Crystal Pihl, a graduate from PSU, studied abroad in Finland and Kazakhstan. Here is her story.
Crystal Pihl - Story Detail - Pittsburg State University
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Tuesday, November 3, 2009
PSU Study Abroad in the News
PSU Study Abroad students and programs have been featured lately in several places. Check it out.
Allison Keegan was featured on the PSU web site as a banner story for her summer study abroad in Finland and South Korea. See the previous post.
Also the PSU Group program led by Dr. Steve Harmon that traveled to South America was featured in the PSU online magazine Universitas.
http://www.pittstate.edu/newsletter/universitas/index.dot?article=141775
Allison Keegan was featured on the PSU web site as a banner story for her summer study abroad in Finland and South Korea. See the previous post.
Also the PSU Group program led by Dr. Steve Harmon that traveled to South America was featured in the PSU online magazine Universitas.
http://www.pittstate.edu/newsletter/universitas/index.dot?article=141775
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Allison in Finland & South Korea
Allison, a graduate student at PSU, has set out on a summer of study abroad. First she studied at PSU's sister university Jyvaskyla in Finland and now she is at another sister university in South Korea, Hanyang University. She has been writing a blog about her experiences abroad. Check it out at http://allisonmkeegan.blogspot.com/2009/07/abc123.html.
Here is her last post as a sample:
One benefit I've received from studying both Finnish and Korean language is that I've been able to feel what it is like to be a child learning the alphabet for the first time. This feeling is true especially while learning Korean, since the characters are completely new to me. When I first began looking intensively at the Korean language, all I could ensue was that all those funky looking symbols meant something to somebody...but that somebody was certainly not me. I imagine that as a child I once felt the same way. My family has told me stories of how I used to listen to a story over and over, and then recite that story from memory while flipping the pages pretending as though I were actually reading. I can imagine the excitement I must have felt thinking as though I could actually read what "big people" could read.
Here I am, 20-something years after I first started "reading", and I am right back to that same beginning. I feel the same excitement when I can read more than a line or two in a story. The only difference now is that I feel myself holding in my excitement so as not to appear overly giddy and childlike. However, I've never been too good at holding back my excitement...so I am starting to just embrace it and feel happy about the accomplishments my class and I are making.
While I know we are making accomplishments, we are still often very confused because this language is so hard to grasp. I sit in class and I see my teacher try to explain things to us, and oftentimes I can see the frustration on her face because we just aren't picking it up. I completely understand her frustration because in her mind she is explaining something that is very easy and basic, and yet we are looking at her like a deer in headlights. I've been on that end many times while tutoring or teaching in a classroom, so I understand and can easily empathize with her point of view.
I feel as though this experience has given me the opportunity to empathize a little better with children in my future classroom. I knew that this experience would give me a chance to learn what it was like to be in the minority, with the hope that I could empathize with children in schools that also feel like they are in the minority. To my surprise, this experience has taught me so much more than that. At some point in time, all the students I work with will feel left out, behind or confused in the classroom...and I hope that I will be able to draw from this experience and have a greater amount of patience and understanding.
Here is her last post as a sample:
One benefit I've received from studying both Finnish and Korean language is that I've been able to feel what it is like to be a child learning the alphabet for the first time. This feeling is true especially while learning Korean, since the characters are completely new to me. When I first began looking intensively at the Korean language, all I could ensue was that all those funky looking symbols meant something to somebody...but that somebody was certainly not me. I imagine that as a child I once felt the same way. My family has told me stories of how I used to listen to a story over and over, and then recite that story from memory while flipping the pages pretending as though I were actually reading. I can imagine the excitement I must have felt thinking as though I could actually read what "big people" could read.
Here I am, 20-something years after I first started "reading", and I am right back to that same beginning. I feel the same excitement when I can read more than a line or two in a story. The only difference now is that I feel myself holding in my excitement so as not to appear overly giddy and childlike. However, I've never been too good at holding back my excitement...so I am starting to just embrace it and feel happy about the accomplishments my class and I are making.
While I know we are making accomplishments, we are still often very confused because this language is so hard to grasp. I sit in class and I see my teacher try to explain things to us, and oftentimes I can see the frustration on her face because we just aren't picking it up. I completely understand her frustration because in her mind she is explaining something that is very easy and basic, and yet we are looking at her like a deer in headlights. I've been on that end many times while tutoring or teaching in a classroom, so I understand and can easily empathize with her point of view.
I feel as though this experience has given me the opportunity to empathize a little better with children in my future classroom. I knew that this experience would give me a chance to learn what it was like to be in the minority, with the hope that I could empathize with children in schools that also feel like they are in the minority. To my surprise, this experience has taught me so much more than that. At some point in time, all the students I work with will feel left out, behind or confused in the classroom...and I hope that I will be able to draw from this experience and have a greater amount of patience and understanding.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Health Campaign
The ProPeru folks think there may be a strike tomorrow, which would be annoying but we would be fine where we are in Urababmba.
Today we went to Pancarhually, a small community of around 55 families, and gave health presentations off of posters we made the day before covering dental health, clean body and clean house and clean water issues, and women´s health, pap smears and STD's. Zach gave his in Spanish, while the rest of the group took advantage of the translators with the ProPeru group, especially for the women´s health issues. The community people asked great questions: if they were students in my freshman class they would all have gotten the A for the day, questions about the causes of cancer, the nature of diabetes, etc. We handed out toothpaste and toothbrushes, talked with some of the people about their most urgent concerns, and played some soccer, football with the local teenagers. We ended up with a tie with the mixed teams we had.
We are hoping to go back to do the health campaign tomorrow, but if the strike is on the roads will be blocked and we will be disappointed. After our health presentation some of the local folks took us to a very cool Pre-Incan archaeological site with some interesting petroglyphs. One of the community leaders had had family in the area for some time and pointed out the old salt road that the llamas had carried salt on when he was a child, and some alternate routes to Cuzco and Machu Picchu through the country roads that were the remains of Incan trails. Brian said he felt at home because we were in farm country: the wheat harvest looked good, and they were harvesting potatoes of a special variety that took up a distinctive flavor from their red earth, and sold as gourmet items for a premium price in the big cities.
Anyway, all are in good health and good spirits, and hopefully the change in the law stops the strikes from happening so we can do more of what we came here to do. We will see you soon!
Today we went to Pancarhually, a small community of around 55 families, and gave health presentations off of posters we made the day before covering dental health, clean body and clean house and clean water issues, and women´s health, pap smears and STD's. Zach gave his in Spanish, while the rest of the group took advantage of the translators with the ProPeru group, especially for the women´s health issues. The community people asked great questions: if they were students in my freshman class they would all have gotten the A for the day, questions about the causes of cancer, the nature of diabetes, etc. We handed out toothpaste and toothbrushes, talked with some of the people about their most urgent concerns, and played some soccer, football with the local teenagers. We ended up with a tie with the mixed teams we had.
We are hoping to go back to do the health campaign tomorrow, but if the strike is on the roads will be blocked and we will be disappointed. After our health presentation some of the local folks took us to a very cool Pre-Incan archaeological site with some interesting petroglyphs. One of the community leaders had had family in the area for some time and pointed out the old salt road that the llamas had carried salt on when he was a child, and some alternate routes to Cuzco and Machu Picchu through the country roads that were the remains of Incan trails. Brian said he felt at home because we were in farm country: the wheat harvest looked good, and they were harvesting potatoes of a special variety that took up a distinctive flavor from their red earth, and sold as gourmet items for a premium price in the big cities.
Anyway, all are in good health and good spirits, and hopefully the change in the law stops the strikes from happening so we can do more of what we came here to do. We will see you soon!
Return from Machu Picchu
The ruins of Machu Picchu were incredible, fully meriting the title of one of the wonders of the world. There were other things to see, including the Inca Bridge, the Sun Gate, and the hot springs, as well as Wainupicchu (contributing further to my gray hair), and our group split up to explore different options. This morning we saw the ruins of Ollantetambo, a mix of Incan and pre-Incan ruins with some signs of Spanish conquest. There were big battles fought there between the Incan emperor and the Spaniards, as a way to lead the conquistadores away from Machu Picchu. Right now we are working on posters for a health campaign to educate people about the need for a clean kitchen, hand washing, tooth brushing, pap smears and well-woman checks.
Everyone is well and happy, thrilled by the magnificent ruins but happy to be back at work.
Everyone is well and happy, thrilled by the magnificent ruins but happy to be back at work.
Monday, June 8, 2009
We are back from the Inca trail. We saw around 300 patients over the course of 2 days, and were able to deliver a lot of health care with our donated medicines. All of our students worked hard, and even those without much Spanish were able to be effective because they made great efforts to communicate with our excellent Peruvian health care professionals. There was a good bit of fun too, with some freeze tag and charades with our Peruvian friends, and a lot of good natured teasing and joking in 2 or 3 languages, and even some scary Peruvian mountain spirit tales. We also got to see some pre-Incan ruins not open to the public yet, most impressive!
We are off for Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu now, and will be back in 3 days with some fabulous pictures and a great appreciation of the accomplishments of the Incan civilization.
More later!
Dan
We are off for Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu now, and will be back in 3 days with some fabulous pictures and a great appreciation of the accomplishments of the Incan civilization.
More later!
Dan
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