Where did you have class today? Inside? Oh, I guess that’s fun. I had class outside. The Black Forest and all of Baden-Württemberg is my classroom. German classes have just ended, and I feel more confident with the language. We don’t have German class for a few weeks (and I miss it already!), but our Environmental Science classes have started. The first day of class all we did was talk about trees. Trees are a perfectly fine topic—but knowing about trees and then using that knowledge in the field is something totally new.

I’ve been in Freiburg for about two weeks and have already fallen in love with this city. It’s just gorgeous. I’ve woken up every morning to sunlight pouring through my window. Despite a few days of rain here and there, I understand why Freiburg has been aptly nicknamed the “sunniest city in Germany”. The landscape, is also gorgeous. There are rivers and mountains and beautiful old buildings that all mesh together in this Deutsch paradise.

This past weekend my flatmate, Shelby, and I went to Switzerland to work at camp. This camp is a language camp for Swiss-German children, ages 11-16, who want to learn English. We only spoke English at this camp, and I felt comfortable doing that, because I know English! The camp is in Langenbruck, Switzerland, and it is just as picturesque as the Sound of Music makes it out to be.

Like Milan, Budapest has been reputed as a city of endless charm. During the summer, I randomly met an Hungarian girl called Gabriella in a museum workshop and we instantly became best friends. Now that she is back in Budapest, I decided to spend a weekend with her and take the chance to visit this long-dreamed-about city. After four days of devouring delicious homemade Hungarian food and marveling at the Central European architectural wonder, I did notice some differences between the Budapest-style weekend and the Milanese weekend.

Most of my Chinese lessons so far have included at least one Chinese idiom. Personally, I love learning how to say things like 萝卜青菜各有所爱 which has roughly the same meaning as "to each his own", but literally translates to "some people like radishes, some people like cabbage, but both have their place". Not only are they useful for understanding some more of the cultural background of the language, being able to recognize them and drop them into everyday speech is also extremely beneficial.

I wrote this short story for my Comparative Central European Literature class. It was not for a grade. I wanted to share it in the form of a blog, because some short stories grow when they're written down, and things that grow must be shared. This is a great, small tapestry of my true encounters with Europeans. My friend from home refers to each person's story on Earth as a contribution to the great "tapestry" of life. Adopting that analogy, I am certain that this little story is a gleaming corner or strip or tassel of that tapestry.

One of the best aspects of studying abroad in Morocco, especially with this specific group of students in the IES program, is the number of cool cities and sites one can travel to, cheaply and easily. After my first full month in Morocco, I thought it best to show you the Morocco we have explored and enjoyed so far, the way I have seen it.

Host Family My host family has to be the most perfect match I could have asked for! Man, are they great. (Had to get that out of my system first and foremost). Ok, but seriously, I love them. My host parents are both extremely nice and are usually out working for the majority of the day, though we often have dinner together. They have two little boys, a 1-yr old, Ryoga-kun; and a 3-yr old, Aoto-kun. Although, sometimes its hard for me to believe Aoto is only 3 considering his straight-forward personality haha.