GRIP: Ashoka in Mexico City, Mexico Mexico City (CDMX) is considered the “New York City” of Mexico. After all, it is the largest city in North America—even bigger than New York City’s 8 million residents—with its population of 22 million. Being born and raised in Queens, New York, I immediately started scanning for similarities and…
Contact Ask Me About… Living and working in a new language: While staying in Argentina for two months, I had to navigate day-to-day life and a workspace in a new language. Being an international student from Germany I have had a similar experience coming to the US for college, nevertheless, spending an entire summer only…
GRIP: Churchill’s in Porto, Portugal On the first day of my arrival to Portugal, I bought a mini black notebook. I wanted to collect notes, stories, and words of wisdom. A yearbook of sorts. “Just one step at a time and you’ll be fine!” – M. 2025 is the first year I have been out…
GRIP: Markenetics in Montevideo, Uruguay There’s a word in Spanish with no true English equivalent: sobremesa. It describes the time spent after a meal, not eating, but simply enjoying each other’s company. Reflecting on my time in Montevideo, I’m not just grateful to know what sobremesa means. I’m grateful to have lived it, and to…
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…
Contact Ask Me About… Within six months, I went from Tokyo to Dehradun, India—two places that could not be more different. Tokyo runs on precision: trains are on time to the second, schedules are followed exactly, and even rush-hour crowds move in quiet order. Dehradun is the opposite: life moves at its own pace, plans…
Contact Ask Me About… My first travel experiences abroad were only because of Penn. I spent my first trip abroad studying in Stockholm, Sweden. I spent my first work trip abroad in Porto, Portugal, interning at Churchill’s, a small, family-run Port wine company. When I arrived, I didn’t know a thing about wine—or how to…
Contact Ask Me About… If other students ask me just one thing about my experience abroad, I’d tell them about celebrating Christmas in July. Coming from the northern hemisphere, July has always meant sunscreen, iced tea, and maybe a beach trip, not scarves and Stollen. But in Australia, July is mid-winter, and the city embraces…
Contact Ask Me About… During my internship in Vietnam, I wasn’t just working full-time at Nuoa.io— I was also juggling a Penn online course (Gods, Ghosts, and Monsters) and my role as Global Director of Marketing for a nonprofit. Each responsibility operated in a different time zone, and each demanded real attention and energy. With…
Contact Ask Me About… Student accommodations. This opportunity was one of the various paths I could’ve chosen in terms of housing in the grand city of Dublin. I was stuck between a homestay, which allows me to be culturally immersed with a family that is already well settled in the neighborhoods of Dublin; or living…
