by Jill Robinson

If you have struggled with ordering food or a simple request for directions in a foreign language, you realize how difficult navigating a new country and culture can be for the average traveler. Communication is so important in avoiding misunderstandings, abroad or in the States, and learning a second language is one way to combat cultural confusion. Here are five more reasons learning a second language is a good idea. Read more...

 by Alison Baglien, Greenheart Travel Language School Participant

There have been many moments in Peru where I’ve misunderstood or just answered “si” and have said things such as, ” I live in Africa, I don’t want to go anywhere with her (the girl sitting next to me in class), I’m bored of this class,” etc. Pronunciation seems to get me in trouble from time to time, but everyone in the class is in the same boat so we’ve quickly become friends and with that able to laugh at one another. Read more...

 Monday

Click here for a French language video...

 Click here for a video of "La Famille En Or."

 by Joy Mason, Greenheart Travel Language School participant

Monday

I arrived in Antibes, France late last night and was picked up by Monsieur Pravettoni. This morning, he drove me to my first day of French school! We went on a tour of Antibes today—I zoned out during part of the tour, because it was all just too much français to take in. I realized last night when I got here that my brain is going to have to work non-stop for the next three weeks to get by. At least, it’ll have to work non-stop in class and at the house, but with the other students, not so much. Unfortunately, they all speak English, and no matter how hard I try to speak French (and, granted, at this point my French is pretty bad and takes a long time to listen to), they keep switching into English. Only two of them are from English-speaking countries (the UK), so I think the rest just find speaking English as sort of novelty.

I came back to the Pravettoni’s house and we had dinner. It was really good: Mexican food! The two boys said that the food was “too strong,” but I liked it a lot. After dinner, the two boys, the mother, and I played cards, the game called “Presidents.”

I like this family a lot! Pierre, Isabelle, Alexandre, and Anthony obviously like each other a lot, and that’s really cool. It’s the kind of family where everyone is comfortable with themselves and with each other, so they’re comfortable with those outside their family, too.

Tuesday

Tonight, I went Nordic walking with my French host mother. It was pretty fun, actually. We started at the Plage de Salis, and walked all the way up to the top of the Cap d’Antibes, which has one of the most beautiful views ever. We walked up through the woods, and down along the waterfront. The water is SO blue, and the trees are tall and green, and the flowers are vibrantly colored, and the clouds are white…Antibes is one of those beautiful beach places.

I saw an old-style sailing ship on the water, and when attempting to tell Isabelle about it, I said “J’ai vu un bateau, un grand bateau, avec les voiles, comme dans Pirates of the Caribbean.” I think I sounded a little insane. Also, on this Nordic walk, there was the young daughter of the instructor, and at one point, I asked her what a certain word was. She eventually just said, “I don’t know,” although I think the problem was less with her knowledge of the word for “sneeze” and more with my method of questioning.

Wednesday

I forgot to say that yesterday, I helped the two boys with their bac. The bac is a big deal in France, and it’s kind of cool to have seen students take it. They took the bac every day until today, and today they took the English portion of it. Last night I helped them study for it!

I went to the beach today with all of my new friends! Two Turkish students, one British and three Brazilians, and me: all sorts of nationalities, which is great. And my Turkish friend, Emil, insists on us speaking French most of the time, which is also great. While at the beach, sometimes it took a double-take for me to know whether a sunbather was a man or a woman: just because s/he wasn’t wearing a shirt didn’t mean s/he was a man, and just because s/he had a bikini-like bottom didn’t mean s/he was a woman.

More adventures to follow…

 by Jill Robinson with Greenheart Travel

During my travels abroad, there are few things I enjoy more than exploring the local markets. London’s Camden markets, El Rastro in Madrid, and El Mercat de la Boquería in Barcelona are just a few of my favorite shopping experiences. Not only do they offer wonderful opportunities for people-watching, but it is an ideal place to learn the native language and interact with the locals. Spain holds a special place in my heart, however, when on my first solo trip abroad I found myself in a crash course in communication.

The constant drum of rain outside the Rambles Center Hostel in Barcelona, kept many of the travelers from venturing out that morning. The dark clouds were thick and didn’t show any sign of giving in to the sun that was sparkling over the ocean the day before.

Most of the backpackers lounging inside were smoking their rolled cigarettes and exchanging stories in different accents. I listened from the corner, slightly amused that a Chuck Norris movie was playing with Spanish voice overs. The smoke was starting to fill the commons area in an uncomfortable haze and my coffee was cold; it was time to explore even if the weather conditions weren’t in my favor. It would also give me an excuse to practice my Spanish while buying an umbrella next door.

After an awkward exchange with a weathered woman selling her paraguas, and 3 Euros later, I was ready to set out on my adventure. Armed against the elements I walked half a block south to the expanse of the Mercat de la Boqueria. The market was intense and bustling with people shaking out wet jackets and shouting produce requests. I can’t think of a better place to learn a language. Each stall was a new set of colors, smells and conversation, and because everything was labeled, I could look up words and imitate the more experienced shoppers in their sentence structure.

Enjoying my tourist excitement I began eavesdropping on Catalonian exchanges and inappropriately staring at the pigs’ heads in the glass case. Carrying my dictionary, looking up such words as ternillo, curious how gristle was incorporated in the Spanish diet.

In only a matter of feet, the cold, sweet smell of meat would morph into the earthy aroma of cebollas and lechuga, and then from the onions and lettuce to the sea-salt smell of fish. I was ecstatic to find a spice stall, and couldn’t get enough of the cumin and chili draping their smell over my shoulders. The color palate was inspiring.

When I got control of my sense of smell, I began to take in the many shades of pink and red from the hanging legs of ham and suckling pigs still staring with vacant, glassy eyes. The rainbow of produce and flowers, the metallic shimmer of fish scales peeking through the ice, my eyes darted from one object to the next in a greedy search for another treasure.

I wanted to hold this produce in my hands, to possess something that suddenly seemed much more exciting once it had a Spanish label. To do this I had to get involved in the madness of shouting orders and budging in line. I decided to start simple. Buying my bread, apple and cheese in my novice Spanish, the vendors barely noticed, they were too busy shouting “Que quiere!” to the next eager customer.

Maybe it was the newness of the area that made everything glow, every syllable I tried to translate a seduction, but I was enamored with this experience. Giddy with happiness and new-found courage I stepped out of the cramped quarters of Mercat de la Boqueria and into the rain.

Read more Greenheart Travel Blogs...

by Rachel Chaikof

A strike happened again!  Yes, for real.  Fortunately, the strike only affected the taxis.  So, I had to be picked up by the travel agency 40 minutes earlier as the agent didn’t know how long she could catch a cab as there were many fewer cabs.  The travel agent took me to the tour group in the city center.  From there, they took us to the train station.

 Once we got to the train station, we were on our own until we met a tour guide at the train station at Machu Picchu.Now here’s one of the highlights of this event!  The train ride was three hours LONG, and it was the SLOWEST train I have ever taken!  It was literally going at the speed of a turtle walking! Talk about lack of technology to allow trains to go as fast as a speeding bullet like the trains in Europe!  So, I just plugged my iPod headphones into my ears and tuned myself to music and looked out the window to see the landscape and the rural life of the Peruvians.

Once I arrived, I found the tour guide who was holding a yellow flag, a sign that I was supposed to be on the look out.  Once the tour guide checked off everyone on the list, we headed to the bus to head to our destination. Read more...

by Rachel Chaikof

 Water was sprinkling my face.  Cool winds swayed by my face causing my hair to flap.  I was moving several miles per hour through the river on a boat, and I felt as if I was flying through the rain forest.  I was feeling the enjoyment of relaxing.  I was heading to another section of the rain forest to enjoy an early morning observation.

 When I arrived, I was sitting on a piece of land with a bounty of rocks enjoying the cool breeze and feeling my hair being flapped by the winds.  Rays of orange, blue, pink, and purple glistened in the sky as the sun was rising.  The sounds of birds tweeting traveled to my ears.  It was a very soothing morning.

 As wide awake as I could be at 6 AM in the morning on Sunday, I ventured off by taking a boat ride to an area of the rain forest to watch the birds.  There were red birds sitting on branches.  There was a group of dark blue birds flying across the sky.  While my camera lens was not effective in getting up close, I spent some time admiring the beautiful sunrise and the landscape. Read more...

by Rachel Chaikof

Watching the transformation of the landscape as I ride through the Andes Mountains to the rain forest on the unpaved road, hearing the crickets chirping, watching bright red birds fly through the trees, sailing through the river, and sleeping in rustic lodges are memories that will not be forgotten.  This past week, I spent four days and three nights at Manu, a rain forest preservation in Peru.

Just seeing how the landscape transforms is astonishing.  At the beginning of the road trip, I saw very dry mountains with dried brown grasses and very few green plants.  Along the way, I began to see bright lime-green mountains with more plants.  Then toward the end of the road trip, I saw pure green mountains packed with trees and plants!  I also had a taste of the farming communities as we passed by them.

Fortunately, we made a pit stop at one of the farming communities, and I sure did jump out of the van to take a few snapshots!We also made a stop at a bird watching dock where we could watch the birds flying and listen to them tweeting.

Afterward, we headed to a lodge that was located just on the edge of the rain forest zone.  I almost had a disaster getting to the lodge.  The lodge was located DEEP in the forest, which meant that we had a lot of walking to get there.  It was already dark and there were NO lights by the path to the lodge.  I pulled out one of my two flashlights from my suitcase, and the tour guide took my suitcase.  As I was heading to the lodge, the flashlight was uncooperative!  It would not stay on, and because this flashlight had three levels of lighting, it wouldn’t go on any higher than the first level which is EXTREMELY dim.  There was no way that I could get through the forest without a flashlight!  So, I yelled, “HELP!  My flashlight is broken!”  I yelled a few times -

Read more of Rachel's rain forest adventure...