For my Fall Break adventures, I decided to visit some friends who are also studying abroad this year. The first one I visited is spending the whole year in London, England at the University of Roehampton. She is also a junior at my college. After a day or two with her, I hopped over to Glasgow, Scotland to visit my best friend’s older brother (who I am also close to) where he, my best friend, and I spent another day or two together. He’s currently doing a master’s program at the University of Glasgow.

The Old Summer Palace was actually one of my favorite places I visited in Beijing. We went together on a field trip for our Late Imperial China course, led by our professor and now program director, Jeremiah. I sound surprised that I liked it so much because there actually isn't much left to see; most of the Palace is in ruins after being completely destroyed in the Second Opium War.

Packing for Morocco as a female was initially not an easy task. I scoured the depths of the Internet for travel blogs about what to wear and the common consensus seemed to be to make sure shoulders and knees were covered for all travelers to avoid unwanted attention from men.

 Okay, wow are we already almost halfway through November? What is going on?! Where is the time going? Fall break came and went WAY too fast. I traveled in the United Kingdom over the better part of a week. I started out visiting a friend from my college who is also studying abroad this year, but at the University of Roehampton in London, England. After a day of two with her, my best friend and I met up in Glasgow, Scotland to meet up with her older brother (also a dear friend of mine) for a day or two.

Ham, bread, ham, cheese, ham, eggs, ham, seafood, ham, chorizo. Oh, and ham. Whether it’s small plates of delectable tapas loaded with legions of different meats, or large plates mouth watering paella packed with seafood. Spanish cuisine can be quite intimidating for vegetarians, and much more so for vegans. As a vegetarian spending the semester in Madrid with mediocre Spanish speaking skills (‘mediocre’ is generous), I’ve had my fair share of awkward interactions with waiters.

The afternoon was surprisingly less sweltering an hour before my first class at the local university, but my hair was frizzing up around my face from the humidity. Mohammad, one of the teaching assistants at the IES Abroad Center, is escorting me via tram to the university that I had already visited a couple times. We are making small talk, but I’m distracted from trying to memorize each stop of the tram so that I can do it by myself next week. The students around us who are also on their way to class are looking me up and down.

Moroccan food is carb and meat-heavy and laden in unique spices and oils. At home, many families eat with their hands from one giant, round plate. Various types of bread or cous-cous is served with each meal to use instead of silverware. Cous-cous is a rice-like grain that can be balled up and used like bread to pick things up (a necessary skill to acquire immediately!).

The decision to study Arabic was born from a deep love of the Spanish language and Spain’s cultural ties to the Muslim world. I had the most amazing Egyptian teacher at WMU for my first semester, and I was hooked on the intricacies of the language before we even learned the alphabet. At the university level, students learn Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). MSA is a form of Arabic preserved from Quranic times and is quite complex to learn, so each country has a completely different colloquial language.

More than three months in and we're finally catching our groove. I was walking down the streets with Emily yesterday just thinking, what am I going to do when I don't get to see you and drag you to do crazy things every day of the week. At this point I'm too used to someone laughing at all my jokes and accompanying me on excursions without question...