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Looking Back

kevin-rutherford

Looking Back

After departing Bangkok, I spent 24 straight hours either in a plane, or waiting for a plane to arrive, which meant I ended up spending 19 hours on a plane, with five hours of layover in Doha, Qatar. Coming home, I landed in Boston and travelled home, unable to sleep from the night before. In the end, I ended up staying up 50 hours and almost passed out while standing up.

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To Southeast Asia and Beyond

kevin-rutherford

To Southeast Asia and Beyond

When I first found out that I had been accepted to study in Hong Kong, I was excited to be able to go to the other side of the world. This then followed the inevitable, “Okay, now where do I go after the trip,” thought. Fortunately, some of my other classmates thought the same thing, and we decided on first visiting Vietnam. After a short trip to Hanoi, we walked around the city, viewing the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh and walked around to various temples in the city. After walking around and dodging motorbikes (including pulling a friend back from almost being hit by one just minutes after leaving the hotel), we made our way to a water puppet show, which was based on traditional Vietnamese water puppet history.

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Stress, Fun and Lasting Memories

kevin-rutherford

Stress, Fun and Lasting Memories

Sunday brought the first day of rest that I had in over two weeks so I decided to sit in the dorm and stay dry. Monday brought the first week of real preparation for the project, as we worked tirelessly to ensure that our project would be done on time. Travels this week included trips to a landfill (where we were unfortunately unable to physically drive on) and a great experience at a dry market.

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Adventures in Hong Kong

kevin-rutherford

Adventures in Hong Kong

Saturday was our first day of adventure in Hong Kong as a class. This entailed taking a trip to Lamma Island, to the south of Hong Kong. While there, we hiked an easy two miles in the heat and were able to see what the region used to look like before the rapid growth of the past century. The hike itself ended in a separate village to the southeast where we were treated to an incredible local lunch. As it is monsoon season, we also got to experience a torrential downpour, but were kept dry by the intricate patchwork of metal roofing that the villagers had installed over the main street.

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Arrival in Hong Kong

kevin-rutherford

Arrival in Hong Kong

hong-kong_buddhaFollowing my travels to Japan, I arrived in Hong Kong on June 2, the day before my program was to begin. Due to a coincidence in timing, my first stop was to visit the Big Buddha statue with a friend from my undergraduate days. Accessible by tramway, a short bus ride, or a long hike, the statue was built in the mid-1990s and functions as a sort of tourist trap. On a good day, you should be able to see much of the harbor and surrounding area, but alas it was the rainy season, and we were clouded in.

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A New Englander in Japan

kevin-rutherford

A New Englander in Japan

Coming from New England, I often take for granted the many opportunities that are afforded to us when compared to the rest of the United States. However, it often takes traveling abroad to get a whole new perspective on what you previously took for granted in your life. In order to do this, I decided to become a part of the Hong Kong trip in order to see how other cities manage their population when dealing with explosive growth or stresses upon their aging urban infrastructure. However, before I arrived in Hong Kong, I spent a week in Japan. Immediately, I was struck by the cleanliness of everything. This is not to say there is no litter, but everything is swept clean in order to ensure that public spaces are presentable.

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Pre-Departure Jitters

kevin-rutherford

Pre-Departure Jitters

Having been abroad before, I kind of knew what to expect when going abroad. However, nothing prepared me for the whirlwind of doing so in Asia. While it was easy to go out and not want to take precautions, I considered it wise to get some basic vaccinations. At the same time, coming so soon after I had just returned home for the semester, it really hit that I was going from class to class, without a break in between.

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Fragile Lives

katie-peige

Fragile Lives

I spent my first few days back in the United States sick. After 24 hours or so of flying, I guess that was to be expected. A bunch of the other students that I spoke to were also sick post South Africa. The last days spent in South Africa were at an upscale resort which made me feel especially spoiled having just come from living in a village without running water and sleeping on an especially hard floor. All the beds I have slept in since the sleeping-bag-on-concrete-nights have felt like heaven and I am vastly more grateful for something that I have taken for granted my entire life.

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