GW Exchange – Page 9 – GW Blogs from Abroad

Break From the City: A Week in the Montafon Valley

AdminSeptember 4, 2016December 14, 2018

Tell your classmates you're studying in Austria, and you might get a joke about kangaroos. Mention Vienna, and you might spark a conversation about the canals of Venice. Eventually I just got used to these misunderstandings and had some answers ready. What was a little more difficult to explain was my destination for my week-long hiking trip in the Austrian Alps - the Montafon Valley, a mountainous region in the westernmost federal state (Bundesland) of Vorarlberg.

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First Week in Vienna

AdminAugust 25, 2016December 14, 2018

By Ty Malcolm

Grüße aus Wien!

Greetings from Vienna!

With my first post, I'd like to give a short intro on my exchange university and then describe my experience arriving, moving in, and getting settled in the capital city of Austria.

The GW Exchange with the Vienna University of Business and Economics (or, in German, Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, “WU”) has plenty of advantages on paper. Largest business school in Europe, huge cohort of international students, extensive English-language course list. It's cheaper than that Tier 3 program you looked at, and the university buildings look like modern art on Google Images. For a GW student studying business and economics, those are pretty common criteria to pick your abroad program with. But when you first arrive, those characteristics on paper probably aren’t on your mind. The first week in-country, you will likely be more concerned with the practical things, and in the first week, this program did the practical things well. WU has made everything easy, without making you feel like anything is mandatory.

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Arthur’s Seat

AdminDecember 14, 2015December 14, 2018

By Closed Account

Before studying abroad, I had never left the country, never even been further west than Minneapolis. I spent all summer saving up for weekend trips, including one to Edinburgh, Scotland.

On our second day in Edinburgh, my group and I hiked to Arthur’s Seat. Or maybe up might be a more appropriate preposition, since Arthur's Seat is the highest point in the city. We're talking reeeeeally tall here. At first, it wasn't so bad. The scenery was breathtaking, and I was used to walking up hills in Exeter. But then the rolling hills became more mountainous, and I started to fall behind. There were steep clay faces and craggy rocks, and the path was becoming increasingly indistinct. Keep in mind that it was windy and pouring rain, so everything was slippery.

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Reaching a Level of Uncomfortable

AdminNovember 30, 2015December 14, 2018

By sturtle7

When ever I talked to someone about study abroad the always mentioned reaching a level of uncomfortable that you somehow become comfortable with.

Going abroad to China this summer, I learned a great deal about who I was and reached a level of content with my past mistakes. Istanbul was an adventure into the future, self-reliance and learning where I could see myself.

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Wandering towards Home

AdminNovember 30, 2015December 14, 2018

By Closed Account

During my first month in Exeter, I decided to continue consuming British pop culture during my free time under the title of 'cultural immersion'. There was one book in particular that had been on my list for some time: The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. The acclaimed children's novel, not the blockbuster-budget cinematic trainwreck. Anyways, I've always been fascinated by linguistics, fantasy, and folklore, so I knew I'd enjoy it. But I never expected to identify with it. And yet, this fantastical story about a homebody hobbit named Bilbo who is forced into a harrowing quest to steal a dragon's treasure is all about identity. And many times while reading it, I've found myself thinking about how my own adventure have changed how I see myself. ...continue reading "Wandering towards Home"

Communities Support You

AdminOctober 30, 2015December 14, 2018

By sturtle7

Going abroad was always a daunting task for me. I never saw myself as the type. I wasn't adventitious enough or could see myself leaving the support system I had worked so hard to create at GW. There were a variety of exercises, ones I went through daily sophomore year in an attempt to stop myself from flying across the world. However, as I sit here in Turkey, enjoying the last bits of good weather at the beach with a group of friends from all walks of life, and having gone parasailing just this morning, I realize how lucky I am to have the people here with me.

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Beginning Life in Istanbul

AdminOctober 28, 2015December 17, 2018

By sturtle7

Hola friends! I am now into my third week abroad in Istanbul which is both an amazing yet disorienting feeling. In a sense I feel like I have been here for much longer but when I Skype my friends back home I realize that my arrival was only moments ago. Leaving my community back home is obviously a difficult transition but I am so grateful for the community I am beginning to build here. I can already say it has brought much comfort to living everyday life in which most encounters often involve people being shocked I am American, asking "no really where are you from," and leaving me frustrated that I sometimes live in a dual world of being American and Egyptian but in the eyes of some never fully being either. Below are some of my favorite things about my community:

The Bosphorus: Much like the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Monument, the Bosphorus has easily become one of my favorite places to spend my time when I am stressed or need something to leave me in awe of where I am at the moment.

The Mosques: As a muslim, my religion is extremely important to me. It is so beautiful to me to be able to hear the call to prayer five times a day and know that a mosque is only steps from where I am from.

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Integrating at Exeter

AdminOctober 28, 2015

When you walk into Exeter Cathedral, it feels like someone knocked the wind out of you, and you have to sit down and crane your neck as you quietly take in the soaring Romanesque and Gothic vaults. To quote a British friend, "That's the glory of England- we have stuff here that's so old we aren't even sure when it started existing, but that's endured all the way to the present."

Exmouth Beach is a gorgeous meeting of the mouth of the River Exe and the Atlantic Ocean thirty minutes train ride from Exeter. It's a striking reminder of my host community's natural coastal beauty: sandy beach surrounded by quaint buildings on one side and far-off rolling hills in the distance, the smell of seaweed and salt and fish mingling with the cool sea breeze and ringing calls of seagulls soaring above.

Birds — When I saw this woman feeding a massive (and I mean massive!) crowd of bird at the Exeter Quay (pronounced "key"), I couldn't sworn I just walked into a scene from Mary Poppins. I love this photo because it visually captures the sort of "feed the birds" mentality I've encountered with many locals in my host community-- the seem genuinely kind, polite, and willing to help even complete strangers!

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Gender 101

AdminOctober 26, 2015December 14, 2018

By Closed Account

"In what ways has your community supported the thoughts you had on your identity before going abroad? In what ways has it challenged or altered how you identify yourself?"

I have to admit, I struggled a lot with this prompt. Without a doubt, I'm not the same person I was before I left for study abroad. I've become more adaptable, adventurous, self-sufficient, and comfortable exploring other cultures.

But of course, I knew this wasn't the prompt meant.

It's difficult to explain how my host community has supported and/or challenged my sexuality because in many ways, it's done neither. People seem to be generally accepting here; being gay just isn't that big of a big deal. On the other hand, there isn't a lot of gay visibility either. Exeter is extremely homogeneous; most people here are straight, cisgender, white, politically-moderate youths from Surrey. Beyond the university's LGBTQIA+ society (which doesn't do activism) and Exeter's one small gay club, there isn't much of a queer community or dating scene to speak of. And as lonely as that can be, it's given me a lot of time to focus on my own identity as a bisexual woman outside of the context of relationships and community.

The moment that kickstarted that reflection came in the form of Gender 101, a discussion hosted by Feminist and LGBTQIA+ Societies on the basics of gender identity and expression. At one point, a facilitator stated that there are as many genders as there are people, because each person interprets what it means to be, say, a cisgender woman, differently. This opens the door to multiple cisgender femininities, an idea that I had never considered before but found incredibly intriguing. ...continue reading "Gender 101"

Lost in translation

AdminAugust 28, 2015December 14, 2018

By sturtle7

Hello! Welcome to my first blog! My name is Sherin Nassar, a junior majoring in International Affairs and Economics! This semester I am studying abroad in Istanbul, Turkey! I am so excited for this journey because I firmly believe it will lead me to a greater understand on myself.

This blog post revolves around identity-how we each view ourselves and how in return people see us. This past year, I've learned my identity changes with each challenge I take on. I see myself as ambitious, always wanting to take on more to see how I can further develop. These ambitions are firmly rooted in my parents' immigrant background. They come over twenty five years ago from Egypt in search of the American dream. Their pursuits and passions as well as their hard work are ingrained into who I am today: someone not only looking to make them proud but to make people believe that the future is truly yours for the taking. ...continue reading "Lost in translation"