Minnesota doesn’t get earthquakes. Period, end of story. If my house shakes back home, it’s because of some strong winds during a thunderstorm, and it definitely doesn’t knock things off of shelves.

One of the many wonderful things about living in Europe is the ability to travel all around the continent in a fairly easy and efficient manner. So, a couple of us decided to hop on a plane and spend the weekend eating baguettes and window shopping in Paris. Sounds fun, right? It was.

Before my advisor told me about IES Abroad, Tokyo was my dream study abroad city for years and years. I decided that Nagoya was a better place for me because I get lost easily, I'm a strong introvert, I like smaller cities, and I wanted a more intensive language program, but Tokyo has still been on my bucket list for a good 5 years minimum. And I finally made it! 

As I stand there looking up at Kate Middleton I smiled to myself and realized that I live an extraordinary life.

4:30 a.m. my alarm goes off and I’m more wide-awake than ever. Today is the day; today is the day I will get to see the queen, and the royal family.

Today is Remembrance Day. It is a day to honor those who lost their lives in service, those who served, and those still serving.

A retrospective: A little over a month ago, I was buying some vegetables from a seller at the Dappermarkt, an open market down the street from my apartment. After asking for a few ½ kilos of this and a ½ kilo of that in my clearly not-Dutch accent, he asked where I was from. I told him I was an American, which influenced the typical, “what brings you here” type of questions. Right before our transaction was finished, he asked “What’re your thoughts about the election?

After traveling from coast to coast of the Mediterranean Sea, including Barcelona, Santorini, the Almafi Caost, Rome and Nice, I decided I needed at least a long weekend to focus more on traditional French culture. I planned a trip to Annecy, France. I knew Annecy was a typical summer destination located on Lake Annecy, in the French Alps.

A great thing about going to school in Boulder, Colorado is being so close to Red Rocks Amphitheater, potentially the best outdoor concert venue in the world! All of my friends in the United States had the pleasure of seeing the Chainsmokers live at Red Rocks. Although I am so happy and excited to be in France, this is something I felt I missed out on.

The SLUMp vibes

The last couple of days have been very weird. A lot of mixed feels. Let me explain. Bear with me here, it going to be two different topics smashed into one semi-disorganized blog post. I apologize ahead of time: