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The Study Abroad Essentials: A Passport, A Frisbee and A Pair of Boxing Gloves
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Me, Myself and My Free Time One of the reasons that I chose IFSA’s program in Buenos Aires, as silly as it sounds, is because I knew that I could play ultimate frisbee there! I’ve been playing ultimate frisbee since I got to college, and did not want to compromise on that while studying abroad.…
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How to Avoid Dairy (and Other Allergens) While Abroad
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As someone who can’t eat dairy, I worried about how this would affect my study abroad experience. I did not know how much control I would have over what I was eating. However, I found that during my my dietary restriction did not hold me back and I want to share some of the ways…
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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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An Education Internship: Building Cross-Cultural Understanding
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Sandy beaches, bright sunshine, a frosty Coca Cola. This is the common conception of Mexico, and when I returned home after studying abroad, this is what many of my friends, family and peers asked me about: “How were the beaches?” or “Was it warm all the time?” While I did my fair share of traveling…
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Hasta Siempre Internet
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So you’ve decided you want to come down to Cuba… Tropical sun, mojitos and revolution, also no internet. Yeah, you might as well throw your fancy smart phone away now ’cause you won’t be using it here. THE END! Just kidding, it isn’t that bad. But spending a few days offline before you go might…
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Urban and Rural: Seeing the Whole Cuba
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Traveling through urban and rural landscapes is an important part of the Cuban experience. As a student at the University of Havana you spend more time immersed in urban life, but as an IFSA student, you have many opportunities to catch a glimpse of the world that exists en provincia, outside Havana. To learn about life outside…
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Community: Feeling at Home by Getting Involved While Abroad
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The task of getting involved in your local community, as well as your campus community can seem a bit daunting when you go abroad. I definitely had to do some adjusting of my own in my first month or so of my semester in Stirling, Scotland. After attending the IFSA orientation in Edinburgh and meeting…
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Discovering My Sexual Identity Abroad
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First Impressions When I first met the people in my study abroad program I was excited to get to know them since we all came from different schools, states, and backgrounds. I was on the Valparaíso, Chile program where I attended Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. As I became closer to a smaller group of…
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Remembering the "Studying" Part of Studying Abroad
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Settling in When I first got off the plane in New Zealand I became overwhelmed with many different emotions – first of all I was tired and a bit disoriented from the 12 hour flight, I was incredibly excited to meet other students studying abroad and I was even a bit nervous to be in…
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Jumping Straight into the Deep End: Taking Classes Outside My Major and in My Second Language
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Prioritizing My Spanish Minor As a biology major in a science-intensive program with a Spanish minor on the side, I knew it was going to be difficult to find a study abroad program where I could pursue courses in both Spanish and bio. While there are certainly some incredible study abroad programs centered on biology, I…