ALEXANDRIA — Prior to traveling to Egypt, I had never been out of the United States (Canada doesn’t count), so I really wasn’t sure what to expect from a land as exotic as the Middle East. When I arrived, culture shock was my first reaction, but, like all who go abroad, I had expected this.

NELSPRUIT, South Africa—Being told that if you can’t find a tree when charged by a rhino you should lie flat on the ground because it won’t be able to reach you with its horn and will only be able to trample you does not inspire much confidence.

Amidst the snows of a Middlebury  J-term I…

POITIERS — “The immigration office really doesn’t appreciate it when people are late. It is absolutely essential that you don’t miss your appointment.”

CHANGCHUN — In November 2005, NaiNai (my grandmother) decided that she wanted to move to Changchun, China and in early March 2006, she finally made the move. I have spent the past four weeks living with her and YeYe (my grandfather) here in Changchun.

NaiNai is not your average waiguo laotaitai; she’s 83 years old…

BAMAKO — As driven Middlebury students, we spend a significant portion of our time thinking about the future. What are we going to write that paper on? Are you going to get that stellar internship next summer?

MONTEVIDEO — If I had a peso for every time an uruguayo told me that “Uruguay is a small country” I probably could have ridden the bus for free during my entire semester in Montevideo.

Upon opening my mouth to speak my classroom-learned Spanish — if my appearance didn’t already give  me away — my exchanges…

The Student Government Association (SGA) has decided to pass a bill funding the MiddView program for the next three years. This bill will cover the program’s costs for the next three years and make it need-blind to all incoming students, giving them a chance to experience a version of the widely praised program that has long been a staple of freshman orientation at the College.

ALEXANDRIA — We, the students of the Alexandria study abroad program, are welcomed in Egypt every day. That doesn’t mean that the Egyptians welcome us to Egypt. Rather, they prefer to welcome us in Egypt. What’s the difference, beyond a preposition?

DAKAR—Apart from figuring out every method possible to prepare a banana, learning the myriad ways one can eat a mango or a grapefruit, discovering the custard apple, and having a ten-minute game of circumlocution/charades with the man at my favorite fruit stand only to learn that clementine in French, is, brace yourself…clementine, I have learned in the last three months here in Dakar how to eat around the bowl.

NORWICH — “It was so hard to find an open computer in the library after dinner!” is not a far-fetched snatch of conversation to overhear at Middlebury.
Here, it is more like, “The pub was so packed after dinner, it was hard to find a booth!”
The library at University of East Anglia…