despite being in the middle of a college career with not much besides a determination to travel and a passion for an array of all things random,
there is something absurdly wonderful about being "stuck" in university student mode.
for example...
in may, i spent two weeks in new york city with a group of 12 BIOLA students taking an urban research class in which we researched minority people groups. the two weeks ended with a bang of research presentations and ultimately, a lengthy paper on our discoveries of the peoples we studied.
despite the long hours of research and study, we were more than happy to make room for the "must-do's" around the city. this took us from the upper west side, to central park, to times square, to ellis island and the statue of liberty, to wall street and just about every place in between. in the process of visiting all of these places, i fell in love with the city and it's inhabitants and, in the end, came away with a deeply enriched appreciation for the peoples and cultures that have helped build new york city into what it is today.
anywaysss, as an intercultural studies major one of our upper division electives is a peoples of the world class and... as the professor that took us on the trip to new york, dr. mcmahan, once upon a time lived in indonesia for a long while...
over interterm (the last three weeks of our six-week christmas holiday) he is taking a group of 12 students to indonesia as an off-campus peoples of the world option.
i want to go SO BADLY!
the class is from january 3rd to the 18th and during that time we would explore western, central and eastern java before venturing on to to bali.
...it would be especially awesome because dr. mcmahan is so familiar with the country
and we would be able to get so much learning and exploring done in such a short amount
of time. this will be my first opportunity to go to that part of the world and as a lover of foreign
people and cultures, i truly hope that i can seize this opportunity! indonesia has never really been on my radar before (my primary geographic interests are the countries which lay in eastern europe and central asia) but i loved the way dr. mcmahan taught the urban research class so much that i am more than willing to take another off-campus class with him again.
plus the brochure makes it look BEYOND amazing...
a sneak peak at what it says :)
... explore the world's largest island nation
... hike to the summit of an active volcano
... learn about the culture and history of a diverse people
... visit ancient hindu temples
doesn't it sound wonderful?!
tomorrow night there is a meeting to discuss the trip
also, deposits are due by the 15th of october
... least favourite thing about being a college student?
permanent lack of money :)
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