SPECIAL FEATURE:
Going green applies to studying abroad too. In this section learn how to reduce the negative impacts travel has on the environment, live in a way that's good for you and your host community, and bring home what you learn about sustainability to make a positive difference locally.

Microfinance in Senegal: Study abroad turned Meg Young into an economist.

 

 

BLOGGERS ABROAD
Find more of AV's recommended blogs, and send us a link to yours.

How the World Sees America: Recent Harvard graduate Amar Bakshi is traveling to Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, the Phillipines, South Korea, Columbia, Venezuela, and Mexico as a
blog reporter for the Washington Post’s “PostGlobal” site.

Fulbright-mtvU Blog:
Aaron Shneyer is in Jerusalem developing a year-long music program that brings together Israeli and Palestinian high school students; Larnies Bowen is studying Panamanian Reggae music as a vehicle for understanding West Indian-Panamanian identity, culture, and collective experience; Phally Chroy is studying the rediscovery of the Golden Era of Cambodian music, and James Collins is in South Africa to create a documentary film exploring the impact and influence of marching band music on under-privileged South African youth.

Adventures in the Land of a Thousand Hills: Washington and Lee Senior Logan Gibson’s summer 2007 travels took her up Kilimanjaro, through the Serengeti, and over to Kibungo, Rwanda, where she used a Projects for Peace award to help set up a small library.

Blogging the World: This Middlebury College group weblog features “The Wild East” blog, “Mollie in Russia,” and “The Middle East and More!”

Peace Corps: What's It Like to Volunteer Weblogs: Ian Jobe, 23, is serving in Georgia as an English teacher; Erika Kraus, 23, is working as an environmental action volunteer in Benin, West Africa; Jeremiah Marquis, 24, is working in Paraguay as a municipal services volunteer; and Michelle Ross, 28, and her husband Thad are both volunteers in rural China, where they are teaching English at a college designed to train future teachers.

Voices from Cornell Abroad: Explore life in Paris, Beijing, and Dakar through postings by Blog Journalists Jill McCoy, Amy Lin, and Emily Dally.

Meg in China: Abroad View’s microfinance columnist Meg Young writes about “a year in the trenches of development, idealism, and rabbit dung.”

The Red Gate: Daniel Knowlton, Abroad View’s Teaching English in Japan columnist, writes about living and working in Japan, with a focus on adapting to Chinese culture.

Fueled by Rice: Bloggers from a musical cycling team write about their encounters with local people as they “spread the spirit of tolerance and cooperation around the world, one pedal stroke at a time.”

Living Routes: Students at eco-villages in India, Mexico, Scotland, Peru, Senegal, and Brazil write about issues of sustainability and community.

Teacher on Two Wheels: Andrew Morgan won a 2007 Delaying the Real World fellowship to support a two-year international bicycle trip. He is stopping at schools along his route, making presentations to students about his trip and the cultures he encounters along the way, and he is videotaping the children and teachers he meets.

 

 

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New Group Hopes to Bring the Overseas Youth Vote Home. In the face of mounting criticism of U.S. foreign policy from overseas, young Americans are going abroad in increasing numbers to study and work. As they adopt a more global perspective, however, the members of this adventurous group have no intention of giving up their stake in American democracy.

Garments for Good: Art meets activism when Joanna Bresee uses fashion to increase environmental awareness in Madagascar.

 

AWARD WINNERS

Abroad View's Meta Photo Contest 2008 Winners
Thank you to the many study abroad offices and international centers that contributed their students' winning photos to Abroad View's 2008 Meta Photo Contest.

Abroad View 2008 Writing Contest Winners

Talking to Strangers: A night of Bolivian festivity turns somber as a conversation prompts Valerie Brender to reflect on U.S. immigration policies.

Meet the 2008 Delaying the Real World Fellow
Josh Roberts, a theater graduate from Reed College ('05), won the 2008 DTRW Fellowship for his proposal to investigate the red state/blue state framework of America prior to the 2008 Presidential elections. He’ll spend a week in 10 American counties: the four reddest, the four bluest, and for good measure two of the “purplest.”
Within these counties he says that he'll "interview anyone and everyone he can about politics," from Mayors to mill workers, game hunters to gay couples, truckers to treehuggers. He plans to use the transcripts and recordings from these interviews "to write a play about the nature of American political dialogue and its relationship to the places we live." Read more about Josh and check out his DTRW application.

Rock On with the 2008-2009 Fulbright-mtvU Fellows
The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and mtvU have announced the five winners of this year’s fellowships, intended to promote "the power of music" as a global force for mutual understanding. Spencer Orey will travel to Mali to study the rich tradition of griot musicians. Ainsley Breault will travel to New Zealand to research the role of music in keeping the Maori population at the forefront of society. Melissa Adams will travel to Uganda to work on a Hip-Hop Therapy Project in which war—and AIDS-affected youth in northern Uganda learn to beat box, break dance, and create hip-hop with local instruments. Katherine Good will travel to Mexico to produce podcasts that anthropologically explore the Mexican youth renaissance of performing various pre-rock music styles. And, Alexis Tucker will travel to France to study how socially engaged French rap music and hip-hop culture has addressed the aftermath of the 2005 riots and the French election. Find out more on the mtvU website and follow the fellows’ experiences around the world via video reports, blogs and podcasts.

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Kenya's Post-Election Crisis
Tevis Howard, founder of the Kenya-based non-profit organization KOMAZA, reports on Kenya's challenges and opportunities in overcoming the political and tribal strife that erupted after the disputed 2007 presidential elections.

Projects for Peace View Book Available
The Davis Projects for Peace, which provides fellowships for undergraduates at the American colleges and universities in the Davis United World College Scholars Program to create and try out their own ideas for building peace, has created a view book for the inaugural 2007 projects. You can learn more about the projects and download a free copy of the book here.

As Villains or Heroes, Muslims Star in New U.S. Comics
Fights over fundamentalism, and a dearth of role models, are driving forces. By Marie-Helene Rousseau, NYU Livewire

Student Diplomat Essay Contest Winner
This year's first-place essay explores how an education abroad experience in Egypt led to personal and cultural awakenings for Hammad Bassam Hammad, a Palestinian-American student at Georgetown University.

It Was and It Wasn't
Myth #1 – you have to be rich to travel. The furthest I agree with this statement is that one must be rich in the breadth of one’s thinkingto fully experience international travel. I am from a middle-class working family and nearly every opportunity I’ve had to travel internationally has come from a desire to “go.”

Green Passport Holder Charlene Rose Mangi Reports on Estacion Cuerici and Sustainable Agriculture
To talk about sustainability in terms of agriculture and the view of "agroecosystems," we spent five days at Cuerici—a biological station high in the Talamanca mountains, close to Costa Rica's tallest mountain, Chirripo. The area is stunning. The station is in a tropical montane oak forest, which is dominated in the canopy by oaks and in the understory by bamboo. Hikes up this mountain are beautiful, especially when the fog rolls in, filling bamboo glades with an eerie, mystical feeling.

WATCH

Archbishop Tutu The Arch-bishop speaks with students in the United States about human rights and how they can make a difference in the world.

Interview:
Bill McKibben
America’s leading environmentalist speaks about the need for political activism; plus, he takes a hard look at studying abroad in a CO₂-challenged world.

A Day in the Life of a Translator
Interested in using your multilingual skills in a rewarding career? Find out what a day on the job is like for translators and interpreters.

ConnectED: A Conference on Global Education
Check out the post-conference program, open space technology session book, and videos from this innovative conference on how globalization is changing education and how to improve education throughout the world.
Read the article Unchaining Learning, which focuses on one of the ConnectEd Conference's themes: educating the next generation of students.

HIGHLIGHTS

Tastebud Tourism
It’s hard to beat the pizza in Naples—a slightly charred crust provides a perfectly crispy base for fresh tomatoes and gooey mozzarella. Unless, of course, its competitor is a bowl of pho in Vietnam—clear broth steaming while slippery noodles slide soothingly down your throat.

Artistry Abroad
Creative expression crosses boundaries. Immersion in the artistic environ-ments of cities like Paris and Florence can provide you with an opportunity to realize your creative potential.

Finding Volunteer Work Abroad Looking for an inexpensive and worthwhile experience volunteering internationally? You may want to follow in Michelle Hunscher’s footsteps and organize your own experience as an alternative to an organized program.