It takes Amanda some Jamaican music to feel at home in Barcelona. Amanda Rickman is from Jamaica, she studies at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Driven by an idea of stepping outside her comfort zone, Amanda went studying abroad in Barcelona by herself.

“My friends and I decided that we all need to study abroad, but we wanted to go to either some very different spots or during different semesters as it’s just better to go alone and to experience a different culture on your own,” she said.

October and November came and went with many amazing experiences. At the end of October, two of my friends from Occidental flew into Madrid to visit Habiba and I. Alex is studying in Greece, while Isabel studies in Toulouse, France, so Habiba and I were beyond happy to have them with us-- studying abroad is full of changes and uncomfort, but having some familiar faces around felt really stabilizing. The last eight photos of this album are from that weekend in Madrid.

よう. お久しぶりです！

Hello faithful reader!  Here are some highlights from the month of October that didn’t make it in to any other blog posts.

IES Abroad being the awesome institution that it is (thanks again for letting me write), tends to have some pretty cool excursions for a lot of its programs. IES Abroad: Nice edition is no different, so last week I found myself getting to miss class to go to an awesome city like Marseille. I could talk about the diversity there, the awesome food, the beautiful old port and surrounding architecture, but far and away my favorite part of the excursion was a day trip out to Marseille’s islands.

Time here has flown by and we’re already in November.   There are only six weeks left in the program, which is almost inconceivable!  I haven’t even finished with midterms, and we’re already on the way to finals.  I knew that this program would be over in the blink of an eye, but it never truly hits you how quickly it goes until you’re staring down the finish line.

As the leaves turn the shades of fire and sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere, the trees surrounding me here in the Southern Hemisphere have went from bare and brown, to green and lush in a matter of weeks. Over the past four and a half months, I have sat in this exact location, writing blogs, doing school work, calling loved ones, getting to know new friends, and staring out the window watching the progression of the trees outside.

You travel across an ocean to an entirely new continent to discover new cultures while traveling and studying. There are so many people to meet, places to see, a language to learn! You are studying abroad, a dream! So why are you homesick? That’s been on my mind lately, as I am about halfway through my time abroad. I was never one to really be homesick, I wanted to attend university outside of my home state Colorado to experience another state, another way of life.

Hallo Alle!

OIL Week has come to a close, leaving behind our time in a singular classroom. I'll miss my time refreshing my German, walking around Freiburg in a city tour, and trying not to trip in a Bächle in front of everybody..... Ahh what good times...

As the weather grows colder, I am reminded again of my packing choices. It seems like the colder it gets, the more summer clothes I seemed to have packed—although I distinctly remember when it was stifling hot in September, I could only see how many long sleeves and sweaters I had brought. Living in someplace for four months with so little space to bring your things always presents a challenge. So how do you make the best of a light 50 pounds and a carry on?