All posts by Annecca Smith

About Us

Global Impressions,  a journal by Smith students “in and for the world,” offers a public forum for Smith students and alumnae to showcase short, nonfiction reflective essays on their intercultural  and interlinguistic encounters,  experiences,  misunderstandings and epiphanies abroad and at home.  Supported by the Lewis Global Studies Center, the journal aims to foster critical thinking about what living in a culturally and linguistically diverse world means today.  Global Impressions publishes two issues per year each focused on a specific theme, in addition to a special fall issue collaborating with participants of the Lewis Global Studies Center International Photo Contest.

Questions may be addressed to globalimpressions@smith.edu.  For submissions, please use our online submission form on this website.

Issue II: Adapting

Fall 2014, Issue II: Adapting

Whenever life presents us with a challenge, we are forced to adapt and learn from that experience. Some of the most difficult challenges of adaptation occur during intercultural encounters. This issue of Global Impressions explores the idea of “adapting” in numerous situations, from the physical, to the interpersonal, to defining what does or does not make a culture “authentic.” We invite you to join us in exploring all sorts of adaptation, and hope some of you will consider submitting for our next issue, which will feature international photos. See our submission page for details.

 

Aberra essay photoHYGGE: THE DANISH WEAPON FOR WINTER

Metasebia Aberra

The answer was something the rest of the world overlooked, something as simple as just spending a bit more time with people around us. In Danish culture, this concept of togetherness and closeness is so ingrained in the people’s mentality and everyday life that it has a name — Hygge.

 

Hill article photo without captionTHE COME-BACK KID: FROM SALVADOR DA BAHIA TO NORTHAMPTON

Chloe Hill

When I returned to Smith, after a year of half-hearted and lackadaisical academic participation, everything from my attendance to my grammar suffered. And my heart, too, yearning for that other life I had merely glimpsed, suffered from what the Brazilians call saudades; an untranslatable word for an implacable longing.

 

Hudon article photoLEAVING MY BAGGAGE AT HOME

Julia Hudson

There’s potential for mental freedom when you travel, particularly for people who decide to abandon their native culture and rub up against the limitations of unacknowledged social conventions on a daily basis.

 

BYRNE.StarbucksSHEIKHDOMS AND STARBUCKS: NINE MONTHS IN THE UAE

Erin Byrne

I’d heard stories from other students who’d studied abroad in the Arab world and I spent the flight bracing myself, awaiting the biggest culture shock of my life. By May, I was still waiting.

 

Venkataraman article photoA SCIENTIFIC THEORY OF ADAPTING

Krithika Venkataraman

What changes during each move is not the skeleton from which I am composed, the species to which I belong, or the axis on which my world rotates. Instead, what living abroad – although I could not tell you where abroad is anymore – has taught me is to embrace.

 

Primorskaya apartmentsTWO ST. PETERSBURGS

Emily Paruolo

Every day I had to walk past street after street of Primorskaya’s dreary apartment buildings. In the first few weeks of my stay, this never failed to set off in my head a constant refrain of “This is ugly, this is ugly, this is ugly.

 

Christie photoCROSSING THE CHANNEL

Paige Christie

The north-and-south travel of some 600 supertankers each day make this the busiest shipping lane in the world. The currents, winds, weather, frigid water, wave height, seasickness, throat/tongue/body swelling and burning due to salt water, jellyfish, sharks and hypothermia all test your will power. The Channel has the reputation of giving you the early rounds, knowing that you’ll tire later in the match, when you are most vulnerable.

 

CARROLL.Laura.Creepy ManSIYAHA IN CAIRO

Laura Carroll

As a tourist, I couldn’t be expected to know or follow the rules for behavior, couldn’t be expected to know that my private balcony would be considered a public space where I would be open for harassment.

 

International Business PracticesADAPTING TO FOREIGN BUSINESS PRACTICES

Terri Tierney Clark

Americans are comparatively provincial when it comes to understanding other cultures. We don’t have the constant exposure to a variety of cultures experienced by our European counterparts. To sort your way through the many dilemmas presented by an assignment abroad or even working with foreign customers and colleagues, consider the issues below.

 

Flood MapFROM THE ARCHIVES: IN THE HEART OF MISERY

Sable Liggera

On March 31, 1934, Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906-2001), Smith College Class of 1928, made headlines as the first female recipient of the National Geographic Society’s Hubbard Gold Medal, “honor[ing] outstanding explorations or discoveries.”

Issue III: Up Close / From Afar

Spring 2015, Issue III: Up Close / From Afar

A camera lens separates the photographer from the subject, but can also offer a closer look into a situation.  Similarly, photographs allow for temporal distance by capturing a single instant that can be viewed and re-viewed, allowing for self-reflection as well as deeper understanding of the moment.  Our current issue explores  how the image has affected an understanding of another culture, whether in the act of taking the photograph or when returning to it later.

We invite you to submit a short essay for our next issue, Activism, in which we aim to highlight Smith College’s long history of involvement.  We want to hear about your international experiences with social activism, whether as an American participating in activism abroad or as an international student experiencing activism in the United States.  Submissions are being accepted until Friday, April 3.  For more details, see our submission page.

MORSE.Jaqueline.China_Morse_Jacqueline_2015 (1)A MOMENT OF PEACE

Jacqueline Morse

Our plane was delayed two and a half hours in Shanghai, due to smog so thick we couldn’t see the airport from the plane window. We had originally planned to climb the mountain, but because of the delay, and then the fact that we missed our train from Xi’an to the mountain base and had to take a later one, we arrived at Huashan only an hour before dark.

TAI.Morocco_Tai_Angela_15HIGH TEA: ATLAS MOUNTAINS EDITION

Angela Tai

The air grew brisk as we became surrounded by the sun sparkled snow caps of the Atlas Mountains themselves climbing the clear blue skies, and we decided to break at a cafe off the main road for a warm drink.

CASEY.London and the Thames from the Royal Naval Observatory, site of the Prime Meridian.IMG_2626TRAVELING WITHOUT A MAP

Emily Casey

What can I find without a map? This was the question I was forced to ask myself this fall when I arrived in London to conduct research for my dissertation in art history and realized I had forgotten to pack a map.

HeatherUpin_NightClubTHE SMALL PARTS

Heather Upin

I had been in Greece for five weeks, Athens for three. While arriving, I had seen the luminous and looming Lykavittos Hill towering in the distance. I knew there was a path to the top and I imagined a wonderful view, but I had yet to venture towards it.

HO.Yvonne.Clown-page1AN URBAN ADVENTURE

Yvonne Ho

Walking on the streets of Paris with a camera changed everything. I was now more attentive to events that unfolded like a play at the theatre: a man crouching in the metro corner with an empty bottle, a woman with sad eyes leaning against the window, or a husband carrying flowers on his lap, either for his wife or mistress.

PULLELLA.CARMENA BLURRED REALITY

Carmen Pullella

In the summer of 2010, after my sophomore year abroad at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, I was chosen to participate in a leadership and service trip for two months in South Africa and Botswana. From the beginning, my peers and I knew that this would not be an easy experience.

RUIZ.Olivia.61880018O WONDER!: THOUGHTS ON PHOTOGRAPHY

Olivia Ruiz

Taking a picture is a vulnerable position to put yourself in. Your focus is completely taken away, your eyes are behind a lens, your arms are lifted. You are surrendering to the angle, to the light, to the subject, to whatever happens to you while you take this picture. I think of that while I look at things here, in Buenos Aires.

Paruolo_From the Archives Image_Impromptu Battle Front _ RussiaFROM THE ARCHIVES: FIGHTING FOR RUSSIA

Emily Paruolo

In the spring of 1917, Bessie Boies Cotton ’03, as a representative of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), was invited by the Provisional Government of Russia, which had replaced the tsarist government in February, to “establish clubs for working girls” and teach them how use the civil rights they had recently gained.

 

Spring 2015

Spring 2015, Issue III: Up Close / From Afar

A camera lens separates the photographer from the subject, but can also offer a closer look into a situation.  Similarly, photographs allow for temporal distance by capturing a single instant that can be viewed and re-viewed, allowing for self-reflection as well as deeper understanding of the moment.  Our current issue explores  how the image has affected an understanding of another culture, whether in the act of taking the photograph or when returning to it later.

We invite you to submit a short essay for our next issue, Activism, in which we aim to highlight Smith College’s long history of involvement.  We want to hear about your international experiences with social activism, whether as an American participating in activism abroad or as an international student experiencing activism in the United States.  Submissions are being accepted until Friday, April 3.  For more details, see our submission page.

MORSE.Jaqueline.China_Morse_Jacqueline_2015 (1)A MOMENT OF PEACE

Jacqueline Morse

Our plane was delayed two and a half hours in Shanghai, due to smog so thick we couldn’t see the airport from the plane window. We had originally planned to climb the mountain, but because of the delay, and then the fact that we missed our train from Xi’an to the mountain base and had to take a later one, we arrived at Huashan only an hour before dark.

 

TAI.Morocco_Tai_Angela_15HIGH TEA: ATLAS MOUNTAINS EDITION

Angela Tai

The air grew brisk as we became surrounded by the sun sparkled snow caps of the Atlas Mountains themselves climbing the clear blue skies, and we decided to break at a cafe off the main road for a warm drink.

 

CASEY.London and the Thames from the Royal Naval Observatory, site of the Prime Meridian.IMG_2626TRAVELING WITHOUT A MAP

Emily Casey

What can I find without a map? This was the question I was forced to ask myself this fall when I arrived in London to conduct research for my dissertation in art history and realized I had forgotten to pack a map.

 

HeatherUpin_NightClubTHE SMALL PARTS

Heather Upin

I had been in Greece for five weeks, Athens for three. While arriving, I had seen the luminous and looming Lykavittos Hill towering in the distance. I knew there was a path to the top and I imagined a wonderful view, but I had yet to venture towards it.

 

HO.Yvonne.Clown-page1AN URBAN ADVENTURE

Yvonne Ho

Walking on the streets of Paris with a camera changed everything. I was now more attentive to events that unfolded like a play at the theatre: a man crouching in the metro corner with an empty bottle, a woman with sad eyes leaning against the window, or a husband carrying flowers on his lap, either for his wife or mistress.

 

PULLELLA.CARMENA BLURRED REALITY

Carmen Pullella

In the summer of 2010, after my sophomore year abroad at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, I was chosen to participate in a leadership and service trip for two months in South Africa and Botswana. From the beginning, my peers and I knew that this would not be an easy experience.

 

RUIZ.Olivia.61880018O WONDER!: THOUGHTS ON PHOTOGRAPHY

Olivia Ruiz

Taking a picture is a vulnerable position to put yourself in. Your focus is completely taken away, your eyes are behind a lens, your arms are lifted. You are surrendering to the angle, to the light, to the subject, to whatever happens to you while you take this picture. I think of that while I look at things here, in Buenos Aires.

 

Paruolo_From the Archives Image_Impromptu Battle Front _ RussiaFROM THE ARCHIVES: FIGHTING FOR RUSSIA

Emily Paruolo

In the spring of 1917, Bessie Boies Cotton ’03, as a representative of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), was invited by the Provisional Government of Russia, which had replaced the tsarist government in February, to “establish clubs for working girls” and teach them how use the civil rights they had recently gained.

 

Submissions, issue 3

Global Impressions publishes short reflective essays (500-750 words) by members of the Smith College community that address what it means to be a global citizen today.

We are currently accepting submissions for our third issue: “Up Close / From Afar,” featuring photographs from the Lewis Global Studies Center International Photo Contest.  Photographs not in the Photo Contest are also welcome.

A camera lens separates the photographer from the subject, but can also offer a closer look into a situation.  Similarly, photographs allow for temporal distance by capturing a single instant that can be viewed and re-viewed, allowing for self-reflection as well as deeper understanding of the moment.  We are interested in how the image has affected your understanding of another culture, whether in the act of taking the photograph or when returning to it later.

 Submissions will be accepted through January 16, 2015.

For submission guidelines, please click here.

SUBMISSIONS, ISSUE 4

Global Impressions publishes short reflective essays (500-750 words) by members of the Smith College community that address what it means to be a global citizen today.

Since its founding in 1871, Smith College has been defined by its commitment to social activism. No matter the time or place, Smithies have always been deeply engaged in the social issues of the world around them. For our next issue, we aim to highlight this distinguished tradition in its increasingly global context. We want to hear about your international experiences with social activism, whether as an American participating in activism abroad or as an international student experiencing activism in the United States.  Submissions are being accepted until Friday, April 3.

For submission guidelines, please click here.