Sean Paul Veltmeyer, Vancouver from the north shore mountains

Across the Big Blue Pond

Posted by BCSAadmin on 06/19/2017

By: Sean Paul Veltmeyer, Langara College, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

Tomorrow myself, thirteen of my classmates and two instructors depart Vancouver on the Langara China Field Studies program. Fourteen hours in the air will bring us to our first stop: Shanghai. This mega city inhabited by more than twenty four million people will be unlike anything I have seen before in my life. More than two thirds the population of Canada living in one urban center. Having grown up in a northern British Columbian town of eight hundred people, to me Vancouver is a busy place. But what I hear from many of the people I know from Asia is that Vancouver is slow; in the cities of Asia everything moves faster. I think this change of pace, along with the clean air, moder...

Tags: Langara Study Abroad Stories from Abroad Scholarship China Shanghai Kunming
Category: Student Blog
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Kathleen Megan Harfman, Cajas National Park

Update From Ecuador

Posted by BCSAadmin on 06/12/2017

By Kathleen Megan Harfman, College of New Caledonia, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

I have arrived in Ecuador despite a bit of a marathon getting here! We got delayed on one of the flights and missed a connector as a result, so we were stranded in the New York airport for 24hrs. That was a bit of an adventure, but we eventually made it! Our first big excursion in Ecuador was to visit an organic shrimp farm. The CEO of the company toured us around and showed us how shrimp are raised, harvested, and how the farm is operated. It was an excellent learning experience and afterward they fed us a 4-course feast of fresh shrimp! It was delicious!

Later on, we visited a mangrove ecosystem. Mangrove trees grow along riversides in the brackish waters of ri...

Tags: Science and Technology Stories from Abroad Scholarship Ecuador Study Abroad Adventure 2017 scholarship winner College of New Caledonia
Category: Student Blog
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Lenelle Jordan Kutzner

A Canadian in a German World

Posted by BCSAadmin on 06/05/2017

By: Lenelle Jordan Kutzner, University of Victoria, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

Well, here I am; two more sleeps and I’m off to Europe for the first time! At this point, my suitcase has hardly been touched, I have no shampoo or conditioner, and have a mountain of neglected dirty laundry waiting for me. The program I will be doing in Germany is a six-and-a-half-week intensive language immersion program. I will be living with a host family for the duration of my stay, and as far as I know, they speak little to no English (which is both nerve-wracking and wonderful!). I’m certain that living in a German household will provide even more opportunity for me to learn and understand the language. However, it will also certainly challenge me by forcing me to...

Tags: University of Victoria Study Abroad Stories from Abroad Scholarship German Germany Deutschland
Category: Student Blog
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Peter Mate

Set Sail

Posted by BCSAadmin on 05/29/2017

By Peter Mate, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Vancouver Campus, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

I’m nervous – my hands tremble. I fly home bearing more questions than I can answer. 

My semester, academically, is a success – I have a basic grasp of refugee law and contemporary citizenship; I’ve walked along the Danube, Siene and Thames; I’ve marched to Hungary’s parliament and climbed the Buda Hills; I’ve sat in wonderment at the Big Ben and the Eiffel tower. Yet, I’m restless. 

I’m restless because of the world I leave behind. In a Hungarian refugee reception center, I saw people living in shipping containers. Surrounded by razor wire and isolated, many were idle, hoping to be granted Asylum. In mass demonstrations in Budapest, threats ag...

Tags: Stories from Abroad Study Abroad life abroad Scholarship Winner FDU Fairleigh Dickinson University Budapest
Category: Student Blog
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