Feature photo by DBarefoot. Photo above by debaird.

Few people know what their lives are worth. My life was worth about $45, a credit and bank card, a new phone, an old watch, and a new iPod.

Bryce, Katherine, and I took the night bus to Quito so we could make the Ecuador vs. Bolivia soccer game Saturday afternoon. In the neighborhood of midnight, the bus was hijacked by 6 or 7 robbers.

This is the darkest part of foreign travel.

With a man waving a gun in the air, you tend to forget any premonition of heroism and simply follow what he tells you to do. As my friends were being interrogated, my heart rate was at the breaking point. Some men had to be made examples of, and as the cold metal pistols thudded into flesh, one man screamed out for his mother.

Bryce was pistol whipped and then taken off the bus. Then Katherine was brought up and though she was shaky and on the verge of tears, she held it together with strength and courage that I can’t begin to understand.

I couldn’t see much because I didn’t want to risk being beaten for looking up. A slap on the head told me it was my turn. I opened my bag and showed them the contents. They stood me up and took me off the bus where two men were waiting to frisk me.

Travelers Are Targets

When you travel, no matter where it is in the world, you are inevitably a target for potential thieves. It’s easy for thieves to pick travelers out of a crowd, what with their big bags and looks of bewilderment.

That night on the bus was something out of my control, and yet there were ways in which I was able to limit my vulnerability. Luckily, some of these words of wisdom were passed on from a security representative from the U.S. Embassy in Quito. Because of his skill and professionalism, he was also able to help us through the aftermath of that night.

Photo by .m for matthijs.

What To Do If Tragedy Strikes

If you find yourself in a situation like a bus hijacking, realize there is little you can do. As it’s happening, do exactly as you’re told and follow what the locals are doing. If they put their hands behind their head, do the same.

You shouldn’t hide anything once a robbery has started, because if you’re caught, you could be in big trouble. Chances are you’ll be frisked thoroughly, and if they see that you’ve held out, you could face some consequences. Is the iPod, wallet, or camera really worth getting hurt?

One of the most important things to remember is that you don’t have to be a hero. There’s no shame in keeping your head down and doing as you’re told.

After the Incident

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to call home immediately. You will be hysterical and so will your parents or other family members. It’s much better to contact your Embassy first, and wait to call home until after you’ve calmed down.

Always have the number of someone at the Embassy to call, and memorize it. If your papers are stolen, you won’t know how to get in touch, so always have at least one number memorized.

Photo by debs.

Carry Only the Essentials

If you’re just arriving or leaving a country, you need to have your passport on you, but if you will be in the area for a while, stow your important documents in a place where they will be safe. You don’t need to carry your passport everywhere. As long as you have two good photocopies of your information page and visa, you should be all set.

This also goes for bank and credit cards. You should never walk around with a card unless you’re positive you are about to use it. Have cards photocopied so that if they are stolen you can get them replaced faster.

Money in a Foreign Country

You might want to have more cash on you to avoid bank fees from local ATMs, but leave most of it in the hotel. Especially if you’re in a developing country, you shouldn’t need more than $20 a day. Walk around with only what you need, but also make sure you have at least something on you.

As a foreigner, robbers won’t believe you if you’re actually broke. Make sure you carry some change too so you can hand over something if you’re out of bills.

Most importantly, never flash your money around. Only take it out when you need it. If you think an ATM is sketchy, don’t go to it. Trust the ones with guards or the ones inside a building more than the ones in the street. Cover up the pin pad as you type in your numbers, as there have been inside scams with security cameras.

Most likely you’ll want to carry around a camera, but never leave it around your neck. This is asking for trouble. Keep it somewhere you can access it, but try to hide it under a jacket or shirt. It might be uncomfortable, but keeping it out is unnecessary and dangerous.

If you’re sitting at an outdoor café, always wrap a strap of your bag around your leg; this way a thief can’t just run off with it.

If you’re riding a public bus, turn your bag around and wear it on your stomach. You might look stupid, but this way you can see your personal items at all times. Always have your money ready for the bus so no one else sees how much you have.

Trying Not To Lose Perspective

Photo by Weidmaier.

For a long time that night we sat in silence, occasionally hearing someone come back to yell at us or tell us it was going to be okay. Suddenly, the man two over from me started to groan in pain. He’d been stabbed too many times in the chest and groin, and was bleeding to death. He got up on his knees in pain, and a few of us around him tried to help.

The robbers soon realized that they’d gone too far and needed to leave, and after a long period of silence, we knew we were alone. Slowly, we got up and looked around.

This is exactly the kind of thing my family warned me about. There have been moments in my life when I’ve wanted to die, or to disappear, just as most people have in their growing pains. But the beat of my heart and the fear in me told me that I wasn’t ready for it, and that life is a precious thing.

So now I have to move on. I’m not going to leave Ecuador. I’m not going to give up and hate everyone I see. But I have serious doubts as to whether I can trust the majority of people I see and don’t already know, and for that, I truly hate the robbers. At the bare minimum, I won’t be taking any night buses any time soon.

And now it’s just a matter of getting back on the horse and moving on with my life, no matter how uncomfortable it may seem.

Feature and above photo by Quinn Mattingly.

1. You don’t understand, and that’s okay.

As a college student, you’re expected to understand class material. You’re used to analyzing and making sense of things—and being required to do so. Suddenly immersed in a new culture, however, you will come across things you simply don’t understand, and trying to analyze everything will just give you a headache.

Studying abroad will teach you to live with mysteries, and to appreciate the beauty of an unanswered question.

2. “Authenticity” is a meaningless concept.

Photo by Tinou Bao.

I arrived in Mexico for the first time with a clear image of my host mother: small and plump, with long pinned-up braids and an embroidered apron. She would clutch me to her bosom, feed me handmade tortillas, and declare me her honorary hija.

My actual host mother, as it turned out, had dyed blond hair, wore skintight jeans and false eyelashes, did yoga, and couldn’t cook so much as a quesadilla. Annoyed by what I perceived as her “inauthenticity,” I wrote in my journal that I could’ve stayed at home if I’d wanted to meet such a woman.

Later, though—after the afternoon she spent hours heating towels and laying them on my aching stomach as I curled, whimpering, in my bed—I had to admit that, her Wonderbra notwithstanding, she was an “authentic” representative of her culture, as well as a lovely human being. She couldn’t teach me how to make a tortilla over a wood fire, but like anybody in the world, she had things to teach, once I was willing to learn from her.

3. You are not the ultimate moral authority for all people (but you don’t have to abandon your values, either).

Maybe it’s the role of women, or the treatment of animals, or the attitude towards the environment, or the way children are disciplined—whatever it is, you are sure to run across some aspect of your host country’s culture that you find morally questionable, if not repugnant.

It’s tempting to either want to mount a protest or, conversely, to feel that you must adjust your own moral compass—“If these people I respect can do or believe this, maybe it’s not as bad as I think.” Resist those temptations: this is an opportunity to learn humility and restraint.

You’re in this country to study, not to subvert its dominant paradigm. Certainly you may run across an opportunity to tactfully and respectfully mention to a receptive individual that, hey, maybe Fido’d appreciate a little shade and more than a foot of chain. But those moments need to be chosen carefully.

Remember that it is the people who belong to the culture who are in the position to decide what needs changing, and change it. Let them do their job; your job is to keep your eyes and heart wide open.

4. Being able to communicate in a second language is awesome, but can be its own barrier.

Photo by Julie Schwietert.

You’re probably studying abroad at least in part because you want to learn a new language, and that’s wonderful. But you will run across situations where your newly-acquired ability to communicate in the local tongue actually gets in the way of communication—so go with it.

I will never forget trying, along with several of my classmates, to ask research questions of three women who were selling fruit in a village we visited.

We were sure that if we could phrase a grammatical, properly-pronounced question, we could communicate, but they just giggled at our queries. Perhaps we unknowingly touched on culturally inappropriate topics; perhaps they were just shy. Quite possibly Spanish was their second language, too—though we didn’t think of that at the time.

Only when the women offered us each a perfect, tiny peach—when we were standing there slurping and dripping all together—did the tension break. The language of food communicated far more than words could that day.

5. “Go back and tell them.”

Towards the end of my study abroad trip, I met a man in the market who told me how happy he was that I was in Mexico. He told me earnestly, “You have to go home and tell them what we’re like here. Go back and make them see that we’re people, too.”

And that’s key—of course, you’re studying abroad for you. But you’re also taking on a responsibility. This country has taken you in, fed you, taught you, broken your heart, and healed it again.

How will you return the favor?

Community Connection!

Check out Anna Barto’s excellent article about the Best Places to Study Abroad in Mexico

Interested in a free apartment in the heart of Mexico City? Matador editor Julie Schwietert Collazo is letting travelers stay rent-free in her apartment while she and her husband are out of town from October 15th to late December. Click here for details!

Photo by bella lando*.

Sometimes it seems as if there are as many language learning methods as there are language learners, or conversely that there is only “One True Way” to learn a language. The reality lies somewhere in the middle.

Let’s examine the 5 ways people generally learn languages.

The Vocabulary-Based Approach

The major players:

Rosetta Stone and similar language-learning software.

The method:

This method of learning claims to emulate the way we learned language as children – by associating words in the target language (the language you want to learn) with pictures or the objects they represent. Think, for example, of a three-year-old with a “see-and-say.”

It stresses vocabulary acquisition by presenting the user with vocabulary words and associated pictures, and encouraging repetition of that vocabulary. Grammar rules are not generally taught as such, but are picked up by osmosis.

The advantages:

Vocabulary acquisition is generally rapid, at least at first. Pictures help visual learners memorize the vocabulary. Repetition is stressed.

The disadvantages:

Vocabulary taught is oftentimes not useful for travelers. Leaves students prone to Tarzan Disease (“Me Tarzan, you…”) because of the lack of emphasis on grammar.

Double Translation

The major players:

Just about anyone who learned a language before 1900.

The method:

Step 1: Acquire a book in the target language.

Step 2: Acquire an English-target language dictionary.

Step 3: Use the dictionary to decipher the book. Write down your translation.

Step 4: Use the dictionary to translate your translation back into the target language. (Hence the term “double translation.”)

Step 5: Check the re-translated translation against the original book, rinse, repeat.

The advantages:

Useful for languages (e.g. Latin) that the student is only ever going to read, not speak. Introduces student to real texts in the target language.

The disadvantages:

Very difficult and ponderous way to learn. Doesn’t teach listening, speaking, or writing. Reliant on the accuracy of the student’s dictionary.

Photo by Menlo School

The Grammar-Based Approach

The major players:

Most “teach yourself” books. Older textbooks.

The method:

These books combine a small amount of vocabulary at the beginning of the lesson with a heaping dose of grammar rules, which must be memorized. The vocabulary is re-combined in several different ways to highlight the grammar points.

Subsequent lessons build on the vocabulary learned in previous lessons and introduce new grammar. Emphasis is placed on reading and writing in the target language.

The advantages:

Once the rules of grammar are learned, it becomes quite easy to integrate and correctly use new vocabulary.

The disadvantages:

Requires lots of rote memorization of grammar rules. Can be frustrating, especially at first. Student is left with very little vocabulary that he or she can begin using straight away.

The Communicative Approach

The major players:

Almost every modern language school.

The method:

Small groups of students are taught in a classroom setting. Lessons are generally divided into units which stress one receptive skill (reading or listening) and one productive skill (writing or speaking), combined with grammar and theme-based vocabulary. The emphasis is on bringing the student up to speed quickly in the language.

The advantages:

Builds general student proficiency. When well-done, students “hit the ground running” and are able to utilize language in various everyday situations.

The disadvantages:

Above a certain level, continued progress in the target language can be very slow. Classes are often tailored to the abilities of the “middle” of the class, leaving those who are progressing faster and those who need a little more time to fend for themselves.

Photo by lecercle

The Immersion Method

The major players:

Backpackers everywhere who land in a new country without a phrasebook. Some primary schools.

The method:

Step 1: Go to a foreign country.

Step 2: Try to communicate with the locals. Draw pictograms. Point. Get into awkward situations. Attend the cinema and theatre. Listen to the radio. Watch television.

Step 3: (alternate method) Get a boyfriend (or girlfriend) who only speaks the target language.

The advantages:

No study required! Oftentimes you can pick up enough basic vocabulary needed to get by rather quickly. Forces you to listen to the locals and be self-reliant.

The disadvantages:

Scary! A number of awkward situations can happen. Reading ability often takes longer to develop.

For practical tips on this method, check out Matador editor Tim Patterson’s 7 Tips for Learning a Foreign Language on the Road.

Photo by link

How do you decide which method is right for you?

It depends on your learning style and what your aims are.

For those who are interested in achieving fluency in the target language:

Try all of the above. The grammar-based and vocabulary-based approaches, used in tandem, can provide a good basis for self-study before you land in your destination country. Upon arrival, combine language classes based on the communicative approach and the immersion method in everyday situations.

For those only interested in reading a language:

Learn the basics of the language with the grammar-based approach, and then throw yourself into double translation, if you can stand it.

For those who just need enough to get by:

Try software using the vocabulary-based approach to learn the words for things you might need (“hotel,” “toilet,” etc) before landing in your destination country, and practice the immersion method during your stay. A phrasebook can be a life-saver.

Community Tip!

Don’t have the cash for phrasebooks or expensive language learning software? Check out the ridiculously useful article 8 Free Online Resources For Learning A Foreign Language.