Showing up for the shut down

On Thursday 55 members of the St. Michael's College community (myself included) left the lofty mountains of Vermont to protest in front of the state department in Washington D.C. Joined by some of Burlington's Congolese community, we held signs advocating for increased attention to the violent conflict in the Congo. Some of the signs read, "Peace in the Congo," and one of my favorite Martin Luther King Jr. quotes: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." The Burlington Free Press covered the Dear Hillary for the Congo event. Here is a photo of the rally taken from fellow blogger Trish Siplon:



Here I am with Alexsis and Sam, fellow SGACers:



Besides the rally, some members of the Student Global AIDS Campaign were in Washington to lobby on behalf of global health funding. Eight of us met with staff members representing Senator Patrick Leahy (VT, and a graduate of St. Michael's College), Senator John Kerry (MA), Senator Susan Collins (ME), and Senator Jeanne Shaheen (NH). During these meetings we discussed the importance of global health initiatives that would fight world AIDS.

However, we were told that global AIDS was not really a priority at that moment. That is because Friday April 8th was an especially strange day to be in the capital. Congressmen and women were trying to come to an agreement on 2011 fiscal year budget. All major news channels were warning of a complete government shutdown, and there we were, sitting amidst the decision making. Just a few of the ramifications of a government shutdown include- the closing of the Social Security office, tax refund would be delayed, passports would not be expedited, and National Parks and the Smithsonian museums would close. The last time this happened was in 1995.

Every open door in the Senate buildings showed meetings that were in progress. Staffers appeared frazzled while watching CNN reiterate what they already knew. Fortunately, the government shutdown was averted, at least for this week. We will see what happens on Wednesday, when the new-new deadline comes.

No Spain, No Gain

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting one of my oldest friends in Spain. I bought my tickets months ago and I had been looking forward to this trip ever since I returned home from Peru. Rachel lives in Santiago de Compostela, a beautiful city in Galicia, in the northwest. Here we are:



I had the chance to visit a cathedral that houses James, the apostle of Christ. If that's not an indication of how old it is, the last renovation this cathedral underwent happened ONE THOUSAND YEARS AGO.



I was in Santiago for seven short days. Within this time I hiked, took a day trip to Finisterra (people used to think this was the end of the world!), ate delicious seafood (octupus and mussels), played apples to apples with Rachel's international friends, and had some chocolate with churros. In all, it was a wonderful trip and it meant a lot to me to visit Spain, the motherland of my favorite language.

Going to Spain, Central America (Nicaragua) and studying in Peru have all been vastly different experiences. I tried picturing myself studying in Santiago, living how Rachel was in an apartment with Spanish speakers. I just couldn't picture it because of its stark difference from my experience. While I would inevitably enjoy the Spanish life, I don't think that I would have learned as much about myself by living there.

I know that I am very young, but I still think that it is important to reflect on the things that I have done. Going to Spain was the best thing that I could have done. It was amazing to reconnect with Rachel and validate my time in Peru. Even though it was never easy, I know that I made the right choice by studying there. I hope that all of you can look back on your lives and pinpoint certain actions that you know you did right by. It really is a great feeling.

A Day in the Life

I know it's been a while since I've last written, but I thought I would write about what an average student (me) does during one day at Saint Michael's College.

8:00- Wake up and have breakfast with a friend. Scrambled eggs with cheese in Alliot are the best!
9:30-Go to the gym where I see at least three of my friends at any given times. There are new treadmills that make indoor running a lot more fun.
11:30- Early lunch with my dad (he came for the day) at the Penny Cluse Cafe, a Burlington favorite.
1:00- Principles of Microeconomics, where I learned how to measure satisfaction (it's in utils, if you were wondering).
2:30- Global AIDS Pandemic also known as my favorite class.
4:15-Hang out in Alliot with my friends for an early dinner snack. Tonight there was live music to celebrate Mardi Gras.
7:00-Student Association, where an on campus organization, Fix it With Five presented. Fix it With Five takes $5 from every student's activity fee, which together makes $10,000, and this money is donated to a charity. However, the charities have to present and express why they deserve the money.
8:00- GLEE. Enough said.
9:00- Write a blog post in order to procrastinate the studying process.

Goodnight!!

Thank you for the music

As those who know me are aware, I am quite the music snob. I think that Bob Dylan should be revered, along with Mumford & Sons, Arcade Fire and the Avett Brothers (did anyone watch the Grammy's? INCREDIBLE!). I prefer live music and the lyrics have to be good. With this being said, going to college oh so close to Burlington, Vermont has been a great life choice. Plattsburgh, New York doesn't get so many concerts and I live an hour away, making Burlington my concert mecca. Here I have seen the aforementioned Bob Dylan, the Swell Season, and Matt Costa. They were all great shows.

I am also fortunate because St. Michael's puts on a lovely concert for us hardworking students every spring. In the fall everyone votes for an artist and our Student Association is in charge of finalizing plans. I am so happy to say that this year Grace Potter & the Nocturnals are coming. I don't know how many of you are familiar with their music but they are wonderful. Watch this:


Great, right? Grace is a Vermont native so there is much excitement about her coming. So, to sum up, if you are looking for good music, Burlington is the place to come!! Stay warm!

Such is the way of the world

Hello, I hope that the second month of the new year is off to a good start. It has been two and a half months since I have been in my favorite place, the Amazon jungle. So, because I have been missing the vibrant green and unbearable humidity I looked for solace in ABC's new show, Off the Map. It is about three American doctors who go to the Amazon to practice medicine. As an avid and semi-fanatic watcher of Grey's Anatomy, I had high expectations for this show by the same creator. This was the first mistake.

The series starts with a cab labeled "jungle taxi," pulling into the clinic. One, there aren't any taxis in the jungle. Two, if there were the side door would not have English writing on it. But this is only the first annoyance. The three new doctors who knew they were going to Latin America don't speak Spanish but believe that they will save everybody. The doctors use coconuts for IVs. Now, I don't know if this is possible but I can just imagine what Americans will now think about medicine in South America. And most annoying of all the female characters were very short shorts and tank tops. They would all have malaria and sunburns in an instant.

It's a weird feeling to see and hear incorrect things about a place you have lived in. When I was in the jungle, two times and in three different places, my experience was very different. Indigenous people weren't injured from hangliding or falling into a river only to be hit by a falling boulder. I know that television shows are never very realistic but this is just perpetuating stereotypes that people have about natives.

So to conclude, don't believe everything you see on television, especially when it is a medical drama based in the Amazon jungle. Oh and by the way, the show is filmed in Hawaii. It makes a lot of sense to me too.

Who'll stop the rain

Greetings!! I have been back at St. Michael's for two weeks now and I am starting my third week of classes today. I think that I am finally back in the general swing of things, and I wanted to tell you all about the Student Global AIDS Campaign conference that I went to this past weekend. The Student Global AIDS Campaign (or SGAC) is dedicated to fighting and preventing global HIV/AIDS. Held at Harvard, more than eighty students attended the two day conference, ten from St. Michael's. Cambridge is a beautiful area and I was more than happy to make the trip. We took down one van and my professor and fellow SMC Blogger, Trish Siplon, drove.

At the conference we learned ways to build power, about strategizing and how to recruit more SGAC members. It was so exciting to be around so many students from big name universities who care about the same issues as us. What was even more great is that even amongst schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Darmouth, St. Michael's is looked at as one of the most active and successful SGAC chapters in the United States. I feel honored to be a part of this group and so proud of all of the hardworking students that earned St. Michael's that title.

I learned more about global AIDS and the specific numbers that activists are looking for in President Obama's budget, which comes out next week. Global AIDS funding is going to be cut and the many people worldwide who depend on this money are going to suffer. There are many players in this battle and the stakes are extremely high. If you want to learn more about HIV/Aids this website is an excellent resource: http://takeanumber.org/ . Thanks for listening, I hope that everyone can find a cause that they are passionate about and others who agree!

Long as I can see the light.

Hello and happy 2011!! I have been dreading writing this post, which is probably obvious because it has been almost a month since I have last written from the Miami airport. In these three weeks I have gone to the great NYC to see Jersey Boys with my friend, Eileen. Christmas has come and gone and I have even managed to catch up with friends from home and my best friends from St. Michael's.

It's strange that study abroad has been over for more than three weeks and I miss it. I miss the mountains in Cusco and the rainforest filled with delicious mangoes. I accidentally speak Spanish to people more times than I would like to admit. Hot showers are almost too good to be true and the strongest feelings of culture shock came to me in Hallmark. A whole store devoted to cards just seems silly to me now. I miss the people that I lived with for almost four months and it's weird that I can't see them everyday. It feels like summer vacations without the reassurance that this experience will be recreated in four months. So, I guess it's harder than I am used to.

In order to deal with these things I have been making a lot of lists of things that I want to do in 2011. I am pretty happy with 2010, the whole live-in-Peru-thing for four months made it pretty unique. Since it would be quite difficult to study abroad again some things that I have been planning to include hiking more, learning to knit, running a half marathon, and perhaps visiting my friend who is studying in Spain. Who knows? It's a new year, anything is possible.