GRIP Correspondents 2025

  • Person

Hana Menkari

Contact Ask Me About… Experiencing an abroad environment alone for the first time felt surreal and, at times, lonely. Yet, with every abroad experience, there are always those converging feelings of excitement and fear. Being an identical twin sister who didn’t go to the same university as my sister, I felt as though this abroad…

  • Person

Linda Gayle

Linda Gayle is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences studying international relations. Through GRIP, she is working at Civic Compass in Buenos Aires, Argentina, researching the relationship between technology and democracy, and applying this to developing advocacy training for Latin American nonprofit organizations. Linda is from the coast of the Chesapeake Bay…

  • Person

Ishika Narsingani

Ask Me About… What it was like to be abroad for the first time, taking only Penn classes while also working in Spanish. My GRIP placement in Medellín was my first extended time living outside the United States, and it pushed me to adapt quickly to a completely new environment both academically and professionally. I…

  • Person

Hana Menkari

Hana is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences studying International Relations with a concentration in Human Rights, and a minor in Religious Studies. During the summer, she will be in the city of Braga, Portugal working as a Legal Research Intern to advance research on human rights.  Hana is excited about exploring…

  • Person

Madison Shelton

Madison Shelton is a College of Arts and Sciences junior studying Medical Anthropology and Global Health with minors in Chemistry and French. During the summer, she is in Bwiam, The Gambia, working as a Hospital Intern through the Global Research and Internship Program (GRIP) at Penn. From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she is thrilled to be traveling…

  • Person

Makayla Wu

Ask Me About… My Experience Abroad I think coming into this internship, I was more interested in government and policy but not trying to pursue a full career in government. I think the government interacts with almost all sectors so it’s important to understand how it works. Gaining this insight into the functions of a…