AUSTRALIAN SLANG OF THE WEEK: “MOSQUITOS” (US) = “MOZZIES” (AUS)
If you recall from my first post, one of the goals I made for myself here was to never say no to an opportunity that might change my life. I am happy to say that these past few days have lived up to this standard.
Instead of class this past Friday, everyone piled on to a bus and headed out to a beautiful nursing home here in Beijing, where we got the opportunity to spend time with some of the residents there. Fridays are singing days, so IES students came in, introduced themselves, bringing flowers and smiles and company, and joined in singing Chinese songs with our new friends. We played a fun game and performed both individually and together as a group, singing "A Thousand Miles" and sharing in laughs.
Probably one of the most well-known places in Beijing, Tian’an men Square and the Forbidden City. Even if you know nothing about China, you are probably familiar with the pictures of Chairman Mao’s portrait hanging over the main gate of the city.
Well I am officially part of the 80% of people who get some kind of gastrointestinal illness while studying abroad. I’m not sure what I got into, but I am feeling a bit better now.
The food. I am in love with the food in Spain but not the time when they actually have the food. Here, lunch starts at around 2 p.m. and dinner will not start until 8:30-9:00p.m. I am not sure if the time difference is the reason why I am in love with the food here but I am hungry all the time. It is very common to ask a few friends and go have tapas and some drinks after at night.
So as each blog post comes with the empty promise of posting more frequently I finally got the chances to sit down and make another one of these. February put the study back in study abroad, but with it brought some really incredible experiences; particularly the IES Scotland trip. Scotland will be getting a video and probably a post or two of its own. Scotland was awesome. This post however comes in response to a comment I received from someone yesterday.
Tonight, my friend and I decided to stroll around Sacre Coeur. I had found during my spring break adventure in Paris a cute piano bar and loved it. From the 14 euro three course formule, to the waiter, and of course the amazing piano player I finally have found a place that I can call “my own “in Paris. What upsets me about this neighborhood is the journey to get up to the Montmatre area. Sacre Coeur has a reputation for having some of the best scams in Paris.
It is hard to believe that I have been in this beautiful city for an entire week. I have to say that I am extremely impressed by the IES program and am very happy that I chose Santiago, Chile as my study abroad destination. I do not have any regrets. When I arrived at the airport, it was a huge relief to have IES staff members smiling and waiting to take me to my new home! Along the journey, I met a lot of college students who were studying abroad.
