{"id":400,"date":"2012-04-19T16:08:10","date_gmt":"2012-04-19T20:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/international-services\/?p=400"},"modified":"2013-06-14T16:58:39","modified_gmt":"2013-06-14T20:58:39","slug":"featured-junior-contessa-mwedzi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/2012\/04\/19\/featured-junior-contessa-mwedzi\/","title":{"rendered":"Featured Junior: Contessa Mwedzi &#8217;13"},"content":{"rendered":"<script>fsg_json['fsg_post_400'] = [\n{id: 401, image: 'http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/files\/2012\/04\/270458_2151381380053_1111932203_2495368_5028100_n.jpg', extlink: '', thumb: 'https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/files\/2012\/04\/270458_2151381380053_1111932203_2495368_5028100_n-150x150.jpg', permalink: '<div class=\"galleria-layeritem\"><a title=\"Permalink\" href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/2012\/04\/19\/featured-junior-contessa-mwedzi\/270458_2151381380053_1111932203_2495368_5028100_n\/#0\"><div class=\"galleria-link-bookmark\"><\/div><\/a><\/div>', layer: '<div class=\"galleria-infolayer\"><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\" style=\"padding-right: 20px;\"><h1>Contessa Mwedzi 2013<\/h1><\/div><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\"><a title=\"Permalink\" href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/2012\/04\/19\/featured-junior-contessa-mwedzi\/270458_2151381380053_1111932203_2495368_5028100_n\/#0\"><div class=\"galleria-link-bookmark\"><\/div><\/a><\/div><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\" style=\"padding-right: 20px;\"><\/div>'}\n];<\/script>\n<p><a data-postid=\"fsg_post_400\" data-imgid=\"401\" href=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/files\/2012\/04\/270458_2151381380053_1111932203_2495368_5028100_n.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-401\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/files\/2012\/04\/270458_2151381380053_1111932203_2495368_5028100_n-254x300.jpg\" width=\"254\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/files\/2012\/04\/270458_2151381380053_1111932203_2495368_5028100_n-254x300.jpg 254w, https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/files\/2012\/04\/270458_2151381380053_1111932203_2495368_5028100_n.jpg 294w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 254px) 100vw, 254px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>1.\u00a0Did you go JYA?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yes, to Paris<\/p>\n<p><strong>2.\u00a0What was that experience like?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It was a great experience and I was challenged in many ways.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.\u00a0What were the challenges?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Communicating in French rather than English.<\/p>\n<p>Living in a big city and not seeing green open spaces as much.<\/p>\n<p>Being away from Vassar!<\/p>\n<p><strong>4.\u00a0How do you compare being an international student at Vassar to that of being an international student abroad?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I think the biggest difference between the two is that in Paris, I was really pushed out of my comfort zone in a good way because I was speaking in French more than I was used to. It was also the first time that I was staying in a big city as opposed to staying on campus and I think that the exposure prepared me well for life after Vassar. Additionally, while I was doing research for my internship and for school assignments in Paris, I was able to access certain resources through the Vassar library website which I found extremely useful.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5.\u00a0How have you changed as a result of your JYA experience? and\/or Has the JYA experience led to any changes in your academic and\/or career goals?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>JYA was a great complement to my Vassar studies. It\u2019s great to experience firsthand what you have been studying and to use the language that you are studying to deepen your understanding of a topic of interest. After my JYA experience, I decided to add International Studies as my major again (we have had a very complicated relationship over my time at Vassar but after Paris, everything has come full circle!)<\/p>\n<p><strong>6.\u00a0What do you think prospective students should know about Vassar?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you are inquisitive, ready to share your opinions, ready to be challenged, and most importantly grow, Vassar is the right place for you. Good luck!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1.\u00a0Did you go JYA? Yes, to Paris 2.\u00a0What was that experience like? It was a great experience and I was challenged in many ways. 3.\u00a0What were the challenges? Communicating in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1367,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53895,25924,25940],"tags":[25937,25919,25939,25941,53912,489,25938],"class_list":["post-400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-class-of-13","category-international-students-2","category-study-abroad","tag-contessa-mwedzi","tag-international-students","tag-junior-2","tag-paris","tag-study-abroad","tag-vassar","tag-zimbabwe"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1367"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":758,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions\/758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/international-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}