By Borislava Panayotova

     Anyone who has  driven outside of Tempe has seen the welcome sign and its confusing world map and seemingly endless list of foreign city names. 

   These are Tempe’s sister cities, scattered all over the globe. While this information may seem unnecessary to the common person, it could mean everything to three TPA students’ summers. 

     Juniors Hannah Whittaker, Grace Kolinchak and Natalie Epperson applied to Tempe Sister Cities, a summer-abroad program that would allow them to travel to a foreign city and stay there for four to five weeks, exploring and learning more about the world. In the program, students stay with a host family; a member of the host family then travels back to Tempe with the applicant and stays with their U.S. host family.

     There are 11 sister cities: Skopje (Republic of North Macedonia), Regensburg (Germany), Lower Hutt (New Zealand), Zhenjiang (China), Timbuktu (Mali), Beaulieu sur Mer (France), Carlow (Ireland), Cuenca (Ecuador), Cusco (Peru), Trollhätten (Sweden), Agra City (India). Some of these locations are currently unavailable and due to the low number of applicants, others were cut off from the list.

     The application for the program starts with general information. Afterwards, the applicants go through an interview process. There are two interviews and multiple meet-ups and luncheons between participants and program staff. 

     In the first interview, applicants are asked about their knowledge of current and community affairs. This interview is an opportunity for the program staff to see if applicants are prepared to represent Tempe and the U.S. because within the program, participants are United States delegates.

     The second interview focuses on the countries and cities themselves. Applicants draw a random city and have to provide their knowledge on the given location. Grace says that “you do not have to know pages worth of information.” The program staff, instead, wants to see the candidate’s enthusiasm for visiting a foreign city. 

   Studying abroad gives students the opportunity to dive into a new setting and culture. Hannah says, “I want to study abroad and I think this is like a good way for me to get into traveling.” Participants also gain the benefit of experiencing independence and living on their own.      

   For prospective applicants, Hannah says to “be patient and hold your ground.” She explained that while she was nervous, she was more excited to study abroad as a U.S. delegate. With the return of the Tempe Sister Cities abroad program, students should take advantage of these immersive opportunities.