Being able to travel to Greece was a desire of mine, but as my study abroad experience was coming to an end I told myself that I wouldn’t be able to make it. It felt like as soon as I had come to terms with not being able to go, it all started to work out. One of my roommates here in Rome is Greek, and she offered to let us stay with her in her house while visiting. As soon as I heard that, I knew Greece was actually going to happen, and I could not have been happier.

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber

I have always been more on the spontaneous side. I’ve never particularly cared for staying in one place. That explains how a California girl, born and raised, found herself going to Ithaca College in New York.

I cannot believe I will be in Spain in less than 2 weeks! The excitement is overwhelming as my dream of traveling to Spain is finally coming true.  Here are some of the experiences I hope to have and dreams I hope to fulfill as I embark on this journey:

1. Try new foods – I’ve heard that the food cooked by the home stay hosts is absolutely mouthwatering.

2. Talk to my host and other Spaniards to learn more about the culture and traditions of Salamanca.

One of the most fun days in Cape Town took place yesterday. The day started out like most, eating leftover burrito for breakfast, pretending to do work in my pajamas, but then things started to heat up! My beautiful friends Atara, Delise, Elena, and Payal agreed to accompany me to Kalk Bay, which is a 30 minute train ride away from our humble abode. We jumped aboard the train and since it was a Sunday and our train station office was closed we had the pleasure of riding the train for free!

Recently, I attended an olive oil tasting offered through IES Abroad at a local shop in Granada called La Oliva. I’d heard some glowing reviews of the class from other IES Abroad students, but was still completely blown away by the shop’s friendly and passionate owner, Francisco, and the amazing food we were served. After being sat at small and rustic tables around the small shop, we were served more than eight small courses, each one using a different type of olive oil in a unique (and super tasty!) way.

This is a bit of a late post since Golden Week was a few weeks ago, but here it is anyways :]

So, Golden Week is a week set aside for several Japanese National Holidays and many of the IES Abroad students used this time to explore other parts of Japan or different countries. During this time, I traveled with a few other IES Abroad students to the Kansai Region of Japan. We stayed in Osaka for the entire trip but visited Nara and Kyoto using the public train system.

First of all, shoutout to the Olsen twins for the inspiration on the title of this post (great movie, by the way). Anyways, a few weekends ago, I flew to Paris to visit a good friend of mine from Bowdoin and explore the city. I’d always wanted to see the city, and arrived ready to go with a list of favorite museums, parks, and landmarks in my pocket. On the list, I included Sacré-Coeur, the love lock bridge, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Musée d’Orsay, Arc de Triomphe, Jardin du Luxembourg, Musée de l’Orangerie, and Sainte-Chapelle.

This is my last post for the IES Abroad Blogs – how time flies!

Today was our graduation ceremony. We received our certificate of achievement from Nanzan, and attended the farewell party.

First, allow me to introduce myself to those of you who don’t know me: