Welcome! Our site features the work of our blog abroad correspondents and has everything you need to know about our study abroad programs!
My name is Ciara Tenney and I go to Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts with a major in Criminal Justice and a minor in Arabic Language. In this photo, I am at a Red Sox baseball game in September 2017 on the day the Red Sox clinched the American League East Division. This game was special to me because I attended it with my father who came down to visit me in Boston just for the game and I got to see my beloved Red Sox celebrate their victory. While I go to school in Boston, I grab “Student 9’s” tickets as often as possible to go to games at Fenway Park for only $9. Photo credit: Tenney, 2017.
I have been living in Maine for about ten years outside of attending university in Boston, and in this photo I am with my best friend Lindsay at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, Maine. Each winter the Botanical Gardens decorates their trees and plants with beautiful lights which are radiant at night. What you can’t see in this picture is that night was bitterly cold - I was sorry I didn’t bring gloves to keep my hands warm. When I am home I love to take trips like this one to visit places around Maine in order to get to know what I consider my home state better. Photo credit: Tenney, 2018.
I absolutely love to travel and have been to Canada, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, France, The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, and Vietnam. My mother is an immigrant from Ireland and in this photo I am sitting on the Cliffs of Moher on the western coast of Ireland in 2016. After I graduated high school I took a backpacking trip through Europe and visiting Ireland was one of its highlights. I chose to study abroad in the Arab world because the Arabic department at my university largely focuses on Modern Standard Arabic and writing rather than speaking, so I know I need to travel to the Arab world in order to learn a dialect and how to communicate with people. In my opinion, there is no better way to do this than complete immersion for an extended period of time and staying with a host family. I also look forward to exploring a new region of the world. Photo credit: Tenney, 2016.
In this photo, I was overnight backpacking on North Kinsman in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It took me until my third year of university to work up the nerve to take a trip with the Outing Club, but I put aside my fears and did it, and the experience was one of the highlights of my time at college thus far. The decision to study abroad in Jordan also comes with a bit of anxiety, just like I experienced before embarking on the backpacking trip in this photo. I am quite apprehensive about trying to learn to communicate in Arabic verbally. While I have taken four semesters of Arabic so far, I still get nervous whenever it comes to speaking because I am not used to it at all. Additionally, I know the way to learn to speak is to make errors and learn but I struggle with applying that logic. I will have to learn how to make mistakes and not get embarrassed but simply learn. Photo credit: Tenney, 2018
In this photo I am on one of the last stops of the Easyrider tour that I did leaving from Hoi An, Vietnam. My dad and I were able to visit several beautiful places that day, including the beach in Da Nang, religious sites, the Hai Van Pass, and this beautiful waterfall all while riding on the back of motorcycles. The concept of traveling to a new country and region of the world is exciting for me. This time is different for me because I will be trying to use and learn the local language rather than just using a handful of phrases. This adds a new dimension of adventure, how well can I navigate? Will people be able to understand me? Will I be able to learn to understand them? All of these questions add to the exciting prospect of a new place. Photo credit: Tenney, 2018
Ciara Tenney is a student at Northeastern University and will be a blog correspondent this spring as she studies in our Area & Arabic Language Program in Amman, Jordan.
