I have been contemplating writing a final blog post ever since I returned from Ecuador two weeks ago. My original plan was to explore my feelings upon arriving home to see whether I felt different or sad, lonely or happy, at peace or confused. In reality, however, I just feel a little lost. I manifested such a beautiful life for myself in Ecuador that being back in my house in Indianapolis doesn’t feel quite right anymore.

The day before the holy month of Ramadan started on Monday, May 6th, was in some ways my last routine day in Rabat.

I wake up in time to eat and leave the house only slightly late (8:10) for my 8:30 class.

Study abroad is made up of millions of small moments, as I suppose most of life is, too. As people start leaving their abroad destinations to head back home, and asking about my plans to leave, this month has become more reflective than intended. How do you group four months of experience into a one-sentence answer to a question?

Ciao everyone! I am so excited to begin this journey of interning in Rome this summer and to be sharing it all with you primarily through my vlogs (linked below)! Entering this program I was filled with anxiety, excitement, and severe wanderlust. I had been abroad before for a couple weeks on a pilgrimage to Bosnia and Croatia, but besides that I have only travelled throughout the United States. When I arrived in Rome about a week or so ago, I was shocked.

After landing on foreign soil for the first time on Tuesday, I am now writing this from my gorgeous IES Abroad housing, where I am unpacked, well-rested, and most importantly, completely set up in the electronics department.  This took me time, tears, and ten thousand steps, and it's become quite the lesson that I wished I was prepared for, which has inspired this post.

We all arrived in Paris early in the morning on May 20. We traveled to the IES Abroad Center where we met everyone in the program. Afterwards, we got settled into our apartments in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. The next day, we had lunch at a local crêperie before boarding a boat for a tour of the gorgeous Seine river. We have been taking two classes while in Paris and alternating between each every other day. One group has class in the morning, and the other class meets in the afternoon.

Last week, I spent one of my first afternoons exploring Buenos Aires completely alone. I wandered around Recoleta, the neighborhood of my homestay, and and settled at the Mediterranean restaurant called Florentin. I was sitting at an outdoor table eating a messy but delicious falafel sandwich with a side of potato chips, journaling about my past weekend in Mendoza, when it registered with me that everything that had once been confusing and out of the ordinary had become my new normal.