My schedule this semester is organized so that I have Wednesdays off, and, to be honest, I really need those Wednesdays. There are many things that take up a lot of my time here in Buenos Aires that I haven’t had to worry about recently. Up until now in my college career, I’ve always lived on campus. In both Tulsa and Dublin, when I studied abroad last semester, I had about a five-minute walk to class. Which meant that I could roll out of bed twenty minutes before class, brush my teeth, wash my face, throw on clothes, and run.

Thinking back to the first week of classes, something that comforted me after arrival was creating a schedule for myself. Not only was it nice to figure out a daily routine, but it was also exciting to meet other international and Chinese students attending the same universities as us. Because of the small size of our program, we’re all very close, which is awesome, but it’s also really nice to be able to meet other people studying via programs from NYU, BU, and other universities.

Ciao tutti!

Mental health.

The stigma surrounding those two words is immense. It’s associated with violence, with destruction, with the concept of brokenness and insanity.

One more month. I cannot believe I just typed that. One more month in London. I often feel that my spring semesters end up going by quickly, but this semester has been on an entirely different level. Every week that goes by feels shorter than the last, and I know, in the blink of an eye, I will be packing up and heading home. With the end approaching so quickly, I’ve started reflecting a lot on my time studying abroad.

Whenever I go on an IES Abroad trip, whether it’s orientation or one of the excursions, if it’s a multiple day trip then we almost always stay in a ryokan or traditional Japanese hotel. If you’ve never been to one before then it’ll be a great way to experience Japanese hospitality, but there may also be a lot of confusion about what you should and shouldn’t do. So I just wanted to share a couple things about staying at a ryokan that’ll allow you to get the most out of your stay there.

Today I walked to class in the bright sunshine, wearing a tank top and shorts, while my friends at my home university walked to class wearing as many layers as they could.  It’s an average of 16C here in Christchurch, New Zealand (60F), but my home university in Ithaca, New York, is experiencing another Nor’easter storm, with temperatures below freezing. I definitely made the right choice to study abroad in New Zealand during the northern hemisphere’s spring semester...but the weather is not the only reason that I makes me grateful.

Last year, I watched an episode of Modern Family wherein the native Colombian character Gloria exclaimed exasperatedly at her white American husband, “I am so much funnier in Spanish." When I heard her say this, I thought of my own Chinese immigrant parents who have been in the States for over twenty years. My mother and father are respectively a professor and a researcher, thus they use English quite frequently in their professional lives. Their grasps of English, however, falter when it comes to social spaces.

There’s a fairly prevalent stereotype of the study abroad student; you’ve almost certainly encountered it before. The entrepreneuring college junior or senior packs their bags and, amidst Snapchats of boarding passes and their passport, sets off for their semester abroad. The next months are a flurry of Instagrams, Facebook albums, and video calls home, and when the student eventually returns, they undoubtedly can’t stop talking about their time abroad.