After a long walk across the city, my friend Jeremy and I finally got to see Athens and the Acropolis after ten years of waiting. We decided to book a free walking tour the next day because we thought it would be a good way to see the city. Upon leaving from Madrid, we were a little disappointed that we wouldn’t be able to practice our Spanish during a week and a half of the last month we had in Spain.

I know you have all been wondering what I have been up to in the past month; well, I have been on island time. I was really only on an island for a week with no service and no wifi (which allowed me to appreciate my time there), but island time has extended from the beginning of April until now.

For the first time since our German midterms, I stayed in Vienna this past weekend. After seeing all the new things I discovered this past weekend, I feel like there is still so much to see and try in Vienna. This was one of my favorite weekends because so many of my friends were also staying in town. By then, and certainly by now, most people had finished traveling for the semester. We had reached that two week stretch when our time in Vienna is limited, valuable time.

This semester has been filled with me constantly saying, “I can’t.” Honestly, I have surprised myself in more ways than one. Being back home in Texas, I have had time to reflect on my semester abroad in China.

I know my major is tourism and hospitality management, but one of my favorite subjects in school was always history. I love learning about the past and seeing how it influences our lives today. One of the most influential events in history was World War II and I have a fascination with it. So when the opportunity was presented to me to join some of the other IES Abroad Rome classes on a field trip to a World War II monument and museum, I couldn’t pass it up.

Scenery in Cabo de Gata

Since the IES Abroad program has concluded, most of the IES Abroad students have returned to their countries, but a few IES Abroad students and I remain since we opted to take classes at the local university where final exams are imminent.

Apologies for the delayed second installment of my Cork trip; however, I shall now continue the highly anticipated visit to the butter museum. But before Batool and I traveled to the butter museum we took a few strolls around the lough and walked by University College Cork. After awkwardly asking a few students to take pictures of us at every bridge we passed, we arrived in the city.

Hi again! I’m back & I bear more photos to share! Midterms are now behind us, which relieves a lot of the stress from last week… it’s weird at the same time too because, we’ve just finished midterms, but the majority of our schools back home have finished finals and even the spring semester by now. Also, Berlin's weather has finally decided to cooperate, aka.