Midterms are here! Can you believe it? I have been living in Vienna for so long now, I am practically a local. Yesterday, I saw a young woman wearing my exact same outfit—scarf, jacket, hairstyle and all! That’s what happens when you go to Europe: you look confused for the first few weeks but finally assimilate and derive joy from finding an Austrian doppelganger. I’m joking. Sort of.
It has been a struggle to find good spaces to study in the city. With the IES Abroad center only open until 7 p.m. Mon-Thurs and until 2 p.m. Fridays, it was necessary to set out and discover more study-friendly places to get work done so that I don’t have to resort to being cooped up in my homestay all the time. Since I am not enrolled in either of the local universities, I had limited access to some of the libraries. Below I have compiled a list of some of my favorite cafes and public study areas, WiFi passwords and all.
Looking at the massive structure of La Sagrada Familia from the outside, I saw an unfinished masterpiece overshadowed by cranes, scaffolding and the noises of a construction site. However, as soon as I stepped inside of Gaudi's cathedral, I had no words to say besides "wow" and nowhere to look besides up. Suddenly it was all silence as I stepped across the marble floors and watched the sunlight come in through the stained glass windows in every shade of orange and blue. The gothic columns imitated trees and shot up to the high ceiling above.
A week ago on Monday I had the panicky realization that I am halfway done with my semester abroad in Amsterdam. A million thoughts have raced through my head this past past week: How did the time go by so fast? I still have so much I want to do! Where is all my money?! Why don't I feel like I've done anything? I haven't done anything. The paralyzing fear of wasting my time has been like another person sitting on my shoulder whispering all of my failures and shortcomings into my ear. I also have the
Wait what’s Catalonia?
I stared at my friend’s text in disbelief. What does she mean what is Catalonia? I had just proposed plans for traveling to Barcelona the weekend before Halloween and told her we should wait to finalize them until we had more news about the referendum in Catalonia. For those of you reading this and are just as lost as my friend was, let me provide some background information:
The Amazon Rainforest. It’s one of those places that was marked on my mental bucket list even though I never expected to realize it. Serendipity is a funny thing, though. Somehow choosing Ecuador, and specifically the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, the opporunity was practically thrown at me.
