Lauren Acker Spends her Summer in Sololá, Guatemala

I spent two months of my summer living in Solola, Guatemala. Solola is nestled within the mountains of the basin of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala's Western Highlands. Compacting all of my experiences throughout my two months in Guatemala into a short blog entry is proving to be a challenge!... but here we go:

A view of Solola, Lake Atitlan, and Volcano Toliman from the roof of a friend's restaurant, "el gran mirador".

I lived with a wonderful host family who graciously welcomed me and gave me a taste of daily life in Solola. To give you all a brief context of what Solola is like, 90% of its inhabitants identify themselves as indigenous Maya (Kaqchikel or Kiche) and 10% as non-indigenous. I passed most of my days without seeing another gringo, even though Solola is only a 30 minute bus ride from Panajachel- the region's largest tourist spot- very few tourist make it up the mud/rock-slide prone mountain pass to Solola. However, the almost nonexistent tourism in Solola lies in stark contrast to the enormous amount of local traffic. Solola is the capital of the Department and boasts the largest market in the department, attracting people from all of the nearby municipalities. As you can imagine, this region is rich with a unique history and colorful, thriving culture. Thus, it is the perfect location for an ethnographic field school. As a Sociology/Anthropology major with graduation on the ever-nearing horizon, I wanted to use my summer months to study aborad and gain some valuable experience "in the field". I spent my days designing and conducting my own ethnographic research project, collecting data by interviewing and speaking with Sololatecos. I was curious to learn about local perspectives of Lake Atitlan, focusing on its importance, health, and current and future preservation efforts.

Me with my host Mom, Olga and three of her ten grandchildren.

This was an entirely new challenge for me; there were certainly days when the culture shock; constant thinking, interviewing, and speaking in Spanish; and pressures of my research were exhausting and overwhelming. However, after a lot of hard work, my field notes, interviews, and data slowly morphed into a final paper. This unique challenge provided me with an equally unique sense of acomplishment and excitement, one that eludes my ability to translate it into words. I learned so much about Guatemala, Solola, Lake Atitlan, Mayan culture, anthropology and field methods, improved my Spanish, and gained valuable personal insight.

Making tortillas at a traditional Mayan oven/stove in the town of Santa Lucia. Tortillas were served fresh with every meal. The constant "pat-pat-pat" of women making tortillas could be heard on nearly every street in Solola, at all hours of the day. I never quite perfected this art, as my tortillas tended to be mishapen and uneven thickness.

Since my research was based in Solola, I was unable to do a whole lot of traveling around Guatemala. But I traveled to a majority of the municipalities found within Lake Atitlan's basin, each with its own micro-culture. I also spent some time in the colonial city of Antigua, Guatemala's largest tourist attraction (Lake Atitlan is the second most visited area). I hiked Pacaya, Guatemala's most active volcano- it last erupted in May 2010.

Yoga near the rim of Pacaya.

Recently Guatemalan history is tarnished by the horrific bloodshed of its civil war, which was instigated by the CIA in 1960 and only ended in 1996. In many ways, post-peace Guatemala is more violent, and equally dangerous. Guatemaltecos are still searching for peace and stability as they heal the wounds left by the civil war. Despite this, they are very warm and welcoming. Instead of harboring resentment and expressing hostility toward me, they shared their infectious sense of pride for their country and their culture. I made amazing friends in Solola and was quickly considered my host mom's 'hija de Solola' (daughter of Solola). I have already begun formulating plans to return to Guatemala to visit my friends and family and explore more of its grogeous landscape!

Four boys watch and cheer on their favorite, local football team from the hill above. A typical playing field... quite a contrast from Watt, huh?

On an endnote: explaining the sport of lacrosse in my limited Spanish vocabulary and questionable grammar proved to be very difficult! No one I encountered had ever heard of or seen our sport! I eventually created a suitable explanation that, when combined with a few pictures, painted a somewhat discernable picture!

Apologies to Acker, as technical difficulties did not allow the post to show all of the accents used in the names of people and places in Guatemala. Visit the blog next week for a bit of a summer surprise!

Generals Senior learns about art, architecture, and pizza in Florence!

Bongiorno!

For anyone who doesn't know, I studied abroad in Florence for 6 weeks this summer. It was by far the best experience of my entire life. Florence is the best place to study abroad because it is filled with young people and it's bustling with life. You can find crowds of people out and about until 4 or 5 in the morning! I did a home stay, so I lived in a house with my host mom, my host dad, and my roommate. The host dad spoke English, but the host mom did not so it was always fun trying to communicate with her. I've mastered talking with hand gestures. I'm really happy that I did a home stay because it was fun to see how Italians actually lived their day to day lives and they cooked amazing dinners!

I took Photography and Italian conversation. With class only 2 days a week, I had tons of time to explore Florence and travel. Each weekend I traveled to another place in Italy with a group of friends from school. The first weekend, 22 of us went to the Almafi coast to an island called Ischia. After the 5 hour train ride, the hour ferry, and a windy taxi ride, we finally arived to our hotel which ended up being a cute little villa. We even made dinner ourselves one night like a big happy family. The beaches were beautiful and the water was so salty! We went to Rome the next weekend and I was absolutely blown away by the ancient buildings and architecture. Obviously my camera died within 5 minutes of being there so I didn't get a lot of pictures. I made sure to charge everything before I went to Venice the following weekend. I had no idea how big Venice was, but it was as picturesque as they make it seem. My friends and I went on a gondola ride which was one of my favorite experiences.

Life in Italy is so relaxed and enjoyable. For instance, one day I woke up and walked with one of my girl friends to a jewelry maker's workspace. He had a tiny little shop with rings, necklaces, bracelets, compact mirrors, picture frames, etc. In the other room was his workshop where you could watch him craft jewelry. It was amazing to see his big hands handle the small jewelry and craft something so beautiful. While we were there he explained to us that he sells all of his products to stores such as Channel, Gucci, and Bloomingdales. He even showed us his work in their magazines. It was so crazy to think that everything you buy at home is made at a little shop just like his. It was such a cool experience to meet the maker of the jewelry and see him craft it himself. I'm sure I'll be showing it off all next year.

This has been the most amazing experience of my entire life (besides LAX at W&L of course). I am so happy that I got to go abroad. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to because of field hockey and lacrosse, but I am so thankful that this worked out. For everyone wondering whether they should go abroad or not, I highly recommend it. I have seen some amazing artwork, beautiful places, and have learned so much about a different culture. I have truly realized how lucky I am and have learned a lot about myself in the short time that I've been here. Everyone should go abroad, and Florence is a perfect place to do so!

As I'm sure everyone is wondering, yes I did see the Jersey Shore... a lot. They were filming in Florence during the time I was there and trust me, it's going to be a good season. The first time I saw them, my friend Maria and I went to the pizza shop that they worked at. In order to go in to the shop you had to sign about 45 papers granting MTV permission to put you on TV, so since my friend Maria was a fanatic fan, we signed the papers and went in. Pauly D, Snookie, and J Wow were working that day. Snookie was wearing her furry boots and screaming at people through a bull horn to come inside and drink beer with her while Pauly literally repeated 4 different Italian phrases. If I do happen to be on the show, you will see me shoving my face with the pizza because it was absolutely delicious. I ended up seeing the crew several other times and had a lengthy convo with Dina in the bathroom once. And let me tell you, Ron and Sam are going to fight at almost every club... shocker.

Anyways, I hope everyone is having a great summer and enjoying it as much as I am. Miss you guys and can't wait to see everyone soon!
Ciao,
Bene

Check back next week when another General heads a little further South!

Junior Elizabeth Bucklee Spends Summer at House of Ruth Maryland

This summer Generals Junior, Elizabeth Bucklee spent the summer working at House of Ruth Maryland. Here is her account of her time there!

Buck in the office getting work done!

This summer, I was busy working as a legal advocate at a domestic violence non-profit in Baltimore, Maryland. The House of Ruth Maryland not only provides free legal aid, but also offers counseling services, shelter, caseworkers, clothing, and more to victims of intimate partner domestic violence. Working in the main office, I would take incoming calls from victims and 24-hour hotline callers, complete intakes (an interview with potential clients to find out more information about the abuse and relationship for our attorneys), file away closed cases, and do other little jobs the attorneys needed finished. Some days, I worked in the House of Ruth offices in the courthouses. This was my favorite because I worked directly with clients who walked into our offices from the street. I was able to watch the entire legal process from the moment the client came in, to filling out his or her paperwork, sitting with him or her in court, and then walking them out of the courthouse with a Final Protective or Peace Order a few weeks later.

Buck with the main office legal assistant going through old case files.

As I became more comfortable in my role and in talking with clients about details of abuse, their relationships, and family history, I began to pick up on the details that the Shepherd Alliance wants an intern to realize. The House of Ruth represents clients below a certain poverty line, and through interacting with our clients, I saw aspects of poverty that I learned about in my Pov 103 class. For example, the cyclical nature of poverty is relatable to the cyclical nature of abuse – abuse is a learned behavior, and many abusers are no the first in their family to be violent towards a partner.

The most important thing I learned this summer, however, is that anyone can be a victim of domestic violence. We received many calls from individuals who were able to seek a low-bono attorney or find their own attorney. I also did intakes for women who were younger than me, women with many children (usually from many different “baby-daddies” as they would say), and even elderly women and men. Most of our clients had not graduated high school and some were not able to fill out their own Orders, save for signing their name where I would indicate.

The summer interns.

I learned that I live a very fortunate life. Yes, we always say how lucky we are to go to an amazing school like W&L, study whatever interests us, and have the health and ability to play Generals lacrosse. But this summer, I realized that I am so lucky that I never have had to even think about the threat of domestic violence in my life. Speaking with children who have an abusive parent is so heartbreaking because they pick up on everything. DV adds an entirely new aspect of fear in one’s life and is difficult to escape for many who rely on their abusive partner for finances, shelter, vehicles, cell phones, and more. Many clients cannot just get up and leave their abuser. I realized that I am fortunate enough that if I had to, I would have the support of my family and friends.

If you have any questions or want more information, feel free to ask! I have a lot of stories (anonymous ones, of course!) and really interesting outlooks on my eight weeks working closely with victims of DV.

Check back next week when we hear from another General laxer who spent some of her summer in another country!

Mary-Kate Geratowski Hired as New Assistant Coach

Hello Generals Lax Fans!

My name is Mary-Kate, or MK, Geratowski and I am the new assistant women's lacrosse coach here at Washington and Lee. I am so excited to join the staff here at W&L and can't wait for the girls to get back on campus so we can really get started. I've spent my first month on staff learning the ropes in the office, meeting some of the girls at camp, traveling to recruit and work more camps, and generally keeping busy. So now, a little bit about me...

I grew up in White River Jct., VT and attended Hartford High School where I played field hockey, ice hockey, and of course lacrosse. After graduation I moved on to Elmira College in upstate New York where I played lacrosse and ice hockey for the Soaring Eagles. As a member of the ice hockey team I was a part of two ECAC West championship teams and enjoyed three trips to the NCAA tournament including hosting the final four my freshman year. While I loved ice hockey, as a senior I decided that lacrosse needed to take priority. With the help of two great coaches I made the transition to a student assistant coach for the hockey team while captaining my lacrosse team and finally experiencing preseason. As a laxer at EC I was able to help our team to two Empire 8 tournament appearances as well as an appearance in the ECAC tournament. As a senior midfielder I was voted team MVP and named to the Empire 8 All-Sportsmanship team. I graduated from Elmira with a degree in English Literature and Secondary Education as well as my initial certification for teaching grades 7-12 in New York States.

Since being a two sport athlete did not allow me to travel abroad during my college years, I took the year following graduation to make that happen. Through the English Lacrosse Association I spent the year in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England teaching and coaching at the Princess Helena College. While I was in England I was able to continue to play for the Hitchin Sprites club and the East England Regional team. I was also able to travel around Europe visiting Italy, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Amsterdam, and Scotland.

The Princess Helena College

Two of my former club players and I at a tournament in England.

When I returned from England I jumped right into college coaching working as the assistant at Connecticut College in New London, CT. While at Conn I worked as the defensive coordinator for the team. Following my year as a Camel I moved to Richmond, VA to pursue my masters degree in Sport Leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University while working as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Richmond. At UR I also worked as the defensive coordinator for the Spiders helping them to the Atlantic 10 Championship game.

This summer I have been working camps all over the East coast and coaching a club team while patiently waiting to hear if Brooke was going to hire me on as a General. I am incredibly excited to be here at W&L and to be able to work with a team that has accomplished so much in its past and has such an exciting future ahead of it!

Please make sure to check back each Wednesday for an update on what else has gone on with some of the rest of the team this summer, as well as Fall updates, and much more!

Go Generals!