Anna Nielsen (PSU senior studying Political Science from Potomac Falls, Virginia)
This summer, I spent six weeks studying abroad in Europe. I had such a great time traveling! My home base was a small city called Maastricht in the very southern part of the Netherlands. It was only three miles from Belgium and thirty miles from Germany. It’s funny to think I could walk to another country, isn’t it? During my time abroad, I studied the politics of European integration, which is a fancy way of saying what the European Union is, how it works, and what its function and role is in Europe, as well as globally. This summer gave me direction because I am now able to say that I would like to (and hopefully will!) study EU policy in graduate school. Putting the classroom aside, I had the chance to visit (as part of my academic program) many of the most important EU institutions such as European Parliament. I spent ten days traveling around France, Luxembourg, and Belgium! It was absolutely awesome. During my own travel time on the weekends, I visited Germany and England, as well. I had a wonderful summer!