Enjoying travel to the max — and still staying fit: Three young Melpomene people achieved this goal - Articles

Melpomene Journal, Fall-Winter, 2001 by Casey Miller, Lucie Turcotte, Sarah Kayfetz, Maureen Moo-Dodge

Not long after joining Melpomene as the Director of Internships, I began interviewing prospective summer interns. Among the first group of young women I talked to was Casey Miller, an enthusiastic, bright and intelligent college senior. I offered her an internship position right away. It was exhilarating to have my first "hire" completed so, when Casey called me a few weeks later to talk about a "problem," I was deflated. The problem was that, while Casey really wanted to start her internship in May as we planned, she had a opportunity to travel to Europe for five weeks. She didn't want to pass up an internship at Melpomene, but five weeks in Europe -- well, who could say no to that?

My response was simple -- GO! Internships can start in July, just as easily as May.

Casey went to Europe, returned home and started her Melpomene internship . Her experiences and observations about travel in other countries are recounted here, as are the travel observations and experiences of another Melpomene intern, Lucie Turcotte, and a Melpomene student member, Sarah Kayfetz.

We travel because we want new experiences. We want to try out our lives in new settings among different cultures and we want to eat exotic foods. We want the unusual and unfamiliar, but we also need the familiar. To these young travelers, part of the familiar was maintaining a comfortable and necessary level of physical activity as well as a healthy diet.

Our interns and student member accomplished their goals in a variety of ways and enjoyed their travels to the maximum. Read on and see what you think.

The Adventures of Casey Miller

Two days after graduation from the University of Wisconsin -- Eau Claire, my European adventure began. After practically living in the library for weeks while studying for final exams, my friends Liz, Amy, Emily and I were ready to travel the world! With the help of my older sister, who had studied for a semester in Ireland, I packed all the items I would need into one 30-pound backpack. Little did I know this backpack would become my main source of exercise for the next five weeks.

Our trip through Europe was a whirlwind tour because we wanted to see as many countries as we could. We ended up traveling to 14 different countries, which meant a lot of overnight train rides, sleeping upright in chairs or laying on the hard floors. This type of traveling forced us to be sedentary for long periods of time, which can be relaxing at first. But too much of it made our muscles tight, especially the "tightness triangle" of shoulders, neck and face muscles. To loosen up we would do simple neck rolls, cross arm stretches and shoulder shrugs.

If it wasn't too much sitting around it was too much standing. We waited in lines and stood in the metros, which put a lot of strain on our knees. One day, while waiting for our train to come, I started doing knee bends because my knees hyperextend (bend back further than normal) so they lock easily and become extremely sore. Emily thought I was doing leg squats and began to join in, and that's when we discovered we could get a great leg workout, not to mention a lot of funny looks, by simply strapping on our 30-pound backpacks and doing leg squats and calf raises.

Keeping our muscles loose and in good shape was very important during our travels because, once we arrived in each country, we were constantly on the go, walking almost everywhere without much time to rest. We didn't want to miss out on any big adventures because our bodies were too tired, so we made sure to plan ahead and prepare for those moments by getting our bodies used to a variety of activities.

Keeping fit while traveling also protected us from pesky pickpockets. Italy is where we spent most of our time because most of our money was stolen there. One pickpocket robbed Amy of her cash, plane ticket and Eurail pass while she was riding on a crowded metro. Another one attempted to rob Liz--a.k.a. "Kungfu Fighter" -- but, with a few high yas, jabs and high kicks, she left that prowler flat on his face begging for mercy!

Whether our exercise routine was prompted by pesky pickpockets, or by the 30-pound backpacks, we found it was an essential part of traveling. So, if you're about to board a plane to the destination of your choice, don't forget to put exercise at the top of your list.

The Adventures of Lucie Turcotte

Australia was the destination for me and 31 other Notre Dame students in August 2000. We were headed Down Under to pursue our science degrees at the University of Notre Dame Australia. I was tired of school, tired of work and tired of the ordinary. My hope for life in Australia was to experience new things, revitalize my mind and break out of the rut biology students' lives seem to fall into. Oh -- and to go to school; but that wasn't exactly the top priority!

We arrived in Fremantle, Australia, nearly 24 hours after we began our journey. "Freo," as the Aussies call it, is a gorgeous coastal city in Western Australia. It was dark when the bus pulled up to our quaint lodge, and I was too tired to care about anything but dinner and a bed. The next morning, when I opened the lodge door, it was like opening a gift, and I understood why Australia was nicknamed "Oz." Our lodge was no more than 200 meters from the ocean and across the street from the beautiful, spacious Esplanade Park. The sky was so blue, I wondered if it could possibly be the same one that hung overhead in Minnesota. I ran on a trail along the ocean that morning and stopped at South Beach a few miles down to watch the dolphins jumping and the sailboats floating in the distance. I knew I could get used to life there.