Several weeks into each semester, a familiar awareness begins to set in—the person you saw every week waiting in the omelet line, bobbing amongst the crowd of drunken masses at Gatekeeper, and perennially ordering the standard Chai Charger and bagel at Pi is mysteriously absent. In fact, this person is no longer anywhere. As a curious Wesleyan student, you begin to wonder the cause of this person’s absence. Your thoughts begin to race—Orgo? Swine Flu? Has this person somehow been consumed and ravenously eaten alive by the Olin stacks? Just as these thoughts begin to reach a horrifically imaginative climax, the light finally dawns. Ah, alas, you realize that this person is abroad for the semester.
As an ever-curious Wesleyan student knows all too well, it would be foolish to simply stop wondering and questioning after establishing this explanation.
When you study abroad, a plethora of questions and possibilities arise. Will you know the language? Will you know your way around? Will you accidentally eat the local delicacy, realizing only after the fact that it was, indeed, a guinea pig smeared in lard?
In order to spare the Wesleyan population from constant, aimless, maniacal wondering, two students have offered to share their whereabouts and experiences during their fall semesters abroad. Danielle St. Pierre ’11 will be reporting from Prague, the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknamed “the mother of cities,” “city of a hundred spires,” and “the golden city,” Prague is nestled in the very heart of Europe both geographically and culturally. The history of Prague spans thousands of years of drastic political change, during which the city grew from a single castle known as Vyšehrad to the multicultural capital of a modern European state, the Czech Republic. From 14th century stone bridges and Gothic castles to underground jazz clubs and striking visual arts, the city of Prague is known for its unique collision of old-world charm and modern creative influence. In other words, Prague is known as a beautifully vibrant, old-world meets new-world hodgepodge of culture, history, mystery, and beer! Join Danielle as she dives into a world of strudels, goulashes, dumplings, and pilsners, all while attempting to speak the tongue-twisting terror of a language otherwise known as Czech without offending the locals. She will be taking classes at Charles University, traveling around Europe, and exploring Prague, one schnitzel at a time.
Liza Conrad ’11 will be reporting from Quito, the capital city of Ecuador. Quito is the second largest city in Ecuador and is comfortably tucked 9,000 feet up the Andes Mountains. Although her decision to study in Quito was not founded on careful research or long deliberation (criterion—minimum Spanish requirement and South American location), she’s realized that Ecuador is quite possibly the ideal country for a semester abroad. With breathtaking mountains, the Galapagos, and dense jungles containing a significant portion of the world’s biodiversity, Quito has everything one could possibly want to do on a short night-bus away. Quito also boasts 6 fútbol clubs and 8 neighboring volcanoes. In addition to investigating both of these fascinating aspects of Quito, she hopes to study the country so that she can bore her friends with random comments concerning its history, cultural particularities, and gastronomic delights. Liza will be bumping around in Ecuadorian buses, taking classes, and attempting to speak Spanish.
So, curious Wesleyan students, embrace your sense of wonder and come along with us as we travel, explore, and butcher our respective foreign languages in ways we never imagined possible. From Prague to Quito, this is our story—a tale of two cities…
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