Category Stories: Family Matters
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Exploring My Mexican Identity in México: Part II
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“Cuando la ire a ver?” “When will I see her again?” my grandmother says with such despair as tears gather in her eyes. She’s holding my phone, looking at a photo of my mom. They haven’t seen each other, hugged each other, or held each other in 20 years. “No, creo que ya no la…
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My Homestay Experience Abroad
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Once I had become acquainted with my new Glasgow surroundings after a week, I traveled to Shap in northern England through my IFSA program to stay with a local family in what was called a homestay. Many of my friends in other countries live permanently with a local family for their semesters abroad and raved…
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How My Experiences with Chilean Culture Changed Me
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Unpacking My Amazing Experience I’ve thought and reflected on my time studying abroad since returning from Valparaiso, Chile My experience was nothing but learning, experiencing, and understanding — IFSA provided me with so many opportunities to grow as an individual and also with the local community, which is something that I will carry with me for…
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Retaining My Kazakh Identity While Studying Abroad
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Probably one of my biggest fears when going abroad to study in the US 3 years ago and again upon my arrival in UK was that I would not be able to stay true to my culture and values held by my people. Kazakhstan, being a country of only 17 million people, does not have…
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5 Tips for Staying Centered While Living Abroad
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One of the main intentions I set for 2019 was to find home in my body. I vowed to make ‘home’ a state of mind rather than a place. As I departed my loved ones and hometown on January 1st to study abroad in London for five months, I knew this hefty goal would be…
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Do’s and Don’ts of Study Abroad in Costa Rica
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As I finish up my semester here in Costa Rica, I’ve been taking more and more time to reflect upon the culture that I’ve integrated myself in through the IFSA Universidad Nacional Partnership. Costa Rica and studying abroad have their quirks, but you stop noticing them after a while. These differences became starker to me…
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You Are Stronger Than You Think: 5 Ways I Dealt with Grief While Abroad
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My biggest fear before heading to New Zealand was not being able to come home in case of an emergency because I would be about 8,000 miles away. Before going abroad, I had only ever lived about an hour away from my hometown. It was a far-fetched problem that remained in the back of my…
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Home Away from Home
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Being a first-generation student in my family, and certainly the first to study abroad, my arrival in Scotland came with many mixed feelings of excitement, anxiety and pure displacement. After orientation in Edinburgh I was taken to my apartment, generously under the direction of the IFSA staff, who also gave me a wonderful initial tour…
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Forging a New Path, Revisiting an Old One
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One of the reasons I studied abroad was to explore what I was capable of doing on my own. I wanted to have a completely unknown adventure and to further myself from the comfort of my own home and family.Little did I know, I would encounter more family and be welcomed into a new home…
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Why Studying Abroad Was About More Than Me – A Digital Story
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“I’m so glad my decision to study abroad provided my dad and brother with the opportunity to visit Australia as well.”Margie Hislop originally formed questions about her abroad experience based on her own personal experience, not remembering that her inspiration to go abroad stemmed from her father. https://youtu.be/5oSUO9DbE74 Margie Hislop is a Psychology student at…
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