Nagoya's Higashiyama Zoo ranks as the second most visited zoo in Japan, right after the popular Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. It has a variety of attractions including a Botanical Garden, a mini amusement park, and a wide variety of unusual animals, including koalas and kangaroos. Higashiyama Zoo has a special Japanese animals exhibit as well, which is where I saw my very first Japanese native Tanuki (racoon dog), which were as adorable in person as they are in pictures.

Here in Germany, many of the students cook together in their dorms as a social activity.  Tonight, a group of IES Abroad students at Engelbergerstrase decided to use the rainy weather as an excuse to stay inside and cook.  It was really fun and we learned a lot about each other as we sat and ate.  It provided a way for us to bond (and fill our empty stomachs).  We were also able to help each other with homework and practice our German together.

My host señora is becoming increasingly alarmed.

“¡No comeis nada!” she regularly exclaims, gesturing towards the food left on my and my roommate’s plates. I would beg to differ- I feel like I actually eat quite a good deal of food here, although I rarely finish every dish Señora puts in front of me.

It’s been over a month now since I got to Vienna and it let me tell you, it has FLOWN by. When I first got here, I was a teeny bit worried about committing to 4+ months in a foreign country isolated from everything I knew and loved in America. It’s a daunting feeling, knowing that home was kept away by at least 15 hours of flying and a steeply-priced plane ticket. Unlike living in Boston, where I would sometimes buy a spontaneous plane ticket home, this was all or nothing.

Paris has captured and kept my imagination every day for a little under two months, but I wanted to explore the differences between the French capital and other European cities.  Therefore, this past weekend, my friends and I decided to travel to Barcelona.  This was my second visit to the metropolitan port, and I loved my time just as much as the first.

I was sitting in a boxed car on a ferris wheel, stalled at the top of the wheel with a spectacular view of Nice, when I realized that playing the role of tour guide changes everything.

I had only been in London for a few hours when a strange man hugged me. And sadly that’s not British slang for giving me a million dollars. I was sitting alone at a bus stop when he hit on me. Then, without warning or even much of an exchange of words, he was hugging me.

"Everyone is nervous before study abroad."

"You'll be fine, you're just working yourself up."

These were tidbits of advice from friends and loved ones as I prepared to take off for Germany. Despite the reassurance from those around me, all I could think to myself

"Don't freak out. You're only going to a place that you've never been to before and where you don't know the language or know anyone there to help you."

I think it's safe to say that I was a bit nervous. But here I am, a full week later! I made it!

For the second half of winter break, I spent a few days in the marvelous city of Bordeaux!  I was with my friend Patrick, who is in the IES Abroad Nantes program this semester and who also goes to Grinnell.  We stayed with our friend Vernon, who graduated from Grinnell nearly two years ago, is now studying in Bordeaux, and plans to work in the wine industry after graduating.  Like myself, Vernon also double majored in Economics and French at Grinnell, so it was enlightening to hear about his life after graduation.