International Business Institute

International Business Institute The summer after my sophomore year of college I joined 43 other university students on an academic journey around the world. Representing 10 different schools, we spent our time completing four upper division college courses, touring a variety of multinational company headquarters, visiting governmental agencies & embassies, and exploring some of the…

Dominican Republic

Some of the most rewarding travel experiences thus far in my life have been the repeat trips to the Dominican Republic. For two years, at six-month intervals, I flew out to Pennsylvania to join a church volunteer group to travel to Rancho Arriba, a small village tucked into a valley of one of the south-central…

Kazakhstan | 2013

Kazakhstan was the first of my two study trips during my master’s program. The largest of all the “-stan” countries, Kazakhstan is tucked between Russia, Mongolia, and China and the culture definitely reflects the geographical intersection through the diversity of languages, body characteristics, geo-political orientations, transportation, architecture, and food & drink. As a small group…

Morocco | 2014

Forgoing the opportunity to visit home after seven months abroad, I signed up for another study trip (the first being to Kazakhstan for fall break) for the first week of spring break during my master’s program. On a rainy February day in Paris, twelve students & my program director boarded a plane for a nine-day…

Australia | 2012

If travel pictures aren’t posted on social media sites, does that mean the trip didn’t happen? That is how I sometimes feel about my Australian adventure from a few summer ago.  I am not sure why, but I never managed to post any pictures of this particular travel experience. A small group of students from my undergraduate university spent…

Airplane blankets & family photos

I am a natural introvert and I recharge my energy through solitude. Solitude is not necessarily about being lonely; although I freely admit that I spent many hours and many days feeling lonely when I lived in Paris for a yearlong master’s program. To me, solitude is about finding stillness and a sense of peace…