It's easy to get swept up in the elegance of the baroque architecture throughout Vienna, but taking an architecture course gives you an opportunity to appreciate more modernist styles.

I have learned that most trips start on an odd note, this time it began at 6:20 A.M. on an Air Lingus flight with a bunch of rowdy 28-year old boys shouting in front of me and my friends. But what bothered me most was the boy sitting in front of me who had a grotesque pimple on his neck.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit the Island of Santa Cruz. It’s weird to think, but the atmosphere was so different there. Where I live on San Cristobal is a small town where everyone knows everyone. I am sure Santa Cruz is the same way but it was so much more touristy. It was heavily populated, had more restaurants and shops. Getting to Santa Cruz was not how I expected it. I knew there was some sort of boat ferry transporting people back and forth but when I saw the boat I was a little thrown off.

"Le bonheur est parfois caché dans l'inconnu." / "Happiness is often hidden in the unknown." - Victor Hugo

A street musician fills the bustling morning market at the Münsterplatz with charming music, completing the atmosphere of feeling like one could be in a German market a century back.

Like every other student that decides to travel abroad, I am tasked with several missions: learning my surroundings, enhancing communication skills (whether this be elaborate hand gestures for some, or the actual local language for others), and assimilating. And, as I am sure is the same for all students abroad, I am having the most difficulties with the last goal: assimilation.

As I write this, I’m sitting in the strangest place I’ve ever been in my life.

In the United States the coming of spring is celebrated most famously on Groundhog Day, the second day of February. On this day, Punxsutawney Phil, a groundhog that lives in Punxutawney, Pennsylvania, is brought out during a festival filled with music and food to predict the end of winter. According to legend, if Phil sees his shadow and returns to his hole, he's predicted six more weeks of winter (or winter-like weather, to be more precise). If Phil does not see his shadow, spring will come early.

An epiphany brought to you by a captivated visitor to the Giant’s Causeway:

Please understand the value of staying in your towel.