One thing I will always talk about is the culture of our dear Metropolitan State University. Having started my college experience at CU Boulder, I have seen two very different collegiate environments. At CU it often felt like people were there because they had to be, or as a means to the “college experience”. On the other hand, because of the fact that Metro is a commuter school, accepts anyone who wants to be there, and doesn’t necessarily have the reputation that CU might have, it feels like every person at MSU is making a very intentional choice to be there, and to be there to learn. Particularly in the anthropology department, I have met so many people who just care deeply about what they want to study and have come from all walks of life to dedicate themselves to learning about it. CU felt homogeneous, everyone blended together at a point. Because there are so many different kinds of people at MSU, students of all age groups and backgrounds, I have found the people to be notably kinder and more accepting.  I think this kind of openness too each other and dedication to learning is something that all the MSU students brought with us to Cyprus. 

I spent the month learning everyone’s life stories, their lore, as we’d say. Every one of us came from very different places, with different families, educational histories, even different reasons for wanting to be there, but the things we had in common brought us together. We all wanted to dedicate ourselves to working as hard as we could, learning as much as we could, and taking the experience and each other in. Through a difficult and complicated month, we took care of each other, so it’s always a great day to be a roadrunner in my book. 😉

Annika Schramm