I’m from Haiti. I came to the US in August 2004 and started at UMass in January 2005. I’m adding international relations to my majors in political science and economics, so it’s very important for me to experience other cultures. I also want to see different economic and political systems.

In China we stayed at a hotel within the university town. The Chinese culture was very engaging, very challenging. One thing very particular to Chinese culture is that it is highly poetic. Even when they’re just telling a regular story, there is so much poetry in it. In Germany, the program I picked was geared toward economics and finance majors. We also studied German. I didn’t know a word of German when I went, but I continued to take German when I came back.

Going to both countries made me look at everybody with more respect. Especially with cultures I didn’t really know, I had stereotypes in my head that I couldn’t actually express but I knew were there. Now I can appreciate something that is totally different from my experience and my own culture. So the programs definitely changed me in the way that I am now a lot more open and eager to experience more.

Dana Francois, political science/economics
Wuhan University, China (3 weeks)
Hessen International Summer Institute, Germany (4 weeks)