The day has finally come! After two days of sleepless nights studying for finals, I have finally arrived at Narita Airport! The program was nice enough to have my epal pick me up even though I came a few days late. (An epal is a Japanese student who you get paired up with before the program starts! They are basically a buddy you can hang out with and get help from! They can speak English so don’t worry about any language barriers!)  I really appreciated it since everything was so confusing once I landed!

I feel like I have talked about settling in and finding my groove here in Buenos Aires, but I’d like to give you a look at what an average day looks like for me. Although I do like to add some variety and keep my schedule open, this is a typical weekday in Buenos Aires:

9:00: My alarm goes off, I roll myself out of bed, splash some water on my face, and join my roommate Hanna for breakfast in the dining room

Whenever I travel, I always get nervous that I’ll leave something behind. I’m constantly checking to make sure that I have my passport, phone, or wallet. I always have to double-check that I didn’t leave my phone charger plugged in at the airport charging station or my favorite shirt in my closet.

Leaving London was difficult because I knew that I was leaving part of myself behind.

“It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.”- R.E.M., It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

We have airplanes that get us to different continents in a day and high-speed trains that cross countries in a couple of hours. There are ferries and Uber and tram cars that help find our way around while abroad. However, since being abroad, I have fallen in love again with one of the older methods of travel: biking.

Being in Freiburg, Germany gives the opportunity to see some of the most environmentally-friendly living that exists in Germany.  With the tagline, "Green City," attached to their town's name, Freiburg has been establishing a green reputation since the 1970s when anti-nuclear power protests took place near by.  Through class, we had the opportunity to visit the Hotel Victoria.

This one is different. This blog is not about my time here in Madrid or learning about the culture in another part of Europe. This one is for the over 40,000 Americans who commit suicide every year, for the thousands more who attempt, for the over 300,000 rape survivors, for the thousands of children who are bullied in schools across the country, and for the millions of people struggling with depression and other mental illnesses.

This past week, I travelled to Chile, specifically the cities of Santiago and Valparaiso. The “spring” break was not only an opportunity to experience another South American culture, but also a time to reflect upon my experiences in Argentina.