Apologies for the delayed second installment of my Cork trip; however, I shall now continue the highly anticipated visit to the butter museum. But before Batool and I traveled to the butter museum we took a few strolls around the lough and walked by University College Cork. After awkwardly asking a few students to take pictures of us at every bridge we passed, we arrived in the city.

Hi again! I’m back & I bear more photos to share! Midterms are now behind us, which relieves a lot of the stress from last week… it’s weird at the same time too because, we’ve just finished midterms, but the majority of our schools back home have finished finals and even the spring semester by now. Also, Berlin's weather has finally decided to cooperate, aka.

“I say my hell is the closet I’m stuck inside, can’t see the light. And my heaven is a nice house in the sky, got central heating, and I’m alright.” – Dave Matthews Band, So Much to Say

Well...these last three days have been extremely hard. I pretty much haven't stopped crying since Thursday. I never thought leaving me would hit me this hard but it did and I don't know how to handle it. I'm sad I left the islands, I'm sad I am leaving the country and I am sad about the friends I am leaving behind. People keep saying "oh you can always go back to the Galapagos!", which I know I can but the Galapagos will never be the same unless I have all other 33 people I've spent the last four months with right beside me. 

German Universities or Uni as the Germans call it are in full swing now and have been since the last week in April. As part of my IES Abroad program, we have the opportunity to take part in a university course, along with our IES Abroad courses. The standard setup of IES Abroad courses is with fellow Americans on the same program, where the professors are from the university in Freiburg but are making a specific course for IES Abroad students.

¡Hola!

My name is Kiddest Sinke and I’m studying abroad in Madrid, Spain in Summer 2017.

When freshman year ended a week ago, I parted ways—not just with my beloved mini fridge and all-you-can-eat dining hall buffets—but with friends from different backgrounds than mine, who at the beginning of the year, I doubted would ever be able to survive my cringe-worthy dance moves and obscure sense of humor. Friends who, months later, I knew would last a lifetime.

These are a few of my favorite things, about Vienna:

My time in Rabat has been filled with trips — small and large — outside of Rabat. One of the first weekends of the program, I went to Tarifa, Spain, a little beach town opposite Tangier across the Gibraltar; I spent a weekend in Chefchaouen; I went to Portugal and Spain over spring break. Most of my trips have been with other people from IES Abroad. And traveling in groups of course comes with challenges — meeting everyone’s needs and demands, operating as a group in large spaces, etc.

I remember the first time I considered studying abroad. A bright envelope informing me that an anonymous alumni had recommended me for a study abroad program for teenagers and pre-teens sat in my mailbox, with my name printed clearly on it. For varying prices, the company would send children around the world for different lengths of time, teaching them leadership while they got to experience the world. I was hooked, it was exactly what I wanted. For years I begged my parents to go, and for years they said no.