01 October 2015

During Silver Week, a holiday or break during the Fall Semester, four other friends and I went to Kyoto for 3 days. We took the bullet train or Shinkansen straight to Kyoto Station on a Sunday afternoon. Besides moving at a speed of about 200mph, the 2-hour Shinkansen ride was just another train ride.

Now that IES Abroad classes in Barcelona are in full swing, I’ve started to get into a daily groove. Forming a routine has brought stability and comfort to what has definitely been an equally hectic and exciting first month. Since I spend the majority of my days in this routine, I’d like to give you a look into what a day in my life is like here. As a disclaimer, no two people have the exact same schedule and everyone has different interests, priorities, and goals for their time studying abroad.

Being in Australia is changing my mind about stuff – not that my mind is something that ever solidly lands on things – but the way people live here is making me rethink my next few months, or years, or decades maybe. As a college student, I’ve discovered that it's surprisingly hard to separate myself from the mindset that says ladder-climbing and financial stability are important things for graduates to get.

It's Aussie spring break, y'all!

Imagine, for a second, that you're a pianist. Not the 7-year-old-and-my-mom-is-making-me-play pianist, but a bona fide, professional pianist. You've spent your whole life practicing, listening, reading, watching, doing all the things necessary to succeed or at least exist in the professional world of those ebony and ivory keys. And then one day someone comes up to you and says they want you (you) to play on the grandest of all stages in front of the most eager of all audiences and with the best of all pia...ccolos. Piccolos..?

Here is an account of our field trip to the Camino de Santiago.

I am most aware that I’m in Dublin when I’m alone, and I am most often in Dublin alone along the Grand Canal, because it is the route I take to the Luas train four times a week, as well as my favorite place in the city to run.