Before going abroad, one of the terms you hear thrown around the most is “culture shock.” Put simply, culture shock is just your realization that you are in a culture different than the one you grew up comfortable with, and you are personally affected because of that. Culture shock does not necessarily have to be negative as so many people make it seem, as there are positive realizations about different cultures that are possible to have when studying abroad.
We went to a cheese museum and on a boat tour!
Yes, you read right. Punsch stands and Christmas Markets wouldn’t kick off the holidays quite like a Thanksgiving feast for us Americans. So IES put on a fantastic meal, and the students provided the entertainment. Enjoy the celebration Aftermovie!
Here comes the stress. Until next Saturday morning, I will be completely occupied by final exams, projects, papers, and labs. In more ways than one I feel like a week is not enough time. Not enough time to finish my schoolwork, not enough time to say goodbye to Spain. There is still so much that I would like to do before I leave, so much that I have not yet seen in the very city I have been living in for nearly four months.
I certainly can’t believe my first semester is almost over, but the appearance of Christmas lights throughout Siena, not to mention all the Christmas trees, are practically shouting that Christmas is just around the corner and, with it, my departure.
I’ve been lucky. In the recent few weeks, I’ve had a million opportunities to take advantage of, and I am, it seems, ending this semester very busily and in a very fun way.
In the last several weeks I have traumatically lost my scarf twice. Both instances, however, had happy results:
Vienna Kunsthistoriches Museum. Enthralled in art, dazzled by Breugel and Velázquez, unawares I dropped my scarf in the second floor portrait wing and didn’t realize it was missing until I had gotten all the way to Vermeer! Luckily, the lost and found is an actual thing in Austria.
The internship seminar is the last module of the program. Each of us chose an internship based on our interest and major. Some of us got the chance to work together and others worked separately. My internship was at Asociación Obras del Espíritu Santo located in Barrio Cristo Rey. I worked in the school program of the organization with children ages 7-12 who were at social risk. Asociación Obras del Espíritu Santo is a non-profit organization that was founded by a priest. The organization offers many services to its community.