Off-Campus Study

I am studying in Costa Rica this semester. My program has a group of 16 people, 13 girls and 3 guys, all of whom are extremely nice, intelligent, and adventurous. My school day goes from 8-5 Monday through Friday, an extremely different schedule from the college schedule back in Claremont. Four hours in the morning [...]

I’m back in Germany for the first time in a week and a half, having jaunted through both Switzerland and France, and let me tell you, I am exhausted. Travelling is way more difficult than I thought it would be! Between catching trains, packing and repacking, and getting used to the different cities just as [...]

Packing a bag for a trip is like a long run. No matter the length of the run your last few minutes always seem to be the hardest, and no matter how early I start the packing process there is always a million things that pile on the end. For example, I am writing this [...]

“Eat dessert first, life is uncertain in Beirut.” I thought about this Lebanese motto as I sat in Queen Alia airport in Amman, nibbling on traditional Arab sweet harissa pre-dinner time. The sweets were just given to me as a gift from my friend in Jordan, whom I fortunately had the opportunity to visit with [...]

For the spring 2012 Dakar program, CIEE has set us all up with Senegalese host families in three Dakar neighborhoods, Mermoz, Sacre Coeur, and Ouakam. Everyone in the program has a different situation therefore everyone has a family situation that is also different. Typically, Senegalese families are rather large with your immediate family as well [...]