Studying abroad has been the most difficult and rewarding experience of my life. I felt like I had to go abroad to get out of my comfort zone. I chose University College Dublin in Ireland as my study abroad location because I felt that the green grass, many sheep, the Dropkick Murphys, and historical literature were calling my name. It was only on the plane … Continue reading Tales from Abroad – Gabriela Passmore

Where do I even begin?  How does someone describe the best time of their life, and that the time has only lasted two months with four still left to enjoy?  These and many other questions constantly go through my mind as I drive under the “Walt Disney World” sign on my way to work, or when I enter the parks on days off.   The … Continue reading Tales from Disney World – Hannah Deyo

Thirteen cities, 13 days, 37 soccer players, one gymnast, and an infinite amount of memories. This’s what my time studying abroad in France for J-term looked like big picture. The program was called “French Sport and Culture,” focusing primarily on the importance of soccer to France. So many sights were packed into 13 days that it would take hours to explain how amazing this experience … Continue reading Tales from Abroad – Lauren Casey

Our journey started with a 14 hour flight from Chicago to Beijing. We landed at night and since Beijing is home to almost 22 million people, it was still lively as ever. Peking duck is the most famous food throughout all of Beijing, so it was only fitting that it was the first meal that we had once we arrived. The next day we all … Continue reading Tales from Abroad – Courtney Erickson

A series of unfortunate events led me to the J-Term trip that went on to change my life forever. Last spring I signed up and committed to go on the J-Term trip to St. Maarten with the Education Department. Being an education major made me extremely excited for the prospects of spending a J-Term on an island teaching. All was well for the summer and … Continue reading Tales from Abroad – Ella Napton

This past J-term, I joined 39 Gustavus students and three professors from the Physics department on the trip of a lifetime to New Zealand and Australia for five weeks. I learned so much about myself, traveling, and the way of life for people in these countries. We started our trip in Christchurch, New Zealand and studied astronomy there for one week. The next week was … Continue reading Tales from Abroad – Liz Geerdes

It is every college student’s dream to go abroad, but very rarely does it come to be that our deepest hopes ever come to fruition. As us eleven Gustie girls sat on our third rumbly bus of the day, weaving through the streets of Chimbote, Peru, we sat in awe as the weightiness of these final moments before our official arrival at our host parish, … Continue reading Tales from Abroad – Lily Winter

In January 2018, the Gustavus Wind Orchestra embarked on a sixteen-day life-changing tour to Sweden and Norway. Six concerts were performed on this tour, allowing the ensemble to share its music throughout the Swedish cities of Stockholm, Uppsala, Falun and Karlstad, as well as the Norwegian cities of Oslo and Bergen. The Gustavus Wind Orchestra has toured every year since 1881, standing as the oldest … Continue reading Tales from Abroad – Sydney Hedberg

Last spring, instead of the flat prairie farmland of St. Peter, I was surrounded by mountains and a chilly ocean with swarms of penguins zooming by. I studied abroad in South Africa as part of a program called, “Multiculturalism and Human Rights.” There were twenty-two students in all, and we journeyed all across South Africa. We were based in Cape Town, but took excursions to … Continue reading Tales from Abroad – Laura Isdahl

I studied abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia in the Fall of 2015. One highlight? Babies in jars. If you cross the Dvortsoviy Bridge on Nevsky Prospekt and hang a left you’ll come across the Kuntskamera, Russia’s first anthropological museum. You begin on the first floor and pretend like you’re interested in all the old clothes from cultures across the world, but as you ascend the … Continue reading Tales from Abroad – Jenna Hooper