Collection of Footprints

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Hi Everyone!

I'm sorry it has been so long. I finally have taken (hopefully permenate) root here at Travelblog.org. Yay!!!!! I know it has been confusing for you to follow me. But this should *crosses fingers* turn out better for all of us. To start of I'm going to repost everything from my old blog and start posting pictures and my adventures so far.

So here we go.....

Hello! Hallo! Bonjour! こんにちわ! Welcome to the very first post of A Collection of Footprints! My name is Soderlin! I am a Junior in college and I love to travel. I love to travel so much that I will be abroad for the next year! I will be traveling to Taiwan, Thailand, India, and Turkey this coming school year, and I will not be home for any breaks until summer (Sorry Mom and Dad!).
Now, some of you might be wondering just how can I be traveling through FOUR countries and still be earning a degree. Here is my answer: LIU Global. But before I brief you on Global I want to explain how I found this one of a kind institution.
.....Once Upon a Time..... JK
Actually I didn't even know about LIU Global at first. After high school I decided to attend Cottey College. Never heard of it right? I hadn't either. To simply put it's an excellent-once-two-year-now-kind-of-four-year-super-small-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-Missouri-uber-traditional women's college that was started by a fabulous women named Virginia Alice Cottey Stockard in 1884 in Nevada, Missouri (for the record it's pronouced ne-VAY-da). Near the end of her life she gifted the college to the P.E.O. Sisterhood---my guess is that you've never heard of them either, but you most likely know one or two. I found out through a P.E.O. (People Eating Onions or Philanthropic Educational Organization) who was the grandmother of a fellow figure skater who I had known for years (later we found out that another family friend that we had known of 15 odd years was also a P.E.O) knocked on my door one summer and handed me a packet containing information and a video. Three visits later and a good chuck of generous financial aid I found myself inducted into the everlasting sisterhood of Cottey C.
Now fast forward two years, Cottey as added three new bachelor programs and is now allowing four year students to stay. I graduated this May with an Associate's Degree of Arts with my class of about 150 women---when I said Cottey was small I meant 300-350 students small. I learned early last year from a fellow Cottey sister and dear friend about LIU Global where-this is the great part- students spend the majority of their undergrad career abroad. In reality you only spend your last semester on the Brooklyn campus in New York. I was instantly drawn to their Comparative Religions and Cultures Program which would send me to FOUR countries in one year. It was a dream come true though I still had to battle through monsterous doubt and anxiety. But I made it after I girded my lions (so to speak) and was pushed off the cliff thanks to friends and family.
So that's how I came across LIU Global. I will be posting throughout the summer to keep myself on track to get my paper work in and work through terrifying visas, how to pack a whole year into one suitcase, and earn enough money to pay for my plane tickets. Hope to see you around!

So to day I'm going to tell you guys about what I'm going to be doing this coming school in a little more detail. You already know that I am traveling to Taiwan, Thailand, India and Turkey.The program I am enrolled is called the Comparative Religions and Cultures Program, more commonly called the CRC Program, and the name speaks for it's self. In each country I will be focusing on different topics, taking trips, writing A LOT, and experiencing the country.

First up......TAIWAN
This is my first stop for the year. The almighty kick-off. I will arrive in Taipei from San Francisco on September 6th and stay there until the end of October. We will be focusing on Mahayana Buddhism, Taoist Popular Religion, and National Identity. Hosted by National Chengchi University (NCCU), I will have classroom instruction two days a week held jointly with English-speaking Taiwanese students. The classes will be based around Taiwanese language and culture and being at the university allows us to participate in the activity fair and join clubs (SCORE!!!!!!). Another two days of the week will be spent on guided visits to important religious and cultural sites in and around Taipei. One day will be devoted to advising, community and/or processing meetings (I have no idea what to expect for the last 2 ), and homework. The last two days are reserved for free time.....................(i.e. explore, do it yourself, mess up, get embarassed, have fun and most important--------go on an adventure!)
We will have two field trips:
ONE: Travel to a Buddhist monastery for multi-day instruction in Buddhism and meditation!!!!
TWO: Travel to sites in eastern Taiwan that will provide a broader exposure to Taiwan's geography, indigenous peoples, traditional economy, popular religion and etc.

Next up is Thailand!
We will be traveling by air from Taipei to Bangkok. When we arrive it will be fall break so we get a week to hang out and explore Bangkok and other parts of Thailand on our own. This scares the crap out of me. I'm not sure if we are on our own for this. I'm not sure if I even have a place to stay!!
The program in Thailand lasts from November through December, ending just before Christmas. We will be focusing on Theravada Buddhism, Inter-religious Dialogue, Social Issues and Human Rights. Some highlights are the Loi Krathong Festival*, Buddhist Meditation Retreat, and Social issues at the Thai-Burmese Border.
The program begins with a three-week progrm run by the Instittute for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Peace (IRCP) at Payap University in Chiang Mai. In addition to classroom instruction ixed with site visits, the program will spend several days at a Buddhist temple and Burmese refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border, combining service learning with meditation. Following IRCP's program, we will move to a small village outside of Chiang Mai for a ten-day exposure to life in rural Thailand, including talks with the local headman, monk, teacher, and shaman, home stays and a site visit in a nearby hill tribe village, and interactive exercises such as rice harvesting for engagement with locals. Students will then break out of the group for a week to ten days of independent study that we developed in consultation with our advisors. Finally, we reconvene at Empty Space Chiang Mai, an artist's retreat center. While we will have some exposure to international and Thai art, most of our time will be devoted to reflecting on the first semester's experience and producing final papers and presentations .

*The Loi (or Loy) Krathong Festival celebrates the close bond of Thai culture and water. The festival takes place on the full moon night of the twelfth lunar month when the water level is high. The Thai people pay their respects to the Goddess of Water by floating krathongs (see picture) down the river.

So after Thailand it's off to India! But first-------Winter Break! Winter Break is spent in India. It lasts from December 23rd through January 8th and students can explore india independently before making their way to Mumbai. This moment is reserved for the OMG-my-life-is-so-awesome and FML-where-am-I-going-to-get-the-money feelings. These are probelms that I am going to try and solve this summer but they probably will change by the time I actually get there.
The focus for India will be Hinduism, Religious Diversity, Social Issues and Human Rights. THe highlights are Madurai, Varanasi, River Ganga, Sarnath, and yoga. The program spends it's first two weeks in Bangalore, which is home to LIU Global's India Center. Gaining a general orientation to Indian culture there, students will explore the religious and cultural diversity of one of India's most rapidly modernizing cities. Outside Bangalore, students will also have the opportunity to visit a Tibetan refugee community, learning about their political and social struggle as well as their unique tradition of buddhism. Journeying north to Varanasi, the program will spend a couple weeks in and around one of Hinduism's most holy cities, a hub of pilgrimage routes sitting on the Ganges, India's most sacred river. In addition to an intensive introduction to lived religion and sacred geography, students will likely have the opportunity for independent study and home stays during this period. The final destination in India will likely be either Sikkim in the foothills of the Himalayas or an ashram in Ujjain in the west of India, either of which will allow both programming opportunities and time for final writing and reflection in India. The India portion ends in the begining of March.

Onward to Turkey!!!!!!

We fly from Mumbai to Ankara. In trukey we are focusing Islam, Sufism, and Alevism, Turkish Language, History and Culture. The highlights being Konya and the Sufi Lodge.

Ankara will provide the CRC program with an intensive, two-week classroom introduction to Turkish society, politics, and religion, supplemented by select site visits and cooperative programming with Youth of Understanding Turkey. With this foundation, the group will journey to the east of Turkey near the border of Syria (this will probably change due to the violent conflict occuring in Syria) , encountering a more Middle Eastern culture and several ancient religious and cultural sites. Journeying back towards the west, students will spend a week in Konya living in a Sufi lodge and encountering Islam's mystical tradtion. The Turkey section and CRC as a whole will end with several weeks in Istanbel, mixing some programming with end-of-year assignments and processing of the collective experience (i.e. more papers and presentations).

The freak out has officially begun. I have 9-8ish days left until I leave for th CRC Program. I have already mock packed my suitcase twice but by the end of this week I will probably be on my fifth (if I do my laundry tomorrow).

So here is a brief update on what I have been up to summer since I haven't posted since JUNE!!!
At the end of June I had my tonsils removed and by July 2nd I was in the ER with a throat hemorrhage (which I guess is a kind of normal?). Oddly enough I could actually talk after that second surgery and spent the rest of July recovering. Thank you Jen Jen for the Harry Potter Marathon while I was half drugged. After my recovery I have been making money by selling Cut Flowers, Bouquets, Bird House Gourds, and Mexico Midget Tomatoes at our local farmer's market. I have actually made a lot of money, which has become my paying-for-college stash that will be helping me through this year of traveling.I bought a new camera since my old one ate batteries and I bought a new Laptop. It is lighter and has a faster processor. I applied for my visas through VisaHQ.com and they will be arriving on the 30th. Unfortunately, since I read the instructions on when to apply for visas wrong I will have to obtain my Thailand visa once I enter the country. This has been done in the past without problem, so hopefully it will be the same for me.

Lesson learned: Read everything carefully

Well that brings us back to the present. I finally bought my tennis shoes and shammy towel today. Tomorrow I plan to do laundry and mock pack again and weed out more clothing and toiletries.

My goal is to do daily posts on my Freak Out Level and articulate my goals for the year. Happy Travels!



So my visas and passport arrived from VisaHQ.com today along with last two books I have to read for the program. Unfortunately because I misread the instructions from LIU Global, about when to apply for my visas, I only received two, of the three, I originally applied for. I originally applied for Taiwan, Thailand, and India visas since I will acquire my Turkey visa when I enter the country. I was unable to get my Thailand visa in time, which means that I will have to apply when I enter the country via plane. Luckily after emailing with the director of the program I have found that they have applied the same way without any trouble .

I was required to purchase five books for the program. Since books are bulky and can add a lot of weight to my luggage I tried to purchase my books as eBooks that could be downloaded to my computer. In the end, between downloading the Amazon Kindle App and the Adobe Digital Editions (both of which are free) and using Amazon.com and Ebooks.com, I was able to purchase three of my books – two of which were the heaviest books. {Yay me!!} So today I received Chinese Religious Traditions by Joseph A. Adler and Diana L. Eck’s Darśan: Seeing the Divine Image in India. I have to read the Adler book before I arrive in Taiwan, but luckily for me – and my luggage – both books are thin and about 100 pages long.

I am also reading another book that was recommended by the school to read before leaving. It is called The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton. I am over half finished with the book and I plan to do a post about it.

Jumping off of that point, I plan to do posts about the books I read and my thoughts and reflections on them. Feel free to comment on them, because I would love to hear your thoughts. I also plan to post pictures, videos, observations, and such as I travel. This blog will be pretty busy once the year kicks off next Wednesday.



I can’t believe I leave in under a week!!!



I arrived in Taipei, Taiwan last night! Only crap there are scooters everywhere! The plane ride was surprisingly nice. It didn't feel like twelve hours. EVA Air is fantastic. The plane I was on was huge and spacious inside, even in the economy seats. We were served to meals and since there were not a lot of people flying to Taipei I was able to stretch out in my section and sleep.
On arriving to Taipei we met Dale, who is our Taiwan coordinator, and after an hour bus ride from the airport we arrived at the Teacher's Hostel. They call it a hostel but it is more of a hotel. I have two roommates who are also transfer students. At midnight we ran across the street to a seven eleven store and bought water and snacks.
Today we start orientation at 9:30 am! It's 6:23 am right now and its light outside. Time to explore!!!



This was my first day in Taiwan. It was pretty surreal. I didn't do any crazy exciting things really. The most ordinary things become extraordinary; like buying yogurt at the local 7 eleven and buying lunch. Even walking and going to a starbucks is suddenly exciting. I'm now starting to feel overwhelmed. Not terribly so, but enough to drag out the rest of my energy.
We had our first day of orientation today. It was fun (as orientation can be). We have to take the bus to the National Cheng Chi University, more commonly called Cheng Da, every time we have class at Cheng Da. The bus ride is about thirty minutes, so it's not too bad.
After walking around, ordering meals, and just being in Taiwan I desperately wish I knew a little Chinese. I hate the fact that I don't know it. Fortunately, when classes start next week we are individually tutored by a Cheng Da graduate student who is working on becoming an English teacher. I'm going to try and pick up some super basic Chinese before I go to dinner.
The majority of my classmates are super go getting. They like to be active, and they are no afraid to go do what they want. At times this bothers me because they might not take a step back and think about what they are doing. I like to blend in, whereas they just go for it. Most of them are going out to the night market and will probably stay out really late. I want to ease into Taiwan. I have six weeks. Dikun, who is from New York City whose parents are South Sudanese, came back to the hostel with me after orientation. We missed our stop and ended up closer to the Memorial Hall. I'm going to go explore around it tomorrow morning and find the botanical gardens. Tonight I think I'm going to go across the street to the Sushi Express for dinner.

Here are some posts you can regularly look forward too:

Every week: What Went Into My Stomach Report
Reflections from Class
Observations on Taiwan
If I was a High School Teacher



Hi guys! Sorry I haven't been posting that much. I was pretty overwhelmed this last week with being in a city and with classes starting. I wanted to start my blog from the beginning of my journey, but I forgot to take into account travel shock. Travel shock, which is related or maybe even married to cultural shock, happens when you spend more than a week in one area and you realize that you won't be leaving for some time. The body starts to slow down and, for me, it starts to crave a routine. The high of the "OMG I'm in another country" wears off and you are tired. I totally didn't take into account living in a city. I live in a Hotel in Taipei. Not outside, not around, IN. I grew up in Buffalo which - despite the signs, will always be, to me - a town. And not just a town. A town surrounded by farms or woods or just space between places. Then I decided that I wanted to spend my first two years of college in the middle of no where Missouri in a town even smaller than Buffalo. So moving into the huge capital, more so than the actual country itself, has been jarring.
So coming back from that tangent. I'll conclude in saying that I fell behind on my original detention which lead to a cycle of tired procrastination. So thanks dad for the email reminding me that people actually read this! I will post more tomorrow (really I will!) but as of now I need to sleep becasue its past 11:30 pm here.



So I leave you with some fun facts!


• Avery now knows how to ride various forms Public Transportation! This includes the Bus system (which I ride to get to the university for classes), The MRT train/subway system (getting around to more distance places), and - as of tonight - the taxi.
• Every reciept is a lottery ticket (no joke, I am in the process of doing a post on it) and;
• Scooters...did you know that Taiwan (or Taipei - I forget) has more scooters (mopeds actually) per capita AND per sq. mile than any where else in the world. Once again no joke. There are an absurd amount of scooters here and everyone here pretty much constitutes as a crazy driver in my book. Sorry Indy there is no pedestrian right of way here, even on the crosswalks.

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