For the final field trip of the program we split into three different groups each traveling to different cities. I was able to visit Budapest, Athens and Bucharest. This post is all about ATHENS! 

(photo 1) Greece greeted us with warm weather and our best hotel room yet. We even had a balcony and a view of the a colorful little street adorned with flowers and pink paint. 

I think Thanksgiving is around the time that homesickness really starts to hit. It started a little earlier for me when Siena began putting up lights in the streets in early November.

          Last Thursday, I stood in a kitchen with two paper bowls of chopped celery, diced carrots, and sliced onion. On a cutting board on the other side of the room, much more messily cut, were the chunks that had resulted from the chopping of two red apples and three cloves of garlic. On the stove, three-quarters of a cup of butter sizzled in a frying pan, and an enormous glass bowl full of stale bread crumbs was sitting on the kitchen table.

So I am lucky enough to have some of the coolest grandparents around. They support me in everything I do and like to come on adventures with me. So far we have gone California, London, and Barcelona together and now we can add the beautiful country of Chile to the list. We were only together here for about 4 days but we sure did fit in a lot of wonderful things.

Before coming to Japan, I really never went to convenience stores in America. American convenience stores were always a bit gross to me and I stopped trusting in the quality of processed and commercialized products from them years ago. If I needed something, there would be a market or speciality store of sorts where I could get my fix of whatever. Upon arriving, my world was rocked.

As the years have passed in my life, I have grown to see that God has a mysterious way of working things out in my life. During my first couple of weeks studying abroad in Shanghai, I had this almost impossible plan to explore Southeast Asia during my 3 months in Asia.. Because of re-entry issues, I soon realized that this almost impossible plan became truly impossible.

The title of this post translates to "eat and drink, that life is short." Which means, life is short so eat what you want! It's okay to indulge in something enjoy, you're only here (abroad) for a limited amount of time, so why not have a chocolate covered pastry with your coffee or another serving of patatas bravas? ;)

As my days at Oxford dwindle, I get to spend some time reflecting on the last two months of my abroad experience. It's been a wild ride and I'm going to miss so many of the friends I've gotten so close with, but, most importantly, I am going to miss all of the places I can all-too-often be seen stuffing my face in. Of course, it really just wouldn't be fair if I didn't create some sort of comprehensive list for me to read and cry about later. So here is my "In Memoriam":

Today I took off my shoes and noticed, for the first time, calluses that have formed on my soles and the backs of my ankles. This I attribute to the mass amount of walking I have been doing since arriving in Dublin. I’m thoroughly glad I bought good walking boots when I got here, otherwise I’d definitely be in pain. It’s a good thing I got a Fitbit for my birthday, as it has been recording the impressive number of steps that I’ve been able to reach.