Penn Abroad

Volcanoes, waterfalls, goats, oh my!

Turning in shorts and sandals for hiking boots and raincoats, PGS: Case Studies in Environmental Sustainability students have been keeping themselves busy this past week while traveling throughout the vast Icelandic landscape.

So far, PGS: Iceland students have toured a fish factory in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland’s southern archipelago, visited Reykjanes, a volcanically active peninsula, and trudged through ice on a glacier walk!

Hong Kong’s version of Six Flags would probably be Ocean Park. This wonderful theme park has everything from cable cars, railway cars, rollercoasters, carnival games, and animal exhibits.

Ocean Park is separated into the Summit (the top of the mountain and the Waterfront (where the entrance to the park is). After taking a railway car up, we spent most of the afternoon on the Summit, strolling past yummy food stalls and experiencing 4Gs on Hair Raiser. Eventually we made our way back down to the Waterfront via cable car, sprinting to see the pandas before the exhibit closed.

It was a really fun day of us feeling like kids again.

📍 : Chinese University of Hong Kong
✏️ : Rachel Yu, Wharton ‘27

These past few days away from the city have made me fully appreciate the beauty of Mexico. Stepping outside the city and being able to see the stars in the sky and the most perfect sunset is something one should not take for granted. Each time I step outside I feel like I’m living in a painting.

That said, I am currently on spring break and am embarking on a trip to the south of Mexico. The first stop was Tulum, and I wasn’t too impressed. However, its beaches are really nice. I am currently in Playa del Carmen, and it is everything and more. Such a beautiful place with locals and so much to do. I visited Cozumel, which is just a ferry ride away, and ate by the beach. I saw the sunset and dipped my toes in the water.

The next stops include Cancun, Merida, and Puerto Escondido. This is basically the midpoint of my study abroad experience, and I can already feel myself missing it. I am at peace here and couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

📍 : SA: Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México
✏️ : Melissa Arreoloa, CAS ’27

Paris: one of the most coveted tourist destinations in the world, but also a place of trauma and horrific memory for those who lived through the German occupation and collaborationist Vichy regime. Traveling here, this trip was full of contradictions: walking along a quaint, peaceful road in the suburbs and talking about how thousands of deportees walked along this same road before being sent to an internment camp. Seeing the picturesque streetside cafes and imagining a world where these cafes were full of N**i soldiers and officers. Or admiring the colorful signs of the half-marathon “Harmonie Mutuelle Semi de Paris” while at the Rue de Rivoli, with the only other image we had seen of the Rue de Rivoli being one filled with the flags of N**i Germany during the occupation.

And yet, that tension is precisely what has made this trip so meaningful. To experience a place is to recognize that it’s alive with memory, resilience, and change, and to embrace that dynamism. It’s easy to let the weight of this history completely dominate the narrative, to feel like every step must be solemn, every observation tied back to what once was. But our professor Mélanie Péron has reminded us, again and again, that understanding a place also means allowing ourselves to experience it as it exists now. Those two mindsets must coexist. So that we can honor the importance of history while also looking to the future and paving a path forward.

📍 : PGS: Paris and the German Occupation and Its Places in [Non-] Memory
✏️ : Lumi Christensen, CAS ‘27

Lamma Island is just a quick ferry ride from Hong Kong Island. We took a ferry from Aberdeen and gazed out at turquoise waters before grabbing a lunch of fresh seafood right next to the waterfront. The day was filled with hiking, swimming, exploring cute shops and narrow streets, and unfortunately getting a few mosquito bites.

There are so many amazing corners of Hong Kong that I’m scared I won’t be able to see them all!

📍 : Chinese University of Hong Kong
✏️ : Rachel Yu, Wharton ‘27

At the heart of CUHK’s campus is the Art Museum. Currently, the two exhibitions on display are “Celebrating the Year of the Horse” and “Yuan Blue and White: New Discoveries from Jingdezhen.” Even though my friend and I walked in during a busy middle school class tour of the museum, we loved looking through galleries of horse paintings and sculptures as well as beautiful blue and white porcelain.

There were also fun activities throughout the museum such as putting together porcelain shards to create a porcelain replica piece and using stamps to create a classical Chinese image.

Fun fact: Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty named all horses acquired from the Western Regions “heavenly horses.” This choice may have reflected his desire for immortality. He hoped to be carried by his heavenly horses skyward to eternal life.

📍 : SA: Chinese University of Hong Kong
✏️ : Rachel Yu, Wharton ‘27