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I just returned back to Barcelona from a weekend in Paris and the city truly lives up to its reputation. The romance on Love Lock Bridge, the smell of Nutella crepes on every street corner, and the energy given off from the Eiffel Tower at night all make up the exact experience I was hoping for.
“1, 2, 3, smile!”
My roommate was trying to take a picture of me for me at the blue gate in front of the Chefchaouen city. I tried hard to turn up the corners of my mouth so I could fake a cute smile.
Salut! In less than a month, I will depart from Nantes; that idea feels incredibly bizarre, especially because the rhythm I've found myself in coupled with the many new things I learn about and from the city every day make it feel like such a constant in my life.
My schedule this semester is organized so that I have Wednesdays off, and, to be honest, I really need those Wednesdays. There are many things that take up a lot of my time here in Buenos Aires that I haven’t had to worry about recently. Up until now in my college career, I’ve always lived on campus. In both Tulsa and Dublin, when I studied abroad last semester, I had about a five-minute walk to class. Which meant that I could roll out of bed twenty minutes before class, brush my teeth, wash my face, throw on clothes, and run.
Thinking back to the first week of classes, something that comforted me after arrival was creating a schedule for myself. Not only was it nice to figure out a daily routine, but it was also exciting to meet other international and Chinese students attending the same universities as us. Because of the small size of our program, we’re all very close, which is awesome, but it’s also really nice to be able to meet other people studying via programs from NYU, BU, and other universities.
Mental health.
The stigma surrounding those two words is immense. It’s associated with violence, with destruction, with the concept of brokenness and insanity.
One more month. I cannot believe I just typed that. One more month in London. I often feel that my spring semesters end up going by quickly, but this semester has been on an entirely different level. Every week that goes by feels shorter than the last, and I know, in the blink of an eye, I will be packing up and heading home. With the end approaching so quickly, I’ve started reflecting a lot on my time studying abroad.
