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Alumni Abroad
2001-2002 |
Recent alumni Joanna Karwacka '99 and David Krantz '98 were International Studies (IS) majors at Dickinson. They recently wrote to some of their former professors, as well as the alumni office, describing their adventures travelling in South America.
You can see some terrific photos of the trip on their web site, www.askadavid.org
Check out their 2003 update
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May 9, 2002
Dear Professors:
We are writing this letter to you from Sucre, Bolivia. Since July of 2001 we have been engaged in a South American adventure and thought that you might be interested to know about it.
Having graduated from Dickinson with International Studies majors and Spanish minors, we both had a dream of spending a year or so in getting to know this intriguing continent. Out of Dickinson we found jobs and began saving and planning for the journey. David worked as a paralegal in an international trade law firm in DC and later in hotel management; Joanna began her career in international education non-profits (mainly working at the "Institute of International Education" (IIE). By July of last year we had amassed enough savings and made the necessary preparations. We quit our jobs, sold our cars and furniture, and headed South.
In preparing for the trip, we agreed that we didn't want to be typical tourists "on the gringo trail," so we set cultural immersion as the goal and purpose of our journey. To help us achieve this aim, we decided to pick a few key places, stay there for a while, and try to find work (be it in tourism, teaching English, or what ever presented itself) or volunteer.
We had arranged ahead of time to run an English language summer camp in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela. This did materialize and was successful but lasted only one month, ending sooner than we expected, and so we began to travel in earnest. Since then we made our way (mostly by bus) South through Venezuela to Manaus in the Brazilian Amazon, East and down the coast of Brazil to Uruguay, on to Buenos Aires, still further south through Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. From there we've worked our way North through all of Chile and now recently entered Southern Bolivia. Although we have made several attempts, we haven't found suitable employment since Venezuela. We hope to volunteer either in Bolivia, Peru or Ecuador and end our journey in Quito. We'll keep our eye on Colombia but for now it will have to wait.
The fact that we have embarked on this journey is indicative of our Dickinson College education. It was at Dickinson that we became impassioned about Latin American issues and culture. Many lessons learned there have come to light "on the road" and are bearing fruit for us. Our language fluency, for example, allows us to break cultural barriers and connect with the locals. Our history and anthropology lessons help us put contemporary life into its proper context. Dickinson's literature and art classes have meant that we can go into most any museum in Latin America, and appreciate what we are looking at. International Studies' economics and political science focus has allowed us to read the local newspapers and confidently follow current events - comprehending their relevance to each country's past.
This is all very empowering and sets us apart from the average "foreign" traveler (tourist). We are not just "passing through" but engaging in and getting impassioned about issues (depletion of the rainforest, child labor, reproductive health education, to name a few) that we've experienced first hand. As our life takes shape after this trip, we hope to contribute in our own way toward constructive change and solutions in these areas.
As we have traveled, we've worked hard to maintain a website and we invite you to explore it. Joanna's Polish nickname is Aska and thus our web address is www.askadavid.org. On the main page of the website there is an option for you to click on either "Write to Aska" or "Write to David"; you are welcome to send us any e-mail from there.
We have also kept extensive travel journals as we've gone along; we draw upon these and our experiences on the whole to act as a sort of "in-the-field resource" for our family and friends. Every 6-8 weeks (or so) we send out a detailed e-mail update, discussing our adventures and observations. We would be happy to include you on our mailing list if you like. We could also send you past updates from any of the areas marked on our map page "Where are we now" on our website.
May your classrooms be filled with eager and inquisitive students and may your summer holidays be restful.
Sincerely yours,
Joanna and David
P.S. As you may recall, we both eagerly participated in study abroad programs during our time as Dickinson students. David studied in Malaga during the summer season of 1995 and went on to study in Santiago, Chile for the academic year 1996-97. Joanna divided her junior year between Malaga, Spain and Puebla, Mexico (academic year 1997-98).
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