Up, Down and All Around!

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Up, Down and All Around!

ID # 3733

Hey out there! My name is Taylor Fulton and I am a proud Tar Heel at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and joined the Carolina family in 2009. I study Peace, War, and Defense (with a concentration in National and International Security) and I am minoring in Arabic and Social and Economic Justice.

Since my first year at Carolina, I’ve been a keen traveler! In December of 2009, I was selected to travel with 24 of my fellow classmates to spend three months in Singapore, Singapore studying cultural anthropology at the National University of Singapore.

In between studies, I traveled to Terrenganu, Malaysia where I spent a week living in the home of a local imam and his family learning Arabic and Malay, fishing, shopping in the local market, watching FIFA, planting mango trees, and eating delicious foods with my fingers! I visited gorgeous mosques to learn more about the importance of religion in the country and stood in the heart of the city of Kuala Lumpur watching men, women and children of various nationalities live alongside one another accepting one another for their cultural similarities and differences.

A year later, I just couldn’t get enough, packed my things and traveled to Western Europe. For four months, I lived in my own apartment in London, England studying foreign war corresponding and British politics less than five miles from Big Ben and the Globe Theater. After classes, I traveled to various English cities like Surrey, Brighton, Haslemere and Bath indulging in British history, music, media and culture. And, on the weekends I traveled to mainland Europe!

Europe is full of different people, cultures, ideologies and activities. I danced the night away with new friends in authentic Irish pubs in Dublin; ate baguettes and brie on the Seine river after visiting Notre Dame and the Louvre in Paris; played volleyball and listened to great music on the beautiful beaches in Albufeira, Portugal; and hiked and climbed across the rolling green hills of Edinburgh visiting gorgeous, ancient castles along the way!

Next I plan to explore the Middle East by spending four months at the University of Jordan in the capital city of Amman studying and perfecting my Arabic skills.

If  this is any indicator, I absolutely love to see what the world has to offer. I’ve had some wonderful experiences in my life so far and I just can’t wait to tell you all about them!