ADVENTURES AT FRANKLIN

February is an exciting time to be on Franklin's beautiful campus, not too far from the historic city of Bellinzona,  the capital of the canton Ticino in Switzerland, famous for its three castles (Castelgrande, Montebello, Sasso Corbaro) that have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2000 . Yes, it is always nice to be within a 20 minute train ride of a beautiful medieval city full of castles, and February is a particularly exciting time because of the city's carnival festivities.    Every year, the capital of Ticino practically shuts down and welcomes its "doors" to 150,000 guests from other parts of Switzerland and Italy.  Friends and I at Bellinzona's Castelgrande during the Street Food Festival last semester Most people have heard of the carnival festivals in Venice and Rio de Janeiro, and Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The celebration in Bellinzona is similar to these events; however, it simply has not acquired the same international fame. This par...

Students hard at work! A new and exciting happening at Franklin this year has been the successful opening of the Fowler Learning Commons. This space was created through a generous gift from alumna and trustee, Angela Fowler, and has expanded our student study space on campus tremendously. Located on Franklin's North Campus, this space has provided an even better locale for students to come study, hang out, and get tutoring help with our fantastic  Writing and Learning Center  students. The loveliest study space. Our Director of the Writing and Learning Center,  Professor Ann Gardiner , spoke of the space, saying: "The ways in which students learn today have changed dramatically over the last two decades, with a new emphasis on collaborative and technology-enhanced learning. A typical learning commons space includes not only quiet space for individual study, but also casual reading spaces, group study areas, brainstorming environments, presentation preparatio...

Last weekend was quite a big one for Franklin University Switzerland ! It felt like a marathon of incredibly cool and fun events, I'm admittedly pretty exhausted now after spending so much time with Franklin friends and new students! We had the annual Spring Play, Holi - an Indian festival of colors that welcomes spring for the Franklin community. On top of that, we also had one of our Earth Month events - a cleanup of the walking trail in our area, called Laghetto, where Franklin students spent their morning cutting back invasive species and picking up any litter in the area. Additionally, it was Open House for Prospective Students , which was so exciting to meet some of the faces who will be joining us come August - from all around the world! It feels like spring on campus in every sense, people are out enjoying the gorgeous weather, it was 24 °  C (80 °  Fahrenheit) yesterday! I truly cannot believe how fast this semester has flown, and luckily there is still so much t...

For this week's post, I thought it would be fun to turn the tables and interview my fellow classmates about their thoughts on studying at Franklin. Everyone has such a unique story and it's interesting to see how students decide to come to Franklin and how they've grown as people since then. I decided to choose one student from each grade to really showcase the variety of students and see how they connect within the Franklin community! I'm thrilled to kick off my interviews with Dilan, a first-year student from Potomac, Maryland, USA. Dilan! First of all, how did you hear about Franklin University Switzerland? My aunt actually graduated from here in the '90's, and my sister is currently a junior here as well. I guess it just runs in the family! I know you're only a first-year student, but what has been your favorite aspect of the school so far?  Definitely my residence. I live in Panera, which is a residence where many first-year stude...

Welcome to another semester at Franklin! One of the best things about the Fall semester is that there is an incredible “Welcome to Franklin” program that lasts from Orientation Week until Academic Travel. It is called “Tutte Le Strade” meaning “All the Roads” in Italian - it is a take on the historical saying “All roads lead to Rome.”  Two years ago, as an incoming student, I remember being overwhelmed with how many fun activities there were to do during TLS! It seemed like every other day there was some kind of presentation, trip downtown, movie night, pizza tour, gelato party or weekend trip. It is madness! But oh so fun.  During my first semester there was not a single week before Academic Travel that I didn’t participate in some kind of fun TLS activity. It was a great way to meet new people , stay busy, learn more about Switzerland and have fun time!  Here is a copy of the TLS 2014 schedule so you can see for yourself!  My freshmen y...