Last weekend I got to travel to Barceloan, España, the city in which my favorite novel, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón takes place. The first day in Barcelona, one of my roommates Jamie and myself walked around and got a feel for the city. We saw the Arc de Triomph (the Barcelona edition), Las Ramblas, and spent some time enjoying the 73 degree whether at the Barceloneta beach. We spent the following day doing the typical touristy Barcelona things--Parc Güell and the Sagrada Familia to name the big two.

When you travel abroad, the world around you literally becomes your classroom. You get to see the places you see in shows on the Travel Channel or try foods that are purely authentic to the country you are in.

It is amazing how cyclical life can be. This week the desire to do everything on the Island in a short period of time has been reignited in me, like it was in my first weeks here.

Last weekend I had the opporunity to travel around the Scottish Highlands with my aunt. We saw some stunning man-made architecture in the form of castles and churches, but most of all, we witnessed the incredible natural landscape of the Highlands. In honor of Earth Day, here are some of my favorite snapshots from that trip of the beautiful landscape of the Highlands. 

Hello friends! I’m posting twice in one week because I’ve just returned from an incredible week long journey in Rabat, Morocco. A close friend of mine studied abroad in Rabat last spring and urged me to visit Morocco at least once before I left France. Thanks to her connections, I was able to stay with the most generous Moroccan family in the midst of Rabat’s medina. Morocco was...magnificent. I can’t verbalize eloquently enough how welcomed I felt there.

Who’s up for a 4:30 am mountain climb? Here at IES Beijing, we’re always ready to climb mountains (refer back to my post about Yunnan and Tiger Leaping Gorge).  I could write a book on how to climb mountains… well… how to be at peace at climbing mountains incredibly slowly after your group goes ahead of you #teamzuihou

Normally for Earth Day back in America I don’t really do anything special to celebrate the occasion. Maybe turn off a light or two and make sure I recycle correctly. This year, however, I ended up working at Earth Day Tokyo through my IES field placement with an NGO called International Japanese Volunteer Center.
 

Last semester I interned at the American Academy in Rome.  A remarkable institution with respect to scholarly pursuit, educational opportunities, and actual physical space, the AAR has been so generous with me that I would feel selfish remaining silent about my experience any longer.  I really need to share.

Earth Day is this week and as an IES blogger I was prompted to share how it is celebrated in my host-country.  Well, joke's on all of us - in Rome the Giornata Mondiale della Terra is completely overshadowed by the holiday of the city's birthday on April the 21^st.