{"id":29282,"date":"2026-08-07T13:28:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T04:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/?p=29282"},"modified":"2026-08-07T13:28:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T04:28:27","slug":"sij-talks-lessons-learned-in-my-hometown-at-harvard-and-in-cambridge-by-bolu-harvard25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282","title":{"rendered":"SIJ Talks: Lessons Learned in My Hometown, at Harvard, and in Cambridge (by Bolu – Harvard’25)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During my cultural exchange, I started out by sharing a Nigerian dance that was inspired by traditional dances done in the past during important ceremonies. I shared stories from my upbringing, such as my experiences growing up in Oklahoma and Minnesota, and my time in Nigeria when I attended school there for a short period. I then discussed my high school years, and how those years set up a foundation for me to pursue my passions in college, such as community service and research. Then, I talked about my time at Harvard and how it shaped the trajectory for my future, providing me with knowledge about different fields that I can combine to solve challenging problems. Finally, I talked about my experiences pursuing a Master\u2019s at Cambridge and how it was like going abroad and being an international student. It was great seeing how engaged the students were, from showing their appreciation for the Nigerian dance to asking questions about my life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During my cultural exchange, I started out by sharing a Nigerian dance that was inspired by traditional dances […]<\/p>\n

Read More… from SIJ Talks: Lessons Learned in My Hometown, at Harvard, and in Cambridge (by Bolu – Harvard’25)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":29283,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/?p=29282","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","en-US"],"yoast_head":"\nSIJ Talks: Lessons Learned in My Hometown, at Harvard, and in Cambridge (by Bolu - Harvard'25) - Summer in JAPAN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SIJ Talks: Lessons Learned in My Hometown, at Harvard, and in Cambridge (by Bolu - Harvard'25) - Summer in JAPAN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During my cultural exchange, I started out by sharing a Nigerian dance that was inspired by traditional dances [...]Read More... from SIJ Talks: Lessons Learned in My Hometown, at Harvard, and in Cambridge (by Bolu – Harvard’25)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Summer in JAPAN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T04:28:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T04:28:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Clean-White-Wall-Background-Edit-1-1024x768.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Summer in JAPAN\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Summer in JAPAN\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29282#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29282\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Summer in JAPAN\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fec346b590b9423aa841354e41259ef5\"},\"headline\":\"SIJ Talks: Lessons Learned in My Hometown, at Harvard, and in Cambridge (by Bolu – Harvard’25)\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-07T04:28:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-07T04:28:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29282\"},\"wordCount\":179,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29282#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Clean-White-Wall-Background-Edit-1-scaled.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"\u304a\u77e5\u3089\u305b\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29282\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29282\",\"name\":\"SIJ Talks: Lessons Learned in My Hometown, at Harvard, and in Cambridge (by Bolu - Harvard'25) - Summer in JAPAN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29282#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29282#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Clean-White-Wall-Background-Edit-1-scaled.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-07T04:28:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-07T04:28:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fec346b590b9423aa841354e41259ef5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29282#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29282\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29282#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Clean-White-Wall-Background-Edit-1-scaled.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Clean-White-Wall-Background-Edit-1-scaled.png\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/29282#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SIJ Talks: Lessons Learned in My Hometown, at Harvard, and in Cambridge (by Bolu – Harvard’25)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Summer in JAPAN\",\"description\":\"\u30cf\u30fc\u30d0\u30fc\u30c9\u751f\u3068\u5b66\u3076\u82f1\u8a9e\u30b5\u30de\u30fc\u30b9\u30af\u30fc\u30eb\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fec346b590b9423aa841354e41259ef5\",\"name\":\"Summer in JAPAN\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7f1389fde341706d51d837f5f68b16d98cbe47379204e2df9d5d37512521231d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7f1389fde341706d51d837f5f68b16d98cbe47379204e2df9d5d37512521231d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7f1389fde341706d51d837f5f68b16d98cbe47379204e2df9d5d37512521231d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Summer in JAPAN\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/summerinjapan.com\\\/archives\\\/author\\\/sijuser\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SIJ Talks: Lessons Learned in My Hometown, at Harvard, and in Cambridge (by Bolu - Harvard'25) - Summer in JAPAN","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SIJ Talks: Lessons Learned in My Hometown, at Harvard, and in Cambridge (by Bolu - Harvard'25) - Summer in JAPAN","og_description":"During my cultural exchange, I started out by sharing a Nigerian dance that was inspired by traditional dances [...]Read More... from SIJ Talks: Lessons Learned in My Hometown, at Harvard, and in Cambridge (by Bolu – Harvard’25)","og_url":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282","og_site_name":"Summer in JAPAN","article_published_time":"2026-08-07T04:28:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-07T04:28:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Clean-White-Wall-Background-Edit-1-1024x768.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Summer in JAPAN","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Summer in JAPAN","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282"},"author":{"name":"Summer in JAPAN","@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fec346b590b9423aa841354e41259ef5"},"headline":"SIJ Talks: Lessons Learned in My Hometown, at Harvard, and in Cambridge (by Bolu – Harvard’25)","datePublished":"2026-08-07T04:28:26+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-07T04:28:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282"},"wordCount":179,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Clean-White-Wall-Background-Edit-1-scaled.png","articleSection":["\u304a\u77e5\u3089\u305b"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282","url":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282","name":"SIJ Talks: Lessons Learned in My Hometown, at Harvard, and in Cambridge (by Bolu - Harvard'25) - Summer in JAPAN","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Clean-White-Wall-Background-Edit-1-scaled.png","datePublished":"2026-08-07T04:28:26+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-07T04:28:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fec346b590b9423aa841354e41259ef5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Clean-White-Wall-Background-Edit-1-scaled.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Clean-White-Wall-Background-Edit-1-scaled.png","width":2560,"height":1920},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/archives\/29282#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SIJ Talks: Lessons Learned in My Hometown, at Harvard, and in Cambridge (by Bolu – Harvard’25)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/","name":"Summer in JAPAN","description":"\u30cf\u30fc\u30d0\u30fc\u30c9\u751f\u3068\u5b66\u3076\u82f1\u8a9e\u30b5\u30de\u30fc\u30b9\u30af\u30fc\u30eb","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fec346b590b9423aa841354e41259ef5","name":"Summer in JAPAN","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7f1389fde341706d51d837f5f68b16d98cbe47379204e2df9d5d37512521231d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7f1389fde341706d51d837f5f68b16d98cbe47379204e2df9d5d37512521231d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7f1389fde341706d51d837f5f68b16d98cbe47379204e2df9d5d37512521231d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Summer in JAPAN"},"url":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/archives\/author\/sijuser"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29286,"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29282\/revisions\/29286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/summerinjapan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}