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Life on Mitla

Everyone’s familiar with the classic waking up to the crow of a rooster trope, but how many of you wake up to the sound of a mooing cow? I do! No, it’s not a real cow, but rather the song for the gas trucks here in Oaxaca that wake me up every morning with their iconic, sorry *distinctive*, song. I have to say it starts my day off right, every time. (listen here: https://soundcloud.com/mattkrupnick/gas-de-oaxaca-mexico).

Entering my third week here in Oaxaca, I can safely say that this jingle is one of the few things I can guarantee happens every day. SIT focuses on experiential learning and language immersion that crams 12 credits worth of material into ten weeks. This gives students the opportunity to participate in a month-long independent research or internship experience to wrap up their semester. The fast-paced, intensive, and intentional nature of the program leads no two days or weeks to look the same. While I certainly can’t give you a detailed look at what an average day entails, I figured I would provide a glimpse into my life on Mitla (aka the street I live on).

Mi Escuela

Unlike other study abroad programs, I am not directly enrolled at a local university. Rather, I take comprehensive courses at my program center that doubles as a community center, language immersion school, and more. Most days around 9 AM, I arrive with my seven other classmates to start my day with a variety of activities that include classes, seminars, NGO visits, and more. I grab my complimentary coffee and pan dulce, watch the ladies doing their daily tai chi, and mentally prepare myself.

My school’s mural depicting migration, US intervention in Latin America, & MX culture.

Everything centers around themes of Mexican culture, inclusive language, borders and migration, and political economy. When not physically in a classroom, our classes can take place in a myriad of places around Oaxaca. Anywhere from markets to art studios or other culturally significant sites (hello Zapotec pyramids). Due to the intimate and interactive nature of my classes, four hours of straight learning often goes by faster than one would think. One thing I am growing to enjoy is the communal, collaborative, and creative nature of my learning environment. This means classes designed for group work toward a common learning objective and that incorporate artistic twists, such as poetry or finger painting. While it certainly is an adjustment, it is teaching me to love learning again.

Feeling like a 5-yr old again w/ all of the art projects I get to do :) — Feeling like a 5-yr old again w/ all of the art projects I get to do 🙂

Time with Dee

Quite honestly, I feel like I am living with my grandma with the insane amount of food Dee tries to feed me. There is certainly never a day I go hungry. It is common here to have a large breakfast (somewhere between 9 and 10 AM). This includes anything from massive fruit bowls (my personal favorite), huevos & quesadillas, or chilaquiles, accompanied by a side of the daily news on TV. Following breakfast, Dee heads to the market and I walk to school.

Me enjoying my almost-daily quesadilla w/ salsa

Around 2 PM, I return to “Minutos Para Ganar” on the TV and just in time to eat too much food. Think chicken mole (a must-try), tortas, and enchiladas verdes. Promptly at 2:30 pm, the channel switches to “Sortelegio de Amor” and telenovela time begins. My afternoons quickly fill with homework, predictions for tomorrow’s episodes, and plenty of platicando (talking) before class round 2.

After my evening class, nothing brings me as much joy as our evening cafecito (coffee) ritual. Most evenings we enjoy cappuccinos from our favorite shop, Caramello, accompanied by pan dulce (pastries) or galletas (cookies) with strawberry marmalade. Afterward, I bid Dee an “hasta mañana” and head off to my room to finish my homework. It’s simple, but it all feels like home, even the mooing gas trucks 🙂

Covid Summer

Everyone prepares to go abroad differently. For me and COVID I have had many many MANY new fallback plans as COVID is ever evolving. As I mentioned in my last post, putting my heart into the adventure as of now is still hard for me. I have been holding off on cutting ties to classes and housing accommodations at Hope College in the event that things could still fall through. I have worked in close contact with my advisor Matt Farmer, the department chair, and the rest of the staff on back up plans but am feeling more and more confident as I see friends start to leave on their adventures. The newest hurdle was the color change the EU put on travel to Europe from the United States. Luckily this did not change anything more as I am fully vaccinated. I do not have to quarantine when I get there, I just need proof of vaccination status and a negative COVID test. Every step we accomplish gets me more and more excited to go abroad. Stay tuned for a unique relationship between the “Hope” schools!

Münster Market

The Münster church stands in the center of Freiburg. It is one of the only medieval buildings that survived the destruction of the city during World War II. Building of the church started around 1200 and was not completed until the 16th century, resulting in an intriguing combination of Romanesque and Gothic building styles. 90% of the church building is original, and Catholic mass and organ concerts occur weekly.

All around the medieval church, a market takes place Monday-Saturday mornings. The market runs all year long. The prepared food and farmers’ market is on one side of the church, and the handcrafts stands are on the other side of the church.

Almost every stand with prepared food sells different types of German sausage on Brötchen, which are a German specialty similar to bread rolls. The classic Freiburg sausage is the “lange rote.”

The Freiburg "lange rote" on baguette — The Freiburg “lange rote” on baguette

The farmers’ market has numerous stands with produce, flowers, and plants. During the week, most of the stands have only produce or flowers. But, on Fridays and Saturdays, there are also stands with meat, cheese, bread, olives, and spices.

The handcrafts side of the market has numerous stands with wood crafts, typical to the Black Forest area. The entire marketplace is in the cobblestone square surrounding the church, and hundreds of people go to the market every day. Many locals do their regular produce shopping at the market, and many students, professionals, families, and tourists buy their lunch at the market every day.

Sister Schools

What is neat about Hope College and Liverpool Hope university (LHU) is that they are sister schools! This means that I can enroll directly into the school without going through a third-party organization. This is nice because there are less steps to go through, and makes the process a lot easier on me.

My advisor is Matt Farmer. He studied at Hope College and went to Liverpool Hope University for his undergraduate abroad experience. It has been very nice to have Matt to talk to about his dance, and general abroad experience.

As we were going through the process, there were some steps we did not expect such as international student classes being different than the classes listed under the major and minor requirements. As we got into the middle of summer, I received an email from the university with a list of classes for international students to take. These were not the classes I had intended, on my list, to take. I was hoping for some technique classes, but none of these were on the list. LHU told me they were only available for me to take if I went for a whole year. I would have loved to do that but there was no chance I could fit in all the classes I needed to graduate this year. This being because of the credit load difference in classes at hope verses classes abroad. Classes at hope are 1-2 credits and abroad they would be translated back into 4 credits so I would run out of credits too quickly abroad.

Here’s the positive!!! I worked with the religion, writing, and dance department to help figure out what I could substitute for requirements. I am so thankful that Hope College was willing to work with me and work around the parameters set for us between the two schools. So, we are still back on track! All this being said, if going abroad is something you want, you CAN still go and get what you want out of the program even if it is a little out of the ordinary. In my opinion, dance is one of the hardest programs to go abroad with because all dance programs are so different from one another and there are so many qualification variations.

Getting My Bearings

What a whirlwind my study abroad journey has been thus far. I am thankful I made it to Barcelona safely and in a timely manner. But, that was not the case for everyone. My flight to Barcelona left from JFK airport the day that Hurricane Ida was rolling through the East Coast. Luckily, my flight endured minimal delay and we took off with little turbulence. However, about twenty students from my program flew out of Newark airport. Their flights got delayed for days, luggage was lost, and it was a mess.

Both of my roommates in Barcelona got caught in Newark airport. I spent a few nights alone in our empty apartment before they arrived. I felt more secure and comfortable having more people in the apartment.

Our apartment is just a five minute walk from where we take classes, which is very rare. We have a three bedroom, two bathroom apartment which is plenty of room for the three of us. There was some frustrating confusion with our room situation provided by IES. However, this is their first full semester in almost two years having students back in Barcelona, so I understand some hiccups.

We are staying in a wonderful location with a café and an excellent tapas bar steps from our front door. Overall, I enjoy my roommates and love our apartment. Our view is not front-facing towards the street, but we have a beautiful view of gardens and other apartments near us.

Far From Home

8 hours and 3,848 miles later… I have made it to London! What a whirlwind this past week has been! From arriving last Tuesday and adjusting to the new time zone along with the anticipated jet lag to slowly navigating my way around the city, my time here has been filled with nothing short of activity and excitement! My body has been overloaded with such adrenaline and excitement this past week that I’ve been looking forward to having a little bit of down time as classes start. I think I have finally come to the realization that I will be living here for the next 4 months. It has all felt like a far-off fantasy beforehand!

Anxious to start exploring the city, this was from one of the first days after I had just arrived in the city! A friend and I took a walk along Thames River and got a chance to see more of central London! The House of Parliaments is seen in the background on the left.

My first week here has been filled with learning how to navigate my way around the city through the different modes of London transportation (the tube, and yes those big double deckered red buses), getting used to walking on the left and standing on the right, knowing where I can see the endless options of theatre productions, finding the best spot for afternoon tea, Sunday roast and of course a delicious crumpet, and soaking up all this city has to offer! There’s so much to see in such a short amount of time. As this can be quite an overwhelming realization, I think the best way to make the most out of a study abroad experience is knowing what’s important to you and making sure you hit all the places on your list!

This picture captures a mounted trooper on duty at the entrance of the horse guards. Shortly after this picture was taken, I unexpectedly witnessed the horse guard parade where a cavalry of horses come to switch out the horses who have been stationed there for an hour. A cool experience!

With as big of a city as London is, there’s something for everyone! This has been something that I’ve quickly grown to appreciate here. No matter what your interests or goals are for studying abroad, London seems to have quite the spread! All walks of life pass through this city on a daily basis and within the recent decades, London has actually become one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world. From being here just a week, it has opened my eyes to the lives people live outside of the US and has already given me a greater appreciation for cultural awareness (one of my goals)! Cheers to the first week here in London!

Closing in!

Hi everyone,

I am so excited to share my semester abroad with you all! I wanted to start by explaining my choice with Liverpool Hope University is followed by how COVID has shaped my abroad experience.

I chose Liverpool Hope University because of the arts department. In the field of dance, it can be challenging to find an abroad program in English. I know of a student who studied in France two years ago, but other than that, not many dancers leave Hope College. Hope College has been working hard to change this and find more dance opportunities abroad for students, but it is still a struggle for us all. Therefore, I am very happy that Liverpool Hope University has a dance program embedded in the university’s international options.

COVID-19 has definitely made my pre departure experience difficult as there are so many unknown factors. Even when they are known, they can change very quickly. I feel like I always must have one foot in and one foot out, and not put my full heart into the experience quite yet. I think once I LAND in Manchester, I will feel the full range of excitement that is there, but I am scared to get my hopes up for now; even though we are only a few days out!

I am not worried about going abroad. In fact, I am so ready for the independence. I will not be going with anyone I know, but I think this is better for me as I get to learn more about myself as well as the city with no exterior influences. I live far away from my parents so I feel like I will be alright, but I am prepared for some home-sickness for family as well as adaptation to cultural changes. The director of the dance department and my advisor, Mathew Farmer, studied at Liverpool Hope University as well. We met to talk about the program as well as the flow of life in Liverpool. I am so thankful for his incite on some of the cultural changes between Holland Michigan and Liverpool England. This has been semesters in the coming and I am counting down the hours till I get on the plane!

Let the London Adventures Begin!

Oh my goodness, my first week in London has already come and gone. IES’s orientation was a perfect balance of informative and helpful when it came to navigating the city, culture, and classrooms while allowing us enough free time to do anything I wanted without being rushed. I saw beautiful architecture and street art as well as explored a few of the numerous street markets in the city. We learned and saw a lot in a very short period of time, and that only made me more excited to dive deeper into everything we have done so far.

In my spare time away from the set schedule, I got to see my first musical in the West End! A fellow theatre student and I watched The Prince of Egypt, which is based on the film of the same name, and wow was that an incredible piece of theatre. We walked away feeling more energized about our future studies. Plus, even though it was almost a week ago now, I am still thinking about the choreography and music of the piece.

This week was definitely a broad overview of everything I want to see more in-depth as this semester progresses. I saw everything from Big Ben and the Tower of London to the outdoor book market under Waterloo Bridge. But most importantly, this week has made the fact that I am actually spending a whole semester here sink in. Before, studying abroad felt like a faraway dream as COVID kept interfering with my plans to do so in the past. But no, it’s real and it’s exhilarating.

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Bienvenido a Granada!

I cannot believe it has already, and only, been a week since I arrived in Granada, Spain, for my Spanish immersion program through IES. I say both already and only because part of me feels like I have been here for a month with the amazing amount of places I’ve explored, and the great friendships I’ve made. Meanwhile, the other part of me is still trying desperately to catch up on sleep from my incredibly long travel day on September 1st and prepare for classes to start.

On the plane to Malaga and Granada, Spain — Final moments in the United States before takeoff!

Traveling to Granada

After a train, subway ride, two nearly-missed flights, a taxi, and many long delays, I arrived in Malaga, a city in the south of Spain, on September 2nd, and was welcomed by incredible warmth and views akin to coastal Florida.

In my 45 minutes of free time before a bus took a group of us students to our residence halls, or *residencias,* I took advantage of the beach that was only a five minute walk away. Although I was dead tired and had been wearing the same clothes for over 24 hours, I hiked up my pants and got in the beautiful waves of the Mediterranean. I had the courage to accept the challenge and dive right into the adventure, which set a good tone for the beginning of my year abroad in Spain.

45 minutes in Málaga: good things come to those who embrace the adventure!

Once our bus arrived in Granada, my new home for the year, we took a taxi to our student residencia, called Tribeca, and the taxi driver made fun of us because of how big our suitcases were. I was embarrassed because I had tried so hard to pack light for my long stay, but obviously not light enough. My one suitcase and one carry-on barely fit in the trunk of the taxi!

Daily life and Orientation

In the week+ since I arrived in Granada, I have done many wonderful things, especially through the amazing IES orientation program. Our daily schedule during orientation looked something like this:

Breakfast in your residence before arriving at the IES center downtown for Spanish and cultural lessons at 9 am.
Take a 30 minute coffee and churro break from 11:30-noon. Then, class en la calle (in the street) to practically apply what we had learned to daily life until 1:30.
Lunch from 1:30 to 3 pm in the residencia, followed by the commencement of the daily siesta. In Spain, siesta is the time during which all shops are closed for an extended lunch and relaxation time. Also, the streets are quieter during siesta than during the middle of the night, and lasts until around 4/4:30. Mostly only the very young and the very old actually sleep during siesta, but us jet-lagged international students took full advantage of the opportunity to catch some Zs.

Following siesta is usually a walk around the city lead by one of the orientadores or the orientation leaders who are current students at the local University of Granada. We usually hike to beautiful views of the city or try the most popular spots to grab drinks and tapas (free appetizers that come with each drink that are famously Spanish!).

Brooke Kale hiking Granada, el Sacromonte

If there is any time leftover in the day after the walks and tapas with the orientadores, many students have begun exploring the night culture in Granada, which features discotecas (dance clubs), bars, flamenco dancers and musicians on the street into the early hours of the morning.

Exploring the culture

In Spain, it is much more socially acceptable for any age to stay out late multiple times a week at discotecas or bars for tapas. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has obviously complicated this cultural aspect. With the utmost of caution while I adjust and evaluate the safety situation here in Spain, as well as to shake my jetlag, I have not yet gone to any discotecas, but instead am slowly easing into the night life by trying out the tapas scene!

My favorite appetizer that I have tried yet is called patatas bravas, in which baked potato wedges are drenched in a delectable sauce with a flavor reminiscent of curry. It pairs well with a drink popular in the hot summers of Southern Spain called Tinto de Verano, which is an iced summery red wine mixed with bubbly lemon soda. It is quite refreshing after walking through the sunny city and sitting in the non-air conditioned classrooms and residencias.

The first week in review

The absolute highlight of my time in Granada so far has been the wonderful people that I have met. From my fellow IES students, the orientadores, the instructors at the IES program center, to the staff and local students in my residence hall, everyone has been so welcoming. I have learned so much and enjoyed myself thoroughly from the very start. Ari, my spanish class teacher who also lead us on many adventures in the city each day during orientation, and Kike, the chef in my residence hall who cooks us gourmet 3-course meals, have already become great friends who are very patient with me and my developing Spanish skills, and both of whom are already so invested in my adventure here in Granada. My time here, thus far, would not have been as amazing if it weren’t for their contributions.

IES orientation group photo in Granada — My orientation group and our fearless leader, Ari, on the bottom right!

Overall, my first week has been a whirlwind of events and excitement and new things. I am excited to share my adventures in studying abroad with you as they unfold!

Spanish	English
residencias	Student dorms/residences
el amor de la vida	the love of life
patatas bravas	a tapa of curried potatoes
tinto de verano	a sparkling summer wine
discotecas	dance clubs
en la calle	in the street

*Spanish/English Translation Key*

36481318334743,27.2955137564566,36.33967306019596 ↩
88656895625364,57.11343104374637 ↩

Hiking in the Black Forest

I have been in Freiburg for just over a week now, and I am loving the area. From where I live, I can see the hills outlining the city, and there are lots of trees and parks inside the city. A historically significant hill called the Schlossberg is about a fifteen-minute walk from my apartment. It is the former location of a fortress built in the Middle Ages to protect the city. Although no part of the fortress remains, there are many hiking paths and lookouts on the hill, as well as a tower at the top with an amazing view of the city.

Opposing views from the tower on the Schlossberg.

The day after I hiked the Schlossberg, my group of study-abroad students took a bus to Schluchsee and Titisee. These are two beautiful lakes surrounded by the hills of the Black Forest (Schwarzwald). The bus dropped us off on one side of the Schluchsee.

After about an hour of hiking along the side of the lake, we stopped at a restaurant near the lake. This restaurant could only be reached by foot or bike, but it was still very popular. After lunch, we hiked another hour to where the bus picked us up on the other side of the lake. The path we walked was relatively flat, as it was right along the lake. To the left of the trail, the ground rose in a step incline, often covered with large mossy rocks. The forest consisted of dense rows of pine trees. On the right side of the path, the shoreline was rocky with spots of sandy beach. We crossed a large dam and a few small bridges on our hike.

The next stop was Titisee. This lake is a highlight tourist destination in the Black Forest, and the town on the lake was filled with gift shops and cafés. A popular activity on Titisee is paddle boating, and many boats were on the lake despite the fact that it rained intermittently the entire time we were there. The lake is surrounded by forested hills, and all the roads surrounding the town are on a much higher elevation, so you can see the lake and town in the valley as you drive by. A foot path also winds around the entire lake. After we explored the town on Titisee, we headed back to Freiburg.

Mi Escuela

Time with Dee

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Traveling to Granada

Daily life and Orientation

Exploring the culture

The first week in review

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