Tag Archives: introduction

Finishing the Semester

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hello!

i’m finishing up the spring 2010 semester here at Penn State, University Park and getting ready to head abroad to Puebla, Mexico this summer.  i’m really excited about my trip, and about studying in such a beautiful country.  i’ve never been to mexico before either, so i’m sure i’ll be learning all kinds of new things every day.

i’m a junior film-video major here at UP, so i’m hoping to take at least a still camera to capture some of the sights in all of the various locations i’ll be visiting.  in addition to living in Puebla and attending a local university there, i’ll also be going on alot of field trips to a variety of culture sites and cities in Mexico, and i’m excited to share my experiences of those too.

for now though, i’m really focused on finishing up the spring semester here and getting packed for Mexico (especially since i’m going on a roadtrip to Providence, RI next weekend before i leave!)

can’t wait to come back here and keep you all updated about my progress!!  🙂


Location: University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802, United States

Introduction

Bonjour 🙂

My name is Aarti and I’m a sophomore at Penn State. I’m majoring in Supply Chain and minoring in French and International Business. I’m studying abroad in Rouen, France for the fall semester of 2010.

Rouen is about an hour west from Paris (I used Paris as a guideline because this seems to be the only place everyone knows in France), and it is a charming little town, forever enshrined as the place where Joan of Arc was burnt in 1431. Having analysed and read Joan of Arc several thousand times for IB English in high school definitely makes this an interesting point of reference, and I can’t wait to explore the cathedrals and old buildings that still exist in Rouen.

Besides living in another country (this will be my third, since I am an international student from India), I’m looking forward to immersing myself in French culture. I’ve taken French lessons for the past 7 or 8 years and it’s a bit tragic that I still choke sometimes while having an actual conversation with someone, especially if their language skills are clearly far more superior than my own. So, my main objective while studying abroad in France is to achieve fluency and gain more confidence in speaking the language without any inhibitions.

I am also excited to travel all over Europe on my own and with my friends (thank you, Schengen visa), since all my previous travels have been with my family. This will effectively be the first time I’m traveling abroad by myself (I don’t count coming to Penn State under traveling abroad since there wasn’t a language barrier and it wasn’t a significant culture shock for me) and I’m a bit apprehensive, but mostly just super excited.

More to follow as we come closer to crunch time!


Location: Penn State University

Hello!

My name is Colleen, I’m from Babylon, NY and I am studying abroad in Madrid, Spain during the Fall.  I’m currently a sophomore at Penn State, majoring in biobehavioral health and minoring in Spanish.
I’m excited to experience the Spanish culture and to hopefully become proficient in the language! I look forward to making new friends and traveling to different countries throughout Europe, I can’t wait to get on the plane!


Location: Babylon, New York

A little bit of info…

Hi everyone. My name is Megan Albright and on May 17th (can’t believe that’s in less than one month!) I’ll be traveling abroad to Prague, in the Czech Republic for one week. This past semester, I’ve been enrolled in COMM410 -International Mass Communications- here in State College, PA. I’ll be traveling to Prague with three other students from the class, one of the course’s teaching assistants, and the course professor. My trip abroad is part of a new embedded program with the COMM410 course which is being kicked off with our group! Words can’t describe my excitement to experience life outside of the United States (I’ve only ever left the country to go to Canada) and I’m looking forward to sharing many of my experiences with everyone via geoblogging!


Location: University Park, State College

Hey All!

  If you don’t know me, my name is Lauren and I am from Allentown, Pennsylvania.  This June (June 2010), I will be going to Tokyo, Japan.  In Japan, I will be taking a language intensive Japanese class.  No, I’m not a Japanese major – I am actually an accounting major.  However, I would like to obtain a minor in Japanese and International Business.  What I am hoping is that this trip to Japan is only the beginning of my travels! 

Speaking of this trip, it was a lot of work getting all the paper work done to apply and, not only that but, getting all the paperwork done after I was accepted!  As anxious as I am right now, I know it was all worth it.  I met with some other students from Penn State who will be going to Tokyo with me which really helped me out.  I am actually going to be flying from New York to Tokyo with one of the students I met, Brian.  I’m glad I don’t have to fly all that way alone.  I have flown tons of times, but the airport was a sort of dazed experience for me – I just let the other people in my party tell me where to go.  Advice for you… pay attention next time your in the airport, it might come in handy when you fly solo!  Haha. I hope I can figure out where to go and what to do and make it through security!  Packing is sure to be interesting….

That’s all for now!  A little more than a month before I leave for Japan!  To be continued…. ^_^


Location: State College, Pennsylvania

Introduction – Study Abroad in Tokyo, Japan!

Hey guys! I’ll start off this blog with an introductory entry.

My name is Xue Wei Zhang but everyone calls me Davy. I’ll be studying abroad in Japan in Fall of 2010! I got accepted into the Tokyo, Japan: Society & Culture program. The host university will be Kanda University. I have been looking forward to going to Japan and learning about its language and culture, and this is a dream come true.

There are so many things to do before I can fly to Japan! I have multiple forms to fill out and turn in. I’ll also have to get the visa. I think I have until June 1st to get everything turned in, so as the semester’s over I will begin to take care of all these forms.

There is only one thing I really worried about (well, maybe two). Studying abroad in Japan is VERY expensive. I’m fortunate to have receive some fundings, but it is still not enough! So that’s why I have been applying to scholarships and waiting on their response. Anyway, the second thing I worry about is my experience there. I don’t really know what to expect, and plus, my Japanese isn’t that great! I only took two semesters of Japanese and I haven’t been practicing! So I’m not too confident about my speaking skills (I guess I’ll be practicing Japanese in the summer!). But then again, I have always heard about people who go to a new country and pick up the language fairly quickly…so I’m hoping it’d be the same for me as well.

Anyhow, I won’t keep talking about boring stuff. Hopefully, I will be able to post about some really really really interesting stuff about Japan.

See you next time!


Location: University Park, Pennsylvania

The Beginnings

Well here I am, creating my second blog ever (well my third, but trust me, the first really doesn’t count). I give the credit to Penn State’s technological enthusiasm.

I’m participating in the month-long Landscape Archaeology program led by Penn State professor Dr. Ann Killebrew.  (Here’s the link to the program website.)

I will be taking two courses – Landscape Archaeology and GIS for Archaeologists. It goes without saying that I’m excited – I’m going to experience things I, at this point, can’t even begin to describe.  Though we will be spending the bulk of our time in Hatay, Turkey (a town on the Cilician Plain), where we will be taking part in intensive archaeological surveying projects, we will kick off our international adventure in Istanbul!

As for me – here’s a few quick facts:
Name: Jill Armington
Hometown: Springfield, Pennsylvania (five minutes outside of Philadelphia)
Year: Freshman
Major: Anthropology (with hopes of tacking on another major in Sociology, and then perhaps minors in Chinese and International Studies…my eyes might be bigger than my stomach though, but as you can see, I’d love to do everything.)

Not only am I obviously psyched to head off to exotic places this summer, but I’m actually really excited to have this high-tech journal to document my adventures.  Last summer I went to Ghana, but all I have to show for my memories are thousands of photos and a water-logged journal with blurry writing that was obviously penned on bumpy dirt roads.  This way seems more reliable. 

Stay tuned!


Location: State College, PA 16804

In for an exciting summer

Hey everyone!

My name is Abby and I am just finishing up my third year in Penn State’s Landscape Architecture program.Time is flying by and I will be studying the landscape of Tanzania in less than a month! This will be my first experience away from the North American continent, but I think will be a awesome experience for me. I have finally received the flight information today and 13 hours on a plane is sounding like it may be a little difficult–lots of movies? I guess I will consider it time to relax from the rush of the end of the semester and getting ready for the trip.

I know most of the crew I am going with pretty well– most of them fellow LArchies. It will be good to spend some time with them seeing that I will be off to Rome in the fall with half of our class, and they will be there in the spring. It will be weird to not see them for an entire year when we spend a lot of everyday together now (work, live, play..one big semi-dysfunctional, but happy family 🙂 love you all). However, I am also excited to get to start new friendships with the rest of the group and know we will all get the experience of a lifetime out of this. I am also anxious to compare my experience in Tanzania to that in Rome– to wayyy different types of culture shock to come as well as many many photos (I will try and restrain myself).

Until next time,
Abby


Location: State College, PA

A Quick Intro…

Hey everyone!

My name is Shuvya Arakali and I’m a sophomore at Penn State.  This summer I’m going to Florence, Italy for 6 weeks.  It’s a program that will be held at the Palazzo Rucellai Institute in Florence.  I’m hoping to fullfill some gened requirements like arts and humanities.  What better place to study art and history than at the birth place of the Renaissance?  I cannot wait to experience the amazing italian cuisine, travel throughout the beautiful cities of Tuscany, and learn more about the Italian culture.  I am excited but still a little nervous about being on my own in a foreign country. Even though past program participants told me that most Italians know English, I’m still trying to learn a little Italian- who knows, it may come in handy.  I just hope the volcanic ash clears by May…

Thats all for now! 


Location: University Park, Pennsylvania

Hello, Hello

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My name is Sam (short for Samantha) and I’m a 19 year old college student at Penn State studying finance and international business. This coming year I’ll be studying abroad at the University of Leeds in Leeds, England. I’m extremely excited for this upcoming experience and will be using this blog to document my time there and my time spent traveling throughout Europe.

A little more about who I am, though. First off, I’m a rather introverted person, but I’m friendly and love to meet new people. Sarcasm is my one and only flavor, so try to remember that while reading most of my entries. Sometimes I come off as a bit cynical, but that’s only because I am. I have an incurable movie/film addiction, which you will realize all too soon. I also thoroughly enjoy writing, reading and music. Traveling is, obviously, very important to me and I am always incredibly excited to visit a new place…or even to revisit a place.

Going abroad means leaving behind my family and friends, but the internet makes that an easy task to overcome. I have a younger brother, Nick (18), and a younger sister, Jessica (13), as well as my mom and dad. My 3 cats are part of my family, too, and I will miss them even more than when I’m just away at school. Of course, I will miss all of my friends, but with Facebook I’m not too concerned. My best friend, Anna, will be in Spain in the spring so I’m very excited to get to visit her!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my blog and I’ll try not to make every entry this long and boring.


Location: horseheads, ny