By msunada on Oct 26, 2009 in culture, picture | 1 Comment
This is not a particularly striking photo, I know, but the memories that this photo invokes for me are striking. In late January 2009, along with sixteen other Willamette students who were also spending the semester in Ireland, I spent four days in Connemara, Ireland, which is a gaeltact, or Irish gaelic-speaking region. We were […]
By msunada on Oct 17, 2009 in picture | Comments Off on Roadtripping.
By msunada on Oct 15, 2009 in Uncategorized | 9 Comments
I arrived in Ireland not really knowing what to expect other than the stereotypical (although incredibly picturesque) rolling green hills, sheep, stone walls, and the friendly, if a bit wild, Irish. After arriving there and learning more about the culture from more of an insider’s perspective I found out something that really stood out to […]
By msunada on Oct 15, 2009 in Uncategorized | 1 Comment
I returned from Keele at the beginning of the summer, approximately 14 weeks ago. Though obviously my time abroad changed me greatly, I now struggle to remember a huge percentage of the day to day happenings that characterised my study abroad experience, and despite the apparent distress of losing large portions of my experience from […]
By msunada on Oct 14, 2009 in landmarks/ famous places | 8 Comments
Prague is a city which celebrates the harmonious interaction between history and the present. Living in Prague opens your eyes to the importance of the past in defining a nation’s culture and identity. The city’s architecture and memorials not only honor the country’s predecessors and heroes but commemorate the beginning of the nation. The Charles […]
By msunada on Oct 14, 2009 in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Transitions in time and space
Taken on Keele University campus in late January, this picture reminds me strongly of my time abroad. Old brick and more modern construction existed side by side, creating a mosaic which showed the history of the university. I walked through this arch almost every day, and each time was reminded of the transition I had […]
By msunada on Oct 14, 2009 in culture, landmarks/ famous places, picture | 15 Comments
Rīga is bitterly cold in the winter. It was -18° Celsius (just under 0° Fahrenheit) in late January when I got off the plane in Latvia and walked across the tarmac to the gate, still wearing the jeans and T-shirt I had on when I left Seattle. The next three weeks only got colder. On […]
By msunada on Oct 14, 2009 in picture | 2 Comments
By msunada on Oct 14, 2009 in picture | 1 Comment
By msunada on Oct 14, 2009 in Uncategorized | 12 Comments
Spending a semester abroad affects people in many different ways; it can make the timid more assertive, the bashful more forthright, the obnoxious more respectful, the vain more humble, etc. I feel that it draws out the finer qualities in an individual as they overcome language barriers, time differences, social conventions, and culture shock. While […]
By msunada on Oct 12, 2009 in picture | 2 Comments
I took this picture as a part of my extracurricular photography class with Chilean students. It was a class of about 15 students and there was only one other person from the U.S. taking the course. My Professor can be described as an aristic hippie with a dark sense of humor. He took us to […]
By msunada on Oct 11, 2009 in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Where Am I?!
By msunada on Oct 11, 2009 in history, picture | Comments Off on ‘Legendary’
By msunada on Oct 10, 2009 in picture, scenery | Comments Off on The City that Changed Everything
Vienna was not what I was expecting. Although, in hindsight, I don’t know what I was expecting. I knew it would be different and adventurous, but I never expected to come out on the other end of study abroad feeling the way I do now. If there is one piece of advice I could give […]
By msunada on Oct 10, 2009 in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Why Go Abroad?
I’ve wanted to study abroad in France since I was about 14 years old. I started learning French my freshman year of high school, and continued through high school and college. One of the main reasons that I came to Willamette is because I knew that they had such a great study abroad program and […]
By msunada on Oct 9, 2009 in landmarks/ famous places, picture | Comments Off on Encountering History.
In London, History greets you at every turn. Literally. There are monumental locations galore: Westminster Abbey, in which a myriad of historical figures are buried; the Banqueting House, at which Charles I was beheaded; the British Library, housing manuscripts written by Dickens, Milton, Darwin, and Handel; Churchill’s Cabinet War Rooms; the Tower of London, where […]
By msunada on Oct 7, 2009 in picture | Comments Off on Empty Pews
By msunada on Oct 7, 2009 in Uncategorized | 1 Comment
I studied abroad in Valparaíso, Chile for 5 months. My experience was a sequence of completely unexpected events. Ups and downs are givens when it comes to a new cultural experience, but I didn’t realize what shape they would take in my time abroad. This entry, titled “The Doldrums,” I wrote as song lyrics around the halfway point of my stay. I chose to submit these lyrics because they really sum up just about everything I was feeling at the time; home sickness, frustration, curiosity, and helplessness.
By msunada on Oct 6, 2009 in Northern Ireland, picture | Comments Off on LegenDerry