Hello, Spring 2016!

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Downtown Lugano this weekend

Hello everyone and welcome back to the blog! I am so thrilled to be joined this semester by our original Adventures at Franklin blogger, Jessica. She is back after spending a year studying in the United States and we are thrilled to welcome her back. We will be combining our experiences and different backgrounds this spring to publish a series of posts that we hope you will find entertaining, informative, and fun to read, including an alumni feature, a spotlight on the academic resources at Franklin, a post about the Graduate studies program, an Academic Travel post. But we also want to hear about topics you want to learn more about, so tell us more in comments section.


Parco Ciani, a 20 minute walk from campus


I am looking forward to this spring, but it is so bittersweet. Four years came and went in a blink of an eye and I cannot believe I have finally reached our last semester at Franklin. I am headed to South Africa for Academic Travel with Professor Zanecchia, where we will be studying Culture, Resource Conservation and Development in the Cape Town area. I have been to South Africa before, but only on vacation, and never for academic purposes. I am so excited to learn more about the challenges of economic and political development plaguing the region, as well as the massive issues of wildlife and natural resource conservation. In addition, we will be able to meet with a Franklin alumna who now lives in South Africa and works for the organization that will be spearheading our Academic Travel adventures. It feels very full circle to get to spend time with a former Franklin student.

Aside from Academic Travel, I am looking forward to lots of ski days, local adventures with friends, and balancing coursework with job hunting! My days will be filled, and very busy, but I hope to make them count and soak up all that Franklin, and Lugano as a whole, have to offer in the coming months. I am finishing off my academic studies with fantastic professors, my courses this spring include Global Strategic Management with Professor Adams, International Banking and Finance with Professor Terzi, Investment Analysis II with Professor Colombo, and Sustainability and the Studio with Professor Zdanski.

It is such a pleasure to offer a glimpse of the Franklin experience on this blog and I know I'll be able to look back at this experience and reminisce when I am no longer lucky enough to be a student at Franklin.

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[photo of me in Cuba, during my leave of absence from Franklin]


Why hello! After two semesters away, I’m back on this side of the Atlantic! You may remember me as the original creator of Adventures at Franklin, but Morgan’s done an amazing job with the blog while I’ve been gone! And I’m excited that we are BOTH going to be contributing writers this semester! We thought it would be the perfect way to end our time at Franklin because (cue the sad soundtrack music) we are both going to be graduating this May! She is so right, it is crazy how fast the time has gone by! 

This semester we have some big plans for the blog before we pass it down to the next group of Franklinites!

I’m most excited about writing another packing post, because after packing my bags to fly between the US —> Switzerland  ELEVEN times, I’ve learned a thing or two. I also am excited to write posts about how to navigate transportation in Lugano, as well as tips & tricks for life at Franklin! Oh, and of course I can’t wait to report back to you about my upcoming Academic Travel to southern Spain with Professor Saveau! We will be visiting the Seville and Andalusia region, just a few of the highlights in our itinerary include: visiting Picasso’s birthplace, admiring mosques built by the Moors, watching flamenco dancers, and touring an olive oil farm! 


It’s so good to be back on campus. It’s our second week of classes and I’m getting settled back into things. In a lot of ways it feels like I never left Franklin! The walk down to get groceries is still lovely; I paused at the top of the hill before entering the ‘downtown’ area to take this photo (^^). Lake Lugano is still sparkling, San Sal is still majestic, and the church bells still ring out from the monastery on the hill above my residence. Life at Franklin isn’t always so picturesque, but it is easy after a year away to return and rediscover its beauty. 

During my year away I had some amazing academic and travel opportunities. I took some awesome classes at my local university in Utah, I traveled to Guatemala, New York City, and Cuba (where the first photo of me was taken) and I did a lot of hiking, skiing and hanging out with my family! But, I’m glad to be back at Franklin and I’m excited for what this semester has in store. 

So stay tuned - between Morgan and I one of us will be blogging every week, so there will be lots of fresh content coming your way soon! 






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