When I tell people that I’m studying abroad for a year in Tokyo, Japan the most common reaction I receive usually involves immediate excitement and interest from the other person because the location and city are so foreign and exotic. I have found that the next question that most of my friends and professors ask me (after expressing their excitement and congratulations) is: Why do you want to go to Tokyo for a year? To be a honest, it is a fair question and one that I do not think I have been able to give a straight answer to so far. So, in preparation for a year abroad I thought that I would put together a mini-story of the events in my life that pushed me to study abroad at Keio University for an entire year.

In my mind there are two parts to the question. The first involves why I want to stay for a year when most students decide to only go abroad for a semester and the second is why I decided to go specifically to Japan. I’ll begin with the first because it is the easier of the two to explain.

The reason I want to stay for a year probably stems from the fact that my father worked at Kalamazoo College, a liberal arts college renowned for its international programs. Even though his values (concerning study abroad) were not necessarily born out of working at K College, they were emphasized from his time there. My father always stressed how important it was for students to study abroad. From a purely personal perspective, the experience helps students grow internally, teaches them important life lessons and pushes them to become better leaders. It also allows students to involve themselves in another country’s culture and challenge them to step outside their own comfort zone. Although a semester abroad will accomplish many of these goals, there is a lot of evidence that suggests a full year only enhances the experience more and truly allows a student to become fully immersed in a different culture. While a number of students find it difficult to study aboard to complete their major and minor requirements, in my heart I decided that if I could study aboard for a year, I would so that I could immerse myself and become a better leader.

I decided that for the second part of the question I would make a video that chronicles how I become interested in Japanese culture.

To those reading this, I hope that I have satisfied your curiosity and showed you the reasons of why I want to go to Tokyo, Japan for a year. I’m very excited and hope that I will be able to take you all with me on my adventures as I explore and discover a completely foreign city and culture.

Arigatō,

Elena Potts

The Fest included activities such as making s’mores by harnessing the sun, a bike powered smoothie maker, stilts, reading about environmental issues on blankets laid out in the sun, and face-painting.

You know, I almost didn’t come to college.  I had some lofty dreams of hitchhiking around the country.  I knew that I was a naive kid, and I thought bumming around would teach me what I needed to know about life.  Maybe it would have.  But I look back at who I was in high school and how I’ve changed since then and I fully recognize that I am a different person.  I’m comfortable and confident.  I didn’t have to wander around the country alone to figure myself out.

I took classes that interested me, a wide, eclectic variety.  I joined clubs and service organizations; even led a few.  I came into contact with people from all over the globe, and I was given opportunities to travel all over the globe.  I surrounded myself with fun and intelligent people that helped me grow everyday.

Sure, it wasn’t all sunshine and daisies (very little sunshine in fact), but the challenges and hardships that I experienced helped sculpt my character.  I learned how to meet challenges and rise above them, manage tough schedules, do difficult academic work, care for friends when they were in need, care for myself when I was in need.

Graduation Stage

They say that this is the age in which we become the people who we are for the rest of our lives.  If that’s the case, then I’m proud to have spent these years at Allegheny College, becoming the person I am today, the optimistic person who in 5 days will walk across the stage to shake hands and finally hold my diploma, the holy grail of my four year academic adventure.

What’s next?  I love to write, so I’ll continue to do that in whatever way I can.  And I love to travel, so I am getting certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language.  The opportunities are boundless.  No matter what, I feel very confident that what I’ve learned at Allegheny has adequately prepared me for the challenges of tomorrow and of the rest of my life.

It’s springtime at Allegheny!! The flowers and trees are beautiful.

Check them out! Visit soon, if you can! They won’t be around for too much longer.

Being a VESA minor has allowed me to delve into philosophy, psychology, languages, among other ethics classes taught by some of the best and most passionate professors on campus such as Kazi Joshua.  The minor has enabled me to gain the leadership skills needed to acclimate into any social environment and become a social activist.

The culmination of the VESA minor is the VESA Capstone Seminar.  This course was more of a weekly meeting in which we talked about food insecurity in Meadville and how to the solve the problem.  The point is to get at the core of the problem rather than provide temporary simple solutions.  For this we worked with Dr. Barry Bittman of the Meadville Medical Center.  We became his think-tank, brainstorming solutions and splitting up into teams to tackle specific projects.

VESA Capstone Meeting with Dr. Bittman

VESA trained all of us to create the most intelligent and efficient solutions, which in this case involved a food resources guide to be distributed downtown, a how-to guide for encouraging businesses to help the cause, and a business model to create an institution that directly attacks the problem.

VESA and Meadville have been a fantastic training ground for all of the social ethics challenges of life.

Students design and model their own original clothing made from garbage!

I truly loved this dress. It’s made from a black trash bad, and many many red solo cups.

How creative!

Here are the rest of the dresses. I encourage you to look at them! Some are truly fantastic.

Email:  Your Allegheny Email is powered by Google.  This means that your Allegheny Email is actually a Gmail with almost all of the convenient features that come with it.

Sakai:  This is the online classroom platform that allows professors and students to interact more easily than email.  Many professors post important class documents and links on Sakai, even presentations and videos.  Each professor can set their class’s pages up differently, but some allow you to view your grades and talk to other students about class content over a forum.

Web Advisor:  Here I check my student accounts.  Coming into Allegheny, this is the site where I took my Math and Language placement exams.  I submit my work hours to my office advisor and check to see if my loans have been disbursed.  Equally important, I use Web Advisor to search and register for the following semester’s courses.

Library:  The library’s website is fantastic for searching online databases for books in the Allegheny library or for books in other libraries.  You can use EZBorrow and Illiad to request books that Allegheny doesn’t have on hand.  You can even renew those books online.

There are many more tools available for students, most of which are available on My Allegheny, all of which help keep you organized and informed throughout your college career.

My Allegheny

I first heard about the opportunity to spend a year abroad at the London School of Economics and Political Science (known as LSE for short) last spring. A friend from one of my classes introduced me to their “General Course” program. Since then, I researched and subsequently fell in love with the school and program. LSE is one of the top schools for social sciences, so it attracts political and economic leaders to campus from around the world. As a political science major, this was very exciting news. I look forward to attending many of the lectures given by guest speakers to the university. Besides academics, the central London location was a pretty nice plus.

I was finally accepted by LSE mid-January after months of preparation, and I had completed my last Allegheny pre-departure meeting by the end of March.  I’d learned a lot thanks to this process, and each part was integral to what I hope is a successful year abroad.

Just a couple weeks ago, I received LSE’s “Offer Pack” which details the course and fully explains what to expect. I also should hear about my housing soon. It’s all quickly picking up from here and I’m thrilled I’ll get to share my journey. While the thought can make me nervous at times, I’m excited to expand my horizons. I look forward to trying new food, meeting new friends, finding new spaces, and learning about Political Science in a completely different environment.

As my journey progresses, I’ll post updates here. Also, as a girl who loves photography, expect many photos of my experiences. Please comment or share this blog as you see fit, I’d love to make this a conversation. I may be the first Allegheny student to go to LSE’s General Course, but I’m excited to bring a little bit of Meadville with me.

As a member inducted in 2012, I was honored to present some “talent” during the ceremony in representing the German Language Department. Last year, I gave a speech about why we still need to study foreign languages nowadays when English has become the dominating language that is spoken everywhere.

From my understanding, language is not simply a “tool” for translating words. It is a way of communicating meaning and promoting true understanding among people. In the globalized world today, if we want to compete with others, we have to develop skills based on a good knowledge of the person/group with whom we work.

Language opens the door for knowing another culture and another way of thinking, and sometimes translation cannot interpret the logic behind the expression. For example, in Chinese, the word for “crisis” (危機) consists with two “roots”–one is “danger” and the other is “opportunity”. The word involves philosophy and ways of Chinese dialectic thinking. The concept may not be perfectly delivered if it’s a simple translation into another language. Knowing the importance of foreign language, I chose to study German as my third language, and I can tell hours of stories of how much I benefited from learning it.

This year, I decided to play the Guzheng (古箏) I brought from home. Even though it is a Chinese instrument, I still kept the sense of mission in representing German languages in my head, and I made a big big “BMW” sign stuck to the instrument. Hopefully people will remember that not only do I carry my “unusual combinations” everywhere, my instrument does, too!  :)

7. Carr Hall (On campus)

Yes, it may not look that magnificent from the outside, but that doesn’t mean Carr Hall isn’t beautiful.

Carr’s inside is furnished by eco-friendly material, such as bamboo. I believe the ceiling enhances and makes use of all available natural light, to save energy.

Carr is my favorite building on campus. When I step inside, I’m greeted by many green and vibrant plants, as well as natural light and a bubbling water soundscape. After a stressful class, it’s nice to come to Carr and relax. You will often find me studying in the comfortable bamboo chairs!

One more picture

8. Steffee Hall of Life Sciences (On campus)

Folks, this is where all the magic happens. Steffee is Allegheny’s main science building, and houses many research projects. Though I’m not a science major, I’ve been inside Steffee. I enjoy the building, because I feel as though amazing discoveries are going on inside. After Allegheny’s October Energy Challenge, we’ve added four new solar panels on Steffee’s top right roof!

9. Reis Hall (On campus)

Reis hall is home to one of Allegheny’s most important features–ACCEL. The Allegheny College Center for Experiential Learning can help with everything from finding the right major for you, to getting in touch with alums that are working in your potential field.

Reis also contains the pre-professonal office, community service center, and counseling services.

It’s also a pretty cool looking building

That’s all for my favorite Allegheny spots! Thanks for coming on this trip with me

More soon!

Paige