit.  I have come so far in the past year as a student AND as an individual.

As I continue with my Follow-Up Project here at my university community of UMass, I cannot emphasize enough how much of an advocate I’ve become for the Gilman Scholarship alone.  Any chance I can get to talk to underclassmen or peers who are planning on going abroad is a chance I get to sell them on the idea,  along with the Gilman Scholarship.  I find my self coming across the subject at least once a day!  I strongly advise anyone and everybody who even has the thought cross their mind to grasp it with their might, and go with it!  Now as I get ready to move on and graduate from college, I know that travelling and learning more about the world at large is a priority on my agenda.  I find it absolutely vital for us students to get out of our comfort zones and study internationally.  It is an amazing opportunity and such an eye opening experience that will last a lifetime.  For me it’s only been a year and the nostalgia is just killing me softly…

 

Update: This is a photograph of what my display looks like when I table at the UMass Campus Center for my Follow-Up Project.

Me tabling at the UMass Campus Center for the Gilman Scholarship. Photo by my friend Riandra.

 

 

 

Hello 2011!

Now that I am back at home, sweet home…I get to complete the second half of my proposed Gilman scholarship project.  The last 11 days of my time in London in December were all over the place.  I was wrapping things up at my internship, for school, and for me personally as well.  Unfortunately, I became very ill my last few days there so didn’t get to do everything I wanted before departing, but I am definitely going to go back to London in the future.  It definitely grew on me, and I have no regrets of my experiences there!

As I begin to work on the second portion of my project, here are a few last pictures I took my last days in London.  Reflecting on my time there since I have been back has been absolutely priceless.  Now that I get ready to return back to UMass, it’s almost a bitter-sweet transition back to my home institution, but it is my last semester…so back to business!

A luminious and elegant chandelier in The Wallace Collection. Photo by me.

A massive heel! Photo by me.

In front of the British Museum. Photo by me.

The warm Rose Garden at Regent's Park on a frosty day. Photo by me.

A lovely scene on a chilly Sunday. Photo by me.

I think I have captured London's essense. Photo by me.

St Paul's Cathedral amidst the dark yet charming London streets. Photo by me.

P.S. All things ended well academically and work-wise. I received 3 A’s and a B in my courses and I walked out of my internship with a professional reference in my field. Brilliant!

Snow Globe Reflections

In just ten days, my time studying abroad in London will come to an end.  This week specifically, will be my last week at work.  Just on Monday I had my exit interview and it is quite sad thinking about the whole situation.  First walking into my internship, I will never forget my first impressions and now walking away from it, it’s hard to believe that it grew on me.  I have become an intergral part of the team and it honestly didn’t feel like I was going to work.  Could it be due to the fact that I am not getting paid and it is just an internship?  I am not so sure that aspect should be taken that lightly simply because I gained so much out of this work xperience.  I can honestly say that I am ready to walking into the real world after graduate come this May.

Tomorrow December joins us and today was the first snowfall in London.  Maybe we will have a white Christmas afterall, who knows.  I for one am super excited about Christmas as this experience comes to an end.  I want to be reunited with my family and can’t wait to go back tell people about everything.  London has been well suited for some time now in preperation for Christmas.  From window displays to completely decked out street full of lights.  It is the best to walk down the streets at night and just feel the holiday spirit!

On a completely different note, just today I was talking with a colleague from work and we were talking about different cultural backgrounds and class.  We were making a lot of comparisons between London and the States and how things correlate or differ.  The discussion derived from her question and confusion about where I am from.  She didn’t quite understand what it meant to be Hispanic or Latino.  I personally view that distinction very simply and I know that many different views on it exist out there amonst us native Spanish speakers.  The way I view it is based all on language.  So you are Latino if you come from Latin America, which includes countries that do not speak Spanish but other languages that derived from “Latin.”  This includes Brazil speaking Portugese, etc.  Hispanic America is everywhere else within Latin America that speaks Spanish as the native language.  Its like a Latino is an Umbrella category with Hispanic within it.  So I personally, I told her I consider myself Hispanic.  Then that sparked more conversation about the differences between social classes, social classes in context with education, and within geographical locations as well.  We even spoke about other social issues that exist all over the world like racism and immigration.

Overall, this discussion made me reflect back on the cultural experiences I have had, here in London and especially this full academic year I have taken to study abroad.  It is great to have a more wordly mind frame to carry with you.  By exposing myself first hand in different cultural contexts has helped develop my overall knowledge, helped me grow as an individual, and helped me gain new skills.  I absolutely recommend that everyone considers studying abroad before graduating university, I have no regrets about doing so thus far.  I only have positive things to say about all of the experiences I have had until this point, and I cannot believe the year is coming to an end.   Studying abroad is such a brilliant learning experience and no price tag can be put on it!

Time’s running out…

Cultural differences are always in effect when you are abroad.  This was the first Thanksgiving I spent away from home, which caused plenty of tears from my dearest mother, but also resulted in plenty of personal reflection.  Not only did this make me realize where I was and how absent the Thanksgiving tradition was in London with having a full day of work on Thursday and class on Friday, but also made me ponder upon the actual holiday and what it truly is all about.

Photo by me.

First of all, my family being from the Dominican Republic, we don’t necessarily celebrate the holiday over there but since we live in the United States and have been for so long, we now part-take in the holiday, with our own cultural twists of course.  It makes me realize how we have embraced both our American identity whilst still sticking to our roots.  I think that is the beauty within the United States, the diversity drawn from the many heritages.  The actual holiday of Thanksgiving can be seen in many ways, it can be viewed in it’s dimension of how the Native Americans helped the new Pilgrims to harvest new crops and food for the fall/winter season to survive and how they were grateful for plentiful harvest.  On the other hand, many scholars associate it with the “exploitation and genocide” of the Native Americans by the European settlers.  That is a whole can of juicy worms I will leave untouched on the shelf, but at least mention due to my knowledge.  I prefer talking about what it has transformed to today, a day of being thankful for all the blessings you have.  This Thanksgiving, I was truly thankful to have a loving, supporting, and beautiful family that works hard for what we have.  Even though times are rough for everyone, at the end of the day…

I don’t care how poor a man is; if he has family, he’s rich.  ~Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford, “Identity Crisis,” M*A*S*H (http://www.quotegarden.com/family.html).

Now that my time in London is coming to an end, with just two weeks left, I have began to reflect on my time here already.  It is unbelievable that December joins us NEXT WEEK!  I am so happy I decided to grab the bull by the horns and come and study abroad here.  The main things that have really rounded up this experience for me was living with a host family, working as an intern within this global city, and soaking in the artistic culture.  It has been truly rewarding and I am taking a lifelong amount of experience and knowledge with me.

The Carousel of Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park. Photo by me.

Just last night I saw “Gandhi and Coconuts” by Bettina Gracias at the Arcola Theater, and all I can say is that it is officially one of my favorite comedies!  What a brilliant show!  It took place in Studio 2 with an audience of roughly 60 people, and it had the whole crowd bursting in laughter and on an emotional roller-coaster with the characters.

Gandhi and Coconuts directed by Janet Steel. Photo from (www.kalitheatre.co.uk)

This overall oportunity has completely rounded out my self designed major “Artistic Entrepreneurship” through the Bachelor’s Degree with Individual Concentration program (BDIC) at UMass.  It has given me hands on experience within the performing arts industry and I have learned so much through the courses I have taken here as well.  Studying abroad in a particular place, especially one that is directly interconnected with your field of study, makes the knowledge you gain ten times more powerful.  It was one of the main reasons why I chose London as a study abroad location.  With so much of their own art history amidst the extensive European art history that exists and the lively theatre culture, it was no question that I would gain invaluable knowledge and experience here.

Christmas decorations on Oxford Street! Photo by me.

This week I enter my last and final week at my internship and I can gladly say I became an integral part of the team.  I remember when I first started, all I wanted to do is make some kind of impression since the theatre goes through people very frequently.  I can confidently say that I went above and beyond my goal through the recognition and variety of work I accomplished; it can speak for itself!  Just after that, only one week remains to my time here and I want it to end with a BANG!

Studying? Abroad? Nah…

So after an epic failure to make my flight to Milan and visit a friend, this week I bring up the topics of planning and school abroad.

It was the date of 12/11/10 and coincidently, everything worked out backwards just like the date.  Everything occurred in reverse sequence that day and it was depressing.  I could of been on my way to Italy for the first time and to visit a friend where we mutually anticipated seeing each other.  Instead, I was sitting on the Terravision coach back to Victoria Station in London (luckily I was able to use my round-trip ticket for Sunday that same night).

The South Bank of London at night from Tower Bridge! Photo by me.

This all happened through poor planning and my lack of knowledge.  Being poor is another factor because I could of easily waited for the next flight the morning after but for £100! Ahem…that’s all I had to my name at the time.

Why didn’t I think to leave earlier on a Friday afternoon?  Why did I completely forget it was going to be Friday evening traffic getting out of London on my way to Stansted?  Why did I complete rely on public transit in such a situation?  Out of human nature routine, that’s why.

Just two weeks before I had taken the same exact coach company and it got me their way before I was told by several people.  So from that prior experience, I thought the same again for this…without regarding the time difference.  FAIL!  Moreover, who knew that I would also be lost in translation by standing at the wrong bus stop because the degree symbol for us is used as a number symbol here as well…

Before I continue to emotionally dive into this story yet again, I will continue on with the things I got from this hard hitting learning experience.  First and foremost, after missing my first flight ever, I have never felt like I lost so much money so easily.  For me, money means a lot…especially at times like these.  I continue to emphasize my money issues because I believe it is the number one factor in studying abroad.  I want to make it clear that I came into this experience just 11 weeks ago with a mere £1100 pounds.  This was all I had after saving up this summer and whatever I had left over from my Gilman Scholarship after purchasing my flights and Visa.  This was all I had for school materials, cultural experiences, monthly credit card payments, gifts, outings, and the list goes on.  It doesn’t get realer than this.

£10 vs. €35...money out of my pocket. Photo by me.

What I am trying to get at is that, regardless of the infinite amounts of planning you can possibly do for something, things are still completely out of your hands.  It is unpredictable the occurrences that are bound to sporadically present themselves in front of you.  This is when you turn to faith, believing in something you can’t see.  That’s what I’m running on…

Nonetheless, it is another lesson learned and one I get to share with you all.

As my time in London comes close to an end, just three weeks left, it is hard to realize that time has literally slipped us by.  With that said, it is not only the end of our trip that is approaching, but the end of our ACADEMIC SEMESTER as well!  Whoops!  School?  Say what?

Royal Albert Hall from Kensington Gardens. Photo by me.

It is so easy to forget why you are studying abroad in the first place.  As a student, you get caught up so much with the new environment around you that schoolwork is the last thing you remember.  I am a victim of it, and it is another inevitable aspect of studying abroad.  If there are any valuable experiences and skills you get out of it all, they include time management, planning, organization, budgeting, and of course procrastination.

Regardless of forgetting, you realize that the reason why you were able to participate in an study abroad opportunity is because you are…STUDYING, by being a student.  At the end of the day, what you learn while being in a new place, amidst a new culture, through new frames of mind, and a bunch of fellow classmates doing the same exact thing is priceless.  Sometimes learning while being out of your comfort zone helps the overall experience and learning process itself.  For example, one of my courses titled Understanding Britain Today is a course that deals with the many aspects of the global, metropolis of London through different disciplines.  Politics, Economics, Sociology, Communications, and History are some of the predominate disciplines which truly make this course interdisciplinary.  The best part of it all is that the class integrates field studies of what we deal with in class lecture, and there is nothing better than learning from authentic experience!  It is one of the best aspects of studying abroad, especially if there is a particular culture or place you are interested in learning more about at first hand.

A double rainbow behind the London Eye. Photo by me.

Within the next few weeks, I will be working, writing, reflecting, and presenting A LOT!  With all this on my plate and before I know it, I will be in Gatwick airport waiting to fly home.  But while I am still HERE, in London, I will continue to make the most of my remaining time.

P.S. On the bright side, the WORLD PREMIERE of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 was fantastic!

I was literally in front of the red carpet!