It’s been a while since my last blog post, but I think I’m finally starting to get used to school. We had final registration on Friday, and I caught up on all the work I put off last week, so everything’s coming up Mil(lie)house!

Today is September 30th- the last day of my first month studying abroad in Granada, Spain. In the past four weeks, I have visited six cities, three beaches, hiked up mountains and down waterfalls, tried approximately twenty-one different tapas, and met over a hundred new people.

I’ve always found it kind of funny that when people get lost somewhere and then they end up coming across the place where they got lost at later on, they usually say something like “oh I know where I am; this is where I got lost that one time.”

Now that might just be something I tend to say/do because I have been lost on more than one occasion but I feel like other people understand the struggle.

Hello dear reader(s),

Although I have not been feeling the effects of culture shock too much, there are obviously many differences between Italy and the United States. During the past month, I have stumbled into quite a few sticky situations, many of which have involved melting gelato.

“So, how far are we going?”  

Part of me feels like I've lost weight, but part of me feels like I've gained it all back from food. Oops?

Hey everyone! I've dedicated this entire post to food. So I know you will love it. Everything from entrees to mains to desserts. This post has it all from whimsical macaroons and ice cream, to greasy burgers and fish. You honestly can't go wrong. 

WOW. Just like that we FLEW through THREE months. Time, she is a weird thing isn’t she? Now, if this was supposed to be a regular semester at College, I would be begging for it to fly by, and it would seem as if time could not be moving any slower. However, studying abroad has been anything but that. Time is moving so quickly and all I want to do is grab the remote and hit the pause button (at least the “slow dis down” button). There is so much to do that sometimes I don’t know what to choose.

This past Sunday, I joined a group of IES Abroad students and e-pals participating in a community service event at St. Mary’s International School in Tokyo. We spent the afternoon playing soccer with the organization, Futaba Association. The event we attended is held four times a year, and many of the same families attend the light-hearted soccer practice as a chance for their kids to socialize with volunteers, like us, and other kids with Down Syndrome.

I fell asleep on the train ride to Tokyo Station.