Living & Learning Podcast

Meg van Rijn, who serves as the Director of Operations in Ecuador talks through all the trips we take throughout the semester. Students will experience all four regions of Ecuador - living in the sierras (mountains), going to the Amazon Jungle on a missions trip, exploring the Galápagos Islands, and finishing off their semester at the beach for a final semester debrief.

Grace Grant is a fall 2018 alumni and a guest on this week's podcast episode! ⁠ ⁠ Grace reflects back on her experience in Ecuador, and how the staff and her internship supervisor were important components of her semester. The intentionality of each person helped bring a greater perspective of who the Lord is in her life and set a foundation for future years. ⁠ Show Notes For more information about our programs, check us out online at landli.org/ Applications are now open for our programs. Apply Today! Subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter or follow us on Instagram @livingandlearningintl

Tiffani Ho, a spring 2018 alumni, unpacks the importance of community in her semester abroad in Ecuador. She reflects on what life looked like pre-Ecuador and how life has changed for the better for her post-Ecuador. ⁠ ⁠ The positive impact that the semester abroad had on her allowed her to lean into community more and understand who she is in Christ more fully. ⁠ ⁠ Tune into the Living & Learning Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Show Notes Something that we’re excited about is a new Summer Internship program. Join us for an 8-week internship in major cities around the world. All the details are up on our website. For more information about our programs, check us out online at landli.org/ Applications are now open for our programs. Apply Today! Subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter or follow us on Instagram @livingandlearningintl

We’re trying to answer the question, “What does life change look like?” On this episode, we sit down with Olivia Wyatt, a resident coordinator in the Baltimore Urban Studies program. We hear how she experienced life change during her own international experiences and brings that perspective to her role mentoring students in Baltimore. Show Notes Something that we’re excited about is a new Summer Internship program. Join us for an 8-week internship in major cities around the world. All the details are up on our website. For more information about our programs, check us out online at landli.org/ Applications are now open for our programs. Apply Today! Subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter or follow us on Instagram @livingandlearningintl

As an organization, we have been privileged to see some of our alumni join us on staff after their semester abroad with us. ⁠The impact that a semester with L&LI has on students often gives them the desire to return and pour into future students. ⁠Tyra G. shares her experience as she went from student to alumni to staff member. ⁠You don’t want to miss how God called her back to Quito to be a Resident Coordinator in our most recent podcast episode. Show Notes Something that we’re excited about is a new Summer Internship program. Join us for an 8-week internship in major cities around the world. All the details are up on our website. For more information about our programs, check us out online at landli.org/ Applications are now open for our programs. Apply Today! Subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter or follow us on Instagram @livingandlearningintl

On this episode of the Living and Learning Podcast, we sit down with Riccardo Regis, our Assistant Director in Rome, to hear what life is really like in Italy. Riccardo is an Italian who spent his college years studying in the United States. He’s now back in Rome hosting North American college students. Hear about how this full-circle experience allows Riccardo to bring a unique perspective to his role with Living and Learning. Show Notes Something that we’re excited about is a new Summer Internship program. Join us for an 8-week internship in major cities around the world. All the details are up on our website. For more information about our programs, check us out online at landli.org/ Applications are now open for our programs. Apply Today! Subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter or follow us on Instagram @livingandlearningintl

On our newest podcast episode, Noah Jackson shares how our faith-integrated academics shaped his life while he studied abroad with us in Ecuador. Courses like Spiritual Formation and Worldview were key pieces in his development over the semester. Noah shares that his experience with faith-integrated academics allowed him to grow in a deeper relationship with the Lord during and after studying abroad. Show Notes Something that we’re excited about is a new Summer Internship program. Join us for an 8-week internship in major cities around the world. All the details are up on our website. For more information about our programs, check us out online at landli.org/ Applications are now open for our programs. Apply Today! Subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter or follow us on Instagram @livingandlearningintl

A critical part of the Living & Learning mission statement is the “engage with the challenges of the world.” One of the most practical ways students do this in Baltimore is through working alongside locals in an internship. Leslie Whitfield is a professional social worker and serves as the Internship Coordinator for Baltimore Urban Studies. She shares her heart behind internships as well as some of the unique opportunities available to students. Show Notes Something that we’re excited about is a new Summer Internship program. Join us for an 8-week internship in major cities around the world. All the details are up on our website landli.org/intern-abroad.

Do you think you need everything figured out before studying abroad? The short answer is no. As we interview Amberly Meiter, a Spring 2019 student, she unpacks the ways that her semester abroad helped bring more clarity to what major she wanted to pursue. The semester allowed her to experience life with fresh eyes, opened her heart to new things, and gave her the freedom to process where God was leading her. Our L&LI staff finds joy in walking alongside students as they grow and learn more about who God has created them to be. Show Notes Something that we’re excited about is a new Summer Internship program. Join us for an 8-week internship in major cities around the world. All the details are up on our website.

Italy is a fascinating country known for its rich culture, the birthplace of western society, and of course, amazing food. In our latest podcast episode, we sit down with our Rome Program Director, Dr. Larry Peck to hear what life is like in Italy and what it's like to study abroad in Rome. Show Notes: Show Notes For more information, check us out online at landli.org/ Subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter or follow us on Instagram. Our Spring 2023 applications will be closing on November 1st. If you have ever thought about studying abroad with us, now is the time to apply. The link to apply is here in our show notes. Do us a favor and subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. Thanks for listening, and see you next time.

Peyton Corrigan, an Ecuador Fall 2017 alumna, shares her experience in the Amazon Jungle. For over 10 years, our semester, summer, and some of our study tours go into the Amazon Jungle to serve at Jungle Kids for Christ (JKC). JKC is a school that was started to help children from the Amazon Jungle break the cycle of abuse, addiction, and one-parent family homes (sometimes absent parents). The education; and more importantly the gospel taught at JKC impacts each child's future. Each year, JKC serves approximately 250 children ranging from pre-K through high school students. The jungle missions trip is an integral part of our Ecuador program and leaves an imprint on each of our student's hearts. For more information on JKC visit their website here: junglekidsforchrist.org Do us a favor and subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. Thanks for listening, and see you next time. Show Notes For more information, check us out online at landli.org/ Applications are now open for our programs. Apply Today! Subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter or follow us on Instagram. In addition to our semester programs, L&LI also provides short-term, faculty-led study tours all around the world. We’re always looking for great hosts to help lead these teams for 1-4 weeks. We’re accepting applications now.

Join us as we speak with Dr. Micah Hughes about the newest Living and Learning program: Baltimore Urban Studies. Affectionately known as the “BUS,” this experiential learning program is designed to teach, mentor, and train college students in spiritual formation and public health while providing urban global health internships. Baltimore is a dynamic and culturally rich city that represents the tension of the intersection between historic abandonment and revitalization. The foundation of the BUS began twenty years ago at Wheaton College in Illinois. Starting in 2001, BUS co-directors Dr. Micah Hughes and Rev Danté Upshaw had the privilege of working together to encourage, equip, and challenge students to engage in global urban learning. In this conversation, you’ll hear more about this backstory and how it has informed the program today. As the Academic Director, Micah will also give us a helpful overview of the college courses offered during this experiential “study away” semester. Learn more about the BUS on our website and on Instagram at @baltimore.urban.studies Show Notes Learn morelandli.org/Apply Today!Monthly NewsletterInstagram

Bonus track! Christina Garibay is back and shares what a one-on-one meeting with a Resident Coordinator looks like. If you are an incoming student, this episode will give you a brief overview of what these meetings look like and why they are meaningful to each student.

We value discipleship at Living & Learning and have made it a priority to incorporate it into each of our programs. One way we integrate discipleship is through the Resident Coordinator position. Our Resident Coordinators disciple students throughout the semester by meeting and building relationships with the students. The L&LI Resident Coordinators listen to, care for, and mentor students as they experience a new culture and context. Christina Garibay (aka CK), worked as a Resident Coordinator in Ecuador for three years. CK talks about how discipleship happens and the ways that students are impacted during the semester. Show Notes Learn morelandli.org/Apply Today!Monthly NewsletterInstagram

Have you ever wondered how Living & Learning picks the homestay families in Ecuador? Meg van Rijn, Director of Operations at our Ecuador site will give a brief rundown on how we select the families. L&LI has partnered with these families for a long time and has long-standing relationships with each of them. The families take great joy in hosting the students and inviting them into their homes as their own sons or daughters. For more information, check us out online at landli.org/ Applications are now open for our programs. Apply Today! Subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter or follow us on Instagram @livingandlearningintl

Every student that comes through the Ecuador semester or summer program stays with a local Ecuadorian family for a portion of the program. This is an opportunity for the student to be stretched with their Spanish, immerse themselves in the culture fully, and be loved on by an Ecuadorian family. Rachael Kinoshita, an Ecuador Spring 2019 alumna, shares her personal experience with a homestay family and the impact it had on her.

As we engage cross-culturally through our programs our lives will be stretched and grown in different ways as we interact with people different from us. God’s heart for the nations should give us a desire to also interact with the nations. Meg van Rijn, our Director of Operations, in Ecuador will expand on what it looks like to cross-culturally engage, and how she has seen it impact her own life and life of students.

Your two favorite people, Ashleigh and Greg, are teaming up to bring you The Living & Learning Podcast, where they'll share the inside scoop on what it's like to study abroad with Living & Learning International. You'll hear stories from students, staff, and alumni all about the different places, countries, and cultures they've experienced and all the amazing people involved along the way. ⁠Living & Learning International offers academically excellent international and domestic study abroad programs for college students to live in community, engage the challenges of the world, and learn to respond with a biblical Christian worldview. We're launching our first episode in a couple of weeks but in the meantime, listen to the trailer and subscribe to the podcast by clicking the buttons below!