Summer Quarter Study Abroad in the Philippines!

My Lakbayan grade is D!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

As of today, I am finished with Spring Quarter Finals, and free to think about the summer I will be spending in the Philippines! For roughly six weeks, I will be partaking in a study abroad program sponsored by the UW's Comparative History of Ideas Department (CHID, for short) called "Made in the USA: Knowledge Construction and Social Action." Click on the link to view the rich curriculum, as well as the crippling cost attached to it (I heard  the cost is actually fair, but considering the budget cuts and rent increases this is quite painful for a poor student like me). 

A couple things before I go on. First, I know that I've lived in the Philippines for the first 11 years of my life, and, second, I know that I'm an English major and not a CHID major. However, I have fantastic reasons for spending my summer quarter in this way. 

Academic reasons I'm studying abroad in the Philippines (PI):

• Why not study abroad to Rome, or Spain - someplace you haven't gone before? Although I did spend 11 years of my life in the PI, I did so living mostly in the southern island of Mindanao (see shaded area of map above). The program promises to take us island-hopping all over the Philippines - visiting areas in Luzon and the Visayas but steering clear from my dear Mindanao due, apparently, to travel safety concerns. Translation: this program will, indeed, take me to places in the Philippines where I have never been before! While I would be glad for the chance to immerse myself in Rōma o España, I feel that in Las Filipinas, my motherland, I will learn, gain and experience so much in terms of not only academic fulfillment, but also a stronger sense of my cultural and ethnic identity. By the end of this summer, I should have a couple more areas shaded in the map, as well as pictorial, maybe videographic, but definitely written accounts detailing my experiences there. 
• Why not take classes that will fulfill requirements for graduation or your English major? I am in excellent shape for graduation, and am actually eligible for early graduation this upcoming Fall. However, I am not ready to graduate just yet. I have been accepted to a couple of great programs at the UW, my participation in each of which will allow me to to extend my studies and finish my undergrad years with my class the following Spring. One of the programs, the English Honors Program, requires that I remain in the UW-Seattle campus for the entire academic year in order to take a series of classes. This means that my last chance to do study abroad anywhere is this Summer Quarter! 

Personal reasons I'm traveling to the Philippines

• To visit my maternal side of the family. Especially my dear dear grandmother, Lola Nene, who helped raise me and my younger sisters, and my cousin Ti, who lives with her in Davao City. It's been four years since we have seen each other. That's why even if I hadn't chosen to participate in this study abroad program, my family and I were already determined to vacation in Mindanao for three weeks this summer. You will meet them and our other relatives in a couple of months!
• To meet my paternal side of the family. One of the greatest blessings I have enjoyed these past couple of years has been in reestablishing connection with my estranged father and sister. Over 15 years of absence will be erased and thousands of miles of distance reduced to a few kilometers as my study abroad program (at the University of the Philippines Diliman (UP Diliman, for short))  brings me to the same area where my paternal side of the family lives. Coincidence? Hmm, I think not. God's great plans have been unraveling before me for some time now, but my perceptions have been too unfocused by present concerns and too dulled by past pains to notice where He has been leading me. 

I believe these reasons are enough to substantiate the mixed but natural feelings of excitement and anxiety stirring within me as I pack for my trip to the Philippines. To the Philippines!