Students Recount Life-changing Experiences Studying Abroad

JOSHUA BROWN writes of his experience spending the summer of 2015 in Jordan, supported by the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship.

“After departing the humid, temperate forests of Tennessee, I touched down in a distant land I had only studied through the accounts of others. My experiences in the country are best represented by a quote from King Hussein I who said, “Jordan has a strange, haunting beauty and a sense of timelessness. Dotted with the ruins of empires once great, it is the last resort of yesterday in the world of tomorrow.” While studying Arabic five hours a day, five days a week over nine weeks, the School for International Training (SIT) created an experience so each student could discover the country and its people. From the ruins of Petra, to the port of Aqaba, few words or pictures could illustrate the innate beauty that exists in Jordan; each face of her children bore an identity that was as ever changing as she. Because of this, SIT sought to ensure we experienced many opportunities and settings that would then reflect Jordan and her children.

Native Jordanian Bedouins, Syrian refugees, Palestinian nationalists, ex-patriots, and countless more embodied what and who it was to be “a son or daughter of the state.”

We lived with Bedouins during Ramadan, celebrated Eid with our host families, and retraced the paths of the Silk Road atop the backs of camels like those that came before us. This was my Jordan.

My Jordan was found in the dishes prepared by our Bedouin families after hours of fasting during the height of Ramadan. My Jordan came to life in the conversations with taxi drivers as we crisscrossed Amman, going from home to class to downtown then back home (all to do it again the next day). My Jordan is one that is unique to my story, and one that I hope to add to the pages of our shared College Scholars Program book that houses our lineage, past and present. Now,
looking back, it’s a bit easier to see the program’s success, especially atop an eight foot, Jordanian camel.”

ALEX BRITO writes of her time in France during the summer of 2015, funded by the College Scholars Program.

“I could spend my entire life in Paris and not see all the City of Light has to offer. I made my third trip to Paris this summer – this time longer than the four weeks I had spent with my host family in high school – and made myself at home among the French. My purpose in Paris was two-fold. Firstly, I was there to participate in a summer program with Duke University, studying the neurohumanities, which I found to be one of the most interesting fields as it combines my love of French culture with my interest in the brain. Secondly, I was there to experience the language in an immersive context. My courses in Paris seamlessly wove aspects of French literature, art, and dance into complex neuroscience concepts. Taking a trip to the French countryside, we traced the footsteps of Van Gogh and Cezanne in two cities outside of Provence, examining their works of art and how they were represented in the brain through the visual system. I even had the opportunity to present with my group at a conference in Paris on evidence of Marcel Proust’s neurological disorder as seen in pieces of his fiction writing. While I was able to see some amazing sites in Paris-the Catacombs, the Sacre Coeur, the Arc de Triomphe—my most cherished memories come from more intimate and habitual moments like getting to know the baker who sold me bread most mornings and staring out the window of the bus looking down the angular rows of grape vines as far as the eye can see. None of this would have been possible, however, without the funding I received from the College Scholars Program, and the encouragement to reach beyond traditional classroom experiences and to pinpoint my passion.”