My name is Katie Blomkvist and I studied abroad in Strasbourg, France in the fall 2021. I am majoring in Public Health and Policy Studies and am graduating in Spring 2023. During my time in Strasbourg, I was an intern at the Council of Europe International Co-operation Group on Drugs and Addictions.
I chose to study in Strasbourg because of the closeness to many governmental buildings and the opportunities that Syracuse was able to provide for me with internship opportunities. In addition, I took four years of French in high school, which allowed for a smoother adjustment to the new language. Choosing a location with a language other than English was important to me because I wanted to challenge myself with learning a language.
My favorite course that I took was titled Conflicts of Religion in Contemporary Europe with Professor Samim Akgönül. I really enjoyed this class because I did not have much knowledge of many religions. I was not raised in a religious family, so I was really able to absorb a lot of knowledge. We had the opportunity to go on multiple trips to different religious buildings around the city, going to places I likely would not have visited without taking the class.
The Strasbourg Center had organized trips and activities for us to attend through the entire semester. With the school, I visited nine museums in Paris, dozens of waterfalls from glaciers throughout Switzerland, and Alsatian vineyards in the country. Partaking in these activities and trips was a way to connect with the other students in the program and to experience new cultures. On these trips, we were able to try traditional foods and drinks of the areas we visited. Eating crepes in Paris, fondue in Switzerland, and wine in the Alsatian vineyards was such a fun and unique experience!
During my internship with the Council of Europe, I worked within the Pompidou Group on drugs and addictions. I had various tasks through my semester, many of them not relating to one another, so I was able to learn about many different topics. I was exposed to topics that I had never learned before or had any knowledge of. Although my internship was almost entirely virtual, I had a very good experience and made many connections at the Council of Europe!
I was able to do a lot of traveling on the weekends in France, Germany, and Switzerland. One of my favorite experiences was during our fall break. A small group of friends and I traveled all along the South of France for our 10-day break. We started in Nice, went to Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, and ended in Bordeaux. The four of us were hopping on trains almost every other day, visiting museums, watching the sunset over the Mediterranean Sea, and eating the most delicious foods. These 10 days were extremely long and tiring, but I had the most wonderful time seeing the most beautiful and historic cities. We all agreed that we learned and grew a lot from our time on our trip. None of us had been on a long trip in a different country on our own, so planning the trip was a first for all of us. We learned to give and take and get along with each other. We were constantly being pushed out of our comfort zones and enjoyed every second of it.
In Strasbourg, all students live with a host family. In my family, I lived with my two host parents, Isabelle and Jerome. They have three children who are grown and out of the house but come to visit frequently. I had a very positive experience with my family. They helped me to improve my French and made me feel at home even when family was so far away. We would eat dinner together every weeknight and talk about how our day went. My parents and sisters came to visit me while I was away, and Isabelle and Jerome invited them to come over for dinner because they wanted to meet them. They were very kind and welcoming! My host family lived very close to a bus stop that I would take to school every day. The public transportation in Strasbourg, although intimidating at first, is very easy to use. There are buses and trams that you can take within the city and out to the suburbs as well.
I definitely got bit by the travel bug while I was in Strasbourg. Ever since coming home to the United States, all I can think about is when I’ll be able to go back to Europe. Studying abroad was a life-changing experience and I am so glad that I decided to take the risk of traveling during the Covid pandemic. I am so thankful for the memories I have made and the people I met. I can confidently say that I have learned just as much about myself as I have about my host country.
Katie Blomkvist ’23
Syracuse Strasbourg ’21
¡Hola! I am Victoria Amado, a junior studying Policy Studies, Information Management & Technology, and Spanish Language, Literature & Culture. I will be graduating in the spring of 2023, and I had the pleasure of studying abroad in the fall 2021 semester in Madrid, Spain. To say it has changed my life would be the understatement of the century.
One of the things that are most important to me in life is dancing. While abroad, I knew I wanted to continue my training and learn new styles from the professionals in Madrid. Anxiously walking into a dance class in a new city was one of the scariest things I did abroad, but also the most rewarding. I ended up finding my home away from home, taking 2-3 classes a week from different Spanish choreographers, and loving every minute of it.
Hi – my name is Karen and during the summer of 2019, I spent my time interning at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The Council is an intergovernmental organization with 47 member states, working to promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law within its jurisdiction and beyond. As I am working toward master’s degrees in both Public Administration and International Relations, this presented an opportunity for me to gain insight into both my areas of interest simultaneously. I had my office in the Agora building, which not only gave me great access to my team members and other interns, but also provided for a very interesting work environment overall.
My assignments were focused on various research projects relating to human rights, with the main emphasis being on environmental issues as these impact, and are impacted by, human rights. I also wrote speech drafts, proofread documents to be sent out and published, and took notes at different meetings. The most valuable experience for me during my internship, however, was the opportunity to experience how the organization functions. It was important to my supervisor that I get as much out of my experience as possible, which led to her encouraging me to attend different plenary meetings, sessions, and voting procedures. These areas were not directly relevant to my work per se, so I was not required to take notes and work during that time but was encouraged to just attend and take in the experience. Through these instances I also got the opportunity to network and socialize with relevant actors from my field during breaks and lunches, which gave me much insight into the world of international relations and thus complimented knowledge gained from the classroom.
My name is Levi Heath! I am an MAIR student and during summer 2021, I participated in three courses through the 
When studying abroad in Madrid, Spain some of my favorite experiences involved learning about and exploring different cultures within the context of another country. My name is Whitney Welbaum and I am graduating in December 2022. I am majoring in public relations with minors in Spanish and cultural anthropology. I chose to participate in the Madrid Summer Session 2021 to improve my language skills and to learn more about Spanish culture. What I did not expect was to also be able to experience the diversity of different groups of people also living in Madrid from other countries and cultures.
I first learned about the Lavapies neighborhood in my Spanish language and culture class. Lavapies is known as the multicultural neighborhood in Madrid, where you can find people from diverse backgrounds all living in the same area. In my class, we learned about the diversity present in Spain as well as the issues that come up during cross-cultural exchanges. My studies really helped open my eyes to the depth of cultural identities in Spain and how diverse cultures functioned in different contexts. I was also able to explore my own identity as a biracial person, I found it exciting to learn about Chinese communities living in Spain. Exploring my own identity and finding communities that I could directly relate to was a truly enriching and comforting experience.
Some of my favorite memories from my time in Spain are from exploring Lavapies. There were days where I would just wander the streets and alleyways of the neighborhood, stopping by shops that caught my eye. I was able to practice my Spanish with the shop owners while also learning about local artisans. Lavapies was also one of my favorite places to eat lunch or dinner, there was a wide variety of international foods to choose from. I was able to sample Indian, Greek, Japanese, and other international cuisines. I look forward to when I can visit the neighborhood again in the future, it is the type of place that I feel like I can constantly learn more from.
Hi! My name is Ezra James Capiral, and I studied abroad in London during the Spring 2020 semester. I’m a Television, Radio & Film major and will be graduating in Spring 2021. My time abroad was nothing short of life-changing. I seriously cannot think of another adjective to describe it, because that word so accurately describes my experience. Even though I was only abroad for a couple of weeks, and was cut short due to the virus outbreak, I made the most of my time abroad and do not regret the time I chose to do so.
Living on my own with no meal plan meant having to buy my own groceries and cook for myself, which in turn would also save money since eating out every day would not be within my budget. Taking public transportation every day to get to class and simply get around London was something I had to learn as well but after only a week or so, the Tube proved very easy to navigate.
In terms of academics, I can definitely say I was the most invested in my classes abroad than I have been throughout my time at SU. What I enjoyed most about my course schedule is the fact that at least half of the classes require you to venture outside the classroom, thus allowing learning through cultural immersion and exploration. While some of these field trips were led by the professor, a lot of them actually required you to travel on your own time, gather the information that you learn, and then report to the classroom the next day about your findings. Each day, and each week, I was constantly inspired by the academic material, and how interactive learning was highly encouraged through personal exploration and engaging conversations inside and outside the classroom.
Ciao, my name is John Mazza! I am a junior civil engineering major and studied abroad in Florence in the spring of 2020. The beginning of my abroad experience was incredible because I participated in the 
¡Hola! My name is Miranda Carlo, I am a junior at Syracuse University, majoring in International Relations and I will be graduating in the fall of 2021 semester. I studied abroad during my spring semester of 2020 in a Syracuse Abroad program in Santiago, Chile. I always knew, since high school, that I wanted to study abroad and that is one of the reasons why I chose Syracuse University. After I researched the different programs that Syracuse offers, I was between the World Partner program in Brazil and the Syracuse abroad program in Chile. I was debating between these two because I knew I wanted to go to South America, but the Chile program is completely taught in Spanish and Brazil is in English. I was extremely nervous and not confident at all with my Spanish, but I ultimately chose Chile because I really wanted to learn the language. In addition, this program has many other cool aspects such as the Signature Seminar and the Cuenca Immersion program in Ecuador. In addition, this program works very well with my major, all the classes I took were able to count for my major. I was not only studying cultures and politics that I was interested in but also allowed me to advance my academic progress.
Since my program was cut very short due to COVID-19, the majority of my semester abroad was spent in Cuenca, Ecuador for the immersion program. This part of the program is only required if you do not have all the necessary levels of Spanish completed and, as a sophomore, I knew I wanted to do this program to improve my Spanish for Chile. My cohorts and I took one Spanish class and did so many awesome activities set up by CEDEI (the school name in Ecuador) such as cooking classes, dance classes and long day trips on the weekends, my favorite one was when we hiked a mountain. We all had so much fun and were able to become more confident in using our Spanish.
I truly changed as a person from when I studied abroad. It was the first time I traveled by myself and I had to adapt to a lot of new situations that I have never experienced before. I feel like I have become more independent, less insecure and more confidant that I can handle uncomfortable situations. Overall, I always considered myself a pretty open-minded person who understand all different opinions and aspects of life; however, studying abroad has opened my eyes to so many new, ideas and perspectives that I would never have thought of before. I have never had so much fun learning and becoming a better version of myself.
There were many factors that led me to choose to study abroad in Madrid. I wanted to go to a program by myself (my roommates went to Florence) where I could make new friends and have my own experience. I also wanted to go a country that was warm and in Western Europe, so I could travel around that area more accessibly. Spain happened to check all of those boxes, which made it the perfect place for me to go.
My second class was Sociology of Sports. As a huge sports fan myself it was incredible learning about Spanish specific sports and their role in the global world. Because class sizes are small and tight knit over the summer, I became very close friends with my classmates. Since the class was small, our discussions became much more in-depth and were tailored to our specific interests in sports. My favorite part was the different field trips we would take, once we went to the park to observe the various fitness activities of people and another for another trip, we analyzed a soccer match.
Having the opportunity to study in another country, no matter the length, is always a worthwhile experience. You will constantly be learning as much about yourself as you will your host country. This was an experience that I would not have given up for the world, and it continues to push me out of my comfort zone to this day. With Spain down, and only 99 countries left to visit, and I know whatever country I end up in next will be exciting.