Jan

262012

PaGE

5FEATUREReflections from Whitties abroad

Atop the world in Norway

M y travels took me to the mountains of Norway, where I found myself alone

amongst rocks, patchy snow, frozen lakes and some truly beautiful, expansive and vast terrain. The seemingly harsh isolation was tempered by roaring rivers and cascading waterfalls, stunning sunsets, starry skies

and sunrises. And I experienced unexpected encounters with the extremely friendly, welcoming and outdoorsy Norwegians. Trekking to a wilderness hut, I found myself enjoying a three-course meal of reindeer stew, lingonberry and cloudberries (yes, berries are a separate food category) served with brunost, a caramelized goat cheese and a traditional dessert of tilslørte bondepiker (“veiled shepherd’s girl”) with a dozen Norwegians. Awe-inspiring.

A t the end of September, eight IES Beijing students, including myself,

experienced the trip of a lifetime: a two-week journey to the Tibet Autonomous Region. The trip was incorporated into one class of IES Beijing’s Culture and Contemporary Issues program which focused on ethnicity and

Tibetan studies. The trip included a six-day camping excursion into rural areas around the regional capital of Lhasa. We camped at Namtso, “Heavenly Lake,” and Drepung Monastery, where we explored cultural landmarks, interviewed locals and experienced traditions that date back to before the introduction of Buddhism. Each of us focused on a research topic during the trip and prepared a study for our final project. Many

of us used this opportunity to investigate aspects of Tibetan culture that we could relate to previous studies. As a biology major, I focused on local medicinal resources and the importance of this market to rural Tibetans. Other projects included a study on Tibetan-Hui relations in Lhasa and another on state-run education in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. In addition, we took the world’s highest railroad on our way back!

by KATHRYN COLLINSContributing Reporter

Exploring temples in Tibet

Fall study abroad students share their memories & experiences

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One of my favorite adventures abroad occurred during a rare New Zealand

snowstorm. A group of friends and I took an early morning bus to the Otago Peninsula, a breathtaking strip of land in Dunedin. We ignored all premonitions of the day’s forecast, including the disturbingly fast-moving clouds chasing the bus along the coastline. Soon enough, the snow cloud caught up to our location and elevation. Coming from Florida, I had never seen snow fall horizontally. We decided to walk to the bay—why not see what the bay looks like in a blizzard?—when a car driving by stopped

and rolled the window down. A very nice old man with ruddy cheeks and a thick white mustache inquired if we needed a lift. He explained how we were not within walking distance of anything substantial and that we would probably die of hypothermia. Clearly we needed that lift. Our hero, who wore a stingray brooch on his jacket collar, took us to the Peninsula’s aquarium. We spent the day coloring in the kids’ area and playing with sea stars while the snowstorm made its way across the water. In the picture we are enjoying a quiet break from the frequent snowstorm blasts on the walk from the aquarium to the tiny town of Portobello, where I got stranded once more, but that’s another story.

by MIRIAM KOLKERContributing Reporter

Chilling with Kiwis

T hese are the Moeraki Boulders of New Zealand located on Koekohe Beach. They are

huge concretions that broke free of the cliffside and came to rest on the beach. When the Maori first saw them, they believed the boulders to be the remnants of the Arai-te-uru, a large canoe which had crashed along the shores of Moeraki. Maori legend says that the boulders are eel baskets and kumara which had been thrown overboard in order to keep the canoe from going under. I visited the boulders on a beautiful spring day while my family was visiting me in New Zealand. The boulders are easily large enough to have several people stand on them. Luckily for us, it was sunny all day long, and afterward, we were able to eat lunch in Oamaru, where a Victorian Days event was happening.

Telling Maori legends

by JOHANNA OTICOContributing Reporter

Something that never ceased to fascinate me about Argentina was the assembly

of artisans lined up and down the streets. Every weekend, Plaza Central in Mendoza would fill up with tons of artisanal booths. One time, I walked through the plaza alone and started looking at the booth of an artisan and his pregnant wife. What they had did

not exactly match my criteria, so the man pulled out his tools and constructed a completely new piece right in front of me with no extra charge. While he was doing so, we spent the entire time talking about random things, and eventually, as the man was finishing, the wife told me that I was going to be their child’s aunt when the baby was born.

Toward the end of my semester, I revisited the artisanal fair, and to my surprise, I ran

into the man and his wife cradling their newborn baby. They remembered me just as I remembered them, and I took a picture with my new “nephew.” Not only were the fairs a fantastic way to showcase all of the talented craftsmen, but they were also a perfect example of how friendly Argentineans are and continue to be—even after having met just once.

All photos contributed by authors

Crafting family in Mendoza

by KATHY NGUYENContributing Reporter

23 nationsParticipate as partners in study abroadprograms with Whitman.

1 in 2 studentsStudy abroad while in their junioryear at Whitman.

www.whitman.edu/content/ocsFind out more about off-campus studies online at:

ILLUSTRATION BY PETERSON

by RYAN NESBITContributing Reporter