At around 10 PM on a Thursday, I get a call from two of my friends telling me to put on a comfy outfit cause we’re biking to a bar. My mind automatically said no because I had a lot of work to do, but my heart said, “When have you ever biked to a bar and 10 PM on a Thursday before? Just live a little tonight.” And so I did. Oh and not to mention that I have a complete irrational fear of bikes, and I’m studying abroad for a whole semester in Amsterdam, a city known to have more bikes than people.

London, my new home. I am officially a month into my time in London and all I can say is that I am loving every second of being here. Even though I have only been here for a month, there are surprisingly not as many culture shocks as I thought there would be moving out of the country. 

Perhaps that is one of the biggest culture shocks so far: how comfortable I feel here in London thus far. 

I won’t lie, before moving to London, I did not know what to expect as far as food goes. Many people told me that the food in England was not great, and was pretty bland. I had dabbled in some fish and chips, but as far as traditional British food, that was pretty much it. I was definitely nervous, as I am a HUGE foodie. I love trying new things, eating foods from different cultures, not to mention, I’m pescetarian, so meat was off the table for my London cuisine.

Hola a todos! It’s been over a month now in Madrid so now that everyone is getting settled into the lifestyle it seems like the honeymoon period is ending for some, and more and more people are finding themselves overwhelmed with work, homesickness, or feeling down in general. Personally, being a senior looking into graduate school, this fall semester for me is all about applying to programs and setting myself up for the next chapter of my life.

Before I decided to go abroad and I was doing my research, I was super interested in the day to day life of a student in Granada. Also, the number one thing that my friends from home keep asking me about is my daily life. So, friends, future study abroad students who are curious, here you go: a (realistic) day in my life!

Eating to live or living to eat? The difference can get blurred in today’s time of foodies and social media.

I look around me and smile, really trying to take everything in. My mind can’t work fast enough to process the beauty around me and I feel as if when I blink it’ll all fade away and I’ll wake up back in my bed in Indiana. 

The uneven layers of rocks grind under my feet, the white foam of the ocean bubbles around my ankles, the remnants of the coarse white salt stuck on my lashes.

I have a confession to make. 

Around my fourth weekend in Dublin, I had begun to feel as if I wasn’t getting a taste of ‘real’ Ireland. My best idea was to leave behind Dublin's midnight fireworks (every. single. night.), prepubescent bike gangs (I wish I was kidding), and double-decker dances (these buses do NOT care if you are jaywalking), by getting out of the city for the day. Lucky for me, friends were visiting, and so I had an excuse to run for the hills. I knew just how I'd manage that, too.

So many factors go into picking where to study abroad. Of course, it is important to think about the classes you want to take, the country you want to be in, and the language you want to immerse yourself in. But for me, another equally important factor concerned the food that I would be eating. I love good food, and when I decided to study abroad in Spain, I envisioned myself feasting on delicious tapas and bocadillos, all while sipping refreshing sangria.

Oh Paris! The city of love… I'm pretty sure we have all seen the typical cliché movie of a couple falling in love in the middle of a street in Paris. Aaaah, how romantic. However, now that I'm actually in Paris, let's talk about the reality of dating here. I have to start by saying that I'm currently single, although I have to admit that it was a choice that was highly influenced by studying abroad.