Social media notoriously makes everything look crystal clear in people's lives. Traveling to a new city (and country) every weekend has given me a very tough skin. I'm not bothered by early wake up calls, long flights, middle seats on an airplane, carrying multiple adapters, packing four days worth of clothing into a backpack, or all the other things people tend to stress out about during their travels. This is something that has just come so naturally for me.

Late September, all of the Gaiety students got the chance to travel to London for a weekend to see some West End shows and explore the city's passionate artistic culture. When I had found out about this trip, I was absolutely stoked. In fact, this was actually one of the many experiences that had led me to choose to go abroad with IES Abroad in the Fall! Just a little bit of a preface on my overly enthusiastic attitudes... I had:

October 12th marks la Fiesta Nacional de España, which celebrates when Columbus landed in the New World in 1492. The holiday is not enthusiastically or widely celebrated in Spain and is thankfully mostly overshadowed by the feast day of Nuestra Señora del Pilar, which begins a weeklong festival of religious festivities and is recognized by the Spanish Civil Guard as a national holiday.

In the blink of an eye, half of my semester abroad is gone and so is my time in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I type this blog as I hastily try to pack before the van arrives outside of my homestay to take me to the airport for my week-long immersion field trip in Peru before I embark on the second half of my semester in Santiago, Chile.

These past two weeks have made me realize the incredible connections that the IES Abroad program has established in Milan, specifically regarding music. Opera was invented in Italy so it is much more prevalent in Italian culture than American culture. In addition, one of the five most prestigious opera houses in the world, La Scala, is in the center of Milan. Being aware of all these facts, I was already expecting to broaden my knowledge and understanding of opera by coming to Milan. However, my expectations have been surpassed!

Thursday | October 12th 2017 | Taito

Last Thursday, with an afternoon free of classes, we ventured into Tokyo to visit the Yanaka district in Taito. This particular neighborhood still exudes the old school Japanese vibes in contrast to central Tokyo. Our first stop of the day was Kayaba Coffee, a local coffee shop with a rich history.

The photos in the first half of this post were taken in Paris, prior to leaving for a short weekend trip to the Normandy region. I found it fitting to contrast the black and white photos taken in Paris with the color photos taken in the countryside and along the coast. There was something about the light in Normandy– perhaps the deep blues, juxtaposed against the muted earth-tones and the wide-open spaces– that compelled me to capture the images in full color. 

I expected the Tiputini Biostation to be rustic, low tech, bare cabins full of bugs and lacking most comforts. Basically, a camping setup. However, the facilities pleasantly surprised me. The dining area was large and always had drinks, fruit and snacks laid out. Bats hung from the ceiling and ants were as common on the table as the wood used to make it.

On my second weekend in the UK I went on the IES Abroad field trip to Stonehenge and Bath. I love how much hype there is for a group of rocks that's survived 5000 years. Friends from home told me to enquire about the theories on aliens and Stonehenge. Apparently around Stonehenge is where the most UFO sightings are in England! In my humble opinion though, Stonehenge was definitely built by humans. Why?