Azza Cohen - Bridge Year India
Namaste! My name is Alexandra Cohen, but I go by Azza. I just graduated from Highland Park High School in Illinois. The space suit in my picture is real-- I got it from Space Camp! I have a younger brother Jonny, a sister Daniella and a dog Allie, all whom I will miss very much. At school, I was involved with Mock Trial, French Club, Class Council, Green School Initiative, Scholastic Bowl and Ambassadors. I love working on GreenShields with my brother; it’s a project Jonny invented to make school buses more aerodynamic and eco-friendly. I speak French and I'm working on my Finnish. I define my existence in terms of my times as an exchange student: in 2009, I lived and learned in Belfast, Northern Ireland about its history and politics through the Belfast Rotary Club, and in 2010 I spent the summer in Joensuu, Finland through Youth For Understanding. I love traveling, dancing, acting and writing and I always carry a pocket Constitution. I'd like to thank my family, friends and teachers for always supporting my crazy travel plans, and thank you very much to Princeton for this incredible opportunity. I very much believe, as does Ralph Waldo Emerson, that "the world belongs to the energetic!"
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Posted Mar 23, 2012
It's halfway over. The "2011" in Bridge Year 2011-2012 is already over, and it's hard to grasp that time is slipping through our fingers. As part of our program, we are each allotted a monthly stipend for an ISP, or "individual study project." We chose from different, equally Indian topics ranging from sari-weaving to Buddhism to Avurvedic studies and are delving as deeply as we can into our chosen topics. Mine's Sanskrit.
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Posted Jan 13, 2012
Before we went to Kolkata, I was happy here in Benares. Sure, I have my ups and downs but I didn't at all think I needed a break from this city. Then we went to Kolkata and I felt myself relaxing back into a quasi-Western routine again: in the morning I drank coffee instead of chai, took taxis instead of rickshaws, and at the YWCA where we stayed, I indulged in hot showers. We saw presentations at the planetarium and Victoria Memorial in English and ate international cuisines.
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Posted Nov 22, 2011
I’d like to preface my update by clarifying that my Hindi name is Asha (mostly because Indians aren’t used to pronouncing the “z” sound, but also because I think that name is beautiful and it means “hope”), and as long as I wear salwar kameez and keep my hands covered in henna tattoos, I’m going by my Indian identity. So far, I love it here. Benares is incredibly unique and I’ve never had so much trouble trying to describe things as I do here. Above all, Benares is a challenge and a celebration for the senses.
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