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| This is me at the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. I spent my 4th of July in Ireland after finding a cheap flight Friday morning and by noon the same day I was in the air. While it is important to plan trips sometimes a sense of adventure is simply more fun. I spent the weekend with a friend in Dublin but decided to take a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher. Never in my life have I seen more birds. Also, be careful combining the Guinness with the Cliffs. Hunter DeSena 🇮🇪 @hunterdesena Senior |
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I do believe the best aspect of Japan is not the food, buildings, or its convenience store (although I love all those, especially the convenience stores), the people are the best part. This is a picture of the last week I spent in Japan, and I planned out holding this event by inviting as many people as I could. However, I did not expect how many people would come to this, or even how many people I met during my time here. This was an incredibly fun event, we held it at our dorm, and everyone chipped in to order Dominos and KFC. We did not do anything special, just hung out and talked to each other (even though we ended up having a dance off). I think this was the best part about studying abroad in Japan, I made so many friends from all over the US and the rest of the world. I cannot wait to one day go back to Japan and meet up with all my friends. This is the part I really do miss (and the convenience stores). Nick Pitts 🇯🇵 Senior #ScotsAbroad #MCScotsAbroad #LookingForward #LookingBack #StudyJapan #Japan #StudyAbroad #languageANDculture #StudyJapanese |
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| I had the wonderful privilege of traveling to Greece with MC’s own Irene Guerinot. Irene is from Greece originally and having her along made the experience so much more valuable. Not only were we witnessing another culture first hand, we had someone with us at all times to explain the culture and compare it to our own. This trip challenged me to step out of my comfort zone. I met people i would’ve never talked to at school, i tried foods i never would’ve tried at home, and i got to explore a more relaxed and carefree version of myself that i’m not used to being. I came home a person much more willing to lean into the unfamiliar and allow it to take me wherever it decides. My travel study to Greece was certainly an invaluable experience. Veronica Ross 🇬🇷 @veronicashelby_ Senior |
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| Most people will never have the opportunity to live abroad. Even fewer will have had the opportunity to live and study as a local. Being a tourist and an exchange student aren’t synonymous opportunities. Tourists see what’s on the surface. They come, they see, they buy, they leave. Exchange students see what’s on the surface, but they get a unique glimpse of what’s hiding underneath. We can read as many books about a country’s history as we want, read all their literature, know every author by name, but they’re all just names and stories without context; a context that only comes from being immersed in the society from which those things emerged. When you see graffiti depicting fallen leaders who resisted a dictatorship and became a hero to their people, it becomes real. When you step inside the home of a famed poet who loved his country and his people so much that he spoke out for them, protested for them, and died for them; it becomes real.When you hear the grumblings of aging, pro-fascist citizens and the rebellions of their democratically motivated youth, it becomes real. By just sitting on the train, commuting to the city, surrounded by incredibly hardworking, loving people, it becomes real. I’m eternally grateful for my study abroad experience because out of everything that I learned while I was there, academically, socially, or otherwise, it gifted me this irreplaceable experience of living in the shoes and the life of someone else. A rare gift, that I will forever cherish. Allison Spurlock, PUCV, Chile Senior |