One of the goals for this year was to compile a list of the blogs you beautiful people are working on to make sure we can all keep in touch with, or at least keep tabs on, each other in a year full of study abroad. It could also be a cool way to find out about the interests of other classmates who you haven't met on campus yet. A fun little way to connect. We'll see.
SO, after some independent asking around and a Twitter request, I have gotten the first few blog submissions. I'll be putting links to posts on here for now (ND2015.tumblr.com), but here's the initial list. If you want your blog or a friend's blog added to this:
Tweet the link to @ND_2015, or
Contact any of the class officers: Olivia LaMagna, Caitlin Smith, Briggs Hoyt, and Martin Walsh
Here are the bloggers who have reached out to us so far:
Esteemed Keenan Revue writer Mattie Conaghan kills it on his Australian study abroad blog, the aptly named Blogstralia.
Future journalist Sami Zuba is "blogging to save the National Pastime" on her blog, Zubaseball (A Blog of My Own).
Jeanette Kim will be traveling abroad in Spain and becoming a blogging sensation this semester while trying to come up with a more fabulous name for "blogger." ...blogstress? Blogerista? It's an uphill battle already.
Mike Fernandes is writing about his summer of microventuring and major adventuring (SORRY HAD TO) in Sao Paulo.
The hilarious and stunning Katherine Dudas is writing from London but mostly just about life. Just. Read it. Seriously just do it.
Matt Devine is working in a hospital and cooking so badly he's become a vegetarian in Barcelona.
Brenna Gautam is conducting an incredible research project on education and inter-ethnic relations in Kosovo.
Business major Mike Harrison proves himself a man of many talents on his absolutely beautiful photography blog.
Emmie Mediate is writing about her summer working at a palliative care/hospice site in Kampala, Uganda. Stay tuned for her fall semester in London, where she'll work with Save the Children!
Third-year seminarian Jeremy Dela Cruz is writing about his cultural immersion and religious discernment from Brazil, where he is studying Portuguese.
Graphic designer Keri O'Mara has taken her artistic talents to Ghana, where she's interning at the non-profit Global Mamas (and taking beautiful pictures.)
Arthur Laciak is working at a Catholic homeless shelter and rehabilitation center in Albuquerque, New Mexico in a Summer Service Learning Program (SSLP) through the Center for Social Concerns.
Rose Doerfler went straight from the NCAA Rowing Championships to Taipei, Taiwan to study Chinese for the summer.
Emily Morris is writing a beautiful blog about her journey in faith and experience as an ND Vision mentor.
Jake Bebar is "trying to figure out that thing called faith" while working at an orphanage in Nicaragua this summer, which he's writing about on his blog, Wrestling Yahweh. (Love that name!)
"You'll find commentary and criticism on Art with interludes of misanthropic observations on life" on Art History major Séan Cotter's blog.
Andrew Weiler is exploring, studying, and conducting research in Chile for the next six months. P.S. He is almost as charming in writing as he is in person; definitely worth keeping tabs on.
Bre Thomas has a passion for foreign languages and a love for community service. She is exploring both in an 8-month journey to South America. So cool!
Anyway, I'm SUPER excited about this, mostly because these blogs are genuinely incredibly well-written. All of you are above average, just like the children of Lake Wobegon. Please consider adding yours.
Check back here for updates often! I can't wait to hear more about what you guys are up to.
