For our third week in Chile, we traveled on a bus for 10 hours to a town called Curarrehue to spend a few days living with indigenous Mapuche families. This week truly marked me. As we drove into the town, I was in awe by the vast green mountains, countless miles of animals roaming free, …
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The Best Way To See Paris
The best way to experience Paris is by walking through it. The quiet, quaint streets, lights and cafés filled with people offer up some of the city’s best cultural experiences and people watching, all by just wandering around. Last night, I walked for hours through the city with a new friend of mine that was …
10 Things to Know if Embarking on the Philly Semester.
A Packing Must: Your enthusiasm, curiosity, and willingness to learn about the world. This is the number one thing that will determine what this semester looks like as you look to soak up every experience. I’ve been challenged and stretched in ways that are indescribable. Be the “Yes” girl or guy. See every challenge as …
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Can I Be Honest for a Minute?
“Why Africa? Why wouldn’t you just go to Europe where you won’t have to worry about typhoid and malaria and unsafe water, and can actually take a hot shower?” I wanted something different from everyone else. I wanted to live with less; to martyr myself for the sake of learning and helping, and being one …
Making Friends in a Second Language
Whether it’s freshman year of college or kindergarten, making new friends is a challenge everywhere you go. It’s a fluid process mixed with language, intuition, space and time, and there’s not just one way to go about it. Because I’m studying abroad in Paris for a year, I’m focused on getting to know the local …
Pumzika Time!!
First things first, here’s a pro tip to anyone looking to study abroad: go in the fall because, while it’s tough to miss out on the changing leaves and apple-picking, getting a full spring break in both the fall AND spring makes up for it! Though I’m not sure every study abroad program offers this, …
Weekend in Valparaiso
After a heavy week of learning about human rights abuses in Chile, we took a weekend trip to Valparaiso. Valparaiso is a city full of character, color, and art. There are not many housing regulations there, so houses are built on top of and all around one another! On our first day, we had class …
Social Unrest – Let’s Talk
(I’m going to preface this by saying featured photos are NOT mine – they come from the newspaper El Comercio.) So I’m sure some of you are aware of what’s been going on in Ecuador recently, but in case you’re not, here are the basics: The federal government has been subsidizing gas for years, making …
One Time, on a Safari in Tanzania…
Ever seen The Lion King? Ever felt like you were on scene, just waiting for Timon and Pumba to pop out from behind any bush? No? Me either, until this past weekend! This weekend our group packed into two safari cars and traveled down long, bumpy dirt roads to Ruaha National Park for our much-anticipated …
What it’s like to live in a “post” dictatorship state
Before coming to Chile, I read a lot about Pinochet’s dictatorship. I read that it lasted from 1973-1990, and that, since then, Chile has recovered beautifully, evolving into a thriving democracy. Unfortunately, after many lectures and conversations with my host family and teachers, I realized that the state of Chile is not as it seems. …
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