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Tragedy from the Homefront and All Around the World

Published on by emmygrabLeave a comment

I’m sitting in the third floor study room of Simard Hall, the primary ‘pavillon,’ or academic hall for all my classes. I am working simultaneously on a presentation outline and setting up software for wireless printing (finally!) when I receive a buzz from my iPhone.

I have CNN updates sent to my phone, mostly with U.S. political and breaking news, to keep in touch with what’s happening in America. It would be nice to completely isolate oneself from their home country’s news and be completely and utterly immersed in their country’s news, for me it would be the CBC, or Canadian Broadcasting Network. However, with Trump in office, major climate catastrophes, and terror incidents all around the world, I feel obligated to know what is happening back in the states. I say all this because this morning, October 2nd, I woke up to several news alerts about a mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip. It happened yesterday while I was sleeping (Las Vegas is in Pacific Standard Time and I’m in Eastern Standard time, so it was midnight when the shooting occurred at approximately 10:00pm). It was a surreal experience, similar to those with the Pulse Nightclub and Manchester tragedies. This shooting also occurred after the terror attack in Edmonton, Alberta, which is in a province of Canada not close to where I’m staying in Ontario. Canadians are rightfully still mourning that incident.

One of things about study abroad that they, as in the International Office or OIE at DU, don’t tell you at these orientations and meet-ups is that there is a huge possibility of terror (either domestic or foreign) attacks. They are not necessarily in your specific destination, but perhaps near where you may be staying or back at home in America. This is most likely done to not frighten the students out of studying abroad. Studying abroad does present a risk of potentially being in a dangerous situation.

However, studying abroad is a worthwhile experience. That’s why the OIE creates several modules on safety abroad and gives it a great amount of time in orientations to discuss safety and security. Just some things I do to stay safe abroad include just being aware of my surroundings at all times, keeping in touch with my family/friends, and being aware of the news in my country of potential dangerous situations. Being aware in general is the most important things to do everyday in order to be safe.

As we mourn the victims of tragedies around the world, your ambitions to live abroad shouldn’t die either. Trying not to live in fear is easier said than done sometimes, but the effort that is being put into the journey from the day you apply to the day you leave for your destination will be worth it in the end. Follow your gut feelings and the ideas from the OIE on maintaining safety. Communicate with them if there is an incident! It will only help at the end of the journey!

Till next time! Stay safe.

 

Traveling While Abroad: Make It Easy on Yourself

Published on by taylorjohanemanLeave a comment

I’d say, for the most part, that I’m a pretty organized, prepared person. I always have important documents in one place, I “measure twice, cut once” in every situation, and I’m the queen of “what if.” Extra socks? Check. Have I packed a reading book, music, cards, and a coloring book in case I get bored? You betcha – even though I’ll never get bored enough to get through all of those items. Usually, I’m prepared with items of actual importance too, i.e. a copy of my online visa.

Cut to mid-semester break. For the past month, I’ve been planning a two-part trip: 4 days in Cairns, Australia and 5 days in Dunedin, New Zealand. In preparation, I printed out all of my flight information, as I’m more inclined to have physical copies of things, rather than electronic copies. Although I had only printed these out to keep dates and flight times straight in my head in the days leading up to my trip, I decided to shove them in my bag as I flew out the door to catch my first flight. Technically, I didn’t actually need my flight information – these weren’t my tickets and I had my flight numbers on my phone ready for check-in.

My experience in Cairns and traveling to Cairns was delightful. No issues, lots of sunshine and warmth (finally – a day above 60 F), and a great reunion with a friend from DU. But leaving Cairns took a bit more effort and involved enough frustration for me to learn a little travel lesson.

My friend and I showed up to Cairns International Airport relatively early in the morning. Sleepy-eyed and deprived of coffee, I walked up to the Virgin Australia counter to get my ticket and check my bag. A few seconds after handing my passport to the woman at the counter, she began to ask me questions about my travels. I was a bit surprised, as I would only expect to be interrogated at customs, but nonetheless I answered. She asked me why I was in Australia, my plans for New Zealand, and other standard questions directed towards international travelers. Following this, she asked me for my flight itinerary. Perfect. My flight information will come in handy for this. But she then asked, “Ma’am, when will you be reentering Australia?” In my sleepy state, I struggled to answer.

“Um…I fly back on the 2nd”, I answered. She gave me a weird look and replied, “The 2nd of October?”. Shoot! *palm to face moment* This is when I wished I had gone to sleep earlier or bought coffee that morning.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I said that. I meant the 12th…the 12th of September. I guess I just forgot to put the 1 in front of the 2.” I smiled as my cheeks turned red in embarrassment. It was obvious she wasn’t very happy with me, and it didn’t get better when she asked for my visa and I told her it was an online visa. She then proceeded to make me pull up my visa on my computer and finally handed me my ticket.

I learned a few travel lessons from this. One, always have your flight itinerary – having that definitely made this situation better. Two, always have a copy of your visa, even if it’s an online visa. If you don’t want to carry that around, then you better be able to access it with your phone, computer, or tablet. Three, make sure your brain is awake when you go to the airport. This is especially important so you can remember the simple things, like what dates you’re reentering a country that has graciously taken you in.

In the moment, I was a bit flustered, but I know the Virgin Australia representative was just doing her job and enforcing the law. Thank you, Australia, for letting me be absent-minded every once in a while.