Day in Smederevo
Thursday, May 11th, 2017, Today marks Day 4 of the Serbia Fellowship Experience. Early this morning, after breakfast and coffee, we prepared to head to the nearby city of Smederevo for the day. I imagined it as a small, historic town outside of Belgrade, but Smederevo is actually a quite vibrant, mid-sized city along the Danube River. The banks are open to many paths, some shops, and passing trains. Close to the city’s center,...
Beograd, the White City
Wednesday, May 10th, 2017, Today is Day 3 of the Serbia Fellowship Experience – the first full day after transit, and we are just beginning to get acquainted with the city of Belgrade. The weather is slowly warming and extending a fonder welcome. This morning, I stopped at a kiosk to purchase a copy of a periodical newspaper that is written entirely in Cyrillic. Translating the headlines gives me a better insight into the...
Home Sweet Home: Little Changes
I’ve been back in the states for almost three weeks now. It feels like far longer. It feels like I just got back. Reverse culture shock, despite the large differences in Thai and American culture hasn’t been as bad as I was expecting. I’m often disappointed when I see there are no hoses/bidets in the bathroom anymore (America needs to hurry up and get with it). I definitely miss the cheap food stalls, fresh fruit & meals...
Pre-Departure
South Africa, 2015 Hi y’all, It is important to know that prior to Spain, I studied abroad in Cape Town, South Africa for 5 weeks. It was amazing and I loved it. The decision to study abroad in South Africa greatly influenced the decision to study abroad in Madrid, Spain. I chose to study abroad in Spain because I am receiving a minor in Spanish and wanted to be totally emerged into the culture in order to better my...
Bama HERD: Teaching Business Skills through Interactive Activities
While in Haiti, Bama HERD (Haitian Economic Research and Development) taught a group of Haitians business fundamentals through a few small lectures and a large amount of interactive activities. One of my favorite activities was performed by teams of two standing back to back. One member of the team had a picture and the other member had a piece of paper and drawing utensil. The team members were not allowed to turn around and see what...
Bama HERD: Farewell Haiti, it was Nice Seeing You Again
I’m back home now which, for me, means stuffing my face with greasy American food and reflecting on my time spent abroad (and yes, the first stop we made after leaving the Atlanta airport was McDonald’s). I can’t help but compare this trip to Haiti with our last trip this past May. There were so many new faces on our team and in the group of students we taught. We taught similar content but we were more prepared in...