Study Abroad

Mar 13 2022

The names of the people in the photos are me (Antoinette Mpawenayo), my host grandma in Philly (Popo) and my roommate (Courtney Templeton). The two photos are important to me because they show an amazing relationship that Popo and I...

Mar 13 2022

As the saying goes it’s always sunny in Philadelphia, however, that doesn’t mean it’s not cold. So, here we are another frigid day, but sunny, in downtown Philadelphia. Now, you may be wondering from the photos why we are gardening...

Mar 13 2022

This is a photo of Ben and I with our host parents Pak David and Ibu Eva at the 17 anniversary of PPC (Philadelphia Praise Center). On this day we attended church with our host parents to celebrate the 17th...

Mar 13 2022

This a photo of my host family I was staying with for the previous 5 weeks. From left to right is Oliver (the baby), Kevin, Sandy, Trey (my roommate), Joy and I. Although I do not have a picture from...

Mar 13 2022

One of the highlights of my SST experience was celebrating Chinese new year with my host family. This was my first time celebrating Chinese New Year, and I didn’t know quite what to expect. Pastor Aldo had mentioned when we...

Mar 13 2022

In Philly, I stayed with Hendy and Marina and their three kids Judah (middle) , Levi (left), and Asher (right). Staying with Indonesian host families was a great opportunity to practice our bahasa and learn more about Indonesian culture before...

Mar 13 2022

This initially started off with my host mom, Sandy, asking one evening if my classmate, Brady, and I are going to be busy the following Monday night. I had to regretfully remind her that we were going to have class.…

Mar 13 2022

During weekly lectures with guest speakers, we learned a lot about how the Indonesian immigrant community supports each other. One of those ways is through food. Sharing meals brings people together and fosters a sense of culture through the traditional...

Mar 12 2022

One theme that I have been thinking about following our time in Philadelphia is unity and diversity. The Indonesian community in Philadelphia is incredibly diverse. It is composed of individuals from a broad range of locations and islands, which also…

Mar 12 2022

About halfway through our time in Philly, in the third week of February, Modero Dance Company began their weekly Balinese Dance classes open to the public. Sinta is the woman who teaches this and a variety of other dance classes...

Mar 12 2022

So…What have we been doing lately? Well – the blog has been quiet recently because we have been very very busy! We heard February 22nd that all of our visas had been approved to travel to Indonesia! This in itself...

Mar 04 2022

Friday March 4, 2022 I am writing from the Amani Gardens Inn in Nairobi. Today we made the trip from Mpala Research Centre to the big city to prepare for our flight home on Saturday. It was tough to say...

Mar 03 2022

Today was the day I was dreading most on tour. The drive home or at least partly home. Another early morning saw us being back on the bus at 7 in the morning for what we all knew was going...

Mar 03 2022

Students left for their service placements on Saturday morning  all arriving by the evening and greeted by their new host families. 🙂 We mentioned previously that last Thursday afternoon we spent some concentrated time discussing/reflecting/anticipating the upcoming transition to service...

Mar 02 2022

Today on our fourth day of the choir tour, we got some well earned break time, with the day planned to be spent in the nation’s capital, Washington DC. The day started with Jonathan Weaver and I getting ready with...

Mar 02 2022

Tuesday March 1, 2022  Today was our first day of collecting data for our individual research projects. Mira is working on bird responses to smoke with Alex while Willow, Amelia, Jesper, and I are working on counting ants as an...

Mar 01 2022

Monday Feb. 28, 2022 Today we had a much-needed day of rest after a week or so of intense work. While Ryan headed to Nanyuki for the day to get new tires on his Land Rover, the rest of us...

Mar 01 2022

What a day. We knew it was going to be a big one, but little did we know just how much was in store for Vox. We began as usual. After having breakfast with our host family, my roommate and...

Feb 28 2022

Sunday Feb. 27, 2022 After an intense week of burning, the Goshen team was ready for a relaxing day of fun. Naturally, that meant we woke up bright and early at 6:30 to head to Ol Pejeta, a ranch that...

Feb 27 2022

Vox Profundi’s choir tour continued with our first day of performing. I awoke at 7:00am (which is technically considered sleeping in compared to yesterday) to my roommate having stolen all of the covers from me in the bed we shared....

Feb 27 2022

During our last week of the “study” portion of the term, students traveled to several hours east of Quito to explore the upper Amazon basin. We combined several experiential learning activities – both cultural and environmental, based on the region’s...

Feb 27 2022

Saturday Feb. 26 Today we finished the last of the 36 small 30m X 30m burns in the KLEE plots! I am thankful to all the students, Mpala Research Centre staff, and research colleagues. Asanteni! Here is a video of...

Feb 26 2022

Vox Profundi’s choir tour got off to a great start at 5:45am this morning with zero positive Covid tests! We departed from the music center at 6:30am en route for Plains Mennonite Church in Pennsylvania. The bus was very quiet...

Feb 26 2022

Friday Feb. 26 Today we got up early to burn and discovered that, as with most fieldwork, plans change. Our colleagues from Harvard were having trouble with some drone equipment they were using in the KLEE plots and we got...