By: Elana Burack, CAS ’19 Elana (left) with her homestay mom, Carmen, in Spain CASA Sevilla – Spain Throughout my time in Seville, Spain last fall, I thought a lot about what it means to be a traveler versus a tourist–to experience the culture rather than just photograph the popular highlights. I think an apt…
By: Pearl Subramanian, CAS ’19 Pearl (right) in China during the PGS travel component Environmental Health Issues and Global Implications Travel to China With a little more than 100 days left until graduation, now is around the time when reflecting upon my past four years at the University of Pennsylvania seems like the apt thing…
By: Ryan Bender, CAS ’21 GRIP Intern – Buenos Aires, Argentina There’s a bit of household American wisdom that goes something like this: “Friends who want to stay friends don’t discuss religion or politics.” While it is polite to be mindful of others’ sensitivities, this wouldn’t get you very far in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Argentines…
By: Cristina Pogorevici, Wharton ’21 GRIP Intern, The OPEN Classroom – Hong Kong As a Romanian student in the Wharton School of Business, I’m always a minority: East-European, First Generation, coming from an ex-communist country. As an intern at The OPEN Classroom in Hong Kong I was aware that once again I was going to feel…
By: Benjamin Weimer, CAS ’19 Rome, Italy GRIP Intern, U.S. State Department – Rome, Italy Here are five tips for making the most of your time abroad: Wander the Streets – This summer when I first got to Rome, I didn’t know a single person in the city. Instead of staying in my apartment, I…
By: Anders Zhou, Wharton ’21 Skyline of Shanghai Diversified Agency Services (DAS) – Shanghai, China In two words, Shanghai was both an experience and a throwback. When people ask me how my summer went, those are the two words I usually base my answer off of. I’m really thankful that Penn Abroad allowed me the opportunity…
By: Rebecca Pels, CAS’19 Rebecca in Sydney University of Melbourne – Australia In the age of technology, everything we do is stored in our phones, or the cloud, or our computer backups. When these photos, these memories, are saved in such spaces, looking back becomes exponentially easier, more so than was ever before imagined possible.…
By: Stephanie Tian, Wharton ’21 Stephanie (center right) with fellow interns in Mexico Ashoka – Mexico City, Mexico My internship this summer has been an experience that, now sitting on my couch at home, I truly miss. The first few days back I kept doing the thing where I wake up and am confused by…
By: Emily Zislis, CAS ’21 Emily wrote this vivid account of a day with a family of Bajau fishermen in Indonesia. It originally appeared on the Where There Be Dragons “Yak Board” in 2016. This morning we were awoken in our separate houses before the sun broke the horizon. Between the yelling, incessant roosters crowing,…
By: Lizzie Youshaei, CAS ’21 Lizzie wrote this post reflecting on the value and purpose of a gap year in 2017, half way through her own gap year. It appeared originally on her blog. This most difficult part about deciding to commit to a gap year had nothing to do with taking a year off,…