Holiday Availability: All IES Abroad offices will be closed on Dec 24, Dec 25, Dec 31, and Jan 1 as we take some time to celebrate. During the weeks of 12/22 and 12/29, our team will be smaller, so responses may take longer than usual. Thanks for your understanding—and happy holidays!
During my time in Morocco, I wanted to feel at home in Rabat. Part of studying abroad is exploring new cities and traveling to nearby countries. I did want to do weekend trips (and I did a few!). But I promised myself I’d stay in Rabat for the first weekend to explore and find my own space in the city. I am so glad that I did because it made my time in Rabat feel more like home.
I left Spain over a month ago. The day after I decided to leave, IES Abroad announced that all of the students in their European programs had to go back to the United States. At first, I was very sad to be going. Now, I have found a “new normal” at home in California. I am still so bummed that we had to leave early, but it is easier now that I am having fun being with my family and my dog.
As a representative of my university’s Office of Education Abroad, and now as a Blog Correspondent for IES Abroad, I spend a lot of time talking about my experiences studying abroad.
“When I was abroad…”
“*Insert city of your choosing* is my favorite place on earth.”
“I met friends for life!”
“Classes were so easy!”
“I got to travel, like, every weekend!”
“One word: food.”
And everyone’s all-time favorite…
Like many students before me, when I decided to spend a semester studying abroad, I set a number of goals and intentions prior to my take-off. I actually documented some of those goals in one of my very first blogs—right here on this platform. Here are a couple of the highlights:
“Seek Adventurous Ways to Learn
Everybody loves a good market, and let me tell you, Cape Town is full of them! For everything from local restaurants, artisan trinkets and keepsakes, vintage and locally designed clothing, and more, the stalls of Cape Town markets are the place to go.
Take a look at this list of Cape Town market highlights for the fulfillment of all of your market-related cravings, which includes the details of their opening days of the week and hours as well!
Saturday mornings
I knew my time studying abroad was going to go by fast, but no one told me it was going to go by this fast!
In all honesty, I really am grateful though to have been in Rome, studying and exploring the city and the country even if just for a short time. There are a lot of good memories I have from my time there, but I am sure I will have to return soon for some new memories.
I remember the first time the coronavirus was brought to my attention. I was sitting at the dinner table with my host family. It was around 8:30 and we had just finished dinner. We always had the TV on at dinner because my host mom liked to watch a show that I would call the Spanish version of jeopardy. It came on at nine every weeknight. Because we had a half-hour until the show, Montse put the news on. In an exaggeratedly animated tone, she began to exclaim something in Spanish while pointing at the TV.
As everyone is more than aware, the whole world is on lockdown right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Restaurants are closed, social gatherings canceled, and study abroad students sent home. One of my parents’ favorite new stories to tell to their friends and coworkers over zoom is how exactly that last part happened because getting home from studying abroad was anything but easy. Now that I’ve been home for a few weeks and the initial shock has worn off, I have to agree, it’s pretty crazy - so without further ado, here’s my story.
Just kidding I’m back because we can still write blog posts and I didn’t realize that. Anyway.
I’m sure you’re wondering what I actually did over in Auckland, since I was only able to write one post while I was there and it was about a weekend trip. Well, the wait is over, because I will now divulge the juicy details of my day-to-day life while I was abroad.
A little more than a month after returning from France, I’ve had some time to reflect on my experiences in Europe and how they’ve affected me. Overall, my time abroad was an overwhelmingly positive venture; I had the opportunity not only to explore new places and new cultures, but also to grow as a person and become even more independent than I had been at my home college.