Last semester we talked about my African safari experience in Kenya, now we turn to a new kind: Tiger safari, in West Bengal India! Just kidding, this episode is about so much more than tigers, meet Puja Rani Das - also from West Bengal, India: a graduate Communication Arts student at NYIT's Long Island campus. Puja is bright, funny and ambitious, I hope in listening to our interview you'll be inspired by her wit, joy and passion for life and media. Stay spicy NYIT International listeners! 

Is Paris calmer than New York? Is our subway confusing? What’s the big deal with French romance and how does one venture into a career in cinema? Parisian NYIT Student at the Manhattan campus Anne-Sophie Ducloux joined me in chatting about all of this and more. Major plot twist, she hopes to make it eventually to Korea for an internship, why? Join us, take a listen and find out.

Back to Asia for this episode, we meet Prem Naresh Sanghvi, an undergraduate business student from Mumbai, India. We chat about everything from dreams of being a pilot to growing up in India to finance and the initial shock of a first time arrival to the US. 

Welcome back NYIT International listeners! To start off the second season we have Lucie Delrue, a graduate Communications student who attends the Manhattan campus of NYIT. Lucie is from both Italy and France, yes you read that right, from both! That's what makes this episode super interesting, she's a hybrid of two (and even more) cultures and aren't we all in some way? We chat about how that multiculturalism has shaped who she is and where she sees herself going in the future. 

At a loss for Latin American students, I decided to end the first season with a country and story I know pretty well: my own. Growing up in Colombia was amazing, I honestly have no complaints. But when I moved to the US it seemed anyone I spoke to I had to convince that my country is actually a great place. So here's my chance with you, hear the reality about Colombia and learn what a great first visit might be! 

Graduate students have a little bit of a different background and student experience, so I decided to interview one of the most unique ones I've met so far: Xiaoyan Zhang or 'Zoe' her chosen English-language name. With her daughter at the forefront of her choice to come to New York to get an MA in Comm arts, her experience is practical, realistic and inspiring. With her business back in Shanghai, her family and entire life, she made a huge sacrifice in coming here, but her reasons are well founded and admirable. 

In this episode we meet Victoire Chapin, a communications student at NYIT's Manhattan campus from Paris, France. Victoire grew up in a multi-cultural home and dreamed of working on Broadway. She also grew up traveling constantly and couldn't believe how unusual her nomadic lifestyle seemed to Americans. With her story its inevitable to wonder, what distinctions do we make in American culture between vacation and travel? Are they the same? Does traveling have to be a luxury expense that only qualifies as "vacationing"? Or can it be a part of ones life meant to enrich and challenge and make us grow? Meet Victoire and decide for yourself.

Dumplings and start-ups take over this time when we meet a talented Slovakian communicator: Veronika Nemcová. She relates how growing up in Europe is more of a fluid experience, a little bit all-over-the-place more so really than a single nationality, and how that has changed the way she sees the world. She loves the practicality of her NYIT education and has a unique and admirable point of view regarding her future. 

In Part 2 of NYIT International's Africa feature, we meet Ofentse Kwenaite, a senior Communications major and soccer player on the Long Island Campus. He's originally from South Africa and has a lot to say about his unique childhood, his arrival to the US and lots more! 

This week, a reverse international experience. I had the opportunity to spend two weeks in East Africa and in this episode I share a little of what it was like to go from the US to Kenya and Tanzania. Hint: There's a whole lot more than animals and plains!