For 25€ IES Abroad Rome offers a cooking module every Monday for five consecutive weeks that is taught by one of their Italian professors, Antonella Maglione. In order to show us a part of the Italian culture, we learned several different traditional dishes - all in Italian. It was a great way to provide for lunch, as well as gathering delicious recipes that we will be able to show off with once we return back home or to college.
Sometimes when you're studying abroad, you just do some random stuff. Actually, most of the time you do some random stuff, but sometimes you do some really random stuff. Such as decide to do part of El Camino de Santiago, a network of various pilgrimage paths throughout eastern Europe that all lead to the Cathedral of St. James in northeastern Spain. Of course we don't exactly have time to walk from Madrid to Santiago de Compostela (~ a lot of km), but with a 4 day weekend, we could do the 100 km from Madrid to Segovia. So why not.
1. Eat, eat, eat!
I have always had a passion for markets. Fresh produce straight coming from the farmers, cheeses, condiments, clothes, shoes, accessories, shoes, but also home objects. Strictly fresh, honest, low-price, and practical.
In Part One, I highlighted societal views, cost of living, language barriers, culture, and human rights as the fundamental components to examine when selecting a study abroad program. While these are all extremely important factors to consider, the factors I have listed below are those I erroneously failed to take into account when choosing my program, and now two-thirds complete with my first semester, I definitely should have. At any rate, please consider the following before confirming a placement in an abroad program:
Studying abroad is a life enhancing opportunity every student should experience, but choosing the right location/program is not as easy as it seems. When I first decided to study abroad, I considered several factors: climate, cultural/societal views, cost of living, cuisine, and potential language barrier. At that time, I knew that I wanted to study in a region I had not yet visited, but I also wanted to be in a country that offered my essential U.S. comforts: efficient public transit, solid city infrastructure, and of course, Wi-Fi.
During our first week of orientation, each individual was asked to state their name, school, major, and reason for coming to China. Unlike my peers, who were more so looking to gain something tangible/external from the experience, ability to speak Chinese more fluently or expertise in Chinese economics, I was seeking to grow more intrinsically. Coming to China for me meant putting myself in an uncomfortable environment to drive self-growth and to visit a new part of the world I had never been.
Lesson learned this week: Always. Carry. Cash. In. Europe.
Unfortunately this key lesson was learned the hard, and very French, way. Let me explain.
02 November 2015
This past week, IES Abroad Tokyo sponsored a trip to Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture. We traveled by Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo to Kanazawa Station and started our sightseeing and relaxation voyage.