Here we are!
Hi everyone!
So, a lot has happened since we took off on February 19th. First, we caught a plane to D.C. where we hung out for a 3 hour layover. After those hours, we hopped the plane to take the LONG 10 hour flight to Accra. It was very close quarters and almost impossible to stay asleep for an extended period of time. A lot of people were really cold, but I had my brothers Pitzer College blanket (thank you mom). After we landed in Accra, we went through various customs and other things then we loaded onto this tiny bus and we started out 3 hour bus ride to our house. I loved the bus ride, there were so many people around and it was an instant culture shock when we started driving. Let’s just say, the color of our skin did not go unnoticed. People were pointing and waving and laughing anf trying to sell us things, it was quite an adventure! We all naped in the bus for a little bit because we were so exhausted, but then we got home and we started eating dinner. Then we went for a short visit to Heritage to see what it looked like, not we are all sitting in the house doing various things. Half of us look like zombies at this point.
T. Michael got separated from us because of a visa issue but we are hoping that he gets here tomorrow. I especially want him here because he has my sheets, towels, and pillow in one of his bags, its a long story, but either way, I don’t have any of those things until he gets here.
Overall, Ghana is a beautiful country with some of the friendliest people that I have ever met. I am really excited to get to school tomorrow, but I am still apprehensive. I miss my mom a lot (mom, don’t rub that in) and I am really hoping that I’ll make it 18 day away from home. Think good thoughts for me.
Lots of love,
Jordan 🙂
Oh my Gaudi!
Today we visited two of Antonio Gaudi’s most famous works: Parc Guell and La Sagrada Familia. A modernist architect at the turn of the century, Gaudi must have been Divinely inspired. This man was a genius; it is hard to find adequate words to describe his marvels. Before touring Gaudi’s works we stopped at El Mercat de Boqueria, a market along La Rambla, a wide street leading up to the northern area of the city. Inside the market vendors were selling colorful candies and fruits. Further back slabs of meat hung from the ceiling and vendors were selling fish, eggs and bread. After breakfast at the market we headed up to Parc Guell.
Parc Guell was a maze of winding pathways traversing a hill side overlooking the city. There were so many panoramic views of Barcelona–the shining sea and skyline were exquisite. At the front entrance to the park was a beautiful building decorated with mosaics. We sat for a moment on the iconic mosaic benches lining the top of the structure. After lunch and a cup of coffee we hiked to La Sagrada Familia, an unearthly and breathtaking cathedral on which Gaudi worked until his untimely death in 1926. We stayed until closing. Although still under construction, La Sagrada Familia is striking. Soaring ceilings, intricate masonry, enormous stained-glass windows–this was just the beginning. Although I can try to describe the cathedral, I don’t have the right words to describe my experience. As I sat and prayed, admiring the otherworldly beauty surrounding me, I felt like God was right there sitting next to me. Whether or not you believe in God, or a Higher Power, Gaudi’s church is a sacred place of peace; it is a sanctuary. Gaudi had an incredible ability; he was a visionary and he left the world with a beautifully sacred space in which to contemplate life’s great questions.
-Maggie
Pre-trip
I’m leaving from my house for the airport at around 5:30 tonight to meet the group and get on a 9:00ish plane to Tel Aviv. I still haven’t completely finished packing. I was talking to a recent alum who went on this trip two years ago and he said by the end he was sick of eating shwarma and falafel. For now, I’m excited to eat the authentic cuisine and haggle at the street shops. This is a strange time for me, as my wrestling career just ended on Saturday and I’m about to go into a very real situation in a global/political hotspot to learn and maybe form my own opinion on the controversies. We’ll see how it goes.
Ari-
First Day in Barcelona
We arrived in Barcelona early this morning, just as the sun was rising. After a cab ride to our apartment we met Miguel, the owner of the apartment. Miguel shared with us some of his favorite restaurants and a nap we decided to explore the Born, the neighborhood in which we are staying. The Born is home to Santa Maria del Mar, one of Barcelona’s most famous churches. After sitting in on some of Sunday mass we wandered around some more, walking by the Picasso museum. We eventually stumbled upon one of the restaurants that Miguel had mentioned. It was truly serendipitous–we thought we were lost and were just about to go back to the apartment to re-orient ourselves when we saw the restaurant, known for its Tapas style Peruvian Japanese food. Later in the afternoon we hiked around seeing the Arc Triomf and Parc de la Ciutadella. In the park we saw the Cascada Fountain, designed by Josep Fontsere and his apprentice Antoni Gaudi.
It’s Only The Beginning
Kim Lien came into my life during the summer of 2008. She is two years older, but six inches smaller and fifteen pounds lighter than me. Lien can neither hear nor talk, but she has the biggest smile on her face. I met her while volunteering to teach homeless children how to read and write at a community center on the outskirts of Saigon. I was the “teacher”, yet she taught me to listen and showed me what it means to live life passionately despite circumstances. Meeting her has inspired me to get involved more deeply with service. And since then I have been a part of Ho Chi Minh City Red Cross, working with orphans, handicapped children, homeless people, and low-income families living in slums. The spurt of economic growth in recent years have widened the already gigantic income gap between the rich and poor and made Saigon needier than ever.
In 2010, I was whizzed off to a foreign land for the first time in my life. More opportunities of what I could do awaited me. As I was exploring new options, I found myself engaging in everything but service, from singing and dancing in a musical to climbing trees on the ropes course. I was learning new skills and challenging myself in many ways, yet something was missing. I need to feel that sense of human connection through giving and receiving again. I miss the feeling of putting another person at the center of focus, step back down from the usual “I” chanting, and let he/she teaches me about life.
Therefore, when the question of what to do for my senior project arose, I knew immediately what I wanted to do: the school-sponsored service trip to Washington D.C. In less than twenty hours, I along with six of my classmates will be at the nation’s capital for two weeks. We will stay at William Penn House and work with different service organizations in the District of Columbia.
Stay tuned!
– Trân
Off to Barcelona!
Hello everyone!
As I begin writing this post, I am still having a hard time believing that this time tomorrow I will be on a flight to Barcelona, Spain. Needless to say, I’m incredibly excited and nervous at the same time. After taking Spanish throughout high school, I’m really looking forward to immersing myself completely in Spanish language and culture.
Specifically, I am going on the faculty-sponsored trip to Barcelona. We will land in Barcelona on Monday and will meet up with our host families upon arrival. We will then take classes at Aula Magna Europea (AULA), a private school that participates in an exchange program with Westtown. Along with taking classes and learning about Spanish history and culture, we will be given the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities; personally, I am hoping to take art classes such as photography and drawing. In addition to visiting historical sites within Barcelona, we will also visit Madrid for our last three days of our trip. We will return to Philadelphia on March 8th.
Through this project, I hope to enhance my Spanish speaking abilities as well as heighten my understanding of Spanish culture and art. I plan to bring my sketchbook, journal, and film camera for this trip in order to fully document my experience over these next three weeks.
With that being said, I’m off to pack again!
Phoebe
Beginning My Medical Adventure Soon
I am currently writing this from an Amtrak train and am headed to Boston for two days. This trip has absolutely nothing to do with my senior project but seemed like a good opening. Starting this Monday, I will begin working at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) in the Abramson Cancer Center. I will be primarily working with Trish, a patient support specialist, who I met when I volunteered at HUP this past summer. I designed my senior project to allow me to continue the work that I was doing over the summer and even expand on it. I will be spending a majority of my time seeing Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancer patients, while they are at the hospital receiving chemotherapy, radiation, or having a check-up with their doctor. A large number of the specific patients that I will be seeing will not only have a serious form of cancer, but also have financial woes. There are a few foundations that set aside funds each month for desperate patients. I will write grants in an effort to get help for the patients. This help could come in the form of meals, food, or even a family vacation. My goals for the four weeks that I will be working are to learn more about cancer in general and the medical profession, earn at least $10,000 of foundations’ grant money and befriend 50 patients that I will visit whenever they are at HUP.
Because Trish is the only person who is working to get the cancer patients money, I will be spending this next month trying to design a more effective system that allows more patients to get the money that foundations have set aside for them. I hope not to overwork myself and that I am successful with my goals. I will be periodically posting entries on this blog during the four weeks. Please read my posts, I will try my hardest to make them interesting.
This is weird!
Hi everyone,
It is so hard to believe that I am leaving for Ghana on Sunday. I am so excited to travel and start meeting the kids, though! Copp is going to be teaching music with me and I am so excited that he is going to be with me in the classroom, it makes things so much less intimidating! I am really nervous. I want all of the kids to like me (I really want to be the fun teacher with the fun class!) but more than that, I want this to be a life-changing opportunity. I don’t know why I am so nervous, I really have no doubt that it will be anything less than life-changing.
I am so excited to go! I am going to be posting as much as possible since I will probably have a lot to say!
Lots of love,
Jordan
Senior Projects 2012
They’ve been planning for this all year. Some have been thinking about what they would do for several years. And now, finally, their bags are packed: it is time. The seniors depart tomorrow for their Senior Projects. These Projects will take them to 15 countries and all around the United States. The Class of 2012 will participate in 57 different Projects, ranging from shadowing doctors to interning with a fashion design house to conducting research in a chemistry lab to rock climbing. The school-sponsored trips this year will take groups of students to Heritage Academy in Ghana, to AULA in Barcelona, and to Israel/Palestine.
We invite you to follow along as a few our seniors write about their experiences in the field here in this blog. We wish all Westtown School seniors a bon voyage!
Westtown Senior Projects' Blog 