Global Research & Internship Program

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Somewhere Between the First and Last Walk

GRIP: Wine, Heritage, and Hospitality in Porto, Portugal Dusk along the Douro River with traditional rabelo boats and the Dom Luís I Bridge. Somewhere between my first and last walk down to the Douro River, a place I had never lived started to feel like home. When I first arrived in Porto, I was still…

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The Color Palette of my Internship in Bangkok

GRIP: PR and Marketing in Bangkok When I first arrived in Bangkok, everything was red. The heat, the traffic, the crowded streets. In other words, it matched how I felt: excited, overwhelmed, and a bit unsure. I was tempted to just hit my brakes, but the words “tomorrow” kept turning into “today” so fast. Each…

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World Cup Fever in Buenos Aires

GRIP: Entrepreneurship in Buenos Aires Cover: This is me in a popular spot for watching football games within a crowd of fans watching one of Argentina’s games this world cup. The best sport in the world is unequivocally football. If it were a nation, it would be the largest on Earth, and if football were…

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Painting Stories in Color: Discovering Peranakan Culture in Singapore

GRIP: Business Development in Singapore Cover: Participants painting traditional Peranakan-inspired ceramic tiles during a cultural workshop in Singapore. It is common for Singapore to be associated with skyscrapers, finance, and innovation. But among all the glass towers and modern structures there are also some stories that go back generations. One of the most memorable experiences…

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A Sign, a Park, and a Summer in Braga

GRIP: Legal Research at University of Minho Law School (Braga, Portugal) Cover: Picture from my first evening out, offering pasteis de nata, with a sign reading: “Teach me something in Portuguese and I will give you a pastel de nata” My greatest motivation for choosing GRIP in Braga, Portugal this summer was an opportunity for…

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My Last Week in Aachen, Germany

GRIP: Engineering Research in Aachen, Germany Cover photo: The sunset over Lousberg, which was near my dorm for the summer. After ten weeks at RWTH Aachen University, training in electron microscopy, and exploring Germany and many surrounding countries, the last week of the UROP International Program finally came. Suddenly, what felt like a summer that…

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A shore with no footprints in it, which is the whole point

GRIP: Business in Stethy Cover photo: Hiking in Australia’s Blue Mountains There is a beach five hours south of Sydney where the sand is the whitest in the world. Somebody measured it. There is a number for it somewhere. We got there on a Saturday with a sunburn on my neck and a work week…

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Rain or Shine in Hong Kong

GRIP: The OPEN Classroom Cover photo: Post-storm views from the Star Ferry If I had a nickel for every person who warned me about the inclement summer weather in Hong Kong, I’d be able to buy a third umbrella. Their words had merit, though—navigating puddle-ridden sidewalks has become second nature, and my appearance at the…

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Leaving with a Suitcase, Returning with a New Perspective

GRIP: KK Fund Cover photo: Solo Traveling in Asia, in Kyoto Japan “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you.” — Anthony Bourdain I remember staring out the airplane window somewhere over the Pacific, trying to…