CIIS

My name is Courtney Lynn and I am a junior at St. Lawrence. During my time abroad, I
was granted the opportunity to travel to Greece, specifically Athens and Crete, for an
academically enriching experience. I studied in Spain for the semester, but received the
enrichment grant to explore the birthplace of rhetoric. It had always been a dream of mine,
specifically as a communications major, to see this historic place. The work of Aristotle is vast
and readily studied particularly in my field of academics, thus the opportunity I was given was

My project entailed traveling to the capital of Germany, Berlin, to visit urban agriculture and
urban farming sites. Over the past decade, gardening and agriculture projects have flourished
in the city, coupled with restaurants, universities, social centers and other spaces. I spent a
weekend in Berlin (Friday-Sunday) to visit their installations, get to know more about the
type of vegetables, fruits and herbs they grow, any agricultural principles they follow
(seasonal agriculture, permaculture, agroecology), the purpose of their garden (feeding

Growing up, I spent most of my summers hiking throughout New England; Mt.
Washington, Mt. Katahdin, and backpacking the last 200 miles of the Appalachian Trail. It was
my interest in hiking that initially led to my interest in pursuing a grant abroad in Kenya. With
the help of the CIIS Travel Enrichment Grant, I was able to stay in Kenya for an additional week
to trek to Lenena Point of Mt. Kenya, the only peak accessible without technical climbing. At
4,985m of elevation, Lenana Point of Mt. Kenya is the third-highest peak in all of Kenya. Over

Using my travel grant, I thought I was going to learn about some of the oldest European cuisine
London had to offer. Instead I ended up learning about how years of colonization, migration, and
deep seated roots made the people of Britian decide that Indian Curry would be their national
dish.

This paper looks to take a deeper look at the history of mathematics studies in the Kenyan
education system and bring in first-hand accounts and observations made over the last four
weeks. The goal of the project was to get a better understanding of the Kenyan education system
and of how mathematics is taught, understood, and prioritized in Kenya at the secondary and the
overall future of the subject in the country. Understanding the history of curriculum and
educational reform is one way to able to see the route and transformation mathematics education

Saint Lawrence University offers an incredible variety of study abroad programs around the world, so it was quite a challenge to decide where to go. Due to my affinity for the Spanish language and culture, I decided to study abroad in Spain during the Spring 2022 semester. To say the least, this was the most transformative experience of my life, so I am extremely grateful to everyone who has supported me on this journey.

I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Copenhagen, Rome and London in order to pursue my
interest in fashion during my semester abroad in Spring 2022. I have always been interested in
fashion, trend forecasting, fashion history and the textile industry in general. However, as a Global
Studies major, I also learned how important fashion can be as a tool of self-expression for
marginalized peoples and thus, how it can also be a means of decolonisation. Coming from Pakistan,

During my New York City semester this past Spring, I had the opportunity to explore various
cultures from around the world through their diverse culinary. New York is known as a city with
an incredibly rich food culture. This is in large part due to its long and varied history of
immigration. Through this grant opportunity, I was able to immerse myself in the city’s culture
by learning about this history and its impact on the city’s neighborhoods and food scene. I was
able to sample local restaurants and learn about the associated neighborhood’s history, with a

My project broadly aimed to look at the portrayal and perception of mental health in
French literature. I did this via the lens of Françoise Sagan’s novel Bonjour Tristesse and
research on mental health in France gathered from various libraries throughout the country
including Rennes, Bordeaux, and Paris. The research explored the development of the
definition of mental health in the nation, psychiatric treatment, discrimination and
stereotypes, and literary criticism on Sagan and her novel.

As I attended the semester in NYC, I was also embarking on my first experience living in a
bigger city. Not only was I excited for the sheer magnitude of the city, I hoped to explore my
interests in creating communities that engage within, beyond, and in opposition to the status
quo. An interest that, in part, emerged from my studies that explore the powerful, healing,
and educational value in counter-hegemonic community projects/gatherings – and that is
exactly what I did.

Due to the generosity of the Giltz Family Fund for International and Intercultural
Education, I was able to travel to Frankfurt, Germany and Berlin, Germany to collect data for
my Global Studies honors Senior Year Experience (SYE): Narratives of Genocide - the
Impact of Informal and Formal Education on Representations of German History. My focus
specifically on the Namibian Genocide and the Holocaust, alongside broader themes of
German colonization and their role in World War II, guided my research process as I visited
various museums and memorials.

As I studied abroad in Vienna, Austria, I had the opportunity to visit the many countries that
surrounded it and beyond. In my time abroad I traveled to nine countries outside of my host
country- Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Poland, Croatia, Slovenia, and
Menorca- immersing myself in the cultures and traditions native to each country. The program in
Austria encouraged us to travel and gave us the opportunity to learn by providing us with culture,
economic and language courses.

As a student majored in International Economics and Multilanguage and a minor in Statistics, I had a transforming experience abroad in Toulouse, France. Most importantly I spent my time abroad in France utilizing my French and Arabic language skills and expanding my knowledge of those cultures. I was able to live with a French host family, study international relations and environmental sustainability at a French private university and build relationships with French people.

During the Fall 2021 semester, I had the life-changing opportunity to study off campus in the heart of New York City. The off-campus opportunities offered at St. Lawrence University was one of the central reasons I decided to make this place my new home, and a chance to live in the city for four months brought this dream to fruition. Over the next couple of months, I balanced an internship at the office of U.S.

In the fall on 2021 I studied abroad in Belfast in the north of Ireland. While abroad I received a Travel Enrichment Grant to travel to Derry and Glasgow, Scotland. Both cities are recipients of the European Capital of Culture Award. In October I traveled to Derry from Belfast by train which was about two hours each way. While in Derry I went to the Tower Museum and explored free Derry. Derry is a city rich with history of the conflict that happened here in the north and the museum exemplifies the history of conflict and the art that came out of it.

In mid-December 2021 I said goodbye to my host family, friends, and professors and traveled from Madrid to a very small area called Siurana in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia (Catalunya in Catalan and Cataluña in Spanish). The trip proved to be a spectacular celebratory end to my semester abroad on St. Lawrence’s Spain program, and allowed me to say farewell to Spain in a very special way.

I am an English literature and Francophone studies double major. I studied abroad in Toulouse, France during the fall of 2021, and at the same time, I conducted research on Anne of Brittany. In my research, I sought to further study her varied representations during and after her life in connection to her identity as a woman. Anne was queen of France twice in her life and duchess of Brittany. Her representation is contested largely due to her identity as a woman during the Middle Ages.

In the fall of 2020, several Arab countries normalised relations with Israel. This came as a shock at the time as rising tensions in Palestine caused mass protests in western countries. One of those countries was my study abroad destination, The United Arab Emirates. I decided to find out what the people of the Emirates thought about their government’s sudden shift in policy, especially for such an emotional issue. So I first set off to the three most populous emirates to the west of Jebel Al-Jais to interview people on this touchy subject.