Category Archives: Study Abroad & Travel

QUESTing Around the Globe

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College is full of exciting, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, and the chance to explore another country during study abroad is certainly one of the most unique and thrilling. It’s a great chance to understand a new culture from both an educational and experiential perspective. QUEST currently has 10 students studying abroad across the globe from Europe to Australia. I spoke with two QUESTees to hear about everything from their study abroad journey so far.

Daniel Lamb is a computer engineering major from Cohort 40 who is currently studying in Madrid, Spain. He was inspired to study in Madrid because he wanted to explore a new country, meet international students, and try as many new things as possible! His favorite experience so far has been his solo travel to Valencia where he was able to participate in a festival called Las Falleras. He got to dance, eat, and build human towers with locals around a massive bonfire. His favorite class abroad has been his Spanish class, which is taught fully in Spanish by a professor who loves to poke fun and have a good time with his students. Lamb advises future QUEST students looking to study abroad to try as many new things as they can and not to worry about feeling out of place as that feeling is part of the gateway to new experiences.

Lamb (Cohort 40) parasailing in Spain

Maya Pollack is a computer science major from Cohort 40 studying abroad in Sydney, Australia. Pollack grew up loving to travel and knew she wanted to take advantage of studying abroad in college. Over the last two months in Australia, she has felt “genuinely immersed in the culture of this beautiful country,” and it has enhanced her “academic journey with invaluable insights and personal growth.” Her favorite class so far has been an environmental science lab where they go on weekly outdoor field trips related to the content they learn in class. Her favorite experience was when she visited Cairns, Queensland and went skydiving! Pollack wants future QUESTees to take the opportunity to study abroad if they can. She finds that “traveling and seeing the world is such an important part of life, pushing you to become more worldly and open-minded.” She advises coming in with the mindset of “getting comfortable with being uncomfortable” to maximize the exciting elements of studying abroad. 

Pollack (Cohort 40) skydiving in Cairns, New Zealand

QUEST Jets Overseas During Winter Abroad Course in Japan and Korea

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Over winter break, 29 students across the QUEST program immersed themselves in the cultures and industries of two East Asian countries through the study abroad winter elective.

This year, the program took them to tour the cities of Tokyo, Japan, and Seoul, South Korea with an overall theme of looking at innovation and automation and how they have been incorporated into the culture and society of the two cities. Over the ten days, the class allowed students to dive into the cultures of these cities, as well as hear from representatives of numerous companies. 

Watching a matcha tea ceremony

The class visited larger well-known corporations, like Nissan and Samsung, as well as some start-up companies across multiple industries. 

The class at their site visit to SBS

I was able to talk to Shareen Ahmad, an Operations Management and Business Analytics and Supply Chain Management major from Cohort 41, who went on the trip. Her favorite site visit was to Astroscale, a space debris removal company. She found it inspiring to see their work towards sustainability. “It had a lot of legal, financial, and social considerations, and I loved their passion for taking on such a challenge,” she shared. Students even got to simulate the process of how Astroscale works to remove space debris.

Not only were the QUEST students learning about how business and industries worked, but they also got to see firsthand the social and cultural impacts. Students were surprised to see the difference in culture compared to the US. As Ahmad put it, “There was a big focus on social harmony and collectivism.” 

Overall, many students loved being able to interact with the local cultures, seeing cafes, shopping districts, food markets, and lots of entertainment! With the destination of the winter course changing each year, there is always more for future QUESTees to experience abroad. For more photos from the trip, click here.

Studying Abroad in Style in Spain

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College is the time to try new things, whether that’s learning to cook or traveling to a new country. This month, I talked to two QUEST students who both chose to study abroad in the lovely city of Madrid, Spain for the semester! Both Bioengineering majors in Cohort 38 studying at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Fiona Sheridan and Hannah Lee had nothing but amazing things to say about their experiences so far.

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An International QUEST

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This January, I was fortunate enough to go on the QUEST Winter Abroad Trip to Vietnam and Singapore. Signing up for the trip, I really didn’t know what to expect, and I have to say, this opportunity far exceeded my expectations. On my transcript, what looks like a 3-credit course was an opportunity where I was able to learn, grow, and have fun.

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QUESTees Around the Globe: Study Abroad Reopens

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College is the land of countless new opportunities, and one of the most exciting is the opportunity to study abroad. With the ability to choose a program anywhere in the world, studying abroad offers a time to learn about your passion while meeting new people and exploring new cultures. This month, I talked to three QUEST students who are currently taking their studies global about their exciting experiences.

While studying abroad is an exciting point of any student’s years of college, it can be difficult to find a program that’s the right fit for you. Ethan Martinez, a computer science major in Cohort 36, is currently part of the UMD Exchange program to University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland. He found the program using the Study Abroad Course Database, which helped him plan out what courses would give him credit. He also consulted friends who had also studied abroad there. Martinez wasn’t only focused on the academics; as an outdoor and history enthusiast, he was excited to see the Scottish Highlands and explore historical sights such as medieval castles. Alexa Schwab, a business management major in Cohort 36, is currently studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain as part of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona program. She found that utilizing UMD’s study abroad advisors helped her match up with a program that fit her goals. Schwab loved that Barcelona was a beach city, had many English speakers, and was easy to travel through the rest of Europe. When it comes to finding a study abroad program, utilizing university resources is vital for straightening out the logistics but picking a place that aligns with your personal travel interests should also be considered.

QUESTee Alexa Schwab with the Mona Lisa in Paris, France

Studying abroad is largely about expanding your horizons and learning about new cultures both personally and academically. Martinez has found his best times so far to be traveling in both Scotland and through Europe with his flatmates. Some of the highlights were visiting the Edinburgh castle where he learned about Scottish royalty, St. Margaret’s church which is over 1,000 years old, and Copenhagen where he saw the Rosenborg Slot. When not traveling, he enjoys hiking Arthur’s Seat and visiting Scottish pubs to meet other students and locals. Schwab has taken advantage of Spain’s location to visit several countries including France and Switzerland while also taking time to see many of Spain’s beautiful cities. One of her best memories was taking a chocolate making class in Switzerland. Rishi Parikh, an aerospace engineering major in Cohort 35, is studying at University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M) in Madrid, Spain as part of the Clark in Madrid program. Parikh has spent his time in Madrid making new friends from all around Europe including Italy, Scotland, and Germany and trying different activities while abroad. Academically, he finds self motivation to be the key to success.

Copenhagen, Denmark taken by QUESTee Ethan Martinez

When it came to advice for future QUEST students looking to study abroad, the interviewees had plenty of helpful tips. Parikh advises stepping out of your comfort zone to make friends that are not just from English-speaking countries and even going random with roommates to meet people from all over. He is a strong supporter of keeping an open mind and taking the time to explore. Martinez agrees, explaining that meeting students outside of the US gives a fresh perspective. He also advises future study abroad students to make time for having fun as this experience won’t come again. Although studying abroad can sometimes seem like an intimidating and daunting process, with the use of plenty of resources, it can be one of the best times of our college career. It’s a wonderful time to actually discover yourself and see the world from a totally different view. Enjoy the rest of your semesters abroad!

QUEST Takes on Design and Innovation in Spain

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The QUEST to Spain trip returned this winter, allowing students the opportunity to explore the culture in Barcelona, Madrid, and Toledo! Students, both from within and outside of the QUEST Honors Program, spent 12 days in Spain to explore topics in innovation and design. 

Students at Park Guell in Barcelona

After having a great experience on last year’s QUEST to Japan trip, Lexi Paidas (Cohort 31) felt excited to have another opportunity to go abroad with QUEST. She enjoyed not only attending business visits in Spain, but also taking opportunities to explore the culture and architecture of the cities. “We spent a lot of time learning about timeless design. There was beautiful architecture that’s been around for years.”

Students at La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

One of her favorite parts of the trip was a day trip to Montserrat. “We saw a beautiful Basilica when we were about 1,000 meters up. It was a weird weather day, so when we stepped off the bus, we could barely see anything from the fog. The basilica coming out of the fog was beautiful.” 

Lexi enjoyed learning about the timeless design that went into building basilicas like this one. She said, “A lot of time and effort goes into minute details to make it last a long time, and there are no shortcuts. You create with the idea that what you’re creating is everlasting.”

Another highlight of the trip was the day trip to Toledo, where students learned about how the history of the city impacted its culture. “It used to be their capital city, so they had a lot of turnover,” Lexi said. “There’s still a lot of prominent sections with different religions today. It was interesting how you could see the influence of different religions in different areas.” Lexi added that Toledo is where Spain makes a lot of their marzipan!

The students who travelled to Spain are excited to apply everything they learned about design and innovation to their courses and beyond! Where will QUEST go next?

Making the Most of Winter Break

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This month, we have been welcoming back all of our QUESTees for a new, and some student’s final, spring semester! Although QUEST students were gone for five weeks and did not get to participate in innovative QUEST classes, they seemed to be doing some pretty cool and exciting activities on their own!

Celine Moarkech of Cohort 29, and QUESTPress’ Editor and Chief, spent part of her winter break in the country of Colombia! “I absolutely loved Colombia! In the craziest of ways, this trip was super QUEST-y. I did an AirBnB experience with an architect in Medellin to learn about the city planning and design post-Escobar, and I learned that so much thought went into it. From thinking about every potential user of city transportation to identifying the most efficient ways (ski lifts are regular forms of transport) to keeping everything sustainable, the city is not only developing amazingly for now but also for the future!”

Celine in Medellin, Colombia

Neil Duggal of Cohort 31 went abroad with the Smith School of Business and interactively studied the financial effects of Brexit in England and Belgium. “I really enjoyed visiting the historical aspects of each city. I absolutely loved learning about the military leaders and going to museums. The food was amazing – I could always go for some classic fish ‘n chips. Also, I went to Paris on my own and really enjoyed exploring the town of Versailles. If you go, definitely hit up the bakeries and eat every type of croissant imaginable.”

Neil in Paris, France

Charles Grody, Jack Sturtevant, and Tuvia Rapaport, all from Cohort 29, went to Queen’s University in Toronto to pitch Hydraze, their startup eco-friendly public toilet flushing system, in the Queen’s Entrepreneurial Challenge. Jack Sturtevant said, “We were one of fifteen teams to compete in the challenge, and only one of four non-Canadian start-ups. We made it to the final, which consisted of only six teams. This was a really cool opportunity for Hydraze because we got to pitch our idea in front of people like the Chief Marketer at Groupon, the CTO of Microsoft, Canada, etc. Charles Grody added, “This was actually all of our first time in Canada. It snowed a lot, so when we weren’t focusing on Hydraze, we were having snowball fights!”

These QUEST students really had some cool experiences this winter break! Sadly, its time to regroup and get back to class… Only four more weeks until spring break, but who’s counting…

From left to right, Tuvia Rapaport, Charles Grody, Jack Sturtevant in Toronto, Canada

Every Journey is a QUEST: Looking Back on Summer 2019

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“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” -Oliver Wendell Holmes

Last May, we finished up finals, closed the textbooks, and said goodbye to our friends as we got ready for the summer. Fast forward three months, and WE’RE BACK! And we’re better — not only for all the experience that we’ve gained through the amazing internships we had but also for the exciting travels that we embarked on.

This summer, QUEST students reached every side of the globe. Some internships sent our students to major U.S. cities like San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, and New York while other internships meant working abroad in countries including Japan and Israel.

But like I said, it wasn’t just the internships that led everyone to get away from home for the summer – it was also the trips that everyone took.

Adam and his sister in South Africa.

Adam Sarsony (Cohort 29) went to South Africa to visit his sister who was studying abroad in Port Elizabeth. His favorite experience throughout the trip was visiting a penguin rescue where “they had 80 penguins that would hop around rocks and fall on each other.” While at the rescue, Adam adopted a baby penguin named Pablo. If anyone heads out to South Africa, Adam definitely recommends “Sundowners” where, essentially, you buy snacks known as sundowners and head to the dunes to watch the sunset.

Arianna in Cyprus on a day exploring.

Arianna Minas (Cohort 31) took a trip to Greece and Cyprus to hang out with family. Arianna got to explore Greece, a well-developed tourist destination and then juxtapose it with her time in Cyprus. Although Cyprus is also beautiful, it is not as well-known, meaning fewer tourist activities and a lesser-known culture and history. Arianna loved it but also simultaneously had tons of ideas on how Cyprus could work to improve the quality of life of locals and to better receive tourists.

Tuvia snorkeling in the Pacific Ocean.

Tuvia Rappaport and Zarek Peris (Cohort 29) got to meet up while both were visiting Hawaii! Tuvia, like Adam, went to visit his sister who is stationed in Hawaii for the Navy. Tuvia said, “She lives in this cute town called Kailua and it turned out that Zarek was staying in the next town over like 10 minutes away.” Naturally, Tuvia’s favorite experience on the trip was actually getting to meet up with Zarek. Tuvia did tons of things including beautiful hikes, visiting a Buddha statue, and one of his favorite activities, scuba diving at Koko crater with sea turtles all around him. For anyone headed to Hawaii, Tuvia insists on eating chocolate haupia pie.

The English Garden in Munich

Alex Leipold (Cohort 31) has been in Germany since the start of the summer for his internship and is now there for study abroad. Alex worked in Munich for Secure System with whom his favorite experience was getting to be at the biggest shipping expo/conference in the world. Outside of work, Alex took weekend trips to reunite with his extended family. One of the best places that Alex recommends visiting in Munich is the English Garden, a park three times the size of Central Park that is full of people all summer long.

QUEST students love to explore in their every day and that is exactly what they did on these trips. While on these adventures, the students relaxed on beaches, delved into new cultures, and saw beautiful things. A common recommendation across all the travelers’ stories was to make it a point to travel and to go on these trips with an open mind ready to learn! So here’s to planning the next experience, whether or not it involves penguin adoptions or tasty pies!

Q30’s Europe Takeover

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The chance to pick up, move to another country, and return a few months later without any consequences does not present itself often. Through study abroad comes the opportunity to experience many new cultures and see the world while continuing your education.

As we know through our enhanced social media feeds this semester, many members from Q30 have embarked on this journey this semester. I checked in with some of them to learn about their most recent travels, favorite moments thus far, and how their semester has been overall! Needless to say, from awesome pictures taken beneath the Eiffel Tower or on a gondola in Venice to the ultimate foodie snaps of paella and gelato, ten Q30 members are living their best lives across Europe!

Nikhil and Barret (first two on the left)
Jake in Paris

Tamara Lee, Josh Lurie, Lauren Kim, Alexandra Bergman, Barret Rus, Nick Zahneis, Juhi Rajgopal, Nikhil Modi, Jacob Wurman, and Rachel Rosenthal are spread across Rome, London, Vienna, Madrid, Barcelona, and Manchester. They have trekked across Europe, hitting new cities each weekend and even crossing paths a few times. Tamara recalled a weekend in Lisbon, Portugal:

“I was on top of the Castelo de Sao Jorge a few weekends ago. This random girl came up to me and here is how the dialogue went:
– Random girl: “Hey can you take a Boomerang of me and my friends?”

Juhi and Tamara in Portugal

– Me: “Yeah, sure of course.” Looking down at her phone in my hands.
– Random girl: “Wait… Tamara?!?!”
– Me: “Wait…. Juhi?!?!?”

– And that is how I ran into my fellow Q30 peer. Here is a picture to prove it.”

Being abroad, the students have gotten to take really cool classes, both in the scope of their majors and beyond. Barret is taking a “bunch of out of the box classes like tourism, food/water crises, and open innovation.” Alex is learning Spanish as well as taking classes about international economics and art.

Alex Bergman

With hopping to a new city every weekend, our QUEST students have definitely found their favorites! Jake absolutely loved Venice and said, “There’s really no place like it. The entire island is alleyways filled with all sorts of small shops, and then you also have the canals to get around. [He] went during Carnival and got to see some festivities that go along with that. It’s a unique and beautiful place.” Barret’s favorite place is Bratislava in Slovakia. He told me that “some friends and [him] walked there from Vienna, and it turned out to be super under the radar city with great sights and food.” Alex loved visiting Girona, a city about two hours north of Barcelona. Fun fact – part of Game of Thrones was filmed there!!

While everyone has had a different favorite city, the general consensus after chatting with lots of Q30 is that the food anywhere and everywhere abroad is amazing. Lauren, who is studying in London visited Nikhil and Barret, both of whom are studying in Vienna, and recalls eating Viennese schnitzel all together — perhaps the largest meal of her life. Alex’s favorite part about being abroad is the “tapas, paella, and sangria.”

Lauren Kim in Paris

Being abroad has been an awesome adventure for everyone so far! They’ve become experts on booking the best Airbnbs and last minute trips to places like Eidenberg. They’ve grown to be more curious and willing to try new things while embarking on spontaneous adventures like running across London to a famous flower shop. They’ve even found a place for their QUEST minds time and time again whether it be discussing six sigma in an international business course or problem solving traveling unfamiliar cities when their phone service cuts out.

While Q30 members abroad are planning their upcoming weekend trips, they are wishing Q29 good luck as they push through 490H! Jake says, “Good luck on your projects! I wish I could be there to watch your presentations. Instead I’ll be hiking in Cinque Terre” and for spring break, Alex says, “Hang in there my dudes, you got this. I’ll have some sangria waiting for the Q29ers joining me in Barcelona for spring break!”