I have accumulated so many photos that my phone is constantly telling me that my storage is full. I take lots of scenery pictures, but they don’t usually do the view justice. I also have some awkwardly posed photos, however, the best stories and memories have come from my Snapchats. They tend to be more spur-of-the-moment pictures that highlight my favorite parts. 

¡Hola mis amigos! It’s been a little over a week since I arrived back home in California, and I’ve been spending my time relaxing and reflecting on my time abroad. Part of me feels like it was just yesterday when I landed in Granada, stumbling over my words in Spanish and getting lost every time I left the house. While I definitely still did those things up until my last days there, I know that I’ve grown so much over these past few months.

First off, let me just say what a wild ride. Just to get it out of the way early, those of you wondering if you should study abroad in Europe, the answer is yes. “Yeah, but what if I can’t adjust to—“, go. “Yeah but what if I get there and don’t like—“, go. If you’re on the fence, don’t ‘what if’ the decision to death. Yes, it is a big life decision, but don’t let the size of the situation or reservations keep you from the best semester of your life.

To grossly oversimplify the whole economic concept, the main drivers of price are supply and demand. Depending on how much you need something, you’re willing to pay a higher or lesser price. The same relationship exists with supply, the more or less of something there is the lower or higher the price will be, respectively.

It was a Tuesday. It was a cold, rainy Tuesday. It was the kind of Tuesday that was probably supposed to be a Monday but just showed up a day late to the party.

Okay, let’s just go ahead and address the huge elephant in the room, and probably a reason some might be hesitant to study abroad in France. Protests.

The idea of the protest is as old as democracy itself, and being a red-blooded American, I’m all for a good protest. If you don’t like how things are going or don’t agree with a decision, speak up about it. Stand up for what you believe in, for better or for worse. Whether effective or not, and whether you agree with the principle or not, protests are part of effective democracy.

Hallo Alle!

The most scared I’ve ever been was last September, about a month into my semester abroad experience. I was fifteen thousand feet above sea level—five thousand up from Quito— on a mountain called El Corazón, walking on a narrow ridge with sheer drops on either side and wearing the wrong shoes. I hadn’t quite realized how different running shoes were from hiking boots, and I was rapidly realizing that my ignorance could have real consequences.

One of the biggest things I wish I’d understood before I went abroad is that homestaying means living in someone else’s house. To be clear, I understood this on a surface level, thinking only of the plus side: the guarantee of an immersive cultural experience from day one. And at its best, homestaying can be a truly incredible experience: I know people who essentially developed the closeness of real family members with their host families.

I chose to study abroad with the intention of immersing myself in the culture as fully as possible. The most encompassing way that I did this was by choosing to live with a host family. This was the best decision I could have made, and it truly added to my experience from day one.

In four months, I fell in love with a city. I learned how to navigate its streets and beautiful, beautiful metro, expanded my knowledge of its language, and adapted to its eating customs. I also had a blast exploring the country.