By: Mark Lis, CAS ’21 Mark (front row, second from left) and friends at the Jerusalem Light Festival Bar Ilan University – Tel Aviv, Israel For my GRIP internship I worked in a molecular biology lab focusing on mRNA expression under stress conditions in Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel. While my research was not connected…
By: Danielle Miles-Langaigne, CAS ’21 Danielle Miles- Langaigne is one of the Semester Abroad Global Correspondents, writing and sharing her experience abroad during the Fall 2019 semester. Follow along with the group of correspondents on our blog and look out for their student takeovers on the @pennabroad Instagram beginning September 23, 2019. Semester Abroad University of New South…
By: Emmie Gocke, CAS ’21 Emmie enjoying the view at the Cliffs of Moher in Cork, Ireland. Emmie Gocke is one of the Semester Abroad Global Correspondents, writing and sharing her experience abroad during the Fall 2019 semester. Follow along with the group of correspondents on our blog and look out for their student takeovers on the @pennabroad Instagram beginning September 23,…
By: Jeffrey Fishman, CAS ’23 Jeffrey wrote this post midway through his 2019 gap year in Ecuador. It appeared originally on the Global Citizen Year blog here. It has been a while since I last posted to my blog, and I don’t really have a good excuse. Honestly, I have just been trying to soak up…
By: Anisa Hasan-Granier CAS ’20 Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) – Asunción, Paraguay I come from a mixed background (Pakistani/British on my mother’s side, and French on my father’s). While it can be challenging to balance these sometimes clashing identities, this blend has also given me advantages in terms of adaptability as I have grown…
By: Kathleen Givan, SEAS ’21 Guatemala Health Initiative – Santiago Atitlán Six tips for a beautiful summer in Guatemala: Bring peanut butter Bring enough peanut butter for lunches the first month–but no more. You’ll discover quickly a tough gap between breakfast and dinner…where are you supposed to get your food?? For the first month, a…
By: Alexander Basescu, University of Edinburgh To be a foreign exchange student in the country you grew up almost feels more foreign than to be an international student in a foreign country. At seventeen, the decision to move to Scotland and live the Lizzie McGuire fantasy at a prestigious university, contradicting all expectations I had…
By: Xiong Her, GSE ’20 Visiting an elephant sanctuary in Thailand UNESCO – Bangkok, Thailand There are so many amazing moments as I reflect on my experiences, professionally, socially, and culturally, while living and interning with UNESCO in Bangkok, Thailand. For instance, on July 11 and 12, I assisted my team, Non-Formal Education and Literacy, on…
By: Ria Jain, Wharton ’22 Leap Skills Academy Pvt. Ltd – New Delhi, India Growing up, I learned to say “thank you,” and to say it a lot. I say it when a stranger holds the door for me, when a classmate says “bless you,” when a friend asks me how I’m doing, and when…
By: Fatima Al Rashed, CAS ’22 Fatima (right) enjoying a meal with fellow interns and colleagues Power Up Gambia Hospital – Bwiam, Gambia The Gambia is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever visited in my life. It is a place that I now call home. Everything is beautiful about The Gambia, but…