Hola! I have completed three full weeks in Buenos Aires, and sometimes it feels like the only thing I know how to say in Spanish is hola and hasta luego. Apart from beefing up my Spanish skills (an expected challenge), I have been overwhelmed both physically and emotionally in ways that I didn’t quite expect. Check out my tips below on getting over those first month's hurdles. 

The ultimate tramping experiences in New Zealand are the Great Walks. These treks are famous for their length, the beautiful scenery, and the diversity in tracks. As several of my Auckland friends and I love to hike and camp, we traveled down to the South Island this weekend to do the Heaphy Track. Along the west coast of the South Island, we planned to take four days to hike the 78 km across mountains, plains, and beaches.

I am writing this post from the comfort of a home I lived in from 2016-2017 just outside of Hamburg, Germany. I took a gap year after graduating from high school and worked as an au pair here, looking after two children whose mother was my au pair when I was a child! It was a cool “circle of life” kind of experience because she has known me since I was young, plus she knew what it was like to be an au pair herself.

Kia ora, everyone! August has just been flying by! Every day I wake up and see the tip of the mountains through my window, and I still can’t believe I am really halfway across the globe from home.

In just a few days I will get on a plane to fly over the Cascade Mountains and leave Western Washington, where Mt. Rainier seems to float on clouds, and our little bit of ocean is calm and collected in the Puget Sound. Less than 24 hours later, I will be in a taxi heading towards my hostel a block from the Spree, 1.4 km from the Brandenburg Gate, surrounded by significantly more history but fewer mountains. 

This video is very special to me because it was our last day in Rome. I went around the farewell party and asked my peers what they were going to miss about Rome and what they were excited to go back to. This party was very bittersweet for us all. After the summer in Rome, we were sad to be leaving. It flew by! Seriously. Do not waste a second of your study abroad experience because it comes and goes faster than anyone can anticipate. But also, we were very excited to see our loved ones back home.

During my time abroad, I was lucky enough to visit Köln, Germany. My best friend was nannying for a family in this town, and therefore I was able to not only see the city, but the suburbs. We met a professional German soccer team, explored the city, and drank their famous Kölsch. I must say, Germany was everything I expected it to be and more! I was raised in a very German household, as my father's is our family's first generation in the United States. I hope to go back and explore more of the cities and meet more people!

After two weeks, my trip to Buenos Aires feels so far away. Without daily use, my Spanish language is still struggling. Without the familiar setting of the city, the memories can easily fade. It is up to me to hold tight to my accomplishments and my adventures. As people ask me about my study abroad experience, they ask about my favorite part, or just the general, “How was it?” It is a surprisingly difficult answer to find.

This is it, guys! In approximately one week, around 50 IES Abroad students, including myself, will be taking the leap out of the U.S. towards Nantes, France! Now that I’m so close, however, I’m almost terrified that something tragic is going to happen before I can get on that plane. Like a lost visa, or worse: my latest nightmare (this is real) comes true, and I wind up taking the wrong plane to my college in Ohio instead of the one to France! Ok, ok, that’s probably not going to happen.