"Right now I’m sitting in the IES Center with Maya. There is a lot to like about the center—it is really well located in Mitte, right against the Spree and Museuminsel. There’s a wonderful döner store nearby that I eat at far too often, coffee shops in every direction, and it’s basically a straight shoot to my house as well as Alexanderplatz. We have a balcony which is nice to sit on between classes, tons of computers and printers, and comfortable couches that I think are used for naps just as often as they are used for sitting.

One of the greatest perks of studying abroad in Europe is how easy it is to travel the continent. Low-budget airlines, fast trains, hostels, and Airbnb (my new favorite travel tool) make things easy. So far this semester, I’ve visited Florence, which is only an hour from Siena; Cinque Terre, the five dreamy villages on the Italian Riviera; and Madrid and Barcelona this past weekend. I have many, many pictures to share but the photo uploading system is currently under repair. Trust me when I say that I’ll put photos up as soon as possible!

It’s only been a month and half, and we’ve already done so much, including a handful of things I’ve never done before:

The first week of October we visited Le Château de Clisson – a castle built in the 13th century that was burned down during the Vendéen Wars in the late 18th century. Out of all the castles I’ve visited – and not just with IES - this one by far outweighed them all, without a shadow of a doubt.

If you didn’t already know, Siena is the home of the famous Palio race – a horse race dating back to medieval times, held in the large Piazza del Campo at the center of Siena. The historic center of Siena is split up into 17 contrades. Each contrada “owns” a part of the historic center, which may range from a street or two to several blocks. A contrada has its own fountain, flag, symbol, and colors. Contrada members are born into or adopted into their contrades. The Palio is held twice a year in July and again in August.

Finally, after weeks of anticipation, we're finally here! We arrived a few days into 0th week, or the week before tutorials and lectures begin, and were met by the always-friendly students and staff of our college, St. Catherine's. Known for being a great college for visiting students, we have been assimilated into the student culture at Oxford with ease, and have truly enjoyed this past week.

When in Europe for 3+ months, why not go to every single place where the airfare is 40 dollars or less? It's quite possibly one of the easiest places to travel at such a low cost, and when you're an impressionable youth with life ambitions and whatnot, that's all the more reason to get out there. In my first three weeks, I was fortunate enough to have friends willing to travel with me, so we were essentially all over western Europe in the midst of also exploring our home-base in London.

There is no better way to learn about a culture than learning a typical grandma-style recipe at her home. Especially in Italy, a country obsessed with producing everything with hands and experience for the "from-scrach" meals. Last night, I signed up for a pasta-cooking lesson in Milan and invited my friend Ryan to come with me.

Living abroad is always a complex process of adjusting, or in my case readjusting, to a different way of life. I've been debating if I wanted to write this blog post, because after months and months of bitching and moaning to come back to Rio, I felt almost embarrassed that I was even the least bit homesick. Yet, here I am - sitting in my bedroom in my apartment in Botafogo, writing this post, and opening myself up once more to the people who read my blog.