An average day for a Promise Fellow

I have been volunteering for AmeriCorps now for two months and it has been exciting and challenging. I do my best to help students improve their grades and involve them in service-learning projects.

I've created a grading sheet for each student so they can ask their teachers what their grades are and track them on a weekly basis. They then report their grades to me so I know how I can help them whether it be by: recruiting volunteers for in-class support, one-on-one tutoring or assisting in hoework help during our after school programs. Most of my interaction with the students is after school and in that time we do homework help, creative writing, talk about service learning and reflect on our service-learning projects and our partner SEACC visits and presents on leadership.

I love the students here and I'm gaining a lot of experience being in a school setting and having a teacher role. I hope these experiences will help me decide which career path I want to travel down after my year of volunteering. I am looking forward to the next chapter in my life and this experience has had a major impact and opened my eyes to new careers I have never thought of before.

¡Me encanta guacamole!

Hello all. Sorry it has been such a long time. Here is the short story. We are filled with class everyday, usually going to museums and whatnot after classes, then I come home and eat, take a siesta, then hang out in Guanajuato. For a grade (yes, I am still in school here) I have to write everyday in a journal talking about observations and experiences (in Spanish), write six compositions, a final essay, particiátion and an oral presentation with my roommate. In other words, they keep us busy here.

Other than the school work, it is fun just walking around a foreign city, listening and speaking Spanish and getting lost. I love exploring and wwalking around. I feel that is the best way to learn about a new city.

We just got back from a four day excursion in Michoacán, which is about three hours away by bus. The first day there we stayed in cabins. They weren{t the best cabins, but it was a very good cultural experience. The little town we stayed in was so small and they had their own indiginous language. It was very interesating. The next day, we rode on horses for seven hours to a volcano. I know, how random. It was pretty fun, accept I was complaining the whole way becuase the stirrup was rubbing oin my ankle the whole time there. That was pretty uncomfortable. Some of the group climbed to the top of the volcano by foot, but I stayed behind with this girl and we took an hour nap. That was refreshing. After the whole group came down, we rode back and this time it was more fun. Thank God that the stirrup felt better because that made the ride so much easier. Also on the way there, the horses trotted more than galloped, so it was very bumpy. I think my stirrups were either too long or too short becuase my butt was hitting that saddle like a car going over 84 consecutive speedbumps. And these owners of these horses gave us no instructions. So all these college students who have never riden horses before are going on a seven hour ride without instructions. It was very interesting. But the way back was more fun because the galloped and it was smoother of a run that trotting than walking.

The other days were pretty fun too. We went to another city in Michoacán and styaed two nights in a hotel. We had time to walk around the city and free time to ourselves. I got back last night around 9 o{clock and today we went to a waterpark. Fun.

Only six more days and I will be back. The time flies when you{re speaking Spanish. See you all in less than a week.

Last night in the U.S.

Well, one more night in my own bed, then I am off to Mexico. I am pretty excited, just working on some last minute packing. It's too bad because my flight leaves at 6:50 tomorrow morning, so we have to meet two hours early, at 4:50. So now that we live in Oak Grove, who knows how long it takes to get to the airport...I think an hour or so. Oh well, I guess I feel more bad for my parents that they have to get up that early because they still have to go to a full day's of work, and I know I will sleep on the plane ;)

I am looking over our tentative schedule, and it turns out we really only meet 12 days for class, which is pretty cool because we have time to ourselves on the weekends and one excursion we are making to Puebla, which is a couple hours away (I'm not really sure in what direction). So, I will earn four credits and be back by June 6. We won't be taking classes in the University. Instead, two Spanish instructors are coming with us from UMD and are going to teach on the rooftop of the hotel they are staying in. We meet there for about two hours then leave to tour the city, usually going to mueseums and to the theatre.

The students (about 18 of us from UMD) are staying with host families. I have a roommate who I actually worked with at Target when I was 16. It was by coincidence that we were both going on the same study abroad trip, so we thought it would be fun to room together. Also, all the students are on the same flight, which is way different from last time because I was responsible for finding my own transportation to Spain. So I think this way will be a little less stressful. Well, I should finish packing, and then my parents and I are eating dinner. For some reason, I am starving. So I better fuel up on my last bit of American food before I start eating tacos, refried beans and quesadillas along with margaritas and coronas!!!!...with lemons :)

Another Study Abroad Experience

Well, as the school year is ending, I am preparing myself for another study abroad. This time it is in Guanajuato, Mexico (just north of Mexico City) and it is only for three weeks. I leave May 19 and return June 6.

Just tonight I found out where I was living. I am living with a host family with a friend of mine from UMD. He actually worked with me at Target when I was 16. He first went to a community college in Iowa and later transfered to UMD. It was by coincidence that we were both accpeted to this study abroad, so we decided to room together. The only confusing thing is that his name is Andrew too, so our host mom will have a fun time with that.

I am trying to figure out what I need to pack. The weather is pretty nice down there, between 80 and 90 degrees. A drastic change from Minnesotan weather. Too bad my city isn't on the coast by a beach, but hopefully I can make it there.

That's about all I have for now. Hopefully I can write on here often. I am debating whether I will keep a physical journal, or use this as a journal so I can keep you all informed. I probably won't write much before I leave, but hopefully often when I am there. Thanks for reading.

Last travels in Europe

Hello again. I hate to say it, bit it is almost time to start counting down the time til I come back to the United States. But, I do have a couple more trips left to finish up here. As you may or may not know, it is my birthday on Saturday, and that just happens to be the day I will be traveling all over the world...literally. So, a group of five of my friends and I are going to Prague, but we have a 10 hour layover in Zurich, Switzerland, so we are going to see Zurich for free, in a way. But first I should tell you how I am getting there. Our flight leaves at 6:40 in the morning FROM MADRID. Therefore, we have to take the overnight bus from Sevilla to Madrid. The only thing is that we can´t take the 11 p.m. bus friday night because we don´t have enough time to get from the bus station to the airport, so we have to take the 6 p.m. bus and sleep in the airport. We could find a hostel or something, but everyone voted ´no´ so we wouldn´t have to spend money. So, then we arrive in Zurich at 10 a.m. or so and look around there for 10 hours, then take a plane to Prague. Then I spend four days there and return back to Madrid, take a bus to Sevilla, then leave the next day to go to Scotland. I will be in Scotland for six days. After that, I have two days of classes, then my friend Molly visits me for the weekend, then finals week and I come home. So really, there is no time left here. I will definetely miss it, but it will be nice to come home and see the new house. So just a little FYI, this could be one of the last entries I make here...but don´t fret, most likely if you arew reading this, I will get in touch with you somehow and tell you stories and show you the millions of pictures I have taken. So, until the next entry or when I see you back home!

Bullfight

Hello everybody! Last Sunday I went to my first bullfight. It was quit an experience. We went free with our program, so that´s why I went. It was very interesting because the matadors are mounted by horseback and they kill the bulls that way. There are three matadors and they each kill two bulls. They first bull they tried to kill didn´t go so well, it seemed like they struggled to kill him and the bull was just suffering, so that made it a little sad to witness for the first time. But as it went on, it seemed to get better. What happens is that the bulls just get too exhausted and they end up collapsing and dying. I don´t know, it was a very weird thing to experience, but it is so big here in there culture. Especially in Andalucía because even some parts in northern Spain don´t agree with bullfights. So, that´s about it. I took some cool pictures though. I loved being in the atmosphere in the bull ring, it really was like a whole bunch of fans at a baseball or football game, they would cheer and whistle and stand and applaud, it was really interesting.

Italy

Hello. As you may or may not know, I just returned from Italy, where I visited Florence, Pompeii and Rome. What an awesome trip. I was there for five days and we spent the first night and the next day in Florence, took a train to Pompeii for a day and Rome for two days.

We didn´t do much in Florence. The famous Statue of David is there in a museum, but the line was three hours long and therefore, we didn´t see the Statue of David. That would have been a fun thing to see because looking at art for me is fun, but when I see something famous (like the Statue of David or the Mona Lisa) makes art that much cooler. Otherwise, Florence was a beautiful city, although it was lightly raining all day, we weren´t too disappointed. So we went to this palace that had a whole bunch of modern art, so we were there for a few hours.

Then we took the train to Pompeii. Two of the girls I was with really wanted to come here and see the dead people. Way back in history (about 79 A.D., ut don´t quote me) a huge volcano erupted and wiped out this little village, and now the ruins are there to visit in Pompeii. They have these cast moldings of humans and you could still see the expression on their faces from their reaction to the volcano. It was really sad if you though about it. But that´s about all there is to do in Pompeii, so the next day we headed to Rome.

I definetely had the most fun in Rome. The first night we wanted to find the Colosseum, so we wandered around Rome and found it. It looked so beautiful all lit up at night. And it was so cool to see from down the street and it was just peaking through some buildings, it was awesome. For me especially, you know what the Eiffel Tower looks like, the Colosseum, the Vatican, the cathedral in Sevilla and you never think you will be able to see them in real life, but it really is amazing. We took a few pictures of it at might and after that we ate some gelato, really amazing ice cream. We pretty much ate that everyday after we ate out pizza or pasta. Italy definetely had the best food of all European countries I have been to thus far. But really expensive.

The next day in Rome, we went to the Vatican. We waited in line for two hours to see it and the Sistine Chapel. It was amazing, ut we didn´t realize there was a museum there too, so we were walking through this museum in the Vatican, and every room we entered that had artwork on the ceiling, we asked ourselves, "is this the Sistine Chapel?" We did that about 50 times before we actually saw the actual Sistine Chapel. It was hilarious. We weren´t allowed to take pictures, but everyone else was, so I started to. Then all of a sudden, a voice come on over the loud speaker and says in eight different languages "it is prohibited to take pictures, video recordings and smoke" or something like that. So I accidently took some pictures of the ceiling, eventhough it was prohibited...but, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, right??? After all that, it was like 3 o´clock and we left and ate some lasagna and salad and I told the girls I was with that I wanted to walk around the Vatican from the outside to take some pictures. Thank God I said that because when we got to the main courtyard, we had to enter through security and we were finally there. We realized there were all these chairs set up, so we asked a security guard what was going on. He said the pope is coming. I thought to myself, "maybe I heard wrong" so I asked him again, I said, "Pope Benedict is here?" He replied, "Yes, he is saying a mass for Pope John Paul II." At that time it was about 4 o´clock and the mass wasn´t til 5:30. I wanted to stay, of course, but the other girls I was with weren´t catholic, so I didn´t think they would want to stay, but surprisingly they did. I was so excited, so I saw the Pope. Rome was fun.

That´s about it, pretty much everything went the way it was supposed to, and I saw the Pope, the colosseum, ate tons of pasta, pizza and gelato. Only two more trips left for me, Prague and Scotland. I have two weeks of school, then 12 days of traveling, then two days of school, then finals week, then I come home. So this semester is wrapping up, really sad, but I have definetely enjoyed my time here. I will try to keep you all posted as much as possible. Thanks for reading!!