IES Abroad Rabat visited Erg Chebbi, one of two sand seas from the Sahara in Morocco. The neighboring town, Merzouga, is a tourist hub. During the summer, many tourists come to be buried under the sand, as it is believed to be a cure for arthritis. The sand dunes can only be accessed by 4x4, by camel, or by foot. Fun fact: Camels can run at up to 40 miles per hour. (Fortunately our camels only walked. But they are known to be petty animals.) There are two species of camels: Dromedary and Bactrian.

Hiroshima arrival

Well it's been awhile since my last check-in, so I guess I need to fill you in on what I've been up to these last few weeks. I've done a ton of traveling, and that's mostly been the highlights of each week. So buckle up, I'm going to go fast through each one.

There’s nothing like running from the subway just in time to catch the train to get your adrenaline pumping on a Saturday morning. A couple weekends ago, we went to Suzhou for a day.

My friend TJ came to visit last week. He called from the airport and told me he was tired but when I saw him, an hour or so after he arrived, he was bouncing with excitement. He had sprinted out the door of his Airbnb, his shorts matching his fishing hat (both camouflage), and straight into me, embracing me in a bear hug. 

“I’m so excited to be wearing shorts right now!” he exclaimed. An older lady walked by in a fur coat, her husband in a heavy black jacket, and gave us a curious look.

Coffee and headphones are just some of the essential items one must always have during midterm exams.  I recently completed my midterms, and it was my first time studying for hours at a time outside of the United States.  I find it extremely difficult to study in my room, so I had to hunt for the best café to call home.  There was only one issue: cafes with reliable Wi-Fi in Paris are extremely hard to come by.

If you have read any of my blog posts, you know that I am a food snob. And I have been fairly surprised that Dublin has sated many of my cravings and created new ones. First of all, Dublin, obviously, cannot compete with L.A. Asian or Mexican cuisine, but thankfully I came to this city with no such expectations in that regard. But what they lack in these two critical areas, they make up for with other cuisines such as café-fare, Irish food, Mediterranean food, and Candy (now a food group after two months here).

It might seem like an over exaggeration, but this past weekend may have be the best one of my life. Mt fellow writer’s program students and I were treated to a weekend Writer’s Retreat, which our teacher promised would give us time to read, write, unwind, and live a weekend that was beautifully devoid of obligations or the need to rush around.

This past weekend, IES Abroad took the other students in the program and I on a field trip to Normandy.  Like with all IES Abroad trips, it started with a taking a bus early on a Saturday morning.  We drove to the city of Caen, which is near the D-Day beaches.  I had visited Caen last summer when I was in France with my family for vacation.  The city was heavily bombed during the second world war, and the only major buildings that were left untouched were the churches, a once-formidable castle near the center of town, and two stu

Today I ate lunch in a homeless shelter.

Before my family starts frantically calling me, let me explain: I was given lunch there because it’s where I volunteer as part of the Health Practice and Policy program.