Freiburg is one of the cities in Germany that is known for its Christmas Market. We spent so much time at this market it was unreal. It was a great place to go hang out after class and snag some really good food. My favorite thing to get there was the käsewurst, which is a sausage that has cheese inside of it. May sound weird, but it is one of the best things there. They had lots of other stuff too, like these flat potato pancakes that you dipped in this garlic sauce. Good food that keeps you warm.

Monday’s are blood-pumping red, hectic morning commutes on the JR Keiyo Line. The pounding of feet, the rush of Suica cards passing through the gates, the quiet thrum of electricity before the train arrives. Every morning, I watch the crowds part ways, waiting patiently for the passengers to get off before packing into the nearest car. I lean against the side of the end seats, my head resting against a metal pole. I count the seconds that flutter by. All commutes start and end on the Keiyo Line.

I’m lying on my couch, wrapped in a blanket and watching the West Wing.  I’m eating my mom’s delicious chocolate chip cookies and enjoying the warm winter of Tucson.  For all intents and purposes, I’ve picked up right where I left off four months ago.

My departure from Italy was obvious the second that I stepped into the Munich airport—the air was still and devoid of the steady whir of espresso machines. I fought the urge to cut in line even though a few months in Milan had taught me to smile and slide into whatever entry point I could find in the bulbous vaguely line-shaped clumps that are preferred in Italy to the linear and subdued German queues.

Americans know how quintessential this movie has become during the holiday season. I mean, if playing it on 24-hour repeat during Christmas Day doesn’t give you an idea…

My adventure in Europe as officially been over for about a week now, and although I've been crazy busy with holiday events since I've been back, I've still had some time to really think about my semester abroad and how it changed me.

            The month of December in the Galápagos flew by in the blink of an eye! Classes wrapped up smoothly with the final module in Geographic Information Systems. I also counted down the remaining sunsets over Playa Mann and got my fill of sea lions before I left. Upon returning to the Ecuadorian mainland, three friends and I stayed over the program a week to go travel southward to Parque Nacional Cotopaxi, Latacunga, and Baños. Everyone we talked to insisted on making it down to Baños, and they really meant it!

It was our third-to-last day in Japan, so we decided to eat kaiten sushi! Well, correction, Sierra and Kaochi wanted to eat kaiten sushi, so they invited me after I had bought my bread for lunch, so I ate the bread and then I went for second lunch with them. Mmm, second lunch. Delicious.