It is not typical to spend an entire year abroad during college, let alone two. However, all of my time abroad is serving a very specific purpose: this is preliminary research for my senior thesis. The program I am a part of at NYU, Global Liberal Studies, focuses on a senior-year thesis that mimics a master's thesis. This paper is anywhere from 50 to 120 pages long, and the research is both primary and secondary. After spending my first year in London (as well as this past summer) I became interested in the refugee crisis across the U.K. Many refugees reach the U.K. by small boats they’ve taken across the English Channel from Northern France. This is the broad topic my thesis is going to look at. The specifics of my research have not yet been fully developed, but I hope to include a few key themes based on my research and work with refugees in both countries. My research will hopefully evaluate the reasons why refugees choose to cross the English Channel in inflatable rafts, often risking their lives as well as examine the rights these individuals have, given that they are not citizens either in France or in the U.K. One specific region has stood out to me in my preliminary research: tjis is Calais.
