The Time Has Come the Walrus Said....

The time has come the walrus said to talk of many things…

Well the walrus was right, I have a lot to say, and have had a lot to say the past six months on this blog.  First off thank you to everyone who has read this blog whether it is diligently, a couple times, just once, or you liked the link post on Facebook.  I don’t know if I ever said this but leaving my home, family, friends and the US of A for six months was and has been very difficult at times, but thanks to constant support and cheers from my family and friends those difficult times seem very insignificant now.

            This time in Switzerland has gone by faster than I ever could have imagined and has left me with even more of an appetite to explore this big-wide world.  Last weekend I had the opportunity to spend my last weekend abroad in Interlaken, Switzerland.  I have been to a lot of places in the past six months but nothing compares to the beauty of Interlaken.  The two lakes nestled amongst the Swiss Alps are the truest teal I have ever seen and the whole place emits a spectacular peace and beauty.  My friends Krista, Yan-Yan and I swam in the giant teal swimming pool, spent some time drinking wine and worshipping Beyoncé, attempted to hike to a small village called Wilderswil, kayaked around Lake Brienz, and overall just felt like we were on top of the world….

            Amongst all of this fun I have spent the last two weeks frantically trying to finish my independent research project that SIT students are required to complete.  For my topic I decided to research and explore historic, current and new approaches to funding for education development specifically in Senegal and Ghana.  This project was spurred by the challenges facing education I observed in Senegal and since then my interest in international education development has magnified ten fold.  I understand and accept that not everyone is as interested or fascinated by the issues of financing and reforming education development as I am, however if you are just let me know and I will give you more information on my project (which I finished today…BOOM).

            Now to the mushy gushy stuff, you might be wondering about the title of this blog post.  The line, “The time has come the walrus said, to talk of many things” is from the poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter” by Lewis Carroll and can be found in the book Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There.  The poem can also attribute its fame to the movie Harriet the Spy, and although I am a huge Harriet fan, my hopes of being a spy are not the reason I chose this poem as my final blog title. 

I love this poem.  I have always specifically liked this line and it comes to mind when something is ending, or beginning.  So I guess it works perfectly in this case.  My six months of gallivanting are over and I have to return back to the US and start thinking about becoming an adult, but I think the past six months have prepared me for that.  I suppose in some ways I am like Alice (insert blonde hair reference) as she wasn’t really sure what she wanted before she entered that rabbit hole.  She had some crazy adventures down there and found out a lot about herself.  She realized that its okay to be lost sometimes, that people (or in her case caterpillars) are generally kind and willing to help, that there is vibrancy all around you, and most importantly discomfort causes courage (maybe that one was just me).  
Anyway, as I sit here writing this last post I cant help feeling like Alice and trying to decide if this was all a wonderful, challenging, fulfilling, eye-opening dream.  It scares me a little to go back to the United States because it is no longer the place I am most recently familiar with and besides finishing college I am not sure what happens next but if I am taking my notes from Alice then “if this is my dream I’ll decide where it goes from here.”

Catching Up Amidst all the Chocolate

I would first off like to apologize for the fact that I have not posted in almost a month.  I attribute that fact to two weeks of wandering around central Europe and three weeks of adjusting to my program here in Geneva, Switzerland.  There is too much to write about when it comes to my solo jaunt through Europe so instead I am going to choose some highlights from each place.  So here it goes, my 11 days of Central Europe, the abridged version.

Zagreb, Croatia (1 day)

• ·      Walked around the beautiful green horseshoe of parks and found a botanical garden
• ·      Met my first fellow traveler, Nathan, coincidentally he went to high school in Washington.  We shared a pizza and he gave me confidence for the rest of my trip

Budapest, Hungary (3 days)

• ·      Went to a pub-crawl the first night with 4 boys who just graduated from Indiana University and were staying at my hostel.  On the pub-crawl we found 6 British girls: Zoe, Emma, Emma, Jess, Sophie and Charlotte who became my traveling buddies in Budapest
• ·      Spent an entire day exploring the Buda side of the city and wandering around the quant streets, the castle and just admiring the views. 
• ·      If you ever go to Budapest make sure you walk along the Danube at night, probably one of my favorite moments in Europe. 
• ·      Casually went to a giant Spa party at an old Hungarian Bath with my British friends
• ·      I fell in love with Budapest, it is now by far one of my favorite European cities

Vienna, Austria (1 very rainy, windy, cold day)

• ·      Ooo-ed and ahhh-ed at the home of the Hapsburg monarchy and let my inner history nerd bask in all of the Hapsburg weirdness and glory
• ·      Got very lost for an hour in the pouring rain
• ·      Warmed up by eating Wiener Schnitzel at Gasthaus Poschl, a very small restaurant owned by an actor who sometimes steps in as a waiter for fun

Prague, Czech Republic (2 days)

• ·      Braved the record floods and met up with the true American Hero, Sam Woodbury my Prague travel buddy
• ·      Went to a cave bar
• ·      Traversed a mountain without using the trails in order to see the Petrin Tower which ended up being closed but we still had a great adventure
• ·       Went to a bar filled with over 200 pieces of Propaganda from the Communist Era (don’t worry we also went to the Communism museum)
• ·      Took too many pictures at the John Lennon Wall
• ·      Acted intellectual and fancy by eating at Café Louvre which has been frequented by individuals such as Einstein and Kafka

Munich, Germany

• ·      Met a wonderful Canadian girl named Natasha who became my traveling buddy for the first few days
• ·      Had lunch and dinner at two different beer gardens in one day (aka two sausages, two giant beers, French fries and a pretzel)
• ·      Saw some original Andy Warhol paintings at the Brandhorst Museum
• ·      Watched the Glockenspiel
• ·      Went to the BMW factory showroom and the 1972 Olympic Stadium (it looks like a giant spider)
• ·      Visited Dachau Concentration camp
• ·      Fell in love with Germany, I think German might be the next language I want to learn

Salzburg, Vienna (1 day)

• ·      Wandered through the “Do Re Mi” garden from The Sound of Music!
• ·      Ate the best chocolate cake I have ever had, original Sacher chocolate sponge cake
• ·      Decided I need to go back to Salzburg and explore the surrounding mountains and countryside because it is beautiful

These are just some highlights from my 11-day trip.  I guess here would be the place that I would talk about how much I learned while traveling by myself for 11 days but that would probably take up too much space.  All I want to say is don’t be afraid to travel alone.  Those 11 days were probably some of the best days of my life.  Yes it was scary and lonely at times but all of the things I discovered about other countries, other people and myself were worth the few times I got lost and confused.  I now firmly believe that everyone, especially around my age, should travel alone at some point in his or her lives.

After an 11-hour bus ride from Munich I finally arrived in Geneva, Switzerland and that is where I have been ever since (minus a quick day trip over to France to visit my friend Luke who was in Senegal with me).  Geneva has been incredible so far.  I am not sure how I was lucky enough to get another amazing host family but my host mom, Tunde, her boyfriend, François, and Tunde’s 15 year old daughter, Jennifer, have welcomed me and I truly feel like a member of their family after only 3 weeks. 

            This program is much more rigorous than my Senegal program because it is crammed into a shorter period of 6 weeks.  We already have our final on Multilateral Diplomacy next week and then our Independent Research Project period begins.  The past three weeks have been full of guest speakers who are experts in the field of International Affairs.  We have visited the International Red Cross, World Trade Organization and the United Nations, spent a lot of time trying to work out our project proposals and sending too many emails to experts for interviews, ate too much chocolate and most importantly just enjoying in the beauty of Switzerland.  I feel like I am constantly in a postcard here as there is always the Lake on one side of you and the Swiss Alps on the other side.

            I will write again soon to provide more details on my Independent Research Project, which is still taking shape, and wrap up my time in Switzerland and abroad.  For now I am just trying to enjoy these last three weeks abroad and make them count! 

The Edmans do Dubrovnik (minus Tal)

Its been awhile since my last post because I am currently city hopping around Central Europe (more to come on this part of my trip in the next blog post) but I figured I should write a post about my wonderful week in Dubrovnik, Croatia with my parents!

After 3 planes and 14 hours of traveling I made it to Dubrovnik, Croatia from Dakar Senegal and met up with the parents and our family friends Peter and Mary Petrich.  They had just successfully finished a 12-day bicycle ride through Croatia and the timing worked out perfectly for me to meet up with them for a week before I moved onto Switzerland.  Needless to say the completely walled in old city of Dubrovnik was very different from Dakar.  I think the only thing they have in common is being surrounded by water.  It was nice to be able to walk through the streets of Dubrovnik where no cars are allowed and not be honked at by taxis,  easily drink any of the water, and use public trash cans.  However, it has been a very weird adjustment from Senegal to Europe.  And lets just say my fully braided head of hair was regarded with much more curiosity in Croatia than in Senegal.

Nevertheless, I had a great week with my parents.  We explored the old city of Dubrovnik regarding its many churches, walking the fortress walls, visiting the hill outside of the city walls with a fort build by Napoleon and which now houses a museum about the Yugoslav war between 1991-1995 which greatly affected Dubrovnik, eating delicious seafood at the port and even going to a traditional Croatian dance show (for those of you who have seen my family in The Christmas Revels it was very reminiscent of the Balkan show). 

Mom and I in Dubrovnik

Overlooking the Old City from the fortress walls

Looking down on Dubrovnik from the hillside

Enjoying a drink on the cliffside

Dubrovnik, Croatia

We also did a day trip to Bosnia Herzegovina to visit the cities of Medjugorje and Mostar.  In Mostar, a city destroyed by the Yugoslav wars, we walked the old bridge, which was destroyed in the war, and has since been rebuilt.  For lunch we tried some tradition Cevapi, which is lamb sausage, wrapped in Pita.  Bosnia Herzegovina is also 45% Muslim so while visiting a beautiful mosque in the small town 15^th century town of Pocitelj I got to hear the call to prayer again, one of my many comforts in Dakar.

15th Century town of Pocitelj

Mostar Bridge

Overall it was a wonderful, interesting and relaxing week with two of the best people I know.  Now I am going to get really sappy and thank George and Laura Edman for just being overall two AWESOME people.  I already knew I had some great parents but after being abroad for 4 months I appreciate them even more.  My parents are the reason that I love to travel because they have allowed me the opportunities these past 21 years to explore the world.  You have always told me to keep asking questions and see everything that is out there.  I am very blessed to have parents who not only supported my decision to study abroad in Africa but are currently supporting my 11-day solo adventure through Central Europe.  I know they are probably freaking out at home right now but I would just like to say thank you mom and dad.  It was amazing and such a blessing to spend that week with you in Croatia and I cant wait to see you again in 6 weeks.

The two best people I know, love you Mom and Dad