1. It’s frustrating

The sun came out for a solid three hours today! Even though I'm pretty sure I'm coming down with a pretty serious cold, I took the long way to school to maximize vitamin D absorption and enjoy a little bit of blue while it lasted. Don't worry, it's pouring again; my host mom turned to me at dinner and said: "it hasn't rained that much while you've been here, right?".

When deciding which semester I wanted to study abroad, aside from the biggest influencing decision being graduating on time, I thought about what sort of experience I wanted to have. Japan is a country with defined seasons, which means each season there are different traditions, festivals, foods, and activities to be enjoyed. For me, spring was the most appealing and obvious option because of Japan’s beloved national flower, sakura, or cherry blossoms.

As a historically Catholic country, Spain is known for their Holy Week traditions, especially for their processions, food and music. Foreign tourists, in addition to Spaniards from other parts of the country, flock to Granada on this week to witness these impressive and extravagant processions.

I have developed a rule for myself here in Granada. Whenever I am feeling a little sad, overwhelmed, or even homesick, I treat myself to some gelato and climb up to the Mirador de San Nicolas. It only takes a few minutes of gazing out at the magnificent Alhambra palace, with the snowcapped Sierra Nevada mountains in the background, to put everything in perspective. 

Over the past few weeks I had the pleasure of hosting two guests as they visited Amsterdam for the very first time. Before my guests arrived in Amsterdam, I couldn't help but feel extremely nervous about my ability to show them all of the incredible aspects of Amsterdam I have grown so attached to and love so very much. I felt as if the fate of their visits and their lasting impressions of Amsterdam were entirely on my shoulders.

Hi Everyone ! 

Welcome back to my blog page , and thanks for sticking with me these past 3 months.We only have 1 month left at the IES Abroad EU program and wow, time has really flown by. I wish I had another 4 months in the wonderful city of Freiburg. 

As I said before, here is my Luxembourg , Brussels, & Paris video ! 

I have no idea what language I’m speaking anymore.

Let me give you a little background. I’m from Virginia, so obviously my first language is English. Like many American students, I’ve taken Spanish since middle school and totalled about 6 years of language classes. So I have a pretty decent grasp on the Spanish language, even if my conversational skills need a little help. It would have made sense for me to study somewhere in Spain, right? And yet, I didn’t.