Amherst College Global Education Blog
After spending over two months in Austria and being more than halfway through my study abroad experience, I thought it’d be fitting to describe some of the social norms in Austrian and Viennese society more broadly. The main underlying theme seems to be efficiency—though Austrians claim to be the most “laid-back” of German-speaking countries, and while the stereotype of precise
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While great pressure lies upon most United States college students to join extracurricular activities (and seek leadership roles in these organizations), the expectation for students at Oxford to participate in clubs and societies does not exist to nearly the same extent. Because of this difference, people seem to genuinely enjoy the activities that they pursue outside of academics at Oxford. This
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Though British food has not always been held in the highest esteem, I have not found this reputation to bear much truth. As a vegetarian, I have found it relatively easy to eat in restaurants and at the Oxford dining hall and shop at grocery stores. In 2012, two percent of Britons were vegetarian and less than one percent was vegan (which
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After neglecting to fully dive into the art and music that flourishes in the cultural city of Vienna, the time has come. The arts are simply huge here. Austria spends more money on the arts than its military. In 2015 Vienna alone allocated 231 million euros to the arts, while the entire country of the U.S. allocated 146 million dollars.
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While I expected to experience many cultural differences in the United Kingdom, Britain’s distinctive culture has continued to shock me since flying over the Atlantic. During my first night in London, I witnessed several inebriated friends wrestling on the street as well as a group of men gleefully cursing at one another right outside an upscale hotel. While these people might have been non-British
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My decision to study abroad in Latin America came from a desire for a challenge, my love for Spanish, and the need for something new. I took an intermediate Spanish class at Amherst my first semester of college, and waited until the spring semester of my sophomore year to continue with the language. Recently, I began to see study abroad
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After just passing the benchmark one month mark of living in Vienna, I can already say the notion of home has been cropping up and evolving frequently. The first few weeks I was here, and even now I constantly mentally compare the smallest minutiae of everyday life to what it would be like back in Massachusetts or California. I recently
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As I continue to take in my new life in Mendoza, I am dedicating this blog post to exploring the nature and treasures of Argentine cuisine. Since arriving, my taste buds have adjusted to new mealtimes and styles. Compared to meals in the United States, breakfasts are quite light, lunches are heavy, and dinners are optional. Pancakes and eggs at
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oniiMdEkmfA
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After arriving in Austria, the first thing I noticed was the similarity between lives here and in the U.S. Despite being halfway across the globe, everyday life here appears to be much the same. In the apartment above mine, a family goes about their daily routine just as an American family would; I wake up in the morning to the
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