I recall panicking when the month of May arrived. I feared that I had yet to seen or experienced enough. In the mornings, I would read blogs for recommendations of events and places to visit.  With my agenda of the day planned, I would roam around the city.  Yet, I learned the importance of being present in the moment, not simply checking off items from a to-do list. Rather than planning every hour of my day, I would have a vague itinerary with points of genuine interest.

Hi everyone! I love photography and will be taking tons of photographs to share along with stories and advice throughout my upcoming trip to Sydney.

I have been fortunate enough to go on some incredible trips in my life, and this two-month trip to Sydney will be the longest individual trip yet. Over my travels I’ve learned some things that I am bringing with me (some through suggestions, others through my own experiences and situations), that are not on the common and obvious packing list.

Elevators here in Milan do NOT look like the elevators back in the States. So much so that I started lugging my 42 pound luggage up the stairs (I had nine floors to go), until our apartment bellman, Willy, chased me up two flights yelling “Otto! Otto!”. Which in translation was probably ‘what is this crazy american doing trying to carry all her luggage up to floor eight?!’. (Side note: the first floor in Italy is zero, so floor eight means nine floors.) While I was staring at him thinking, ‘how do these apartments not have an elevator?!

saudade: /saʊˈdɑːdə/  noun: a feeling of longing, melancholy, or nostalgia.

-Oxford Dictionary

On the morning I left Barcelona, I hugged my host family good-bye and dragged my suitcase to Placa Catalunya, looking around at the hustle and bustle of traffic, the gaggles of pigeons and the pedestrians on their way to La Rambla. After passing the very same spot countless times before, I tried to take it in, knowing it would be the last time I’d see it for a while.

How many new people, places, and experiences can a person absorb in one week? Our first week in Quito has definitely exceeded any easy answer to this question. Within four days, we traveled from Quito to Otavalo to Mitad del Mundo, with everything from the old town to USFQ in between.

It has been almost two weeks since I left Vienna, and I already miss it. In most ways, it has been shockingly easy to readjust to being back home. Before I left, I had anticipated a dramatic “reverse culture shock,” but it has not been the case. It almost feels like this semester didn’t event happen, but then I hear a song that reminds me of one of my friends from IES Abroad, or my U-Bahn card falls out of my wallet and I am reminded again of the incredible experience I had.

It’s been two weeks since I got back from Milan, and quite a lot has happened since then. I had about 36 hours to sleep and recover after my flight before it was time to drive down to Ithaca College for my graduation. Saturday was spent catching up with my friends and hearing about everyone’s plans for “the real world.” Then somehow, Sunday morning I managed to get myself into the procession by 8:30am, with my essential graduation accessory of a large Tim Horton’s coffee. No shame whatsoever.

Today was our 3rd day in Freiburg and we hiked in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest). We started our hike at a beautiful baroque Catholic church in St. Peter which was also once a monastery. The church was beautiful.