Category: westtown school

Finally Feels Like Spring – China Day 6

On By AnnaHarrisonIn China 20181 Comment

Written and posted March 8th, 2018

Today we took a 7 AM flight to Guilin. After arriving we visited the Reed Flute Cave. The cave was a salt cave made naturally after multiple natural events. It was really pretty especially since there were colorful lights throughout it. After the cave, we went to lunch in a hotel for rice noodles. They were good, but not as good as the noodles the other day. We then took a bus two hours to Yangshuo where we are now staying. Yangshuo is beautiful. It is in the countryside, surrounded by mountains and when we arrived it was 62°F. We then went shopping on a street called West Street where most of the prices were incredibly marked down and could be easily negotiated. Our local tour guide had a “cousin” who was selling really nice handbags. We went to the store that sold obviously fake merchandise, but then we were brought upstairs into a vault. The vault had Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Prada and more that were NOT fake. I was in heaven, but then as I was looking at a Louis duffel bag the women took the bag off the shelf and continued to take more bags and the shelf itself off. We then entered an even more backroom with more name brand products that she was selling at amazing prices. As much as I wanted to buy something, I didn’t have enough money or a way to carry it back to the States, however, others got multiple items. While it was mainly a travel day, it was one of the best days so far!

– Anna

Les rencontres fortuites

On By Summer CaiIn westtown school1 Comment

March 7th

” The last time I saw Paris, her heart was warm and gay, I heard the laughter of her heart in every street café”–Oscar Hammerstein II

Today is my favorite day in Paris so far! Nothing can better describe my day more than “full of chance encounters”. It was raining on and off the whole day. After morning class, I went to see a temporary art show about the early career of the Renaissance painter Tintoret at the Musée du Luxembourg. Since there is no permanent exhibition at the Musée du Luxembourg, I was fortunate enough to be in Paris and near the museum on the first day of this well-curated exhibition about a true Italian master. FullSizeRender 5.jpgFullSizeRender 4.jpg

My favorite works in the exhibition

After this fortunate encounter, I headed to the Latin Quarter. I originally planned to have a light lunch at the Shakepeare & Company Café after browsing through the collection at the famous bookstore Shakespeare & Company. Yet, as I got off the métro at Saint-Michel square, I was immediately engrossed by the numerous bookstores in the region. I wandered freely among the shelves, looking for a familiar or interesting title that catches my eye. I especially liked the second-hand book section because there particularly, I felt like a true wanderer and traveller: I was looking for something I don’t know yet, a familiar name, a beautifully adored cover, but even more so for a sense of personal connection with the stranger who owned and loved the same books I now enjoy .It is because of the possibility of these unexpected yet pleasant encounters with people and things in a foreign land and the incredible bliss I feel when such encounters happen that I long passionately for solo journeys to unknown places.

Over the days, I have gradually become better at the practice of becoming a “true Parisian” not just a “rushed visitor”. After picking up a few old books, I decided to sit down for at the Shakepeare & Company Café for some afternoon tea and leisure reading. Even on a rainy afternoon, the outside seats truly offers the most pleasant experience and the best scenery. Sitting under the shelter of huge outdoor umbrellas, casually sipping tea and reading a good book, I can see the famous Notre-Dame de Paris when I raise my gaze from the book from time to time. It is truly an inspiring and refreshing leisure unique to Paris! No wonder so many elite writers, philosophers, artists came to live in Paris to find novel ideas!FullSizeRender 5.jpgFullSizeRender 6.jpg

tea at Shakepeare & Company Café

Afterwards, I visited two churches really close to each other but of very different styles: Église Saint-Sevérin and Église Saint Julien le pauvre. IMG_6486.JPG

One of the many stunning stained glasses at Eglise Saint-Sevérin

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The more tranquil and modest Église Saint Julien le pauvre

After all these days in Paris, I have found my self much more comfortable with the local lifestyle and much more closer to my ideal of wandering solo traveller looking for adventures, surprises, and exciting encounters!

Summer

Bad Jokes and Bruce Lee – China Day 5

On By AnnaHarrisonIn China 20183 Comments

Written and posted March 7th, 2018

Today was our last day in Xi’an. Since we had rain the first day we had to pack everything into our schedule today. We saw the Terra-cotta Warriors, learned calligraphy, ate a delicious noodle lunch, went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, biked the city wall, had hot pot for dinner, and explored the city after dinner as well. We also said goodbye to our very punny local tour guide Bruce. I will be posting mainly photos today, especially since I have to be up at 4 AM for our flight to Guilin in about three hours.

Enjoy!

-Anna

Terra-cotta Warriors

Learning calligraphy

Shadow puppets

Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Buddha (couldn’t take a picture head on)

Prayer and burning of incense

Another Buddha

Dragon as part of a wall at the Pagoda

View from the ancient city wall bike ride (photo creds Nick Sokoll)

Part of the Lantern Festival display on ancient city wall (photo creds T. Bei)

L’avant scène

On By Summer CaiIn westtown schoolLeave a comment

March 5th and 6th

“We must all do theater to find out who we are, and to discover who we can become.”–Augusto Boal

Yesterday was the first day of my classes with the Alliance Française. This week our theme for the class is the theater, which cannot be more convenient for me because I plan to attend a play at the famous Comedié Française this Sunday. During the first class, we covered many vocabularies related to theater (the personage in the troupe, places in the theater, parts of play). As a person who had not worked in a Westtown theater production, I was only a little surprised to find that I don’t even know the English word for many of the vocabularies. As a result, I had to look up the English word for “the person who moves the props between scenes,” “the person who help the actor get dressed” etc. before trying to figure out the correct word in French theater. This means that I have to spend more time finishing my homework, but at the same time, I learned so much more about the different parts that go into a successful reproduction of a play and feel so much more prepared for my adventure to the Comédie Française this Sunday.

ff13492aecbb1830c8c37a588862e1df.jpgThe favorite idea I’ve learned from this first class is that “une pièce de théâtre n’est finie que jusqu’a les comediens le presentent aux spectateurs” (a theater piece is not finished until the actors present it to the audience). This quote emphasizes the important role of the director and the actors’ reinterpretation of the original script. In a piece of theater, the playwright only sets up the “body” for the personage, but it is the actual production and the people who participate in it that gives the characters their spirit. The life experience the actors, the metteur en scène, and the individual spectator can change the meaning of the play a lot. At the same time, our interpretation of the play can tell us a lot about ourselves. Thus, the quote, we must all do theater, as actors, as directors, or as active spectators to discover who we are and who we can be.

The same principle of active participation and interpretation can also be applied to my adventures in Paris. Paris is different for each visitor and inhabitant for it is so diverse that everyone can draw an unique connection with Paris. Given my interest in humanities, my encounter with Paris is more an exploration of Paris’ history and culture. In the past two days, I’ve explored Abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Église Saint-Sulpice, Musée national Eugène-Delacroix, Jardin Luxembourg, Cimetière du Montparnasse, Musée Bourdelle etc. Because of my interest in languages, classics, and history, I payed special attention to the Latin inscriptions in the churches and cemetery I visited and was especially grateful to be able to do a complimentary guided tour in French about Eugène Delacroix’s oriental studies at the Musée national Eugène-Delacroix. IMG_6348.JPG

Middle: Latin inscription on the tomb of Descartes

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Interior of Église Saint-Sulpice

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palace and garden of Luxembourg

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my favorite work of Antoine Bourdelle at Musée Bourdelle

The past few days Paris has offered me many pleasant surprises. I’m super excited for my future adventures at Paris!

Summer

Your Eyes Are Always Bigger Than Your Stomach – China Day 4

On By AnnaHarrisonIn China 20182 Comments

Written and published March 6th, 2018

Today we flew from Beijing to Xi’an. Since it was a travel day and rainy we did not do that much. I will be posting photos today (taken on my phone because of the rain) from my shopping around the city, eating food, and watching the Tang Dynasty Show and dinner. My blog post tomorrow will hopefully be much more exciting.

– Anna

Ice cream with waffle bubble cone (photo creds to Savannah)

Steamed corn

Meat (lamb) on a stick

Vegetable dumplings

Mango juice drink with whipped cream, mango pieces, and matcha dusting

Making dough

Tang Dynasty Dinner

Tang Dynasty Show

Family Not Foe – China Day 3

On By AnnaHarrisonIn China 20183 Comments

Written and posted March 5th, 2018

Sputtering, the coffee, sweet milk, sugar, and boiling water drip into my cup, the size of a toddler’s. It’s my 5th cup of the day and it’s only 7 AM. I add a couple pork buns and watermelon to my plate and that completes my breakfast. I am still full from dinner and the Hot Pot yesterday.

Bundling up, two sweatshirts and a jacket, I head to the bus to start my day. Stepping off the bus I am greeted by an intricate archway to the Summer Palace. As we enter, an older group of people are practicing Taji with a ball and racquet. Our group joins in, but we are not able to keep the ball on the racquet like everyone else. We walk through the Summer Palace that looks over a lake and a mountain with a Pagoda on top. Everything is so beautiful, no wonder the emperor stayed there for most of the year.

Freezing, we rush to the bus, excited to experience a tea ceremony. There are five different teas, oolong, black with lychee, rose, fruit, and jasmine. The person leading the tea ceremony pours the hot water into the mug, leaves swirling around in the midst of creating a delicious drink sliding down your throat and warming you.

My ears pop and mountains flash by as we pull up to the entrance of the Great Wall of China. As I step off the bus I see the long stretch of wall that is more expansive than my line of vision. I begin to climb, my legs burning after only 50 steps. I didn’t think I was that out of shape, but the almost vertical incline has me winded. When I reach the top I feel victorious. The view is spectacular. I am able to see the vast wall and mountains, struggling to tell where and if they end. After taking in all this beauty I finally begin my dissent. While it is terrifying and I slip down it more than I walk, I make it to the bottom still in awe of my accomplishment and the wall itself.

After dinner, we head to a local market and street for shopping. There are so many stores and restaurants. While I want to buy everything there: egg waffle cones, matcha ice cream, churros, crepes and more, I only buy milk bubble tea. The streets are still busting, but it’s getting late and we have a flight to Xi’an tomorrow. Taking the subway back along with all the locals we reach the hotel and check-in for the night.

See you tomorrow!

– Anna

Is Ireland my True Homeland?

On By Sarah MurrayIn Ireland 2018 - Sarah Murray, westtown schoolLeave a comment

March 4th, 2018

Hello everyone! My name is Sarah Murray, I’m a senior and part of the class of 2018 at Westtown and about to embark on my Senior Project. I’ve been attending Westtown since I was in kindergarten and to say that I’ve been looking forward to this week for a long time would be an understatement. Currently, I’m in the international airport terminal at Philadelphia waiting to board for my flight. You might be wondering where I’m going (if you didn’t read my blog post title). Well, after several lengthy conversations with my parents and swim coach, I decided that I would go on an independent Senior Project and travel with my father to Ireland to research my family heritage. My grandfather would constantly talk about my family history and our family members who still lived in Ireland. He was so passionate about the subject that I decided to go back to visit “homeland” and see what’s so special about Ireland. Plus I’ll be able to have consistent pool time in Ireland so I can continue my training for my Swim Championship which is the first weekend in April.

I will be landing in Dublin sometime Monday morning around ten. From there I’ll be driving to a small town outside of Belfast called Ballyclare where my aunt and uncle Rachel and Stephen Deyermond live with their daughter Martha. I’ll be spending a couple of days with them before visiting my family homestead in Ardrahan. My great-grandmother who I’m named after grew up in this homestead with her nine other siblings before she immigrated to the United States in 1937. After this part of the trip, I’ll travel to some other cities and towns, such as Donegal and Port Stewart in Northern Ireland. I’ll also be visiting some of the sites where they film the popular television show Game of Thrones since I’ll be in the area. I hope that by traveling to Ireland for my Senior Project I’ll feel more connected with my ancestors, my larger family, and come to understand why my grandfather felt so connected to this magical place that he would often reference as my homeland. 

Signing off for now!

~Sarah

À Paris, Tout Sera Mieux

On By Summer CaiIn westtown school1 Comment

March 4th, 2018

IMG_6336.JPG“A walk in Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of Life”–Thomas Jefferson

To be honest, today might not be the best day to travel to Paris. Philadelphia has just seen its largest snow storm of the year, and in Paris, it started raining. So, I started my 42 hr day by worrying about whether my flight would be cancelled like those of my fellow classmates were the day before. When I finally boarded the 7-hour flight, I worried my French skills wouldn’t be able to hold up enough for me to survive in Paris, whether my horrible navigation skills would get me lost in the meandering streets of Paris, and whether I would get along with my host family and my classmates. Yet, when my plane landed at the Charles de Gaulle airport, a strange, warm force began to calm my racing heart down a little by little. A really small yet comforting voice whispered, “Tout sera mieux.”

Truly, everything did become better. My host family came to the airport to pick me up and we road back to the central city on RER (my first time on a French metro train, check). We conversed casually during the ride and during lunch. My French is holding up to the test so much better than I expected and my host family is more kind and welcoming than I could describe with words. They would teach me new vocabulary, phrases, and slang, correct my little grammatical and pronunciation mistakes, repeat and paraphrase when I don’t understand, and they even gave me a thick stack of tourist guides, pamphlets, and maps to help me plan my stay in Paris.

After an extremely delicious and relaxing lunch, I decided to scout out the classroom where I will take class for the next three weeks and to take advantage of the free admission at the Louvre Museum the first Sunday of every month from November to March. My host family lived in the Quartier Latin (the best district to live in for culture lovers) on the left bank of the Seine, right around the famous Sorbonne, the oldest university in France (the Quartier gets its name from the language of instruction, Latin, of the prestigious university in the Middle Ages). Because of my convenient location, I decided to take a walk in the rain instead of taking a bus and a métro again. After all, Paris is rated the best city for a promenade.

IMG_6305.JPGRain dripping from the parapluie, feet tapping on the cobble road, eyes wandering, nose taking in the fresh air washed by the rain, heart filled with indescribable bliss, I started to find my pace among the Parisian streets. I loved how nobody seems to be in a great rush, nor trying to procrastinate. I loved how any unintentional picture of a random corner of the road gives off an unaffected elegance and beauty. At Paris, no one is trying to imitate someone or to be someone they are not. Yet, everyone and everything strives to become their best selves, and thus, the city is collectively striking, irreplaceable, and free. A promenade along Paris’ streets lets me see the history and beauty of the Latin Quarter and the Seine, gets me to my destination, the Louvre Museum, but most importantly, moves me to find my own rhythm and my true self.

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Trading the Old for the New – China Day 2

On By AnnaHarrisonIn China 2018Leave a comment

Written and posted March 4th, 2018

As I realized yesterday, it was very hard to write a blog post at the end of the day since I was so tired from everything that we had done. I’ve decided that I will post a written blog post every couple of days and other days will just be photos. Today will just be photos, enjoy!

-Anna

Giant Panda at the Beijing ZooHackysack in the park Gymnastics as morning exercise Rickshaw ride to a local home for lunch Temple of Heaven Forbidden City Street foodPeaking Duck for dinner Hot Pot as our second dinner

24 Hours of Night – China Day 1

On By AnnaHarrisonIn China 2018Leave a comment

Written and posted March 3rd, 2018

Departing from Westtown (on Thursday) we took a bus to the Newark International airport. When we got to the airport, we found out that someone on the flight had a medical emergency and there was not enough oxygen for us to fly to Hong Kong. All of the options we were given were bad, especially with the impending winter storm the next day meaning we’d lose at least two if not more days. However, after much deliberation between the teachers and the airport staff, it was decided that they would give a stipend to thirty people who left, and our group had priority to stay. We all made it on the flight and landed in Hong Kong at 5:30 AM on Saturday. Hong Kong was the first time we had seen daylight in a little over twenty-four hours.

After one more plane ride, this time only two hours, we made it to Beijing. We met our tour guide Sunny at the airport. While we were driving, Sunny told us a bit about the history of China and Beijing. Sunny mentioned something called a political blue sky which I found interesting. A political blue sky is when a political leader is coming to Beijing and all the factories close so there is no smog and the sky stays blue. I was surprised that Beijing knows their air is extremely polluted but does not do anything to prevent it except for powerful figures.

Sunny also took us to lunch near the Olympic village and the Birds Nest, the Olympic stadium. The restaurant was similar to Westtown, in that it was family style. There was a lazy-susan in the middle of the table with all of our food which we spun when we wanted another dish. However, a major cultural difference was the utensils. I have never been good with chopsticks and while I struggled to use them, I know it will get easier as the trip goes on. Another cultural shock was the bathroom in the restaurant. I had to squat over a hole and bring in my own toilet paper, very different to bathrooms in the States.

When we went to the Olympic village we saw the Birds Nest, the swimming pool, a winter only man-made ski hill, and people doing tricks with rollerblades. The park also had buildings that, when looked at together, were in the shape of a dragon. After leaving the park we walked around the Houhai Lake District and went to dinner, which was in a similar style as lunch and was very yummy! While this was only a brief preview of my day, I’m experiencing extreme jet lag, so I am going to get some sleep. Thanks for reading! I’ll try to post again tomorrow.

– Anna

Lunch!

Entrance to the Olympic village

Birds Nest

Dragon made of buildings

Performance rollerblading

Lake Houhai District