You could do a lot in six weeks, the length of the just finished winter break. Sophomore Caitlin Holleron visited Dharmsala, India, while Junior Matt Dooley traveled to Asia. Sophomore Nancy Sullivan went to Costa Rica.
Holleron’s experience was part of International Service Learning (ISL) class. “It was wonderful to have a friend from a different place,” said Holleron referring to the Bhuddist nun whom she visited with regularly. The class had a chance to visit with individuals who had formerly been in prison-most for political reasons. Holleron was able to learn about current political strife in China and India firsthand; the nun had been in prison because of her involvement in a political protest.
Holleron is an international studies major and Spanish minor-a language that did not help her much in India. However, English was of use in elementary schools in Tibet. The ISL class taught English to children who were often only in school to be provided with a meal.
“There were no pencils or paper, no desks, just dirt on the floor,” explained Holleron. “It was really difficult to work with them.” Holleron hopes to be involved with humanitarian work after she graduates.
Holleron’s favorite experience was a 14-hour train ride from Dharmasala to New Delhi, the capital.
“It’s definitely a place where they don’t hide anything, they live right in front of you,” said Holleron after seeing everything from purposefully disfigured persons, to children, to transvestites begging for money.
“Everyone was really interested in ‘westerners,’ people were always staring at you, it took time to get used to,” said Holleron. “The amount of poverty is infinite.”
Holleron also visited other places, including the Taj Mahal and Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination site.
Matt Dooley also chose to participate in winter interterm by traveling with Special Programs Management to China. Dooley is an accounting major. He studied business relationships and business management in China. He went to Taiwan, China and Hong Kong during his interterm.
A typical day in Asia for Dooley was a visit to a business in the morning and an overview of how the facility functioned. In the afternoon his class would tour the area and visit a landmark with cultural significance.
“I do not speak Chinese,” said Dooley about the hardest part of being in a foreign country. Other difficulties included a cancelled flight from Taiwan to China, which was not communicated to the group until they reached the airport.
Dooley said his favorite part of the trip was “going to Hong Kong because it is the financial center of Asia,” as well as seeing the American Chamber of Commerce in China. Dooley went to a monastery of about 800 monks, where the monks raised all the money for the funding of the building.
While in Shanghai the interterm class learned tai chi During the trip Dooley sampled many different foods.
“We got to eat a lot of delicacies because it was an honor,” said Dooley. He ate black chicken, an oyster omelet and cow stomach. He liked all of it.
Another great place for new experiences is Costa Rica, where Hotel Restaurant Tourism Management major Nancy Sullivan went. She went with the Culture and Politics in Costa Rica class.
“We studied the different traditions of Costa Rica and met former presidents and presidential candidates,” said Sullivan. The class learned about the political infrastructure as well as the different regions of Costa Rica through travel. During the interterm Sullivan and her classmates visited the diverse terrain of Costa Rica including the rainforest, volcanoes and beaches. Sullivan liked that she could travel to so many diverse places in one country within hours.
“We got to plan our own trips on the weekend,” said Sullivan. She chose to participate in the winter interterm because the courses offered were unique, and she is working towards a Spanish minor. Sullivan said the hardest parts of being in a foreign country was the language barrier as well as figuring out the transportation system.
