Most of you have spent some time now at your internships! Everyone’s experiences are individual so send us some pics to show us what your life has been like for the last few weeks. Take photos or video of your commute, your workspace, your team, and/or the community you work with (If appropriate and with permission!!!! For example, if you work with kids don’t take pictures of them). Tell us a bit about how you spend your day and the people/places you work with. Show us how you’ve been making your way in your new, temporary home.

Please do this by next Thursday at the latest, thanks!

By Austin Colorite

This past month I was studying abroad in Toledo, Spain. I was there studying Spanish and had 2 classes one in current events and one in Spanish art and culture. For my art class, we visited lots of Cathedrals and Museums.

Here are some pictures from the main cathedral in Toledo. It’s name is la Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada de Toledo. It is the largest church I have ever been in! You can’t tell from the outside, but it has several courtyard’s, an ancient college, and a series of floors and catacombs. This cathedral is actually officially a basilica because it has a chair for the bishop… who knew that was the difference between a church and a basilica?

This photo is of the Royal Palace in Madrid. Spain is a monarchy, but the royals aren’t as famous as the british ones we all know so much about. Their palace is huge with gardens in the back.

In addition to visiting cultural landmarks, I also just hung out with my friends at plazas like the one in the left photo called la Plaza de Chueca. The people in Spain are so friendly and the vendors are always super understanding when you are trying to speak Spanish. I also ate so MANY TAPAS! The photo on the right is of the bomba de treból. It was by far the best tapa I had in Spain. It’s a fried potato with some amazing sauces. 

By Sabrina Fay

I work as a summer service associate in the Pace Center, producing content like this blog post and assisting in the administration of the Service Focus program, but I also do a lot of other stuff on campus this summer, and I’m happy to share tidbits of my other activities.

This (above pictured) bit of contained chaos is where I do my remote Pace Center work! Since a lot of what I do is online, like this post for example, it gives me a lot of freedom to just work in my dorm or the library when I’m not needed in the office. Such flexibility also allows me time for my other commitments…

like my work as a summer intern at the Princeton Garden Project in Forbes! My fellow intern (Daniel Te ’21) and I plant, care for, and harvest vegetables and fruits which then get incorporated into meals at the Grad college over the summer and at Forbes dining hall during the academic year! We also host workdays and events open to community members coming in to help out with activities like painting the shed, weeding the beds, or planting new crops. It’s a great way to contribute to a renewable, sustainable Princeton and to have the satisfaction of growing all the ingredients in your own salad (not that I eat salad, preferring Fritos usually)!

And the rest of my time is occupied by FSI! FSI, or the Freshman Scholars Institute, is a summer program for incoming freshmen of diverse backgrounds who relate to the first-generation college student and/or low income identity. We provide cocurricular programming like trips to Philadelphia and NYC, kayaking, ice cream crawls, and study breaks run multiple times a week! And of course, we have the students take two classes which provide them with credits and give them an introduction to the academic world of Princeton in a supportive and welcoming environment. As a Residential College Advisor for the program (after participating myself just last year!) I am responsible for a smaller subset of the cohort in my advisee group and helping them out with whatever they need.

My day-to-day, as you may imagine from these pictures, is busy and certainly hectic. But above all else it is worthwhile; I wouldn’t rather be doing anything else with my summer than serving the communities that help to serve me at other times of the year! I hope you enjoy reading about the lives of the various Service Focus interns just as much!