Sup, midterm warriorz? Approximately eleven days ago I posted a wildly successful roundup of blogs belonging to Wesleyan students overseas, whose ramblings you can access on WesStudent from good old Middletown: Notes from the Study Abroadosphere. This roundup represented blogs coming at you live from France, France, France, Ireland, and Australia. Apparently there are other countries you can go to. In fact, Wesleyan students are occupying cities all over the globe, it turns out, and not just because they’re protesting the phallocentric corporate plutocracy.
Click past the jump/continental divide for more blog submissions.
—Mickey’s Life Blog: This is Mickey Capper ’13’s blog, where he shares his observations and Buddhist revelations on the mean streets of Bodh Gaya. Some sample nuggets: “What we should let go of is not exactly ourselves and the whole universe, but the illusion of the distinctions between ourselves and other things in the universe.” Also, laws are like mangos. “The laws are the skin, the truth is the center.” Mickey posts lots of intriguing photos, too, and occasional stories about his experiences “juggling interviews, running across town for meditation, and [being] surrounded by millions of Indians celebrating some combination of Christmas, Woodstock, and idol worship.” “I always love the Wes IV drip that is my weekly Wesleying check,” he writes in. “Keep up the awesome and rage hard at Wes for me.” [LINK]
—Get Danish or Die Tryin’: The prestigious award for “Study Abroad Blog Title of the Week” goes to Haley Sacks ’13, who writes in from Kobenhaven, or “Copenhagen,” Denmark, where she has been kept busy trying out Danish Rosh Hashanah services, exploring Christiana, and experiencing “Culture Night,” which is “basically a Scandinavian version of Tour de Franzia” (I’m intrigued). “Always down for massive viewership and international fame, I am hoping for a sleazy Wesleying post crediting my blog for changing some world views,” Sacks writes in. Take heed. Also, she sends her love to Susan at stirfry. [LINK]
—ISRAEL E: Denver native Elisa Waugh ’13, a Dance and Religion double major, is spending the semester in Jerusalem, where she is thoroughly absorbed in a program called DanceJerusalem. “It ties Dance classes at an Academy with academic classes at an International School,” Waugh explains. This is Waugh’s Blogspot, highlights of which include: (1) a mouthwatering photo-tour of an Israeli open-air food market; (2) meditations on the fundamental distinction between being an obnoxious bad tourist and “being a moral tourist”; and (3) stories of a breathtaking and thought-provoking run to the Mt. of Olives Jewish cemetery, where Waugh questions: “whose history are we really learning?” [LINK]
—Taran to Tarangire: On August 24, Taran Catania ’13 flew to Kilimanjaro airport to spend her fall on a Tanzania-based program called Wildlife Conservation and Political Ecology. Though the program is based out of Arusha, Catania clarifies, much of her time will be spent elsewhere: “around five weeks of camping, a three-week homestay with a peri-urban family in Bangata, and a one-week homestay with a family of the remote Maasai Village of Ngare Sero.” As for the name thing? It’s not a coincidence. “My wonderfully unconventional parents, many years ago, traveled to Kenya and Tanzania for their honeymoon,” Catania explains. “According to family lore, there they fell in love with Tarangire National Park (and became smitten with its elephant families)—and a year and a half later, there I was.” Despite sparse internet, Catania has been dutifully recording photos and vignettes from villages like Mto Wa Mbu and Bagata, as well as [SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT] the elephant families that inspired her name. Whatajourney. [LINK]
Abroad? Bloggin’? It’s something to write home about: staff(at)wesleying(dot)org.
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