I am completely overwhelmed with Berlin.  A (not so) brief breakdown of my experience:

As a student studying abroad in my second year of college, instead of the more common third year option, some of my classmates and friends have asked why I made the choice to head overseas “early.” I had so many reasons to spend sophomore year in Spain—here are some that had the biggest impact on my decision.  

1. Language Immersion

Last weekend, I did something very out of character: I booked a trip less than a week in advance to a place I'd never heard of, and went. Alone. As someone with anxiety, traveling in and of itself is not easy—just a week prior to this trip I had a full-on meltdown in the London Gatwick airport, and I wasn't even traveling alone. So how did this anxious traveler end up in the Canary Islands alone? Well, I saw in my calendar that I had a free few days between exams, so I decided to check Skyscanner for flights.

I have one week left in Barcelona, and I can’t quite explain how I feel about it. This semester has been life-changing in so many ways (obviously—how could you move to Europe for four months and not come out different?). But it changed me in ways that I didn’t expect. Some of these changes I didn’t want, but some I really, really needed. Here’s how Barcelona has taken me in and spit me out as a new person.

One of the things I was most looking forward to during my semester in Barcelona was the ability to travel so freely. In the United States, going somewhere for the weekend is difficult. I usually have class until Friday afternoons, and flights are expensive. But here, I have class until noon on Thursdays and the flights are insanely cheap. I once paid $15 for a flight to Seville. This ease of travel is nearly impossible to pass up while abroad, so I’ve put together some tips for getting the most out of this experience.

Nantes is a wonderful place to live and study, and an equally wonderful place to eat. I’ve had many great meals at crêperies, French restaurants, boulangeries, Italian restaurants, farmer’s markets, Indian restaurants, Japanese restaurants and at my host family’s home. While I’ve tried a whole lot of great things, I would still consider myself a beginner when it comes both to gastronomical expertise as well as Nantes-specific cuisine. Still, I wanted to compile a list of foods that I’ve enjoyed and that have been unique to this place.

Hello beautiful people! Last month, I had the privilege of interviewing Claudia Palmira, and spoiler: she a super cool human being. I wanted to challenge myself by interviewing a creative master in their field. Fortunately, I was able to cross paths with Claudia. Perfect! Now you might be asking yourselves, “Wait, Cam, don’t you have a 1,000-word limit for this blog?” Yes, I do. And I don’t know how you know that. However, I will tell you some of the essentials which I gathered from this interview. Enjoy!

Who:

One of the things I’ve consciously tried to do while living abroad in Barcelona is avoid sticking to the touristy attractions. While I of course hit those the first month or so of being here, I was curious what it would be like to live like the people who actually live here. I still love to go to the clubs aimed at study abroad students and stroll through La Boquería with the rest of the tourists, but I’ve discovered some hidden local gems during my time here. Here are some tips/local places you should check out…

After bidding goodbye to Buenos Aires, our program sent us off to Peru! We had one week split between two cities: Lima and Cusco. We spent our first day in Lima exploring the downtown area and visiting a pre-Columbian artifact museum, Museo Larco. Here we saw ancient pottery, sacrificial tools, and gold and silver accessories that were worn by nobles. We also visited Basílica y Convento de San Francisco, a cathedral that contains a labyrinth of catacombs beneath its surface.