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These Minnesota college students get an A+ for adventure. Follow along as they explore the world while studying abroad.
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Welcome to The Naki.
Posted by: Matt Wagar under Adventure travel, Environmental travel, International travel, Travel Updated: May 24, 2012 - 6:21 AM
I apologize for the lack of attention I've been giving to this blog, but I've been running around so much it feels like I haven't had much time to sit down and record some of my adventures.
Last weekend however, I was invited to spend the weekend in Taranaki with a friend of mine from University. Taranaki is the region that makes up the western peninsula of New Zealand's North Island. The defining characteristic, being Mt. Egmont (Taranaki being the Maori name) which is a massive cinder cone in the center of the peninsula. The national park surrounding the mountain is almost a perfect circle, and the mountain is considered to be one of the most cylindrical volcanoes in the world!
Mt. Taranaki from the Dawson Falls car park
Aside from the mountain, Taranaki is a relatively flat region given that most all of New Zealand is built into some sort of hill or incline. The region is known for it's farms and off shore oiling rigs. There's even a heated debate underway over the use of fracking within the region and the country as a whole.
While I was there, I stayed in the coastal town of Opunake, called "Ops" by the locals. Opunake has a population of about 1,500 and an even smaller feel to it. Farms run right up to the shore line and meet drastic cliffs that drop off into the ocean.
The edge of Opunake
While I was there, I had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the mountain as well as some other cool geological features that resulted from it's most recent eruption.
Dawson Falls. The falls were formed from pyroclastic flows following the last eruption of Mt. Egmont 250 years ago!
A hike up to the ski field on Mt. Taranaki
What truly made this a great weekend though, aside from the scenery was the hospitality I received. If you or anyone you know is planning on traveling to New Zealand anytime soon, I highly reccommend looking into farm stays. Staying on a farm is become a much more popular and accessible form of accommodation in New Zealand and really is a great way to connect with the country. My friend's farm was relaxing, clean and had an irreplaceable homey feel to it, something any traveler would appreciate.
View from the farm where I stayed.
We were even able to enjoy some roast sheep that was, to say it discreetly, fresh?
We also got to explore the larger city in Taranaki; New Plymouth. New Plymouth is a great hub for outdoor adventure and architecture that is very reflective of the region. A 12 km coastal walkway surrounds the town, with great views of the ocean, and if you're their at sunset, the colors are astounding. A highlight of our trek, and worth going out of the way for, was the Te Rewa Rewa bridge. Built to frame the mountain, it reflects the strong surfing culture of the region, and resembles a wave breaking over Taranaki.
New Plymouth's coastal walkway
Te Rewa Rewa
As always, if you ever find yourself on the west coast of any landmass, take some time to watch the sunset.
An Exception to the Chinese Rule
Posted by: Emmy Storms under International travel, People, Travel Updated: May 6, 2012 - 8:56 AMOne of my favorite parts of our program here in Beijing has been all of the Chinese students I've gotten the chance to become friends with. Here's a profile of one of them.
“I don’t think she has any fun at all! I’ve known her three years now, and not once has she stayed out anywhere past 8 pm. Not even the library!” Li You is gesturing emphatically as she describes a roommate who she finds particularly boring, laughing at how dull the girl is.
Li talks rapidly in perfect, unaccented English, with no trace of hesitation or uncertainty. Her silver Tiffany’s bracelet jangles as she adjusts her green flannel shirt; both are souvenirs from her recent trip to America. Her black hair is cut in a sleek, stylish bob that sways with her as she explains how different she is from her roommates at Beijing’s University of International Business and Economics.
“I’m not normal, I don’t want you to think all Chinese students are like me or that they all think like I do,” she said. “I’m different from most UIBE students.” It’s true that Li seems to have little in common with some of her classmates. They’re majoring in engineering while she dreams of being a journalist; they are homesick for their parents while she longs for American adventures; they refuse to even go out to a bar for one drink while Li loves going clubbing on occasion.
Even at birth, Li was already different from her future classmates. In a country of only children, she was born in the Fujian province as the second daughter to a Xiamen businessman and his wife. “My parents really wanted a son, so they had to pay large fines for violating the one-child policy when both my younger brother and I were born,” Li explained. She spent much of her childhood fighting with her older sister and younger brother, an experience very different from her northern roommates’ solitary upbringing.
Once she started school, Li’s gift for academics continued to differentiate her from others. Even in elementary school, her teachers recognized her exceptional intelligence and eagerness to learn; she was constantly being encouraged to consider more advanced classes. She was only in primary school her father gave her a biography of a Chinese girl who had traveled all the way to America to study at Harvard. Even as a child, Li was a voracious reader and finished the book in a matter of days. From then on, she said, America was her dream.
Knowing that she would need top grades to do all that she wanted to, Li continued to impress her teachers. She tested into her province’s most prestigious middle school and high school, which was more than an hour away from her family’s house. Because she lived on a boarding school campus from the age of 13, she said she became used to being away from her family at a young age.
Neither of her parents went to college, because they grew up during the Cultural Revolution when all schools were shut down. Though her father became a successful businessman even without university training, Li said, “My parents made it a priority to give me and my siblings the opportunity to attend university.”
When it came time to pick a university to attend, she knew she wanted to go even farther away from home than her high school. She had originally wanted to go to a university in America, but her dad deemed that to be a bit too far, so she settled on Beijing instead. Li loves her family, but like many 21 year-olds, she appreciates the freedom that being so far from home gave her. “If I had stayed by my family, I still would’ve had a curfew,” she said. “They would have their own opinions about people I was dating and everything else I was doing.”
Out of the realm of her parents’ supervision, freshman year of college was a time of exploration for Li. “That was my first taste of freedom, so I did a lot of rebellious things I would never have done in high school,” she said. “I even learned how to smoke cigarettes, though I only do that every once in a while. I enjoy my life here in Beijing, I can do what I want.”
It was her junior year of college when Li finally got to fulfill her dreams of visiting America. She spent half a year doing a study abroad program at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale that broadened her views of the world. It didn’t take her long to adjust to American culture. Shortly after her arrival in Illinois, Li was learning American idioms, partying with American friends, and even dating an American boy. She said she found that some of her views changed during her time in America.
Li said, “I began to question small parts of Chinese life that I’d never thought of before.” In China, it’s fairly common to see a guy walking around carrying his girlfriend’s purse; it’s simply considered the polite thing to do, similar to the American tradition of men holding doors open for women. Li was confused at first when the American boy she was dating didn’t carry her purse, but her roommate explained to her that American boys didn’t really do that. Li said, “I got used to it, and now I just think it’s so weird when I see boys carrying their girlfriend’s purses here in China. I never would have thought that before.”
That was a minor example, but Li found her perspective on bigger issues changing as well. Her whole life, she was taught that proper Chinese girls follow certain societal rules. In America though, Li discovered that it’s hard to have any fun if you follow all of those rules. Her face flushed and she became visibly irritated as she lists off things her roommates and most Chinese girls consider taboo. “They won’t drink any alcohol, not even one drink,” she explained. “They would never ever get drunk. They don’t dance. They don’t wear makeup. They don’t stay out late. They don’t have sex before marriage. They won’t do anything fun!”
Although she had been starting to feel annoyed with her “boring” roommates even before she went to America, Li’s time in Illinois solidified any doubt she had. “I want to continue to travel and learn more about the world outside of China now,” Li said. She is currently studying for the GRE and plans on applying to American schools for graduate programs in journalism. Her father was hoping that she would use her accounting major to move back home to Xiamen and get a job there after graduation, but that is not what Li has in mind.
“He didn’t want me to pursue journalism because he doesn’t think I can make money in that,” she said, but Li said she told him that she was determined to do it and wouldn’t change her mind. Finally, her father relented, saying that if she was set on doing it, he wanted her to “try her best” at it.
Although she wants to go to graduate school in America, Li says that she plans on returning to China after graduating. Unless of course, “I fall in love with an American or something crazy like that.” Then for a moment, Li’s perpetual cheer turned serious and she said, “China will always be my home. I want to see the world, but I know I’ll still want to come home in the end.”
*Note: The student's name has been changed to protect her privacy.
A Relaxing Weekend In Toowoomba
Posted by: Devin Berglund under Gardening and landscaping, Parks and recreation, Workshops and conferences Updated: April 24, 2012 - 11:14 PMI just got back from a weekend in Toowoomba with my boyfriend. It was a nice break from the loud city of Brisbane. You know the old western movies with the old rustic iron wind mills? Well, Toowoomba has them. Toowoomba is nestled on the edge of the Great Dividing Range Mountains. The Mountains are not exactly what a Midwesterner would call "Mountains", but to the Australian's they are mountains. Toowoomba is also known as the Garden City of Australia.
Beautiful View!
But a lot of the area resembled home to me.
Fields
Some people might think I am crazy, but when I saw the fields It made me excited. I guess after seeing beaches and tropical trees and flowers - my eyes wanted to be refreshed with the familiar, since I am from the small North Western Minnesota town, Twin Valley I am used to the fields and harvest time since it is a huge farming community. The planted fields and unplanted fields made me feel at home. Small things catch my attention and make me excited!
Dirt fields... and us driving.
While in Toowoomba, Johan and I went to a writer's workshop where Kathy Hoopmann, Australian writer spoke about Memoir writing. She wrote the book All Cats Have Aspergers Syndrome. Check out her work at her website: www.kathyhoopmann.com/index.html It was an interesting workshop because we talked about real stories. Our stories as humans. It was so interesting because, being the only American in the workshop I was surrounded by the stories of so many people from all over the world. Johan, my boyfriend was originally from South Africa. There were a few Australian's from Toowoomba and a near by town called Warwick (It made me think of when I was travelling in England because there was a Warwick Castle.) There was also an Italian. Kathy had lived in the United Arab Emirates for a few years with her family. It was so interesting hearing all these people talk about different things that happened in their lives. One story I thought was funny, was that one of the people from Toowoomba spoke about how when they were younger they would have to burry the cows when they died and if they didn't burry them deep enough they would have to saw off the cows legs. One such time there was a group of bicyclers riding past. Imagine the looks on their faces when they road past? What kind of stories do you have in your past? How about your family?
Kathy Hoopmaan and I
It was absolutely an amazing time. Then after the workshop, Johan and I went to Queens Park in Toowoomba and walked around. Being from Minnesota - one of my favorite things in the Autumn is when the leaves fall and change colours. It is Autumn here in Australia, right now. The trees in Brisbane don't really change much, which is a pitty. But in other areas I guess the leaves do change. Johan knew this and noticed something before I even did. He noticed that there were some trees that were changing colours. He handed me two beautiful red leaves. The red leaves are my favorite and I pressed them in my journal! My first red Australian leaves!
Red Leaves
Beautiful tree
Leaf Ears
It was a lovely Autumn day. We went and sat at a picnic table under some trees and listened to natures music.
US
We had a lovely time in Toowoomba for the weekend and the writer's workshop. I wish we would have had more time in Toowoomba because there were definitely more things to see. Different day hikes and countless other views to be enjoyed.
Beautiful... the country in this area looks so much like North Dakota and some areas of Minnesota. It drove me crazy!!!
To find out more about Toowoomba, check out this webiste. It is definitely a lovely area. I will most definitely go back and check out Toowoomba again soon! www.toowoomba.org/
Check out my personal blog for more information and details on different areas of my journey in Australia.
devinberglund.wordpress.com/
I looked at the calendar this morning and was just astounded to see that the date was April 17. April 17! By my count, this means I have a mere sixteen days left in the country that I’ve come to call my home over the past year. I have finally learned which direction I need to look for cars before crossing the street, how to pronounce Luimnigh (Limerick in Irish), what the proper rules for drinking a Guinness are, which candy bars are AMAZING and which ones are disgusting with raisins, that black pudding isn’t actually pudding, and how to understand the thick Irish accents that are theoretically speaking English but sound like another language. And now it’s time to leave?
As I prepare to pack up my things and return to the land of dollar bills and large portions, all I want to do is appreciate every single moment of every single day without forgetting for one second how lucky I am to be here. I love this country, but even more I love the people and the experiences I have had both in Ireland and throughout Europe. This might be difficult, as it’s already rained about six times today and I am not going to miss that, but I’m doing my best! Seriously, though, I will be heartbroken to leave Ireland and the University of Limerick though I know I will return one day. And there you have it, since this is starting to sound like a pitch for study abroad…
I’m not gone yet, however! Next week I’ll take my final trip to Alicante, Spain so make sure to look out for posts both on Alicante and some Ireland travel tips coming your way.
Here are a few of my favorite shots from my last Irish days, including times in Dublin, at the Cliffs of Moher, and the Clare Glens.
The Temple Bar in Dublin!
Guinness settling at the factory from light brown to black.
Raspberry coconut cupcake from Lolly and Cook in Dublin
The Hill of Tara, near Dublin
Hill of Tara
The absolutely stunning Cliffs of Moher
The Clare Glens
Dearest Belgium,
I returned from my visit a few weeks ago with one primary realization: you are vastly underrated in terms of top tourist destinations. I don’t know many students abroad who have added you to their list of must-sees before they return to America, but you are not one to miss out on. You may not have the elegance of Paris or the mouthwatering pasta of Italy, but you are a fascinating blend of cultures and influences that make you so, so fantastic. Sorry I wear my heart on my sleeve!
You might think this is creepy, but I remember my very first impression of you. I took the train to the Grand Place in the center of Brussels, and stepped off the train into sunshine and seventy-degree weather! The stereotypes were true: everyone was walking around eating waffles smothered in chocolate and strawberries, there were tiny cobblestoned streets, and sidewalk cafes overshadowed only by the intricate architecture of the massive buildings comprising the city centre.
My first stop was in Brussels—I’m a massive fan, my dear, but I’ve got to tell you something a little harsh so please do not take it personally. The public transportation was extremely confusing to navigate and it took me ages to figure out how to take the metro anywhere in the main part of the city. This negative was absolutely eclipsed by the abundance of sights to see and things to do, however! One of my favorites was the Magritte Museum, which was extremely well laid out and chock full of the Surrealist painter’s gorgeous works. I could have wandered around for days! I also so enjoyed stopping by the Manneken Pis to take an obligatory picture as well as working my way through the crazy cool vintage and thrift stores—in particular, Gabriel’s Vintage and a few of these other ones on the list created by the Guardian. And of course, walking around the Grand Place (especially at night) and some of the smaller neighborhoods was lovely too.
The outside of the Magritte Museum!
The soaring towers in the Grand Place!
Posing with the Mannekin Pis- recreating a photo from when I was younger and absolutely DISGUSTED that anyone could expect me to take a picture with a BOY PEEING. EW.
The second destination was up to Oostende on the Belgian coast; as you border the North Sea so conveniently, your beaches are quite wonderful! It was such an adorable seaside town perfect for a day trip and a few hours walking along the coast. Funny story—at first we couldn’t find the sea. You’d think a sea would be hard to miss, but it’s easier than you’d think! Thank goodness for Belgian people willing to help the stupid American tourists. I also have never seen street seafood before, so the booths full of takeaway shrimp, snails, mussels, and more was completely fascinating!
That's the North Sea in the background!
Street seafood! Alternate title: 'Future Stomach Pain'
I wish I could say that I stopped singing 'Down by the Sea' from Sweeney Todd for even a minute during this whole trip. Unfortunately I cannot make that claim.
Our final stop was in Bruges. Of course I love all of you, Belgium, but I think Bruges may have just stolen my heart. The canals, the main square with the clock tower, the medieval passageways, the idyllic parks, and the horses and carriages trotting around made it feel like a step back in time. I think I have found my new retirement destination, so don’t expect to have seen the last of me!
I'd like to title this photo "So Many Bricks, So Little Time"
Belgium, I’m genuinely not in love with you just because of your looks. Your personality is fantastic too! I have never met anyone quite as relaxed, friendly, unique, and historical as you were and I can’t wait to return to you as soon as possible.
Love, Maggie
P.S. Next time, I’ll be sure to not only visit the capital of the E.U. in Brussels but to stop by Antwerp and Ghent as well.
Climbing Mount Tibrogargan - Glasshouse Mountains
Posted by: Devin Berglund under Climbing, Hiking, Leisure and recreation, Recreation, Parks and recreation Updated: April 10, 2012 - 9:14 AMJust a few days ago I went on a day hike/climb with my boyfriend and a few others. Now, I am a girl who is used to the backpacking sort of hiking/climbing because I grew up going on hikes in Montana with my family. But, I would have to say that this hike/climb was something entirely different. The Mountain we climbed was Mount Tibrogargan. It was a beautiful day for hiking and being outside. I was excited to climb my first Glasshouse Mountain. I had wanted to climb it when I was here the other year, but hadn't gotten the chance to. The mountains were formed over millions of years ago by volcanic activity.
I am always fascinated by history wherever I go and I found out that the history of these mountains are intertwined with the Aboriginal and European history. Captain James Cook saw them and thought they resembled the Glasshouse Furnaces in England, which is what inspired the name "Glasshouse Mountains". (For more information on the Glasshouse Mountains check out the link below the picture and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_House_Mountains_(Queensland) )
On our way up to the base of the mountain, I found myself in love with the smells of nature. It is a Eucalypt forest. It's fresh and cleansing scent is definitely one scent that I love a lot!
The hike to the mountain wasn't overly bad, but as soon as we started climbing the mountain it changed completely. I have never climbed a mountain in the sense of hanging onto the mountain for your life, because one bad move could cause harm to you or someone else. But, I guess that is true in any extreme sport. I was happy to go climbing with the group I went with. My boyfriend is afraid of heights and had told me about the first time he had climbed Tibrogargan. He had worried about the heights a lot, but at the end of this hike with me he told me he didn't have time to think about himself because he was too busy thinking about me. I am definitely appreciative of him and our friends that knew the mountain well enough to guide us all.
I was not completely sure, what to think about this.
It was definitely an interesting experience. The view from the top was definitely worth it. I give credit to my Mom and Dad for always telling me that... "Devin, the view from the top will be beautiful and worth it."
Our Group
From left to right: Peter Ede (great friend of Johan and mine), Johan, Me, Amelia (Johan's sister in-law), Piet (Johan's brother), and Steve Strudwick (another great friend of ours).
Up over the mountain... steep.
This picture doesn't show the steepness. It was much steeper than this.
I was happy to be up on top! Finally!!
The view from the top
On the top we took a break and looked at the beautiful landscape below. I got so many ideas for my fictional novel that I am writing. It was a breath of fresh air.
On the way down - we went down like this the whole way!
When we started getting closer to the bottom, I was definitely excited and very tired. It was my "first" climbing experience outdoors and without ropes.
The view on the way down was breath-taking as well
It was a beautiful day! I definitely enjoyed it and will do it again sometime.
If you are on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia make sure you look into hiking/climbing the Glasshouse Mountains, but make sure to be careful.
•Know your way, bring water
•climb with friends
•don't climb down too late - otherwise you will have little light for the climb down
•Be sure to bring your cell phone, emergency numbers, and also a camera (preferably a smaller one).
•Don't hike while it rains or after as it will make the rocks slippery
Follow my blog: devinberglund.wordpress.com/
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recent posts
- Welcome to The Naki.
- An Exception to the Chinese Rule
- A Relaxing Weekend In Toowoomba
- The Rocky Road to Dublin
- A Love Letter to Belgium
- Climbing Mount Tibrogargan - Glasshouse Mountains
- Rule breaking in Beijing.
- Vienna, the city of music.
- Formality
- Pictures from a Dublin Paddy's Day
- The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain...not.
- A Day in the Life: China Edition.
- [Four London Favorites]
- Tongariro.
- Small country girl flying over the top of the world
- Hunting and snowboarding in the southwest of France
- [Chateaus, Macaroons, and Hidden Doors: Paris!]
- Travel tips for the passionate penny pincher, or adventure hungry
- Climb Every Mountain
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