I’ll always remember my professor’s words when we asked for his opinion on being an expat in Shanghai: He told us being here is being in a liminal space.
Does anyone know what liminal means? He asked the class.
All of us shook our heads.
Three walls stand strong around me
and the ceiling is braided with Ivy, so I can see the stars.
When dark clouds block the sun and storms spin themselves above my head, my ceiling will let the rain in.
It will soak everything. The floodwater will rise and I will feel like I’m drowning,
but I’ve been through this before.
The water will recede and besides its not about me, the soil will be better for it.
Chicken Noodle Soup
The afternoon was rather sunny
but there was a harsh wind blowing
and the sneaky creepy cold found its way into my bones,
seizing my warmth and my cheer.
So I sipped from the soup in my bowl, and
the broth banished any chill, it’s warmth
seeping through my
cup and the cardboard
ring trying
to contain it,
into my hands and down my throat,
On one of the outdoor walls of the IES Center, a beautiful quote is written in Moroccan Arabic that discusses the virtues of travel and acquainting ourselves with the unknown. As a student, one of the greatest privileges I’ve enjoyed is the ability to immerse myself in new experiences.
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.