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!
Hola amigos !!
WOW! WOW! WOW! I STUDIED ABROAD!! I have literally been repeating this phrase for the past week. My last two weeks here in Ecuador flew by really fast that I felt I did not have time to really say goodbye to this amazing country. However, in the midst of final exams and quite a few essays, I was still able to enjoy the different aspects of Ecuador that I’ll miss the most.
Travel
Living in a homestay while abroad was the thing I was most looking forward to as well as the thing I was most dreading. I did not really have any idea what to expect and I was worried there would be language or cultural differences that my host family and I would just not be able to overcome. I had heard horror stories from friends who had studied abroad before me about awful homestay experiences and I convinced myself such a fate awaited me in Nice.
Bittersweet is what it is, or a mixture of sweet and salty as a chocolate covered pretzel (I am a bit of a food addict). As I finish the fall semester of my Junior year at Drake University and as I look forward to traveling to Austria, I would describe my emotions as bittersweet or a mixture of sweet and salty. Both happy and sad emotions are all morphed together into a pretty little package that your will open on Christmas Eve (or around it).
Sitting down to study and write papers might not be the first thing you think of when you think of your semester abroad. Traveling, eating, and speaking French might be your priorities, but I guarantee that at some point in the semester with IES Abroad Nice’s rigorous academics, you will at some point find yourself needing a place to study.
It’s hard to believe, but the semester is finally over. It feels like it went by way too quickly! I finally got comfortable and it’s already time to try to readjust to life back home.
“Be brave, be curious, be determined, overcome the odds. It can be done.” - Stephen Hawking, Brief Answers To The Big Questions.
While music is nice and all, this semester I have been focusing on trying new foods. I am a big foodie, and I think that it is just as important to sample a culture's cuisine as it is to go see their famous museums. Here is are a few of the best dishes I had while I studied and travelled in Europe!
Travelling alone can be terrifying. You may find yourself in a country where you don't speak the language and you have to figure everything out by yourself. I was very nervous when I decided to book a solo trip to Scotland. This would be the first time I had ever gone somewhere completely alone. But, it was more than I could have ever hoped for. I was able to do and go to all the places I wanted to go without having to confer with someone else. And it opened up the opportunity for me to make some new friends!
The flashing lights, the explosive booming noises, the screaming adoring fans, these are all what make a concert memorable. Before coming abroad, I kept thinking about experiences I wanted to enjoy abroad. I saw that some of my favorite artists were performing in Paris and I knew I had to go. Since my time here in Paris, I have been to 4 concerts and I still have two more in December!
