There is truly no way to fully capture our trip to Morocco. I have been on MANY organized trips and I can say with full confidence that this was the absolute best organized trip I have ever had the privilege to experience. In order to not blabber on for pages and pages, I wanted to break this up into my top three highlights:

DARNA:

Travelling is a big part of the European Union program, with there being three trips in total. At the time of writing this, I’m currently on the third and final trip of the program: the member states trip. Unlike the previous two trips, not everyone in the program visits the same cities. I’m on the southeastern trip and visiting Budapest, Athens, and Sofia, in that order. My next couple of blog posts will be about each of these three cities and my experiences in each city.

Close your eyes. Imagine standing outside with warm sun on your face. All around you hear people talking and laughing, children playing, and birds calling. Maybe the clock strikes the hour and the air around you is also filled with pealing bells from the nearby church. You can smell fresh bread, sausage, and flowers. Can you picture it? That’s a market here in Freiburg. This week I am going to share some information about one of my favorite things about living in Freiburg—the markets!

Long ago, the ownership of the coastline between France and Italy was under debate. Nice used to be a part of Italy, leading to its Italian influences today, and some towns across the border were at one time a part of Nice County. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to travel from the French Riviera to the Italian Riviera with IES Abroad. I discovered the difference in culture, the divine cuisine, and beautiful landscapes.

This past weekend I went on a two-day field trip with some of my classmates from IES Abroad. Having been on some terrible group trips in my life, I was a bit anxious, but I ended up having an absolutely wonderful time.

We woke up early on Friday to head to Perugia. We had our own private bus which was very comfortable and honestly, it was fancy. It felt so nice not having to worry about public transportation.

My family came to visit me this month. I am so lucky that I was able to show them not only Shanghai, but we also traveled outside of the city! This post is all about Guilin. A gorgeous rural city that has lakes strewn throughout the area and beautiful mountains that were cut from the ocean long ago that now jut up, out of the ground like the teeth of some monstrous beast. Guilin is considered one of the most beautiful places to visit in China, and from my experience, I think I might have to agree.

Living in the same country for the last twenty years has ingrained in me a certain set of social norms. I know how to act in a grocery store, what to do when I walk into a restaurant, when to make small talk, how to dress appropriately, and so on. Not only do I act a certain way because of my upbringing, but I expect the people and institutions around me to function in a predictable manner. Settling in to Buenos Aires I have had to adjust both my actions and expectations to fit into the city and respect the local culture.

If you’re in love with coffee like I am then one of your very first tasks in Barcelona will be to find the perfect coffee shops. I always enjoy spending late afternoons or weekends in a local cafe reading a book or journaling about my time abroad.

Each of my favorite coffee shops listed below are located in different parts of Barcelona. What’s better than exploring and sightseeing while also enjoying great coffee?

Here is a question I’ve been asked countless times by friends, family, and total strangers, from the minute I touched down in Tangier continuing through yesterday, as I ate gnocchi in Florence, Italy: What is it like to live as a woman, a foreign woman and, what’s more, an American woman, in Morocco?

Yesterday it was raining. Boo! For the last week or so, the weather in Rome has been superb. Days filled with sunshine and pretty skies. Needless to say, when I saw the rain I was bummed. On top of that, I had a presentation and a ton of work to do. Double Boo! Yet, as I walked home, the skies cleared up and revealed a profoundly beautiful sunset. Plus, my presentation went swimmingly and the work was a piece of cake. One of God’s immaculate metaphors.