Amherst College Global Education Blog
Every blunder in French is either blasphemous or sexually inappropriate. During the monotonous 40-minute shuttle to Marseille, I always keep my eyes peeled for a stretch of graffiti that reads “Christ est mort pour nos peches” – “Jesus died for our peaches.” In the split second the writing is in sight, I steady my phone and snapchat a picture to every French
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In the months leading up to my departure for Taipei, I began browsing the weekly billboards of Taiwan for their top 100 songs. I was ashamed, as a Taiwanese-American, to have neglected to integrate more Taiwanese/Taiwanese-American repertoire into my musical tastes. My exposure to Asian/Asian-American music had been limited to the ballads that my parents played in my childhood, the
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Apologies for the late update! In East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, a town with a population of ~16,000, you need a car to get anywhere, community events are huge ordeals, and nightlife isn’t really a thing. Growing up, I certainly didn’t have a problem with this; I wasn’t itching to throw myself out into the world, accustomed to the stability of suburbia.
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My last blog post feels like so long ago that I barely remember writing it. It has only been a month or so since then, but big things have happened here: my mom came to visit me, I went on three trips (including one by myself), I competed in a swim meet, Thanksgiving happened, I realized I’ve been dehydrated the
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I will admit: having family in my host country has its undeniable perks. Even if spending the weekend with family often means sacrificing homework time, I consider it justifiable procrastination. Being around familiar faces, voices, and laughter makes the long bus rides worth it. With a strawberry ice cream cream puff in one hand, I’ll use my other hand and
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It’s about halfway into the semester, and I’m here finally trying to reflect on what impact the time away has had on me. It’s funny, because even though I know sitting down and committing to reflection is good for understanding myself, I rarely do it. Dissecting experiences and categorizing the bits and pieces into different aspects of one’s identity is
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Today, I’m 46 days into my fall semester, 63 days into living in Cádiz, Spain, and 78 days into study abroad. Finally, I feel like I’ve moved into the in-the-swing-of-things stage. There are a couple reasons why it took me so long, but a lot of it has to do with the structure of my program. When we arrived in
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The first advice to someone who has never visited France should be to never say no when someone offers cheese. Gastronomical reasons aside, cheese symbolizes something more important – a something well-conveyed to me during my first dinner with my host family. “Harith, would you like to try a little bit of cheese?” asked my host-mother, extending an entire unopened
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As we turn the corner from this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, I spent some time reminiscing about the last year’s celebration at Amherst. I briefly retold the legend behind the important celebration in Asia, and ate mooncakes while moon-gazing with Dorit Song, one of my closest friends and Her Campus contributor/Instagram Social Media Manager. With Dorit in Switzerland and Amherst so
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Everything in Cádiz is beautiful and walkable. From my apartment, where I live with a host family of four – Bibi, Jorge, and their children Paula and Guille – I walk 2 minutes to the nearest plaza, where I often meet an American friend in my program who lives nearby. I walk 10 minutes to school, where I’m currently taking
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