One needs only to step foot in the airport to realize Japan is a very expensive country. Rent is incredibly high, especially Tokyo and its surrounding areas, groceries come in small, overpriced portions (especially fruits and vegetables!), handbooks on Japan frequently recommend bringing clothes as cheaper than trying to shop here, and the variety of cute items for sale come with quite the pretty price tag.

Friday January 20th and Saturday January 21st we had a Quito City Tour and went to Otavalo to do some exploring and to the indigenous market. USFQ set up the city tour and the events taken place saturday were coordinated by IES Abroad. The city tour began with us visting Itchimbia Park. the park is located at the top of Itchimbia hill. the summit sits at 2,900 meters (~9,500ft). The park gives you a beautiful view of the city Quito and its surrounding mountains. Our second stop on the city tour was Plaza de Independencia in Quito.

I have been a Northeast girl my entire life.  Living in upstate New York has kept me well-prepared for blizzards, cold winds, and anything else that winter decides to throw at us.  We often joke that we only get two seasons here: construction and winter.  As I prepare to head off to Germany, I have been thinking of the best ways to stay warm while I travel.  Here, I've decided to impart the tips I know (along with pictures to prove I've had my fair share of snow).

When I left school in December, it felt like I had a lifetime before I would be leaving for Germany in February.  And to be honest, I was dreading the months I had coming up at home.  I was envious of my friends who only had a couple of short weeks until they would be departing on their world adventures.  I didn’t like the idea of leaving the business of Washington, DC to come sit in my boring hometown with nothing to do.

After finally getting settled in and learning how to use the metro and ask for a baguette it was time to start exploring Paris. And this past weekend was a perfect weekend to get a taste of what will be around me for the next four months.

Saturday

At IES Abroad Milano, an opportunity is brand new this semester. Fulbright-in-residence Elyse Resnick has created a new course and volunteering opportunity that she dubs "Service Learning" with the Comune di Milano's World Cultures Center, which aids immigrants and refugees in assimilating to Italian culture, and finds these clients services (mental, physical, social). When it was announced this opportunity would be offered for course credit at IES Abroad Milano, I knew it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. 

Back in Dallas, I don't do the whole "apartment" thing. It's too much of a hassle, feeding yourself, paying rent, having to clean the toilet, and other adult things. Instead, I live in my chapter's swanky sorority house, with 30 other women, catered to by a private chef, and cleaned after by a housekeeper. Living with all women has been something I have become really used to, and honestly, nothing has changed since coming to Italy. 

Wow where to begin? We’ve done so much in the past week. Time is going by so fast here but being in America feels like forever ago. It feels almost like the beginning of freshman year all over again but a lot more intense and even more is brand new.

Officially in Barcelona!! Today marks day 14 and I am amazed how it has already been two weeks! On one hand, it feels like I have been here for months but then again, only two weeks ago I was in New York. My first days in this wonderful city have been filled with nothing but smiles, laughs, good food, new friends, and beautiful views.