Welcome to Savannah State University and International Education. We will be following the adventures of our summer study abroad students as they share their stories, pictures and experiences of their trips to China, Costa Rica, Ghana, India, Canada and Trinidad & Tobago.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Well, I’m home again and glad to be here. But I’m also glad for accomplishing specific goals for the summer 2011 study abroad:
1. Focus more on writing about China – the students kept daily logs, some of them required assignments. I enjoyed reading their insights and thoughtful comments.
2. Meet with Chinese college students – with the assistance of Prof. Xiaohong Lu, this activity met with great success and new friendships!
3. Grow the class size – actually, I got more than I bargained for in this area. The student size tripled (up from 3 to 9) and I had to teach more than one class to accommodate their various needs. But it got done!
Other treats came my way: a blog proposed by the International Education Office, which elicited creative responses from my students, visits to more places (due to larger student group) and my discovering even more about the Chinese culture from longer conversations with Chinese citizens. My students also enjoyed their celebrity status among the Chinese natives; nearly every tour featured them posing with Chinese groups with several digital cameras flashing to capture the moment. I, like the proverbial mother hen, kept count as we moved from place to place—especially on our return flight—to ensure that no one got lost in the shuffle. So I must add one more goal: #4 to get every student safely back home. But I wouldn’t trade our travel to China for anything. I’m glad that we had a chance to experience it together.
Rose M. Metts, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English Department of Liberal Arts
July 21, 2011 Just a little closer to heaven… Throughout my experience in China I was anticipating visiting the Great Wall, so when the day arrived, words could not explain my excitement. Leaving for our last tour in Beijing, we began early in the morning at around 6AM to accomplish our goal of reaching the fourth tower of the Great Wall(tower two for the girls). Our first stop was at the Emperor’s Summer Palace, and it was absolutely amazing. We took a boat ride throughout the palace to view everything at one time because it was so huge. After leaving the Emperor’s Summer Palace we then proceeded traveling to the GREAT WALL!. We arrived to the Great Wall and of course it was another photo shoot outside of the the entrance. After taking the usual five photos per minute we finally started to climb the wall. Before entering Dr. Metts said she wanted to complete her goal of going to the fourth tower because she only made it to the third one last year. So without a doubt Bradley, Felicia, Yakub and Dr. Metts proceeded to the fourth tower to finish Dr. Metts goal and to begin their own personal accomplishment. After the final four left the rest of us began our trek to tower two; patiently and nervous. Reaching past the small towers in between tower one and two it was clear that this was not gonna be a walk in the park. As we got closer and closer to the top, the Chinese citizens took pictures of our group; they were more excited to see “people from Savannah”(inside STAB joke) that the flashes kept coming! After about two hours of climbing I had reached my breaking point of exhaustion, but turning around and looking back at my accomplishment I knew could not quit now. Listening to the shouts of encouragement from Marcia, Alicia and Nakia I knew I could finish this race strong. Fighting the trembling in my muscles I finally made it to the second tower. About fifteen minutes later our last two class mates, Imani and Yvette soon joined our victory party. At the top we began taking countless pictures and of course so did the Chinese citizens! Resting for about thirty minutes we realized it was time to head back down to the bottom of the Great Wall. To me going up the wall was a lot easier than going back down because the steps were so uneven, along with the extreme height was recipe for disaster. Reaching the bottom of the Great Wall, we all began to write our names and of course gave a shout out to SSU and proceeded to return to go to lunch. While seeing the Great Wall was one of my life long goals, actually walking it was more than I could dream. Simone Lax
SSU and Albany State students have visited the Volcano Poas in vicinity of Grecia. Due to clouds and fog the visibility was limited, but we enjoyed the hike and the nature paths. On the pictures you can see our faithful tour guide- Hugo. After the tour our group went on to Zip-lining. It was a new and exciting adventure, that we all loved. On Sunday we went on rafting trip, but no pictures because we were discouraged to take the cameras. It was very wet… Costa Rica is a lot of fun. We can’t believe we only have five days left here. Prof. Tedrick
July 23rd, 2011 AMERICA…I’VE MISSED YOU! We’ve been on a plane for more than 15 hours. I don’t know how I managed to survive those long hours without even feeling claustrophobic. But once again, I HATE planes, but what really made me relaxed on those planes was Simone. Simone held a hand out to me whenever I was feeling uncomfortable and scared. To me that really meant a lot. But when I left Shanghai and Beijing, I felt like I left a piece of my heart there as well. We became so familiar with our environment and the culture we were in for three weeks. It’s like we never left home. My heart truly does go out to this place that I doubted so much to be. When I first pictured me going to China, I never thought I would fit in with that type of culture. I was so wrong about that. I fell in love with this place and it is definitely a place I would love to go back to. Once we came back to the Savannah International Airport that we first started our journey from, we were different individuals. I remember how things were set up to be. When my dad first dropped us off at the airport June 30th, I was shy, reserved, and wasn’t really talking to anybody. Even though the students were familiar with each other, they still carried on with their lives as if they already had their set group of friends. But then i looked around myself when I got off our final flight from Atlanta to Savannah and everyone was so close together. It seemed like I knew these people longer than how i really knew them. I knew one thing was for sure. We were so HAPPY to be back to the states. The air we breathed was different, we were no longer getting stared at, and EVERYONE understood what we were saying. Not only did we come back to the states as ourselves, but we came back with a broader outlook on life, culture, and diversity. It’s definitely obvious that we grew as individuals. - Yvette Naniuzeyi
Hola! Desde que empecé mi viaje, me divertí mucho. Tuve que comprar regalos para mi familia y amigos. Yo baile con mis compañeros y cante karaoke. Fuimos a la clase de baile y de cocina. También visitamos otras ciudades como San Jose y Sarchi. Fuimos a la playa también. Me acosté a las dos en la mañana cuando fuimos a la playa. Me divertí visitar la playa y me divierto hasta que regresamos a los Estados Unidos.
Abrazos,
Rhecia Goodley, Savannah State
I have enjoyed the great routine we have all fall into. I wake up at 7:15 am and rush to get dressed and ready for school while my Tico mama cooks me a quick meal. She knocks on the door to tell me it’s time for breakfast and we sit and eat together. I recall how awkward it was at first. We had very little to say. Now I find myself stumbling yet pursuing a conversation.
Bianca Ward, Albany State
