Last week, my parents came to visit me in Milan. They visited Rome and the Amalfi Coast for a bit and made their way up to Milan as their last pit stop of their trip. I’ve been looking forward to their visit for a while now—it kind of became an important landmark in my abroad experience. Studying abroad can be really overwhelming and, as I’ve mentioned before, it’s incredibly easy to let four months scare you; so, finding landmark events like your parents visiting really helps to break up the time and gain a better perspective.

Most of the time here in Paris, my weekend consists of a day of focusing on my schoolwork and then lots of fun activities throughout the rest of the weekend. I personally don’t like to have to be working on class things during the week if I can help it just so that I have plenty of time to relax and do other things in the evening (like go out for dinner or check out a museum randomly).

Prior to living in Nice, I loved going to the gym and having a consistent workout routine. I'm a certified personal trainer, so fitness is integrated into my lifestyle. Even if I wasn't working out myself, I was always in the gym training a client of mine.  Acclimating to French culture was a difficult adjustment for me.

My time in Nice so far has been nothing short of incredible. After coming back from my spring break travels to Northern Europe, I finally felt like I truly live here. I can navigate without using Google Maps, and I picked out my go-to cafés and study spots. My biggest challenge to date, however, is my French proficiency. I’ve taken French courses for about 5 years now, and I’m still not at the level I’d like to be. 

Before I left to study abroad, and during the first couple months of being here, I would confidently tell everyone that I wasn’t going to be homesick. I was convinced that the excitement of it all and the chance to live in a new city across the world would cancel out any feelings of sadness, stress, or thoughts about my life back home in Pennsylvania. I have also admittedly spent a lot of time throughout high school and college wishing I could move somewhere else.

We all know it—one of the best parts about exploring a new country is trying delicious food that you can’t get anywhere else! If you’re a foodie, Buenos Aires is definitely the place for you. Everywhere you look there are restaurants, bakeries, steakhouses, and cafes, all with mouth-watering desserts in their windows and breathtaking posters of the day’s special at their doorways. How can you possibly choose? 

I think that it’s fair to say that for anyone travelling over the past couple of years, the COVID-19 virus has been a huge additional stressor that worsens the stress of preparing for the study abroad experience. Not only is there the additional health anxiety over what could happen if you catch the illness, but there’s also the element of how to finance medication if you get sick abroad, and a whole lot more paperwork to fill out and protocols to follow when arriving/living in a foreign country.

Over the past few months, I have been able to explore Dublin and all that it has to offer. With that, I have found plenty of new places that I have fallen in love with:

Park: Iveagh Gardens