I’d been home for a week when I met up with two other Pitt students from the FAME group in Pittsburgh. It was summer, so we met in the city rather than on campus. Within about ten minutes, all three of us had said the same thing, none of us prompted by the others: the…
Tag: Spring 2026
One Visa, Eight Countries
It was my first trip out of France, a bus to Belgium, about six hours. I had my papers ready. I assumed we’d pull over somewhere, everyone would get off, and somebody would look at my visa. That’s what a border is. When I take the Greyhound from Montreal to Pittsburgh, in New York, the…
They Locked Us In and Took Away the Delivery Apps
ENSEACK was my fourth hackathon and the first one I couldn’t leave. At the three I’d done in Montreal and in the US, you could go home at two in the morning, or order food, or at least walk somewhere. At ENSEA you were locked in for nineteen hours. Nobody had warned us to bring…
Learning My First Language Again
It was lunchtime on a Tuesday in the student lounge at ENSEA, three weeks into the semester. Someone asked what I thought about young graduates struggling to find work. It isn’t a hard question, and I had plenty to say about it. But the sentence was assembling itself in the wrong language, and what came…
Why France
I’ve moved countries three times, and each move changed which language I lived in. I was born in the Republic of Benin, a small country in West Africa, and schooled in French there through ninth grade. In tenth grade, I switched to a Nigerian school, where the curriculum was in English. In 2018, I left…
Reflections of a Seoulmester
It’s been three weeks since I arrived back home from Seoul, and I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on my experience. Although being back in my childhood bedroom can feel like no time has passed since I was packing for my fateful departure five months ago, I know I have come back a different…
Hasta luego, Buenos Aires
Hello everyone, this is Sam checking in one last time from Buenos Aires! My time here has come to a close, so I thought I’d share some reflections on my study abroad experience as a whole. I arrived in Buenos Aires in February to study with both local Argentine students and other international students, and…
Love Letter to Seoul’s Subway
After arriving home from Seoul three weeks ago, there have been many things to miss about my study abroad, but one particular thing has been at the forefront of my longing: Seoul’s subway system. I took the subway almost every day in Seoul. It was the means that empowered me to explore the city with…
Snapshot of Seoul: Daedongje
Over a month ago was Korea University’s Ipselenti Music Festival—one of the most anticipated events of the semester. Since the day I moved into the dorms in February, other students told me about this fateful week in May where some of the biggest A-list names in K-pop come to perform on campus. Now that I…
Reflecting on Five Transformative Months Abroad in Northern Ireland
Hello! My name is Cole Perkins, and I wanted to say one final hello as I close this incredible chapter of my life in Northern Ireland. For geographical orientation, I have added a map of Ireland and the surrounding area with a pin for Belfast. (Picture from Britannica) I include this picture because, when my…