Category Archives: Exchange

12/21/12

Like Alice.

So it has been just over 3 weeks since I have returned back home to Vancouver. I still wake up each morning in a sort of daze, as if I’m still not sure where I am this time around.  It’s as if I got up and was whisked away down the rabbit hole to Wonderland, and in true Alice-fashion, I woke up from dreaming. Except it’s not. The last 10 months really did happen. All I have to do is stare at the tattoo on my left foot and up at all the photos of my adventures abroad pasted on my bedroom wall to confirm it. Wonderland was a real place.

But as all adventures go, coming back home is the most difficult part of the journey. It certainly was for me. It took me a while to stop walking around the streets I knew well in a sort of strange awe; I half-expected someone to greet me in Norwegian or an Indian cow to pass me on the sidewalk. My bed felt like a nostalgic yet foreign marshmallow to sleep compared to the dorm and hostel beds I was now used to. It’s a sort of paradox, really: everything feels familiar but it’s not.

But reverse culture shock aside, it was seeing old faces that caused me the most distress. I didn’t know what to say when they asked me where I had been.

“So where have you been all this time?”

Sixteen countries. “…A lot of places.”

“Oh wow, which was your favourite place?”

In what way? “I don’t really know right now.”

“Are you happy that you’re back?”

Yes and no. “I’m not sure.”

Really, I didn’t know what to say. How could I talk about my trip without seeming like I was bragging? How could I talk about the stories I had – of which I could talk about for hours – to people at work where small talk was more appropriate? There was only so much I could say before the polite nodding would make me understand that there was no real way to bridge a gap between someone who just had not been there with me. Who weren’t completely interested because they had their own busy lives to live. There would always be things left unsaid.

For a long time, I struggled with that. I began to jokingly think that maybe I had just dreamed the whole thing. It’s a bit better now – my family and a few friends are quite understanding. But there’s only so much we can talk about my year. More often than not, the conversation always drifts back to the present and future.

The last 3 weeks for me have been a period of transition. I left Canada in January 2012 in order to step outside the small bubble called my life. Now that I’ve returned, I find myself in inside the thin membrane between these two worlds: my old life at home and the world outside.

But if I’ve realized anything this year, it’s that I can’t go back inside the bubble. I have to pop it. Travelling abroad – studying in Norway, backpacking Europe, and working in India – this has been my life for the past year. The extent of impact these experiences have had on me as a person are not crystal clear yet, but I do know that I have been shaped by them. I can’t discount them because I have trouble talking about these experiences with others. 2013 is fast approaching and with it comes my final semester at UBC. It’s the next chapter in this journey I call my life. And that’s what I’m choosing to see it as: a journey. Another destination. Another adventure.

See Vancouver is not in a bubble for me any more. The places I’ve been have shown me how to explore and Vancouver is no different. It is local but ultimately part of the global that I’ve only grazed the surface on. I want to see this city of mine with the eyes of a traveller. To marvel at all of the exquisite qualities it has to offer me. This semester, I’m discovering Vancouver.

Somehow, by still identifying myself as a traveller, my anxieties have been eased. The magic of the Wonderland I’ve discovered are waiting to be found here in this new place.

Down the rabbit hole I go again.

09/5/12

Colour My World.

It hit me just now: the realization that I live in two different worlds.

First is the world I currently live in. Here, my current home is in India. In this country, I wear Ali Baba pants, hop on and off auto rickshaws daily, and brave places that cannot even be called ‘toilets’.  I haggle for everything and bobble my head.  I walk the crowded streets of Jaipur, with a cow passing me every so often so nonchalantly. This is my day-to-day life at present, but in this surreal world, I’m never still. India is only my current stop. This is a world where I’m travelling constantly to new and wondrous places. Meeting new people from all over the world. Experiencing new languages and cultures. This is life I currently live.

Second is the world I left behind. The world as I knew it back in Vancouver, Canada. Where I grew up. Went to school. Had friends, family, and a job that I loved. Sometimes, I close my eyes and try to remember a regular day for me in that world: I slam the snooze on my alarm and groggily shoo my dog out of my bed as I get ready for school. Here I wear jeans, a nice scarf and pea coat, paired off with a pair of black boots. Standard UBC fashion. I race other transiting students out of the skytrain, down the escalator to get first in line to the direct bus to my school campus every morning and hit a couple z’s on the bus ride there. I hurry to my classes, maybe see a friend during break. On weekends I drive to work. I have a permanent layer of chlorine on my skin. Sometimes I walk. Go for a run in the rain. Tumblr. Cram for midterms.

You know, after reminiscing a normal day for me in my world from a year ago, I’m not so sure which one is more surreal – the one then or this current world of mine. There are a lot of spaces in that old world of mine where I have a ton of time I just spent… procrastinating. Daydreaming about this world now. Even though I have a lot more free time abroad (that’s with my fair share of lazy days too), it feels… fuller. That old world is just a flash of events that don’t seem to interlink – as if I was really dreaming that old life and flashing through the mundane bits. There are definitely parts about it that I miss. But more so than that, there is so much more that I want to bring into that old world of mine from this current one. Every day I spend in India is so full of colour (quite literally – the women here wear the brightest scarves and saris) and when I think back to Canada, everything I remember is in hues of grey and blue. Did I really spend all that time cooped in my room? Why didn’t I go out more? Make use of my time? Get to know my own city?

I often think about the day I return to Canada. November 28th. I wonder how I will feel. How I will see the city. My job. My school. My home. There’s a part of me that’s afraid to go back to that old world – afraid that all of the colour I’ve soaked in this year will fade away with the Vancouver rain. I’m afraid that I will find everything the same as I left it.

I don’t want to see it that way. I feel right now, these are two different worlds that belong to me, but they are very much detached from each other. No one in Canada can really know the people I’ve met or the things I’ve experienced out here just like my friends here haven’t a clue about my life back at home. I’m afraid that when I go back, I’ll feel so detached from that world after experiencing this one.

If that old world is in a protective bubble, I stepped out into this new world eight months ago. I don’t want to just go back inside. I want to pop the bubble. I want the colours of this world to seep into my old one. I want my worlds to merge.

So I hope that when I fly back to Canada, I will see everything with new eyes – as Vancouver is only the latest destination in my travels. A new colour in my life.

02/12/12

I wish I was an iPod so I could plug into a computer to recharge my energy battery.

Instead I spend the entire day basically resting up from the long night I had earlier. After a week’s worth of constant socializing, fun, and a night full of sushi, drinks, and good company to top off my week – I started to feel the effects of over-socializing. I’m not naturally a socializer – it takes a lot of effort on my part to talk to people. That doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy being around people – it just means I need my own time to unwind and be off on my own to rest up, reflect, and enjoy my own silent company once in awhile. It’s taken me a lot of hard work to become a better socializer and now it’s much easier for me to do so and recharge afterwards. It’s a fine balance.

A lot of people don’t believe me when I tell them that I used to be very, very shy. I guess it makes me really appreciate the long-term friends I have at home who have seen me grow into the person that I am today. But coming to Norway and meeting new people every day has shown me just how much I have grown. Even I can’t believe that the girl who just three years ago was very much a guarded person could have done a complete 180 into becoming a social butterfly. And it’s not that I’ve changed my personality in a short couple years but the fact that I’ve opened myself up to others – to have accepted and be willing to show others who I am – that has brought me here. This me right now – this me is who I really am. Not that shy girl from all those years ago.

It’s amazing just how much you can soar when you learn to love yourself.

02/7/12

I'm officially off to Poland! :D

It’s funny how a simple conversation can spark an entire trip out of the country. I had just sat down in front of my computer with a hot cup of tea, defrosting from my time spent around a camp fire in the snow, when my Colombian friend starts chatting with me on Facebook (she had gone back from the camp fire early because she was too cold). We had a pleasant chat and when I mentioned how much I wanted to travel around this semester, she invited me to come to Poland with her and her friends next Thursday (16th) for the weekend. Excitedly, I said yes and immediately started looking to book my flight ticket so we would all fly together. To my dismay, there was a flight out of Oslo to Wroclaw (apparently known as the Venice of Poland) but the return flight was full. My friend cheered me up by proposing a trip to Belgium for her birthday in March that we could plan for together (and of course I agreed). But I wasn’t giving up yet. I started looking for other flights out of Poland back to Norway on Sunday (19th).

I managed to find one flying late out of Krakow, Poland – which is about 4-5 hours south of Wroclaw by train. I debated if it even would be worth it to go to Poland and take the train down on my own to Krakow. After a little internet research, I was convinced to go to Krakow – both for the city as well as for the fact that Auschwitz was only a little ways away. I must go to Auschwitz if I go to Poland. There isn’t even a doubt in my mind about that.

So now I’m figuring out train schedules and debating when I should part ways from my friends in Wroclaw to head off to Krakow on my own. I’ll probably take night train to Krakow Friday night/Saturday morning – sleep on the train – and arrive in Krakow ready for a free city tour (which I found) and explore the rest of the city on my own for the rest of the day. Auschwitz would be my last destination on Sunday before I fly back to Oslo in the early evening. A sombre note to end my weekend trip, but a crucial one nonetheless.

My first real trip on my own (well, at least for half of it)! It’s great to know that I’ll have company in a strange new country for the first two days at least. And also to know that I have future trips with friends to look forward to. Bought my tickets and ready to lock and load. Must start planning! 😀 SO EXCITE.

And all it took was a simple invitation to spark the start of a new adventure. 🙂

02/6/12

Kitchen Languages.

My French and Norwegian roomies were quite happy to teach me my ‘phrase of the day’ when I told them I wanted to learn:
How was your day?

French: Comment était ta journée? OU Comment c’est passée ta journée?

Norwegian: Hvordan var dagen din?

We’re going to keep a sheet of paper on the kitchen counter so that we can write out what we’re saying, which really helps actually. I got a refresher for remember French grammar and I’m starting to learn Norwegian sentence structure and pronunciation. HOORAY FOR GRAMMAR!

I asked my roomies the word for ‘class’ which I then put into the sentence structure I had just learned:

How was class?

Comment était tes cours?

Hvordan var timen din?

A phrase a day until my goal of having a simple conversation in either language is feasible. ^^

02/5/12

Skating~!

Sundays are pretty slow in Ås, so it’s up to the students to make their own fun. 😀 Today at noon, I attended a free skate hosted by the ISU (International Student Union). It was a lot of fun to lace up our skates and glide out onto the ice. Since it was my first time actually skating outside, it was extra exciting for me.

Compared to the tiny, cramped ice arenas I was used to skating in back in Canada, we had a lot of space to not run into anybody (and not have to skate only in one direction). There were Norwegians playing hockey, dogs, and plenty of cross-country skiers out and about. A lot of the internationals had never skated before so I somehow ended up as a sort of ‘teacher’ (even though I only know pretty much the basics) for a lot of newbies. I have to thank my mother for putting me in skating lessons as a child.

It was really lovely because everyone was helping one another, learning and teaching. Some of my friends who were more experienced skaters taught me how to stop in different ways and even start to skate forward and turn midway to skate backwards (I’m still working on it – but I’m getting better). It was difficult to skate sometimes because the ice wasn’t always smooth (no zambonis here) and no walls to run and stop into like in indoor arenas. Basically, I was forced to really skate, which in itself made me a better skater in the end. I ended up trying hockey skates for the first time and although I still need to get used to them, I like them much better than figure skates.

All in all, it was a wonderful environment to try, learn, and grow together as a community of UMB students out on the ice. I love that you can just holler and ask if anyone can skate, dance, or even ski and they’ll be willing to teach you. I’ve already taken up learning to ski from a couple people (cross-country and downhill). I’ve also offered newbies to teach the basics of snowboarding even though I haven’t gone in years. There will be a ski trip in the beginning of March that I’m absolutely PSYCHED for. I just wish I had brought my nice snowboard goggles. :

Next week, skiing! 😀

01/31/12

Room-mates.

So coming here to Norway is the first real time that I’ve really lived on my own – cooking and cleaning for myself, especially. I was a bit nervous about it… feeling more like a kid who doesn’t know how to take care of herself. But within one week of staying in Aas, I’m adjusting quite nicely. I’ve gotten groceries (albeit still working out how much I eat in a week and staying under budget), done laundry, cleaned, and cooked decent enough meals for myself. I could probably be a lot faster in the cooking department, but that will get better with time I’m sure.

I currently live in a flat of six people, which consists of two Norwegian guys W and E, one Norwegian girl C, one Nepalese guy H, and a recent addition to the flat, a French girl D as well as myself. They are all very nice but most keep to themselves and their own circles of friends. W and E are pretty tight and are actually moving out in the coming weeks, leaving me, D, C, and H left in our flat – a nice change from a male majority to a female one. If it’s one thing I’ve noticed, a flat with boys isn’t the cleanest flat. And if I’ve learned anything in the last week, I have a certain level of cleanliness I need to maintain where I live in order to be comfortable. Twenty years of living under my mother’s care has given me this.

My interactions with my flatmates consisted mainly of talking and joking with W + E as they were out in the common area the most. I hardly saw C and I only really caught H when he had company over or if we happened to be cooking at the same time. So all in all, it wasn’t the most cohesive of units. I didn’t mind too much because I made friends fast with others in rez.

I finally ran into C today as I was making dinner and we finally got to talking. She is very nice – not shy, like I assumed her to be because I saw her so rarely (according to W, no one had really seen her around even last term). As I talked with her, I grew to understand that one of the reasons she kept to herself (and even showered at the gym instead of in the flat) was because she was sick of cleaning up after five guy roommates all the time. They had started a cleaning schedule long ago, but the guys hardly kept up with it, leaving C all by herself to keep the flat tidy. I assured her that I would do my best to keep the place tidyand I talked about setting up a cleaning duty list on the fridge. She smiled and I kept chopping vegetables for dinner.

When I came back out after eating in my room, I found that C had already made up a cleaning duty list of all the rooms, with her name jotted down nicely each week in one of the four boxes (Floor, Kitchen, Bathroom, Garbage). I guess she was very relieved to have more girls in the flat as opposed to boys. Don’t get me wrong, W + E + H are all very nice and reasonable, but they aren’t necessarily the tidiest bunch.  I always envied my other Canadian friend, S, who came here with me that had been put in a flat with mostly girls. Their flat was very neat and cozy. Hopefully with me and D in the picture, we’ll keep our flat nice and clean. 🙂

After dinner, D – who had her other French girl friends over – invited me to watch episodes of How I Met Your Mother with them. I happily joined them until I decided to tuck in due to jet lag.

So this is my life now – where I call ‘home’ at the moment. How everything is organized is still in the works but every day turns out brighter with a new conversation, clean counter-tops, and a busy common area.

Looks like I’m well on my way to taking care of myself and living with others.

01/28/12

Of Dinner Parties and Good Company.

So I was invited to a dinner party in the flat across from mine tonight, and it was really nice to meet people and have fun. 🙂 Three of them were straight from China, my friend Natalie from Singapore, a Sri-Lankan girl, and a Russian guy. It was surreal to hear so many foreign languages being spoken around the table: Natalie would often translate Mandarin into English for us when our Chinese friends couldn’t find the right words in English. I said a couple things in Korean and Japanese. Our Russian mate taught us a bit of Russian and Norwegian because he could speak it. Cantonese. A bit of French. It was great because everyone mainly used English to make sure everyone was included and understood at the very root of the dinner conversation. Plus the food was delicious. I was given a lot of different Chinese treats that I had never tried before.

image

(ASIAN FOOD. There was more than this – I should have taken more photos! Next time.)

The people themselves – all studying for their master’s degrees – were all very friendly and great to talk to. I’m finding the international students a lot easier to connect with than Norwegian first years for sure. I can’t wait until next week where I’ll be able to meet with more people from the international community. Plus swing dancing on Monday! 😀

There will be more dinner (and baking parties) for sure as the weeks go on. As my Norwegian room-mate told me, in Aas, since there isn’t much to do, it is the people that bring life to the town and campus life.

01/26/12

Guess who has internet access?

THIS GIRL. With a day and a half gone since I arrived in Aas, I have a lot to write about. But where to begin? I don’t usually like to word vomit onto a page without a clear direction, but in this case, I think I just need to get the gist of everything out. Look forward to posts that are much more focused on one subject at a time as I continue my adventures in Norway. 😀

Well, for starters, my flights to Iceland (7.5 hours) and to Norway (~3 hours) went very smoothly. I had an entire row of seats to myself for the longer one, which was nice. Meals weren’t provided but I didn’t mind – I brought enough food and I can’t handle airplane food anyway.

(First look at Norway!)

Then there was arrival in Oslo Airport – bag check went very quickly, with my luggage all in one piece. There was a bit of time dawdling on exchanging currencies and debating if I should get a 30-day transit pass for ~$160 CAD. I got it in the end and fully intend to make best use of it. 😐 About 5 round trips to and from Oslo should do it.

Train ride to Aas was absolutely brutal. Correction: taking my heavy luggage on and off the train was brutal. My arms were falling off and my hands were raw from holding onto the bags tightly for a long time.

After the train ride, I got really lucky when the very person I saw literally seconds after getting off the train happened to be the other girl from my program back at UBC, S, who had arrived a few days before me. She graciously offered to help lug my heavy bags to where I was staying and we almost died walking across snow and ice doing it. But I saved a bit of money by not calling a taxi.

It was around 4-5PM when I reached the rez I was staying in. My roommates: two Norwegian guys, one Norwegian girl, and one guy from Nepal. The two Norwegian guys are very nice and helpful (one’s social, the other quite shy). I’m on nodding terms with Nepal and the girl I haven’t had the chance to talking to just yet. They all seem quite nice though… and the place is clean enough for me not to complain.

I spend the rest of the night unpacking (still lots to do) and arranging my room.

(Desk and a window looking out to the other residences)

(Couldn’t sleep so I put up the photos + postcards I brought with me)

(All five of us share a bathroom, but we each have our own sink in our room. :D)

(Ice rink! One of three on campus… on frozen concrete for beginners not ready for frozen ponds.)

(Colourful buildings really pop because of the snow)

(Main UMB buildings)

(My faculty [Noragric] building! 😀 So excite!)

Jetlag prevented me from having adequate sleep, so I started today off quite late. Since I didn’t have internet access at all, I made a visit to the IT building and they set everything up for me quite easily. The IT guy kindly printed out a campus map and directed me to SiT (Student Information Centre) where they helped me get set up for courses, etc. AND I made a new friend, Natalie, a masters student from Singapore. Such an amazing girl – she showed me around campus AND the town of Aas, as well as took me shopping at the best places. Sheer luck again. 😀

I spent waaay too much on groceries (for first time grocery shopping, I guess to be expected) – I’ll be going over my receipt and seeing how I can manage for future visits. Norway is much too expensive (oh my poor bank account) – but the shopping went smoothly because Natalie was there with me to help.

With some help, I got back home. Cooked for myself for the first time since I arrived, making enough pasta to last me tomorrow and probably the next day. Tried out my new internet connection and skyped with my family, which was really lovely. A lot of firsts today. I’m looking forward to experiencing a lot more (and trying not to cry over my bank account).

So what’s scheduled for tomorrow? More on-campus logistics, VISA stuff in Ski, and a visit to Oslo’s IKEA if I have the time! 😀 Have to make use that pricey transit pass somehow.

01/24/12

BRB, crying my heart out in front of Gate S-12.

So I’ve arrived in Seattle quite ahead of schedule, with stops to eat and shop at an outlet mall (I needed a folding shoulder bag and found a beautiful one on sale) with my wonderful mother. The last couple of hours we had together calmed me down after the freak-out I had earlier in the morning. I felt good. Excited with butterflies in my tummy.

I was ready and bag check went smoothly, thankfully (hooray for early bird no lines!). But as soon as I turned to say good-bye to my mom in front of the security check, I saw her start to tear up, which triggered my own tears. I smiled and said farewell with lots of hugs, kisses, and tears as I walked towards security. Mom waited on the other side of the rope watching me as I drew farther away from her. Each second a part was painful and I felt like a 5-year-old lost alone in the mall. I couldn’t stop crying – still can’t really. I’m probably going to bawl on the entire plane ride to Iceland. And then to Norway. The full 10 hours. Nearby passengers are going to hate me.

I usually love wandering around on my own, but walking through the airport to find my gate was absolutely terrifying. I became Paranoid Parrot x 10000000000000000% as my brain kept believing that I had forgotten something important – which I hadn’t (at least I don’t think so).

So here I am, killing the 2-hour wait before I board the plane, ingraining the images of farewells and last looks I had with my family only this morning: my brother getting up at 6AM to say goodbye with a hug. My dog curiously watching me close the front door as I left the house. My dad surprising me by hoisting me up into the air for an enormous bear hug and never losing sight of the car as my mom and I drove away from home. My mom’s tear-stained smile as she finished hugging me gently for the third time.

Having a computer with internet access helps. Supportive FB messages and Tumblr replies (and even the cute tweet from my dad) keep me smiling. Yes, this is probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to deal with so far in my life. Yes, I am bawling my eyes out. Yes, I still firmly believe that I’m on the right path I’ve chosen for myself. This is it – my first step into the world. I will come back to Vancouver one day, but as of now let me call you… Home.