Blog Archives

  • Blog

Forging an Intersectional Career

By: Tiffany Hsu, Penn Nursing UNESCO – Paris, France As a child, I never “knew what I wanted to be when I grew up”. I had so many interests and hobbies and didn’t feel like I could commit to only one. When I applied to college, I was still conflicted on choosing a major. Ultimately,…

  • Blog

“Winter” in Sydney

By: Sophie Shen, Wharton ’22 Sophie (left) at the Sydney Opera House with fellow GRIP Intern, Niva Patel. StartSomeGood – Sydney, Australia Now that I’ve been in Sydney for almost three weeks, I’ve finally adjusted to my environment and it is beginning to feel like home. This summer is such a unique experience because it combines interning…

  • Blog

Getting to Know Ho Chi Minh City

By: Zachary Vlessing, CAS ’22 Zachary bowling with a group of language exchange students in Vietnam Viet An Group – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Acclimating to the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City is no easy task. For my first time really living by myself in another country, I wanted to experience something completely…

  • Blog

First Day Lessons

By: Michael Lin, CAS ’22 Michael in Shangai, China Keru – Shanghai, China Click. Angsty passengers instantly threw off their seatbelts and hurried off the plane, unlocking themselves a world of towering concrete, vibrant lights, rampant commercialism, and very long lines. Flutter. People shuffled through the airport in every and all directions, like autumn leaves…

  • Blog

No Puedo Bailar Salsa

By: Julianna Shinnick, Penn Nursing Julianna visiting a monastery in Arequipa, Peru Zoonotic Diseases Field Laboratory – Arequipa, Peru This summer, I am working on research about Chagas’ Disease in Arequipa, Peru. The work itself is familiar, as I have been working with the team from Philadelphia for several months now. We are preparing an intervention…

  • Blog

Learning on the Road

By: Oliver Osei-Asibey, Wharton ’22 Oliver in Colombia OPENLAB – Medellín, Colombia Just before coming to Medellín, I was in Rwanda for 18 days as part of a Penn Engineering service learning trip. And just before this, I was a freshman at Penn. The one common thread between all three of these experience is continuous learning.…

  • Blog

Not a Tourist, but Not a Local

By: Kushal Modi, CAS ’21 Kushal in front of the Louvre in Paris US Embassy – Paris, France Kushal Modi, a rising junior and PPE major, is spending the summer as an intern with the US Embassy in Paris. As he settles into his internship, he shares his tips for visiting the iconic city and what…

  • Blog

Bandeja Paisa

By: Rachel Hong, CAS ’20 Rachel traveling in Colombia Designit – Medellín, Colombia Before coming to Colombia, everybody asked me what I was most excited for. Without fail, my answer was always the food. I come from a family that’s big on traveling, and wherever we go, my dad’s top priority is scoping out the…

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A Chance Encounter

By: Jiyeux Seok, SEAS ’20 Jiyeux on a day trip to Pulau Ubin Engineering Research in Singapore The sun hid behind a blanket of clouds as a rag-tag group of adventure-hungry Penn students stepped onto a bumboat amidst loud plops of rain against rough waters. “It always randomly rains like this,” I assured the others. “It’ll…

  • Blog

Breaking Routine

By: Heta Patel, CAS ’21 Heta in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala Guatemala Health Initiative – Santiago Atitlán Picture a rural town.                        What do you see? Now, take a deep breath.                        What does it smell like?…