Bonjour! 

I have taken six years of French, and I’ve never been to France, or Europe for that matter. The only international travel experience I am currently equipped with is a highly supervised service trip to the Dominican Republic I participated in over three years ago. As much as I loved it, I’m searching for something a little different when I arrive in Paris. 

The past week has been filled with jet lag, orientations, and learning directions around this new city.  However, even amidst the transition, I have enjoyed exploring the beautiful city of Freiburg.  A quick hop on the tram, and one can go anywhere they wish.  Here is a glimpse of my experience in traveling to the region and a few glances at this marvelous town which is tucked away at the foot of the Black Forest.  Below you will see shots taken from the older portion of town (Alstadt) during the busy time known as the daily mark

The most random thing happened this past weekend. Here’s how it all started…

¡Hola amigos! My name is Samantha Yu, and I'll be studying in Granada, Spain this Fall semester with IES Abroad. Just to share a little about me, I am a third year college student at Scripps College in Claremont, California. I’ve known that I wanted to study abroad in Spain ever since I saw the impact an amazing study abroad experience had on my two older sisters. I’ve been packing this entire week, and in a few days, I’ll be on a plane and on my way!

My mother asked me what the first thing I was going to do once I landed in Germany. My answer? Kiss the ground. Did it happen? No, because I was too frantic trying to navigate where/when my flight from Munich to Berlin was going to take off and where. Stepping into the airport in Munich was hectic. I had totally forgotten that I was in Germany, and so asking people for directions was confusing. I should have invested in a Fitbit for all the steps I did within that hour.  

On Monday the 20th my host dad drove me to the University at 4 in the morning. From there a charter bus took me and 22 others to the airport where we took a propeller plane to Coca in the lowlands east of the Andes. After hitting the tarmac, we took another bus from the airport, which is about the size of a large house, to Hotel La Mission on the Rio Campo.

I’ve held off on writing this for as long as I could - I wanted to be authentic that way I guess. For the longest time, “Spain 2018” seemed nothing more than just that - some catchphrase, a mantra, that I kept repeating whenever I was asked what I’d be doing for the fall.

A little background about me: generally, I get airsick on the landing of airplanes (yes, I’ve tried chewing gum, blowing my nose, drinking water – no, it did not work), seasick in certain conditions (usually when a boat is really turbulent), and motion sick in conditions where elevation changes (i.e. winding mountain roads) or I’m not facing the direction of motion/motion doesn’t correspond with what I’m seeing (ex. 4D rides, movies, even just staring at my phone for too long and not looking up while I’m on a car).

Week 1 is finally over after 5 days of German Intensive, getting to know the city of Vienna, countless meetings and just a lot of running around. After all of that excitement, a weekend getaway was much needed!