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.

• Climate Change Changes Everything: How we can learn to live well and lightly
• Invest Wisely: How will you spend your time and money abroad?
• Insights from Tuscany: The art of simplicity
• When the Rain Stopped: Conserving water one shower at a time
• Conscious Consumerism: Putting profits into the hands of the people
• Mindful Eating: Savoring Thai food, from the field to the dinner table
• Eco-Villages: Studying worldwide in sustainable communities
• Responsible Travel: Your actions make a difference
• Eco-Friendly Budget Ideas

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.

 

 

READ

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.

A Passion for Africa
From interning for a Sudanese women's resource center to studying in Morocco to filming a documentary in Kenya, Justine McGowan can't get enough of living and learning in African countries.

Fueled by Rice
Five recent graduates explore China on bicycles sharing music and carbohydrates with local people along the way.

A Year of Cricket
Berea College graduate and native Ugandan Fred Rweru travels the globe as a Watson fellow researching and playing the sport he loves.

A Land of No Return: Almost half a century after seeking protection in India, Tibetan refugees still dream of returning home.

Peru's Seeds of Hope
“Hola profesora!” the children say, as they scamper around the room giving each of us volunteers a kiss on the cheek. I may have limitations with the Spanish language, but I know what the ritual means.

Finding a Rhythm: For one dancer, the fears and uncertainties of living in Madrid fade with the beat of salsa music.

Clicks & Smiles: A volunteer at a South African hospital learns more than the skills he needs to practice medicine.

 

Midnight Matzoh: A Jewish-American student in London redefines her Passover traditions in one late-night meal.

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.

LISTEN

Meet this year’s Forum on Education Abroad Undergraduate Research Awards Competition winners:

Brittany Murlas studied at the University of Ghana, Accra, and researched Mother Tongue literacy in Ghana. Lauren Gersbach studied at the Centre for Rainforest Studies in Queensland, Australia, and researched how tree species coped with a severe cyclone that hit northern Queensland in 2006. Brittany and Lauren spoke with Abroad View about their research and offer tips for future students interested in conducting research overseas.

Don't forget Burma, urge student activists
U.S. Campaign for Burma is continuing to organize action in support of Burma; on March 7 and 8, 2008 it will host a national planning and training meeting open to interested students. Patrick Cook-Deegan, a senior at Brown University and the U.S. Campaign for Burma’s Northeast Regional Coordinator, traveled to Burma in 2006 and shared his thoughts on the protests with Abroad View in an audio interview.
Listen to an interview with Middlebury College Burmese asylum student Htar Htar Yu, who in 1996 fled her homeland from the military with her parents.

MAGAZINE 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.

 

 

Mark the Date!
submit your event

Enter Abroad View's Meta Photo Contest—
Study abroad professionals, please send the top 1 to 3 winning photographs from your college, university, program, or organization’s most recent contest. Entries accepted until May 15. Click here for details.

Featured events from AV's Partner, AID:
Democracy Development Conferences in the Middle East and North Africa
The American-led conference in Annapolis last year sparked a flurry of discussion on the role the U.S. should take in promoting democracy in the Middle East and North Africa. Americans for Informed Democracy and the Project on Middle East Democracy are furthering that discussion in three countries where democracy has yet to be fully instilled in the daily lives of its citizens: Jordan, Egypt, and Morocco. AID and POMED are accepting applications from young Americans and young Jordanian, Egyptians, and Moroccans to participate in this dialogue and develop recommendations that will be delivered to their respective governments to address the issue of democracy and its development.

The Future of the US-Egyptian Relationship, Cairo, Egypt
May 16-17, 2008

“We are cooperating, but are we communicating?” A Dialogue on American Foreign Policy and Jordanian Society, Amman, Jordan, May 29-31, 2008 S

Abroad View is seeking student reporters for the following AID events. Let us know if you are interested!
June 18-19 - CARE USA National Conference, Washington DC
August 2, 9, 16, 23 – Youth Vote/Youth Voice Summits in CO, FL, NM, OH