Tag: westtown school

Philly to Europe

On By Auria ZhangIn Spain/Portugal - Auria ZhangLeave a comment

March 9, 2018

Hello. My name is Auria. I will be leaving Philly in two days to go to Spain and Portugal for my Senior Project.

I’ll admit something right now. I have never taken a course in Spanish or Portuguese. I know the basic “hello” and “thank you” for Spanish, but that is the extent of my knowledge in the language. As for Portuguese, I don’t have a clue. I suppose that’s one of the reasons I want to go visit though. I love the warm, fuzzy feeling I get when I try to decipher what a word means. I’ll definitely have a dictionary on hand though.

I spent this past week researching various locations in Spain and Portugal and building a more thorough itinerary. It’s been pretty exacting. Selecting where and what I will visit was fairly easy. However, determining the kind of travel and taking into account the travel time was something else. Making sure everything fits within the budget I set for myself made everything even more difficult. Needless to say, the reviews on TripAdvisor and Google Maps have been my best friends for the past week. I honestly can’t imagine what I would do without them. Thanks, guys.

I’ll first be visiting Barcelona, then Madrid and Seville. After that, I’ll be heading over to Portugal. I plan visit a variety of museums and try new foods. I also wiggled in a few palaces and churches here and there. All in all, I am excited to observe the difference in atmosphere between more modern areas to those with a few hundred more years to them.

Throughout the (coming) series of posts, I’ll sprinkle in a few photos. I hope you will enjoy reading about my travels in Spain and Portugal!

Auria

 

 

 

Is This Real Life? – China Day 7

On By AnnaHarrisonIn China 20181 Comment

Written and posted March 9th, 2018

Today is another just photos day. We went bamboo rafting, hiked Moon Hill mountain, saw how farmers live in China, touched water buffalos, and went to Liu San Jie; a great outdoor performance.

Enjoy!

-Anna

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

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

IMG_6384.JPG

Interior of Église Saint-Sulpice

FullSizeRender 3.jpg

palace and garden of Luxembourg

IMG_6430.JPG

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

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