If anyone still reads this, I am Marco Fiallo a Willamette student, I opened a hostel in Quito and would appreciate it if you would be able to help spread the word to anyone coming to Quito, Ecuador. the name of the hostel is Community Hostel, and you can find us on the web at www.communityhostel.com . Our mission is to help form a community for the traveler, while helping the local community! we try to provide this community by allowing travelers to break bread and share there experiences, and we also give a portion of our profits to the local communities!

come visit The Dalles

Hey Friends,

Do you remember Michal Kawka and I?

He was the Polish exchange student with the great dance moves. We are living in The Dalles, Oregon, and we would love to see you. Come and visit. We are just moving into a new apartment next month with lots of room to host and play music and drink tea.

We have had some adventures in Chicken Raising, Bike Riding, small-town-living, and big-time-dreaming.

Give us a call! 541-965-2902 -- Anya

Oregon Country Fair

Who is going to OCF? It is an amazing weekend in Veneta, OR (Just outside Eugene...) Here are a few videos I took last year:








Hope all is well for everyone! (and hope to see you soon!)

Moose, beluga and Elvis spotted

Hello all!

I'm back up in Alaska, relaxing at my friend Kendra's house with her wonderful family for one final day before work begins. It's day three and I've already seen a moose in mid-town Anchorage, belugas fishing alongside Turnagain Arm, and Elvis strutting his stuff downtown last night. I had a wonderful week visiting friends at Willamette and tying up loose ends there: all of my boxes (and skis) have been sorted through, I said my goodbyes and even got a wave and smile from President Pelton himself. I figure that's as good a sign as any to move on to the next chapter.

Although my goodbye to Willamette was awfully bittersweet when it came right down to it, my spirits rose immensely once I arrived at my gate for my flight. I noticed the crowd around me was quite different from the left-coasters I'd been seeing all week. Here I found many of my fellow travelers to be wearing Xtra-tuffs, Carhartts, cammo backpacks and the like. Aah, Alaska. I couldn't help but grin. I half-expected to see a moose rack in the overhead bin.

As I look forward to this upcoming season and start to consider once again my options for the fall, one thing that has really stuck with me from my recent travels is the value of close friends. I really enjoyed being around my family all fall, and getting to hang out with college friends after nearly a year's absence felt so nice after being in unfamiliar territory for two months. I find myself craving the familiar much more than I expected: the travel bug apparently has petered out for now, at least. I've been looking a bit at schools in Maine where I could do something a little more science-y, perhaps marine biology, as well as still considering the baking and pastry program in Vermont. But most of all I hope I end up not too far from my family and at least a couple of good friends. We'll see where that takes me.

hey all,

  so currently i am in Mexico, el D.F. to be exact, staying in a small colonia by the name of Santo Domingo. 38 years ago the land that im on right now was little more than bare volcanic rock but it was "invaded literally overnight by thousands of people and settled against the will of the government. Over the course of two years the people made roads established their buildings, and finally got recognition by the government as an establishment for land owning. Now the place is super lively all hours of the day, there are three tortillarillas around the corner from my house so i can constantly smell the odor of hot corn pancakes wafting to the air. Some of you might know what im talking about though, Dana, Katy, i believe you know a couple of my friends, Mojdeh and Gustavo Esteva? I heards that they help out the SIT programs as well and that our programs are actually pretty similar in Mexico. Gustavo is our coordinator and teaches two sections in our academics, and Mojdeh pretty much runs the show, her hair is blue now, what color was her hair when you all were here?

   New Zealand was amazing and i know that the justice to be done in explaining my time there will not take place over the internet, but some highlights have to be mentioned. The coordinator of the program was an environmental lawyer named Peter Horsley.  a wacky enthusiastic and read down to earth guy. One of the benefits of New Zealand being such a small country, it literally has more sheep than people, is that a well connected man like Peter knew everyone. We had guest lectures from some amazing activists, political figures including spending an entire day in the green party's office, and corporate CEO's. But not only were we exposed to the contemporary Pakeha culture (pakeha culture being the Mauri word for other, most commonly associated with european but not exclusive of other pacific islanders) we spent time living on a muri a Mouri village and traditional homestead. We took part in rituals, ceremonies, conversations, visited sacred sites, climbed mountains swam in lakes. Our Anthropologist professor was named Jessica, a Mauri woman, took us painstakingly through the hardships and battles fought for Mauri rights and above all, the battle for Mauri female voices. We learned all about the flaws and injustices within the field of anthropology, who it privileges, whose voice it represents, through a very personalized perspective. New Zealand shocked me in ways that have never before rattled me. It was an experience that loosened the dirt around my roots a little more, stunned me with its natural beauty, and brought tears to my eyes.   

more to come from mexico soon

trobb

Sup Sup Revival

Keep the Sup Sup Spirit alive! I know a lot of you Bearcatz are back in WU-town now, but I still want to know what is happening in your lives! Please post!

I just moved into a wonderful, warm, happy co-op where I make art and cook and wear costumes and deconstruct social constructs with seventeen passionate and beautiful women (12 of whom happen to be Jewish). There are six women and gender studies majors in the house, which is very different from the 80-some person dorm I lived in last semester where I was the sole SWG major. What a life! So much spontaneous music making and political conversation and tea and coffee and freshly baked bread and granola! And beer! And maybe a little too much rice and beans. And pictures of naked women drawn with chalk on the walls.

Just to give you an idea of the incredible energy that is Hopkins House, I will tell you a short anecdote. Last semester, I brought my friend from Jordan House (where I lived at the time) to meet my friends at Hopkins. She had been pretty stressed with homework and, you know, her general existence and whatnot, so she wasn't planning on staying for long. We wound up having a really great conversation with the people there about grassroots activism and local issues, and she wound up staying for quite some time. When I saw her later that night and asked how she liked Hopkins, she said, "Sarah, I came home and I wrote a poem."

Hopkins is such a welcoming, energized, creative space, and I really hope that I can share it with some of you one day. It really reminds me so much of all of you and all of the happygoofybrilliantmagical times that we've shared.

Perklunk!

Sars

P.S. I just noticed Dana's new middle name. Danes, I dig how you are really embracing B.I.E. and incorporating it into your identity.

Oh to be back at Willamette

Well, I never wrote much abroad, I think Dana's reflections about Oaxaca were similar to my own thoughts.  It is weird being back here, now, after having spent so much time in another, very different place.  Mexico seems like a dream now, if it were not for the photos and talking with friends I probably could convince myself that it was indeed a dream.  And so what, if it was a dream does it make a difference?  I have changed, regardless of the past, my current perspective on life has been altered.  Willamette does not feel the same to me.  There are so many unfamiliar places.  I feel as though I have to start over in a place that I thought I knew, a place that use to be familiar.   I guess I am okay with that, life continues, always new and always interesting.  I am glad to see faces that I have not seen in awhile, to be in the company of people that know me; but, it is still strange.  I have never felt so free to create, to encounter new people, to live! and yet so displaced and alone.  Luckily there are some cool cats hanging around.  Enough of this reflective nonsense.  Let us keep on!  I enjoy hearing about the many people who are still abroad and learning so much.

viva!