I have nothing but good things to say about the Chinese Flagship Program, and a big part of that is because it afforded me the chance to work in China. Looking back, I definitely took the opportunity for granted. Fortunately, the Nanjing team of professors and tutors...
Student Blogs
Reflection
Why Sweden?
A year ago I made the decision to intern abroad in Stockholm, Sweden. I got asked a lot, “why Sweden?” I even asked myself this question because I didn’t know much about Sweden besides the fact that I was confusing it with Switzerland. Fast forward to today, I...
Finding Myself Halfway Across the World
When we’re young, we all have places we want to visit. For some, it’s a far away land with dragons and damsels and for others maybe it’s just an amusement park with your family. My place was always a little more complex than that. From the moment I hid behind the...
Pre-Business in Siena
Hello, I am Donovan Jones, a sophomore at the University of Oregon. I am a Business Administration major with a minor in Italian Language and Culture. I studied abroad in Siena, Italy in the Spring of 2019. Coming into the UO, I knew studying abroad was one of the...
Uppsala University Exchange
I spent 1.5 years as an exchange student at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden. It was easily the most impactful and developmental experience of my entire life. Reducing the experience to words seems almost criminal. I made the best friends that I’ve ever made in...
Learning and Living in Lyon
My name is Mecca and I’m a double major in Psychology and French, with a minor in sociology. I went on the IE3 French Language Institute program in Lyon, France for Fall semester of 2018. When I first started learning French in HS, I never even considered...
Finding Serenity in Spain
Landing in the Madrid airport, it hit me that I was outside of the U.S. for the first time, that I had no idea where I was going, and that I did not know the Spanish language as well as I thought. It was the first time I had truly been pushed out of my comfort zone. A...
Revolutionary Imaginations
From Shakespeare’s Globe to the Eiffel Tower, the “Genius of Study Abroad: Revolutionary Imaginations” program took me to many iconic sites on this unforgettable, international, and interdisciplinary journey. I saw the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, walked in Charles...
Challenges in Lyon
Like most study abroad students will say, I experienced some of the most incredible and impactful months in my life while living in a foreign country for five months. From January 9, 2017 until May 31st I lived in Lyon, France. I lived with a host family while...
Panama City & Primates
Since freshman year of college I had dreamed of studying primates in the wild. Sadly, many species of primates are becoming scarcer every day. Panama is no exception. Fortunately, I was able to see monkeys and many other types of wildlife at different points during...
Overcoming Difficulties in Australia
The five months I spent studying at the Australian National University are among the most prominent months of my life thus far. From making friends, experiencing a new culture, and learning about myself, I can conclude that deciding to study abroad was one of the best...
SMALL TOWN TO THE BIG CITY → MEXICO CITY
This past fall semester I had to opportunity to study abroad in Mexico City. There I attended the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), which is the largest university in Latin America. Moving from Eugene, Oregon to Mexico City was quite the experience. I...
Service Learning in Mexico
This summer I traveled to San Cristobal de las Casas, a small city located in Chiapas, Mexico for a seven week, faculty led study abroad program. This program was undoubtedly one of the best experiences I have ever had and even two months later, I still think about it...
The Genius of Study Abroad: Revolutionary Imagination
I sit here, cramped and crowded, on the plane flying at mind-boggling speeds toward familiar oceans. The window is dark, wet with clouds turning surprisingly quickly into beautiful patterns of ice. I lay my head back and consider the time I have been away from my...
A Summer in Tokyo
I had been to Tokyo once before, but this summer I got the opportunity to return to Japan and study abroad for seven weeks at Senshu University. I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity. I learned a lot about the Japanese language, but more importantly,...
Teaching in Cambodia
Having never left the United States before, learning to live and work in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on my own was an opportunity of a life time. I have learned more about myself in the past three months than I would have ever imagined I could in my four years at the...
A Trip to Palenque
This summer I spent seven weeks in Southern Mexico on the GEO Maya Communities and Social Justice in Chiapas Study Abroad Program. For the most part we stayed in the beautiful city of San Cristobal de las Casas, but we also explored a lot more of the state of Chiapas....
Ethiopia: Past, Present & Future
It has been 11 years since I’ve stepped foot in Ethiopia, yet every day I am reminded of this country. The day I arrived in Ethiopia was one of the most exciting moments of my life. As soon as I landed and stepped out of the airport I was greeted by uncles and cousins...
California to Canada: Vancouver Study Abroad
Growing up in California is a gift and a curse. The California suburbs, much like Hollywood portrays it, is a place of manicured lawn (before the drought), friendly neighbors, and endless sunshine. Despite living in California for most of my life, I’ve never run out...
Medical Internship in Bolivia
Before going to Bolivia, my greatest anxiety was my Spanish level not being high enough. Although my first few weeks were very challenging with being able to understand and communicate with others in a different language, I am so happy I made the decision to go to a...
A Journey to The End of The Earth: Life on Rapa Nui
When my plane landed on Rapa Nui, I had already taken two classes about the island, read countless books and articles, written about 10 papers, and watched several videos and documentaries. But for all the plethora of research and information that is available about...
Rowing Across Seas
I consumed nearly 100 “kugeln” (scoops) of gelato during my 6-week study abroad trip to Vienna, Austria. While that may sound like the early stages of diabetes, it was only a small fraction of what made this trip so incredible. For most of the trip, every day...
NGOS in Southeast Asia: A Travel Blog
Our adventures began before the trip did! Those of us who arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand a bit early didn’t waste time in exploring the city. Hopping in an infamous tuk tuk we headed up the windy road to visit Wat Palad, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep Ratchwarawihan, and...
Picturesque Urbanism and Kinetic Architecture in Vancouver, BC
This Pacific Northwest adventure began after arriving in Seattle, Washington with many bikes and luggage in tow. There, we toured premier architectural offices such as Miller Hull, Mithun, and Olson Kundig. We also toured the workshops of Turner Exhibits, who...
An Unexpected Adventure in Lapland
Studying abroad was always an aspiration of mine, so once the time came for me to embark on my spring semester exchange, at Uppsala University in Sweden, I was overcome with immense excitement. I will never forget the numerous incredible people I met, who quickly...
Italy: Love at first sight
As soon as I set foot in Rome on April 11th my heart was immediately captivated, and as I continued to explore new cities and towns throughout Italy and Europe I only fell deeper in love. My program traveled around to Rome, Florence, Siena and Bologna the first 2...
Finding A Home Away From Home
Sophie and I are two public relations college students from California, studying abroad in Segovia, Spain, for three weeks in the middle of the summer. We had previously expressed concerns relating to our host mother to our program coordinator, Marian Rubio, an...
Vancouverism
Being an experienced traveler, I look forward to every opportunity that allows me to discover a new city, culture, and way of life different than my own. Not only is it refreshing to step outside of my environment, but it expands the way I look at every new city...
The Sea of Green
What better way is there to study architecture and urban planning than to explore a new city from the perspective of a bicycle? Mobile enough to get around efficiently and yet slow enough to take in new sights, sounds and smells. That’s what 17 students and myself had...
Bike City
The next place we’re stopping is a street corner in Chinatown and Professor Duff is asking, did we lose people. It’s not that our tour guides are leaving people behind on purpose so much that it doesn’t seem to occur to them that this is something that might happen....
Gaining Confidence in Chile
When I started my study abroad trip to Valdivia, Chile my Spanish speaking skills were very much under the margin of where I needed and wanted to be. I could barely put a sentence together without really thinking about what I was trying to say. When I got there I...
Ireland – The Past, Present, and Future
In the summer of 2015, I received the amazing opportunity to study abroad for two sessions through the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE). The first session was in Prague, Czech Republic and the other was in Dublin, Ireland. As it was my first time...
Summer in Kyoto: an Abundance of Belief in Adventure
Living in a 14th century Buddhist Zen temple in the heart of the incredibly culturally rich city of Kyoto was a surreal experience — sleeping on tatami mats, raking the pebbles of the gardens in the morning, eating native cuisine while sitting cross-legged in a...
Entering the Professional World
I was offered an internship at Chang’an Bank in Baoji, Shaanxi Province, China. I was supposed to rotate through their banking divisions and learn how banking is conducted in China such as help determine and provide credit ratings to banking clients and customers,...
La Vida Ecuatoriana
During my three weeks in Ecuador this summer, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to meet amazing people, see some incredible places and things, and experience a different culture firsthand. All of the memories I made in the little city of Bahia de Caraquez...
Studying in Russia
My time in Russia is hard to narrow down to a single meaningful moment or experience to do a short blurb about. I studied there for an entire school year, and having never previously left the country, I was trampled with new and foreign experiences (both good and bad)...
Exploring Nicaragua
One of the highlights of my study abroad, in Nicaragua, was my trip to the Caribbean coast. It was one of the program’s planned activities, all the students and coordinators in the group travelled to the coast. We went for a long weekend so that we could have 3 days...
A Day Just Outside Dublin
My study abroad experience was amazing, and picking just one moment to write about was hard. I studied in Dublin, Ireland at Dublin City University. The program was through CIEE and was about Irish culture. My four week stay went by in a flash, but luckily I took some...
A Weekend in the Mountains
One of the most quintessential moments which describes perfectly the amazing experience I had in Norway is the weekend cross-country skiing trip I took with the mountaineering club in November of my year abroad. I had only attempted skiing the very first time about a...
El valor de la Amistad – The Value of Friendship
My life changed in Rosario, Argentina. The outlook I have on the world, the way I approach new challenges, and my passion for traveling and understanding new cultures grew and evolved immensely. I am incredibly grateful for the support I received before, during, and...
Learning About Human Rights in Guatemala
When I left to Guatemala I only had a small idea what to expect. I hadn’t met any of my classmates that were going and I only met one of the three professors that were going to be down there too. I never questioned going down to Guatemala and I’m really glad I...
Lost in Translation
It was still the first week in Italy and I did not speak nearly as well as I do now. I wanted to do the “When In Rome” thing and try all of the local customs, as one should when studying abroad. Right outside of the CIEE building where we had just finished our first...
Culture and Changes in St. Petersburg
Moving to St. Petersburg, Russia for four months lovingly ripped me away from all I had been surrounded by while growing up in Oregon. A person’s beliefs are greatly shaped by their family, location, and culture, and I was raised with very similar beliefs to nearly...
Meeting Idols, Getting Involved
I loved everyone in our group of nine, but Adrienne has to be my favorite. Everyone was there in London to learn more about theater costuming and historical clothing, but Adrienne and I were passionate about the subject in serious way. At least once we both threw...
Making New Friends and Family in Buenos Aires
Life is full of contradictions. I knew that my experience in Buenos Aires would push me to be more independent, but I never guessed that I would gain a new family and a network of relationships that would teach me about the importance of trusting and depending on...
Studying (and Dreaming) Abroad in Australia
My study abroad in Melbourne, Australia was a life changing experience that I will never forget. I attended La Trobe University, which was located in a suburb called Bundoora around 45 minutes away from the city. One of the highlights of my study abroad experience...
Finding Fantasies in London
Like many of the students on the Fantasy on the Fringe program, I grew up with Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. They were my friends and they were my heroes. J.K. Rowling’s novels were some of the first fantasy books I read on my own and were one of...
So Much To See, So Little Time!
As part of our curriculum, our class participated in many excursions around the UK. We got to visit some of the most beautiful and popular museums in London, as well as many less well-known attractions. One highlight for me was seeing A Mid Summer Night’s Dream in the...
Learning Spanish as a Life Skill
During my study abroad experience in Mexico I made an effort to travel to various cities outside of my homestay in order to get a feel for life in a variety of locales. One of these trips was a weekend in which my father and I (he had flown down to visit me and see...
Improving public health practices in India
This past summer I had the amazing opportunity to study public health and traditional medicine throughout northern India. Each day was a unique adventure, filled with people and places worth sharing and many valuable learning experiences. However one of the most...
Living large in Geneva
I chose to do this program in Geneva with the sincere intent of figuring out some future career plan and really exploring work possibilities. I have spent most of my time at college enjoying the learning process but not having any serious direction. Last year I became...
Learning through exploring in Barcelona
The program that I attended during my time last summer in Barcelona, Spain was an immersive 7 credit urban design and media course. It was an intense 6 week experience that combined architectural drawing and media with history of urban design, and culminated in a 2...
“Health is Important: I’m not Kidneying”
You can’t plan for everything. It was the final week of classes and I was working on my final papers for my political and arts journalism courses. I hadn’t been feeling too well, but I didn’t think much of it. I convinced myself that I wasn’t feeling well...
Reimagining Rome
Early spring I was not going to be able to have the chance to study abroad because of financial reasons. I ended up being encouraged by my intern supervisor to enjoy the chances of studying abroad before graduating and starting a family. I ended up talking to my...
Designing in Denmark
The greatest highlight of my time in Copenhagen, Denmark was designing and building a veneer chair with the most skilled craftsmen and teachers in Scandinavia. Part of this course with the Danish Institute for Study Abroad involved a study tour to Sweden and Finland...
Building a future in Vancouver
Before attending graduate school, I worked as a fabricator at a custom kinetic architecture design/build shop. One spring morning, a group of University of Oregon architecture students visited the shop as a part of the Vancouver Program led by Stephen Duff. The reason...
Vicenza: Che Bella Citta
Vicenza isn’t among the top tourist destinations in Italy, and I enjoy that. Vicenza feels authentic and real. In Vicenza, I am greeted by “Buongiorno” or “Salve”, not “Hello.” Paying and waiting in lines is not required to experience Vicenza, yet there is still...
Food, Family, and Eating Ethically in Italy
My time in Macerata, Italy is most strongly characterized by the food I ate—fitting, since I was studying food, culture, and the environmental and ethical dilemmas associated with them. My fondest memories are not only because of the culture and history behind the...
Learning from Queretaro
I had the most amazing time in Mexico. Studying abroad was strenuous and exhausting, exciting, fun and overwhelming. I think the hardest part was transitioning from normal life into this foreign school with strangers; the other students from Oregon were great, but it...
Working and Learning in Buenos Aires
Today was the day that I realized why I came to Argentina. And it didn’t have to be unbelievably adventurous! I started off the day waking up to breakfast after sleeping in. After a quick shower, I repeated my routine of checking my e-mail, reading the news,...
Studying (and seeing!) Shakespeare in Stratford
As the time has passed since my trip to London ended, I look back on the whole experience with nothing but fondness and a little bit of sadness at the realization in is over. My time in London taught me independence, team building, and helped me to explore and...
An Excursion to Rome
As a student of architecture, the opportunity to study in Rome was invaluable. To be able to see firsthand the art and architecture created long before our country even existed was an incredible experience. Though it is difficult to narrow down what the most...
A Trip to Avebury and Stonehenge
I am so fortunate to have been given the opportunity to spend my final term as a University of Oregon student overseas in London. It has been an absolute treat for my soul to witness all the many visually striking sights, along with the fantastical performances taken...
Adjusting to Amman
One of the biggest challenges I faced while studying abroad was living within a new culture and, in particular, living with a Jordanian family. Living in a Jordanian household accentuated my culture shock and the need to quickly adjust to a new culture. However, in...
My Most Memorable Class
My study abroad experience in Siena was, for lack of a less cliché description, life-changing. The Tuscan landscape was indescribably beautiful. The friends, both American and Italian, were some of the most genuine people I’ve ever encountered. The food was...
How to be Okay Abroad
The most significant learning experience for me was traveling alone during el puente, the ten days off before finals exams and departure. I looked towards this as a different kind of final test. I wasn’t being asked to regurgitate numerous facts that somebody...
Queretaro: Learning to Live Another Life
I believe the most significant learning experience I had abroad was connecting to the people around me. I had the wonderful opportunity to uproot myself from one culture and start over in another. This was the main struggle I experienced in my new surroundings abroad...
Week One in Hong Kong
Seemingly mere seconds, this past week, teeming with adventures in multiple domains, concluded with peaceful hike up the hill overlooking the cityscape. Throughout the week, twelve groups studied various sites through macro/micro scales in order to understand the...
Learning and Living in Lecce
Nearly every day presented something new for me to do and I loved the sense of adventure and opportunity to learn about a completely different culture. There is no one memory that sticks out further than all of the others; my entire experience in Lecce, Italy was...
Gaining Confidence Through Study Abroad
I must admit, I have never been confident about my own abilities and potential at any point, and I am not sure I ever truly will be. The option of studying abroad was something I had always put off, coming up with reasons for looking into it next term, or next year. I...
Pasta and Passion in Macerata
The Italian culture and lifestyle would be nothing without the people of Italy. The rolling green hilly landscape and amazing delectable cuisine full of handmade pasta and gelato help-but the Italian people themselves are truly special. Stereotypically Italians are...
The Value of Adventuring
One of my favorite experiences in Vancouver occurred on the first weekend! I love hiking and exploring the outdoors so I did a lot of research before the trip on the best hiking spots in the Vancouver area. This allowed me to waste less time looking up the information...