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Academics and Bureaucracy: The Funnest Part of Your Experience Abroad

I'm here today to talk about what is doubtless at the forefront of the mind of anyone who is about to spend an academic semester abroad - academics!!
 
If you're looking to apply to study at Bogazici University for a semester, look no further - here is a (rough) guide* for what to expect.
(* Turkish bureaucracy is an unpredictable beast and your experience at Bogazici will depend on the classes you take so I can't guarantee everything will be as I described - these were just the processes that I had to go thro

The Early Bird Gets the Worm

For the last few weeks, Wednesdays have naturally become surf day.  Being from Southern California, my name has been thrown around as “the girl that is going to teach us all to surf.”  Those who have attended these “surf lessons” will gladly tell you that all I really do is push them into waves and hope that they will stand up after a few tries.

C'est la Vie

I’d like to think I’ve learned a few solid lessons throughout my life. Don’t sit on top of an air-conditioning vent with your phone in your back pocket. Don’t put your wallet on top of the car while gassing it, promptly forget, and drive away. Don’t put lip balm through the dryer. You get the idea. Life’s about making mistakes, but only if you’re able to learn from them, and I’ve discovered that I seem to repeatedly attract disaster as I awkwardly fumble through this life. Allow me to elaborate: here is the story of how I got to Freiburg.

Que Sera, Sera

March 9, 2016 12:55pm

 

"God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change

The Courage to change the things I can

And the Wisdom to know the difference."

- The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr 

 

The Serenity Prayer, that I quoted above, is a prayer much about the abnegation of control.

Picasso Mania

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. 

First Impressions of Berlin

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.

 

Mindo es Lindo

The second weekend, most of the kids in our program traveled slightly Northwest to a tiny town called Mindo. After a bus ride on winding roads that weave around beautiful lush mountains, we arrived to the town in the cloud forest. It is very close to Quito, but in a completely different ecosystem because it is lower in altitude.

An Evening Stroll Up Rua Barão de Guaratiba

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.

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