The best way to capture my Fulbright experience was presented to me on the first day of orientation. On September 15, 2022, 30 Fulbrighters, including me, sat in neatly-lined white chairs at the offices of the Commission for Educational Exchange…
My time as a Fulbright Scholar living in Antwerp, Belgium has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Of course, my experience has been amazing because of the opportunity to engage with the important cultural opportunities that…
On a routine visit to the archive in February 2022, I stumbled upon a letter signed by one of the most famous Belgian artists of the late 19th century, James Ensor. I was at the Archive et Musée de la…
One of the many things former Harvardians told me before I embarked on my Master of Laws (LL.M.) at Harvard Law School was that the year would go by very quickly. Of course, they were right. One year at Harvard…
Looking back on a Fulbright year at MIT, one might write about beautiful New England foliage, vegan poutine fries, boat trips to the east (Provincetown), train trips to the south (New York City), van trips to the north (Acadia), hippie…
It was the fifth day of our stay in the United States, and while on a road trip through California my partner and I were enjoying breakfast at a little diner in Visalia. The two regulars seated next to us…
When I think back on the nine months that were my English Teaching Assistantship, I am appalled at the speed with which they went by. I think of the lessons I learned, both intentionally and a majority of them accidentally….
One thing that almost immediately struck me about Belgium, and Flanders in particular, is the sheer amount of cardio that people do on a daily basis. I saw mothers biking their children to school, professionals in full business attire biking…
My name is David Defries, and I am an associate professor of history at Kansas State University.I study the Middle Ages with specialties in the Christian cult of the saints and early medievalFlanders. My Fulbright fellowship helped fund a year-long…
Reflecting on my year at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, there are so many different academic, cultural, and social practices I could comment on. The friendliness and can-do-attitude of Americans, my love/hate relationship with their food culture or…
How can you describe a year at Harvard and express your gratitude to those who contributed to this unreal experience in one post? It’s impossible. But at least I’ll try to encapsulate it in three takeaway messages for future Fulbright…
Perhaps the moment that best reflects my time in Luxembourg would be the night of my final Lëtz school. For a majority of my time in Luxembourg, my Wednesday night’s were spent within the walls of the monastery of the…