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Future-Focused Friday: A Few Things That Inspired Us This Week

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Hey!
How’s it going? Hope this week has been good to you and full of all the sweatpants and Zoom hangouts your heart desires!
Fridays are now all about sharing the things that brought us joy throughout the week—like refinding the photo above that a student took in Amsterdam, which felt like a perfect way to celebrate Earth Week. What we wouldn't give to be chilling in a field of Dutch tulips right now. It's things like this that make us extra excited for the day you can travel the world again. We call it a Future-Focused Friday, because TBH, we just love a little alliteration
This week, some of the joy-inducing highlights our Keep Calm & Color On coloring pages and uncovering that 76% of our Instagram followers said they prefer the window seat to aisle seat in last week’s poll—I guess you guys like a view! Speaking of, do you have an opinion on what makes a cozy WFH space? Let's share tips.
Check out a few more of our favorites from this week as you focus on your future this Friday. Let’s make it bright together!"
A Whole Day in New Zealand in 90 Seconds
Tessa Vande Creek (University of Rochester | IES Abroad Christchurch) directed this short film for our Film Festival, and says it best herself, "...don't blink."
Watch Our Milan Students Sing Their Hearts Out (From Home)
We loved Andrea Bocelli's concert from the Duomo di Milano and were left wanting more! These quick opera snippets from our Milan Music Program students' final performance delivered.
Seeing Our Alums Pay It Forward
Omar Nedzelsky, who studied abroad with us in Tokyo two summers ago, just won a Diversity Abroad Student Leadership Award for his dedication to help his peers study abroad. Omar helped six other University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley students raise $2,500 each (!!) to study abroad. The desire to experience the world is infectious people!!
Checking In With the #IESabroad Instagram Feed
Here's to a weekend that keeps your inspiration in bloom! Try watching a movie filmed in a place you'd like to visit or start a playlist of international tunes that make you boogie. However you roll, keep chasing your dreams.
"People waste a lot less in Spain. For example, my host mom encouraged us to finish our plates of food when we ate, used dishtowels instead of paper towels, and reused glass bottles. Watching her made me think about my actions and how I am often oblivious to my overuse of non-reusable items. I try to make changes in my life when I notice this so I don't contribute to the stereotype of Americans being wasteful."