17 February 2012

Last week in Mexico - Intensive Spanish

The Gang (from right to left): Cass - Human Dustbin, Martin - they call him Él Crappo, Mel - The Muso, Brooke - Queen B, Hannah - Michael Jackson's adorable love child, Evette - Xena Warrior Princess, Bec- SingStar, Callie - ¡DANZA KUDURO!

It´s a few days after the course has finished and one by one, almost everyone has gone home. Today Mel is leaving and then it will just be Brooke and I, then on Friday she goes and it will just be me...and my hubby who has come to volunteer/travel with me for 2 months.

I can honestly say that I have never known a group of people to get on so well in such a short space of time and with so many different personalities involved. We worked hard but we played hard. We created memories that will last a lifetime and have already arranged a post-course catch up for Easter - I´m just hoping I can get there as I will only have been back in Australia for 2-3 days by then!

The last week was typically crazy, everyone did really well with their exams and we celebrated Aussie-style, dancing up a riot in our favourite club Black (poor Evette whacked her head on a speaker trying to dance on a chair, she has a battle-scar to remember Mexico by). We all ate far too much food because we were trying to get in as much as possible before leaving and there was some crazed buying at the markets, plus some just wandered around the Zocalo checking out the energy for one last time. I managed to dance to some Zumba in the main square as part of the city´s health drive - FUN!

There have been lots of laughs and a few tears at the airport, but we know this is not ´Adios´, merely ´Hasta Luego´.

There´s lots of love within this group and I can´t wait to see them all again x



Callie Barrett is participating in our January 2012 Intensive Spanish program at La Salle University, Mexico. Callie is about to enter into her 4th year of a
Bachelor of Arts (double degree in Spanish and English) at Flinders University.

11 February 2012

Not a goodbye, but a see you later Mexico!

I’m currently sitting in Los Angeles International Airport, waiting for my flight tonight back to Melbourne, Australia. It marks the end of the Public Healthcare in Mexico program for the January students. It is bittersweet; going home to see family & friends that I have dearly missed, however leaving a group of people whose lives changed with me. Whenever I used to hear “Oh it changed my life!” I doubt I ever understood this term, given I had never had the experience. However, now it is a term I use with the realization that my life really HAS changed.. for the better!


The Public Healthcare in Mexico Program has given me knowledge that I’ll be forever grateful for.
Firstly, the people in Mexico who make all this happen!

Margo: We often referred to Margo as our “Mexican God-Mother”. She looked out for us, made dreams come true & always kept us safe!

Tegan Monttinen receiving here Public Healthcare in Mexico diploma with Margo!

Ana Cristina (a.k.a AC!): What can I say, AC is a legend! Our group really took to AC from the start, her kindness, warm-heart & non-judgemental character really makes you feel relaxed & comfortable. Her lectures are brilliant & there is never a dull moment with AC. We were also fortunate enough to meet her husband, Louis. Both are absolute joys & many tears were shed saying goodbye!

Myself with Ana Cristina:

Willie & Alnaldo: Willie took us on many site visits & made incredibly funny jokes! He can make the dullest moments funny! Alnaldo, without him the cultural visits would not have been the same! The amount of knowledge & intelligence that this man holds is incredible, a true genius!

Alnaldo giving us a piece of history!

With every fibre within me, I am so grateful to have been able to have been able to have travelled to Mexico & experienced the culture, the knowledge, lifestyle & healthcare. I’ll never forget the people who were apart of this with me.

The January 2012 Public Healthcare in Mexico group at the top of the Pyramid of the Sun!

See you Mexico!

Kahlia Hickey is participating in our January 2012 Public Health in Mexico Program at La Salle University, Mexico. Kahlia is going into her 2nd year of a Bachelor of Nursing degree at Victoria University.

09 February 2012

Czeching out of Czech!

It's the morning after the International Law and Human Rights program finished and I can't quite believe it is all over! Putting into words the experiences, friendships and memories made here is very hard, but I will try!

We have had an absolutely amazing final week here in Brno, Czech Republic. Monday was karaoke night! With the help of our coordinators we managed to find a karaoke bar in Brno. After a few pivo's for courage, most of us got up and had a sing. We even heard from our coordinator Martin, who sang a Czech song about Mexicu! The entire Australian group tried very hard to provide back up support for him, but we only ended up ever getting the word Mexicu out!

At the ice hokey - Go KOMETAs!

Tuesday involved a trip to the ombudsman's office, but most importantly an opportunity to go to the ice hockey!!! Brno's team the 'Kometas' were playing at their home stadium. This was such a fantastic atmosphere! We even learnt some chants in Czech (Still not quite sure what I was saying!)! Whilst the Kometas narrowly lost, it was still a fantastic night.

The team on the ice at the ice hockey game

On Wednesday the weather suddenly turning very cold! We were cold when the temperatures were minus three, but when then dropped to minus fifteen most of us were struggling pretty hard! The cold weather and some illness amongst the group provided some great excuses to spend all of Wednesday studying for our exam. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, law students still cram the night before, have group pizza/study sessions and hate exams!

With the exam and official academic program completed, Thursday brought the day where all could let their hair down! We went out for a final dinner with the whole group, our lecturers and coordinators. We brought the program to a close and received our graduation certificates. Little did we know that the best was yet to come Our amazing coordinator Martin had organised a surprise for us after dinner - a private tram party! During our time in Brno we had spent much time on the trams. It was an efficient means of getting places and after three weeks we had really mastered the system! Martin had hired us a private tram, complete with Czech band and bar, which drove us around the city for two hours. It was probably one of the highlights of my entire trip!

Me with Ban Ki-Moon at the UN in Vienna!!

Friday morning arrived (far too quickly for my liking!) and we were saying goodbye to Brno, bound for Vienna, Austria. After settling into our hostel, we made our way to the United Nations Headquarters. This was a really special experience and we were privileged to receive lectures on the UNODC's work in human trafficking and anti-terrorism. After a guided tour and with souvenirs in hand, the official program came to an end.

The representatives from the University of Wollongong outside the Faculty of Law at Masaryk University

These are some of the highlights and greatest memories of this trip:

Seeing Swan Lake performed by the National Ballet Company

Piña coladas in Prague

Crossing the Charles Bridge in Prague whilst it was snowing

Australia Day in Brno

Seeing the Philharmonic

Going to the Rudas baths in Budapest

Seeing the ice hockey in Brno

Having a private tram party!

Going to the UN in Vienna

Meeting some of the most amazing people and creating life time friendships!

This has just been the most life-changing experience - one I wouldn't take back for anything. If you are thinking about doing an AIM overseas program - do it! You want regret it!

Lauren Howes is participating in our January 2012 International Law and Human Rights program at Masaryk University, Czech Republic. Lauren is about to start her 5th year of a Bachelor of Laws/Medical Science degree at the University of Wollongong.


06 February 2012

Final Week in Mexico City!

A stunning sunset in Puebla

It is now my final week in Mexico City. I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye. I have spent the last few days trying to fight off a Mexican cold and flu virus along with some of the other students. I've been missing my fiancé like crazy and it is not a good time to be sick, with the pressure of Spanish exams and a presentation and report to write. Even writing this blog feels like a massive effort! (I had planned to write another one a little sooner than this)


Sickness and homesickness aside, I've had some fantastic times. After a trip to Xochimilco on the 21st of January, the Spanish group decided this would be a great place to celebrate a delayed Australia day. I loved Xochimilco! Cruising down the rivers in brightly coloured boats while being serenaded by Mariachi’s, waving to passersby in their boats. We also visited the nearby Dolores museum, which has many of the original works of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, along with stunning gardens.


Our Aussie flag flying proudly from our boat in Xochimilco


Week 3 was mostly focused on getting through Spanish homework and our first exam, which to my surprise my results were better than expected. I did have a chance to visit an orphanage in my own time with Callie, who is planning to volunteer at an orphanage in Mexico City with her husband for a month. We arrived just as a group of volunteers from the Radisson Hotel arrived to deliver toys and piñatas to the children. We had a great time just watching these beautiful children, each take their turn on the Piñata´s. Some of them smaller than the stick they were using to hit the piñata!


Last Friday afternoon we celebrated Australia Day in Xochimilco, complete with Australian flags and 'Land Down Under' blasting from the speakers while we danced around the boat. A couple of our Mexican friends were brave enough to join us and I have to say it has to be my top Australia day to date. We also celebrated Hannah’s Birthday on the 24th! Happy Birthday Hannah, it was a great week of celebrations all round!


Chendo and Martin, getting into the Australia day spirit!



Happy Birthday Hannah!


The final weekend of the program was spent in Puebla, a stunning town about 125km from Mexico City. On the way to Puebla we stopped at Cholula to visit the pyramid there. Had I not known it was a pyramid, I would have thought it was just a big hill with a church on the top. Unfortunately I was too sick to make the most of my time there and spent quite a lot of time in the hotel (it was a very nice hotel though!). I did have a chance to see some of the town, which is full of churches. One church we visited had a wedding ceremony going on in the chapel. The sunset from my hotel room was absolutely stunning!

The Cathedral on top of the Pyramid in Cholula

01 February 2012

Aussie Aussie Aussie and Beautiful Budapest

Beautiful Budapest




Spending Australia day in the Czech Republic was definitely a unique experience and something I will never forget! With scheduled classes on the morning of Aussie Day, we all got up pretty early and 'prepared ourselves'! With Aussie tattoos on our face, draped in flags and wearing umbrella hats, we walked to class showing our national pride. Keeping a close eye on the triple J to
p 100, we patiently counted down the top ten whilst keenly listening to our lecture on Freedom Of Speech! Our lecturer was a great sport who finished the class a little early, dressed up in Aussie garb and got a little Aussie crazy.

For lunch, we went to an Indian restaurant, then headed to a huge mall on the outskirts of town where we were able to do some ice-skating outside. We were also the recipients of some very interesting looks, frequently forgetting we were still wearing Aussie tattoos on our face. Usually these encounters resulted in uncontrollable giggling after our desperate tries to explain what Australia Day was in the Czech language failed miserably!

The whole International Law and Human Rights class on Australia Day


After a big night for some, 6:55am was very early to be getting on a bus! After four hours we arrived in Budapest, Hungary and checked in to our fabulous hotel! We don't ask for much, but shower screens, clean bathrooms, comfy beds and televisions were all very welcome comforts.
Overlooking the whole of Budapest

We soon headed out for lunch, and after paying $5 AUD for a three course meal, we headed over to the European Roma Rights Centre. We had a great lecture and learnt a lot about the discrimination of minorities in Europe. Next we were off to the Open Society Institute where we learnt all about the process of providing legal representation to minorities all over Europe.

Following dinner at a lovely restaurant, a few of us headed to the traditional Rudas baths. The hot baths are the oldest in Europe and are said to have healing properties. The experience was one I will be never forget and my body definitely thanked me for it! I even froze my backside off in a traditional ice bath!

Waking up relaxed and rested on Saturday morning, we had a buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then headed out on our walking tour of Budapest.

The whole group on the walking tour of Budapest... That is
our Czech coordinator Martin mooning the camera!

This was a great chance to see all the sites of the city and have the history explained to us by a local. After a quick lunch we headed off the to the Hungarian Jewish Holocaust Museum. The memorial, entitled "From deprivation of rights to genocide", detailed the awful plight of more than 600,000 Hungarian Jews and Roma people who died during World War Two. It was a
truly awful but worthwhile experience.

Sunday morning brought with it a visit to the Hungarian Parliament House. The fourth largest parliament in the world and decked out in more than 60 kilograms of gold, the building was a spectacular piece of architecture. We even got to see the original crown jewels, guarded by Royal Soldiers. A ride up the funicular, a spot of souvenir shopping and some delightful cakes and before we knew it, it was time to get back on the bus and go home. Budapest had been very good to us!
The very beautiful Hungarian Parliament House

Things I love about Europe that we don't have in Australia! :

¥ Fresh pastries every morning! There is nothing better than some lovely baked goods before class every day!
¥ An efficient, clean public transport system! I don't think any further explanation is required for that one...
¥ The cultural activities that are so readily available and so cheap! Every night of the week, even in the smaller cities, there is high quality ballets, operas and theatre being performed. I have loved being able to experience these!
¥ The concept of central heating and layering! It's cold outside and really lovely and heated everywhere inside. Everyone dresses really cleverly and wears lots of layers. And they wear fashionable clothes whilst doing it!

I can't believe we have less than a week to go of the course... And there is an exam at the end of this week! I am enjoying myself far too much for this to end!

Australia day fever in Mexico

What a week this has been, I almost don't know where to start...

The workload has been pretty heavy and some people are really struggling with the ongoing effects of altitude sickness, Monctezumas Revenge, or just too much chilli (but it tastes so good).

We have all had an exam this week and the pressure was definitely felt, plus I think we're all getting a little 'Museum Fatigue'...and if we hear about the Presidents AGAIN, there may be another Mexican revolution! But despite those things, spirits remain very high and we have all fallen even more in love with this crazy, noisy, fascinating city. There really are no words to adequately describe the chaos.

Highlights for me this week have been, going to an orphanage run by local nuns and watching the teeny children whacking the living daylights out of a pinata with a massive stick! They were incredibly cute and I have requested to do a month of volunteer work there after the course finishes.

On Tuesday we went to see Mexican wrestling - what a scream! No photos allowed unfortunately, but it is a must-see. Absolutely ridiculous and over the top, it is hard to get past grown men slapping each other! But so much fun.

We went to the Ballet Folklorico on Wednesday and I LOVED it. The different styles of dance coupled with beautiful costumes and frankly bizarre stories were an absolute crack-up. The show is in the beautiful Palacio de Bellas Artes - Palace of Fine Arts - and it has a stunning glass curtain, made by Tiffany no less.

It was also the beautiful Hannah's birthday this week - she turned 20, and we had cake to celebrate.




Australia Day was on Thursday but we were revising for exams on the Friday, plus we had a full day of uni, so we decided to celebrate on Friday by heading back to Xochimilco and hiring a boat, some loud speakers and taking plenty of cerveza and tequila to share with our Mexican friends. Plus, Mel made a Pavlova! We decorated the boat appropriately and I will never forget the sight, or sound, of my new Mexican family singing Land Downunder and dancing around the boat, cheered on by passing Mexicans on their boats. It was easily the best Australia Day I've ever had.

This weekend we went to Puebla, a gorgeous town a couple of hours out of Mexico City. It was nice to breath cleaner air, plus the vibe of the town was very chilled and a lot of fun. We visited what remains of the largest pyramid in the world, bought teeny tiny coke bottles, gate-crashed a wedding, found an Australian shop, and heard some incredible live music - good times.


Just one week left and we are starting to feel sad about leaving our new friends but are going to make the most of it. Lots of exams, presentations and more fun to follow!

Getting to Tours and the rise of JE T'AIME

For once I managed to apply some sound advice offered by those who have travelled outside of Paris and I subsequently chose to spend a night in Montparnasse on my way to the program in Tours. I stayed at the Pullman just across the road from the Gare de Montparnasse, a hotel chosen based on two very basic qualities - architecturally, it’s a giant glass structure which is verging on overbearing in the skyline, and it’s directly across the road from the station I was going to need in the morning.

My logic being that I couldn’t possibly get lost if all I had to do was look at the skyline to find both my hotel AND the train station. That’s about as foolproof as it gets...except that I got lost wandering aimlessly looking at shops. But in my pursuit, I found an excellent place to have something to eat. By that stage I was very hungry so breakfast was more than welcome. The “confiture” (jam) was amazing, I’d never tasted anything like it. Unfortunately, the waitress didn’t speak english and my french was very poor so I couldn’t work out how to ask, nor would I have understood her response.

I was very excited when I found the Montparnasse “Zapa” store. My first Parisian purchase was an absolutely amazing Zapa cape, at 50% thanks to the January “soldes”. The shop assistants were fantastic, and although only one of them spoke english, they were very excited to have an Australian in their store and made a great fuss over helping me with sizes, conversions and helping me find the best pieces from the season. What people say about shop assistants in France being rude and unhelpful must be a myth. The girls were so amazing, as have they been in all the shops I’ve visited.

I did make my way back, and I managed to get on the train...in the process finding two “aim-overseasers” - Jenn and Melissa! I was very excited at the prospect of being able to get to know a couple of the participants on the way into Tours, as well as to have the added support of an extra few pairs of hands when it came to loading the luggage on and off the train. The train doesn’t stop for very long at all so the process, though cumbersome, needed to be speedy and efficient.

First afternoon in Tours was pretty quiet, we wandered around the main streets with Stéphaniie but we had a fantastic evening meeting a few of the Aloha team members and some of their friends at Bar Le Tourangeau. Our french companions were quite amused by our accents, iphone language applications, strange headgear (earmuffs) and our own particular style of keeping warm in the cold - “kangaroo style”. It was a great opportunity to get to know some of the friendly faces we would see around campus over the next 3 weeks and to correct some of the strange interpretations of the french language we were experiencing in our attempts to communicate with the locals. For instance, Instead of “je ne parle pas francais” meaning, “I do not speak french”, I had been saying “je ne parle francais” which is equivalent to “I not speak french”. While I argued that I was still managing to get my point across, I did have to concede that it was probably a little bit funny.

We’ve had a very busy first few days with classes all day and long lunches in the cafeteria. Our French teacher (who only spoke French) was fantastic. Not being able to communicate with her in English meant that we were more reliant on the little French we did know and it really helped us to push ourselves to learn enough to get us through ordering dinner, booking our various day/weekend trips and little things like shopping at the supermarket and getting directions.

We also learnt (the hard way) a simple “merci” is a more than adequate thank-you for anyone who offers us directions. “je t’aime!” is a highly inappropriate response and is not always well received by our French counterparts. Even if we would have struggled to find a supermarket open on a Sunday without their assistance.

On the Wednesday group 2 were lucky enough to be able to participate in French Gastronomy class, which I think may have been my favourite dining experience while in Tours thus far. We cooked our own amazing meals from scratch, with a little executive decision-making and improvisation along the way. Thanks to Mel, our sauce had twice the required amount of garlic and onion, and some further executive decision-making left the entire kitchen without salt or pepper as Mai seasoned the chicken to taste. Then we forgot to peal the pears before we sliced them, and still - the food was amazing. We have some very talented chefs among us.


After our cooking lessons we launched straight back into Advertising in Europe with Michael Yorke, and began working on our presentations in teams of 4, and group 1 went to the Gastronomy class. By Friday we decided that our notorious hallway parties just weren’t cutting it anymore. We’d been working hard, and we deserved a night out on the town. We definitely showed our French counterparts how Australian’s like to have fun. By Monday we’d pulled ourselves back together in time for class, and the beginning of Business & Sustainable Development in Europe with Mary McKinley.

Today we had our presentations, and our final exam for Advertising in Europe, some of us were quite nervous, me included (!) but we all managed to get through and we’re wishing good luck to group 1 who’ve been working hard to prepare themselves for their assessment tomorrow. This weekend we’re celebrating Australia day with our French friends, and then we will all say a quick au revoir to Tours as we head off to see a little bit more of Europe over our long weekend. We’ve all bonded very quickly, so the vast majority of us are headed to Amsterdam together on a 6am train (good luck!). The rest are headed off to Spain, Switzerland for skydiving, or to the UK to visit family and friends, and probably a little bit of shopping along the way.

I wish everyone all the best - please return safety on Sunday night x

Food, shelter and love in Brno

Well, what an amazing first week in the Czech Republic or, as the locals say and the Australians mispronounce, good old Ceska.

We’ve managed to cover a lot in our first days in this quirky country - too much to include in one go!

Seeing as we’ve spent most of the first week on the various human rights enshrined within international conventions, I’ll stick with describing how some of the basic needs for human life work here.


FOOD

Food here is a number of things. Filling. Warming. Potato-tastic. It is also DIRT CHEAP and I doubt I will ever get over being able to dine out in a fine restaurant with gorgeous views for under AUD 20.00, including drinks and dessert. Fancy a scoop or three of gelato? That’ll be AUD 1.20 please. A slab of steak? A handful of crowns will see you through. And don’t even get me started on the pivo (beer). Not only is it high quality pilsner, but it’s also all of AUD 1.00 a glass in most places. Sometimes it’s as little as 25 cents. I’m not a beer person but I’d be willing to convert for that price.

Typical meal at the cafeteria - Goulash with potato dumplings

Stepping out of the frosty air into a warm café for a spot of hot chocolate so thick it has to be eaten with a spoon is, no lie, one of the biggest highlights of my day.

That, and visiting Billa, the local supermarket chain that sits across the street from our residence. From Hello Kitty ice cream to Hannah Montana non-alcoholic wine, Billa has all your essentials covered. It’s pretty much become our local and we frequent it at least once a day.

Baby bear apricot cake. The weirder it is, the more compelled you are to buy it and try it.

Italian is big here. As an alternative to the traditional meat and potato dishes that still retains a high level of warming carbohydrates, it makes sense. But it soon became our mission

to find a non-Italian place after eating risotto and ravioli for dinner every night. Not to hate on the pasta though, it’s all delicious - gnocchi’s on every menu to the delight of many.

Success! Happy Chinese New Year!

SHELTER

Living in a university dorm seems to have thrown up a mixed bag of experiences amongst those participating, especially those rooming with an actual student of Masaryk University. I have been more than blessed, however, with my lovely Serbian room mate, Ana, who frequently shares her cake, fridge, excellent English and knowledge of good places to eat in Brno with me.


View from my room of my first night in Brno


On a broader level, the architectural landscape of both this city and Prague, which we visited over the weekend (!) is consistently stunning. 15th Century baroque and neo-renaissance cathedrals seem to be as carelessly scattered throughout Europe as RSL’s are back home. St Petrov’s Cathedral in the midst of Brno, with it’s sky high spires and panoramic view of the entire city, is a typical example of the astonishing buildings you can expect to see on an everyday skyline. Same goes for ornate metalwork and gold leafing on balconies, marbled facades for any one of the six or so major theatres and generally complementary colour scheme that all the buildings in Brno seem to have going on.















The view of Brno from the top of St Petrov’s Church. Note the red nose.










Tradition vs. modernity in Freedom Square








Beautiful Brno



A place where we spend a fair amount of time is room 038 in the law faculty of Masaryk University. The building is gorgeous, open and lit by a lot of sunlight which glances off the white marble and wood that makes up a lot of its interior and exterior. It feels a bit like a UN building. Apparently it was used by the Gestapo during the Communist regime.



WARMTH

It’s generally agreed that the weather here has been ridiculously mild for what is supposed to be the depths of European winter. We’ve been lucky enough to have blue skies and sun for most of our time, save one episode of rain and driving, wet, sideways blowing snow in Prague during a four hour walking tour. There have been a few magical bouts of falling snow in Brno but they never seem to last long - the quest to craft a snowman still remains.



LOVE

Everyone on this course, without exception, is lovely. Our tutors, co-ordinators and guest speakers have so far been endearingly enthusiastic about their respective areas of expertise. One of them even claps his hands a little bit when he gets really excited. There have been plenty of scheduled and spontaneous group dinners and activities and new friendships have become Facebook official. Whatever reservations anyone had were quickly tossed aside during group cocktails and other bubbly filled, strobe-lit outings in Brno and Prague. After readings had been finished, of course.

Outside St Vitus Cathedral in Prague

Loving the shopping at the moment. Everything’s on sale and most people have purchased at least one or two new items for their travel wardrobes. Shoes were a big one after some pairs got wet in the crazy Prague snow. Dresses for an operatic ballet were another good excuse to trawl through Zara and H&M. It’s safe to say that we’re quite a sartorially splendid crew at the moment.

Most of all, loving the essence of travel. New people, new places, new words, new knowledge and new experiences. And by the end of it, new you.

Czech-ing in again soon,

Jam..

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