For the first time, AUC will be the main partner and host of RiseUp Summit, the one-stop-shop event connecting startups in the Middle East and Africa.

In its seventh edition, RiseUp will host the region's top entrepreneurs, startups, investors, creative masterminds and Fortune 500 companies in a three-day entrepreneurial marathon. For the first time, RiseUp summit will also feature Arabic content, where various speakers from the region will present their own journey of growth on stage in Arabic.

This year’s theme is designed to build on past years’ summit content, focusing on the journey of growth as well as drawing the line between the past, present and future. The three-day summit will include talks, panels and chats; in-depth workshops and bootcamps; networking sessions with hundreds of investors; talent matchmaking events; and exclusive satellite events.

“We see value in accommodating such a major event like RiseUp Summit in our centennial year, in which we are expecting more than 8,000 participants coming from 50 to 60 different countries as well as many prominent speakers,” said Alaa Adris, associate provost for research, innovation and creativity at AUC. “We see our collaboration with RiseUp more of a sustainable relationship because we can see them as part of our innovation hub, our commercialization of technology efforts, and many other areas of interest and future plans.”

Through the summit, startups will have the opportunity to assess their current situation, and determine how they can progress steadily but confidently from their core to their vision, through strategy, execution, tips, and tricks.

“Having organized the summit for the past seven years, we were able to identify the challenges faced by startups in the region, which allowed us to develop a complete model that they can follow when venturing through the entrepreneurship ecosystem,” explained AbdelHameed Sharara, chief executive officer and co-founder of RiseUp. “After dissecting growth, we found that there is no fixed manual on how to grow; it is a personal and unique journey for each entrepreneur. So what we can offer to people is diverse [with] unlimited resources and opportunities, along with a roadmap that guides them through this journey. Being committed to our own growth strategy, we decided to move to AUC's New Cairo campus, allowing us to grow further in all aspects.”

The speaker line-up will feature many international figures in various fields, including Brian Collins, chief creative officer at COLLINS; Gerardo Mazzeo, global innovation director at Nestlé; Karen Cheng, head of social at 9GAG; Marcel Muenster, founder, and director of the Gritti Fund and Raya Abirached, TV presenter.

"AUC Venture Lab has always been an early believer in RiseUp Summit. This year, we are excited to have RiseUp at AUC New Cairo campus for the first time, bringing thousands of entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem players from Egypt, MENA and beyond. We're pleased to have a strong presence through our startups and to contribute to the Summit's program," said Ayman Ismail '95, '97,  Abdul Latif Jameel Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship; associate professor at School of Business and the founding director of the AUC Venture Lab. 

“We are exploring with RiseUp other collaboration opportunities like founding an academy for entrepreneurship, for instance, where students can come to learn and acquire basic skills for entrepreneurship. This is just the beginning,” affirmed Adris.

Click here to know how to get your tickets.

#AUCFutureMakers

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at AUC (J-PAL) is partnering with UNICEF Egypt to host the first Global Evidence for Egypt seminar titled “Overcoming Youth Unemployment in Egypt: What We Can Learn from Randomized Evaluations.”

The seminar is part of a four-part Global Evidence for Egypt Spotlight Series, bringing together Egyptian policymakers and leading J-PAL affiliated professors to discuss policy issues in the Egyptian context — including labor, education, health and social protection — tackling the issues a global research perspective and then offering evidence-informed solutions to address these issues in Egypt. Sunday's seminar will feature representatives from the Ministry of Manpower; Ministry of Youth; Hana Yoshimoto, education chief at UNICEF; and Bruno Crépon, affiliated professor at J-PAL. Check out the event here.

Most recently, J-PAL co-founders Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo were jointly awarded the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.” 

Banerjee and Duflo are also the co-founders of the MITs MicroMasters Program. AUC is the first University in the region to offer a blended degree, pairing with MIT to grant MITx MicroMasters online learners credits that would count toward the completion of a full master’s degree at AUC, offering a possible pathway to earning a full master’s degree from AUC in economics in international development. AUC is the first University in the world to collaborate with MIT in recognizing credits for this particular online program. Read more about the collaboration here. 

In September 2018, AUC established the J-PAL/AUC initiative under the auspices of the School of Business. Its mission is to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by rigorous evidence. This is achieved through conducting randomized evaluations with Egyptian partners, disseminating evidence to policymakers and capacity building for the purpose of evidence-informed decision making across different sectors, including education, finance and labor. The initiative also creates opportunities for faculty members from AUC, Egypt and the Middle East to collaborate with J-PAL affiliates on research projects.

"Our research and teaching collaboration through the MIT MicroMasters Program with J-PAL is one of the most promising and exciting recent developments at AUC," said Mona Said, associate professor in AUC's Department of Economics. "Establishing ourselves as a research and capacity-building hub in this area has great potential for our faculty, program visibility, student learning and graduate careers. Most important — and herein lies why the 2019 Nobel Prize awarded to J-PAL co-founders was entirely deserved — it is excellent evidence-based research that will lead to policies that improve the well-being of many people in Egypt and the world at large."

J-PAL was originally founded at MIT in 2003 and has now expanded to become a global research center around the world with regional centers in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. It is anchored by a network of 181 affiliated professors and 400 staff members at universities worldwide.

RiseUp Summit is coming to AUC New Cairo for the first time and is expected to attract 8,000-10,000 people, representing 60 countries. Startups and speakers from all around the world will be on campus from December 5 to 7 to conduct talks and workshops, and to inspire young entrepreneurs. Check out the RiseUp website to see how you can volunteer or get tickets. 
Stay tuned for more information on one of the biggest events of the year!

This fall, AUC welcomed the first cohort of students to its Master in International Management/CEMS (The Global Alliance in Management Education) — the only AUC program ranked by the Financial Times and The Economist. AUC is the only CEMS academic partner in Africa and the Middle East.

“CEMS is one of the best and the only graduate program in the history of AUC and the Egyptian and Middle Eastern education that enjoys a Financial Times ranking in the top 10 universities,” said Hakim Meshreki, visiting assistant professor of marketing and CEMS academic director.

With a vision to “comprise the world’s finest students”, students spend a full calendar year at the CEMS program. The first semester is spent at their home university, and the second semester abroad as an exchange program in one of the 31 schools and academic partners. The student can follow the opposite track whereby they can spend the first semester abroad and the second semester at their home university. The third semester is an eight-week semester of international internship outside their home university, where they are exposed to the international flavor of a global organization through an internship outside their home country — preferably in one the 68 CEMS corporate partners.

By the time they graduate, students should prove their mastery of three languages, approved by CEMS, including the English and Arabic languages. "You can’t be a global manager without being able to communicate in at least three languages or even more,” affirmed Meshreki.

“The unique global network and the perfect balance between academia and practical international experience are what made me enroll in the CEMS program,” said Julian Friedrich Sendlmeier, a German student enrolled in the program.

CEMS started back in 1988 by four European universities to form a Master in International Management that has the multicultural aspect of managing global firms. With more than 30 academic partners worldwide, CEMS has an edge in combining academic and practical approaches, graduating global managers in different countries worldwide. The program has 20 academic partners in Europe, two partners in North America, two partners in South America, six partners in Asia, and one in Africa and the Middle East: AUC.

CEMS also has over 70 corporate partners from all over the world including Henkel, Procter & Gamble, Bain & Company, DHL Consulting, Google, Facebook and Hyundai and many others from various industries.  

“I chose to enroll in the CEMS Master in International Management because it is not the typical master’s program where you would go by the book,” said Yara Koura, one of the CEMS students at AUC.

CEMS is a pre-experience program that neither requires years of experience nor GMAT score to join the program. "You just need to pass through the panel interview, which is one of the things we base our decision on apart from other basic University requirements like GPA,” explained Meshreki. “We base our selection criteria on different dimensions, including global mindset and openness to differences; resilience and competitiveness; and ethics and social responsibility.”

For more information about the program, click here.

Attend the Digital Education Campus Conversation on October 9 in Moataz Al Alfi Hall, AUC New Cairo to learn more about the innovative initiative. 

According to Forbes, the worldwide e-learning market is projected to be worth $325 Billion in 2025. In its second century, AUC will be more focusing on its potential to innovate via empowering learners through digital education as the first university to have a robust information technology infrastructure and a Center for Learning and Teaching infrastructure. The News@AUC team spoke with Hoda Mostafa, director of AUC's Center for Learning and Teaching about digitizing education at AUC.

Can you tell us more about the Digital Education at AUC?

Digital education, in the broad sense, is not new to AUC. We have always strived to lead the transformation of higher education through digital education and innovative pedagogies for many years. It started in the early 2000s, before we moved to AUC New Cairo, with the adoption of a learning management system across the University and the adoption of multiple instructional technologies across the board, whether it is web 2.0 or specific instructional technologies in the classroom, platforms that students use across the disciplines. We offer strong support through the Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT) around the active integration of technology into the classroom in what we call  “pedagogically sound” ways. In other words, we do not encourage the integration of technology for its own sake, but because it improves the educational and the learning experience for our students, and it is also a learning opportunity for our faculty.

What is the more recent Digital Education Initiative all about?

It is a University-wide initiative around digital education to include online, blended learning as part of our innovation pillar at AUC. Online and blended programs are being introduced to provide greater access to our extended education offerings within our programs and diplomas. This modality allows learners from anywhere around the globe to take our courses. For example, by offering courses fully online in Arabic, we are expanding our reach and appealing to the Middle East and North Africa region and other audiences. For undergraduates, we have started offering Arabic courses in a blended format this semester.

In 2013, President Anderson established a Task Force on Blended learning with the mandate, "To develop guidelines and best practices for an institutional implementation of blended learning at AUC and to assess AUC’s readiness for such an initiative”

In 2014, the AUC provost established a standing committee on Blended and Online instruction that was made to set or recommend policy and strategy at the University level for blended and online instruction.

It is only in the latest strategic plan of the University that blended and online learning became a specific strategic goal.

What are your biggest challenges?

Faculty require support to design and teach in an online or blended learning modality. We already have experience with faculty who have taught courses in a blended format, which means that part of the class time is replaced with an online experience so they are doing some things online and some things face-to-face, and the course is designed so that it flows naturally. Teaching online is not the same as teaching face to face. This is a challenge when introducing these new mindsets to the learning landscape at AUC. Students also need support to succeed as online learners.

How are you working to overcome those challenges?

We are working on training faculty on how to design blended-learning courses, whether they're degree or non-degree programs, so we are building up capacity for our faculty to become more familiar with designing courses. We are also training instructors to teach online because it is very different than teaching in the classroom.

It is important to understand that in any initiative like this, there is always slow incremental gradual change, changing the culture, and establishing strong roots and capacity building. Expecting faculty to teach online or even to teach with technology requires capacity building and professional development and that’s why we are very lucky that we have a CLT at the University that can support faculty to explore new ways of teaching with the support of an infrastructure that allows this; whether it is a technological infrastructure like a robust institutional learning management system or the support system of skilled instructional designers and instructional technologists at CLT, which is unique in the region.                

Who will benefit from this initiative?

The digital education would benefit the entire community of educators and learners and learners beyond AUC students.

In the few courses that have recently been launched, we have had over 900 students who took non-degree courses in the area of extended education.

How is it different from blended learning? And from what AUC currently offers online?  

Blended learning is part of the initiative, but the scope of the initiative now is to go fully online with a focus on the professional non-degree area, not just AUC students. Through the School of Continuing Education, we have just launched one diploma, “Foundations of Business Administration” as a pilot.    

The establishment of the digital education unit at the Center for Learning and Teaching is what makes it different. Now we have a unit and a whole team; an instructional technology team, instructional development, and video production and multimedia team. The teams are composed of nine exclusively dedicated members to support faculty in everything related to digital education, whether it is the traditional or not so traditional integration of technology into the classroom, video conferencing, the production of videos in our state-of-the-art studio or the design of blended and online courses with the full support of the instructional design and technology team.

Why is this an important initiative for AUC? 

We are the first university to have a robust information technology infrastructure and a Center for Learning and Teaching infrastructure.

I think it is important to think of a common purpose for higher education, and that is the transformative nature of higher education including the experiences that the students are exposed to, types of skills they learn, self-learning, interacting with people online and digital literacies. All of these things are implicit to learning in a blended or online environment. Additionally, online courses contribute to increasing AUC’s reach to people who can benefit from quality AUC courses.

But it is a slow process. That’s why we have a one, two and three-year plans, but the overarching of why it is important to AUC is because it affects everyone, technology is part of our lives, every single person should be able to teach himself new things even if learning how to cook or play the guitar through a YouTube video. We should embrace that we can offer high-quality online experiences that are equal to our face-to-face quality of education.

What are your short and long-term plans?

Our hope is to introduce some elements of a blended or online learning experience for our students and expand our reach. If you look at some of the statistics in the U.S, you'll find that over 30 percent of the students will have taken at least one online course in their undergraduate education by the time they graduate and this is increasing every year. There are multiple public and private universities that offer the same course in both versions; online and face-to-face and the students can choose.

The strategic mission of the University in the next two years is to focus on the non-degree professional certificates, diplomas and tracks through its different schools so any kind of professional offerings in extended education is a strategic kind of area for growth. This doesn’t mean we won’t be looking at opportunities in the post-graduate offerings at AUC as well.

How can people apply or learn more about it? 

Through CLT as mediators of the process. The schools and their programs are identifying the programs that have the potential to go online, they are doing market research and addressing their audience, building on their knowledge of their learners and program placement. It is a school-driven initiative according to the needs of their community of learners.  CLT serves as a service and support center and not necessarily a decision-making entity. We serve the schools with the purpose of bringing together all stakeholders; chairs, program directors, deans, faculty to the same kind of space.

How will the stakeholders benefit from the Digital Education Campus Conversation taking place on October 9?

On October 9, we are holding a communication event followed by an opportunity-seeking activity,  bringing together the stakeholders, asking common questions like where do you see the potential of online learning within your community of learners. The community of the School of Continuing Education is very different than the executive business community and the Kamal Adham Center for Television and Digital Journalism learners and we should respect the differences so that our products align with the market needs.

In this community campus conversation, stakeholders will hopefully meet to explore opportunities at CLT and leave with a better understanding of their needs and the transformative power of integrating digital education, whether online, blended or web-enhanced learning into their programs.

Last week, AUC hosted Women as Engines of Economic Growth in collaboration with the Arab International Women’s Forum (AIWF). Bringing together key representatives from different sectors, the full-day conference paved the road for in-depth discussions on the glass ceilings facing women and delivered recommendations on how to break such ceilings, empower women and challenge the status quo.

“This conference comes at a pivotal time for women on leadership roles and in public offices," said Haifa Fahoum Al Kaylani, AIWF founder and chair, in her keynote address. "women are increasingly taking on high-level leadership positions in business, public service, the judiciary and the legislature, advancing rapidly in professions previously dominated by men."

Throughout the day, four panels were held to examine critical development challenges and opportunities for Egyptian and Arab female leaders in business, entrepreneurship, academia and public service in Egypt and the broader Middle East and Africa region toward the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda on women and youth and their social and economic prosperity. Specifically, the conference ultimately conveyed actionable noteworthy recommendations for empowering women as engines of economic growth.

“To some degree or other, women everywhere face barriers to achieve their potential," asserted Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Administrative Reform Hala Elsaid. "Gender gaps and labor force participation range everywhere around the world. Striving for gender equality is a worthy cause in itself, but it is also the most sensible economic policy of the time."

 

The panel discussions drew key representatives from the Arab public and private sectors, international organizations and institutes, academia, civil society, women and young leaders together for timely discussions drawing on the panelists’ varied experiences and backgrounds. Themes covered included gender diversity on corporate boards and in family businesses, women in public office, women in academia, the role and contributions of women in the rural and informal sectors — concluding with reflections on the future of work for women and youth in the MENA region.

In addition, attendees felt the relevance of the topics wholeheartedly. "Women as engines of economic growth is really a powerful theme," said Mohamed Shelbaya '90, CEO of PepsiCo Egypt. "If some of you would notice, this is actually personal for me more than business-driven. My sister and I were raised by a single mother after my father passed away. She had to change and find a way to raise her children. She never let circumstances stop her. As far as I know, she challenged the status quo [and] was the first women to graduate from mechanical engineering in Cairo and get her master's and PhD from the United Kingdom. She broke the stigma about this male-dominant sector."

"In most Arab countries, women are also successfully assuming positions of leadership in public service and international relations, and are increasingly being elected and appointed to political, diplomatic and development roles, giving women a greater voice in legislative reform throughout the region," said Al Kaylani.

“It’s really inspiring when you come to attend such events,” expressed Sarah Raouf, senior legal manager of PepsiCo Egypt. “I’m a working mother, and seeing such female leaders makes me feel that it’s worth what I’m doing and worth the stress. It’s all very inspiring and heartfelt.”

By the same token, Wafa Abed, head of group internal audit, Bank of Beirut and the Arab Countries, reflected: “The event is extremely timely as far as the subjects examined; they are the topics of the hour. The panels addressed new issues, and this is very important on the ground because it’s not only about the [number] of women; it’s about their impact and what the general public enables them to do.”

"A lot of time we don’t evaluate men in our mindset, we evaluate women in leadership positions. Men and women have different values and they should be evaluated differently. They should be equally respected for their choices," affirmed Maya Morsy, president of the National Council for Women. "If family comes first, that does not by any means mean that work comes second, they come together. Mothers should be respected, so we want the private sector not to ask women whether they are engaged or single."

Dean of AUC's School of Business Sherif Kamel remarked: “If you want to focus on men, you’re only going to develop half of the society. You have to develop both men and women. I still think there’s more to be done in terms of wellness and in terms of opportunities.”

Al Kaylani concluded the conference by expressing her gratitude for AIWF's partnership with AUC: "We are delighted to be in Cairo, Egypt at one of the region’s best universities, The American University in Cairo ... celebrating a century of AUC’s leadership as Egypt’s global University and ... partnering with AUC on this important initiative."

Thirteen of AUC’s master’s programs have topped the 2019 Eduniversal Rankings, with six being ranked the first in Africa and all among the top 200 worldwide.

No. 1 in Africa

• Executive Master of Business Administration
• Master of Arts in Economics
• Master of Business Administration (Operations Management)
• Master of Global Affairs
• Master of Science in Finance
• Master of Science in Sustainable Development (Green Technologies)

No. 2  in Africa

• Master of Business Administration
• Master of Public Administration
• Master of Laws (LLM) in International and Comparative Law 
• Master of Science in Computer Science
• Master of Science in Electronics and Communications Engineering 

No. 3 in Africa 

• Master of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication 
• Master of Engineering in Electronics and Communications Engineering (Management of Technology) 

Each year, Eduniversal helps more than 4.2 million students all over the world in their search for the right graduate program.

Founded in 1994, Eduniversal uses three main criteria in its master’s rankings methodology: reputation of the program, salary of first employment post-graduation and a student satisfaction survey. Read here a full list and description of AUC's master's programs in the 2019 Eduniversal rankings. 

“I am very excited about this year’s results of rankings for a number of graduate programs at AUC, particularly about the number of AUC graduate programs ranked among the top three in Africa — increasing to 13 programs from 10 programs in the 2018 ranking. ,” said Adham Ramadan, dean of graduate studies at AUC. "These rankings reflect the quality of graduate studies at AUC and the success of our graduate programs in maintaining quality." #MakingAUCProud

AUC students Nour El Tahawy, Nour Beshir, Yousef Nassar, Mai El-Ghamry and Nadine Riad won the Omnicom Group MENA Inter-University Challenge with a $10,000 prize, competing with students from other international universities to solve a real data analytics science problem. They were the only team made up completely of undergraduates.

The contest was hosted by Omnicom Media Group, the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc., a global advertising and marketing communications company.

"They learned everything very fast, worked really hard and produced great results in very little time,' said Nouri Sakr, student adviser and assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. "I am one extremely proud mentor and wish them all the best in their future endeavors as they continue to represent AUC with such high proficiency and intellect."

The challenge involved students solving a real data science problem statement and building a model using sample datasets provided. During the first phase of the competition, teams from each university competed against each other, and in the second phase, the winning team from each university competed against each other in Dubai.

What the Students Have to Say

"When they announced that we were first-place winners, the happiness I felt was indescribable. It was truly the perfect ending to a story of hard work, dedication and perseverance."

— Nadine Riad, business administration 

"Winning this competition made me feel that this hard work for two months finally paid off, especially after realizing that we were competing with graduate students."

— Nour El Tahawy, actuarial science 

“It felt great to win the first prize; our hard work paid off. Yet, the greatest reward was what I became to be. The journey, indeed, developed my skills and personality."

— Mai El-Ghamry, actuarial science 

"Getting the chance to challenge myself and represent AUC in an international data science competition has been a pleasure and an honor on its own. Topping that with actually winning the competition against graduate students from other top universities is one of the main highlights of my undergraduate journey here at AUC, which I will forever cherish and remember."

— Nour Beshir, business administration and economics

Sherif Kamel '88, '90, '13, founding dean of AUC School of Business won by acclamation the position of President of the Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt (AmCham Egypt) for the 2019-2021 term, starting June first.  

Kamel will succeed Tarek Tawfik, whose term expires at the end of May. Kamel has been an AmCham member for many years and has previously served as executive vice president, board member and chaired several of the Chamber’s core committees including ICT, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and Education. 

Kamel started his career working for the government before moving to academia. Over the last 30-plus years, he has contributed to several government and private sector projects and initiatives addressing issues such as organizational transformation and restructuring, human capital, information technology, entrepreneurship, and change management.  

Kamel serves as a non-executive board member of a number of local and international organizations including the Egypt-US Business Council and has served on the board of the Egyptian American Enterprise Fund.  

Kamel holds a PhD in information systems from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Arts in Islamic art and architecture from AUC.

Earlier this month, 15 AUC theatre students traveled to Berlin to participate in the 19th Festival International New Drama (FIND) at the Schaubühne Theatre. Other participating universities included New York University, The New School and the Paris Conservatory, as well as universities in Germany and Belgium. 

During the trip, students got the opportunity to work with internationally renowned theatre-makers from Brussels, Beijing, Santiago, New York, London and Montreal and saw the world-premiere of theatre productions from around the world, including the Wooster Group's new production, Town Hall Affair, directed by Elizabeth LeCompte.

The festival seeks to create a global dialogue about the art form with the leading theatre-makers of tomorrow. The AUC Theatre program received a special invitation to this festival and was offered grants to cover most of the costs. 

Before the Trip

The students were excited about the opportunity to meet and work with other students and theatre majors from around the world. "We're collaborating with other students from different universities, so we'll get to see people from different backgrounds and different cultures, but at the same time we have an interest in the same thing," explained Reem Amer, theatre major. 

"Its a very interesting concept and a very exciting opportunity!" expressed Laila Ghoneim, a double major in theatre and English and comparative literature major. "We'll have the opportunity to work with people from other universities."

"It's really good for AUC students to get exposed to this and to try different methods of acting," said Hisham AbdelRazek, mechanical engineering major and theater minor. "Just to be around so many different cultures and people interested in the same thing — it's brilliant!"

A Holistic Experience

During the 10-day festival, AUC students took part in guided workshops on performance, cultivating their acting skills during the trip. The workshops included contemporary dance, the Meisner technique and the Grotowski technique.

"The whole thing was a learning experience, from the workshops to the plays," said Yasmine Hagagg, political science and history major, and theatre minor. "But my favorite part was getting to watch productions every night because it really showed me what contemporary and experimental drama is starting to develop into. Also, I got to meet Elizabeth LeCompte, which was pretty cool!"

Every day, students got the opportunity to see a play in a different language."The plays touched on a lot of controversial topics, and it was very interesting to see and to watch," expressed AbdelRazek. "We'd have a discussion afterward because there would be a talk after each play."

The students also got the opportunity to meet and hang out with their theatre peers from around the world. "We would always eat lunch together — us and the other schools," explained Amer. "And at night, we got the opportunity to watch plays and hang out with other people there at the theatre."

Overall, the students were grateful for the experience. "I think the festival was incredible and I think everyone who went grew," reflected AbdelRazek. "It's really inspiring for us that we're not alone, that there is more of us here. It makes you feel comfortable as a person that you're on the right track with what you've studied."

Check out these pictures of their adventures abroad.