Orange

 There’s always a reason why college students decide to take a semester and study abroad. For me, one of the aspects that intrigued me to study abroad was to learn and explore a different part of the world. This week I did just that. Unlike a large majority of my peers I decided to stay in France and explore Paris during my spring break trip. Before starting my study abroad adventure, I had created a bucket-list of places I wanted to visit in Paris. It’s been more than a month here and somehow the study part of study-abroad has taken over.

                IES Cape Town is extremely lucky in that we all arrived in Cape Town a whopping three weeks before class started. It was amazing to have so much time (aside from mandatory orientation activities) to really get to know our city and explore without being tied down to class and school.

This week is reading week at Trinity College, so my friends and I set out to explore Europe on our time off. We have so far travelled to Vienna, Budapest, and Prague, and tomorrow I leave for Paris for the rest of the weekend. All three cities were amazing, but Prague was by far my favorite. It looks like you walked into a fairytale from the gothic archiecture, red rooftops and cobblestone streets. Prague has an interesting history, and we had a chance to learn a lot about the city and about the Czech Republic through an excellent walking tour.

I am getting a little old fashioned with the Gone with the Wind quote, above. Delftware is a type of pottery that is widely popular in Amsterdam or at least used to be popular. Now, it is mostly made for touristy individuals like myself. You have probably seen in in your grandparent's house or your nearest Hallmark store. Regardless, it is a tin-glazed pottery that was extensively traded during the Dutch Golden Age imported from China (thank you, Wikipedia).

Feb. 25^th 2015

Today’s accomplishments include:

Here are a few reasons why I think you should study Japanese in Japan.

1. You can learn natural spoken Japanese in a country where the first language is Japanese. This means you are constantly learning at anywhere and anytime, from listening to conversations おばあちゃん  are having on the train to understanding and reading signs in Japanese.