By: Dakota Jones, CAS ’19 U.S. Embassy – Singapore When I initially accepted my internship offer from the U.S. Embassy in Singapore, I had absolutely no idea that a summit between the U.S. and North Korea would be taking place. Needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled when the event was announced because it meant…
By: Lizette Grajales, CAS ’19 Aravind Eye Care Systems (CASI) – Madurai, India “What are you thinking?” My voice broke the silence in the car as my co-interns and I watched the Indian landscape through the windows of the SUV that drove us to our hostel. We were at a loss for words as we…
By: Veena Bhagavathi, CAS ’19 Naandi Foundation (CASI) – Araku Valley, India I’m sitting in a hotel room in Hyderabad, and I guess that says it all about my relationship with India. My parents both grew up in this city, but I’m a born and bred New Jersey-an. Picking up on my accented Telugu, the Uber…
By: Thomas Calder, CAS ’20 Penn Anthropology – Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala Lots of Penn students spend their time between different countries and are very accustomed to traveling long distances and adjusting to new places. This was not the case for me: I’m from just over an hour’s drive outside Philadelphia, and these first ten days in…
By: Skyler Stowell, Penn Nursing ’20 United Helping Hands Nepal – Kathmandu For some reason, when I came to Nepal, I thought that the people would speak more English than they do. I knew that the children went to English schools, so was prepared to be able to easily communicate and plan activities with them. While some…
By: Carson Kahoe, CAS ’19 Carson with the Founder of Alserkal Avenue Alserkal Avenue – Dubai, United Arab Emirates In the months preceding my departure for my internship in Dubai, many people have given me advice on what to expect and what to do when I got there. Beyond the anticipated “Be careful”s and “You can’t…
By: Rania Mansour, CPHI ’19 World Medical Association – Ferney-Voltaire, France The view outside the airplane window as it landed in Geneva was something you’d see on a post card: big green mountains with snowy tops, clear blue sky, the Swiss flag hanging high on one of the poles, and the people speaking in rapid French.…
By: Danielle Goh, Wharton ’20 KK Fund – Singapore It has now been two weeks since I first arrived in Singapore for my GRIP internship! Although adapting to this new environment has been challenging in certain aspects (especially the heat and humidity), the only challenge regarding food is choosing what to eat. Given Singapore’s tropical…
By: Alan Wang, Wharton ’21 Amalan International Indonesia, Jakarta I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania, so I knew that traveling to Jakarta for my internship at Amalan International Indonesia would surely allow me to broaden my horizons. After all, it’s over 21 hours of flight time away from Penn! When I stepped out…
By: Kathryn Dura, CAS ’19 NoCamels.Com – Herzliya, Israel On the first day, I tackled Israel’s infamous bus system to get to work. Because I am living in Tel Aviv, traveling to Herzliya requires transferring buses. Using an Israeli transportation app that my Airbnb host recommended called “Moovit,” I successfully navigated my way to work.…