On the evening of March 7th, two of my close friends and I arrived in Amsterdam, and though tired from an afternoon of travel, we were immediately captivated. A city resting on the canals, like Venice, but unlike Venice, a city that felt alive and with people, stores, and districts to shock you at every turn. Though I would now say Amsterdam is my favorite city I have visited thus far, the city and I began on the wrong foot. Travel connoisseur Anthony Bourdain said, “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable.

I’ve heard people talk about the beautiful landscape of New Zealand. I have seen pictures of the mountainous terrain and I’ve spent many hours researching the University of Auckland. I can’t wait to arrive and start hiking and exploring. 

It was a Wednesday morning, bleary and drizzling, in the center of Meknes, Morocco, a city full of orange trees (don't pick them; they taste like lemons), and we were all slouched in a classroom, learning Moroccan Arabic. Our professor had paused while explaining this particularly baffling bit of grammar.

"If you think about it," he said, after a moment (in Arabic—so I can't be held accountable for the accuracy of this), "the distance between past and future is infinitely small."

I have officially lived in Berlin for a week, so now that the jetlag has worn off, I’m awake enough to write my next post. Before boarding the plane a week ago, I had so many worries running through my head. What if my luggage is lost? What if I can’t navigate the public transportation, and I board a bus going in the completely wrong direction? What if I don’t get along with my host mom? What if I hate Berlin?

Somehow, my time in Quito has ended already, and even though a month in a foreign city seems like quite a long time, it never is enough. Luckily, the time flew so fast because I could not have filled it with more adventures and activities. In my next post, I’ll explain about all of the incredible class field trips I went on, so here I’ll talk briefly about a few of my innumerable excursions and journeys with my friends

And I'm not even bad at math...

I truly believe I have discovered the oasis of Dublin.

Looking for local adventure (and because we sorely needed to learn how to use Dublin public transport), my roommates and I hopped on a bus to Howth for some seaside exploring. Howth is known for it's weekend market, seafood, and lovely coastal trails.

The crisp air filled our lungs and we set at a brisk pace down a trail to get some blood moving through our frozen toes. You could see across the whole city all the way to where the sea drained into the sky.

            I’ve been in South Africa for approximately two weeks now, and it has been quite an experience! My original flight got canceled TWICE, so I ended up arriving a day later than my peers. However, I arrived JUST in time for orientation – literally, I got off the plane, went straight to my studio apartment (yes, I am currently living my best life), and went to orientation.