Salut!

I went back to the Grand Palais to see Picasso Mania! This expo was right across the hall from the Louis Vuitton expo and I had been meaning to see it for the longest time. When I heard that it was closing soon, I hopped on a metro after class one day and bought a discounted student ticket to one of the most popular exhibits here. 

1. “Ladies and gentlemen,” the stewardess says in German. “Welcome…airplane…airplane…beautiful weather…airplane…thank you for flying with United.” There are other words in there with the airplanes, but they aren’t ones I understand. Even the fact that I’ve heard this speech before, in English, doesn’t help me piece together what all those mucky-sounding spaces are supposed to be.

This cannot be a good sign.

As I walk away from the Catete metro station, Rua do Catete unfolds in front of me. To my left is a food cart is advertising in English: Dutch Fries, Hamburgers, Beer on Tap, Shots. It is playing a Nirvana song on its speakers, and a few people are hanging around drinking beer. People are sitting on the walls of the metro station, just hanging out. I can smell something frying, and feel the wind from the traffic pushing the heavy air across my face.

I know I’ve probably let you all down, my dearest readers, as I’ve fallen slightly off my once-a-week goal of writing blog posts. The reality is that I have three midterms this week and, as much as I love exploring new cities, this is still school!

A few weekends ago, my friends and I took our first trip outside of Berlin to Amsterdam. Because we had to be at the airport at 5:00 AM, we thought it would be a good idea to stay up and go out the night before. As you have probably already guessed, that was the worst idea ever. Imagine 7 teenagers sprawled across the floor of the airport and you would get a good sense was the situation was that morning. Seriously, I wish I had photo evidence of this because it was hilarious, but unfortunately I do not.

The desert is a place of extreme dichotomies. Blistering hot at mid-day, but bone chilling by night. Tiny, individual grains of sand amass so together they transform into a consuming landscape, one that stretches across an entire continent. Venture in too deep, and you may not find your way out. The matter of life and death becomes so easily palpable. These stark contrasts are what make the experience of visiting the desert indescribable.

Unfortunately our free week to get acclimated to the area of Sydney and the University’s orientation week have come to an end, and class work has begun.  I’m taking Diet and Nutrition for Sport and Health, Bioethics, Brain and Behaviour, and American History.  Going to class is the ultimate struggle not because of having so much work to do but because there is rarely air conditioning in the buildings here!!

Not really.  While I’ve definitely experienced homesickness before, the last few years have helped to prepare me for living away from home.  As college students in this digital age satiated with social media, I think we create pre-existing notions about what it means to study abroad.  We watch our friends go abroad before us and share photos and posts that highlight the best p