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Month: November 2017

Tyler Boyle | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Post 4

Tyler Boyle | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Post 4

Featured Image: Sinterklaas has arrived by horse now in Amsterdam As I am writing this, Americans have just celebrated Thanksgiving, a time to be thankful, eat disgustingly large amounts of food and spend time with loved ones on a break from school and work.  I, on the other hand, have had a midterm exam last Wednesday; had a final exam last Thursday, on Thanksgiving itself; have a research presentation due tomorrow; another presentation Thursday; and a 5,000-word paper, yet to be…

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Yina Wang | Budapest, Hungary | Post 3

Yina Wang | Budapest, Hungary | Post 3

Featured image: The main plaza in Zagreb with the pastel colored houses! I am writing this entry, sick on my bed with two friends who are visiting me from their respective study abroad programs, and in my mind, I thought what perfect timing for me to have to run to the bathroom every five minutes. With this extra time on my hands, I was able to reflect on what I have been doing for the past couple of weeks. I realized…

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Evelyn Frick | St. Petersburg, Russia | Post 4

Evelyn Frick | St. Petersburg, Russia | Post 4

Featured image: An anatomy modeling classroom in St. Petersburg’s Russian Academy of Fine Arts, which was formerly known as the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. There are some famous alumni of this institution such as Marc Chagall. The Academy is also incredibly (almost brutally) selective, with usually an acceptance rate that boasts about twenty applicants vying for a single seat. One of my instructors Yulia had to apply three times before being accepted while most others have to apply about five…

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Talya Phelps | Prague, Czech Republic | Post 4

Talya Phelps | Prague, Czech Republic | Post 4

Featured Image: My friends and I spotted this toy store on a shopping street in Amsterdam’s city center and our inner children couldn’t resist taking a peek. The smell of wet dog flooded the room as Miloslav entered, his brambly gray beard trembling above his plaid-clad potbelly. He parked his huge rolling suitcase in the corner and painstakingly tied the leash to a table leg. Immediately, the hound began leaping up on his lap, its enthusiasm belying the fact that…

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Chris McCann | Bologna, Italy | Post 4

Chris McCann | Bologna, Italy | Post 4

Featured Image: Nyahvn in Copenhagen At this point in my abroad career I have taken the opportunity that being in Europe has afforded me and traveled to a number of European cities. Some places are better for certain groups than others—at least based on my own experiences. In addition to Bologna, some other cities that I’ve visited include Barcelona, Brussels, and Copenhagen. When I was searching for something to write about for this article, my boyfriend thought that I should talk…

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Maria Bell | Exeter, England | Post 2

Maria Bell | Exeter, England | Post 2

Featured Image: “Barrel Roller” hoisting the flaming tar barrel onto the next carrier’s back There’s nothing quite like watching a large wooden barrel on fire charging straight at you. That’s what my JYA experience has taught me. One of the perks of study abroad is being able to experience other countries’ holidays and celebrations. Studying in the UK, that means you get Guy Fawkes Day, also known as Bonfire Night. In 1605, catholic Guy Fawkes and his cohort attempted to…

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Kimberly Nguyen | Exeter, England | Post 3

Kimberly Nguyen | Exeter, England | Post 3

Featured Image: The sun setting on St. James’s Park. “These fragments I have shored against my ruins” -T.S. Eliot These past few weeks have gone by in a blur as winter begins to slowly creep in and settle.  The semester is beginning its downward descent towards an end.  I can feel everything, even the weather, reaching towards a finish line I pray never comes. I swear that nostalgia is a side effect of autumn because I have spent days wandering…

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Yina Wang | Budapest, Hungary | Post 2

Yina Wang | Budapest, Hungary | Post 2

Featured Image: My housemate and I derping in front of the Cathedral in Berlin. Sometimes I wonder to myself, “What is the study abroad experience?” Is it constantly waiting at airports because you book the cheapest flights? Is it only going to one class for a week? Is it buying four pastries instead of one because the lady did not understand your Hungarian? Perhaps it is a combination of all the above, and I am continuing to discover what the…

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Elena Schultz | Paris, France | Post 3

Elena Schultz | Paris, France | Post 3

Featured Image: The Grandines Estate in Cheffes, France—my temporary home for the past weekend, as well as a site of local lore. This weekend, I found myself locking eyes with a curly-haired cow, our breath crystallizing as one across the feebly-constructed barbed wire fence that separated us. Nose and ears burning bright red from the brisk wind of a new winter, I wrapped myself tighter in my layers of down and watched as she studied me passively, then flipped her tail…

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