Student Blog

By: Alice (Ruo Ran) Wang, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

I am sitting on the train heading to a small town in Germany called Kassel. The quinquennial contemporary art festival—documenta—is taking place there and as a budding art historian, it is imperative that I visit it during my artistic pilgrimage. After two weeks in Paris, I am looking forward to being in a smaller city. Big cities have their glamour and dynamics, but it is in the countryside that we find the space and air to breath.

Writing the draft of this entry on the train is a particular treat. Not only am I delighted to be composing it with a fountain pen that I had recently purchased in Paris, I have always considered the process of writing to a kind...

By Cheryl Olvera, Simon Fraser University, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

Routine. That is what I had in Vancouver. I had my uni classes (‘uni’ is now how I refer to university, just as the British do, which makes me think of unicorns every time I say it so now I just use the unicorn emoji to refer to school via text), my part-time personal trainer job, my CrossFit gym, my amazing friends, my fav coffee shops. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE me some routine. It’s actually quite useful when you’re in uni too, because you can just focus on your assignments instead of trying to reorganize and sort out your life every second day. But routine really gets you on autopilot, and before you know it, you’ve lost sight of your path, your purpose, or lost your inquisit...

By: Alice (Ruo Ran) Wang, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

As I get ready to leave for my study-abroad program, I find myself overcome with an intense pre-departure jitter. There seems to be an endless string of loose-ends: getting foreign currency (Did I get enough? How devastated would I be if I got robbed? If not too devastated, maybe I should get more?); booking hostels (Is this good/safe/clean/reliable? Is there a breakfast buffet? Can I smuggle food from the buffet to eat later?); trying to forecast the weather (Does 19 ̊C in Paris feels like 19 ̊C here?). The constant plague of uncertainties is exasperating the already difficult task of planning a realistic sojourn.

I have other worries too. I am vigilant ab...

By Gigi Lin, Simon Fraser University, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship.

I have finished the majority of my exams now. I have about two weeks left until I return to Canada to start my co-op term. Reflecting back on the past month and a half, I’ve realized how time really flies on exchange.

The mid-semester break in April was pretty sweet. I was able to travel with friends for the first half, exploring the cities of Warsaw, Krakow, and Prague. We chose Krakow because it is the base of the Aushwitz-Birkeneau Concentration Camp. On our day tour at the camp, we were shown how history unr...