Going Global

In Shanghai, the first stop on my trip, I visited Anna Bladey ’14, who was volunteering for the Baobei Foundation, which works to get life-saving surgeries for orphans with severe birth defects.

Anna Bladey ’14 and I were promised a peaceful day while walking around the shores of this lake in Hangzhou.

The view from Anna Bladey’s apartment in Pudong.

The Pahar Ganj district in Old Delhi is where I spent my first night in India. I found the crowded streets to be intimidating, but I

This is a bicycle-pulled school bus in the Pahar Ganj District. I feel that it represents the conditions many girls face in India: They have more opportunities now than ever before, but they’re still behind bars in many ways.

In Delhi I visited Sarah Alexander ’14, an intern at the Center for Science and Environment who is researching ways to make Delhi more accessible to pedestrians. This is the main mosque in Delhi, Jama Masjid. Sarah and I hadn’t realized we would need to t

Visiting the Taj Mahal at sunrise was a magical experience. By getting up at the crack of dawn we avoided the crowds and heat and got to see the building in spectacular light.

It costs only 20 rupees or so (less than a dollar) to visit the Taj as a local, while tourists pay nearly 1,000 rupees. This means locals such as this man can enjoy the Taj frequently.

In France I visited Jina Choi ’13, an intern at the U.S. embassy in Paris. On one memorable night we spent hours watching the sunset over the Eiffel Tower.

A view of Paris from the Arc de Triomphe on a stormy day.

After visiting Paris I traveled to Lyon, France, to visit students in a language study abroad (LSA) program. I stayed in a youth hostel in the old part of Lyon that involved walking up an incredibly steep hill. In the distance stands the sole skyscraper i

I’m a mountain person, and with two free days to myself in France, I hightailed it to the Alps. I spent one night in Chamonix and took a cable car up to the Aiguille du Midi, a spire of rock near the summit of Mont Blanc. I wished I’d had my skis!

In Peru I visited Sam Streeter ’13 and Ruth McGovern ’12, who were volunteering for Sacred Valley Health, a small nongovernmental organization that delivers healthcare to the rural villages in the Sacred Valley near Cusco. Here an elderly woman sits drink

An elderly gentleman visits one of the clinics in Socma, Peru.

Andean women are made of rock. These mothers watched while Sacred Valley Health volunteers set up a mobile clinic in Socma, Peru.

Dozens of Incan and pre-Incan ruins surround Ollantaytambo. I hiked up to these ancient granaries to watch the sunset.

Ruth McGovern ’12 enjoys the view of the ruins of Machu Picchu from above Huayna Picchu, a nearby mountain.

The steep summit trail of Huayna Picchu.

The classic shot of the unbelievable ruins.

When I heard there was going to be a bull fight during the traditional festival of Choquekilka, I was a bit hesitant to go and watch, afraid of having to see an animal suffer. However, this was bull-fighting lite. It involved bringing a bull into the ring

The Ollantaytambo and Urubamba rivers at sunrise.

On morning runs above Ollantaytambo, Streeter, McGovern and I would run though fields of golden grass reflecting the morning light. I was always jealous of the cows that spent all day up here.