I am an international student from South Korea, studying abroad in the United States. In just a few hours, I leave for Vienna and will start studying abroad from my study abroad. As I write this post, I will try to explain to you (and to myself) why I decided to take on this Inception-esque journey that would probably not help me professionally at all (I’m a math-music major, but mostly math). 

I have been in Japan for about a week now. Wow. While I have been struggling with jetlag, it hasn’t been too terrible. I’ve managed to still enjoy myself! On 1/11/19, we began orientation for Nanzan University.

During our early weeks here in Milan, IES Abroad arranged a trip for us to go to Sestriere to ski! I have never been skiing before in my entire life, but what better place to learn than in the Alps? It was also a really exciting trip because it was the first time that a lot of us IES Abroad students were going to be spending time together. As excited I was to go skiing, I was equally not as excited to be in the cold.

I have wanted to write a blog for the longest time, but now that I actually have the opportunity to do so, I feel like I have nothing to share. Funny how that works.

I won’t bore you with personal introductions (for that, allow me to direct you to my blogger profile). Instead, let us begin with a cringeworthy study abroad haiku:

A Cringeworthy Study Abroad Haiku

by Audrey Steiner

When you’re an American in England, you have to sign every time you use your credit/debit card. Literally. Every. Time. The other day, I was at the grocery store and had to sign for my groceries. The cashier asked me if I had an English back account, to which I responded no. He then asked me if my account was American. After I said yes, he genuinely and sincerely asked me if I was from North or South America. If you know me, you’d know I wasn’t offended even a little bit and the whole situation simply made me smile.

The travel bug can really sneak up on you in college, and it seems to be pretty contagious. We spend so much time reading and learning about places with such rich culture, tradition and community around the world that it’s only natural that at some point we decide it’s time to pack our bags and see them for ourselves.

I will be en route to Vienna, Austria in five days. Five days that will pass me by quicker than I expect. So, I decided to start packing immediately. Or at least, think about what I will pack.

When I stare into my large suitcase, I find it hard to picture how three months will fit. I consider taking another small suitcase as a carry on, but when I picture myself dragging two suitcases over cobblestone, my stomach churns. Which leaves me with one suitcase and too much planning that I care for.

My Background: I just recently graduated from Penn State this past December! Much to my surprise, I received an abundance of questions regarding why I chose to complete an international internship instead of accepting a full-time job opportunity. Here are my top three reasons…

I'm about to dive in to Dublin (metaphorically speaking, I'm taking a plane).

I initially chose Dublin because of its vast literary history and lively arts scene, but it's mystery also allured me. I knew wherever I chose to go abroad, I wanted a feeling of instability. That feeling of apprehensive uncertainty after you take a leap, unsure when your feet will hit the ground or what kind of ground you'll even hit.