Category Stories: Alumni Reflections
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Don’t Be “Wasteful” when Studying Abroad
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It is always easier to stick to the known and ignore the unknown because it is “scary,” but the unknown is where the adventures take place.I went to Costa Rica with eight other students from the United States. Initially, I told myself I was going to disconnect from the world, meaning no social media, no…
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WV to BA: A Trip from One Ideology to Another
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Wheeling, West Virginia is known for producing a number of famous products and individuals, but it isn’t exactly renowned for churning out global citizens who trot around the world. When I started telling friends and teachers that I was going to be studying in Argentina for a semester, this became quite obvious. “I bet ISIS…
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Parasites: The Best Thing to Happen to Me Abroad
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Oh, the places you’ll go. You hop in a taxi and feel the sweat forming on your quizzically raised brow “Hacia, ‘The Place’ en Miraflores, por favor,” you manage in your sleepy confusion You try to take a mental picture of the people, the noises, the traffic, the smells (what is that?) don’t worry, you are…
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Study Abroad is More than Stamps on a Passport – A Digital Story
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In Argentina, friendship is enigmatically cherished. Real friends are friends for life, and Friends’ Day, July 20th, is as important for Argentinians as Valentine’s Day is in the United States. Without access to a camera, Samantha rented a camcorder from the IFSA-Butler office and took brief videos of her experience abroad. After watching the videos again, she…
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Let Study Abroad Push Your Limits – A Digital Story
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You may have preconceived notions about what you will find in your host country, or what you’re capable of achieving, but you should never let that limit yourself. As she prepared to study abroad, Marianna worried she wasn’t outdoorsy enough for South America. But by the end she conquered all her fears, and came home…
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Science: It’s Even Cooler Abroad – A Digital Story
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I never imagined collecting spiders or digging for insects could make me so excited about not only an environment but also the basic ecology that was going on inside it. Rather than spend her whole semester studying in a classroom, Hannah’s biology class studied on Fraser Island, the only place in the world where rainforest…
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Take a Solo Trip, I Dare You
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Being in a new country brings along new food, friends and adventures. While it is exciting, it can be scary too, and it’s easy to try to slip back into your comfort zone. This is exactly what I found myself doing, and I realized that something needed to be done about it. So, I decided…
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We Create Community: Mural Painting in Valparaíso – A Digital Story
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“Although my physical presence in the city of Valpo was temporary, the mark I left was permanent.”In the wake of the devastating 2012 fire, Carly found a way to connect to the city through a community art project for a local school. https://www.youtube.com/embed/ahdAnpSkQds?feature=oembed Carly W. | Psychology student | University of Denver | IFSA Chilean…
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How I Learned to Trust My Path
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“What are you going to do after you graduate?” This is one of the most dreaded questions a college student may ever hear. For many people this is an anxiety-inducing question, but for me it has always been an easy one. Since I was 13, I knew that I wanted to go into the medical…
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A Different Kind of Connection – A Digital Story
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Sometimes memories exist only in your mind. But these memories can be equally remembered and cherished there. After losing her cell phone on the train in Australia, Emily discovered a new, more spontaneous way to connect to the world around her. https://www.youtube.com/embed/QaoDJlEChII?feature=oembed Emily E. | Psychology student | Skidmore College | University of Melbourne Partnership in…
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