MIISP Student Blogs - Summer 2014 | Located on Pinterest

This year's MIISP student blogs can be found on Pinterest!

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MIISP Pre-Departure Group Photo

The MIISP group at our final session of the academic year!

Where in the world are the 2013 Michigan International Internship & Service Program participants?

View MIISP 2013 in a larger map

Where in the World are MIISP Students?

View MIISP Students - Summer 2012 in a larger map


You can navigate the map for a closer look. 

MIISP Blogging Guidelines & Prompts

We ask that MIISP students blog at least one time per week.  The first three entries listed here are ones that we ask all bloggers to cover: A first, middle, and final entry.  The remainder of the prompts are ones from which you may pick and choose. 

First Entry (after introductory/ goal-setting exercise): Departure and Initial Adjustments**
Feel free to pick and choose from the following questions:

• Did you feel anxious before leaving for your internship/service program? If so, what were you nervous about?
• What kinds of preparations did you make before leaving the United States?
• What were your immediate thoughts when you arrived in your host country, and have those initial judgments changed at all?
• Thus far, what is the biggest difference that you notice between your host country and the United States?

Mid-point Entry: Reflection on Goals

• As you think back on the personal and professional goals you created for yourself during the final MIISP meeting, what thoughts, new ideas, revisions, and challenges are emerging?*
• How is your experience thus far meeting your expectations (or not!)?

Final Entry: Returning to U-M: Reflecting on Goals & Cultural Adjustment

• Now that you’re back, think about how you might incorporate your experience abroad into your life at U-M, whether it be through your academics or extra-curricular activities. 
• Think about the goals you set for yourself during our final meeting.  Reflect on how your experiences this summer relate to what you wrote then.  Provide concrete examples, when possible.
• Below is a graph describing culture shock and reverse culture shock. Have you identified with any of these stages? Describe certain situations or stages of your abroad experience and how they relate (or not!) to the graph. *

1. Everything is new, interesting, and exciting.
2. Differences become apparent and irritating. Problems occur and frustration sets in. 
3. You may feel homesick depressed and helpless.
4. You develop strategies to cope with difficulties and feelings, make new friends, and learn to adapt to the culture. 
5. you accept and embrace cultural differences. You see the host as your new home and don't wish to depart and leave new friends. 
6. You are excited about returning home.
7. you may feel frustrated, angry, or lonely because friends and family don't understand what you experienced and how you changed. You miss the host culture and friends, and may look for ways to return. 
8. You gradually adjust to life at home. Things start to seem more normal and routine again, although not exactly the same. 
9. You incorporate what you learned and experienced abroad into your new life and career. 

Ideas for the remainder of your entries

Below are suggested prompts from which you can pick and choose (prompts are in no particular order).

Exploring your Host Country’s Culture

Prompt: Food & Culture**

“The meaning of food is an exploration of culture through food. What we consume, how we acquire it, who prepares it, who’s at the table, and who eats first is a form of communication that is rich with meaning.”(PBS, The Meaning of Food, 2005)

Have you tried any food abroad that you never thought you would?  What has been your favorite food in your host destination (a food that you normally do not eat back in the states).  How does the host culture you live in approach meals and food?  How is that different from American culture?

Prompt: Politics Abroad**

• Have you been following politics in your host country? What is the system/form of government practiced in your study abroad country? (i.e. democracy, parliamentary monarchy, republic).
• How does the political system or environment differ from the U.S.?
• Have the trending political opinions of local citizens caused you to reflect on policies and political discourse in the U.S.? If so, how?
• What kinds of pressing policy debates are occurring in your host country, and do you have an opinion on them?
• Describe the level of political or engagement of local undergraduate students you have encountered.

Prompt: Leaving the Comforts of Home - Brutality or Invigorating?**

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things –air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.”

-Cesare Pavese

• As a student living in a foreign host country, can you identify with this statement? Why or why not?

• Name one thing that you miss from the U.S. and why, along with one thing (activity, food, cultural norm) that you have discovered in your host country that you would like to incorporate in your life when you return to the states

Prompt: Conservation in the Region**

• Have you discovered or relished in the natural beauty of your host country?
• How environmentally conscious are the inhabitants of your host country? Does the level of consciousness have an effect on the surrounding environment?
• Are there any habits that promote a healthy environment in your study abroad country that you would like to take back to the United States?

Prompt: Your World through the Lens of your Camera

• Upload a picture of something that best represents your time in your host culture thus far & describe why you chose it.  Feel free to get creative!

Prompt: Influential People

• When we talk to returning MIISP students in the fall, one theme that often comes up in discussion is the impact that the people they met while abroad had on them.  Take some time to think about who these people might be for you. Write about them.
• Describe the person who has been most influential to you during the time you’ve spent in your host community
• (If you’d rather not include identifying information - that’s okay!)

Prompt: Cultural Faux Pas

• Describe your funniest cross-cultural misunderstanding yet!  Describe the situation and what you took away from the experience

Prompt: Social Media

• Think about social media and how it’s utilized in your host country.  Describe your use of social media and what implications you believe social media has on your experience abroad.  How does your use of social media compare to those you have met in your host community?

Exploring the International Workplace: Taking a closer look at the work you’re doing & how it relates to your studies at U-M and your future plans

Prompt: Your Internship/Service Project*

• What skills did you bring to the internship? 
• What skills have you developed? 
• What are you enjoying most about your internship?   
• What would you like to explore more? What has been challenging or frustrating for you?  How will you/did you resolve the difficulty?

Prompt: The International Workplace

• Regardless of what type of experience you’re undertaking this summer, you’re being exposed to workplace culture that is likely very different from that which you’ve experienced here in the U.S.  Devote an entry to talking about how the workplace culture in your host community compares to the U.S. workplace culture. 
• This might include discussion of things such as the concept of time, supervisor/employee relationships, work/life balance, style of dress, communication styles, formality, etc.

Prompt: Exploring the connection between your internship/service project & your studies/future plans*

• How is the internship supporting your concentration decision?
• Is the internship illuminating a career path and/or a link between your academic and extracurricular activity?
• How does your internship make your think differently about your past, present and future academic and extracurricular activities?*

Sources:

*Prompts adapted from LSA Internship Course handout, ““Keeping a Journal and Writing a Reflective Paper.”

** Prompts adapted from the guidelines provided to participants of the Benjamin Gilman Blog Correspondent Program; http://gilmanprogram.wordpress.com/

The 2011 MIISP Participants -- at a glance

Rachel Brigell – Interned in Moshi, Tanzania, at a juvenile detention center through the volunteer/internship placement organization, Cross-Cultural Solutions

Alex Brown – Interned in Saarland, Germany at a summer music festival (arranged through CDS/Cultural Vistas).

Anthony Cao – Worked in a school; explored the connection between language and culture in New Zealand through CGIS/GIEU

Elizabeth Deschaine – Interned in Madrid, Spain, for an organization called Aknur (arranged through CDS/Cultural Vistas). Aknur is a UN-affiliated organization that works with issues surrounding immigration as well as refugee rights.

Ann Duong – Interned in Vietnam with the VinaCapital Foundation, an NGO with a public health mission focused on children and youth in the community

Brianne Forester – Researched sustainable urban planning in Hamburg, Germany through the DAAD RISE program.

Alyssa Francini –Interned in Tacloban City, Philippines, where she worked with the deaf population at a local high school.

Rachael Hancock – Interned at Soroptimist International in Geneva, Switzerland (arranged through CIBE/Dept of Romance Languages). Soroptimist International is an organization that works to promote women’s rights around the world.

Allison Richards – Initially went abroad through Atraves, a student organization which works in a community in Nicaragua. Post-Atraves, Allison headed to Chile (through AIESEC) where she taught English. After Chile, she went to Argentina, where she completed another short-term placement (also arranged through AIESEC).

Sonya Usman – Sonya spent the first part of her summer teaching English in Ankara, Turkey through the CIBE Eurasia Internship Program. She then participated in an internship at an organization that works with water sanitation issues (through the CSAS Summer in South Asia program) in Kanpur, India.

Meryl Waldo – Interned in the Costume Design department at the National Theatre in London, England. She worked on the play A Woman Killed with Kindness by Thomas Heywood.

For further information, check out their blogs to the right of this post!

Where in the world are the 2011 MIISPers?

View MIISP 2011 in a larger map

... And they're off!

The 2011 Winter semester is officially over, which means that the 2010-2011 MIISPers are off to all corners of the world pursuing internships and service projects.   Check out their blogs, which are linked along the right-hand side of this blog.

We wish them safe travels & are excited to read about their journeys this summer!

Summer 2010 Participants -- At a Glance!

Cassie Ballert

·         http://wanderlustling.wordpress.com

·         Engineering, Chemical Engineering

·         Internship in solar energy at SolarWorld Innovations GmbH in Freiberg, Germany

Eileen Brandes

·         http://eileenenfrance.blogspot.com

·         LSA, Biology, French

·         Internship working at admissions at Audencia School of Management in Nantes, France

Corey Burbank

·         http://coreystrip2germany.blogspot.com

·         LSA, German

·         Worked at Edeka near Hamburg, Germany

Lara Burt

·         http://larainkilimanjaro.blogspot.com

·         LSA, International Studies/German

·         Community development project volunteer in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Sarah Casinelli

·         http://sjcas.blogspot.com

·         LSA, Psychology

·         Internship at Bilkent University (higher education administration/research)

Laura Cavanaugh

·         http://berlintern89.blogspot.com

·         Art and Design

·         Internship at a children’s museum

Samuel Cohen

·         http://zambiasam.blogspot.com

·         LSA, Program in the Environment

·         GIEU Zambia

Tiffany Kay Fritzler

·         http://tiffanyfritzler2.blogspot.com

·         LSA, French/Linguistics

·         Taught English in Nicaragua through the student organization, Atraves

Danielle Lumetta

·         http://dlumetta.blogspot.com

·         LSA, undeclared

·         Interned at a German/American Institute in Tuebingen, Germany

Matt Mueller

·         http://hamburgintern.blogspot.com

·         Engineering, Aerospace

·         Internship with Lufthansa in Hamburg, Germany

Alexandra Passarelli

·         http://umichinalexandra.blogspot.com

·         LSA, Anthropology

·         Participated in MHIRT in China; taught English and took part in public health-related research

Nanthakan Joy Rassamirama

·         http://turkeyinternship2010.blogspot.com

·         Engineering, IOE

·         Business internship at FIBA Factoring in Istanbul, Turkey

Heather Sanders

·         http://heathergermany2010.blogspot.com

·         LSA, Cellular and Molecular Biology

·         Biomedical research at the Frauenhofer Institute in St. Ingbert, Germany

Jackie Turner

·         http://somehownow.blogspot.com
LSA, Screen Arts and the Environment

·         Sustainability research in Kenya through the Graham Sustainability Institute. 

Where in the world are the 2009/10 MIISP partipicants?

View MIISP 09-10 in a larger map

Introducing the 2009/2010 MIISP participants & their summer plans!

With the end of the 09/10 academic year quickly approaching, the Michigan International Internship & Service Program (MIISP) participants will soon be departing to locations across the world to complete internships for which they have spent almost seven months preparing!

As part of MIISP, each student will maintain a blog where they will document the observations they make while working abroad. Each student’s blog will be linked to this main blog on the left hand side of this page.

And, now, allow us to introduce the 2009/2010 Michigan International Internship & Service Program participants, including a brief look into their summer 2010 internship plans:

Cassandra Ballert

* College of Engineering (2011), Chemical Eng. & International Relations
* Internship in Germany (arranged by CDS International)

Eileen Brandes

* LSA (2011), Biology & French
* Internship in Nantes, France working in admissions at the Audencia School of Management (arranged by the Center for International Business Education)

Corey Burbank

* LSA (2011), German
* Internship in Germany (through the International Cooperative Exchange Program)

Lara Burt

* LSA (2012), International Studies & German
* Internship in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania as a community development volunteer through Cross-cultural Solutions

Sarah Casinelli

* LSA (Dec 2010), Psychology
* Internship in Ankara, Turkey at Bilkent University; will be working in higher education administration & assisting a professor with related research

Laura Cavanaugh

* Art & Design (2011)
* Internship at a children’s museum in Berlin, Germany (arranged by CDS International)

Samuel Cohen

* LSA (2011), Program in the Environment (PiTE)
* GIEU Zambia – working with HIV/AIDS awareness

Tiffany Kay Fritzler

* LSA (2011), French & Linguistics
* Going to Nicaragua through the student organization, ATRAVES; will be teaching English to local schoolchildren.

Danielle Lumetta

* LSA (2013), German
* Internship at the German/American Institute in Tuebingen, Germany (arranged by CDS International)

Matthew Mueller

* College of Engineering (2012), Aerospace
* Internship with Lufthansa in Hamburg, Germany (arranged by CDS International)

Alexandra Passarelli

* LSA (2012), Anthropology
* Going to China through the MHIRT program to do biomedical research related to understanding and alleviating health disparities in developing countries

Joy Rassamirama

* College of Engineering (2012), Industrial & Operational Engineering
* Internship in Turkey (arranged through the Center for International Business Education)

Heather Sanders

* LSA (2011), Cellular & Molecular Biology
* Internship conducting biomedical research at the Frauenhofer Institute in St. Ingbert, Germany (arranged by CDS International)

Ajooni Sethi

* Public Policy (2012)
* Internship in India working to raise youth awareness of environmental issues (through AIESEC)

Jacquelyn Turner

* Residential College/ LSA (2012), Screen Arts, Environment
* Research/study in Kenya through the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute


Best of luck to all of them as they embark on their journeys!