It’s cloudy. Not enough to assume rain, but the clouds are like a blanket covering the sun. There’s a slight breeze just enough to move the hair on my head. As I walk through the park, I notice artists and entertainers singing and drawing, trying to make their passion become a career. The artist was using chalk and was drawing a portrait of a woman from a picture. I didn’t know who the woman was, or how long that man was drawing her, but from what I saw it had to be hours.

The IES Abroad EU crew spent the past week in Berlin and Prague, and it was without a doubt one of the most fascinating trips I have ever been on.

Hellllooooooo! I'm back once again.

It's now been about three weeks since I've landed in Spain and I'm finally started to get accustomed to the culture. One of the first things I realized after my arrival was that a lot of the day revolves around meals. I'm certainly not complaining about this (I mean if you know me at all you'll know that I'm a huge foodie). However, although the food excites me, adjusting to eating meals the Spanish way has been very interesting.

There in a minute, gone in a flash, and just like that the three week German intensive courses are over, and we have a week off to pretend that more difficult school work doesn’t lurk on the horizon.

So getting on the plane and leaving everything I’ve ever known behind was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Not only was this the first time I had ever been to Europe, but it was also the first time I had flown without my parents. There were a lot of things I wish I had known about flying alone, and I learned the hard way.

Hopefully these tips will save some stress:

Hola dear Reader(s),

I play on my home schools rugby team. I joined freshman year, after the senior sitting next to me in choir on the first day told me I should. On a random feeling of, “hey, why not?” I went to rugby practice a few days later. Within that first two and a half hours, I KNEW that I would love this sport, even if I didn’t really understand it yet. (To be honest, 2 years later, I’m still not convinced I understand it completely.) Since that day, I have been dedicated to my team and to the sport, and I have had the time of my life playing.

For the 3rd week of September, me and two other girls that I had met through IES Abroad went on a 6 day Italy trip.  We were staying in Venice for 2 days and the remainging 4 days Florence.  During the last day at Florence, we made a quick stop to Pisa as well.