For months, I have had a photograph of the Cliffs of Moher as the desktop background for my laptop in anticipation of my Irish travels. Before coming to Ireland, I knew almost nothing about the country aside from information about the urban center, Dublin, and, the Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs of Moher are one of the most famous attractions in Ireland, drawing visitors even in the off season months such as January.

I'm here. I have finally arrived in the city of love. The city of lights. I have been here for about a week now, which is shorter than many people's vacations. But in just seven days I have experienced so much. I have seen some of the most famous places, including the beautiful Tour Eiffel itself. But I know I have mearly skimmed the surface of a most magnificent city. Now I am just more excited to explore and experience all of its wonders.

Lectures are my raison d’être here in Oxford. Fingers crossed that my tutors, past, present or future, never come across this post, but sometimes I feel the weekly tutorials and all the hard work they entail are the dues I need to pay in order to earn the privilege of access to some of the most brilliant minds in the world, fifty minutes at a time.

Typically planning a trip takes lots of time, money, details… etc. (At least that’s the way I have always known trip planning). For our first free weekend in Ecuador, we decided to take a weekend trip to Mindo, Ecuador: A cloud forest about 2 and 1/2 hours from Quito. At first, I tried to plan this trip as I have always known trip planning: you know, researching what to do, calling a hostel ahead of time, make sure everyone knows what is going on.

This weekend, I had the chance to get to know France a bit more. Curtsey of IES Paris French Studies, my classmates and I got to travel to the South of France for a three day trip to Nimes, Domaine, Aigue Mortes, and Avignon. I've never traveled to the south of France before so I found this journey to be very entertaining. We left for Nimes on Thursday morning bright and early before the sun (or even the pigeons for that matter) decided to appear. I love trains.

If you wish to fully experience a new country, food is easily one of the best ways to get a good taste of the culture. Pardon the pun, but it’s a necessity. So while living in Barcelona, I’ve made sure to take advantage of every opportunity to try new dishes, tapas, and of course, desserts. To give you a better taste of Barcelona’s food culture (I’m now done with the puns, I promise), I’m going to walk you through a typical day of eating. One paragraph for each meal… Perfect. Let’s do it.

This first week has been amazing! After our first language class on Thusday, Chloe, Allie and I decided to wander around Siena and try to find some of the Contrade. The 17 Contrade are the different districts of Siena and each of them have their own symbol and a fountain repesenting their district.