Almost Nearly Getting Close to Counting Down
25,969 minutes left until I go home. which sounds like a lot until you also take into effect that I’ve been in London for 134,232 minutes. Also a lot of minutes. I was speaking with my program coordinator the other day and we were talking about the age old problem of flatmates not washing dishes and I made some remark about how it didn’t really...
Abroad from Abroad
Being Hungarian, a trip to Hungary had always naturally been a dream of mine. With my great-grandmother on my mom’s side being born there, I definitely felt a connection to the country, but I had simply chalked it up to an impossibility for me. When I was talking to my mom about where I might go for fall break, though, she had a surprise for me – she’d planned a trip for us to visit the “motherland” together! Since I was studying...
Getting Ready for 16 Weeks in London!
My name is Candace, I am 24 years old, and in the Graduate Social Work program. I have always wanted to study abroad but the opportunity never came up. It was not until orientation that I was able to see myself leaving the states. I wanted to go to a diverse city where I could be submersed in different cultures and London has always been on my bucket list. When I approached Debra Nelson-Gardell, there were no programs that included...
Africa Awaits
“A ship is always safe at shore, but that’s not what it’s built for.” -Albert Einstein I have officially committed to my Spring 2019 field placement in Ghana, West Africa. You would not even begin to believe the emotions I am trying to contain. I go from overly excited and ready to fearful and sad to be leaving my friends and family. Luckily, I have a great desire to serve and a support system that has helped...
The Uji Chapters
Of all the unread books on my shelf back home, none is more intimidating than Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji. The translation I own, the 1926 translation by Arthur Waley, lands at over a 1000 pages. (The Tale of Genji taking up a large amount of space on my Japanese Literature shelf in Birmingham, AL) Murasaki, a lady of Japan’s Heian court, wrote Genji roughly a thousand years ago, with the novel itself tracing the...
Boots and Blazers: Russian Style and How It Has Changed Me
Russian fashion sense is truly a thing to bear witness to. Before coming to Saint Petersburg, I had only heard that they “dress a bit nicer” than we do in America. I had no idea what I was in for. The women here dress in a rotation that often consists of some sort of patterned or leather jacket, an array of blouses and unique tees, tapered jean cuts or dress pants, heels or boots, and a detailed leather handbag by the European...