This morning, I woke up pleasantly late to meet some friends from my Personality Theories and Psychopathology class. We gathered right off the Kettenbrückengasse U-Bahn stop and walked quickly through the yelping stalls for the most sumptuous Israeli breakfast at a small restaurant called Neni. We all sat, surrounded by our stripped-off coats, and smiled the entire time. We’d done some traveling the previous weekend, so stories of Venice, Prague, and Salzburg bubbled up.

I remember during my second week in Morocco, I sat in a Meknes Café among a group of my American peers and young Moroccans. I was explaining to a new Moroccan friend (in English) about the hardships I had already encountered as a foreigner trying to speak Modern Standard Arabic with other Moroccans. Intending to offer some consolation, he shrugged his shoulders, and replied nonchalantly,   “Well, if they cannot understand you, you can always answer in French. They should understand that.” 

There is no better way to learn about Italy than visiting its less-known, more chilled cities. With the intention of going off the beaten paths, I visited Parma and Bergamo last weekend for a weekend escape from the 24/7 dynamic Milan. I want to hunt for the humble trattorias and their simple, satisfying, inexpensive cooking.

One of the optional day trips for my program is a hike in the Swiss Alps. This has definitely been one of my favorite trips of the program. So, if you are thinking about going, do it! We woke up early and took a bus to Engelberg which was only a couple hours. There were three options for the hike each with a differing level of difficulty. I opted for the more strenuous uphill hike. I was a little nervous, but it ended up being the best decision because of the great views and the snow which I'm a big fan of.

China is often thought of--almost known for--being a homogenous society, and at first glance it's easy to see why. However, what many people do not know is that China's makeup consists of 56 different ethnic groups. The majority of Chinese people are Han--91.25% to be exact. The other 55 groups make up the remaining 8.75%. One of these groups are the Hui people who I stayed with during our trip to Ningxia. The name "Hui" orginates from the Qing dynasty.

Come one, come all! On today's exciting new post of Mozi's Abroad Adventures we will reliving some of the most beautiful scenes I've ever experienced. For this post and the next (and possibly a third one later on down the road), I'll be blogging about my time spent surrounded by the gorgeous greenery of Japan. For this specific post, I'll reminisce on my trips to two different Japanese-style gardens. はじめましょう！

Tokugawa-en (徳川園)

Ecuador is home to great cultural diversity, and is home to many indigenous groups. One way that people of indigenous anscentry express their cultural idenity is through traditional dress. 

You actually see a lot of women in Quito wearing tradtitional dress. You only see women in traditional dress, very rarely (to almost never) see men wearing traditional dress. Even when you see couples, the woman will be in traditional dress, the daughters often will too, but not the man or sons. 

Study abroad can become very expensive very quickly. Even though Berlin is relatively cheap compared to other European cities, I’ve still had moments of panic while looking at my bank account (usually after booking trips—here’s to you, Dublin) and am therefore pretty picky about what material items I spend my money on. After all, I’d rather be able to go see the Alps than buy a new shirt.