My mom was pretty alarmed when I told her I was going to go to Rome by myself. “Really? You don’t want to take someone with you? I thought you had friends!”

1. Buy a 3-month metro pass: This pass can be used for the metro, bus, tram, nitbus.
2. Along with the theme of public transportation, download the TMBApp. It gives you the accurate time arrivals for every metro and bus stop.
3. Google maps works on airplane mode.

Some things people don't usually do in Barcelona...

1. Go to El Raval

El Raval is a culturally diverse neighborhood. It is very different than the rest of Barcelona and there are many things to see and places to eat in El Raval. Although this is an interesting neighborhood to visit, I would recommend not going by yourself at night.

On the last IES Abroad field trip (the member states trip), I was able to travel to Budapest, Hungary and Bucharest, Romania. I am so thankful that I was able to visit these two cities. Both were places I really hadn't thought of traveling to on my own (especially Bucharest), and they ended up being places that I will never forget. The academic meetings we had on these trips were also fascinating. It was such a great experience to learn about Eastern European countries and how they are integrating into the European Union.

Within the last few weeks we were in Santiago, the Chilean spring was really taking full form. It was warm, the trees were in full bloom, people spent hours in the parks, and the city truly came alive. With this a number of festivals, protests, deomstrations and the like began to occur more frequently. On November 14th, one of these such events took place: Open Mind Fest. This festival was dedicated to promoting free love across the gender sex spectrum, appreciation for diversity, and simply adopting an open mind.

As Quito is situated at about 10,000 feet above sea level, it's quite close to the clouds. Since the rainy season started (September-May), the clouds have been amazing. About once a day, I see some clouds I'm compelled to take a picture of. Since I'm fascinated by the clouds here, I decided to do my next painting on the clouds. I thought it was going to be easy. I was wrong. 

Pichincha is a large mountain/volcano to the west of Quito. There are two peaks, Guagua Pichincha and Rucu Pichincha. Guagua means baby or child in Quechua, an indigenous language in Ecuador. Guagua Pichincha is the volcano part of the mountain. It is an active volcano, but its name is a reference to the fact that it really only lets out small puffs of ash. However, in '99 there was a big eruption that let out a huge amount of ash. 

This past month after island hopping was quite emotional. Considering that we were over halfway done with our program, still had classes, and wanted to make the most of everyday, it was hard to come to the realization that we actually were heading to the point to go home…Thankfully, I enjoyed these last four weeks with a lot of outdoors activities, and I even was able to land a volunteer research opportunity. 

On the night of November 13, a few friends and I were several feet deep into the earth, enjoying dinner, in an Italian wine cave in Florence. No wifi, no service, and no connection to the world beyond what we could see in front of us, we were happily absorbed in our immediate atmosphere. A short while later, heavy with pasta and warm with wine and good company, we emerged from the cellar in high, light-hearted spirits. It was hard to think of anything that could rupture our bubble.