Curious about Cardiff

Part of my UK site visit in June will take me to some undiscovered territory: Wales. Ok, maybe other people have discovered it, but I have yet to do so.

And what do I know about the Welsh? A load of nothing. Time for research!

* Cardiff is the capital of Wales, and where my partner university is located. I’ll train it from London to Cardiff immediately upon arrival, probably miss the majority of the scenery as I nap. Does anyone stay awake with the sound of train tracks in their ears?

Cardiff Bay / Photo courtesy of tripadvisor.com

* Thanks to Google, I have some delightful Cardiff-centric content to review, and consequently, will likely base my travels on:

[+] Cardiffgirl turned me onto Chapel 1877 with her quick review on the pub grub, and a spot about four (FOUR) places to have afternoon tea in her fine city. She is so Cardiff that I’m going to need some quality time with her blog, and a notebook.

http://cardiffgirl.wordpress.com/

[-] Why is it that some “Visitor’s Guides” make your eyes cross and learn nothing at the same time? I’m a bit overwhelmed by Visit Cardiff.com – lots of links, festive color palette and tiny print. I did see one tiny bold faced phrase referring to The Doctor Who Experience .. but let’s not tell anyone that I don’t know anything about that because they probably won’t let me off the train.

http://www.visitcardiff.com/things-to-do

[+] I always wonder what locals think of Wiki entries about their town / environs / habits / selves. This time, I’m looking at “Welsh Cuisine” as determined by … well, wikipedians. I got excited to see “Welsh rarebit,” which I’ve never understood, but apparently neither does Wikipedia: “the origins of this dish are unclear and the name may actually be an ironic English reference to Welsh cuisine.” Oh, the irony.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_cuisine

[-] Leave it to Lonely Planet to use the Welsh word for Cardiff in their title. Show offs! It’s Caerdydd, in case anyone is interested. In a quick review, I spy some beautiful architecture, beer and decorated sports fans. Tips & Articles only reveals “Child Friendly UK – Keeping your family united in the United Kingdom” … fail.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/wales/cardiff-caerdydd

[+] TripAdvisor says there are 71 things to do in Cardiff. I spy parks, castles, cathedrals, the stadium again, paintball, golf and Doctor Who. This is an upgrade from LP, so I’ll take it.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g186460-Cardiff_Southern_Wales_Wales-Vacations.html

 

I’m ready for your Cardiff tips .. T minus one month to go!

A festival of colors

After four long months of planning, details, logistics, phone calls, emails, drawings and 66 lbs. of colored powder from Colorado .. we finally had our day in the sun. And literally – the sun was shining. In Central Illinois. In April. Believe me, I’m as shocked as you are.

Our Holi Festival of Colors was originally intended for April 19. On the way in to the office that day, it hailed. It had rained almost all week and the quad was a disaster. At 10:30 a.m. we called it off, and postponed to April 26 – the last day of classes.

With all approvals signed, sealed and delivered – I woke up early last Friday like it was Christmas morning. Eyes wide open, I scrambled for my phone and squinted at the Weather app. Already it was 40 degrees at 6 a.m. It had been 40 degrees close to noon the week before, so I considered this a good sign.

My staff rolled in at 9 a.m. and we headed out to the quad to prepare. We chalked, we walked, we talked. We hooked up a sound system, a photo booth, filled four giant troughs of water, and hauled powder out to the field. I took phone calls, fielded media inquiries and gave interviews with the sun on my face and my heart in my throat.

By 11:30 a.m., 30 minutes to go time, we had music going and the staff were getting giddy. Our first round of volunteers arrived, we started putting color on each other and Paige dunked her entire head in a trough like a champ.

By 11:45 a.m., bystanders were asking if they could start. Well, why the hell not.

By 12 Noon, groups of friends had sprinted onto the quad and were squealing, laughing and dodging cupfuls of cold water. We cranked up Nate’s sweet playlist on the sound system and started harassing passers by and handing out free study abroad t-shirts.

By 12:30 p.m. it was packed. We saw faculty, staff, students, children. We had bystanders, we had paparazzi, we had participants. EAGER participants. Holy crap these kids are having the time of their lives! My white shirt remains untouched, and my face is clear until Marilyn and one of her students approach to dust my face with color on their fingertips, as though they are painting.

By 12:45 p.m. we readied for an announcement and a toss. Asking our participants to get a handful of dye and hold, the president of the Association of International Students spoke about the Holi tradition celebrated by Hindus in India and Nepal. When he handed off the mic, I gave a few more instructions, and we faced the MLK Jr. Union and the tripods with cameras on the roof.

Three ..

.. Two ..

ONE …

An explosion of powder and color.

Red, yelling. Blue, laughing. Green, dancing.
Yellow and Orange, waving. Purple, blowing in the breeze.

I can remember the long meetings with the staff in the cold months of February and March. How many participants would we have? Were we doing a good job with marketing? How many pounds of this damn powder could we possibly need? Would people get bored quickly? Would they be entertained? Would they understand what this festival meant to us .. what it meant to the world?

That huge surge of relief comes somewhere after 1 p.m. People are smiling, the sun is shining. My shirt is no longer white, and my palms are dark green. I’ve been chased by some of my students, had color slapped on my face, and had water dumped on my head at least twice. And it’s beautiful.

All that hard work has resulted in a hugely successful, colorful, magnificent festival. Did they all get the message that it was about celebrating spring, friendship and new beginnings? Maybe. But after a long academic year and some incidents on campus that made us questions ourselves and each other, there they are – running through the quad, sliding in the mud after each other, and tossing color into the air. I don’t know if they’ll be able to articulate exactly what Holi is about .. but they sure do have the right idea.

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for a look at the fantastic portraits taken by photographer and EIU CATS professional Jay Grabiec, visit the Flickr set at eiu.edu/holi.

for a peek at local news coverage by JG-TC Charleston-Mattoon: click here.

Looking forward to London

For all of you who recently commiserated with me about sending my passport into the great unknown, I’d like to say – it’s back! My new passport arrived first, with it’s crisp cover and nary a scratch (gotta fix that). My heart fell a little at the thought of never seeing my vintage 2003 passport again. The very next day, a second mailing from the U.S. Passport Agency! So my previous passport has been returned to me, with two small holes in the front cover, rendering it useless. I have never loved something so useless, so much.

And now I’m going to use it. The new passport, that is. You may recall that my first international stamp on January 2, 2004 was at London Heathrow. Funny that my new first stamp will also be from the same spot, 9 years, 5 months and 11 days later. I don’t think I’ll ask my immigration officer if he remembers me .. that may not end well.

I haven’t been back to London since that first blissful, crushing, terrifying, awesome three days in 2004. I’ve been in and out of various London airports on connections and flights, but never back in the city itself. Already my students are peppering me with endless ideas on restaurants, shops, markets and Harry Potter haunts (eeee!). With a packed schedule of four university visits that will take me in, around and out of London proper, I have got to make some decisions.

* I must find that “Changed Priorities Ahead” sign, again. It is the first photo I took abroad, and I have no idea where it is – save the fact that it’s in London. I want to say it’s near St. Paul’s Cathedral. Part of me wants to Google it. Part of me wants to leave it to fate.

* I want to circle back to Westminster Abbey. I don’t recall going there when we were in town, loopy from the time change and anxious about continuing our trip down to Spain to meet our host families and start our semester. It shows up in so much literature and even though I’ve seen more than enough abbeys, cathedrals, churches and blessed places, this one calls to me.

* Hello, Harry Potter. My dear student Mattie has warned me that Platform 9 3/4 is seriously touristy and hellacious. But how can I skip that? I’ll be in and out of King’s Cross Station on the way to / from Grantham so … yeah, I’m going to go take care of that book nerd bucket list item.

* Another nod to HP is the Warner Bros Studio tour situation. I loathe tours. I don’t like doing any bit of traveling in groups, whether I know everyone or don’t know a soul. But now that Alexis has gone and sent me this article about the Royals recent visit to the studio … well, hell.

* I need to eat. Eat like WHOA. Since my friends are all enablers, it follows that I also have recently seen this article about eating in fair London: Ethnic foodie playground and Michelin starred wonderland. Taste of London is going on while I’m in town, so that is also under consideration.

I always wonder if I’ll take the same photos. Be charmed by the same colors, cobblestones and characters. The answer is … probably. And I can’t wait! Let the next countdown begin.

“The Magic Wand of Immersion”

Last week in Chicago, a group of 1,400 international educators listened to the words of Dr. Lilli Engle on “What do we know now, and where do we go from here?” I’ll admit my mind wandered to the meetings I had coming up, the emails I had to get to. But several phrases and buzzwords stuck in my mind. One of these?

Sounds ominous, right? It is. This is not your fairy godmother sent from beyond the veil to turn your pumpkin into a coach. Neither is it the genie in a bottle, which you first rubbed in your office of study abroad, promising you untold fame, fortune and a spouse overseas.

The word immersion is a throw-away term used in brochures, next to skydiving photos and a white student hugging non-white local children. Is that immersion? Many schools and their students struggle to identify the proper definition, and continuing research is showing that some students never do. As educators, we cannot promise that your 6 weeks or 6 months in a foreign country will immerse you in a new culture. Immersion is not osmosis. You cannot achieve immersion by just being there.

In December 2012, at the culmination of a study conducted by myself and my American Institute of Foreign Study colleagues, we shared with a group in Dublin the following findings: Based on a survey with 170 respondents, 100 in Europe and 70 in the U.S., we found that access and use of technology remains almost entirely the same whether a student is at home, or abroad. That made me want to use my magic wand to bop them over the head and turn them into cobblestones. And so we continue to study both tools and roadblocks that assist and deter our students from this mythical immersion experience.

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How many times I have wished for a casual swish & flick to turn the tides of a travel experience, or that of my students. I am often found saying to my students, “study abroad is not a singular event.” Well here’s another gem for you: “study abroad is not a one-way street.” We drop that one in pre-departure orientation meetings, most often at the beginning of the session when my staff and I are talking about being an ambassador for the U.S., for our university, and for themselves. Here, I’ll set the stage:

Imagine yourself in a rural area. It’s hot, you’re tired, you’re probably lost and if you have to speak one more word of Spanish you’re going to freak. Then comes a barista, talkative, gracious. It takes a second or two in this god awful heat but you realize – he’s not pandering for tips or blowing you off as the dumb American. He has questions. Where are you from? How is your home? Do you like it here? Your one word answers blossom into longer explanations. He excuses himself to get your Fanta and ice, and upon return, peppers you with more questions: is your city very crowded? do you live with your parents? have you been to university? You’re charmed, even through your exhaustion. Several minutes later when you make your excuses to leave, he offers to take a photo of you in this place. You say, let’s take a photo of YOU in this place, so I can remember it. He is delighted and happy to oblige. When you tuck your chair back into the table and readjust your bag on your shoulder, he puts his hand on your arm and says, “do you know, I’ve never met an American before. I will tell my friends that they are wrong about you. Que dios te bendiga.”

The magic wand of immersion never could have touched that scene. The distance between two people changes in every foreign country, where the bubble of personal space expands and contracts. So what’s immersion? Reaching outside of that bubble and impacting another person. Sharing your culture. Sharing yourself. An active approach that calls on you, the traveler, to initiate the experience.

Our advice to our students, and my advice to you: Don’t sit back and wait for this to happen. Create these opportunities for yourself. It will make your experience far richer, and your purpose even clearer. Keep your magic wand for physics class, and use your own magic to find this elusive “immersion,” where others may never think to look.

City Sprint: Chicago

Back to the Windy City, a favorite only a train ride away. Forget the hideous train mates I had on the way up, because there was Chicago waiting for me after a long morning. With several days dedicated to an international education conference, I hopped in and out of restaurants with colleagues and made a splash with friends on the weekend. Bites, beds and other fun below.

BITES:

* Quartino’s – 626 N State Street – Italian – small plates. Shockingly affordable, quite large and home to some outrageously quick service. Proscuitto-wrapped dates, veal meatballs, beet salad and a fresh caprese salad were a perfect way to end the day.
* Grand Lux Cafe -  600 N Michigan Avenue – Americana – a chain restaurant and a gigantic venue. Our waiter was speaking so fast that I suspect there may be a drug problem in the kitchen, but my entree of chicken and gnocchi was quite good. So, rock on!
* French Market – 131 North Clinton – perfect for lunch upon Holly’s arrival at nearby Union Station. We settled for crepes – mine was some crazy Brie, fig, walnut, spinach situation. Sweeter than I expected, but divine. Space to sit and rest your bones after shopping for lunch, dinner or just a weekly batch of produce. Three cheers for markets!
* Giordano’s – (multiple locations) Let the great pizza debate begin. Holly and Kelli had never had Chicago deep dish, so I took them to where I had my first pie. There is really no possible way to eat more than one piece of a stuffed pizza. We made an effort but failed among all the vegetables and cheese. Good place to fail, no?
* The Bongo Room – 1470 N. Milwaukee (multiple locations) – Really, how many times can I pay this place homage? BLT Benedict this time, perfection. Wicker Park location remains my favorite. This is also my #1 breakfast + dessert combination place. See: Chocolate French Toast Tower for dessert.
* Rodity’s - 222 S. Halsted (Greektown) – delicious Greek, and a really cranky waiter. He actually removed silverware from our hands. We tried flaming saganaki cheese, lit on fire just inches from our startled faces. The lamb was recommended tenfold on Yelp reviews, so I went for it. It was good, but I wouldn’t yelp about it!
* Yolk – 1120 S. Michigan Avenue (multiple locations) – While the rest of Chicago chugged along on an 8K run along Michigan Avenue, we headed out for our last meal in town, and one of our favorites. My first time at Yolk (one of three locations) led me to a carnita egg sandwich which was a curious combination, but delicious. Useful for the long morning of transportation that followed.

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BEDS:

* Acme Hotel - 15 E. Ohio – What a funky and fun hotel. At the risk of giving away their entire decorating scheme, let’s just note that there are glow-in-the-dark items in the bathroom, closets outside of their confines, funky fixtures and a sweet chalkboard on the door, college dorm style.
* Silversmith Hotel & Suites - 10 S. Wabash – A quietly luxurious and totally affordable gig (courtesy of Hotels.com deals). Our double room was so spacious and well-appointed, and the hotel is really well located for all sorts of running around in and out of the Loop.

OTHER:

* Signature Lounge @ Hancock Tower – 875 N Michigan Avenue – One of my favorite, dramatic, places in the city to have a drink. It’s 96 floors above the city, and although there is sometimes a wait, it’s well worth it. You do have to cope with multiple tables of amateur paparazzi tourists that take 82 photos of the view, but still – worth it. This beats the Observation Deck because you don’t have an entry fee, and just pay for a drink!

* Thrifting .. the girls can debrief on this way more than I can, because I literally napped through the Goodwill expedition (1201 W. Washington). They had a good look through some of the Wicker Park shops, as well, although some of those – save a $3 basement sale – were a bit pricey.

See you soon, beautiful Chicago!