Blogs



Rachel Baker

Rachel Baker

Program: Gap Year Abroad in Spain
Bio: I am a sister, a picture taker, a runner, a nature lover, a food try-er… actually an anything try-er, a scrap booker, a line dancer, a shower singer, a gardener, a new blogger, and a traveler. All through high school I have done mission trips through my church.
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Lauren Bechtel

Lauren Bechtel

Program: Gap Year Abroad in Spain
Bio: My name is Lauren Bechtel, and I grew up in small town Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA. Ever since childhood, my education has been anything but traditional. My parents chose to educate me at home for the first eight years of school, but I transferred to a public high school for my freshman year.
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Christina Cabezas

Christina Cabezas

Program: Gap Year Abroad in Dominican Republic
Bio: ¡Hola amigos! My name is Christina Cabezas and I am from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Yes, the land of the Amish! (Know the show “Amish Mafia”? Yep, that’s my home!) Last June, I graduated from Conestoga Valley High School and have taken a year off before beginning college. Through a Gap Year Abroad Program with CIEE and a generous scholarship with the Speedwell Foundation, I will be living in Santiago, Dominican Republic during this spring semester.
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Stephanie Denoyer

Stephanie Denoyer

Program: Gap Year Abroad in Spain
Bio: Hi, I’m Steph Denoyer—bitten by the travel bug, and risk-taker through and through. I find myself this spring in Sevilla, España, hoping to learn a thing or two about both Spanish culture in action and the art of integrating in a family with whom you share neither a homeland, nor family, nor language.
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Genevieve Iwanicki

Genevieve Iwanicki

Program: Gap Year Abroad in Japan
Bio: Hi! My name is Genevieve Iwanicki. I was born in Boston, and live in Norwell, Massachusetts with my mom, dad, and three sisters! I graduated from Milton Academy this past year and am heading to University of Chicago in the class of 2018 after my gap year.
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Lea Klock

Lea Klock

Program: Gap Year Abroad in Japan
Bio: Hi! My name is Lea Klock, and I am 17-years-old. I was living with my parents in New York, but now I am going to Japan. I have been learning Japanese for the last four years, and I am excited to put it to use!

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Kathryn Kurtz

Kathryn Kurtz

Program: Gap Year Abroad in Japan
Bio: Hi, I'm Kathryn Kurtz, but you can call me Katie. At eighteen, I'm the eldest of five, a swimmer, a writer, an artist, a proud graduate of Haddonfield Memorial High School, and member of Cornell Architecture Class of 2019. I've been interested in Japan since I was twelve and came across my first anime show. Though I no longer watch anime or read manga, I have studied three summers of Japanese at Drexel University since age 14.
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Reilly Lerner

Reilly Lerner

Program: Gap Year Abroad in Spain
Bio: I am a 2013 graduate from the Communications Magnet at Henry W. Grady High in Atlanta, GA. I enjoy trying new things, meeting and talking with people, and photographing my surroundings. I hope my blog shares my point of view while traveling abroad in Sevilla, Spain.

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Madeleine Meredith

Madeleine Meredith

Program: Gap Year Abroad in Chile/Spain
Bio: Bienvenido! I grew up in Denver, Colorado, and graduated from Mountain Vista High School this past May. During high school, I participated in field hockey, my high school's business club called DECA, the National Spanish Honors Society, and was the co-president of Show Me the Monet, a new art program just founded last year.
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Elena Palermo

Elena Palermo

Program: Gap Year Abroad in Chile/Spain
Bio: Hi! My name is Elena Palermo. I've lived in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb outside Washington, D.C. my entire life. Although DC has been great, I am more than ready to step, well, more jump, outside my comfort zone and begin my gap year in Valparaíso, Chile. I have a variety of interests including singing, swimming, hiking, biking, camping, rowing, practicing yoga and meditation, but—most of all—I love trying new things!
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Hayley Schultz

Hayley Schultz

Program: Gap Year Abroad in Chile/Spain
Bio: Hello and welcome to my blog! I cannot wait for this gap year experience so I can improve my Spanish and become immersed in not one, but two completely different cultures. I have always loved learning about other cultures, and I am fascinated by other languages... so taking a gap year seemed like a pretty perfect plan for me.
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Katerina Stephan

Katerina Stephan

Program: Gap Year Abroad in Chile/Spain
Bio: Hello, hello, hello! My name is Katerina Stephan, and I am about to embark on the experience of a lifetime: a CIEE Gap Year trip to Valparaiso, Chile. I was born in California, but I've spent the majority of my life in the quaint yet pleasant town of Middleton, Wisconsin. Throughout the years, I've adventured around a variety of places in the US and a few countries in Europe. However, I've never been to South America, nor have I ever taken a Spanish class in my life. A wonderful adventure this will be!
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Helen Walter-Cardinal

Helen Walter-Cardinal

Program: Gap Year Abroad in France
Bio: I didn’t choose to go abroad for a year; I had to. No one made me—I simply could not think of a reason I wouldn’t want to. When I was too young to remember, my parents lived abroad and traveled throughout Europe with me. Even though we moved back to the U.S. before I started preschool, I grew up knowing that I didn’t have to feel stuck living in the same place my whole life and that it was okay to move out of my comfort zone. Many people my age will follow a monotonous path from school to a career as if their life has already been planned out for them.
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Axelle Van Wynsberghe

Axelle Van Wynsberghe

Program: Gap Year Abroad in China
Bio: My name is Axelle, and I'm 18 years old. I was born in Brussels (Belgium) but have since lived in Zagreb, Haiti, Guatemala, Columbia, and the Dominican Republic. The largest part of my school life, however, was spent in New York City. I speak fluent French, English, and Spanish and am hoping to add Chinese to that list somewhere down the road.
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