Amherst College Global Education Blog
Kia ora! My name is Marc Daalder, and I’m studying this semester in Wellington, New Zealand. At Amherst I’m a Class of 2018 History major, and at Victoria University of Wellington I’ll be taking a mixture of History and Political Science courses, while also involving myself in the local journalism and activism scenes. Although I’ve lived internationally
Read more
Hi! I’m Tasha, a junior Environmental Studies major and current exchange student at Yale-NUS, which is a small liberal arts college (much like Amherst) in Singapore. I am spending my time here taking classes on environmental policy, climate change, and urban studies. I’m excited to learn more about the implications of urban planning and cultural diversity in
Read more
“A realistic goal for the semester is to make one good French friend.” I scoffed then. It was early September, during orientation for my study abroad program in Bordeaux. Confined to the stuffy university classroom, I was antsy. I longed to begin the experience already, to be free from the long hours of powerpoint presentations and overwhelming logistics. I had
Read more
Moscow is lit for NYE. Going to Europe and the States for Christmas is overrated. Go to Russia for New Year’s instead. I’ve been at my grandparents’ in Moscow for the past few weeks, and before that, traveling with family around Germany around Christmas. I’ve been relaxing, talking with family, celebrating the New Year with traditional extravagant Russian festivities. This
Read more
I write now a little less than a month before my flight home. It’s at this point in my stay that, when spending time with our now close-knit group of friends, someone occasionally mentions that we have less than four weeks together before we all part ways. Then someone else tells that person to shut up. At this point, I’m
Read more
PRECURSOR: I do not talk about Russian typical food. You know what I mean: borscht (beet soup), blinchiki (pancakes/crepes), olivier salad (it’s a mess to describe), katleti (meatballs), etc etc. I’m not talking about kitsch – I’m talking about experiences. Food is so important in Russia – so so so important, as any food is pertinent to any culture. While
Read more
Saint Petersburg acted as the capital the country for 2 centuries, where aristocracy full of military and government officials did their jobs and flirted at balls, and artists and musicians all flocked there too. Best international talents also coursed there at the request of the aristocracy stuck in this swamp and needing some beauty – the designers of SPb were
Read more
(Places I visited before the episode in this post happened. Paris really is a beautiful and enlightening city to live. All my thoughts and experiences below are very personal, and can be different from what most other people have felt here.) Ni hao? Korean? Annyounghaseyo? Yeppuyo! said the guy standing behind the
Read more
When I first started my Sustainability program at the Siena School, I was told that, when talking to Italians, saying that I just studied ‘sustainability’ would not be sufficient. Sostenibilita in Italian is much less a coherent concept than it is in English, which is saying something. Usually I introduce it as agricultura sostenibile, but even that still gets some confused
Read more
During the 20-minute break in my 3-hour Soviet Cinema class, I catch Professor Dvinatina for a quick question. After a couple minutes of discussion about how well Petersburg About Love (2016) captures the state of the modern Russian film industry, she elegantly responds, “Dasha, it’s lovely to talk to you, but I really need to smoke right now.” Which is
Read more