We woke up at 6:30 AM on a Saturday to a cloudy sky and damp grounds. Though the weather wasn’t ideal for the trip, we refused to let it make a damper on our enjoyment of our travels that day.

The first stop of our trip led us to take a tour of the Melk Abbey, a huge building painted butter yellow and white. Our tour guide led us from room to room, some of which had been restored, while others had been completely changed from their previous Baroque decorations to modern pieces of glass, mirrors, and neon lights.

 Hey everyone!

Just a warning: this post might be a bit disorganized, it's kind of a rambling of my thoughts.

Friends, today I am going to geek out about music. Specifically, classical music. Specifically-specifically, playing classical music in an orchestra. If that’s not something you care about, you can check out a different blog post, like the one where I talk at length about buying peanut butter, or the one where I post a lot of travel pictures and go into detail about other people’s shoes.

(I realize that this blog is not always what you would call “quality.)

So after travelling around France and Europe, I've picked up some tips and tricks in terms of packing, planning, and the actual trip. So here's my list of what I think are the most important things to consider and remember when planning your next voyage.

This past week was my spring vacation and it was fantastic! It was way more relaxing than I thought it would've been, which was definitely needed after almost 4 straight weeks of midterms and essays. This time on vacation it was just me and my friend Erin. We started off in Paris Friday-Monday, staying at a family friend's apartment. Since we arrived a little later in the evening, Friday was spent relaxing and grabbing groceries. Saturday, we went to Sacré-cœur, a huge and beautiful cathedral.

I think there comes a point in every part of the semester when you start to reflect on where you are and what you’re doing, and for me it seems this point has finally arrived. Maybe it is because I’ve realized how much Santiago reminds me of Chicago, or because I feel as overwhelmed here as I did back home – I’m not sure how this feeling of “what am I doing here?” came about, but I’m positive I’m not the only one who’s felt this way and I’m sure I won’t be the last.

I’ve spent the last two weekends in Madrid enjoying the beautiful weather and long days before two consecutive weekends of travel – I head off this weekend to Dublin with a good family friend and then to Oslo with a Bowdoin friend the following weekend! It’s crazy to think that I have exactly a month until I depart, so I’m doing my best to make the most of every remaining moment abroad.

I don’t believe that Feta is officially the national cheese of South Africa, but the way it’s used here it may as well be.