Jan 3, 2014

Summer '14: Study Abroad programs

Yale-NUS's Summer Opportunities!

Okay so my mind was quite set on the Yale-NUS NGO bootcamp because I do see myself working passionately for an NGO in the future, but I won't be able to make it for the internship part of the bootcamp this year and the training itself is only 1-2 weeks long so I'm looking at other study abroad opportunities AND OMG YALE'S SUMMER STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS LOOK SO GOOD

Swaziland: Visual Approaches to Global Health 
This course explores the intersection of global health and visual media. The course focuses on global health issues such as HIV, TB, human rights, and violence in public health. Students learn filmmaking as a means for translating complex public health concepts into a format approachable by a general audience. In addition to traditional learning, students work with instructors, guest lecturers, and production personnel to create a short film on a selected global health topic. 

Okay so I don't have any background in a public health course, which is a recommended prerequisite for the course; I unfortunately didn't take A level Bio and I also never took History or World Issues or anything, but wow, I'm definitely willing to read up for this. And like, WOW! I was also telling my International & Professional Experience advisor that I would love to go to Africa at least once during my time in college - while you're given amazing opportunities to go around and explore, you're also protected by the institution in a sense. And Swaziland!!!!! Kei!!!!! And right next to South Africa and Mozambique, not far away from Zimbabwe (Joice!!!)....OMG EXCITING


Tokyo: Humanities in Tokyo 
This course surveys the cultural history of Tokyo through literature, film, art, anime and architecture and living spaces. Starting with the heyday of Edo when the city lent its name not only to the shogun’s capital, already a thriving urban center of over a million inhabitants, but to the historical period itself (1604-1868), we will examine the city’s reincarnation as the imperial metropolis of Tokyo in the Meiji period (1868-1912), the phoenix-like cycles of destruction and reconstruction through the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923), the firebombing of the city during WWII and other significant changes in the topography and lived experiences of the city. Particular emphasis will be given to contextualizing the classroom content with field trips to museums, historic neighborhoods and a hands-on experience of living in Tokyo. 

This logically is a perfect choice - it goes well with my electives next semester: An Anthropology of Literary Culture, and Japanese 1. AND WE GET TO DO HOMESTAYS!!!! It sounds amazing, but not as attractive to me as the Swaziland one - I'm honestly not as interested in big busy shiny cities, and I like the smaller towns in Japan far more - but here I'd learn all about the culture and everything, the basics if I really want to understand the place.


Okay. Wow. Wow. I'm definitely going to try for both, and really really hope I get either one - hopefully Swaziland, but I don't have the recommended prerequisite so my chances for it are lower. But like WOW!!!!! AHHH

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