They can spot an ABC (American Born Chinese) from a mile away, they said. You’re going to stick out as a Westerner, they said.

I've just spent three amazing weeks in one of the most fascinating cities ever! I feel so attached to this place that I can't imagine ever leaving! This Buenos Aires Summer Program has been so fantastic! Aside from meeting eleven, wonderful, new friends, I also had the opportunity to  stay in the best city in Argentina...Buenos Aires.

Seven weeks ago we landed in this foreign country as strangers. Today, we depart as dear friends. 

For some people, the “new” is something exciting, thrilling, interesting, and even rich. For me, the “new” is just a box. Yes, a box. A box that is closed, yet not sealed. It is right in front of me, waiting to be opened. I wonder and imagine what it has inside. This box doesn’t have a color or a shape. It isn’t big or small. It is just… a box.

I never thought Xi’an would be an interesting city to travel to.  I only knew that it was the home of the Terracotta Warriors and that it is the hometown of my Chinese roommate, Braven.  Other than that, I thought it was just a city that thrived on the achievements of its past as a tourist trap and nothing more. Well Xi’an, you pleasantly surprised me.  

Another field trip over and done! How weird that there aren’t any more excursions to look forward to and I’m headed home in five days. As a member of the first group they’ve taken to Cyprus, I feel like I have the authority to definitely recommend it to the next group. I really liked Cyprus, maybe even more than Greece.

I’m home for the first time in nearly two months, and yet for now, “home” feels like a misnomer. It’s familiar, sure, but after growing accustomed to everything from the 3:00pm siestas to the 10:00pm sunsets, it’s going to take some getting used to before my “normal” is once again normal. I’m filling my time with everything that I love – friends, family, coffee, literature, language… coffee – but it’s hard to think about anything other than my time in Madrid and beyond.

These are a few thoughts on what I learned from traveling gone all kinds of wrong.

I knew long before I signed up to study abroad in China that my internet habits were going to change. I signed up for about eight weeks of no Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, or New York Times— give or take a VPN. But what I didn’t realize was how much else the Great Firewall of China covered.

I’m supposed to write at least four hundred words about my study abroad experience, but how can I when I am mourning the state of my own country? How do I casually write about the good experiences I’ve had here in London when my heart is back home? How do I cope with the helplessness from afar? How do I do more than make facebook posts, all of which of meaningless until I act on them? It seems that since I’ve come to London, something has happened back home to pull my heart in their direction.