Holiday Availability: All IES Abroad offices will be closed on Dec 24, Dec 25, Dec 31, and Jan 1 as we take some time to celebrate. During the weeks of 12/22 and 12/29, our team will be smaller, so responses may take longer than usual. Thanks for your understanding—and happy holidays!
Going into this trip, I decided that I wanted to fully experience all that London has to offer. I found a university student ministry connected to my church in the States, and I contacted them to join for the summer. I wanted to serve the ministry and ultimately grow closer to the people. I thought it would just be a fairly normal experience meeting new people, but it was so much more than that.
I had dreamed about spending spring break in Italy since the fall before my semester abroad. Before I left, everyone would ask me, “Where will you travel to?” And my list wasn’t very long. “Italy and Morocco,” I’d tell them. Morocco was a trip planned by the program, so I didn’t have to worry about those logistics. That left Italy as my priority. The food, the history, the food… how could I not spend my spring break eating pizza & pasta?
During my last 24 hours in Amsterdam, the excitement of going home was quickly overshadowed by the fact that I would no longer be living in the beautiful city I grew so fond of over the past four months. Saying goodbye to my friends was incredibly difficult. I had grown accustomed to living in close prioximity to my friends in Amsterdam and would miss our spontaneous adventures together.
After landing at the Mariscal Sucre International Airport at 11 pm at night, I was promptly picked up by my host family and taken to their home in Cumbayá. Despite their warmness and hospitality, I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. Everything was new and strange: the food, the house, the language, my neighborhood. Having studied abroad before, I knew that the only way to ease this discomfort was to simply force myself to wholeheartedly embrace the changes.
Hallo, my name is Shea Decker-Jacoby and I am a rising senior at Brandeis University. I am a International Global Studies and American Studies double major and a double minor in Legal Studies and History. I am also on the NCAA Women's Volleyball team at Brandeis and the editor for the Sports section of the university newspaper, The Hoot. I am very excited to be in Berlin this summer! I will be showing you my experiences through videos and photos! I had the privilege to arrive a few days early with my mom and explore the city a bit!
So you've got your scholarships and loans together; you've bought your plane ticket; you're all ready to go except one thing. You still haven't packed! Well, never fear. Here is the last in the series of everything you need to know before you go and we're talking about one of the most important parts - what you bring with you.
Purchasing plane tickets can feel a bit like Russian roulette between all the sites and airlines and price fluctuations, but with a little bit of practice and a couple insider hacks, you'll be a plane ticket pro in no time!
One of my biggest hopes of my study abroad experience was to visit a new country or city every weekend. I didn’t really care where, I just wanted to experience new cultures, languages, and landmarks - and for cheap. So, when two of my roommates asked if I wanted to go to Budapest with them for 60 Euros, I didn’t hesitate to say YES!
Studying abroad is one of the most incredible, magical, exciting, terrifying, nauseatingly disorienting things you'll ever decide to do (probably). And for me, at least, I can count at least two or three times a week since the process began that I looked at all the paperwork and all my end-goals and realized I had no idea what I was doing.
