Early this Monday morning U.S. Central Time the IES Abroad website will undergo scheduled maintenance. During this time some or all features of the site - like login and account creation - may be unavailable, but we expect this disruption to be brief. Thank you for your patience.
I know I’ve probably let you all down, my dearest readers, as I’ve fallen slightly off my once-a-week goal of writing blog posts. The reality is that I have three midterms this week and, as much as I love exploring new cities, this is still school!
A few weekends ago, my friends and I took our first trip outside of Berlin to Amsterdam. Because we had to be at the airport at 5:00 AM, we thought it would be a good idea to stay up and go out the night before. As you have probably already guessed, that was the worst idea ever. Imagine 7 teenagers sprawled across the floor of the airport and you would get a good sense was the situation was that morning. Seriously, I wish I had photo evidence of this because it was hilarious, but unfortunately I do not.
The desert is a place of extreme dichotomies. Blistering hot at mid-day, but bone chilling by night. Tiny, individual grains of sand amass so together they transform into a consuming landscape, one that stretches across an entire continent. Venture in too deep, and you may not find your way out. The matter of life and death becomes so easily palpable. These stark contrasts are what make the experience of visiting the desert indescribable.
Unfortunately our free week to get acclimated to the area of Sydney and the University’s orientation week have come to an end, and class work has begun. I’m taking Diet and Nutrition for Sport and Health, Bioethics, Brain and Behaviour, and American History. Going to class is the ultimate struggle not because of having so much work to do but because there is rarely air conditioning in the buildings here!!
Not really. While I’ve definitely experienced homesickness before, the last few years have helped to prepare me for living away from home. As college students in this digital age satiated with social media, I think we create pre-existing notions about what it means to study abroad. We watch our friends go abroad before us and share photos and posts that highlight the best p
I have officially been in Brazil for a few days more than a month and the time has passed almost right before my eyes. I’ve realized me and roommates have just gotten some of the simpler things down, but still have so much left to learn and see. It’s really starting to set in that our trip to Peru quickly approaching and we’re eager to soak up as much Brazilian sun and Carioca culture as we can. Here’s a list of a few basic things we’ve finally mastered.
As I write this I am grappling with the idea that I will have been out of the United States for a month in just a couple days!! Life while studying abroad seems to go much faster than life at home, and I think it can probably be chalked up to the fact that there are so many new sensations to be felt, so many new experiences to be had, that time begins to make less sense.
Once you’ve landed at Galeao International Airport and start your journey to your new host home in Rio de Janeiro, you’ll notice small neighborhoods throughout the city. These are called Favelas and they’re home to the majority of Brazil’s working class. You may have heard a lot about what these small communities snuggled into the city are like, or you may be completely oblivious to their history in Brazil like I was.