Name: Victoria GÛmez
Title: Colors of the Rainbow
Location: Burano, Italy
Program: University of Cambridge, England, Academic Year 2002-2003
Description: While in Venice, I hopped over to the island of Burano. As I got off the ferry I was captivated by the colorful assortment of houses that stood along the canals. Every color of the rainbow was flaunted. The beautiful clear skies and sunny weather augmented my picturesque experience through this little town of colors. Click here for info on ordering a reprint of this photo

Name: Francesco Ferrari
Title: Buddhist Monks visiting Versailles
Location: Paris, France
Program: Denmark International Studies Program, Fall 2002
Description: Equipped with camcorders in hand, these modestly clad Buddhist monks seemed to be having a grand old time exploring the decadent opulence that is the Chateau Versailles. Although they surely must lead rather ascetic lives, this day's exploration of the grounds of Louis XIV's massively exaggerated splendor was most definitely a departure from the norm.

Name: Dustin Stephens
Title: Jizo Playfulness
Location: Zojo Temple, Tokyo, Japan
Program: Temple University Japan, Tokyo, Japan, Fall 2003
Description: Although abortion has been legal in Japan for over thirty years, moral concerns still reside in many women who undergo an abortion. At Buddhist temples across the country, Buddhist monks perform ceremonies in order for the unborn fetus to achieve a better reincarnation in its next life. At the ceremony, women who have undergone an abortion are given a jizo to place on the temple grounds. A jizo is a small statue representing the aborted fetus that is decorated with colorful cloths and pinwheels. On windy days in spring, one can see the jizos playing together, as their pinwheels twirl in the crisp breeze.

Name: Stuart Sinclair
Title: Celebration
Location: St. Petersburg, Russia
Program: St. Petersburg State Technical University, Russia
School for Russian and Asian Studies, Academic Year 2000-2001
Description: The city of St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great as part of an effort to drag Russia, kicking and screaming, into the modern world. In 2001, the city was beginning to prepare for its tercentennial. The city received loans from the IMF and the World Bank to undertake much needed repairs and improvements before the celebration. Parts of the city still showed damage from World War II.

The first renovation project completed was the addition of architectural lighting to City Hall. The plan was to eventually light most of the historic buildings in the center of town. To celebrate the completion of the first step in the preparations, the mayor arranged for a ceremony. There was a band and everyone from politicians to contractors to local celebrities made speeches.

After the last speaker finished the mayor organized a countdown, and then pressed a big red button on the podium. Everybody stared at the City Hall for several seconds, and then the mayor turned around to assure the crowds that the lights would be quite beautiful if it were just dark enough to see them. Unfortunately, the project had finished during the White Nights, when the sun just briefly dips below the horizon each night.

Eventually dusk came though, and when the fireworks began, everyone forgot about the lights. Click here for info on ordering a reprint of this photo

Name: Katherine Caldwell
Title: Geology in a Snapshot
Location: Franz Josef Glacier, South Island, New Zealand
Program: James Cook University, Cairns, Australia, Spring 2003
Description: Glaciers played an important role in carving out some of New Zealand¼s most beautiful landscapes. Images from Lord of the Rings and famous Milford Sound are just a couple examples. Here at Franz Josef Glacier on the South Island of New Zealand, a glacier retreats, leaving steep-sided valleys and waterfalls in its place. Using taloned shoes, we climbed a small section of the glacier. This picture was taken on our descent, crawling through cracks and crevices of the melting ice. Click here for info on ordering a reprint of this photo

Name: Amrish Patel
Title: American Square
Location: Seville, Spain
Program: University College London, England
Arcadia University Center for Education Abroad, Spring 2003
Description: This is a corner of the Plaza de EspaÒa in the Parque (Park) Maria Luisa which also houses the Plaza de America's, the site of the Spain-America Exposition of 1929. The Plaza de EspaÒa was built for the exposition and the buildings on its border were used for the planet "Naboo" in Star Wars. The square itself is bounded by a semicircular moat which follows the line of the buildings. The water continues through the square with fountains at the center. The ponds are full of waterfowl while the square is full of running children, horse-drawn carts, and white pigeons, which were a gift from the Philippines for the exposition and can be found nowhere else in Spain. While it might be overlooked at first, the scaffolding on the building is somewhat a symbol of Europe's places of interest. There were extremely few building of historical importance which were not at least somewhat covered by scaffolding. This led us to coin the phrase: "Europe: a nice place to visit... in about 10 years." Click here for info on ordering a reprint of this photo

Name: Jennifer Needham
Title: Sydney Harbor
Location: Sydney, Australia
Program: University of Queensland, Australia, Study Australia, Fall 2003
Description: None

Name: Amrish Patel
Title: Orange Trees
Location: Sevilla, Spain
Program: University College London, England
Arcadia University Center for Education Abroad, Spring 2003
Description: This is a view of some of the grounds of the cathedral in Sevilla, taken from part of the way up the tower. Built on the sites of a Moorish mosque, the cathedral is one of the largest in the world and is purported to house the remains of Christopher Columbus. The tower itself contains not stairs but ramps which allowed horses to be ridden to the top, a tradition which took place regularly. Because of these ramps, this was definitely the easiest tower to ascend throughout Europe. There are many orange trees everywhere, purely as decoration (which I found out the hard way). Don't eat the orangesÖ Click here for info on ordering a reprint of this photo

Name: Stuart Sinclair
Title: Lonely Pastime
Location: Kavgolova, Russia
Program: St. Petersberg State Technical University, Russia
School for Russian and Asian Studies, Academic Year 2000-2001
Description: In a nation known for its giant industrial behemoths, belching corrosive pollutants - the deep, heartfelt connection between the Russian people and nature is surprising. On weekends or holidays the Russians will flock to the countryside to commune with nature. In many ways the seeming contradiction can be understood by looking at the American experience during the 1800's.

Russia is a country that still possesses a frontier. A fifteen-minute ride by train from Petersburg, one of the largest urban centers in Russia, takes a person into a land of small villages populated with cottages in the midst of vast forests. Further East, Russia has some of the most sparsely populated territory in the world. Legally it is referred to as "The Frozen North, and Other Inaccessible Territories."

Russia still has room to expand, land is plentiful, and urban Russians can simply go a little bit further than their predecessor to find their own piece of solitude - the solution to whatever bothers them. The frontier provides a refuge.

In this photograph a pensioner has staked claim on a fishing spot on a lake at the edge of the village of Kavgolova. He was extremely friendly and invited me to sit and fish [drink vodka] with him, but he stayed long after I moved on. Eventually he probably retired to his dacha to steam away the cold in his sauna. Click here for info on ordering a reprint of this photo