Category Stories: Racial and Ethnic Identity
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The 4 Stages You’ll Go Through as a Minority Abroad
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My experience as a woman of color (specifically black) is different than the experience of someone who may look just like me but lives within a different socio-political atmosphere. This could be as subtle a difference as a few cities over, or as drastic as the other side of the world — a situation I…
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An American in Cuba – Cultural Immersion
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The Privileges of an American Student in Cuba “American,” or what it means to “be an American” is not an idea I had ever truly stopped to consider. Prior to my semester abroad in Cuba, I had barely traveled outside the United States–a trip to Paris when I was six-months-old (which I continue to debate…
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From Aloha to Kia Ora
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Long before I set foot in New Zealand, while I was still waiting to hear back from IFSA and conducting preliminary research on the place where I would soon spend five months studying and exploring, I assumed that New Zealand would be very similar to my home in Hawaii. Afterall, how different could this Pacific…
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Goodbye London, Or: It’s a New Beginning
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Four months ago, when I just arrived in London, I was shy, scared to make friends with others, and also anxious about whether I would enjoy my time here. I remember clearly that I wouldn’t even go out of my room as my social anxiety hindered me from meeting with other people. Now, as my…
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Who am I Really
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I didn’t want to have to lose myself in order to find who I am supposed to be, but as I got my passport stamped in Cork Airport, I felt as if I was losing my identity. Coming from a small town and attending college in the smallest city on the east coast, I had…
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Navigating a City Proud of their European Heritage as a Student of Color: Part Two
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As discussed in part one of this series, Buenos Aires is a city whose citizens pride themselves on their European heritage, resulting a city-native identity that relies on being white. As a result, students who don’t pass as white may be quickly labeled as “other.” Students I spoke with who identify as East Asian or…
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Navigating a City Proud of their European Heritage as a Student of Color: Part One
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I walked into the convenience store on the corner of my block in Buenos Aires. As I dipped my head into the shade of the corner store, I asked the cashier if they sold orange juice. They ran out of cold ones, he’d said, “Pero hay un Chino en la esquina.” Translation: “But there’s a…
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How My Family Ties Convinced Me To Go To University College Cork
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My Family Is the Reason I Studied Abroad In Ireland I am and always have been a very nervous person when starting something new. After starting college three years ago and it seemed to take forever to settle in, I figured that studying abroad would never really be an option – because by the time…
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Keeping Current From Thousands of Miles Away
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Writing for IFSA ‘s student blog as a First Generation Scholar has made my study abroad experience so unique and special. It has also made it a bit daunting. There are endless topics I could write about, well past 1000 words. There are also students out there just like me, first generation college kids with…
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Strengthening My Queer Identities in London
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It can be quite hard to study abroad if you identify as a queer person, because not all countries are open towards queer and trans people. However, London is an amazing city where different kinds of gender expressions and sexual orientations are accepted by the majority of Londoners. As a result, my queer identities have…
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