Our adventure in Peru was undoubtedly fantastic! It was a week of waking up way too early, visiting every landmark possible, dealing with the change to high altitude pressures, and of course the amazing Peruvian food! It was a whirlwind of experiences visiting Lima, Cusco, and Machu Picchu within a week.
It is still the orientation month and our housing tutors planned to take us to a hiking trip to black forest which is quite close to Freiburg. I woke up early in the morning all excited to go on the hiking tour. It was still snowy outside, but I think it was a great opportunity to get to know other people in the program. It was quite difficult for many students to hike specially in the snow, yet it was one of the most enjoyable hiking trip I have ever been to. The view from the top was worth the effort to go all the way.
My first few weeks in Freiburg were quite overwhelming. At first I thought what I have gotten myself into, I should not have done this, I shouldn’t have challenged myself to this extent, but after a while I started enjoying each moment and realized that its an opportunity of a lifetime to experience all of those amazing cultures which I will experience over this trip. The first night our housing tutors took us to a dinner in town. I met many people from all across the States, but it was difficult to decide who will become my friend at that point.
People aren’t exaggerating when they say Paris is the most romantic city in the world. On my final trip outside of Italy during my semester abroad I had the privilege to visit the “City of Light.” There are no words to describe just how incredible Paris truly is, and when I left I felt like I had only seen a fraction of what Paris had to offer.
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would spend my spring break on a beach in Barcelona, Spain, riding bikes in Faro, Portugal, and climbing the San Francisco-like hills of Lisbon. Yet, I did all of these things and much more during the most amazing spring break I could have ever dreamed of. My feet may never forgive me for the amount of walking we did during our 10 day vacation, but I had an incredible time seeing two countries with a unique way of life.
This semester is somehow, so quickly and unfortunately coming to a close, and sometimes I wonder why I didn’t choose to spend an entire year abroad instead of only 4-5 months. My travels throughout Europe have granted me the privilege of meeting beautiful people from wonderful places and it’s intoxicating to know that I’m nowhere near being done.
I spent this past weekend exploring Krakow with my family before their departure to London and then back to the state as my little sister can only play hooky for so long! We decided to visit Krakow over Warsaw due to its more walkable size and proximity to Auschwitz, a site we’ve all felt would be important to visit, but never knew when we’d make it close enough to go.
I chose to live with a host family. Most everyone recommended I do so before my departure from the US. They told me that I would get to know the culture better and be forced to practice more Spanish. What they couldn’t have told me was that this experience would become foundational to my perception of family altogether. (*From here on out I will be referring to by host relatives without the word “host”*)
