Holiday Availability: All IES Abroad offices will be closed on Dec 24, Dec 25, Dec 31, and Jan 1 as we take some time to celebrate. During the weeks of 12/22 and 12/29, our team will be smaller, so responses may take longer than usual. Thanks for your understanding—and happy holidays!
My plane trip here went very smoothly and wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. The airport had a lot of bilungual personel. The pilots, flight attendants and staff at the UIO airport spoke both Spanish and English. The transition from English to Spanish was immediate when I left the plane. Everything is written in Spanish and I was very confused as to where to go. Luckily, I knew enough Spanish and common sense to get through customs and retrieve my luggage.
I keep hearing that it’s interesting times to be in South Africa. That much is definitely true. Last Tuesday marked the 8th no confidence vote on President Jacob Zuma. This Wednesday marks the fifth anniversary of the Markina massacre by the South African Police Service. On the UCT campus, the Fallist movement and other forms of student activism remain strong and active.
Tuesday | August 15th 2017 | Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong
こんにちは！Hello!
Well, the time has come for one last post. As the dust is settling upon my arrival back in the states, I am finally back on the appropriate time zone, and no longer wide awake at 3am, going for a run at 4am, and having cooked and eaten a full breakfast by 6am.
Now is the time to return to reality, which for me at this point is fairly wide open. My job search is in full swing while I try and get myself in some sort of routine as I seek out the next step.
At the risk of creating a very unappealing, ignorant reputation for myself on this blog, I want to begin by admitting something that has induced the most anxiety for me as I prepare to leave for Amsterdam on Sunday. I know very little European history. I'm a relatively well-informed person and I enjoy knowing what's going on. I've never been one to sit back and let an experience wash over me, I like to know exactly where I am, why I'm there, and what it means.
As my departure date for France steadily comes closer, I find myself wondering more and more if I'm packing the right things, if my French is good enough, and whether or not I'm fit for the European lifestyle. However, with websites like Pinterest available to give me sage advice on clothes, I think I might be prepared enough to brave this new adventure.
Well, it has been officially one week since arriving back in the USA. I would not say has been a super easy adjustment back to the USA after my semester abroad. We were warned by IES Abroad that many of us would experience culture shock coming back. I was a bit hesitant of that due to the fact I did not experience when I arrived in Germany, but I did experience it here too. Jet lag has also not been too friendly to me too, cause it always hits me harder when I go back to the states.
