...And for our sixth photo of the week, we have a picture from Paris, taken by Kelsey Merriam. If you want to go to Paris too, you'll have to go next spring. But it's never too early to think about it!

Paris is truly the most magical city in Europe! There is so much to do and see. The Eiffel Tower is so breathtaking in real life. I recommend watching the sunset over the Eiffel Tower. We were also able to see the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, St. Chapelle, Notre Dame and more during our time in Paris.

- Kelsey Merriam

Rachel Lijewski took this photo in Edinburgh! Check out our program at Napier University. You can also read what she has written about her time there below. 

Enjoy!

Edinburgh is an absolutely gorgeous, fantastic, interesting, and culturally diverse place to live! There is a castle in my backyard and that’s not even the best part! Edinburgh is a very safe and friendly city, not to mention very pretty. Apparently it was voted nicest place to live in the UK by some publication or other.  It’s very pedestrian friendly because everyone walks, rain or shine. There’s not much you can’t walk to, and what you can’t is easily reachable through the city’s fantastic bus system.

There are so many things to see in Edinburgh! The Royal Mile and the Castle are tourist hotspots and, of course, can’t be missed. My flat-mates (who are both American exchange students) and I went on a walking tour of the Royal Mile area. It’s just incredible to live in a place with so much history, a place where you can find McDonald’s sitting right next to a building that has been standing since before America was recognized as a country. The coast is just a short bus ride away from the town center and Arthur’s Seat – the hill that towers over Edinburgh and sits just at the end of the Royal Mile – is even closer. Climbing that hill was one of the best things I’ve done here in Edinburgh. It gets its name from a rather far-fetched legend that Camelot once stood on its peak. Still, the views from the top are breathtaking. On the day I planned to go, there was rain predicted for the afternoon. I decided to risk it anyway and it paid off when I got to the top and there was a whole rainbow stretching across the sky!

As far as day-to-day living in Edinburgh, I really rely on the buses to get to where I need to be, like between the different campuses of Napier University. It was a little challenging at first trying to figure out which number bus to take which direction and when to catch them, particularly since I have the directional sense of a malfunctioning homing pigeon, but within the first week I had a pretty good grasp on how to get where I needed to go. Another major challenge was learning to cook for myself here. First off, I had to find a grocery store (which, I discovered is a very Americanized term for what everyone here calls supermarkets) and figure out what dietary staples I needed. Through this venture I discovered that zucchini are called courgettes here and that peanut butter is almost as hard to find as Dr. Pepper. After buying my cooking and eating supplies, I had to figure out how to actually make the food. I’ve discovered that pasta is one of the easiest things to make! Now that I’m pretty comfortable cooking, I’ve started to experiment a little with different foods. By the time I move into my apartment next year, I’ll be a cooking champion!

Arguably the most distinctive thing I’ve experienced here in Edinburgh is meeting people from all over the world. Surprisingly, few of the people I’ve met are actually from the city, but have come here for university. I helped a Swedish classmate with a journalism assignment, went to a flat party with a group of German students and had lunch with a couple from Northern Ireland. In my classes at Napier, I’ve met people from all over Scotland and England, as well as from Poland, Hungary, France, Italy and Spain. To meet so many different people and get to know a little about what their lives are like – how they're different and still very much the same as mine – is one of the greatest rewards of studying abroad.

As far as experiencing Scottish culture? I went to a Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee), that is, a traditional Scottish dance, and of course I’ve tried haggis, the Scottish national dish. If you don’t know what it is, you shouldn’t look it up before trying it. I think it’s pretty tasty, personally. I’ve been to a few of the myriad pubs around Edinburgh and let me tell you now, if you want to truly experience modern Scottish culture, go to a pub during a rugby match.

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that I am having an absolutely wonderful time and learning so many invaluable things that will stay with me long after I return home. 
by Rachel Lijewski

And here we have our fourth photo of the week! It was taken by Brendan Meyer at Stonehenge, that bunch of big rocks that has fascinated people for generations. 

I am currently in England, and it has been an incredible time so far. The city of London is so vast, consisting of many different cultures, religions, and people. So far, the most interesting part has been convergence of present and past within the city of London and the country of England. England is rich in history, yet it is also an ever-changing country. It has the big-city mentality, historical landmarks, and modern works of art. 

- Brendan Meyer
You can also see Stonehenge if you went on one of our London programs. Learn more about it on our site! 

This photo of the week was taken by Breanne Bramer – a Science and Agriculture Journalism student – in Costa Rica's Santa Rosa National Park. If you want to join that program you've got lots of time to think about it: the application deadline is in October. 

A day on the Costa Rican beach is spent with your toes in the sand and watching aqua blue waves crash against the shore. But, instead of spotting seashells you may just find seabirds. These birds walk along the shore in lines, one by one, or fly over the waves in a mass. They can be found dipping their feet in pools and might just venture toward a tourist. The white birds flock to the seaside to enjoy a day on the beach, just like the Mizzou study abroad students.
Study abroad was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to travel outside of the United States for the first time. I was glad I finally got to get my Passport! I was able to do what I love, travel and promote the agriculture industry through our MU journalism blog. And I got to spend free time on the beach in the winter! 

And this week's photo comes from London, taken by Katherine Reichenbach. Thank you, Katherine! 
You can read about the London CAPA program here. We have both Fall and Summer programs, and the deadline for the latter is March 1. That's not that long from now...

Keep sending us your pictures, everyone!

I am staying in West Kensington, a nice neighborhood slightly west of central London, with the other members of the Missouri School of Journalism London Internship program. We are taking 3 classes and interning at various locations. I am personally interning as a public relations assistant at Roland Mouret, a luxury fashion house. My time in London has been amazing so far, and the opportunities and adventures offered to the other program members and me are endless! 

This is a photo of the Tower Bridge in London. Surprisingly enough, this bridge is famously mistaken for the London Bridge (The London Bridge is a normal bridge with no towers or anything special). The Tower Bridge is one of London's main attractions, and we were thrilled to walk along the boardwalk and see the Thames River as well. Mizzou's Journalism London Internship Program has been amazing so far, and I cannot wait for all that's to come in the next 3 months.

And here's this semester's first photo of the week!
Photo and Text by Sarah Tillou, taken this January during the Winter Intercession Europe Tour.

My picture was taken in Prague, Czech Republic while I was on the Winter Intercession Europe Tour throughout January. This particular photo was taken of the Vltava River, which runs beneath the Charles Bridge. This bridge, which is on the top of every Prague visitor’s must see list, is a stone Gothic bridge that connects Old Town and Mala Strana.

It is also popular with Czech artists, musicians and souvenir vendors whose stands line both sides of the bridge year-round. We found that a great time of day to come to the bridge is just before sunset when one can enjoy a breathtaking view of the fully lit buildings over the river.

The bridge is decorated with 30 statues and statuaries, most of them Baroque style, like the one that is shown in the picture.

Our time spent in Prague was filled with plenty of walking and tours of beautiful sites throughout the city. Prague’s specific red roofs, which you can see in this picture, will put their print on every view of the city. Along with the roofs, Prague’s architecture was unlike anything I had ever seen. One of my favorite sites we saw while in Prague was the John Lennon Wall. Since the 1980s, this wall has been filled with Lennon-inspired graffiti and lyrics from numerous Beatles songs.

Our three-day trip to Prague set the tone for a very exciting tour throughout Europe and is definitely a place I would love to go back to in the future. 
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Don't forget, the Prague Summer Program Info Session is next Monday, February 6, 4pm-5pm in Tucker Forum!

You can also check out the blog for the 2012 Europe Tour. Among other things, it has a list of places students visited and posts by students on topics related to journalism and strategic communications in Europe.

We recently began a photo contest and asked students abroad to send us their pictures. 

Well we've decided that now, not only will we pick one photographer to receive a $50 gift card, but we'll also choose five pictures to matte and hang up in our office! We'll pay for the matting, of course, and the pictures will hang here for a long time, continuing to inspire students perhaps even long after you've graduated from Mizzou.

So keep sending us your pictures! The ones we've gotten so far are great, and soon enough we'll be posting our first photo of the week of the semester!

Good luck!

It's been almost a month since our 103 students went abroad, to countries as far apart as France and Australia, Denmark and Argentina. They're busy getting to know the local culture, making friends, being tourists and, hopefully, snapping pictures of the beautiful new world around them.

Back at MU, however, we don't have pretty new things to look at. No Louvre, no Westminster Abbey, no Edinburgh Castle. Nobody's dancing Tango in the street, and the city landscape is sprinkled with multi-colored fast food restaurants as opposed to five-hundred-year-old cathedrals, plazas and cafes. 

So humor us, please: send us the best pictures you have taken or will take of your host country, with a maximum of 5 throughout the semester. Each week we'll choose a photo and post it here, with your name and your explanation for where you took the picture and why you chose it. 

On May 7, we'll draw a name from among those whose pictures we chose for our blog, and the lucky student will get a prize. 

Help us inspire students thinking about studying abroad and take a stab at winning a prize for your photographic skills!