When I first went to Ecuador, I immediately fell in love with the country. Part of me felt as if I was in my parent's motherland of Mexico and that was a welcoming feeling. I noticed many similarities as both countries are part of Latin America. The first thing that shocked me was that Ecuadorians did not eat spicy food and that made me miss Mexican food, especially ones that are spicy. I learned...

My best advice is to travel as much as possible. I never would have imagined my life at age 20 traveling to 14 countries to 25 cities. My world view has changed forever and I owe this to the cites I saw, the cuisine I ate, and the friendships I made for the rest of my life. My photos do not give any of my experiences justice, but I am very glad I traveled as much as I could and experienced all...

I had the unique experience of volunteering every week with a different non-profit and throw myself into the sphere of humanitarianism abroad. One organization that I did a lot with was Singa France. We worked to develop community of native french peoples and refugees to help bridge gaps that can exist when adapting in a new country when one seeks asylum like language barriers, exposure to new...

Back home (USA), it seems as though we always focus on what's coming next. Here (Ecuador), however, I've noticed that there is a much greater appreciation for the present, and that is something that I am grateful for.

In Senegal, there is a word called 'Teranga which loosely translates to 'hospitality' in English.  Bet Teranga was more than just providing good service in one's home or business, but taking that person into your family as your own.

Majoring in Global Studies, concentrating in Governance and Conflict Resolution and minoring in French and Arabic. My area concentration is North Africa and the Middle East and I am also an ACDIS Certificate candidate. I studied abroad in Amman, Jordan! Amman is a busy, crowded, modern city. The CIEE program here has allowed for me to study Colloquial Arabic through an intense immersion into...

My name is Dannika Andersen, I'm a Junior majoring in Global Studies and Political Science. My GS thematic area is Wealth & Poverty. My language is Swahili and my area focus is Sub-Saharan Africa. When I came into Global Studies as a just-barely-18-year-old, I decided to take Swahili. Since then, I've had a fair number of people tell me it's a useless language. Despite all this, a little...

Location: Granada, Spain Program: SAO Exchange: Spanish Studies in Granada Thematic Area: Global Health Language: Spanish Region: Western Europe

Location: Dakar, Senegal Program: SAO Provider: Minnesota Studies in International Development Senegal Thematic Area: Cultures in Contact Language: French & Wolof Region: Sub-Saharan Africa

Location: Quito, Ecuador Program: SAO Exchange: Universidad San Francisco de Quito Thematic Area: Environment, Sustainability, and Social Responsibility Language: Spanish Region: Latin America