#fairfieldabroad

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Reflection of My 10 Day History Course in St. Petersburg, Russia

Abby Dovan ‘20

Fairfield University

 Hoping off the plane, I was tired and nervous, but ready to experience something new and make irreplaceable memories. Four walls can be the most limiting factors on one’s education and I was ready to break out and just learn. There truly is no better place to learn and understand history than right there where it took place.  Walking the halls of Peter the Great’s winter palace, seeing Catherine the Greats wardrobe rooms, and standing beneath the balcony that Lenin gave speeches off of, I absorbed all I could and savored every last fact and sight.

One of my first startling realizations was how much Russians appreciate history and art. The amount of gold we saw while on the trip was absolutely mind blowing. The beauty in the architecture and purity of each structure amazed me. As modern as the city was, the buildings, history, and culture were still intact from three hundred and fifteen years ago. The fact that hundreds of years ago, the government and people were concerned and clever enough to preserve and protect the architecture and art is astonishing and appreciated by the masses.

As we adjusted to many of the cultural differences, including a hotel without an elevator or room key cards, I was amazed at how different the people and area is from what I expected. Stigmas, rumors, and governments aside, people are people wherever you go.  We got to experience this first hand from the connections we made with the Russian students we engaged with each night. I was amazed at how similar they were to us and how similar our day to day struggles were. Spending time with them was one of my favorite parts of the trip because I felt like I was at home with my friends except each night we had someplace new to explore or a new food or drink to try.

While I enjoyed all the sights we saw, I had two particular favorites. The first was Peterhof Palace. We explored the amazing grounds for almost the entirety of the first day. It really set a precedent for all that would come throughout the week and it awoke my senses to the pure beauty, historic intelligence and immense amounts of gold everywhere. The desire for decadence at this summer palace was quite obvious and well treasured. Walking through each individual room, admiring the fountains and perfectly yellow and gold exterior, I was amazed and nearly in tears. I will not forget what I learned during that tour, being outside the four walls of the classroom allowed me to absorb all the facts without stressing about an exam. I wanted to know each detail for the sake of enjoying it and being knowledgeable of where I was walking.

The second favorite place of mine was St. Isaac’s Cathedral. Although it was not a place we visited as a class or with a tour guide, I had so much fun and was amazed at the beauty. Given additional time to visit a site of our choosing on our own, a bunch of us went to the cathedral and climbed to the top. After making it to the top of the seemingly endless spiral staircase, we were able to see the entirety of the city in all its glory. As it was the end of the week we were able to pick and point out all the palaces and museums we had visited. It was a beautiful morning to enjoy and reflect on the plethora of places we went to and all we had learned.

In addition to fabulous sightseeing weather, we also got to enjoy the perks of the nightlife, and experience “white nights” while in St. Petersburg. The culture surrounding the additional hours of sunlight was vibrant and so enjoyable. I will never forget seeing the gorgeous sunrise over the canal at 3am. True beauty no matter the time of day, in any location.

In addition to those to beautiful sites, I learned and enjoyed all the other places we ventured to include The Hermitage, The Church of Spilled Blood, Peter and Paul Fortress, and the several museums. I think the things I was able to pick up on while exploring these sights and walking the streets of St. Petersburg are truly unique to this experience. While I made many observations about the people, their habits and lifestyles, and their personalities, it was the extra time, night life, and individual reflecting that allowed me to learn so much. I am extremely grateful for my short days in St. Petersburg and my new long distant friends. Thank you, Fairfield U, for the opportunity! Cheers to St. Petes, I will be back!

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Hello from the other side (of the pond)

To start off, I would like to tell you about our amazing academic solutions team (our program mentors) who await upon your arrival to London! They are with you from start to end; booking various different trips, dinners, theatre outings etc... So far we have visited Dover, Canterbury, Liverpool! Kasia is our main point of contact and she is incredible! She is easily the kindest and happiest person I have ever met! Along with Kasia we have George, Ryan, and a student representative named Mary. Obviously the student representatives change by the semester, but I do believe Mary will be here for the spring 2018 semester as well! Together Kasia, George, Ryan, and Mary are our support outlet through out the study abroad experience! Kasia's named in pronounced like the Kashi cereal brand, except with an 'a' instead of an 'i'. (I struggled with her name at first). Kasia is very well traveled and knows all of the best restaurants. Below is a picture of me with Kasia at the Cavern Pub in Liverpool and a photo of me at the Cliffs of Dover!

A lot has happened since my last post! I have started classes and I have joined a couple societies on campus; such as the Arab society, the food society, and the Queen Mary Acapella group, which is a part of the music society. I was unsure at first if I wanted to join Acapella, because I had known it would be time consuming. I like to travel as much as everyone else, but I feel that I have my entire life to travel around the world, but only one chance to be apart of a European campus and create music with people from all over! Getting involved on campus is extremely important, whether I am at Fairfield or here at Queen Mary the importance of joining a club is huge. Studying abroad doesn't mean you have to take a break from what you love. Queen Mary has over 200 societies to choose from which is crazy, there are so many options! I am so glad I decided to join the music society, it has taken my study abroad experience to a new level while also filling my Glee Club/Sweet Harmony void. Plus, who doesn't like making more new friends? I have made such great friends in this group, ranging from Seychelles to Romania to Hong Kong.  Here is a photo of my A capella group and I enjoying a wonderful dinner!

Now, about my classes, I am currently enrolled in four modules: a British history class, a theatre class, a marketing class, and a business ethics class. Unlike the Fairfield, these classes meet once a week and are broken up into an hour lecture and an hour seminar. I didn't know how I would adjust to this teaching style, but I find it has a lot of advantages. I only have three days of classes per week, which gives me a lot of time to sit back and enjoy the beautiful view from my bedroom. Here are a couple photos of my great sixth floor views!

My theatre class has been my favorite so far, it is a history based theatre course, so it links well to my British history course. Most recently, my professor sent us to go see 'The Fall', which is a play about a student activism group the University of Cape town in South Africa, fighting for decolonization on campus. The theatre was small and intimate, and after the performance I was lucky enough to have met the entire cast! They all signed my script and I am now friends with some of them on facebook! They are actually performing their play in New York this winter, and I plan on meeting up with them again! 

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More Food and Culture in Greece! - Aisling (’19)

In the last two weeks I have done a lot of traveling around Greece. An important part of Greece’s history are the 6,000 islands scattered throughout the Aegean and Ionian seas. Of those 6,000 islands only 227 are inhabited. As part of this class we had the opportunity to travel to Aegina, an island famous for their pistachios. While there we visited a pistachio cooperative, learned about how the pistachios are harvested, and got to sample some pistachios for ourselves. We also traveled to the town of Marathon which is famous for the battle in which the outnumbered Athenian army was able to defeat the Persians. While there we visited the first certified organic farm and tasted their authentic sheep and goat yogurt.

A member of the pistachio cooperative explaining to us how the pistachio matures

View of the island of Aegina

Site of the Battle of Marathon

I spent the last week of my class in Koroni, a small town located in the southern Peloponnese. What makes Koroni so special is the fact it was designated by UNESCO as possessing intangible heritage relating to the Mediterranean Diet. In this town people do not only model their diet around the Mediterranean Diet but also their lives. This means that everything they eat is grown locally, they have special traditions and festivals to commemorate their heritage, and there is a large emphasis on community. Every morning in Koroni we would receive a cooking lesson from the owner of our hotel, Mr. George. He would demonstrate and then involve us in the preparation of cooking our favorite dishes that we encountered while in our class. We would then get to eat whatever dish we prepared in the morning for lunch.

Photo of the briam (Greek mixed vegetables cooked in tomato sauce) Mr. George helped us make one morning for our lunch

While in Koroni we learned a lot about olive oil, which is an integral component of the Mediterranean Diet. We visited an old olive oil press, learned how to make olive oil soap, and even had an olive oil tasting with an olive oil sommelier. One morning we also visited a local bakery to see how traditional breads were made. The final week in Koroni was a nice way to end the class. My experiences there broadened my understanding of the Mediterranean Diet beyond its famous health benefits. It also allowed the class to grow closer as a group before our study abroad experience together came to a close.

Photo of us trying different olive oils at a local store in Koroni

Photo of the traditional Greek bread before it was baked in the oven

Taking this class was a last minute decision for me, but I am so happy that I took advantage of the opportunity to study abroad this summer. I have absolutely loved living in Greece for the past month as part of CYA. Being a student in Athens and not just a tourist offered me the experience to learn so much more about Greek culture and history. Also as part of CYA I was able to meet so many people from other places in the United States, which made the transition here a whole lot easier. If anyone has reservations about studying abroad or studying abroad alone I would wholeheartedly encourage them to take a chance. The study abroad experience is something you cannot miss.

Last sunset in Greece

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Summer in Sydney comes to an end- Julia ('19)

Our classes ended today, so we are headed home soon. The time in Australia went by too fast and I wish we could have stayed longer, but I knew it was not an option for me to come for an entire semester.

I would definitely encourage and recommend this summer program. Partly because the two weeks was not too long to be away from home and we did not miss anything at Fairfield, but also because the staff at Australian Catholic University was so friendly and they loved having us here. To anyone thinking about taking a class here in Sydney with ACU, I would just advise them to take a class that they are interested in because you do spend quite a bit of time in class.

Studying abroad has made me want to travel around the world even more to see all of the different cultures and cities, and simply how people live differently in other countries. I think that the most challenging thing about studying abroad was the fourteen hour time difference from home. It was weird to have my family and friends going to sleep as my day was just beginning. I’m glad I decided to go to a place that speaks English because it definitely would have been a huge struggle to fit in and get around a city if everything was in a different language.

By studying in Australia and taking the class that I chose, I definitely learned a lot about Beaches and Coasts. Australia has some of the most beautiful coastlines I’ve ever seen; they don’t even compare to anything in the United States. Although taking this class does not relate to my business major, I did learn some things that would be useful in the future. Such as different things to think about when buying a house, like how prone is it to flooding, that I had never really considered before. Overall, I had a great time and loved my experience with ACU in Sydney and although the time went by very quickly, I’m ready to come back home.

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History comes alive in Berlin- Katie ('19)

‘Hallo’ again! I am writing this as I am on my plane back to America, and thinking back to all the memories I made over the course of my time abroad. When I first arrived in Berlin, I was feeling rather overwhelmed by the busy city. I could not speak fluent German and maneuvering my way through the city was confusing. However, I quickly acclimated and found myself feeling at home in the middle of Europe.

Brandenburg Gate

  During my time abroad, I was taking a Holocaust Studies course, just to fill my upper-level history course. Yet after just a few days into my experience, I gained much more interest the subject than simply fulfilling a credit. Across Europe there is countless museums, tributes, artifacts, and even survivors that are still telling their story about living through that time-period. It is shocking to see and hear these things, knowing it happened not so long ago. On one of the most-recent class excursions, my professor took the nine of us to Ravensbrück concentration camp, which was a camp made exclusively for women from 1939-1945. At our visit, we were able to walk through the camp site and all the buildings that are still standing, learning about what went on at this camp, and those individuals that lived here.

Inside Ravensbrück

Barriers surrounding the camp

Later that week, my professor took our group to the house of the Wansee Conference. Here is where the final plans were made for the Holocaust, prior to the end of the war. It was heartbreaking to read about all the brutality during this time, but also reassuring to learn about survivors or relatives of survivors. Learning the stories of the people that were personally affected by the Holocaust forces you to really imagine yourself in their shoes.

  House of Wansee Conference

  Many of my weekdays were spent in class and wandering around Berlin. Berlin is a huge city so there was never a time we were bored! One of my favorite things about the city is the river that runs through it. There are many restaurants that have tables overlooking the water which were some of my favorite places to eat. On the final days before departure, the CIEE program took all session II students on a farewell departure dinner cruise. As it stays light out so much later than it does in America, it was a beautiful view of the city from a new perspective. It was a nice way to say goodbye to the city that you have called home for the past months, and share your best memories with your classmates.

  Berliner Dom

As amazing as my experience in Germany was, it was not what I had originally planned. Prior to my decision to go to Berlin, I was planning on spending my summer studying abroad in Dakar, Senegal. Very shortly before my departure, my program was cancelled and I was told I could no longer attend the Dakar program and should choose a new destination. Though I was heartbroken at first, I forced myself to look at the bright side and focus on where else I could go. I had previously been to other areas of Europe, but never Germany and decided to give it a shot. Evidently, it was nothing like my Africa trip would have been like, but it worked out and I am thankful to have gotten this experience. I met some amazing people that I know I will keep in touch with, and gained a major sense of independence, while also realizing how grateful for everything I have in America.

  Danke schoen, Berlin! I will be back.

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Aisling ('19) learns about Mediterranean diet and culture in Athens!

Yassas from Athens! I have been in Athens a little over a week now and I cannot believe how fast the time is going. On my first night here my professor Aimee Placas took the whole class out to dinner at a local taverna. She introduced us to several traditional Greek dishes, such as zucchini balls, fried cheese, green beans, and stuffed peppers and tomatoes. Everyone's favorite though was the feta cheese! The dinner was a great way to meet the 13 other students who I would be spending the next 4 weeks with. The next day Aimee took us on a tour of Pangrati, the neighborhood where CYA is situated. She pointed out some great places to get dinner and all the popular cafes we could get our daily coffee. What I love most about Pangrati is how centrally located it is. My apartment is right next to the Olympic Stadium, a 10 minute taxi ride to the Acropolis, and a 15 minute walk to Syntagma Square which is a popular shopping district in Athens. On one of my first nights in Athens everyone in my class decided to walk up to Mount Lycabettus where we were able to get a full view of the city!

Visit to Pantopoleion for a Greek cheese tasting

View of the Olympic Stadium from Mount Lycabettus

We have class just about every day. In the morning we typically tour a part of Athens that has cultural significance pertaining to the Mediterranean Diet or Greek dietary practices. One morning we went to a local kafenio and had traditional Greek coffee. Afterwards Aimee showed us how people used to predict their friends’ future from the leftover grounds in their coffee mug. Another morning we visited a major fish market in Athens where a 3 star Michelin chef showed us how to make sushi. That day was by far my favorite. We have also done cheese tastings, visited a bread museum, visited a local cemetery, and met the president of the local farmers market. Soon we will be traveling to Koroni where we will be tasting local olive oil! In the late afternoon we typically have lecture where we discuss assigned readings and learn more about Greek culture. So far I really love taking this class because it offers me the experience of learning about and immersing myself into the Greek culture. I am looking forward to the upcoming day excursions to Aegina and Marathon, and then our final week in Koroni! - Aisling

Sushi making at a commercial fish market

Before photo of Greek coffee

After photo of Greek coffee where we predicted each other's future from the dried coffee grounds on the inside of the cup.

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Julia ('19) arrives in Sydney!

As I mentioned in my Global Ambassador Profile, I am studying abroad in Sydney, Australia. I arrived exactly one week ago and the time has gone by too quickly. I can’t believe it is already halfway over.

When I arrived, the first thing we did was get picked up by a company who brought us to our residence. Immediately, there was a difference from the United States. Here, they drive on the left side of the road, the steering wheel is on the right and even the seat belts come from the left side. It was all so odd to me, but I was excited to see what else was different in Australia. All five students from Fairfield University in this program were put in studio apartments. We have our own beds, desks, storage space and small kitchens. It might not seem like a big deal, but their public transportation system is so much more advanced than ours. All you need is an Opal card and you simply tap on and tap off at each station or bus stop; it’s so easy.

The first thing we wanted to do was go see the harbor because that’s what Sydney is known for when you see pictures. It was beautiful, it didn’t even look like we were in the middle of a huge city. The water, the bridge, and the opera house all in one view is so picturesque. The city is so different from New York City and Boston. It is very clean, has many hills, and the buildings are all different.

Our campus at Australian Catholic University is within the city. There is a space outside with tables and grass, like our traditional campus, but it is small and the rest of the buildings are a bit scattered throughout North Sydney city. The class I am taking is called Beaches and Coasts; it has been very informative and interesting. Today, we took a field trip to some of the southern beaches in Sydney and it was beautiful. We got to see a mixture of rocky and sandy beaches and we learned about what causes the cliffs and the different textures of sand on each beach. It was a long day, but I think my class of nine people had a good time.

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Irish Studies in Galway

It’s a day before the 4th of July, which means it is the eve of all the American students here making boisterous fools of themselves. The good news is that Galway has persisted in being a very fun and welcoming venue. Furthermore, we luckily embarked on our class excursions, which were fantastic experiences. For the first excursion I attended, we went to Dublin, the nation’s capital. It was great timing as we traveled there during gay pride week. Most Americans have a perception of Dublin filled with green as far as the eye can see, but this weekend it was filled with rainbow flags instead! The city was jumping when we were there, even in the two art museums we went in, there were countless people sporting rainbow flags. I’ve never actually been to one of the gay pride parades but holy Toledo, what a spectacle.

               Yesterday we went to the Aran Islands, a series of islands off the coast of County Clare (just south of Galway). The Aran Islands showcased some of the best scenery I have witnessed in my time in Ireland to date. We went to this elevated fort that looked over the entire island, and wow it was quite the scene. The island is only about 9 miles long and 2 miles wide so we had the luxury of riding our bikes to and fro the elevated fort. While that may seem rather laborious, it was actually a very cool experience as we rode along rustic Irish roads just yards from the beach for a few miles. There were cow fields as green as could be running all the way up to the beach. Since the roads were so rural, we could only hear two sounds as we rode along: the crashing of waves and the mooing of cows.

As for my classes, they have continued to be very enjoyable and relaxed. My professors could not have been nicer, which has greatly helped the study abroad. Moreover, the spirit in Galway is particularly high at the moment as Galway just had a huge win in one of Ireland’s favorite sports: Hurling. Do I understand the sport in the slightest? No. But if it means the natives of Galway will be in good spirits, then I’m all for it.  

Until next time,

Kieran