BLOG  FROM  ABROAD:

Joseph Hunter: 

Visit Joseph's personal webpage and see tons of pictures of his stay in Japan!!  You can also read all about his ongoing experiences.  Go to:  http://josephinjapan.spaces.live.com/

Dear Friends and Family, 

        

Here is my contact information while I am abroad.  I will be staying with a host family called Matsuda. They have a 4 year old daughter and an 8 month year old daughter. I am sure it will be interesting. 

My Cell Phone: +81 9060023292 

Matsuda Family Phone: 052-805-7003 

Matsuda Family Address: #102, 8-17 Sasahara, Asada-cho, Nisshin-shi, Aichi 470-0124, JAPAN 

I would love to get letters. They are always more personal. I will be reachable at my host family's house on September 5th. As always, I am reachable by email. Also, if you have Yahoo Messenger, my username is  dozenofchickens.  We could talk online with microphones. Well, I wish everyone a good and happy year. Talk to you soon. 

Sincerely,         

Joseph

Annie Shailer:

 

Hi, Things are going fairly well for the moment over here in Rennes. My weekends have been booked solid with visiting friends in neighboring towns and going to parties and things. Work is going a lot better lately and that makes me happy. One of the teachers is out sick for 2 months because she had surgery so today I have her kids for the first time without her being around. This teacher and I are quite close and I didn't get to talk to her before she had surgery so I am a little bit sad about that. I am organizing a letter exchange between one of the classes here and afriend of mine back in Grove City. We have just sent off letters from this end (after many months of trying to get things together), so I hope to finalize the exchange in the next few weeks. We have vacation here from Feb.10-26 so the kids will be out for 2 weeks and so will I. I am going to Belgium with a group of close friends. I have been talking about going to Belgium since I got back from Europe in 2004 so I am glad to see it all come to fruition. We are able to stay for free at a house in Liège. The house belongs to a friend of one of the Spanish assistants here and there are 6 of us total going on the trip. We will be going all around Belgium (Bruges and Brussels for sure) and maybe even to Maastricht in the Netherlands because it is so close to Liège. Afterward we will be staying 2 days in Paris and then heading home to Rennes to hang out with some other friends of the Spanish assistants for the remainder of the second week. So, if that wasn’t completely confusing I will break it down. We are leaving to go to Belgium Monday Feb 12 and coming back to Paris on Feb 19 then we will be in Paris until Feb 21 after that we will return to Rennes for the rest of vacation.  I am excited because I like hanging out with the Spaniards even if they are chronically late for everything. They like to have a good time and I am happy they are my friends, at first I was apprehensive about being in such a big group all the time but now it has grown on me.  I am finally registered at the university after a small debacle in organizing everything, I am actually missing the second week of class to go to Belgium (an error on my part but I would definetly rather go to Belgium than stay in Rennes to go to class!) The people who told me I was registered for class last week had actually not filled out the paperwork like they said they would. I must be extremely patient or extremely jaded because I didn't even react with a surprise. I just filled out the paperwork myself and went on my way, everything is fine.I have also purchased a flight home on June 1st. So you may finally see my smiling face on the your side of the pond after that date. I am waiting at the moment to receive my e-ticket granted everything goes okay (knock on wood!) Okay I gotta go,Talk to you all soon, miss you! Annie

Jessenia Guzman:

 

 February 5th marked my 6th month in China, half a year and still going strong!  I arrived in Shanghai on my 21st birthday to the sight of endless construction and a breathtaking skyline; armed with mediocre Chinese skills, a sense of humor and a smile, I’ve “wasted” an entire semester.  According to most authorities and parental units, studying abroad is meant for honing skills and studying country specific materials, and for the most part that has not been my experience.  Now don’t get me wrong - my Chinese can’t be described as mediocre anymore and I do know a bit more about the Qin Dynasty than when I arrived, but what studying abroad has really given me is great friendships and a better understanding of modern China.  China is often misunderstood by the western world, perceived as the land of communism, pandas, orange chicken and rickshaws.  I’ve come to know China as my home and although I always appreciated its wonder, I now know China as a massive and modern country with a wide variety of regional cuisines, dialects and scenery.  Chinese college students are not that much different from you and me, they take their cell phones with them everywhere, they go out on the weekends (and sometimes in the middle of week), they check their Facebooks and MySpaces everyday, they try to watch all the newest movies and keep up with the newest music and fashions (although bootlegs and knock offs definitely make it a bit cheaper), and they have no idea what their futures bring but they can’t wait to see it.  I would encourage anyone, anyone interested in coming to China or going abroad anywhere to take the chance, you won’t regret it.  Although, I think the one thing I would have liked someone to tell me before I went abroad was that not everyday is an amazing adventure, and you wont enjoy every moment, as my advisor said upon arrival “you will have Shang-high days and Shang-low days”, and I think all students should know that before they head to Barcelona or Milan, or wherever they dream of going… just remember the Shang-high days always out weigh theShang-lows!!! (Chan Lao Shi, AI NI!!! Qin gaosu One-One wo shuo “NI HAO, XIAOMAO!” SHANGHAI! SHANGHAI! SHANGHAI! HOLLAH!!!!!!)