<p>My name is Elizabeth Thies and I am originally from Medina, Ohio but I now live in Washington, D.C. as a rising senior at George Washington University studying International Affairs. I am passionate about traveling and learning foreign languages as I speak English and Spanish while learning Russian and German. I also really love staying active and am on GW's Women's Club Volleyball team and am an avid SCUBA diver. Spending time with animals (dogs are my favorite) never fails to make my day! Lastly, I am a huge book geek and am constantly reading my favorite genre of historical non-fiction.</p>

<p>I am a collegiate rugby player for Claremont McKenna College and I enjoy the outdoors and physical activities. I like to spend most of my free time playing sports or exploring the outdoors but aside of athletics I like to woodwork and craft objects like jewelry boxes, wooden puzzles and other small projects.</p>

<p>Hello! I am a junior at the College of William and Mary studying global studies and data science, but my true loves are language learning and map-making. I enjoy reading and playing soccer, and I also love to bake, though I more resemble a candidate for Nailed It! then an actual baker. I am excited to go to France this fall so that I can practice my French with locals and eat some good food. For my next adventure abroad, I would love to go to China as I have recently begun to study Chinese and fallen in love with the Netflix show Wild China.</p>

<p>One of my favorite activities since I was a child is playing the piano, which I picked up when I was about eight years old when I begged my mom to let me take piano lessons. I continued with it all the way up until I was twelve before I eventually gave up because I'd grown tired of being forced to play exclusively classical pieces by long-deceased men. However, I've still continued to play on my own but, because I've lost the ability to read music properly, I learn how to play songs by watching YouTube "synthesia" videos of people playing those songs and following along with the hand positions.</p>

<p>One day I dream of becoming an author. I have entire worlds developed in my mind and have so many different stories and ideas that I wish I could craft on paper. They all make sense within the recesses of my brain, however, when I attempt to put them into words I cannot articulate them the way I know them to exist within my heart—as real and authentic characters and places that live within me. I have one character I am particularly fond of, Silvia Torrenegra, and I know her better than I know myself. Consequently, writing represents an escape for me—an escape to reality, in which I can experience everything in the world even if I have never experienced it in the flesh.&nbsp;</p>

<p>I am a rising junior studying Linguistics, Government, French, and Spanish at Georgetown University. If all goes right my my life, I would love to devote my career to diplomacy and peace studies or to preserving endangered languages. I am a proud Chicago native and a huge foodie who loves to swim and do bikram yoga. At school, I am a writing consultant specializing in humanities papers, blogs, op-eds, and presentations, and I also sing as a soprano in the Gospel Choir. It is a privilege to be studying abroad in Morocco, and I greatly look forward to my time in Rabat!</p>

<p>I am a physics major at Trinity University with a strong interest in environmental studies. Some specific passions of mine are listening to classical music when it’s raining, the colors of the New Mexico desert, and having a cup of Earl Grey tea in the morning.</p>

<p>Born and raised in Shanghai. Passionate about museums. I love plants, having dessert for dinner, and thrifting fruit-patterned hawaiian shirts. Not so good at drawing, but I try anyway:) Always down for a good cup of tea!</p>

<p>I am a rising junior at Connecticut College majoring in Architectural Studies. When I am not studying or constructing three-dimensional architecture models, I can be found playing ultimate frisbee or helping run the Womxn's Empowerment Initiative at Conn. After graduating from high school, I took a gap year to work as an au pair near Hamburg, Germany, so I could not be more excited to return to the country and share with you my adventures!</p>

<p>Apart from my first two years at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, I have lived my whole life in Bellingham, Washington, a college town surrounded by green hills and snowy mountains on one side and the Puget Sound on the other. Since I was eleven, I've made a point to ride my unicycle down my town's Memorial Day parade route before it starts, a tradition interrupted briefly in high school when I was in the marching band. My summer job is teaching swim lessons, and I have gotten quite good at talking a scared four-year-olds into jumping off the diving board.</p>