I was torn between two options for where I could spend my midterm break. Should I go with my friends to Romania and see the Black Sea and Dracula’s Castle? When else would I have the opportunity, right? But on the other hand, my boyfriend lives in Grenoble, France, and for only 180€ I could go and spend a few days with him…

Like my host dad always says, “Somos más estadounidenses que ustedes” (We are more American than you Americans), referring to how pervasive U.S. culture is in Ecuador.

It may be true; most Ecuadorians know more about Hollywood movies/actors, current music, sports results, etc. than me. Whenever anything U.S.-related comes up in class, my professors always turn to me for clarification and I sit there dumbfounded at how little I actually know about the U.S.

When I told one of my professors today that I spent the past few days in Granada, he rewarded me with a Spanish saying: “Él que no ha visto Grana-, no ha visto na-.” Translation: “He[or she] who has not seen Granada has not seen anything (nada).” Said with the accent of Andalucía, the southern region home to Granada, which basically consists of chopping off the ends of many words. The accent is like the city: easy to get lost in but even more fun because of the confusion.

So I just submitted my first final paper today and in the true spirit of procrastination, I decided to write a blog instead of finishing up my next paper. One down, three to go! as much as I’m ecstatic that I have no exams, writing four research papers is a lot of work!! Especially when the writing style here is different from back home and I’m taking subjects that are basically all new to me and all four essays are due within two weeks and each one is 50 percent of my grade. In case you can’t tell from my little rant, I’m a little stressed out.

For fall break four friends and I headed to Copenhagen and Amsterdam to explore two cities full of blondes, expensive food, and cold weather. Both cities harbor distinct features. Like, Copenhagen has the longest strip of stores in Europe and very delicious smoothies, while Amsterdam has legal marijuana and canals that anyone could fall into. Despite their obvious differences, these two cities had one major thing in common: the ability to get me lost. Throughout the entire trip my friends repeated one thing, “if you are the amazing race, you would be eliminated.”

One of my personal study abroad goals is to practice living in the “now.”  Whatever that means.  Really what I want is to quit obsessing over my future job, my future classes, my future this, my future that, and fixate instead on what is going on right around me.  Unfortunately, it’s easier said than done, and lately I’ve found myself daydreaming about what is going on back home when I really should be fantasizing about is Spanish paella and Parque del Retiro.  I knew it was time for an intervention, and this long weekend was the perfect time to do it.  I packed th

So as our midterms are nearing (they’re this coming week in fact) our classes have begun reviewing for them. Getting us ready for what’ll be on them and answering any question we might have (like if we can use a dictionary…we can! Thank goodness).
Our German Pop Culture class was supposed to meet this past Friday from 12-2pm, generally guessing it’d be a review class, but we used it a bit differently and ended up going to a Fußball (soccer) game! It was Hertha BSC (Berlin) vs FC Ingolstadt 04 (Bavaria). The game was held at the Olympiastadion, built for the 1936 Summer Olympics.