Well, the last week was too busy, so I'm doing a quick recap:
Road Trip to Philly was long. We departed at 6 am and reached our hotel at 8-9 pm. We had a really good busdriver, who took us to 9/11 memorial in Pennsylvania.
The memorial is dedicated to the 4th plane that departed from Newark (it was supposed to go to San Francisco). Shortly after the plane had taken off, the terrorists took over the plane, but people on board had already received texts from their loved ones about the other planes that had already hit the targets. So the people somehow managed take back the control over the plane and they made an impossible decision - they crashed the plane on the empty fields of Pennsylvania, in the middle of nowhere. Every single person on that plane died. There were quite a lot of people visiting the memorial and it felt really sad, but at the same time walking there made me admire those people, who very possibly avoided the plane crashing into the Capitol (that's believed to be the plane's specific target).
In Philly we stayed at the Red Roof Inn Trevorse, a small hotel that actually looked better than I expected. Although I spent half an hour on the phone with the WiFi customer line, after being put on hold for 3 times I finally got a fast internet connection.
The next day we visited the Independence Hall, the Constitution Center and later we got 4.5 hours of free time. Me and Karolina walked through Chinatown, on the main street and through the Rittenhouse district. Downtown Philadelphia looks exactly like New York in movies - busy and colorful. In the evening we started driving to DC. When we finally arrived at the UDC apartments, we were surprised, and not just because of the big apartments with kitchen and a personal bathroom. We didn't have any pillows, blankets, bedsheets, toilet paper or shower curtains. Thanks to our mentors' quick actions, we got the missing things a couple of hours later, only shower curtains remained missing, but it was no big deal, only the bathroom was flooded every time somebody took a shower. But our apartment was on the 11th floor, we could see the top of the Capitol from our window and we had a metro station and Starbucks around the corner - so it was pretty amazing.
We spent 2 days in DC. We visited the State Department, where we did a NATO simulation, which was really fun. One of the girls interning at the State Department was American Estonian and she started talking to me in Estonian. It was the weirdest feeling - all my languages got mixed up and I couldn't speak proper Estonian just because in my mind I couldn't link being in a totally American environment and speaking Estonian at the same time. In DC we also visited all the important places - the White House, the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial and the museums - Smithsonian, Newseum, the Holocaust Museum. DC is really stunning. It is a big city, but it has endless green spaces and everything is so clean. It also feels very safe. People cycle through the city wearing suits and backpacks. DC is definitely a city I would like to live in. It's completely amazing.
After two completely amazing days in DC it was time to face the inevitable - the goodbyes. I actually have to admit that I didn't cry until getting home - what can I say, I'm a slow Estonian. :) It didn't feel real, I didn't actually realize the fact that it was going to be over very soon.
But, after spending the late Friday night packing, it was time to leave on Saturday morning. After long goodbyes, checking in at the airport, doing some last-minute souvenir-shopping and the last absolutely amazing Starbucks frappucino, it was time to step on a plane and leave the USA. We were flying with Lufthansa and I really enjoyed the flight - it lasted only a bit over 7 hours, the food was good, movies were great and I had an aisle seat. In Frankfurt we said the last goodbyes and then I was on my own. I had almost 5 hours to kill and Pille-Riin, the WFU Estonian Fellow, was coming with a later flight, so I was alone. Anyway, I wondered around the airport for quite a while and then, when my gate was finally announced, I landed on a seat next to my gate and read the book I bought in DC until the boarding started. The flight to Tallinn was very boring, but I finally got an hour of sleep.
My mom and sisters were waiting for me at the airport with a "Welcome Home" sign. We went home, ate some soup and black bread and I showed others some photos.
I'm going to write one more post to summarize all my emotions, thoughts and experiences I got from BFTF, so stay tuned.
kolmapäev, 31. juuli 2013
teisipäev, 23. juuli 2013
Not So Final Yet + Tying Loose Ends
On Sunday morning I went to church Sunday service for the very first time in my life. Even though for a non-religious person I have had quite a lot of contact with Christianity, it was still very different.
I liked going to the service because it strenghtened my confidence in my decision of not believing. I was listening to the pastor (?, not sure, maybe he was called something else, I apologize if it's wrong) and thinking that it clearly makes sense to many people, but for me it's far too conservative.
So, after church we came home, ate some lasagna and then I worked on my part of our project citizen. In the evening we had our Final Reception - which, even though we had another week together ahead of us, seemed frighteningly close to going home. But the dinner was delicious and we all received the certificates confirming that we have successfully completed the BFTF Purdue academic program. We also took a group picture and some photos with each other.
On Monday we had our Project Citizen presentations until 12 and then we went for the LAST time to eat lunch at Ford Dining Court. I wasn't even hungry, but I still ate double the normal amount food.
After lunch Kara and Joel picked me and Allie up, we picked up Hannah from the day care, went home for a few minutes and headed to Tropicanoe Cove - a small water park in Lafayette.We spent a few hours swimming there and me and Allie walked through the Columbian Park Zoo - a small petting zoo, free of charge. For dinner we had meatballs and potatoes. When I sat down at the table, I saw that in addition to a fork I also had a knife, which - believe it or not - was amazing. Here nobody really uses knives and I talked about how at home we always use a knife, so they made me a small surprise (not that it would have been hard for me to open a drawer and take a knife, but the thought was really cool :)). Me and Allie both got a gift bag from our host family. It had Purdue T-shirt and a photo of all of us in a frame. That was so sweet!
It's starting to feel like the end already and I'm not sure if I like ot. On the one hand, I want to see all the people at home and eat some healthy food, but on the other hand, this is so absolutely incredibly amazing!
I'm already in Philadelphia, but new post about our road trip here will be up in the near future, right now I'm going to enjoy our evening in a hotel.
Regards from Philly,
Elis
I liked going to the service because it strenghtened my confidence in my decision of not believing. I was listening to the pastor (?, not sure, maybe he was called something else, I apologize if it's wrong) and thinking that it clearly makes sense to many people, but for me it's far too conservative.
So, after church we came home, ate some lasagna and then I worked on my part of our project citizen. In the evening we had our Final Reception - which, even though we had another week together ahead of us, seemed frighteningly close to going home. But the dinner was delicious and we all received the certificates confirming that we have successfully completed the BFTF Purdue academic program. We also took a group picture and some photos with each other.
On Monday we had our Project Citizen presentations until 12 and then we went for the LAST time to eat lunch at Ford Dining Court. I wasn't even hungry, but I still ate double the normal amount food.
After lunch Kara and Joel picked me and Allie up, we picked up Hannah from the day care, went home for a few minutes and headed to Tropicanoe Cove - a small water park in Lafayette.We spent a few hours swimming there and me and Allie walked through the Columbian Park Zoo - a small petting zoo, free of charge. For dinner we had meatballs and potatoes. When I sat down at the table, I saw that in addition to a fork I also had a knife, which - believe it or not - was amazing. Here nobody really uses knives and I talked about how at home we always use a knife, so they made me a small surprise (not that it would have been hard for me to open a drawer and take a knife, but the thought was really cool :)). Me and Allie both got a gift bag from our host family. It had Purdue T-shirt and a photo of all of us in a frame. That was so sweet!
It's starting to feel like the end already and I'm not sure if I like ot. On the one hand, I want to see all the people at home and eat some healthy food, but on the other hand, this is so absolutely incredibly amazing!
I'm already in Philadelphia, but new post about our road trip here will be up in the near future, right now I'm going to enjoy our evening in a hotel.
Regards from Philly,
Elis
pühapäev, 21. juuli 2013
Premium Outlets + Western Riding
On Saturday morning we headed out to Edinburgh, Indiana (I know, the place-names here are so original :)), to Premium Outlets, which is a huge complex consisting lots of stores. I bought an Ann Taylor sweater and Levi's jeans(for 15 dollars!!!) and some other stuff. After we had gone through all the stores, me and Allie went to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and I ate a Pecan Bear Apple - a Granny Smith covered with caramel, milk chocolate and pecans. It was so big, but amazingly good. After hours of shopping, a sudden and long downpour and a lunch at Subway, we drove to Shrine and Yoanna's host family to ride. They have a farm with soooo many animals (tädi Terje, sinu loomaaeda ei anna sellega võrreldagi :)).
I was told that they have 4 ponies and 1 horse. We were supposed to ride the horse, but the horse was actually the size of a big pony. :) But he was cute. He was a Paint horse and his name was Jade (?). He was only 3 years old, which really amazed me because he was really used to everybody riding him. It was my first time to try the Western saddle and it felt very different, but fun for a change. Although in a long perspective I would stick to the English riding. :) After that we spent some more time there and I actually tried to milk a goat (my dear family, I can imagine you laughing at this right now) and, even to my own surprise, I almost succeeded.
I was told that they have 4 ponies and 1 horse. We were supposed to ride the horse, but the horse was actually the size of a big pony. :) But he was cute. He was a Paint horse and his name was Jade (?). He was only 3 years old, which really amazed me because he was really used to everybody riding him. It was my first time to try the Western saddle and it felt very different, but fun for a change. Although in a long perspective I would stick to the English riding. :) After that we spent some more time there and I actually tried to milk a goat (my dear family, I can imagine you laughing at this right now) and, even to my own surprise, I almost succeeded.
God Bless the Air Conditioning
Hello again!
A little summary about Friday.
In the morning we met up at Earhart and took the bus to McCutcheon High School, one of the public high schools in Lafayette. We had a brief introduction to US education system in the auditorium by the principal and then a tour of the school. It is really big - it has ca 1900 students (?), but the school is almost only on the 1st floor, so everything is very spread out. They have at least 2 gyms, a pool, a huge cafeteria and so on. It was exactly like in movies. When Allie said that there's really no point in going to see American high school and it would be easier to watch High School Musical the night before, I didn't really believe her. But Friday proved me wrong. It is exactly like High School Musical or any other American teen movie in that matter.
After that we went back to DLRC (the place where most of our classes take place) and had a heated discussion about tolerance. Long after the class had ended, we were still discussing the controversial topic. In the afternoon we worked on our projects and me and Dejana went to Dairy Queen aferwards (I'm getting addicted to this place). In the evening we watched a movie and spent time at home. We watched The Pursuit of Happiness - who hasn't seen this yet, you definitely should. It's based on a real story and it made me reflect on the homeless shelter visit we had earlier this week.
Friday, in my opinion, was the hottest day we've had so far. I felt like I was about to have a heatstroke the whole day and the humid air was so extremely heavy. I'm starting to love the air conditioning!
A little summary about Friday.
In the morning we met up at Earhart and took the bus to McCutcheon High School, one of the public high schools in Lafayette. We had a brief introduction to US education system in the auditorium by the principal and then a tour of the school. It is really big - it has ca 1900 students (?), but the school is almost only on the 1st floor, so everything is very spread out. They have at least 2 gyms, a pool, a huge cafeteria and so on. It was exactly like in movies. When Allie said that there's really no point in going to see American high school and it would be easier to watch High School Musical the night before, I didn't really believe her. But Friday proved me wrong. It is exactly like High School Musical or any other American teen movie in that matter.
After that we went back to DLRC (the place where most of our classes take place) and had a heated discussion about tolerance. Long after the class had ended, we were still discussing the controversial topic. In the afternoon we worked on our projects and me and Dejana went to Dairy Queen aferwards (I'm getting addicted to this place). In the evening we watched a movie and spent time at home. We watched The Pursuit of Happiness - who hasn't seen this yet, you definitely should. It's based on a real story and it made me reflect on the homeless shelter visit we had earlier this week.
Friday, in my opinion, was the hottest day we've had so far. I felt like I was about to have a heatstroke the whole day and the humid air was so extremely heavy. I'm starting to love the air conditioning!
reede, 19. juuli 2013
The Windy City
Well, Thursday was literally the mos AMAZING day so far!
We went to Chicago!
So, enough excitement for now. :)
Anyway, I woke up 6 AM to videoskype with Helen (as you can see, she has become a regular on my blog :)) but due to some weird technical problems, I couldn't hear her so she tried to make all kinds of weird faces (ok, I'm exaggerating a little, but it was still pretty funny) and wrote messages.
In a little while it was time to head out to Earhart, catch a bus and go to Chicago. I had taken my blow-up neck pillow with me so I could sleep in the bus. Chicago was absolutely breathtaking - beautiful, big and classy skyscrapers (yes, classy, they have architecture, not just concrete and glass.
First we visited the Shedd Aquarium, which was nice, but I've been to many aquariums in Europe, so in a while, they start to look the same. Although we saw a 4D movie there (some Ice Age video) which was cool, but I like 4D movies in Tartu better. The best place in teh aquarium was definitely a cafe balcony that offered a impressive, breathtaking view of the Lake Michigan and Chicago Skyline.
The next thing on the agenda was the Willis Tower - the highest building in the U.S. After standing in line for some time, we could finally take the elevator to the 103th floor (Skydeck). The view was impressive. There were those places (like balconies) that had a glass floor and walls, so you could see straight down. I also bought some souvenirs from there (Yes, Helen, I bought souvenirs!!).
Finally we had 4.5 hours to walk around. We were dropped off at Millenium Park and me and Karolina went shopping on the Magnificent Mile (North Michigan Avenue), which is a long street surrounded by skyscrapers and really expensive stores. I did almost only window-shopping, since we are going to Indianapolis outlets tomorrow and I thought it would be kind of stupid to spend twice as much money on something. We decided not to eat during that time and since the weather was unbelievably hot (well, at least it wasn't as humid as Indiana), we actually didn't even want to eat. We just grabbed a sandwich from Starbucks before going back to the bus.
More posts about today/tomorrow coming soon!
We went to Chicago!
So, enough excitement for now. :)
Anyway, I woke up 6 AM to videoskype with Helen (as you can see, she has become a regular on my blog :)) but due to some weird technical problems, I couldn't hear her so she tried to make all kinds of weird faces (ok, I'm exaggerating a little, but it was still pretty funny) and wrote messages.
In a little while it was time to head out to Earhart, catch a bus and go to Chicago. I had taken my blow-up neck pillow with me so I could sleep in the bus. Chicago was absolutely breathtaking - beautiful, big and classy skyscrapers (yes, classy, they have architecture, not just concrete and glass.
First we visited the Shedd Aquarium, which was nice, but I've been to many aquariums in Europe, so in a while, they start to look the same. Although we saw a 4D movie there (some Ice Age video) which was cool, but I like 4D movies in Tartu better. The best place in teh aquarium was definitely a cafe balcony that offered a impressive, breathtaking view of the Lake Michigan and Chicago Skyline.
The next thing on the agenda was the Willis Tower - the highest building in the U.S. After standing in line for some time, we could finally take the elevator to the 103th floor (Skydeck). The view was impressive. There were those places (like balconies) that had a glass floor and walls, so you could see straight down. I also bought some souvenirs from there (Yes, Helen, I bought souvenirs!!).
Finally we had 4.5 hours to walk around. We were dropped off at Millenium Park and me and Karolina went shopping on the Magnificent Mile (North Michigan Avenue), which is a long street surrounded by skyscrapers and really expensive stores. I did almost only window-shopping, since we are going to Indianapolis outlets tomorrow and I thought it would be kind of stupid to spend twice as much money on something. We decided not to eat during that time and since the weather was unbelievably hot (well, at least it wasn't as humid as Indiana), we actually didn't even want to eat. We just grabbed a sandwich from Starbucks before going back to the bus.
More posts about today/tomorrow coming soon!
Science vs. Religion + Indiana Beach
So, all about Wednesday:
In the morning we had 2 classes - Overpopulation/Emigration by Dr. David Brule and Climate Change by Amelia Andrews. For me personally, the first class was very interesting because we discussed immigration. The other lecture was on how the climate change is connected to politics and how politics twists the scientists' discoveries.
Wednesday was also the only day we had 2 classes in the afternoon instead of 1. Both classes were about science and we had the same teacher as before and he's just really good at what he does. He gave as cardboards that had wires inside and 6 metal button-like things on the surface, a small light bulb connected to a wire and a battery. Our task was to draw the wire circuit on a paper. It was so much fun to do that, even though there was no certain answer and for practical reasons we couldn't open them to see the wires.
The second class was Science versus Religion, which me and a lot of others were really looking forward to since it's such a controversial subject and everybody has so different strong opinions about this topic. It was, as expected, very heated discussion. Also it was nice that we have people form different religions - different kinds of Christians, Muslim, Atheists - so it got very interesting.
On Wednesday evening we went to Indiana Beach - an amusement park about 45 minutes from here (since I know nothing about the miles, I've started to use hours and minutes when talking about distances). It's not very big, but it looks like in the old movies - if you have seen Grease, then you know what I mean. They had a couple of pretty nice roller coasters and a really cool new coaster, that went upside down for a couple of times. It was a lot of fun.
In the morning we had 2 classes - Overpopulation/Emigration by Dr. David Brule and Climate Change by Amelia Andrews. For me personally, the first class was very interesting because we discussed immigration. The other lecture was on how the climate change is connected to politics and how politics twists the scientists' discoveries.
Wednesday was also the only day we had 2 classes in the afternoon instead of 1. Both classes were about science and we had the same teacher as before and he's just really good at what he does. He gave as cardboards that had wires inside and 6 metal button-like things on the surface, a small light bulb connected to a wire and a battery. Our task was to draw the wire circuit on a paper. It was so much fun to do that, even though there was no certain answer and for practical reasons we couldn't open them to see the wires.
The second class was Science versus Religion, which me and a lot of others were really looking forward to since it's such a controversial subject and everybody has so different strong opinions about this topic. It was, as expected, very heated discussion. Also it was nice that we have people form different religions - different kinds of Christians, Muslim, Atheists - so it got very interesting.
On Wednesday evening we went to Indiana Beach - an amusement park about 45 minutes from here (since I know nothing about the miles, I've started to use hours and minutes when talking about distances). It's not very big, but it looks like in the old movies - if you have seen Grease, then you know what I mean. They had a couple of pretty nice roller coasters and a really cool new coaster, that went upside down for a couple of times. It was a lot of fun.
neljapäev, 18. juuli 2013
International Bazaar
Well, Tuesday (July 16) was our second day of community service. Our morning started with a meeting at Lafayette Urban Ministry Homeless Shelter. The director of LUM (Lafayette Urban Ministry) told us about the shelter and some stories about the people who have lived there, which was very interesting and saddening at the same time. For example he told about a couple of people who actually had Ph. D. and still ended up homeless and unemployed.Later we split into 6 groups to do community service. My group was supposed to volunteer at the food pantry, but since it was too late and there was nothing for us to do, we went back to the shelter and helped others to clean it. Of course, since we were the last ones to start cleaning, there wasn't many cleaning areas to choose from, so we ended up cleaning the bathrooms and toilets - thank you to whoever invented rubber gloves!
In the afternoon we had to work on the Project Citizen. I don't know if I have told you already, but we have to present a project on some kind of problem (related to public policy) on Monday. After that, we headed to St Thomas Aquinas, a Catholic church on campus, to start cooking for the International Bazaar (International Dinner). We couldn't find the right door, so we had to march through the big chapel (I'm not sure if this is called a chapel, but you know, the big room with benches and organ and religious pictures) and I felt really bad because someone was trying to practise the piano there.
The cooking was so much fun. I made kama (to those who are not familiar with Estonian cuisine, it's a drink made of a specific flour and natural yoghourt), but to make it more appealing, instead of using natural yoghourt, I used whipped cream and cream cheese and served it with strawberry sauce. At least, I was supposed to.
First I couldn't find any blenders. Then I found one, but this, despite my, Anna's (Hungary) and Mihai's (Moldova) efforts, didn't work. So, I had no choice but to start smashing the strawberries with a metal kitchen thingy (I have even no idea how it's called in Estonian). Karolina came to my rescue and we spent a good 15 minutes trying to get it done. So finally I had something close to strawberry puree, but not exactly. Later Clement (France), Shrine (Switzerland), Natasha (Cyprus) (and I think there was one more, but I can't remember right now) helped me fill in the small plastic cups.
The dinner was amazing, there was so much good food. Unfortunately, by the time I went to take some food, my kama was already gone. All the food was great, but there were 2 dishes that I especially appreciated - Edvard's (Lithuania) dark garlic breadsticks and Karolina's (Finland) black (well, almost black) bread. As you can see, I miss black bread. :D
So, since it's almost midnight again, I'm going to post about yesterday's classes and today's trip to CHICAGO tomorrow/on Saturday. Chicago was just the most impressive, cool, amazing, beautiful city I've ever been to!
In the afternoon we had to work on the Project Citizen. I don't know if I have told you already, but we have to present a project on some kind of problem (related to public policy) on Monday. After that, we headed to St Thomas Aquinas, a Catholic church on campus, to start cooking for the International Bazaar (International Dinner). We couldn't find the right door, so we had to march through the big chapel (I'm not sure if this is called a chapel, but you know, the big room with benches and organ and religious pictures) and I felt really bad because someone was trying to practise the piano there.
The cooking was so much fun. I made kama (to those who are not familiar with Estonian cuisine, it's a drink made of a specific flour and natural yoghourt), but to make it more appealing, instead of using natural yoghourt, I used whipped cream and cream cheese and served it with strawberry sauce. At least, I was supposed to.
First I couldn't find any blenders. Then I found one, but this, despite my, Anna's (Hungary) and Mihai's (Moldova) efforts, didn't work. So, I had no choice but to start smashing the strawberries with a metal kitchen thingy (I have even no idea how it's called in Estonian). Karolina came to my rescue and we spent a good 15 minutes trying to get it done. So finally I had something close to strawberry puree, but not exactly. Later Clement (France), Shrine (Switzerland), Natasha (Cyprus) (and I think there was one more, but I can't remember right now) helped me fill in the small plastic cups.
The dinner was amazing, there was so much good food. Unfortunately, by the time I went to take some food, my kama was already gone. All the food was great, but there were 2 dishes that I especially appreciated - Edvard's (Lithuania) dark garlic breadsticks and Karolina's (Finland) black (well, almost black) bread. As you can see, I miss black bread. :D
So, since it's almost midnight again, I'm going to post about yesterday's classes and today's trip to CHICAGO tomorrow/on Saturday. Chicago was just the most impressive, cool, amazing, beautiful city I've ever been to!
teisipäev, 16. juuli 2013
Delphi
Well, I'm becoming lazier and lazier at this.
Anyways, on Sunday I slept until 10.30 and just elaxed for awhile. When our hostfamily came back from church, we ate some rice and chicken (a living proof that not every single American food comes in a pack of powder or a can) and went to downtown Lafayette. It really surprised me when I heard that my hostfamily has been walking in downtown just a couple of times (I can't remeber anymore, if it was never or a few times) and the downtown was quite deserted.
So in the evening me and Allie went to see "Heat". In front of us in the ticket line were some Purdue students who could get discount (because they study at Purdue), so when we finally asked for the tickets, the saleswoman automatically assumed that we were Purdue students too, so she gave us a discount without even asking. :) The movie was pretty great, although there was a loooot of swearing and some real action scenes.
On Monday we crammed in the trolley, minibuses and a car and went to Delphi, a small town 45 minutes from Lafayette. First we did some community service by spreading out the rocks on small streets in the woods, which I found really weird, but I guess they find it useful here. Since Karolina had a birthday, we ate the cake in the woods. :)
We visited Erie Canal Museum (that's not the official name, but it was all about the canal and the early 1800s era) and rode a canal boat. Our guides were dressed in 1800s clothes and the museum was very interesting. There was also an outside exhibition - a bunch of 1800s style buildings like school, cooper's(barrelmaker's) workshop etc. We went into the school building and our guide told us about schooling back in the 1800s. Since our guide had been a teacher herself for a long time, she also tlaked a little about her experiences and it really surprised me when she said that in the mid-1980s, spanking was allowed and totally common in US school, and what's even more surprising, she thought it was absolutely okay.
Later we came back from Delphi and I went to Dairy Queen for an ice cream. I spent almost the whole time there talking to Helen (my so annoying and sweet little sister :D) who apparently didn't want to go to sleep yet (it was ca 23.30 Estonian time).Oh, and I bought myself finally a Purdue T-shirt, it cost a fortune..
In the evening me, Allie and our host family went to play minigolf and Hannah found it really amusing to pick the golf balls up(I have no idea if the grammar is right, it's late and I'm sooo tired). But it was nice anyway.
The next post about today and the International Bazaar will hopefully come later today or tomorrow morning, but right now I'm going to watch a movie.
Burning hot regards form Indiana,
Elis
Anyways, on Sunday I slept until 10.30 and just elaxed for awhile. When our hostfamily came back from church, we ate some rice and chicken (a living proof that not every single American food comes in a pack of powder or a can) and went to downtown Lafayette. It really surprised me when I heard that my hostfamily has been walking in downtown just a couple of times (I can't remeber anymore, if it was never or a few times) and the downtown was quite deserted.
So in the evening me and Allie went to see "Heat". In front of us in the ticket line were some Purdue students who could get discount (because they study at Purdue), so when we finally asked for the tickets, the saleswoman automatically assumed that we were Purdue students too, so she gave us a discount without even asking. :) The movie was pretty great, although there was a loooot of swearing and some real action scenes.
On Monday we crammed in the trolley, minibuses and a car and went to Delphi, a small town 45 minutes from Lafayette. First we did some community service by spreading out the rocks on small streets in the woods, which I found really weird, but I guess they find it useful here. Since Karolina had a birthday, we ate the cake in the woods. :)
We visited Erie Canal Museum (that's not the official name, but it was all about the canal and the early 1800s era) and rode a canal boat. Our guides were dressed in 1800s clothes and the museum was very interesting. There was also an outside exhibition - a bunch of 1800s style buildings like school, cooper's(barrelmaker's) workshop etc. We went into the school building and our guide told us about schooling back in the 1800s. Since our guide had been a teacher herself for a long time, she also tlaked a little about her experiences and it really surprised me when she said that in the mid-1980s, spanking was allowed and totally common in US school, and what's even more surprising, she thought it was absolutely okay.
Later we came back from Delphi and I went to Dairy Queen for an ice cream. I spent almost the whole time there talking to Helen (my so annoying and sweet little sister :D) who apparently didn't want to go to sleep yet (it was ca 23.30 Estonian time).Oh, and I bought myself finally a Purdue T-shirt, it cost a fortune..
In the evening me, Allie and our host family went to play minigolf and Hannah found it really amusing to pick the golf balls up(I have no idea if the grammar is right, it's late and I'm sooo tired). But it was nice anyway.
The next post about today and the International Bazaar will hopefully come later today or tomorrow morning, but right now I'm going to watch a movie.
Burning hot regards form Indiana,
Elis
pühapäev, 14. juuli 2013
Homestay
Hello everybody!
So, the last few days have been kind of busy and then I had some WiFi problems.
So, on Thursday and Friday we had classes. Thursday was all about journalism and media, but this time the classes were a lot more active and actually quite interesting. For example, we had to compare different countries' news on Egypt Crises and find out who/what was the source. I the evening we visited the Black Cultural Center and it was totally amazing. The lady who spoke to us was really charismatic, made a lot of jokes and she was form the South (I'm pretty sure it was Louisiana), so sometimes she said some very Southern words and it was so funny. In the same evening we also had a talent show, AGAIN. There were some new cool acts, like the boys'
"Desperado", but I personally think that the first version was better.
Well, on Thursday we had a class with Summer Forrester on the causes and consequences of war, were we formed 11 groups and each group was one country that is going through some kind of crises. The task was to think of 3 ways to stabilize the situation, then 3 points how to react to neighbor countries crises and finally 3 points after hearing everybody's other opinions. Our group was Israel and, since we had no better ideas, we finally decided that in the case of Iran using their (possible) nuclear weapon on us, we are going to call our big friend USA. That simulation was really fun to do.
Then we had a class with our program director Dr. Anatoli Rapoport. At the end of his class, we started to talk about the freedom of speech and where is the line between respectful and disrespectful expression of opinion, but we didn't have time for it anymore, so we continued the talk at our Daily Debriefing with our group mentor Erin.
The last class was the beginning of the module I've been waiting for the whole time - science. The class was really fun and very different from what I've seen and experienced before. We had closed black boxes, which had a marble in them, so we had to guess how the box looks like inside. Believe it or not - the moment we finally got to open those black boxes me and definitely some other people were very excited.
On Friday night we finally got to meet our host families and go home with them, so now we are living in families for the next 10 days. Me and Allie (USA) are living with the Hartman family (I've written about them in one of the first posts). They live in a private house in the Southern part of Lafayette. We both have our own rooms with big, comfortable beds, which is really amazing because I haven't had any privacy for 2 weeks, and we share a bathroom. My laptop didn't want to connect the wifi in the first evening, but yesterday it apparently changed its mind.
Yesterday we went to the 4H County Fair - an event where people bring their farm animals (cows, pigs, goats,..) (I'm not really sure what's the main purpose of it though). Kara and Joel had to help with the lawn mowing competition (?), so me and Allie went for a walk. Don't ever try to walk on the highway (well, not a big highway, but pretty close) under a burning hot sun. We spent time at Dairy Queen (lemon meringue pie blizzard is just amazing :D) and went back. Halfway to the fair Kara, her mother and Hannah were going to get lunch from Arby's (American beef fast food restaurant) and we tagged along with them. We ate at the fair and had some cake, since it was Allie's 18th birthday.
We spent the rest of the day mainly at Kara's mother's place, picked raspberries (emme, see sulle kindlasti meeldib :)) and just rested. By the way (that's mainly for Helen), I saw three horses!
Today we are going to do something near Lafayette and in the evening me and Allie are going to see "Heat" at Wabash Landing 9 (the movie theater). Oh, and next week we are possibly going to Cincinnati!
So, the last few days have been kind of busy and then I had some WiFi problems.
So, on Thursday and Friday we had classes. Thursday was all about journalism and media, but this time the classes were a lot more active and actually quite interesting. For example, we had to compare different countries' news on Egypt Crises and find out who/what was the source. I the evening we visited the Black Cultural Center and it was totally amazing. The lady who spoke to us was really charismatic, made a lot of jokes and she was form the South (I'm pretty sure it was Louisiana), so sometimes she said some very Southern words and it was so funny. In the same evening we also had a talent show, AGAIN. There were some new cool acts, like the boys'
"Desperado", but I personally think that the first version was better.
Well, on Thursday we had a class with Summer Forrester on the causes and consequences of war, were we formed 11 groups and each group was one country that is going through some kind of crises. The task was to think of 3 ways to stabilize the situation, then 3 points how to react to neighbor countries crises and finally 3 points after hearing everybody's other opinions. Our group was Israel and, since we had no better ideas, we finally decided that in the case of Iran using their (possible) nuclear weapon on us, we are going to call our big friend USA. That simulation was really fun to do.
Then we had a class with our program director Dr. Anatoli Rapoport. At the end of his class, we started to talk about the freedom of speech and where is the line between respectful and disrespectful expression of opinion, but we didn't have time for it anymore, so we continued the talk at our Daily Debriefing with our group mentor Erin.
The last class was the beginning of the module I've been waiting for the whole time - science. The class was really fun and very different from what I've seen and experienced before. We had closed black boxes, which had a marble in them, so we had to guess how the box looks like inside. Believe it or not - the moment we finally got to open those black boxes me and definitely some other people were very excited.
On Friday night we finally got to meet our host families and go home with them, so now we are living in families for the next 10 days. Me and Allie (USA) are living with the Hartman family (I've written about them in one of the first posts). They live in a private house in the Southern part of Lafayette. We both have our own rooms with big, comfortable beds, which is really amazing because I haven't had any privacy for 2 weeks, and we share a bathroom. My laptop didn't want to connect the wifi in the first evening, but yesterday it apparently changed its mind.
Yesterday we went to the 4H County Fair - an event where people bring their farm animals (cows, pigs, goats,..) (I'm not really sure what's the main purpose of it though). Kara and Joel had to help with the lawn mowing competition (?), so me and Allie went for a walk. Don't ever try to walk on the highway (well, not a big highway, but pretty close) under a burning hot sun. We spent time at Dairy Queen (lemon meringue pie blizzard is just amazing :D) and went back. Halfway to the fair Kara, her mother and Hannah were going to get lunch from Arby's (American beef fast food restaurant) and we tagged along with them. We ate at the fair and had some cake, since it was Allie's 18th birthday.
We spent the rest of the day mainly at Kara's mother's place, picked raspberries (emme, see sulle kindlasti meeldib :)) and just rested. By the way (that's mainly for Helen), I saw three horses!
Today we are going to do something near Lafayette and in the evening me and Allie are going to see "Heat" at Wabash Landing 9 (the movie theater). Oh, and next week we are possibly going to Cincinnati!
kolmapäev, 10. juuli 2013
Indy
It has been a busy day. In the morning we ate breakfast at 7. You can imagine how horrible it was to be scared to death by the alarm at 6.30 in the morning. So pretty soon we were ready to head out to Indianapolis. I'm actually not completely sure whether I slept in the bus or not, but the bus ride went really quickly and one time when I looked out of the window, I saw the big skyscrapers in downtown.
First we visited the Indiana State House. We went on a guided tour and saw rooms where the House of Representatives and the Senate work. It was really interesting to hear that the representatives only work from January to ca. April and the representatives actually have other jobs, they are not politicians.We also visited the Indiana Supreme Court, in there it felt like the post-Civil War era, since almost all the furniture has remained the same for ca 120 years. And I was happy to see that 1 of the 5 justices there is a woman. :) We had to go through security control to get into the building and when I went through the gates, the alarm started screaming, as always, so I was searched.
After that we went to the Indiana Children's Museum, just to see how the world's largest children's museum looks like and how they educate children through interactive exhibits. It was very modern and in there I really wished I was 6 years old, because this place is amazing for children.
And finally, we had 4 hours for shopping!! We went to the Circle Center Mall. It's a huge mall at the center of downtown. And the best thing was that there was a outlet (T.J. Maxx) and I got myself new Puma trainers! And I also got some more stuff, but since I don't want to spoil the surprise, I won't write about it anymore. And, I ate my very first Häagen-Dazs ice cream, vanilla Swiss almond. I have passed by so many Häagen-Dazs shops in Europe before, but somehow I've always ended up not going there. It was DELICIOUS. We ate dinner at the mall (guess what, fast food!) and Ed tried to convince me that chicken burger is not a burger. On our way home, we picked up Carolyn Lantz, the person who coordinates(?) our programmes in the Department of State, from the airport. She's going to stay for a couple of days to see what's going on at BFTF Purdue.
Back at the campus we went for a late dinner to Subway and my feet are going to fall off in the next 5 minutes, so I'm going to sleep soon. Anyway, good morning to everybody in Estonia!
First we visited the Indiana State House. We went on a guided tour and saw rooms where the House of Representatives and the Senate work. It was really interesting to hear that the representatives only work from January to ca. April and the representatives actually have other jobs, they are not politicians.We also visited the Indiana Supreme Court, in there it felt like the post-Civil War era, since almost all the furniture has remained the same for ca 120 years. And I was happy to see that 1 of the 5 justices there is a woman. :) We had to go through security control to get into the building and when I went through the gates, the alarm started screaming, as always, so I was searched.
After that we went to the Indiana Children's Museum, just to see how the world's largest children's museum looks like and how they educate children through interactive exhibits. It was very modern and in there I really wished I was 6 years old, because this place is amazing for children.
And finally, we had 4 hours for shopping!! We went to the Circle Center Mall. It's a huge mall at the center of downtown. And the best thing was that there was a outlet (T.J. Maxx) and I got myself new Puma trainers! And I also got some more stuff, but since I don't want to spoil the surprise, I won't write about it anymore. And, I ate my very first Häagen-Dazs ice cream, vanilla Swiss almond. I have passed by so many Häagen-Dazs shops in Europe before, but somehow I've always ended up not going there. It was DELICIOUS. We ate dinner at the mall (guess what, fast food!) and Ed tried to convince me that chicken burger is not a burger. On our way home, we picked up Carolyn Lantz, the person who coordinates(?) our programmes in the Department of State, from the airport. She's going to stay for a couple of days to see what's going on at BFTF Purdue.
Back at the campus we went for a late dinner to Subway and my feet are going to fall off in the next 5 minutes, so I'm going to sleep soon. Anyway, good morning to everybody in Estonia!
teisipäev, 9. juuli 2013
Tropic
It is extremely hot here. The air isn't that bad, ca 37 degrees Celsius, but the air is very humid. I've never felt such a heavy, hot, humid air. But it's really cool because all the rooms have cold air conditioning, so it's really nice to go outside, like going to a sauna. I opened my window today for half an hour to get some fresh air, but when I came back the mirrors had steam all over them and the walls were wet. At that point I realised that it wasn't probably my best idea.
Well, today we continued our Civic Education Module and had a class with Dr. Leming again. We talked about students' rights in American public schools. Later, we also simulated a court case where a student was suspected of smoking at school and her bag was searched (and the cigarettes + marijuana were found). So we had to decide at the end of the trial if the student's 4th amendment rights (plus the exclusionary rule) were violated. Basically, we had to decide if the fact that a teacher saw the student coming out of a bathroom which smelled like smoke was "reasonable suspicion" to search her things (to violate her privacy, the 4th amendment protects privacy) and finally if the student was guilty or not. We actually acted the whole trial and I was the principal (my name was I. M. Strict :D) who had conducted the search, so I was a witness for the prosecution. That was one of the most fun things we have done in classes so far.
Anyway, after lunch we had a Community Service Discussion Panel, where we had 3 guests from different charity organisations, 2 of them were actually students at Purdue. We had a long discussion about charity in our countries and it was a loooong talk, because here everybody always wants to express their opinions, which is really interesting.
Today we could eat dinner in our residence hall because EARHART DINING COURT WAS OPENED!! Just for a few days though. I think it was opened because some Lutheran camp came to Earhart today and there are 4000 more people living here now, Yes, you heard right, it's not a spelling mistake. 4000. That's unbelievably much. But the Earhart Dining Court is SOOO big and great!! You can create your own pizza, some kind of Mongolian noodle dishes and of course there's a lot of other food. Talking about the food, I'm going so FAT here, it's terrible. I went to the swimming pool tonight, but I still feel like a huge overweight whale. They have an enormous Recreational Pool and an Olympic Swimming Pool here. One of the World Champions in some kind of swimming (forgive me, I'm not exactly a swimming person) actually goes to Purdue and practices here almost every day.
Well, since I have time I thought I write down all the major and minor differences between Estonia and US:
Well, today we continued our Civic Education Module and had a class with Dr. Leming again. We talked about students' rights in American public schools. Later, we also simulated a court case where a student was suspected of smoking at school and her bag was searched (and the cigarettes + marijuana were found). So we had to decide at the end of the trial if the student's 4th amendment rights (plus the exclusionary rule) were violated. Basically, we had to decide if the fact that a teacher saw the student coming out of a bathroom which smelled like smoke was "reasonable suspicion" to search her things (to violate her privacy, the 4th amendment protects privacy) and finally if the student was guilty or not. We actually acted the whole trial and I was the principal (my name was I. M. Strict :D) who had conducted the search, so I was a witness for the prosecution. That was one of the most fun things we have done in classes so far.
Anyway, after lunch we had a Community Service Discussion Panel, where we had 3 guests from different charity organisations, 2 of them were actually students at Purdue. We had a long discussion about charity in our countries and it was a loooong talk, because here everybody always wants to express their opinions, which is really interesting.
Today we could eat dinner in our residence hall because EARHART DINING COURT WAS OPENED!! Just for a few days though. I think it was opened because some Lutheran camp came to Earhart today and there are 4000 more people living here now, Yes, you heard right, it's not a spelling mistake. 4000. That's unbelievably much. But the Earhart Dining Court is SOOO big and great!! You can create your own pizza, some kind of Mongolian noodle dishes and of course there's a lot of other food. Talking about the food, I'm going so FAT here, it's terrible. I went to the swimming pool tonight, but I still feel like a huge overweight whale. They have an enormous Recreational Pool and an Olympic Swimming Pool here. One of the World Champions in some kind of swimming (forgive me, I'm not exactly a swimming person) actually goes to Purdue and practices here almost every day.
Well, since I have time I thought I write down all the major and minor differences between Estonia and US:
- The food. Everybody knows that Americans eat a lot of unhealthy food, but it's still weird to see all 10-year olds eat Fench Fries, hamburgers and a lot of other greasy stuff for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
- The rules. They are very conservative. I'm supposed to be staying in the land of Freedom and Liberty, but the rules here are over the top ridiculous. A boy and a girl can't go somewhere (even in public) just by themselves. If there are only 2 people going somewhere, they have to be both girls or both boys. Also, girls can't go to the boys side of the dorms and vice versa, but in the US people our age can get married.
- Politeness. Everybody is so polite. In the stores, there's always someone who comes to ask if you need any help finding something. Then they sometime start a conversation with you and ask where you come from. After hearing the word "Estonia" they nodd with "what-are-you-saying" faces and go on with their talking. Also, everybody's always holding doors open for everybody and you definitely have to remember to say "Thank you".
- Religion. Everything revolves around the church. They have so many different types of religon and churches on campus.
- Sororities and fraternities. You can see the Greek houses everywhere and although it's summer, some of them have quite a lot of people living in them right now. Basically, they were supposed to be all about the parties.
esmaspäev, 8. juuli 2013
Mission Impossible - the Laundry Day!
Hellohello!
So, today has been quite a busy day.
In the morning we had a class where the lecturer, Dr. Browning showed us the C-SPAN archives. C-SPAN stands for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, I think. I don't have a lot of time, so I won't explain it in detail, if you want you can google it. But it was really cool.
Then we had lectures from Dr. Robert Leming, who told us about the civic education and constitution and these two classes were probably the best we've had so far. He made us think and express our opinions and also question our opinions.
In the evening we had "Jeopardy" (that's the American version of "Kuldvillak") and it was about our institute and Ben Franklin. Some of the question were actually quite hard, but it was still very fun. I teamed up with Karolina, Dejana, Flavia (Albania) and Gresa (Kosovo) and we were team "Troublemakers" (hint: the Purdue mascot is a boilermaker). We didn't win, but who cares, we had fun.
And now, the most important part of our day - doing laundry!!
It seemed like a rocket science at first, but finally it turned out okay although it was the first time I used a dryer. During the machine worked, me and Karolina went to get some snacks from the vending machine and spent time in the laundry room lounge. All my clothes seem fine, so we probably did the right things.
Anyway, it's really late and I have to go now, a new post we'll hopefully come up tomorrow and on Wednesday we're going to Indianapolis!!
So, today has been quite a busy day.
In the morning we had a class where the lecturer, Dr. Browning showed us the C-SPAN archives. C-SPAN stands for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, I think. I don't have a lot of time, so I won't explain it in detail, if you want you can google it. But it was really cool.
Then we had lectures from Dr. Robert Leming, who told us about the civic education and constitution and these two classes were probably the best we've had so far. He made us think and express our opinions and also question our opinions.
In the evening we had "Jeopardy" (that's the American version of "Kuldvillak") and it was about our institute and Ben Franklin. Some of the question were actually quite hard, but it was still very fun. I teamed up with Karolina, Dejana, Flavia (Albania) and Gresa (Kosovo) and we were team "Troublemakers" (hint: the Purdue mascot is a boilermaker). We didn't win, but who cares, we had fun.
And now, the most important part of our day - doing laundry!!
It seemed like a rocket science at first, but finally it turned out okay although it was the first time I used a dryer. During the machine worked, me and Karolina went to get some snacks from the vending machine and spent time in the laundry room lounge. All my clothes seem fine, so we probably did the right things.
Anyway, it's really late and I have to go now, a new post we'll hopefully come up tomorrow and on Wednesday we're going to Indianapolis!!
pühapäev, 7. juuli 2013
Talent Show - Part 2
So, I'm continuing with the last post.
Yesterday in the afternoon we had the International Talent Show. And surprisingly, there are some very talented people among us. There were amazing singers, probably the best piano player in Spain and some really funny comedians. I especially liked a comedy sketch about how USA became independent, performed by 2 Americans and 1 British guy. During the sketch I was literally crying because it was just so funny. In the evening we went to the movie theater and we watched "Monsters University". We were able to choose a movie, but since all other movies were either action or science fiction/fantasy, I decided to go with the cartoon like many others. The movie theater was actually pretty much like in Estonia, except the chairs were really comfortable and soft.
Today I slept the whole morning and then we went to the mall again. I was once again really amazed by all sales assistants, who try to help you and have conversation with you all the time. They always asked where I came from and for the first couple of times I said Estonia, but after seeing that they have no idea which continent I'm talking about, I switched it to Europe. I bought some other quite cheap stuff (the prices here are pretty good).
We also went bowling today. We could use all the lanes there so we had 2 lanes for 5-6 people so we played on both lanes at the same time. I actually did a lot better than I expected, I even started to suspect that they had some kind of technical solutions to make people believe that they are good. :)
After bowling me and Karolina went to Dairy Queen for ice cream. Once again I had the Lemon Meringue Pie Blizzard, it's by far the best ice cream I've ever had.
By the way, I'm starting to have dreams in English, but the people in them are mostly Estonian. That's very weird..
Yesterday in the afternoon we had the International Talent Show. And surprisingly, there are some very talented people among us. There were amazing singers, probably the best piano player in Spain and some really funny comedians. I especially liked a comedy sketch about how USA became independent, performed by 2 Americans and 1 British guy. During the sketch I was literally crying because it was just so funny. In the evening we went to the movie theater and we watched "Monsters University". We were able to choose a movie, but since all other movies were either action or science fiction/fantasy, I decided to go with the cartoon like many others. The movie theater was actually pretty much like in Estonia, except the chairs were really comfortable and soft.
Today I slept the whole morning and then we went to the mall again. I was once again really amazed by all sales assistants, who try to help you and have conversation with you all the time. They always asked where I came from and for the first couple of times I said Estonia, but after seeing that they have no idea which continent I'm talking about, I switched it to Europe. I bought some other quite cheap stuff (the prices here are pretty good).
We also went bowling today. We could use all the lanes there so we had 2 lanes for 5-6 people so we played on both lanes at the same time. I actually did a lot better than I expected, I even started to suspect that they had some kind of technical solutions to make people believe that they are good. :)
After bowling me and Karolina went to Dairy Queen for ice cream. Once again I had the Lemon Meringue Pie Blizzard, it's by far the best ice cream I've ever had.
By the way, I'm starting to have dreams in English, but the people in them are mostly Estonian. That's very weird..
Talent Show - Part 1
Hi everybody! My apologies, AGAIN, for not writing so often. The few free minutes I have seem to disappear when I start reading "Safe Heaven", the book I bought from Purdue Village.
So, on Friday we had classes in the morning. First one was actually UN simulation, where we were divided into 7 groups - Iran, China, Germany, France, US, UK and Russia. Every country got their own "scenario" and the main discussion was on the Iran nuclear crises. For those who don't keep up with all the news, Iran is developing a nuclear program and says that it's for developing a cure for cancer. On the other hand, western countries (especially US) are afraid that they're developing a nuclear weapon. So all the groups had to negotiate, considering their countries' interests. I was in the China group and we managed to establish really good relationships with "Russia" and "Iran". That was quite fun.
In the afternoon, a bus took us to Klipsch(???) Music Center near Indianapolis to a Bob Dylan concert. I actually new almost nothing about him, but it was still fun.
Yesterday me and Karolina went to the mall in the morning. We took 2 different buses in constant rain and finally made it to Tippecanoe Mall, the only big mall around here. It wasn't "America huge", but it was quite big. I went to the Victoria's Secret and Macy's for the first time, bought some formal black shoes and ate Japanese food. I actually tried sushi for the very first time (after Karolina told me that her sushi had absolutely no fish in it :)).
Okay, I'm going to the mall now, so I'll write more in the evening.
So,
to be continued..
So, on Friday we had classes in the morning. First one was actually UN simulation, where we were divided into 7 groups - Iran, China, Germany, France, US, UK and Russia. Every country got their own "scenario" and the main discussion was on the Iran nuclear crises. For those who don't keep up with all the news, Iran is developing a nuclear program and says that it's for developing a cure for cancer. On the other hand, western countries (especially US) are afraid that they're developing a nuclear weapon. So all the groups had to negotiate, considering their countries' interests. I was in the China group and we managed to establish really good relationships with "Russia" and "Iran". That was quite fun.
In the afternoon, a bus took us to Klipsch(???) Music Center near Indianapolis to a Bob Dylan concert. I actually new almost nothing about him, but it was still fun.
Yesterday me and Karolina went to the mall in the morning. We took 2 different buses in constant rain and finally made it to Tippecanoe Mall, the only big mall around here. It wasn't "America huge", but it was quite big. I went to the Victoria's Secret and Macy's for the first time, bought some formal black shoes and ate Japanese food. I actually tried sushi for the very first time (after Karolina told me that her sushi had absolutely no fish in it :)).
Okay, I'm going to the mall now, so I'll write more in the evening.
So,
to be continued..
reede, 5. juuli 2013
It's a circle but it's actually not a circle + God Bless America
Well, yesterday I didn't have time to blog, so I'm doing my best to remember everything about yesterday.
Anyways, my morning started yesterday absolutely wonderfully. I'm slept until 10, went to take a looong shower and then we went to a 4th of July picnic. We ate supposedly "really American food" and played frisbee, soccer (yes, soccer, Europeans tried to explain that foot+ball equals football not soccer, but it didn't really work out) and took our first group picture on the playground.
After the picnic we had the afternoon off, so all of us who are dancing the Bulgarian dance at the Talent Show, went to the gym to practise. To my surprise, the dance wasn't very hard and Yoanna (Bulgaria) was actually a pretty good teacher. When we finished I decided to go and explore the fitness center, but after 15 minutes I realised I desperately need good trainers to work out, so I went back to Earhart.
In the evening we went to the 4th of July celebrations in Lafayette. We had ca 2 hours to walk around before the fireworks started so we went to Cold Stone ice cream shop with Karolina (Finland) and Dejana (Bosnia) and if we gave the workers a tip, they sang to us. At 10 PM we went to the bridge that connects Lafayette and West Lafayette to watch the fireworks. The bridge was absolutely full of people and the fireworks were completely mind-blowing. We had a small boy sitting next to us repeating "This is the best day of my life this is the best day of my life!"which was really funny.
Anyway, we are going to Indianapolis in 20 minutes, so I'm gonna have to stop now, so I'll write about today later.
Anyways, my morning started yesterday absolutely wonderfully. I'm slept until 10, went to take a looong shower and then we went to a 4th of July picnic. We ate supposedly "really American food" and played frisbee, soccer (yes, soccer, Europeans tried to explain that foot+ball equals football not soccer, but it didn't really work out) and took our first group picture on the playground.
After the picnic we had the afternoon off, so all of us who are dancing the Bulgarian dance at the Talent Show, went to the gym to practise. To my surprise, the dance wasn't very hard and Yoanna (Bulgaria) was actually a pretty good teacher. When we finished I decided to go and explore the fitness center, but after 15 minutes I realised I desperately need good trainers to work out, so I went back to Earhart.
In the evening we went to the 4th of July celebrations in Lafayette. We had ca 2 hours to walk around before the fireworks started so we went to Cold Stone ice cream shop with Karolina (Finland) and Dejana (Bosnia) and if we gave the workers a tip, they sang to us. At 10 PM we went to the bridge that connects Lafayette and West Lafayette to watch the fireworks. The bridge was absolutely full of people and the fireworks were completely mind-blowing. We had a small boy sitting next to us repeating "This is the best day of my life this is the best day of my life!"which was really funny.
Anyway, we are going to Indianapolis in 20 minutes, so I'm gonna have to stop now, so I'll write about today later.
kolmapäev, 3. juuli 2013
We agree to disagree
That was our "sentence of the day".
Today we had a full day of classes and the topic was media and journalism. It was actually quite interesting, considering it's not really my thing. I'm looking forward to the Science Module :). We had 3 different, but great speakers. The first speaker was a lady who gave us tasks which made us find out more about each other and we got to tweet our stories about each other. Since I don't have Twitter, I just watched.The second speaker was actually from Nigeria and the third from Calcutta, so it was very interesting to hear about their experiences.
I have also some really good news - our air conditioning was fixed today! I had to go complaining to the front desk again, but this time they did it.
In the evening we went walking through the "Purdue Village". It's the part of campus where they have all kinds of small coffee shops, stores, restaurants and we found a really great store, where they sold all kinds of pointless and not so pointless stuff, clothes and books. In the basement they had a room full of used books for sale and it was completely amazing! The prices were very good and they had absolutely everything. I bought a Nicholas Sparks novel "Safe Heaven" and I really hope it will fit into my suitcase when we leave.
Tomorrow is the 4th of July and we are finally able to SLEEP IN!!! It's so amazing.
By the way, food here is just delicious. The dining halls also have great salad bars and I found a new favorite salad dressing - something called "ranch". Also, I can proudly say that I haven't eaten any burgers here (except the one I ate in the bus when we were coming from the airport). I guess everything else just looks so good and also I'm really starting to worry about how fat I'm going to be when I get back home. :D
Today we had a full day of classes and the topic was media and journalism. It was actually quite interesting, considering it's not really my thing. I'm looking forward to the Science Module :). We had 3 different, but great speakers. The first speaker was a lady who gave us tasks which made us find out more about each other and we got to tweet our stories about each other. Since I don't have Twitter, I just watched.The second speaker was actually from Nigeria and the third from Calcutta, so it was very interesting to hear about their experiences.
I have also some really good news - our air conditioning was fixed today! I had to go complaining to the front desk again, but this time they did it.
In the evening we went walking through the "Purdue Village". It's the part of campus where they have all kinds of small coffee shops, stores, restaurants and we found a really great store, where they sold all kinds of pointless and not so pointless stuff, clothes and books. In the basement they had a room full of used books for sale and it was completely amazing! The prices were very good and they had absolutely everything. I bought a Nicholas Sparks novel "Safe Heaven" and I really hope it will fit into my suitcase when we leave.
Tomorrow is the 4th of July and we are finally able to SLEEP IN!!! It's so amazing.
By the way, food here is just delicious. The dining halls also have great salad bars and I found a new favorite salad dressing - something called "ranch". Also, I can proudly say that I haven't eaten any burgers here (except the one I ate in the bus when we were coming from the airport). I guess everything else just looks so good and also I'm really starting to worry about how fat I'm going to be when I get back home. :D
teisipäev, 2. juuli 2013
Day 2
I have been here for 2 days, but it feels like weeks. So much has happened during the last 24 hours. Yesterday after lunch break we had a meeting and then some free time until the Welcome Reception. We went to Dairy Queen for ice cream. I had lemon meringue pie ice cream, which was amazing, I've never seen so many different flavours before. When we got back to Earhart (our residence) we got dressed really fast to go to the reception. We found out at the last minute that it was very formal, so I didn't have any shoes because I thought I had time to buy them before formal events. Shrine (Switzerland) saved my life and gave me her ballerinas. The reception was quite fancy. Long white tablecloths, waiters, suits. Each of us had to introduce ourselves and tell something interesting about our countries. The dinner was also really great. We had a really great time at our table. Ed (USA) tried to learn how to properly use a fork and a knife and it was just hilarious.
After the reception we took a bus to Walmart for some late shopping. This place was HUGE. It was the size of 4 big supermarkets in Estonia. And everything is cheap there. I bought a hairdrier for 9 dollars.
Today our lectures started. In the morning we had two lectures, one on Benjamin Franklin as a diplomat and diplomacy and the other one was more on BF's personal life. We had lunch at another dining court, which was a lot bigger than ours and it had really good pizza. In the afternoon we had one more lecture and after that we formed groups for Friday's talent show. According to our current plans, I'm going to dance Bulgarian traditional dance with some other people. We also went on a train ride (Boilermaker Special) around the campus, which was really fun. And now I finally had time to unpack my luggage.
I'm really having the time of my life here. Everybody's just so great and of course, the food is amazing. :D Only the rooms are really cold, the air conditioning works 24/7. I don't even want to think about the electricity bills they get.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure I covered everything, but people were right when they told me in Estonia that I wouldn't remember what I did in the morning in the same evening.
After the reception we took a bus to Walmart for some late shopping. This place was HUGE. It was the size of 4 big supermarkets in Estonia. And everything is cheap there. I bought a hairdrier for 9 dollars.
Today our lectures started. In the morning we had two lectures, one on Benjamin Franklin as a diplomat and diplomacy and the other one was more on BF's personal life. We had lunch at another dining court, which was a lot bigger than ours and it had really good pizza. In the afternoon we had one more lecture and after that we formed groups for Friday's talent show. According to our current plans, I'm going to dance Bulgarian traditional dance with some other people. We also went on a train ride (Boilermaker Special) around the campus, which was really fun. And now I finally had time to unpack my luggage.
I'm really having the time of my life here. Everybody's just so great and of course, the food is amazing. :D Only the rooms are really cold, the air conditioning works 24/7. I don't even want to think about the electricity bills they get.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure I covered everything, but people were right when they told me in Estonia that I wouldn't remember what I did in the morning in the same evening.
esmaspäev, 1. juuli 2013
America!
We are finally here!
Yesterday I woke up 3.30 AM and me and Pille (other Estonian fellow) flew to Frankfurt. We had about 4 hours until our next flight, but since it was delayed, we just tried to sleep on the benches. I couldn't sleep, but Pille could and when our gate was announced, I whispered to her "Wake up!", She jumped up, scared to death. :)
Anyway, the Washington flight was long, but movies and, music kept me entertained the whole time. Also, the immigration went really fast. We didn't have to wait at all and everybody was extremely friendly. We would have definitely missed our Indianapolis flight, but luckily it was also delayed, so everything turned out great, but by the time we arrived at the Indianapolis Airport, I was completely exhausted, even when we saw a sign "Welcome to Indianapolis", all my excitement had disappeared due to the fact that I hadn't slept for about 28 hours.. We took the Lafayette Limo shuttle to West Lafayette and we were given dinner in the bus. You can guess three times what we got... hamburgers!! Surprising, isn't it. :) We finally made it to Purdue approximately at midnight.
Today we had to be ready at 8 AM, so the night was really short and cold. Apparently Americans loooove air conditioning. We ate breakfast at Hillebrand Dining Court, which was really beautiful and modern. The food was quite good, they have a huge variety of different dishes here. We were split into 3 groups and our group mentor Erin showed us around on campus. The Purdue campus is unbelievably big. Well, big is an understatement. It's just sooo HUGE. And there are sorority and fraternity houses everywhere, like in movies. Now we have free time until 3 PM and I spent the last half an hour trying to connect the WiFi here, which is really securely protected.
Well, what else.. our rooms are quite nice, everybody has a huge closet. Bathrooms are shared, but quite clean. I'm sharing a room with Natasha, who's from Cyprus. Oh, and we were told about the possibility of tornadoes here, that kinda frreaks me out a bit, but then again Erin told us that the tornado season is over, so I'm counting on that.
Yesterday I woke up 3.30 AM and me and Pille (other Estonian fellow) flew to Frankfurt. We had about 4 hours until our next flight, but since it was delayed, we just tried to sleep on the benches. I couldn't sleep, but Pille could and when our gate was announced, I whispered to her "Wake up!", She jumped up, scared to death. :)
Anyway, the Washington flight was long, but movies and, music kept me entertained the whole time. Also, the immigration went really fast. We didn't have to wait at all and everybody was extremely friendly. We would have definitely missed our Indianapolis flight, but luckily it was also delayed, so everything turned out great, but by the time we arrived at the Indianapolis Airport, I was completely exhausted, even when we saw a sign "Welcome to Indianapolis", all my excitement had disappeared due to the fact that I hadn't slept for about 28 hours.. We took the Lafayette Limo shuttle to West Lafayette and we were given dinner in the bus. You can guess three times what we got... hamburgers!! Surprising, isn't it. :) We finally made it to Purdue approximately at midnight.
Today we had to be ready at 8 AM, so the night was really short and cold. Apparently Americans loooove air conditioning. We ate breakfast at Hillebrand Dining Court, which was really beautiful and modern. The food was quite good, they have a huge variety of different dishes here. We were split into 3 groups and our group mentor Erin showed us around on campus. The Purdue campus is unbelievably big. Well, big is an understatement. It's just sooo HUGE. And there are sorority and fraternity houses everywhere, like in movies. Now we have free time until 3 PM and I spent the last half an hour trying to connect the WiFi here, which is really securely protected.
Well, what else.. our rooms are quite nice, everybody has a huge closet. Bathrooms are shared, but quite clean. I'm sharing a room with Natasha, who's from Cyprus. Oh, and we were told about the possibility of tornadoes here, that kinda frreaks me out a bit, but then again Erin told us that the tornado season is over, so I'm counting on that.
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