Celebrations Around The World

In America, we take holidays pretty seriously. We go all out on the decorations and costumes, no matter what the occasion is. Halloween we get dressed up and prance around collecting candy when we are little, in college we dress up and go to parties and then as soon as we become parents we are off dressing up again to get candy with our children. St. Patrick’s Day, even if you are not Irish, you are dressed in green and out drinking green beer. Being a travel blog, I figured why not write about where the best place to go in America and abroad is for Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, and Carnival.

St. Patrick’s Day

Dublin, Ireland

How could this not be the number one place to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? The city is transformed through parades, decorations and parties starting on March 13^th until March 19^th. The main attraction of the whole week is on St. Patrick’s Day. They whole a huge parade, festival, and there is a treasure hunt that is all held on this day. For more information check out http://www.stpatricksfestival.ie/ for all the details.

Chicago, United States of America

It is one big green party in Chicago the weekend that leads up to St. Patrick’s Day. The Sunday before St. Patrick’s Day the Chicago River turns literally green for the day. 45kg of vegetable dye is poured into the river at 10:45am before the annual parade starts at noon. There is also a Queen contest that is held every year. They are named 2011 Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and they ride on the float. For more information check out http://www.chicagostpatsparade.com/.

Carnival

Viareggio, Italia

Although when you hear about carnival in Italy, you hear about Venice. However, one of the oldest and biggest carnivals is held in the town of Viareggio. It takes place between February 25^th and March 13^th. It involves music, dancing, carnival parades. There are five parades over the course of the weekends that leads up to Lent. There are huge floats, puppets, performers, shows, masked balls, music, and lots of drinking and eating. The main event takes place on Martedi Grasso or better known as Fat Tuesday.

New Orleans, Louisiana

This is the place to be if you are partying in the United States. Fat Tuesday is the biggest day of celebrations. Everyone gets dressed up, there are parades, and there are balls, food and alcohol. For myself, I want to eventually go one day and experience this for myself. For more information about the French Quarter and their celebrations go to http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/.

Halloween

Salem, Mass.

How could you not spend any part of Halloween in this town? I have gone here multiple times to just explore the town and be a tourist. The history of the town is interesting in itself and adds the aspect of Halloween then it ought to be a spooky time. There have been witch trials and executions and these are definitely spun into modern celebrations held every Halloween. The entire month of October is dedicated to Halloween. There is a grand parade, the great pumpkin carving contest, re-enactment of history, costume balls and a haunted cruise. Not to mention all the Halloween costume contests.

London, United Kingdom

Surprising isn’t it? I figured it would be the home of Dracula or some medieval place in the outskirts of a town but London? Hey to each its own. They have something called the London Zombie walk, which I’m guessing puts them over the edge. Hundreds of people dress up like Zombies and walk along the streets of London, visiting 12 pubs along the way. Special events are also held all month and historical sites add a little holiday creepiness to their places. Special Halloween club nights are promoted and there are haunted dance rooms. Put up your pounds for an entire month of scary behavior in London.

Alternative to Entering the Working World

Graduation. The one word that no second semester senior wants to hear. There are many synonyms that we create to avoid the actual word. But when it comes closer to the actual date, in our case, May 22, it is time to sit down and think about your life. Many people will enter the working world, others won’t find anything and other will find an internship to further their experience. However, some people may choose to go abroad and volunteer for a year. Take a break from the 17 years of schooling and the rest of your life working. Volunteering abroad could consist of teaching English, working at a summer camp, conservation work and habitat work.

This is something that I personally looked into. I believe one year I will travel abroad and teach English in South Africa or in Italy. Hopefully, this will be sooner than later. If you type in volunteer abroad in to Google search box many organizations come up. So many that it is overwhelming. There are sites such as realgap.com, peacecorp.com, Geovision.com, crossculturesolutions.com, and goabroad.com. These are to just name a couple. Most of these programs are not paid. The volunteer programs can range from $800 - $6,000. For those of us who come out of four years in college in debt, there are options for paid work abroad. Unfortunately, with all theses opportunities, they are not publicized enough around campus. The only time I ever saw any information about volunteering was at the career fair in the fall where the Peace Corps and one other company was set up. These are such great opportunities to not only help a student take a year off but it provides these students with an opportunity to help others. Many people feel that they find themselves after spending a year abroad and have a better perspective on what they want to do with their lives. Volunteering or paid work abroad is a great way to accomplish this.

One specific company that I got in contact with GeoVisions, is doing a great job. After inquiring about information about a South African program and an Italy program for this summer, they called me within 24 hours to discuss any questions I may have and to provide me with more information. This is definitely a way to make the unsure feel a little more comfortable. They don't give you any time to second guess yourself. Which, for me at least, is the more time I am given the more likely I am going to back out of something that I really want to do.

Some suggestions I have would be for these companies to get in contact with study abroad offices. This way when students go and search out information it will be there for them. Second, putting up fliers around campus would definitely get students attention. I know from personal experience if I see something on the boards that interest me I will tear down the sheet. Using social media is also another way to get in contact with our generation. More than 50% of our generation turns to social media for information on just about anything. If small steps were made I think that many of the maybes would turn into yeses. Then our generation could actually make a difference in the world.