A few days ago, I officially made it one month in the City of Light! In this first month, I have learned about numerous cultural differences from discussions in my French class, with my host family, and my new Parisian friends and from my own experiences.

I've been in Rome for about a month and a half now and I feel like I've finally settled into my life here (it only took half of the whole semester.) When I first arrived, I was so timid and easily overwhelmed! If I wanted to go somewhere, I would pause and think, “how can I go if I have to take the train! I don’t know how to do that!” If I wanted to go into a store, I’d think, “what if they speak Italian to me and I don’t know how to answer and I accidentally offend them and can never come back to this store again.”

Is it just me or did every person that encouraged you to study abroad also say that it would be a “life-changing experience?” While I’m sure that I’m not the only one to have heard this promising phrase, I am also pretty sure that like me, you probably didn’t receive a clear guideline as to how you could begin to make your experience abroad a life-changing one. Unfortunately, I can’t be the one to provide you with this guideline, but I can tell you what has worked for me. 

Last weekend my roommates and I finally made it to Rome and enjoyed the incredible sights the city has to offer, but there are definitely some tips I wish I had before our trip. Although the trains in Italy and Europe are very accessible and convenient, they can be expensive if you are booking on short notice. So, in order to save money, my roommates and I took an overnight Flixbus from Milan to Rome which took 12 hours... So book in advance! The bus was long, but somewhat comfortable and very affordable.

I have been in Barcelona for a full month now and it would be safe to say I’m still in the “honeymoon phase” of abroad that people told me about before I left. I am definitely still adjusting to the culture shock and things like taking the metro to school every day, remembering to speak in Spanish, living with five other girls, and the strange eating times, but I think I’m learning pretty quickly!

“I am not buying a houseplant,” I say to myself again and again in restraint. I pass flower stands on Kärntner Straße, walking from the IES Abroad Center in Palais Corbelli to my UBahn (Subway) station. I daydream to various greens in Stadtpark and visit the shrubs of Schönbrunn, strolling through leaves that I long to see in my windowsill. Still, I don’t want a houseplant. 

From the top of the TV tower, 679 feet above Alexanderplatz, the IES Abroad Center is only discernible by the mural across the construction zone asking, “How Long is Now?” From there, your eyes can follow the wide street, Unter der Linden, all the way to the Brandenburg Gate. On Friday, September 20th, however, the Brandenburg Gate was noticeable not just for its pillars and that winged symbol of victory and reunification riding in her chariot, but also for the 270,000 people amassed around it.

Hamlet is right! The play is the thing here in London. Between the West End, the Globe, and the Fringe, it can be difficult to know where to go and what to see. Here is a guide for a night out at the theatre at all price points.

Free

I’ve been in Freiburg for almost a month now, and it amazes me how familiar I’ve become with a place after such a short time. My apartment is located close to the Altstadt or “Old City” of Freiburg. It takes little time to get to the heart of the city, to the Black Forest for hiking, or to meadows and vineyards towards the south of the city. During the last three weeks, I attended my German language course in the morning and early afternoon and then spent many evenings exploring Freiburg.