Today marks exactly one week until I start my new adventure in Milan! I am getting very excited, the suitcase is out, and everything is becoming reality. I am finalizing my packing list, saying goodbye to friends and family, and getting my affairs in order so I can pick up and leave the country for three and a half months..what?!

Why hello there ladies and gentlemen!

As I sit here, quite hungry, in the Munich airport, I can’t help but think of the delectable gastronomical feasts that await me in Istanbul.

Turkish cuisine certainly left a lasting impression on me during my first trip to Turkey last summer. Perhaps one of the most distinguishing features of Turkish food, at least in my opinion, is its contrast.

İskender kebap is a prime example (see picture below).

Before I leave for my fall semester in Nagoya, let me share with you some of my summer adventures from my home state of California.

To whom it may concern,

There are only a handful of places I can safely call home, and I’ve been giving those places particular thought leading up to my departure for my new home in Ireland. The fears I have about leaving are comforted enormously by the hope that by the end of my semester abroad I will be able to call one more place home. I have exactly one week before I leave, and I thought it would be fitting to share some of my most cherished memories via photographs I’ve taken at my favorite location in the world thus far. See you soon, Dublin!

I had planned to write this “predeparture” post during my layover in Chicago, but even still, this would have been late. I’m no stranger to this awkward position, as my chronic procrastination has given me quite the concrete trait. But that is something I plan to work on in the four months I will be out of my element, able to really focus on myself and my goals, which are many.