My first few days in Ecuador have been great, I’m still pretty nervous to be in a different country but the excitement is starting to take over. This place is beautiful; everywhere you look there are so many trees and mountains. The view is absolutely breathtaking. I arrived in Ecuador on Friday January 13th. I’m not superstitious or anything but I have to admit I was a little skeptical flying on that day. Thankfully I made it to Ecuador and my host family was extremely welcoming.

€4,50 by the way, if you're wondering the price. That's not really the point of this short story though. Let me back up a little. The point of this of this story begins with a girl on a mission. That girl is me. And that mission is to find a café.

Before returning home after the end of my study abroad experience, I spent some time traveling through Europe because why not? I went to Portugal, France, Italy, and then returned to Spain for a time. Here, I just wanted to quickly show some of the famous sights I was able to see and hopefully encourage you, dear reader(s), upon seeing these obviously amateur shots of famous places to travel to them yourself and take even better photos (and of course, have an amazing experience. Good luck to all you future world travelers out there!

Dear Reader(s),

After an amazing experience studying abroad for four-ish months, an entire semester filled with ups and downs, great food and sometimes (rarely) not so great food, laughter, tears, and an unprecedented amount of churros, I am once again in the United States and I’ve gotta say: it’s a little underwhelming. It’s difficult to explain.

I sat thinking to myself the other day, “I have plenty of time left to get my visa, I’ll just do it later – I don’t leave for over a month.” Then I thought, “WOW – I leave in a month!” So, for the past month I’ve been back home working, studying for the LSAT (don’t ask me if I plan on going to law school), and spending time with family and friends.

On Monday I fly to Madrid and on Tuesday the demolition crew comes to knock down the walls of my childhood bedroom. I’m packing my suitcase, my duffel bags, and my backpack with all the clothes and appliances I’ll need abroad but I’m also filling plastic containers and trash bags with the relics of my years at home. Everything needs to be packed up for storage, thrown away, or taken to Madrid to accommodate the renovation that will transform my parents’ house.