Dear Dublin,

How are you? It’s been too long! Just over a month, that is, and I miss you already. I’m back in Fort Worth now, and I just wrapped up my first week back at TCU. Although I was excited to settle back into the familiarity of TCU and reunite with those I missed while I was gone, the transition has been even more difficult than I thought it would be. Why did you have to make it so hard to leave?!

Like most students that go abroad, it began with excitement. I finally get to explore, to live my life in the city of music. It is my first step in the world of independence. With the excitement, comes a bit of sadness and culture shock, which I never thought I would EVER endure. Throughout my first few days, I have learned a lot about myself as a student and a human being living in a big city of 1.8 million people. Like my first post: it has been "Bittersweet".

It’s been a bit more than a week since I arrived in France, and I have so much to talk about I barely know where to begin. Thanks to staying awake for over 27 hours and then crashing for more than twelve, I managed to exchange jetlag for temporary extreme exhaustion; this, of course, wasn’t exactly ideal for navigating literal planes, trains, and automobiles in a country I’ve never visited before, but I managed to arrive in Nantes only slightly worse for wear. 

Last Wednesday I moved into my Viennese apartment. It's located in the fifth district, which for those of you who aren't familiar, Vienna is divided into twenty-three districts. Most of the tourist destinations are in the first district. Some districts are tiny, such as the fifth district, which is only about 0.78 sq mi. Others are quite large. The twenty-second district is about 40 sq mi.

It’s truly amazing to see how quickly you can adapt to something. But it’s surely not a thing that comes easily, which I am learning very quickly as I finish out the month of January in Paris. There are several things that have required a lot of learning and concentration that I have already encountered in my time thus far. Sometimes those learning curves come with a bit of frustration, and other times they come with a feeling of reward and self-assurance. 

The wait is over and I’ve finally begun my semester abroad in Paris. The first week has flown by faster than I could have imagined with some interesting additions (both expected and unexpected).

When you’re spending months at a time in a new country, it would be ridiculous not to travel. When I pictured studying abroad a few months ago, I imagined jetting off to a new country every weekend. I pictured spending Valentine’s Day in Paris, relaxing in Rome during midwinter break, and taking the trip to London that I’ve been dreaming of since I was little. Being in Dublin for two weeks, however, has helped to shift my perspective. I want to see as much as possible, but not just of Europe. Of Ireland.

A week ago today, I found myself in France for the first time in my life, and after seven days in this country, I’m certain that it will not be the last time. It was about 9 o’clock in the morning, still dark in Parisian winter, when I stepped off my airplane; I felt like a Kennedy, descending a small flight of stairs directly onto the tarmac of Charles de Gaulle Airport. One of the girls from my program, Caroline, walked beside me, although I couldn’t see her through my short hair whipping in the wind. Thus began my four months in France.

From the balcony of my room in Tumbaco, Ecuador, I can look west and see the city of Quito nestled snugly in the shadow of Volcán Pichincha. The mountain’s peak gets lost in the clouds and haze during the heat of the day, but when that heat breaks at dusk it sits blue-gray against a naranjilla colored sky. Many of the foreign students studying here in Quito (myself included) are not used to volcanos on the horizon– and while we may not be able to feel the subduction of the pacific plate under the South American continent, we can see it.

Hola amigos!