2018 Spring

Nate Dracon: Post 1

Nate Dracon AIFS Charles University Prague, Czech Republic Spring 2018 dobrý den from the city of Prague, Czech Republic! I have been in the Czech Republic for almost a month now, and the differences between here and the U.S. are striking. Getting over wasn’t a problem, even for a 6’4 student. I would just say that I am accustomed to never having enough leg room. We first stopped for two days in London before taking a short flight to the Czech Republic. The first thing that made me appreciate that I was in a very foreign place was arriving at […]

2017 Fall

David Bushhouse: Post 1

David Bushhouse AIFS, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University St. Petersburg, Russia Fall 2017 I’ve been in St. Petersburg for less than a month, but have quickly noticed that шаверма, shaverma, is the most widespread and popular street-food in the city. In St. Petersburg, Shaverma stands are everywhere: next to every Metro Station, down nearly every alley, and in every clubbing district. Since shaverma stands are open 24 hours, it is the go-to drunk food for St. Petersburg locals, who call it ‘korm,’ which literally translates to “animal feed.” It’s unhealthy, always comes with a stomachache, and, as the […]

2017 Fall, Academic Year

Jamie Agnew: Post 4

Jamie Agnew London School of Economics London, England Fall 2017 I returned to London on January 2nd, 2018. The London School of Economics’s calendar is quite different from Hampden-Sydney’s as well as other colleges in the United States. You take four classes for the entire year all of which have a final exam in April or May. The only exception to this rule is if you take any Economics classes: they also have a midterm exam in the first week of January. I am not very fond of this setup because, unlike Hampden-Sydney, you enter winter break knowing that you […]

2017 Fall

Shemar Blakeney: Post 5

Shemar Blakeney Semester at Sea Fall 2017 Semester at Sea Experience First and foremost, I would like to say Thank You for providing me funding that allowed me to participate in the Semester at Sea Program. With the scholarship, I was able to obtain my passport, visas, and travel expenses. Semester at Sea was an extraordinary experience to say the least. Even though I was only in different countries for an average of 4 days, the experience I had is invaluable. From being able to visit the Taj Mahal to hiking the Great Wall and from trying different foods to, […]

2017 Fall, Academic Year

Jamie Agnew: Post 3

Jamie Agnew London School of Economics London, England Fall 2017 My study abroad experience was unbelievable. Between the things I saw, the friends I met, and the memories I made, the entire semester was all I could have asked for and then some. I had a rough idea of what the experience was going to be like because I talked to kids that had done the program already. But words can’t describe how much fun I had. London was a fantastic city to live in, and the easy ability to fly to other countries is something unheard of here in […]

2017 Fall

David Arias Hernandez: Post 4

David Arias Hernandez IFSA-Butler, University College London London, England Fall 2017 December was the last month of this amazing opportunity to study abroad, and I really took advantage of it. At the beginning of the month I went to Moscow, Russia, where, I was able to visit various iconic places. On the first day, I went to the Red Square, where I was able to visit The Iberian Gate, St. Basil’s Cathedral, Statue of Minin and Pozharsky, Kazan Cathedral, Kremlin Wall, Lenin Mausoleum, and GUM. The ones I liked the most were St. Basil’s Cathedral, Lenin Mausoleum, and the Kremlin […]

2017 Fall

Shemar Blakeney: Post 4

Shemar Blakeney Semester at Sea Fall 2017 I have learned so much on this voyage. My experience is different than what I expected in some ways because what I “thought” a country would be like was completely different; I stereotyped a country before I even visited it due to my “Single-Story Ideology.” I expected to meet astonishing people along the way; however, I did not expect to meet and see so many amazing people. I stereotyped that most of the people on the ship did not have to work as hard to get here, but in actuality, everyone made some […]