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Month: November 2016

Caleb Zachary | Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Post 5

Caleb Zachary | Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Post 5

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In the Netherlands, December 5th is a much more important date than the 25th. That’s because the 5th is Sinterklaasdag (Sinterklaas Day), which is more widely celebrated here than Christmas. According to lore, Sinterklaas is a royal-looking elderly fellow with a huge white beard, dressed in red and white. He carries a large staff and rides around on horseback, always leaving Spain and arriving in the Netherlands in early November. The traditional story is he freed a Moroccan slave named…

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Claire Harper | New Delhi, India | Post 5

Claire Harper | New Delhi, India | Post 5

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Hello, everyone! I feel like I have to address the election, as it was quite a surreal experience hearing the news from so far away. The election results started coming in as we were having breakfast. We all sat around the table in our guest house in Varanasi messaging friends and family. We had an event scheduled right after breakfast—a retired professor was going to walk us around our little section of Varanasi and talk about all the religious sights…

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John Ammondson | Agadir and Marrakech, Morocco | Post 6

John Ammondson | Agadir and Marrakech, Morocco | Post 6

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Well, it’s certainly been an eventful two weeks since the last time I wrote! As planned, our group ventured on Sunday the 6th from Marrakech to Agadir, a beach town on the coast of Morocco. While driving around trying to find our hotel, I joked that we should stay at a pizzeria I could see out the window; our van promptly turned left into the parking lot of the pizzeria, which was in fact the restaurant section of our hotel….

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Kayla Miron | Prague, Czech Republic | Post 4

Kayla Miron | Prague, Czech Republic | Post 4

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Snow is not only one of my absolute favorite things, it’s my middle name. It’s my mom’s middle name, too, and the middle name I’ve always wanted to give to any future daughter I might have. Whenever it snows it feels a little bit like it’s a present just for me. It’s not just snowing—it’s Kayla Snowing. Every night this week Prague has been dusted with snow. Four days ago was the holiday celebrating the first snow, and on that…

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Katie Nordstrom | Clifden, Ireland | Post 4

Katie Nordstrom | Clifden, Ireland | Post 4

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During October break I traveled to the United Kingdom. My journey started in Edinburgh, Scotland where I stayed for four days and then took a train down to London. Traveling to Ireland for JYA was the first time I had ever left the United States, and my trip to the UK was my first solo international excursion. While in Scotland, I spent time visiting a friend currently studying at the University of Edinburgh. My JYA experience doesn’t involve much time…

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Matt Stein | London, England | Post 4

Matt Stein | London, England | Post 4

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Election night hurt. I’m sorry that that’s the first thing I’m writing about, but it’s consuming the world I live in, both here in London and back home. Because of the time differences, it wasn’t until 5 a.m. that I fully knew the results. I pulled an all-nighter because originally I’d anticipated celebrating Clinton’s win, only to slowly watch it whither away in a tumult of fear and dread. Being a straight white male, there’s little I have to be afraid…

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Jennifer Williams | Cairo, Egypt | Post 4

Jennifer Williams | Cairo, Egypt | Post 4

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Trigger warning: sexual assault 7:18 a.m. EET November 9, 2016. A moment in time I will never forget. The moment I realized that he had won the election. I may be in Egypt at the moment, but I was every bit a part of the election. I slept an hour, maybe two that night. The time difference did not stop me. I sat on the couch in my apartment and let the waves of emotion crash over me as I…

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Jennifer Pineda | Bremen, Germany | Post 4

Jennifer Pineda | Bremen, Germany | Post 4

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As part of my European Healthcare and Welfare class, we took an excursion to Bremerhaven, a port city in Germany. We had the opportunity to meet with Dr. med. Gábor Keresztury, who is the chief physician of the vascular surgery clinic at Ameos Klinikum St. Joseph Bremerhaven. The topic of our class was the medical profession, so we met with this doctor to shed some light on how he became a doctor and his experiences in the European healthcare system….

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Anna Abrams | Yaoundé, Cameroon | Post 2

Anna Abrams | Yaoundé, Cameroon | Post 2

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Throughout the past two and a half months, I’ve been confronted by many cultural differences in Cameroon that are hard to get used to. One of these is the clear patriarchy in my household and the fact that I’ve never once seen my host dad cook or clean dishes. As frustrating as it is, I also understand how that’s more accepted here. However, there is one difference that continues to baffle me everyday, and that is meal times. Meals have…

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Claire Harper | New Delhi, India | Post 4

Claire Harper | New Delhi, India | Post 4

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Life just goes by so fast. I can’t believe we only have about a month left! I am trying my best to keep up with news at home. It is a strange way to experience the election from this far away. I am simultaneously sad and glad to be somewhat removed. I can’t imagine what it will be like to hear the results in a couple days time. Fingers crossed I cry tears of relief and not sadness. The week…

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