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Category: Blog Abroad

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By squeakyrobot

Warsaw Airport

It’s always difficult to leave a good place. You’re cozy there, like when you wake up on a snowy morning enveloped by the warmth, softness, and familiarity of your own bed. It’s always hard to leave the bed for something cold or unknown.

I’ve been hopping around Europe for the past month and a half. It’s been an unplanned trip, as many of my trips are, but the one theme that has strung each chaotic day to the next is this: freedom. Freedom to do as I please as soon as I please it. Freedom to eat that weird thing or change destinations on a split-second whim or hang-out with that eccentric person who I met at the hostel. It’s been a month and a half of adventure, seeing friends and family, and completing bucket-list items. A month and a half of doing what I want.

And this freedom holds me captive. As such, I haven’t had time or need to prepare for my upcoming stint in cold, dark St. Petersburg. Okay, I’ve done some preparing, but this has mostly consisted of day-dreaming about a life in Russia and listening to Russian rap. It also meant dying my hair platinum blonde and buying heels to wear day-to-day. It seems that I fit in already. Russian society will see me and regard me as one of their own.

...continue reading "On Moving On"

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By asthaa

Palace in MadridIt’s nearly 11 pm and six American college juniors sit in silence staring at the Palacio Real (The Royal Palace of Madrid). Nobody moves for a couple of minutes. As the gold and cream building glitters in the night, we soak in the crowd and scene while our new Spanish friends chat on the steps facing the palace. If someone asked me to pick a favorite image in the past three days, I would choose this one. After an overwhelming two days, on our second night it hit me – here I am in Madrid enjoying myself with a group of extraordinary students from my university, experiencing something completely new yet so familiar. This night reminded me of ones spent on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial or an afternoon walking around the Taj Mahal. As a student in D.C. with family in India, it was humbling to see the Palacio and feel how similar these cultures were despite our differences. ...continue reading "¡Bienvenidos a Madrid!"

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By jfbarszcz

Greetings to you, Dear Reader. Unfortunately, I don't really have much to say this week about Prague, because I'm not there yet! (Hence the "Week 0" title.) However, it turns out that there's a good deal to say about NOT being abroad, because of how absurdly involved getting ready to leave is.

Obviously, there's a lot to do to prepare for spending a semester a continent away from home. First of all, there's all the paperwork, most notably my Czech visa. While the Czech Republic is part of the European Union and the Schengen Area, as an American I still need a visa for an extended stay in the country. Of course, the process of acquiring a visa, no matter what country, is only slightly more pleasant than waiting at the DMV. Actually, it might be even worse, because of all the time you need to spend on prep. I had to compile, let's see... ...continue reading "Prague: Week 0"

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By shivaniinsingapore

After having been in classes for three weeks, I can safely say that there is a lot of curiosity amongst my classmates as to what exactly constitutes American culture. In classes, I always get asked several questions about US perspectives on various topics; the most discussion of US culture comes from my Gender and Society of South Asia course. While in this class, I am pushed to think critically about how the US/Western mindset is different than the Eastern mindset. Most of the time, I don't know how to answer. Culturally, there are numerous things that are different between the US and Southeast Asia; however, I have enjoyed every last bit of the learning process!

...continue reading "Foreign Perceptions of Americans"

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By quericolavida

When I first arrived here in Buenos Aires, it was the height of the Olympics. In fact, the United States had just surpassed China and became the country with the most gold medals in this year's Games. I went to a bar with a fellow American student on the IBUS in Argentina program to watch the USA vs. Argentina basketball game. I asked the waiter if he could put the game on and if we could sit down and watch it. He could tell we were gringos from my accent and replied jokingly in Spanish,

"Sure! You guys are rooting for Argentina, right?"

"Claro!" We laughed with him and ordered a drink. After half-time USA pulled away form Argentina with a ten point lead. We said to the waiter,

"If we win the drinks are on the house, right?"    He wasn't super amused.

USA Basketball Olympic Team

...continue reading "Ex-Patriotism and the Olympics in a Far-Away Land"

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By littlemisadventures

Cairo is unlike any city I have ever experienced. It is sprawling and dusty and friendly and hectic. I love it already. This week, AUC organized some outings for international students, which was a great way to become familiar with the city. On our very first day, we saw ancient Coptic churches and the mosque of Amr ibn al-As. The soft carpet and serene atmosphere were a welcome respite from the sun and heat.

I was completely overwhelmed by the pyramids. I went inside the third, smallest one, which involves walking downward at about a 45-degree angle, bent double in sweltering heat and dust, with the passage ceiling scraping your head. The passage opens up to a series of chambers, which long ago held everything that royalty could possibly need for a comfortable afterlife. After crawling back out of the pyramid, the desert wind feels like a cool breeze. ...continue reading "Hello from Cairo!"

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By rlubitz

I haven’t even stepped on the plane for London yet. In fact, I’m exactly two weeks from leaving but I still wake up every night thinking that I should have gotten a visa even though a student visa is only necessary, that my computer isn’t going to work there because my adapter is going to spontaneously combust and most of all, they’re just not going to let me into their country because I’m gonna be a hot, nervous mess upon arrival. I know none of that is true but really though, I have anxiety about everything.

...continue reading "I Have Anxiety about Everything: The Study Abroad Edition"

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By tierneybb

I felt guilty about demanding this woman move, we had no language in common and it would have been easy enough for me it sidle in and bear the next four hours in the purgatory of the middle seat. But I had held that spot on the twelve hour flight to Qatar, and after thirty hours in transit I was going to claim the comfort I had reserved for myself this last leg into Kathmandu. As we headed East the pitch black of night was nearly uninterrupted by any city lights until a piercing sunrise revealed glimpses of rolling hills under the low clouds. I kept tearing my eyes away from the Disney classics I had pulled up on the entertainment system to check if any of the mountains I was so desperate to see were visible. Finally, as we began our descent cold grey faces of sheer rock were tearing through the clouds in the distance. These Himalayan peaks were like nothing else I had ever seen: not only did they ascend so much faster and further than my native Rockies, but the sharp angles and uniform grey made for an austere beauty I am hoping to get closer to over the course of my semester here in Nepal. ...continue reading "Pharping Village, Nepal"

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By shivaniinsingapore

After two weeks of adding and dropping courses, I was able to finalize my courses (at NUS, they are called modules). Since I am a non-graduating exchange student, there was only a select number of modules I could apply for. I was extremely lucky and ended up with 4 modules, which equates to 16 or so hours at NUS. However, I met people that only had 3, which is the bare minimum number of classes you need to maintain your students pass. It was mentioned at orientation at NUS that there is very good chance that you will not get ALL of your ideal schedule or classes if you have a "popular" major, namely business, economics or psychology, but you may end up with some of them. Additionally, you also have the option to submit an appeal form. As a senior, I have a few remaining GCRs left for my major, so I am focusing on courses that relate to specific cultures. My course list includes: Rice, Spices and Trees: Peasants of Southeast Asia, Gender and Society of South Asia, Introduction to Theatre and Drama, and Pre-modern Japan: History and Culture.

...continue reading "Week Two- Classes have begun!"

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By oncptime

Once in a blue moon, I’ll become a planner. Without notice, my attention to prepatory detail will skyrocket. I’ll memorize dates, addresses, routes of travel, alternate routes of travel, weather plans—you name it. I glide through my planned journeys with a Gabby Douglas-like deftness. That said, the moon is rarely blue and it’s even rarer still that I actually slip into planer-mode. More often than naught, I tend to just…go with the flow.

“Buy your plane ticket a few months in advance!” My study abroad advisor warned. I put it off until about a month before I was to show up in Florence.  “Be sure to learn a few key Italian phrases before you go!” My friends suggested. I snapped a few photos from my traveller’s companion as I disembarked from my plane in Rome. “Have a plan!” My mentor urged me. I didn’t. Not really.

You see I tend to err on the side of “pfft, it’ll be fine!” because generally speaking, it’s always fine. Trekking through New York to Jersey to get to Newark International was a joy. I met/fell in love with/considered proposing to a gorgeous customs officer during breezed through my layover in Montreal. Sure, I’d bought my tickets and glanced at them in passing a few weeks before I set out to travel. But I definitely hadn’t poured over and memorized them the way a true planner would have. “This,” I thought. “Is going to be a piece of cake.” And it was.

Until I got to Rome.

...continue reading "Lost in Camaraderie"

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