Dear Student Studying Abroad in Freiburg, 

Congratulations on choosing to study abroad in Freiburg! Here are three tips for living in Freiburg:

One: Always have some kind of valid ticket on you when taking the tram. Remember to validate your ticket. Remember to get a new monthly pass at the start of each month.

Hey, everyone! I’m Addie, and I just finished my sophomore year at Davidson College. I’m a sociology major and super excited to leave for France. As I prepare to begin my journey to Nice tomorrow, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what I want to do while I’m abroad, what I’m worried about, and what I’ll miss most about being at home.

The last two weeks of my program involved studying for finals, questioning how I am going to pack all my clothes into my suitcase and fitting in last-minute activities in Berlin. Unlike most people in my program, my last two weeks also involved a visit from my family. I left home in February to fly to Berlin, and almost four months later, I was reunited with my family in my new home.

In chambers underneath the ancient city of Fez, men sit tending the flames of furnaces. The rooms are cavernous but half-filled with sawdust, like great sand dunes; the men perch on them, stirring the embers.

Above them, the Fez's old city bustles like a beehive, its streets filled with vendors and buyers and tourists, but you wouldn't know that, sitting among these fire-feeders. The city's many voices do not reach them. Crouched there in the dust and shadows, I felt like I had stumbled on Fez's beating, burning heart.

A few weekends ago I completed my first half marathon! I had been training for it for a while but I was still nervous when the day finally arrived. The race was around Rotorua and in the Redwoods Forest area. I had heard good things about the Redwoods area, so I was very excited to get to experience this place by running through it all. The race started early, and as my friends and I prepared to run, we heard the announcer say that it is one of the only places in the world you can run a half marathon around an active geothermal area.

When you study abroad, no two people will have the exact same travel itinerary. Some will travel every weekend outside of the country, venturing as far as Africa. Others will spend the majority of their stay exploring the depths of the country that is hosting them. Regardless, there is no right or wrong way to travel while abroad, though I would recommend exploring both within and without the country.

I am officially over the halfway point of my time here in Freiburg, and it is very bittersweet to be writing those words. I have experienced so much in my time here already and I know the next half of my adventure here is going to be equally amazing. While I have had many awesome adventures such as hiking, weekend trips planned on a whim, concerts, plays and operas, and many more, I haven’t just been traveling and exploring here in Freiburg. After all, I am studying abroad.

Goodbye. See you soon. Until next time. These are phrases I’ve used all too often in the last week or so. As I close out this amazing, eye-opening, and revolutionary semester, I am forced to look at my choices both good and bad. I laugh at the times when I was foolish. Where I spent too much money or said the wrong pronunciation of an Italian word (It happened a lot). I cherish the times I won’t forget, like when I got to see the Pope or when I visited Padova with Julia (my editor-in-chief). However, the time has come to leave “my” precious Roma.

My dream of being a fluent French-speaker and certified Parisian began when I was seven years old. My parents were attending a conference and brought me along for the trip. After being able to ask a drugstore employee for “cotton” in a French-enough accent that she understood me, I suppose I was destined to be a French major.

Now, the wild truth is that I leave for Paris again in just a few days. This time I’ll be going on my own and staying there for seven weeks. I’m looking forward to so many things:

I’ve been home for almost a week now and I’m missing Italy like crazy! It’s so weird not having to unpack and re-pack my suitcase every few days because of a new trip I’m taking. I also miss all of the friends that I have made at IES Abroad. We all facetime each other any chance we get, and if we hear a song that reminds us of our time abroad, we all become emotional wrecks. My host family is definitely high up on the list of things that I miss. They made my transition so much easier and treated me as their own.