“If we are facing in the right direction, all we need to do is keep walking.” Buddhist Proverb México I was born and raised in Mérida, Yucatán. I finished high school and started studying business administration in my hometown. In my second year of studies, as I went along with a “normal life” in my social context, I realized that I was facing the wrong … Continue reading Ricardo’s Road to Penn
My background My path to IEDP was a bit unconventional. For one thing, my undergraduate degree was in classical music. For another, I received that degree twenty years ago. It was a winding road that brought me here, but I couldn’t be happier with my decision. For the past fifteen years I’ve worked in standardized test prep, both as a teacher and teacher trainer. I … Continue reading A long and winding road
Anastasia’s current location: Moscow, Russia Time zone: 7 hours ahead of Philly I tell everyone that I’m in Moscow right now, but this is actually not true — I’m a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Moscow, in the Tver region, at my countryside house, where I have been since the quarantine started in March. I feel like I’m extremely lucky to be here, as it allows me … Continue reading Learning from Russia with Anastasia
Aanchal’s current location: Siliguri, West Bengal, India Time Zone: 9.5 hours ahead of Philadelphia Managing work and classes in different time zones seems to be interesting and taxing at the same time. Having been a teacher for the past few years in a boarding school where I used to eat breakfast with my students everyday at 7:00am, it feels a little weird to start school … Continue reading Grabbing dinner between classes with Aanchal
Hi all. I cannot believe September has come to an end, which means I have completed my first month in the IEDP! As we say in Spanish: ¡Guau! I decided to only take 3 courses this semester (two core* classes and a quantitative elective) due to two reasons. First, I wanted to learn about the different focus areas within the educational development field through the … Continue reading Reflecting on the first month of classes…
Hi all! For the blog this week, I interviewed Lena Novak, one of the first IEDP students I talked to! Throughout the summer we chatted a little bit about our interests and her adventurous road trip from California to Pennsylvania. Lena is also the Graduate Assistant (GA) in charge of the IEDP facebook and twitter pages so be sure to follow them to stay updated … Continue reading Lena’s Lens
My current location: Houston, Texas. As I mentioned in my first blog, I received my acceptance to IEDP in December of 2019! I was really relieved that I had a lot of time to prepare for the big move to Philadelphia. I was going to have eight months to look for a nice, affordable apartment, cool roommates, and a llama bedding set. Those were my … Continue reading First week of remote learning!
Hola prospective applicants! My name is Leslie and I will manage the IEDP student blog this year. I can’t believe I have finally started my master’s at UPenn! Although we currently live in a time of great uncertainty and virtual meetings, it’s been great to meet my classmates from all around the world and to start my first semester of graduate school. A little bit … Continue reading My application journey
The city and beyond Get ready to go bananas. Would I ever have thought that there would be a bigger twist in the story? Absolutely not, but always delighted by and spiced with the surprises in my life. March turned out to be a rollercoaster after all. Except for the ambulance siren sound at least 5 times a day, the sound of silence around the world … Continue reading Internship in the eyes of a pandemic beholder
The city and beyond Two months in D.C. got me thinking that this capital city is very much like the capital of my home country, Ankara, Turkey. The flow of cars, people dressed up in formal wear going to work and leaving work around the same time, monuments and memorials, many government buildings, and offices have evoked the memories of my monotonous year in Ankara. … Continue reading Internship in the eyes of a Washingtonian
The International Educational Development Program 