This past month I took a trip to Italy with three of my good friends. We decided to take advantage of this four-day weekend and explore another country. We flew into Bologna, took a train to Florence, and then a train to Rome. I felt a bit of culture shock as soon as I arrived in Italy because of the language difference—I didn’t really experience this in Barcelona because I am already fluent in Spanish (although there is Catalan everywhere, it still wasn’t as huge of a shock as Italian).

In Santorini, the beginning of November means that the tourist-season is coming to an end. For me, it meant that I immediately had to book a flight to explore the magic of this quaint island. Luckily, the end of the season indicates cheaper prices for anything that one can find or do on this island. Therefore, my friends and I decided to explore the entirety of the small island and make use of the still wonderful weather.

So far, this IES abroad program has sponsored 12 + school field trips. For the fact that I am paying the same tuition as my home school (and have yet to go to on school sponsored trip ever)–this abroad program is pretty unbelievable.

And this past week…? Well, they sponsored an all expenses paid 9-day spring break trip for us to hop to 4 of the other islands on the Galapagos. And yes, it was magical.

Even though it is always fun and exciting to travel outside of Dublin (whether it be within Ireland or internationally), it can be equally rewarding to see the sights and sounds of what the city and its neighboring towns have to offer!

This past weekend, I went on a trip to the provinces of Salta and Jujuy (pronounced "HOO-HOO-ee"), located in the northwestern corner of Argentina. IES Abroad greatly exceeded my expectations in terms of hiring informative but personable guides, feeding us extremely well, and bringing us both to the classic tourist destinations and also the more local, cultural spots.  

White:

After hopfully capturing your attention with my title, I'll provide some context to the story: Two months ago, some construction workers were digging a tunel outside of the city in order to make way for a new subway track and they somehow dug through all the wiring that provides (provided) electricity to the entire northern zone of Buenos Aires.

Thus, for four nights my neighborhood and its surrounding barrios were left to fend for themselves without electricity. 

This blog post begins in high culture and ends in pop culture.