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All of the water in Quito comes from the mountain.

I’ve officially been in Dublin for two weeks, and it’s been a blur of exploring, meeting new friends, and trying lots of good food!! We spent the mornings of our first week in orientation on Zoom, then we’d go out in the afternoon to walk around our area and get things in order for our four months here. I got an Irish SIM card, bought a Leap card (to pay for public transportation), and figured out how to use the tram.

Getting to France was a process to say the least. Currently, France is requiring a negative COVID test taken 24-48 hours before departure. I tried to be prepared, so I booked a rapid antigen test for around 24 hours before my flight; what I didn’t expect was a snowstorm would hit my hometown and prevent the staff from being able to make it to the testing facility. While I was able to reschedule the test, the results wouldn’t make it on time. All of this meant my family had to pay for the rapid COVID test that the Newark Airport offers.

4 Castles in 2 days?? Yeah, I'm pretty lucky to say the least. In this video, I share some of the beautiful sights from the four catles we visited on our first weekend excursion with IES Abroad! In order, we visited: Château d'Amboise, Château Royal de Blois, Château de Chambord, et Château de Chenonceau.

I’ve waited on purpose until the end of January to write this final blog post. It’s been five weeks since I left Nantes, France…that’s five weeks since the best semester of my life! 

This blog post is simultaneously a culture, language, and religious commentary and comedy. Let’s just say that I’m definitely going to Catholic hell after what happened during my first mass. This story starts with a conversation I’d had with my host parents so, let’s flashback to the weekend before… 

As I’m preparing for my flight tomorrow morning, I double-check my packing list then check my carry-on and check bag, which weighs 45 lbs! The weight limit is 50 lbs, so I barely meet the limit. I keep reading through emails from my airline and IES Abroad to ensure I can enter Spain without any issue. All I have to do is wait for my covid test, then I am set! Even during covid, Spain is fairly easy to enter, which is good for me!

Sitting here on my couch in my apartment in Manhattan, New York the night before my trip to beloved Barcelona, I am forced to contemplate all that I have faced to get to this point, and all that lies ahead. 

My fears:

Today marks one whole week in Dublin. This week has been full of exploring, meeting new people, and learning all about a new culture. Coming to a different country, I of course was expecting cultural differences in many different aspects. I have been able to travel around Europe a bit in the past which made me think I would adjust with absolutely no problems. While in some regards, this did make things easier, there are also many things I have to learn while I’m here. So, here is what I have learned after one week in Dublin:

Well, my study abroad journey has finally come to an end…and WOW am I sad. But also like, WOW was it amazing! Something had to be pretty great for me to now miss it so much, right? It's like they say, everything good must end.

What better way to tie up my experience with one last blog post? And in this one, I want to focus on reflecting on my time abroad and more specifically, the culture shock that came with it! And then even the reverse culture shock that I've experienced since being back in the U.S! 

So here goes nothing: