Want to Intern Abroad??

For students interested in foreign affairs, the government, and gaining more international experience, the U.S. State Department has many opportunities. The internships are available either in the spring or fall semester or for 10 weeks over the summer. Students can choose between working in D.C. or one the hundreds of embassy posts internationally. The student intern brochure says that of the many possibilities "interns may write reports on human rights issues, assist with trade negotiations, assist with citizen’s services or visa work, help Americans in distress abroad, or organize conferences or visits of high-level officials. Others may research economic or environmental issues, write news stories, work on web pages or help produce electronic journals." The deadlines end fairly early and along with an electronic application students submit a personal statement explaining any experience abroad, why they are interested in the internship and the post they requested. This summer I'm going to be interning in the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, Mexico. I'm interested in checking out the immigration issues there first hand and seeing how the U.S. government functions abroad. Without a doubt it should be an incredible learning experience. For more information visit the U.S. Department of State Student Opportunities Page.



Posted by: Clare, Seville, Spain, Spring 2007

This time last year...

In April of last year, I was just returning to Brussels from my three-week long spring break travels. To start off, I spent a week in Geneva, Switzerland for the Harvard World Model United Nations Conference with some local students at my college. We were there as delegates, but we had a lot of fun exploring the city when we weren't in committee. There were eleven of us.. We stayed in a twelve-person hostel room, where we all got really close. It was definitely a bonding experience. After Geneva, we headed back to Brussels to regroup, and then my roommate and I spent nine days traveling to Budapest, Prague, and Vienna. It was the trip of a lifetime!



Le printemps en Genève (Spring in Geneva)



View from Várhegy (Castle Hill) in Budapest, Hungary

We were very tired by the end of our trip, but it was worth it. We met lots of different people.. other American college students, a British guy our age who was spending some time traveling after university, a lady in her sixties who always wanted to see Vienna... just to name a few. I can't wait to go back to Europe and travel to all the places I didn't make it to while abroad.

Posted by: Jen, Brussels, Spring 2007

La Feria de Sevilla

Two weeks after Easter starts the week of "Feria" in Sevilla. During this week long celebration Sevillanos and people from all over Spain come together to party and socialize. The camp ground for the event is filled with little tents which are nicely decorated and turned into mini restaurants / bars. They serve food and the alcohol specialty of the week rebujitos - part sherry, part 7 up. It sounds weird, but it's pretty good. The Spanish people love to dress up and they spare no expense for Feria, with women dressed in incredible flamenco dresses and men in fancy suits. For these 7 days the whole city spends the day and night dancing, drinking, and socializing. Sevillanas is a flamenco inspired dance that everyone does all week and all of the people of Seville grow up learning it. To fit in a little more and not be bored when everyone was showing off their dance moves my friends and I took Sevillanas classes in the weeks leading up the Feria. Just picture us 21 year old Americans in dance classes with 7 year old Spanish girls! It was definitely worth it when I was able to take part in the festivities!! Here is a youtube video of a couple dancing Sevillanas - it's a bit amateur but it's closer to the real thing than a professional stage performance.


Poster by: Clare, Seville, Spain, Spring 2007

Vive la grève!!!

In the total year-and-semester I have spent in La Belle France, there is one undeniable inconvenience to everyday life - they like to go on strike. Announced, unannounced, for a few hours or a few weeks, it is the weapon of choice for social movements. For those on strike, it becomes a wonderful holiday of protesting and chatting with friends about whatever political issue du jour. However, for the rest of us who would like to ride that tram rather than blocking it, life becomes unnecessarily yet substantially more difficult, involving sometimes hour long walks to classes only to find out the other students are on strike as well.
During my time in Montpellier, I had the (good?) fortune of experiencing more than my share of strikes. The tram would stop running for a few hours a week due to protestors of (fill in the blank issue). I was even present during Student Strikes of Spring 2006, which lasted from about the last week in February until mid-April. During that time, the tables and chairs from the classrooms were stacked in front of the main gates to the university and all the building doors. Spray paint lined the walls, with various slogans and many choice words about the governments plans for the CPE. Students, every Tuesday starting at 1pm, would march down the tramway line holding placards and banners, all the way to the center square called La Place de la Comédie, where music played and people danced to their general enjoyment of halting all life for those few hours. On those days, I would stand in the sunny Esplanade playing chess with the law students (who were - of course - also on strike), watching the hordes of chanting protesters go by.
While to some this may seem like a horrible waste of precious study-abroad time, I thought of it as an exciting and insightful experience. Being an American student, I could never have fathomed actually going on strike from classes (no matter how many times I wish I could), and here I had the chance to be a part of it. Granted, the whole 'no class' bit certainly helped, but I knew this was history in the making. The last time the students were able to create mass strike of that nature was in 1968, and no one could imagine it happening again anytime soon. I took advantage, taking those sunny Tuesday afternoons to chat with students, find out what and why they were protesting, giving me an in-depth view of the workings of the French mind.
Since then, I have actually returned to France as an intern in Strasbourg. During that time, I became friends with some of the medical students who were - again - on strike. All the same actions, many of the same conversations, only this time I more quickly discovered the walking routes to my office rather then depending on the very undependable tram service.
Don't get me wrong, it is certainly not easy living amongst such dissatisfaction and turmoil. However, that's what makes study abroad worthwhile - the chance to face challenges we would never dream of just sitting here in Happy Valley. I do believe my friend who is currently teaching in Orléans says it best;

"Just thought I'd let you know that I'm having on those great French days. You know, when you go to the bus stop and find out the buses are on strike. So you walk, then when you get to school you find out your students are on strike too...are you sure you're willing to sign up for more of this?

I know the answer to that. Of course you are! we all are. Even though I was being sarcastic when I said it was a 'great' day, it still makes me just smile and shake my head."


On the 2 year anniversary of the end of the student strikes in my city, all I can still do is smile and shake my head.

- Danielle Kukwa
Montpellier Fall '05 - Spring '06
Strasbourg Fall '07

Beer in Freiburg

I believe it was Ben Franklin who once said, “beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy.” Now, Ben was a man who looked like he could knock back quite a few pints, so I trust his judgment, and fully agree with his statement.

I, too, love beer, so studying in Germany was a logical choice. Of course, I took the actual program into consideration when making my decision, but I knew the beer culture would be a nice perk.

Freiburg im Breisgau has several breweries of the macro- and micro- variety. The main brewery in town was called Ganter, a privately owned and operated brewery.

Their standard session beer was Ganter Pils, a nice light pilsner which was clear yellow in color, and to be honest, tasted like soap. The locals downed it by the liter, but I wanted something a bit more crisp and with more of a hop character. Thankfully, Ganter made another pilsner, the aptly-named Freiburger Pils. It had a taste that matured as the bottle went down, a quality of excellent beers. Much to my deligh, Ganter had a promotion at the local university one day with free bottles of Freiburger. We were also given a Christmas present by the Ganter Brewery: buy-one-get-one-free coupons for cases…yes, cases…of Freiburger! So one day, a friend and I walked to the local grocery store, and walked out with four cases of Freiburger. We walked happily down the street, with 96 bottles of glorious beer clinking against each other. Ganter also makes Wodan, which according to ratebeer.com is one of the best doppelbocks one can find. Doppelbock is a variety of heavy beer that was originally brewed by monks to keep their stomachs full during times of fasting. In the process, they made a darn tasty beer. Wodan was among the better doppelbocks I've ever had, right up there with Ayinger Celebrator and Spaten Optimator.

Another local favorite was Rothaus Tannenzapfel, a beer made by Badische-Staatsbrauerei (The Baden State Brewery). It was among the cheapest beer one could find, yet there was no drop in quality.

Mad props to Ganter and Rothaus, but I fell in love with a microbrewery in town called Feierling, named after the family which owns it. The beer selection was somewhat limited, but what they lacked in quantity they made up for in quality. My two favorites were Brünnhilde (a doppelbock named after the mythical Germanic queen) and Inselhopf (a crisp, cloudly, unfiltered, tasty, glorious, refreshing, smooth pilsner). The beer selection was complemented by a menu of great German food. One could find anything from pretzels to Müchner Weißwurst (a sausage platter traditionally served at Oktoberfest).

Various other breweries from Freiburg and the surrounding region offered a wonderful selection of other beers, some of the more interesting ones being Colaweizen (wheat beer mixed with cola), Bananenweizen (wheat beer brewed with bananas).

Sure, America makes some great beer (and some awful beer…Budweiser “lager” for example). Sure, the Belgians make some stellar beer (the Chimay line, Gulden Draak, Babãr being some of my favorites). But I’m of the opinion that the Germans are the best beer-makers in the world.

So now dear friends, raise your pint glasses, liter mugs, beer boots, beer steins, tulip glasses, snifters and dimple mugs to the sky. As Homer Simpson once said, “to alcohol: the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.”

-- Posted by Dave, IES EU Program, Fall 2007