Before I headed to Vienna to start my music study abroad program, I was lucky enough to travel with my family to the beautiful cities of Munich, Germany, and Salzburg, Austria. As these were my first times being in Germany and Austria, I excitedly took in the sights and captured many of the beautiful and historical monuments in Munich, Füssen, and Salzburg. I left the U.S. on Thursday, May 19th, and arrived eight hours later in Munich, ready for a nap even though it was 6 a.m.

I know most people don’t exactly think of the study part of study abroad first and foremost. But, one of the more enlightening experiences that I had this semester happened as a product of my twenty-four student seminar titled “Introduction to Gender and Sexuality Studies.” Admittedly, as a social and economic justice minor, I arrogantly thought to myself “I’ve taken tons of intro gender and sexuality courses, how different could this really be?

First things first, let’s get one thing straight: I am not a backpacker. In fact, I don’t even consider myself a “hiker”. I much prefer walking the streets of the world’s most famous urban jungles to fighting my way through the stuffy underbrush of an actual jungle. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the world’s natural beauty just as much as the next traveler, but I’d rather do it knowing I have a cozy hostel to go back to and restaurants nearby. 

As a child, nothing was more thrilling to me than braving the Indiana elements to make the ten-minute trek down the road to spend the night at my grandparents’ house. It didn’t often happen, but it was worth the wait. Walking in their house was what I imagined walking into heaven must be like: love and light greet you at the door.

I’m afraid I couldn’t resist the title; for those of you who don’t recognize the (paraphrased) opening line to “The Rocky Road to Dublin,” I recommend the song as an excellent one to start you down the delightful rabbit hole from which has grown my love of Irish music. Since a brief visit to Ireland in 2014, I have learned loads of songs (and the instruments to play them), and I have been itching to get back ever since. Here’s hoping my upcoming travel gets me to Dublin by something of a less rocky road.

Oh boy! In just a little less than 72 hours, I’ll be outside the United States for the first time ever. Tomorrow I’ll board my first plane to Boston, and then I’ll be off to Dublin, Ireland for two whole months. The road to preparing for this trip has been complex… to say the least.

In my experience, there’s a lot of pressure that comes with remembering your semester abroad. Whether it be collecting memorabilia, taking pictures and videos, or finding new creative ways to document your experience, students have various strategies they use to capture these special few months. Since studying abroad was something I looked forward to for such a long time, I wanted to make sure I could look back and remember exactly what I was feeling and seeing at the time.

4 months in, a new phase of my time in Berlin has begun. Eight people, including myself, are staying through the end of July to take a class at Humboldt Universität, one of the local universities. I'm taking German as a second language at the B2 level, which is nice because most people in the class can converse decently in German. Sometimes it can feel like playing a game when speaking a foreign language with other Americans.

Half way through the semester I was asked: Tell us 3 things that are on your study abroad bucket list. To this question I replied: Honestly, I’ve ticked most of my study abroad bucket list items. The top of my current list is to visit Portugal. After asking some of my most well-traveled friends what the must see country is, Portugal was the resounding answer. I’m spending a few days there this month and I’m so looking forward to it.

Hello from the other side of my semester abroad! Before I departed, and then again half-way through the semester, I did a self-reflection with the promise that I would do it once more when my time in Salamanca came to an end. Four months later, it’s time!