June 15, 2012 Dear Yoli, I have no words in my heart or mouth that could possibly express my outrage and grief over what has happened. The harm to your precious sacred person is vile and inexcusable. The intended harm … Continue reading
Author Archives: Syndicated User
Reflections of a Year Abroad (Mapping a Go Global Year)
I’m writing with the view of the beautiful lake that I’m grateful to call home. It’s been eighteen months since I was last here and as I sip a warm cup of tea in this old table that brings back … Continue reading
back from Guatemala
Just a quick post to let you all know I’m safely back from Guatemala and brimming with thoughts to share and stories to tell (I think. Even if I’m not, I feel obligated to share the little I do know with those unfamiliar with Guatemala.) I’m aiming for 1 post a week, for the 6 weeks I was there. I’ll get started once the other students’ cameras take a dump on Facebook, seeing as it’s easier to narrate with photos.
Marketplace in Xela (Photo: Chloe)
Until then, I’m back on campus! *cue theme song*
See you in POLI 346 and 375?
044. Rockin’ around the Ringstraße*
On Thursday I arrived in the land of the Habsburgs, giant pretzels (bretzels), many, many palaces and where (on a more serious note) Hitler developed his ideologies that would make it into Mein Kampf and change the world forever, a.k.a Vienna, Austria. Welcome to part one of my Wien adventures (with little history tidbits from Professor Valentine)…
Lessons learned: a) I tend to not eat the traditional food of the places I’m going to (Indian in Czech Republic, pan-Asian in Austria…), b) I am the supreme navigator of all big cities, I swear. I can walk somewhere once, take the metro once and I know where I’m going even if I don’t speak a single Czech or German word, and c) Vienna is so much more expensive than Czech Republic. Holy moly.
Thursday
We got on the bus around 8:30am and arrived in Vienna about two hours later. After storing out luggage at our Wombat hostel (if you’re ever traveling and you need a hostel and there’s a Wombat in your area, book it. They’re beautiful), we headed out for the first day of our two day tour of the city with our fabulous tour guide Jeff. Our first stop? The famous Naschmarkt, the Kensington Market (in Toronto, I don’t know the Vancouver equivalent) of Vienna, where I had this for lunch:
Lunch at the Naschmarkt
Post sausage and fries, we stopped in the Secession building which is the hallmark of the Secession art period (google it, it’s interesting) where I saw this three-wall frieze based on Beethoven’s 5th symphony by Gustavo Klimt. On our way to the Kunsthistoriches Museum built by Emperor Franz Joseph to house the imperial family’s art collection, we passed by the Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna) where, fyi, Adolf Hitler was rejected from twice. The Kunsthistorisches Museum is actually two buildings (although we only went into one) that has this fantastic statue of “Emperess” Maria Theresa sandwiched between them.
In front of the Kunsthistoriches Museum (with Maria Theresa chillin in the backgound)
The museum itself houses the most ridiculous collection of beautiful art, from frescos by Kimt, to Renaissance painters like Titian, Carveggio, Renault, and Albrecht Dürer (whom I learned about in HIST 220, whooa connections!).
Dürer's All Saints Picture
We ended our first day at Stephenplatz (or the square with St. Stephen’s Catherdral) after passing by the Habsburg’s winter palace and the Neue Burg where Hitler announced the annexation of Austria in March 1938.
Neue Burg
The evening was a little less crammed with history and involved breakdancing, schnitzelburgers, the best gelato and wine gardens.
Friday
Our first stop with Jeff was at the Karlskirche (Charles Church), built to celebrate the end of the bubonic plague, and by far my favorite building in Vienna. Look at it, it’s beautiful!
Karlskirche
After passing by the best preserved Red Army monument (see 1945 Soviet Union take-over/liberation depending on who you’re talking), we headed to Belvedere Palace (no photos because I wasn’t allowed). The Belvedere is another palace-turned-museum that was once owned by Eugene of Savoy. If I thought Thursday was an art historian’s/art nerd’s dream I was mistaken. The first painting I saw was Jacques Louis David’s famous 1801 painting of Napoleon on the Great St. Bernhard’s Pass. Holy crap, one of my favorites, next to Klimt’s The Kiss. Belvedere also had a little Monet, Manet, van Gogh, Renoir and of course, Klimt’s The Kiss.
Belvedere Palace/Museum
I also had my second best meal of the entire trip so far at a place called Wok and More. It’s very similar to Mongolian Grill except it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet. You pick the foods you want in your stir-fry and the sauce and they cook it up and deliver it to your table. You also got complete access to their buffet of spring rolls, goyza and dessert. Not to mention you can go back multiple times to create more stir-fry concoctions which I totally took advantage of. It was fantastic.
Om nom nom
Before our tour guide left, he took us to what he calls “the most amazing postmodern architecture of the ’80s”. It reminds me of Gaudi’s architecture in Barcelona.
Hundertwasserhaus by Friedensreich Hundertwasser
To finish off the night, a few friends and I decided to have a nerd night which consisted of visiting and riding the famous Vienna ferris wheel (no photos because I forgot my camera) that can be seen in the movie The Third Man starring Orson Welles (which we saw later that night) and hanging out at a Viennese carnival/amusement park.
Saturday
The last full day in Vienna began with a visit to Schloß Schönbrunn (Schonbrunn Palace, or the summer home of the Habsburgs). For €12.50 I got to go through a really cool maze and hang out in an awesome park that was definitely designed for children and tour 26 of the 40 rooms that make up Franz Joseph and Elizabeth’s old home.
Schloß Schönbrunn
I ended my time in Vienna with an hour+ long jaunt up to Kahlenberg (where the Austrian army and allies charged down from to defeat the Ottomans during the Second Siege of Vienna in 1683), more food from Wok and More and gelato for dessert. Not a bad three day trip to Austria.
View of Vienna from Kahlenberg
* The Ringstraße (Ringstrasse) was once the fortification walls of Vienna until they were torn down and a street was put in. All along the Ringstraße are cultural, governmental and social institutions.
Stay tuned for my reflections of Brno, Czech Republic and my wonderful culinary improvision skills.
043. Dobrý den from Telč, Czech Republic*
From now until June 21st, I’ll be blogging about my time in Central Europe. I hope you enjoy my adventures.
*Hello from Telč, Czech Republic! (Pronounced “telch”, fyi). I’m writing from a small historic town about two hours from Prague.
My room in Telč (with my friend John in the background)
Now you might be asking yourself, why is Krystal so far from home? Well, my dear friends, I’m completing a 6-credit History course abroad through the University of Toronto’s Summer Abroad program. They have a ton of courses all over the world and you can apply as a visiting student (super easy process), check it out if you think it’s something you’re interested in.
How the course works
For 5 weeks we(my classmates and I) will be travelling to the Czech Republic, Austria, Poland and Hungary while learning about the imperial cities of Vienna, Wrocław, Prague and Budapest. The first five days are spent in Telč, and then we transfer to our home base at Masaryk University (named after Czechoslovakia’s first President) in Brno, Czech Republic. Classes are from Monday-Wednesday for three hours in the morning and then we have the afternoons free (unless there’s a planned activity) and we travel to the different cities on the Thursday and come back on the Saturday/Sunday. There’s a lot of reading, but only two assignments (one short, one long(er)) and an exam, which is awesome for a full year course.
What I’ve been up to
My parents dropped me off at Toronto Pearson Airport and I got on my super short eight and a half our flight (sarcasm alert) on Austrian Airlines. (BTW: Austrian Airlines has those chunky TVs hanging from the ceiling where everyone watches the same movie (ca. 1992), which is not awesome for an eight+ hour flight, but I survived.) Landed in Vienna around 8:15am, and transferred to Telč by 1pm, got all settled in, and roamed the super, super small town. My favourite part of this place is the small Pizzeria Italia restaurant where I get to practice my Italian in Czech Republic (I know right?!) with the wonderful chef Angelo. After being up for more than 24 hours, I was out like a light by 9pm.
Telč (all the buildings look different!)
Pizza from Pizzeria Italia. Thanks, Angelo!
I had my first lecture today, went back to the Pizzeria, realized that I did not take enough Czech Koruna (their currency) out of the bank, and learned a little survival Czech. Currently sitting in my room, being introduced to my roommate’s mix of Deadmau5, Steve Aoki and Skrillex (a deviation from my Florence and the Machine, Lights and Mumford and Sons) and trying to decide what to get for dinner tonight.
Na shledanou! (Goodbye!)
fdjkafjldskfj. ahewqiuleqeqkgeba. wkrhqklhrtkl.
adkjfhka, kjahwekhtaihtilu, ierhhjrhwilhreilwh! akjdfhkljsgha askjdfh fdt retwk vjhsi qweiowtju slkjfhtkgjhkijsh, wiorqnmcvidfj xcoikjre weohcd qoehroqkj wqhruh. jhkehr eqohoqehtkj oiwjhtwj. RTJH WLJHEH OGIJHOCIHNK EUJHKET RHOHOWNT GJH!!!
In other words, regrets T_T. Haha but it’s okay I’ll have fun next year in science, and I’m probably going to apply all over Canada. The good news that came out was that I’m very pleased with my NAQ score…
Like a pressure cooker waiting to explode…
tomorrow the results come out. Whether I evolve from science into the medical field or I come back to play the game of med school applications again… I’ve never felt so much anxiety in my life. I’ve tried to play DOTA, play Chopin, read Robert Ludlum, or play badminton to relieve my stress, but time and time my mind wanders back to the realization that I have less than 12 hours to find out. Tomorrow, I plan to check right before I head out to the bar to get my feelings fresh and ready for drinking. I will update you all about it tomorrow evening. Wish me luck!
Summer Goals/New Job
Trees outside my place. I love Vancouver weather in the summer.
1) GET MY LICENSE! I actually turned 20 recently and its pretty pathetic that I don’t have my license yet. My family moved around a lot, so I didn’t bother starting the process, and then I went to UCLA, and was on campus 98% of the time so why bother, and now I’m at UBC where the public transportation is ridiculously good, you guys don’t realize how good it is. It’s better than Toronto, San Francisco, and LA, seriously. And UBC hit me sideways in terms of difficulty..so keeping up academically became my sole priority. Now I realize how important it is to have one, having it as ID is good, and its better to get it out of the way now than later. So I am officially starting the process this summer. It’s just so much easier to do it in the states so I wasn’t worried, now I hear its a long process involving several different types of licenses here in Vancouver..so I’m not excited for that.
2) GET FIT! I don’t care about health during the school year to be honest, and how people in Vancouver run in the rain outside…is beyond me! I don’t want to get that serious, just buy better food, and exercise, but things I enjoy like walking and playing tennis. I remember playing tennis every week for a whole summer once. Now the last time I was in a gym I actually fell asleep lol..so it’s good to engage in things I enjoy.
3) Save money!
4) Read as much personal books(as in not assigned) as I can, I love to read and need to take advantage of this time that I have. I read series, and want to catch up on all of those, then just dive in, and start looking for book ideas on amazon…I can’t wait! There goes that inner nerd coming out.
5) Explore Vancouver. People always bring up certain places, and I’m like ‘never been there.’ I’m a homebody lol, snuggling up to movies and sour patches >> going out to some park. But I can’t live in the most ‘liveable’ city and not go see it, so I need to check out more places in Vancouver.
6) Deal with UBC ‘stuff’. Also known as, finalizing courses, this isn’t the time to take courses I don’t need, I actually want to be out of UBC in 4.5 years max… So if that means Integrated Sciences major, I have to go to UBC, see an advisor, set up the courses asap. If that means Combined Major, I have to just set up my courses, and make sure it’s not too heavy since I’ll be working. Hoping I can maneuver my schedule to have at least one full open day during the week of no class.
As for my job, I’ve only worked 3 shifts so far..but I’ve learned so much! In terms of getting medical experience to apply for med school, I feel like this owns doing research on so many levels. Research was something I wanted to do, for the sake of it, and because its what everyone else seems to do that gets into medical school. Based on my paranoia in chem 235, thinking I was one second from blowing something up every 2 seconds, I think it’s clear I don’t belong in a lab, at least not for long periods of time 
I’m so glad this opportunity fell in my lap. I’m learning about different drugs, seeing how the doctor makes diagnoses, seeing first hand the interaction between doctor and patient. Its like shadowing with more responsibilities. First ER Scribe program in Canada right now, but I have a feeling it will spread to other hospitals eventually. Anyways, hope everyone is enjoying their summer! 🙂
042. Here comes the sun, do da doo doo.
Or not. Because I woke up to sun, blue skies and chirping birds and ended up with torrential downpour by 2pm. I swear, Vancouver does not understand what rain really is. I also forgot how much I missed thunder and lightening. It’s kind of terrifyingly beautiful. Look at me, getting all poetic and stuff…
Anyway, since my last blog post I’ve said goodbye to my RezLife family at our year end banquet, watched all the hard work and long hours the Women’s and Gender Studies Student Association/F-Word Planning Committee put into planning the 3rd Annual F-Word Conference pay off on the day of (Note: It was an epic day of 6:30am-10:30pm epicness. I love love love the feminist community at UBC and in Vancouver with all my heart. I’ve never felt more like myself surrounded by that planning committee. I’m beyond sad I won’t be able to attend next year because I’ll be in Australia), and caught a 7am flight to Ontario. Phew.
I’ve now been back at home for 10 days and it’s been an equal balance of doing stuff and doing nothing at all. First off, I slept for 15 hours the day I got home. It was glorious. I’ve been to downtown Toronto three times and shopped a little (or a lot). I visited one of my favourite high school teachers and was surprised ten-fold by the maturity and awesomeness of her grade 10 class and felt even more motivated to pursue my goal of becoming a teacher. Finally experienced that deliciousness of Menchies Frozen Yogurt (there’s one coming to Wesbrook Village, be still my wallet). I got to see one of my best friends that I met at UBC in first year but lives 10 minutes away from where my dad works in Ontario (yeah, work that one out). Started my readings for my summer course I’m doing abroad and tried to start packing for said trip (I’ll explain all in my next post!). I’ve also spent full days lying in bed browsing the internet, watching movies and occasionally getting up to make something to eat.
It’s been equal parts lonely, awesome, exhausting and boring.
Hope everyone’s been enjoying their first week of summer!
Rejection Nightmare
I’m losing my mind… 6 days left until the big decision for UBC med arrives. I woke up from a bad dream today where I was the only one rejected and everyone else was accepted… Too scary. I have low expectations this year but still, being rejected from anything is the worst feeling ever.
My friends all feel the same way, that’s why we’re all gonna go drink on May 15th regardless of being accepted or not. If we’re accepted then we’ll go drink to celebrate. If we’re rejected, then we’ll drown our sorrows in drink. Drink drink drink until we can’t remember that we’re drinking.
I’ve got to say this year has been a phenomenal journey. Practicing MMIs with so many people made me learn a lot about the Canadian health care system, health care ethics, and just the sheer pressure and drive of all the other applicants and the sacrifices they made to get here. Everyone I’ve met we’re really high quality applicants, and it’s a shame that not everyone will make it to the end. I still feel it will remain a long journey for me, but it’s been great getting to know so many people along the way. I’m just happy that I’ve just made it this far.