The other night, I was sitting bored in my room when I decided to watch Roman Holiday. I’d been hearing the name a lot since I’d been here, so I decided it was necessary for me to watch a movie set in the place I’m living in this semester. After watching the movie, I started to wonder how my study abroad experience would have been different if I came during the 1950s when the movie was released. The most significant difference, as anyone could guess, would be technology.

While there are a multitude of amazing sights to see within Rome, few venture outside of the city to some of the more underrated spots. A train from Rome's central station, Termini, will take you 45 minutes away to Castel Gandolfo. This town sits on the edge of a volcanic lake and it is most famous for being the home of the Pope's summer residence.

I tell my friends I don't want to talk about it, but the sentiment is inescapable: It's midterm break and our study abroad experience is halfway over.

Ten minutes to go. It’s both quiet and overwhelmingly loud, the waves ferociously crashing onto our beach. One of my friends has brought a large blanket, and our group of ten is sitting on it together. My legs are off the blanket, my feet digging into the sand. It’s been a long day, full of absolutely nothing. We’ve spent the weekend together at the beach, but we leave tomorrow, and so we’re spending every last moment on the sand as we possibly can, watching as the sun sets.

In this eagerly-awaited edition of Grace’s Blog, I will be posting some photos from my semester so far. I can't believe I've already been here a month! One of my favorite things to do is turn an unfamiliar place into a new home. Thanks to my host family and friends, I’ve done it here in Granada. I have favorite places to eat, favorite trails to run on, and favorite people to see. I never imagined I would feel so comfortable so soon.

A few days back, my Socio-Ecosystem Development class took our first field trip here on the Galapagos: a day out on a new tour boat, exploring the interplay between eco-tourism, conservation and social justice in this unbelievable place. 

Here is what I wrote in response.

Hi everyone! As I mentioned in my last blog, I am the world’s best procrastinator. So, when I looked at the calendar and it was almost March, the stress hit. I have been in Christchurch for just about two weeks now and it feels like I have been here forever. Let me take you through my journey so far because it has been a TIME. Leaving was really hard, like, realllyyyy hard.

I’ve reached the point in the Semester Study Abroad Graph where I begin to reach a plateau. For me, this plateau signifies the end of orientation, the end of having to use my Maps app every time I revisit a place, the beginning of real class work; all things that, for me, were included in the steady incline on my Graph, and now that they’re leveling out, show me I’ve become relatively accustomed to living life in Paris.

The past few weeks I’ve experienced the frustrating conflict between exploring many different places that I’d like to write about but being unable to write about them because I’m too busy exploring them. Between classes, two IES Abroad directed weekend trips, and one independent trip, I’ve only been able to really catch my breath (to a certain extent) this past weekend.

I have now been in Berlin for two weeks. My orientations have ended, and I am in the middle of my German intensive courses. The reality of living in Berlin is starting to set in.