The opportunity to study abroad is a privilege and a journey that I cannot wait to begin. Like the mantra goes,  “hindsight is always 20/20,” and in the final days of the spring semester of my junior year here at the University of Florida, there is no exception. As a freshman, the thought of starting school was in and of itself a beast I needed to tame. At the same time, the thought of traveling outside of the country was no less daunting and, well, scary, quite frankly.

Nakasendo (中山道) is the ancient road that connected Kyoto and Edo (today’s Tokyo), and was used by travellers, merchants, and samurai in the old days. Parts of it are still preserved as walking paths, one of the most well-known being the Kiso Valley section, between the two towns Magome and Tsumago. Luckily, Magome is just more than an hour from Nagoya by train and bus, and so today I went for a hike from Magome to Tsumago to explore the natural side of Japan.

It has been a busy 2 weeks getting back to school after break.  Since I traveled all 3 weeks, I had no time to work on any of the assignments that were due the week we got back, and had to do it all when I got back to Christchurch.  Anyway, back to my adventures on the North Island!  After Waitomo, we headed up to Tongariro National Park!  The plan was to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing which is supposed to be amazing, but the weather was too bad and we couldn’t go up.

Well, I’m Alzebeth and this gets to be my summer blog for the 8 weeks I will be studying abroad in Freiburg, Germany! I feel like some brief facts will help me get this whole thing started, so here goes:

Today I have to say goodbye to all of my friends that I’ve made, my teachers and mentors at IES Abroad, and hardest of all my host family. On the other side of the ocean I have found a loving second set of parents and three wonderful siblings that, without ever having met me before, welcomed me into their home with open arms from the first day.

About an hour into my flight to Barcelona from San Francisco, I had my “oh, shoot” moment. It suddenly dawned on me that for the next four months, I’d be living in a new country, where I knew no one. I tried to swallow my fear as I watched the sun set over the wings.

The best packing advice I can offer for future students. Seriously, don’t bring a hairdryer.

Chefchaouen is definitely one of Morocco’s most beautiful cities. Known as Chaouen by its people, the city is located in the Rif Mountains in northwest Morocco. Along with its spectacular location and its blue painted walls, doors, and floors, its people made this city most charming.

So since I’ve been here, I’ve gotten a lot of questions that I’m not sure how to answer. So I’m to address my next few blogs to answering these seemingly easy but surprisingly difficult questions. This blogs question is… How is the food in Germany? I know, I know; it’s completely natural filler question that everyone, including people who don’t even care about my abroad experience, will ask me.