After being fined on the metro in Budapest for having the wrong ticket, and handing over practically all of my cash intended for the weekend, I felt as if my entire trip had been ruined just three hours after arriving in Hungary. Traveling to a foreign country comes with culture shock. And it’s easy to be overwhelmed with this shock after dealing with a not so ideal situation. At the time, handing over my money on the metro made me feel as if I should have never attempted to leave Amsterdam in the first place.

After arriving in Shanghai one week ago, I already feel like we’ve been here for months – in the best way possible. Our language partners and the staff here have been incredibly helpful in assisting us with getting our bearings and becoming acquainted with both the Shanghai Jiao Tong University campus as well as the Fudan University campus. On our first weekend, they took us to both campuses and we got to walk around and learn how to get from the 地铁 (subway) to our classrooms and back to the apartment.

I grew up speaking Spanish, English, and Spanglish as a little Chicanita in Santa Ana, CA. As a daughter of immigrants, I am proud to carry all three tongues and being able to to have this connection to my parents, family, and homeland of Mexico. However, I wanted to know more of the world, so I decided to take French my first year of college. The similarities between French and Spanish threw me off the whole semester--my professor scolded me for vocally rounding out the French words when I spoke due to my Spanish-speaking background.

It’s been three weeks now that I’m here in Buenos Aires. It’s a gorgeous city with so much personality. I have only been to a small portion of the city, but everywhere I go has a different character and a vibe.

I live right between Palermo and Recoleta, in a very safe and nice area in the city. Everyone in my program lives relatively close to each other, which makes it easy for people to meet up and do things together.

First Off, Sorry for not posting a video in so long! 

Since the semester has been in full swing I haven't really had the time to edit videos the way that I wanted. No worries though, midterms are now over. So stay on the look out for a Paris Video, a housing video, and a really exciting one I'm working on: Being a Miniority in Germany!

In the mean time, here is a short video of an IES Abroad EU day trip to Strasbourg, France.

Before I begin this discussion of international travel, I just want to recognize how incredible Nantes has been, and the immense amount of learning, growth, and adventure that is possible here. It has been such a privilege and a joy to be able to travel abroad to France, and while I had a great time exploring other European cities, I think there's a lot to be said for staying put and getting to know the place one is in, especially if trying to be cost-conscious.

So it has been a week since I arrived in Shanghai for my study abroad. Yesterday was the first time all week where I didn't have any plans so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to go practice my street photography and shoot some video.