Greetings friends, Since Graham left off at the Bedouin camp we have seen, heard, smelled and experienced many more new things. After leaving the camp, we as a group rode on the bus to the small village of Dana where we were to begin our adventure on the Jordan trail. The Jordan trail goes from....
Guatemala: The Border
From our first week in Xela, Guatemala and Tapachula, Mexico where we learned about migration throughout Central America into Mexico. Response to the Border From the moment we all walked up the steps that over looked the border, I was rendered speechless. I saw sand and graffiti on the buildings and walls and my interest....
Middle East: On to Jordan
Since the end of the last blog post by my friend Silas, we’ve explored Egypt further. Since Anafora, we’ve spent a lot of time traveling out and about, flying from Cairo to Luxor and spending two days there with picturesque scenery along the Nile visible right from our hotel room windows and rooftop. Our guide,....
Guatemala: the highlands
On the road yet again. We’re in the highlands, the north. As we climb higher, the trees begin to look like home. Everything else is different, but the rolling hills, the mountains, and the pine trees echo home. There is not ten feet of straight road. The car wash signs on the side of the....
Guatemala: First Impressions
A successful day of travel from EMU was finished with fruit and sandwiches around 10 pm. The next morning we awoke to cool air and hot sunshine. Recorded below are our first, short impressions of Guatemala and CASAS from that first morning. Akiel: beautiful scenery Rebecca: I was like “wow”. Ruth: This place is so....
Middle East: Egypt
Has it really only been a week? That’s the question that comes to mind as I write these words in Anaphora, a compound about an hour’s drive from Cairo. It’s a beautifully serene place that offers us time and space to unwind and reflect. Yes, only a week. Driving away from the farewell crowd at....
Reflections on the China Cross-Cultural
A Conversation Between Mary and Sam Why China? To be honest, I just needed to satisfy the cross-cultural requirement. I’m a transfer student, so I didn’t have a lot of options. I decided to sign up at the last minute when my advisor (Mark Sawin) told me it would be a great adventure, and I....
China: Expanding Identity
Dec. 9, 2018 I am 22 and am adopted from China – well, my mother has to remind me that I was adopted because “adopt” is a verb, not a constant state of being. I chose to go to China for my EMU cross-cultural long before college, even though I had already visited there in....
China: Why study in such a small city?
“Nan…chong? Never heard of it.” When I told my sister-in-law, a native of Zhejiang province here in China, that I would be spending a semester studying in Nanchong she was understandably confused. A small provincial town of only about 1.3 million, Nanchong isn’t the first place to come to pretty much anyone’s mind when you....
China – Hiking the Tiger Leaping Gorge: An Unforgettable Experience
Being in China has pushed me to to be more adventurous and try things that I would normally stray away from. In the past, I automatically lost interest if I even heard the word “hiking”. I’ve never been the athletic type. In fact, I can’t even walk half way up the hill on EMU’s campus....