When I have free time, especially with an anime and comic convention a few days away, I greatly enjoy the art of cosplay. Cosplay is short for "Costume Play," and it’s the recreation of a (usually) fictional character’s appearance, and for more dedicated fans, their personality and mannerisms too. Cosplay is very difficult and requires a creative mind and a variety of skillsets, including the application of makeup, sewing, or prop making among many others.

My venture to Barcelona began on an interesting note: sitting at the tarmac for two hours. But what more could you expect from cheap airfares Ryanair had to offer? My friends and I finally arrived at 23:00 (pretty European I know, teehee), but by the time we got to air BNB, all we could manage was a few tapas and paella. The most pleasing of the tapas was the Spanish take on quiche, because it was a thick egg pie that had a surprisingly crispy and light texture for its mass. After a much needed dinner, we all fell asleep.

Tenma-Cho, Nagoya

For my first blog post (technically second, but first since arriving in Siena,) I figured it would be appropriate to wait until I did a lot of the first time adventures. Over the last two weeks, I did a week of orientation, had our first week of classes, and took my first weekend trip. So I am going to tell you about all those experiences.

I am officially less than a month away from the official program start date and the excitement is building.

Before the program started you had to fill out forms for IES Abroad and one of the forms was housing. IES Abroad gives you three housing options, homestay, apartments, and international house. When filling out my form I knew right away that I wanted to stay in a homestay.

On January 17, 2017, I left the United States for four months. And I managed to expose my hypocritical tendencies and embarrass myself at the same time.

Watching Stonehenge rise up from the Salisbury Plain was surreal.

In only a handful of days, it will officially be a month since I stepped off of the plane and found myself in London. A month seems simultaneously too long and too short to be true.

It may seem idealistic and strange, but I truly think that there is some magic in Dublin. I don’t mean this in the sense of Druids and Leprechauns; instead, I think this city has an aura that always makes me smile, despite the cold weather.

After two weeks of class, I have settled into the daily grind…but unlike in LA, grind would not be the right word. It’s almost like a glide, or it seems like. From my experience, walking  along the Liffey is preferable to the laned traps of my native locale.