As I dragged my two overpacked suitcases through the Madrid airport, my head throbbed with the pain of sleep deprivation. Believe me, a six hour time zone change transforms your Spanish skills...and not in the way desired. Nonetheless, the IES Abroad program leaders survived my hazy language comprehension, guiding me to a taxi which transported my friend Liz and me to our host family’s apartment. Our host mom Ana greeted us in English instead of Spanish, probably noticing my ghoulish yawns and eye bags.

I have officially hit the 24 hour mark before I am in Italy. I am Canadian, and the only Canadian in the Milan Summer Internship program- embarking in an 8 week internship in Milan. My name is Victoria and I am a fashion student back here in Toronto. I have talked so much about doing this and wanting to live abroad for so long, that I cannot believe the day has actually arrived. 

I surprisingly have not touched on the topics of food, imports, or the economy in Argentina at all in my blog despite the fact that it was a pretty big hurdle when I first got here. Argentina doesn’t have a typical free market economy; you can’t import goods without exporting something of equal value.

This blog is coming out a tad late but then again most people back home don’t keep up with Argentine news anyways. That being said, about 2 weeks back I was in Argentina to witness a historic moment: 2 x 1 and the march against 2 x 1.

It’s 1:08 on Monday, May 22nd. You were two minutes too late to catch the last Metro and now have to wait another eight minutes before the next one comes. You’re running late for class, where you forgot you had to give a presentation today. Thankfully your past self was smart and finished it a week early, but you never edited it, will it look good? Was there a time limit to fill? How is it you went to bed early in both Berlin and Prague, where you’d spent your previous weekend exploring, and still wake up today fuzzy and utterly unfocused?

To be an effective studier, I depend a lot on my environment. These were the places where I was the most productive. Most of them are also conveniently located near to IES Abroad. There are tons of cafes that aren’t included in this short list but these are some of the ones I frequented the most.

It’s a good question. When I first left for Madrid, I was kind of nervous. While I was extremely excited to come to a new place and start a new life here with new people, it kind of felt like I was running away from my problems -- that I was just pausing life for six months.

Thursday, May 18

I'm home! But I feel foreign.

Okay, if you have been keeping up with my blog posts you would know that feeling foreign is pretty typical for me -- since I'm Brazilian but I currently live in the U.S. Nonetheless, New York is currently my home or as the hipsters say I'm presently based in New York. But the thing is, feeling foreign is probably one of the few familiar things in my life.

            Taking “Sustainable Energy” abroad has been one of my favorite classes so far in college.  It allows us the opportunity to experience firsthand how German people view the environment.  Yesterday, we got to travel to three different farms and see how the farmers there are dealing with Germany’s transition to renewable energy.  Germany has been committed to phasing out nuclear and fossil fuels for a long time.