While everyone else here at IES Abroad Paris BIA was off traveling the world for Fall break I stayed here in Paris. Yet, in my opinion, I had the best week. You wanna know why? Because my mom came to visit. I had been looking forward to my mom coming more than anything. Even before I got here, I knew that was going to be one of my highlights of my time in Paris. Just the idea that I was going to get to show off this foreign city to the person I love the most was so flipping cool.

October has been a whirlwind of activity and I can’t believe that it flew by so quickly. From the busy class schedule to volunteering to a fall break adventuring in Europe the days seem to be slipping by faster than I’d imagined. But with Halloween festivities coming to a close and classes starting up again after our fall break, I thought I’d share with you guys some tips and tricks I’ve learned after my fall break adventures.

1. Do Your Research

Italians from outside of Milan often turn up their noses at Milanese cuisine, saying that il risotto giallo and l’osso bucco don’t hold a candle to the carbonara from Rome or pizza from Naples. For the most part I agree—I too prefer the heady, vibrant flavors of southern Italian food to the rounded, rich flavors of Milanese food. That being said, in the restaurant scene in Italy, Milan wins definitively at the art of Aperitivo.

It’s November of 2016 and everyone must be sick of the election by now. At the risk of being brutally honest, being sick of the election is not an opportunity to stop following the election or to allow yourself to be uninformed. Something I would really like to stress is that it’s not cool to be uninformed.

Patagucci: a preview of the vale la pena journey

I backpacked. For the first time. Backpacked for the first time in one of the best spots in the word: Patagonia. The mountains of Patagonia are divided.  Divided among Argentina and Chile. Me and my buddy Michal took on the Chilean half: Torres del Paine.

Real talk: I tried a few times and a few hours to organize a nicely laid out blog post to recap my feelings from my first trip since coming to Amsterdam. I jotted down notes on the laughable and frustrating events that happened over the course of my 6 day trip. I’ve read them over and over, but I have a lot of mixed feelings that I can’t seem to flush out in my typical “blog format”.

After surviving four written and two oral midterms, I celebrated by spending fall break in three different countries over a span of six days. It was absolute madness, but definitely worth it. We started off the journey by taking a train from Siena to Pisa, and then flying from Pisa into Budapest. At the Pisa airport, we met a Hungarian girl named Juniper who spent the next two days touring us around the city. It was great to have someone show us all of the local spots, and not just the touristy spots.

The ontogenesis of humans is influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

While it seems like you can explore Buenos Aires for an entire semester straight and still find new things to do every weekend, one opportunity you should definitely prioritize is taking advantage of Buenos Aires’ neighbor to the east, Uruguay. Two of the country’s most well-known cities are only short ferry rides away from Buenos Aires. Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay, is only three hours away by ferry, and the more relaxed town of Colonia de Sacramento is even closer, only about an hour and a half away.