For those who don’t know me, hi, my name is Hannah and I really like food. To me, food is the best way to know a culture, a person, or a belief. There’s so much information hidden within food-- the rules, who creates it, what can or cannot be used, how it is served, when it is served, and when it is prepared-- an entire story behind every plate. When we share food, we share a part of ourselves.

Hi there! My name is Veronica Rusk. I am a junior at Loyola University Chicago with a film and women's and gender's studies double major. The first thing you need to know about me is that I am a huge film nerd!  So when I was going to Loyola I knew that studying abroad was a must to my college experience. I also knew that I wanted to go to a place I have never been to. So I narrowed it down to Europe and Australia and New Zealand. I did some research and found out IES Abroad was going to be at a study abroad fair at LUC.

I was asked to write an article on Tokyo Pride for my program. It took me a long time due to the nature of modern day Pride. The header image is a screen capture of the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_uvF5owlf0 

I’ve just completed my second full week in Spain and if the rest of my time here is anything like it, I am in for a wild ride!

Would it sound too harsh to start off blogging by saying that it may soon feel that study abroad may be a mistake? Because it sure feels that way. I have no idea what an internship at the University of Sydney's psychology department will look like or what I'll be doing there. I’d like to be honest: I struggle with anxiety, and studying abroad is going to be a challenge that I’m not entirely sure I will be able to handle. So why am I throwing myself halfway across the globe from my family, my friends, and everything I know?

Gradually, I’ve been adjusting. To the 14 hour time difference, the food, to constantly hearing English instead of Japanese, to driving a car instead of riding the subway, and to not seeing a conbini on every corner. For the past five months, I have embraced a lifestyle far different from the American Midwest, and though I’m excited to see my friends and family, there are things I deeply miss and habits that seemed to be deeply ingrained into me now.

After living in the Netherlands for almost four months, I am able to reflect on a number of things about the Dutch culture that continue to surprise me. Before coming to Amsterdam, I was somewhat aware of the Dutch people's love for bikes, but I did not fully understand the extent to which Dutch people utilize bikes in their daily lives. The biking culture in Amsterdam continues to shock me each and everyday. There are more bikes than there are people in Amsterdam.

After leaving the Galapagos, some of my fellow students and I decided that we wanted to try and make it to Machu Picchu before we headed home. Going to Machu Picchu has always been a dream of mine, and I had actually decided before the program even began that it was something I needed to do before I came home. I distinctly remember deciding to make the trip when I was in Spanish class the previous semester, and Machu Picchu came up in one of our exercises. I was excited to find that the site really wasn’t far from Ecuador.

The feelings I had leaving the Galapagos were different than any I’ve had before when leaving a place. Here I was, in paradise, surrounded by some of the most amazing people I have ever met, surrounded by countless memories, and saying my goodbyes. In some ways it felt like we had just arrived, and in other ways it felt like a lifetime had gone by since that day. It sounds silly to say, but the island had truly come to feel like my home, and I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it that I was leaving one home to return to another.