My friends and I went to Northern Argentina this past weekend. This has been one of the trips I've been most looking forward to, as Northern Argentina is known for both its culture and natural beauty. I talked to my host family before leaving, who said that Northern Argentina is like a country of its own when compared to the province of Buenos Aires. The provinces of Salta and Jujuy have far more people who are indigenous to Argentina than the province of Buenos Aires.

I am enjoying my summer study abroad program so much. The immigration classes I take are interesting because they are offering me a new scholarly perspective on an issue that I typically approach sociologically. My program is made up of a super small group of girls, so we do just about everything together, from eating meals to movie nights and even travelling. Recently, we had a long weekend, so the six of us headed to Milan for a quick getaway to a bigger Italian city.

The last time I was in France (2015), I did some travelling within the country, but I never made it to the south. Now that I am back, I wanted to make sure I could see at least one city in the south of France, and I finally did! A few friends and I headed down to Marseille for the weekend, and it was a everything I hoped it would be.

The three-hour train ride was smooth and comfortable, but I didn’t get much sleep looking at the countryside through the window. This reminded me a lot of home and my drives from New York to Penn State.

As I sit in my apartment living room next to an unrivaled view of the financial district, I find it hard to believe that I have only been in Shanghai for a week now.

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?