CAPA WORLD

Happy Pride Week! This year, we are proud to be marching in the 2018 Boston Pride Parade on Saturday, June 9, 2018.

Join us as we celebrate diversity and the LGBTQIA community in our global city of Boston. As part of our ongoing commitment to equity and inclusion, CAPA The Global Education Network is sponsoring a Pride Parade Float and invites YOU – our partners, alumni, friends, and staff – to march alongside as we DisGO Beyond to the beat!

How Do I Register?

It is completely FREE for you to attend this! We only ask that you register here, that way we can keep track and notify you of any updates.

We're honored that our Diversity Advocates Program was selected as a finalist for the 2018 GoAbroad Innovation Awards in the Innovation in Diversity category! The GoAbroad Innovation Awards recognizes strategic efforts to expand international educational opportunities to traditionally underrepresented groups for the Innovation in Diversity category.

Launched this spring, CAPA's Diversity Committee created this initiative to exemplify our commitment to diversity in ways that are academic, experiential, and personal for our students to transport their activism and passions abroad. So, what exactly is the Diversity Advocates Program and who are our Spring 2018 participants?

Claire Shrader is an official CAPA blogger for spring 2018, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Pre-Occupational Therapy major at Mississippi College, she is studying abroad in Buenos Aires this semester.

In this week's post, Claire talks about the Argentinian brand of kindness and what her experience attending church is like in Buenos Aires.

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When I say Buenos Aires is a city unlike any other, I hope you know it isn’t just me saying that because I love it, or because I don’t have much experience in other cities. The opposite is true—I’ve been in New York and Los Angeles and Dallas and Orlando and London and so many others…yet Buenos Aires has its own special flair. The architecture is amazing and so diverse. Today I took the bus from a relatively modern part of the city and within 20 minutes looked up in amazement at the buildings around me.

The amazing architecture in Buenos Aires.

Spanish is everywhere, but you’ll also hear Portuguese and English and Chinese often, and if your time here looks anything like my Easter Sunday, Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian, too. Buenos Aires is a massive city, and yet not once have I felt unsafe walking the streets alone or riding the bus or train. If you hit the streets anytime between 3:00-6:00 you’ll find most of the city seated at a café, enjoying coffee and a friend.

An Interview with CAPA Institutional Relations Manager for Equity and Inclusion Initiatives: Darin Smith-Gaddis

Meet Darin Smith-Gaddis, CAPA's first Institutional Relations Manager for Equity and Inclusion Initiatives. Since his start with CAPA in 2014, Darin has focused on building relationships with institutional partners. Drawing from his experience in developing key programs for education and diversity and inclusion efforts, he is committed to helping others understand and expand access for underrepresented students to study abroad. Below, he shares what led to his current role at CAPA, why study abroad is important, and how educators and institutions can be more inclusive. 

CAPA WORLD: Tell us a bit about yourself and your work with CAPA.
DARIN SMITH-GADDIS: I work on Equity and Inclusion initiatives as an Institutional Relations Manager for CAPA. I’ve had the opportunity to travel most of my life, starting with many trips from my home, Anchorage, Alaska, to visit relatives and friends in other states and other countries. I participated in my first study abroad in high school, spending an academic year in Brasilia, Brazil. After that I guess I never stopped. I participated in two study abroad programs in undergrad to the Czech Republic and several former Yugoslav countries and just kept going. By 30 I’d flown over 1 million miles getting to know the diverse communities and cultures that make up our world. At CAPA my primary goal is to increase accessibility for students to study abroad. Working with faculty, administrators and students, I try to bring study abroad concepts to fruition, create connections that lead to programs, and develop solutions to challenges to break down barriers. This means making sure our partners are informed and supported as they pursue their respective institutional missions.

Sarah is an official CAPA vlogger for fall 2017, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Fashion Retail and Merchandising major at Lasell College, she is studying abroad in Shanghai this semester.

In this week's post, Sarah enjoys 3 cultural events at East China Normal University (ECNU) on her study abroad.

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Thanks Sarah!

Sarah's journey continues every Thursday so stay tuned.

Thaddeus is an official CAPA blogger for fall 2017, sharing his story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A BFA major at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, he is studying abroad in London this semester.

In this week's post, Thaddeus shares his observations and experiences on diversity in the U.K. vs. the U.S.

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First let me start off by saying: the pictures in this post have nothing to do with the content. I wanted to talk about cultural and ethnic diversity this week, and I felt like taking pictures of random people in public to capture "diversity" was rather rude and uncomfortable. I didn't want to encroach on people's privacy (especially as an American student). So, please enjoy some pretty skyscapes from this week!

Also, diversity is something that must exist...not something we can capture in a picture... If you are a young philosopher, feel free to argue that point with me!

Okay, so on to this week's post:

As my third week in London comes to a close, I have started to think about how I, as an American student, play into or perhaps stand out in U.K.'s culture.

Elizabeth Withers is an official CAPA blogger for spring 2017, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A double major in English literature and history & philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh, she is studying abroad in Buenos Aires this semester.

In this week's post, Elizabeth shows us some other cultures that help make up Buenos Aires' diverse population.

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With mid-terms underway, the weather getting chillier, and a seasonal flu going around, things have been a bit hectic for me lately in Buenos Aires.  Amidst all the hustle and bustle these past few weeks, I was eager for a change of pace.  Buenos Aires is a city of immigrants, where new and old communities of many different cultures are constantly mingling and creating new spaces.  There’s always something new to try or explore or see, and this week I really enjoyed trying new foods and escaping into the tranquility of the Japanese Gardens.

Photo: The Bandeja Paisa-- we cleaned the plate.

About the food first. 

Colin Gilbert is an official CAPA blogger for spring 2017, sharing his story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A marketing and supply chain management major at the University of Pittsburgh, he is studying abroad in Sydney this semester.

In this week's post, Colin talks about finding diversity in Sydney's culinary scene and parks.

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I found myself sauntering through the thick, humid air of the CBD—the Central Business District, that is—last Sunday searching for the perfect flat white to start my morning. The heavy, overcast skies spit showers as I skipped from block to block, eventually landing at the Westfield for a cappuccino and a cannoli: the not-so-Australian-but-actually-Italian breakfast of champions. After admiring some of the opulent windows of Armani and the like, I continued to Darling Harbour to meet a friend.

The afternoon sun attempted to cut through the clouds, but the day remained overwhelmingly gray. Autumn has officially arrived in Sydney. We converged at the Chinese Garden of Friendship; a unique green space which peaks my interest each time I pass by, but hadn’t yet had the chance to explore. We serendipitously decided to discover the area accompanied with lunch at the Teahouse in the gardens. As if my breakfast weren’t ironic enough, this not-so-Australian-but-actually-Chinese lunch consisted of American sandwiches, English tea, and an Italian pastry. My point? Sydney is an incredibly diverse city influenced by a number of different cultures—as expressed (mostly) through my edible expeditions.

Natalie Emmert is an official CAPA vlogger for spring 2017, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A nursing major at Arizona State University, she is studying abroad in Sydney this semester.

In this week's post, Natalie takes a look at the diversity in the global city of Sydney. 

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Thanks Natalie!

Natalie's journey continues every Thursday so stay tuned!

Courtney Manning is an official CAPA blogger for spring 2017, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Convergence Journalism major at the University of Missouri-Columbia, she is studying abroad in London this semester.

In this week's post, Courtney talks about the diversity in the global city of London and the good and bad that comes with it. 

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London is an extremely diverse city. I visited here very briefly almost three years ago, but I never really understood how many different cultures are in this city until I lived here for two months. When I was a kid and I used to think of (well, dream about) London, I always thought of the things I knew that were popular in American culture - Harry Potter, the royal family, The Beatles, etc. What I didn’t realize is that London is made up of so much more than that - so much more than red telephone booths and Big Ben and fish and chips. Sure, those are very important to London’s history and culture, but it’s really all the diverse people coming together in one beautiful place that make London so incredibly special.

One of my professors, Richard, joked with us that all Americans think that all British people “talk like the Queen.” No one really understood what he meant at first, because we definitely thought that all British people sounded pretty much the same (I still kind of do because I haven’t really learned about different accents). We also learned about how the Queen has changed her accent over time in order to sound less uppity and posh and to be able to connect with the common people more since the royal family used to be very unpopular. Apparently most British people don’t really like the royal family nowadays either, which was shocking to all of us Americans because most people in the States love the royals.