“Ecuador loves life” This is the slogan of many signs in Quito and is even on the sides of hills written in stones. It is true. Ecuador is very lively and I learned it has the highest biodiversity of any country!

Hello! My name is Holly and I am from San Diego, CA and go to school at Seattle University. 

January 10^th, 2015

Hello blogging universe! This is my first official post as an IES blogger! A quick intro: my name is Naomi, I am from Colorado, have a cat named Smudge, and I go to school in Rochester, NY. I am travelling to Istanbul on the Sabanci University direct enrollment program.

I've been in Dublin for a little over a week, and I have the opportunity to see a variety of places around the city. The campus at Trinity College Dublin where I am studying is absolutely beautiful, and houses some of the finest architecture in Dublin. In addition, the Trinity College library boasts the Book of Kels, a ninth century rendition of the gospels. The Trinity College Library itself is also a huge tourist attraction, drawing many visitors who marvel at its long room shown below.

I am finally in Paris, France. Wait....let's double check what I just typed: I am in Paris, France. And the great thing is, I'm here for more than just one week. I'm here for an entire semester. I have the ability to soak up a little bit of Paris, every day while I'm here studying abroad. Here's how my journey to Paris started: I departed from good, bone-cold Minnesota on Sunday night. For those of you who haven't read my last post, I was emailed by IES who else would be studying abroad in Paris France this semester.

Today is the day. The day I have been dreaming about nonstop for the past 5 months, ever since I got my acceptance email on my birthday, and yet it still feels like a dream. In less than 4 hours I will be on my way to Logan Airport to hop my 5:55 PM flight to Milan, Italy where I will spend the next 5 months meeting entirely new faces (and not knowing how to speak to many of them), tasting the fruit pasta of the land, and dressing in the trendiest of fashions to my heart's content.

Since I was a little kid I always knew I wanted to study abroad in Madrid during my college years. I’ve always said that I have a calling in Madrid and up until now, I would spend countless hours in class, work, and in reality everywhere else daydreaming about the experience and planning every moment to perfection. But now it all seems so real; this isn’t all fun and hypothetical games anymore (or is it?) as in only a matter of hours I’ll be landing in Madrid to begin my journey abroad.

As I am packing and getting ready to spend the next five months in South America I am coming to the realization that I really don’t know much about what may daily life in Quito, Ecuador will be like.  I don’t know what classes I will be taking, where exactly I will be living, or what my daily routine will consist of. Bits of information are slowly filtering in, such as the name of my host family, and how many other students are participating in my program, but the unknowns far outnumber the knowns.