When living in a city as sprawling and culturally rich as Paris, it's easy to get lost there and forget the rest of the world. But Paris is not the center of the universe (despite what some Parisians might say), and a necessary part of study abroad should be to explore more of your host country.

It is my third week here in Shanghai, and if it weren't for the fact that I'm not fluent in Mandarin, I would feel like I've been here forever. It's actually really quite spooky, but I think that after having had legitamately every day be filled with tons of activity, with intensive language study, cultural immersion inside and outside of class, and almost every meal being eaten out, it feels like I've fulfilled my travel time for the next several years.

Ich war ein Berliner!!! 

As part of the IES Abroad EU program we get the opportunity to go on a lot of excursions across Europe that are included in our program and our courses/seminars.

Last week we went on our very first excursion, spending 3 days in Berlin and 2 days in Prague.  In this video, I show you some moments from our time in Berlin.

One of the main arguments for studying a language in its cultural context is that often the phrases that are essential to understanding a certain culture, are the ones for which there are no direct translations. 

Take, for example, the Spanish phrase, tomarse algo. In English, it literally translates, “to take something for yourself.” 

In two weeks, I will be flying out from Orlando, Florida to Santiago, Chile to study under the IES Abroad Politics, Human Rights, and Social Justice Program. Just yesterday, I received my housing assignment and the list of other participants for the program. To my excitement, I found out that I would be staying in a 2-bedroom apartment right next to a park with a room of my own, near walking distance of grocery stores and coffee shops.

Before my IES Abroad program began in January, I had the pleasure of traveling to Spain with my family for the holidays. In a sense, the Spanish family vacation was a form of “traveling with training wheels,” in which I could acclimate myself to Spain while not being forced to bear the entire weight of any stresses. Having lived in Spain for four months during the summer, I was thrilled to share the country I so fondly fell in love with some of the people closest to me.

Being the carefully organized and intensely overprepared person I am, planning an international four-month trip has been both a blessing and a curse. I am not afraid to admit that I find pure enjoyment from making lists of things I need to buy and do before any future event. Although thinking ahead is something I excel at, my forward thinking has sometimes caused me to miss the moment I am in. In order to make the most out of my winter break in California, I promised myself to not let my future travels overshadow my time spent at home.