In the span of a few hours, I have watched the end of my study abroad experience approach far more rapidly than I ever could have predicted. I don't have the words right now to explain the pain or the devastation I'm feeling, but I wrote a poem a week ago — when I was on the beautiful, unforgettable Writers' Retreat, blissfully ignorant that any of this would be happening — that I'd like to share for the occassion. I am leaving Ireland in a matter of days, but here is a poem about staying.

The weekend after I visited London, almost all the students in my program embarked on an IES Abroad led weekend trip to Normandy. We started in the town of Bayeux, which apparently was the first town to be liberated by the Allies after D-Day (I recently found out that the “D” just stands for Day, making the name of such an important event sound kind of comical when you eliminate the abbreviation). Bayeux is also the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which dates back to the 11th century and is about 68 meters (!) long.

I’m writing this blog post after an acutely difficult few days. As you may or may not know, the number of COVID-19 cases spiked in Madrid over the weekend. This resulted in the government announcing on Monday that it would suspend any in-person activity of all educational institutions in Madrid for 2 weeks. While this gave me pause, I tried to remain calm and continue hoping for the best.

When you are preparing for a semester abroad, the abroad veterans that you ask for advice always have the best things to say about their experience.

“The happiest I’ve ever been!”

“Everyday is better than the last!”

“The best semester of my life!”

The hidden truth that people often forget to share is that it's not always like that. You’re not always happy. And it doesn’t always feel like the best semester of your life. 

And that is absolutely okay.

I’ve now been living in New Zealand for a little over a month, and probably like many other abroad students, I’m starting to hit the point where the reality of life sets in. The honeymoon phase of a brand-new place and people is starting to wear off and I’m realizing that life moves with you when you move to a new place. It’s weird to think that I do live here and will for the next few months, and I’m not just on a long vacation across the world.

At the end of February, I went on the IES Abroad Rabat field trip to the Atlas mountains. This trip was one of the highlights of my time in Morocco. When we left for the trip, I knew very little about the Atlas mountains or the trip itself. I was practicing going with the flow. I didn’t obsessively Google everything about the trip like I normally would. I just decided to show up and experience the trip.

Recently, a group of professors and advisors in study abroad departments from various universities in the United States came to visit Quito. They were here to see what our program is really like, so they can advise students better in the future, and they were able to sit in on classes, take a tour, and eat dinner with some of us at our homes here.

When you get to Spain, you'll notice a few things are just different. I know I did. None of these things are good or bad necessarily, just things that an American in Spain has to get used to.

Second week in Milan and I have been eating too good here! I've been able to explore all types of pasta and pasta sauces that I've never had before. For lunch one day, my friend Pauline and I stopped by Pasto by the Duomo. It was a small family-owned restaurant that had the friendliest workers. The pasta choices are limited and vary day to day, based on what is made. I was absolutely in love with the pasta I got which was made out of pecorino romano.