Each semester, IES Abroad hosts a trip for their students and I was lucky enough to go on the trip to the Amalfi Coast. Being someone who is obsessed with taking pictures of everything, the Amalfi Coast has been a photographic dream of mine for a while now, so I am extremely grateful that I got the chance to go!
A couple of weeks ago, IES Abroad hosted a field trip to Narita for the annual Taiko Drum Festival. It was the first time for most of us to go back to Narita after arriving at the airport, and it was a nice change of pace from being in the busy Tokyo area. Aside from Narita’s airport, it is also famous for its grilled eel. IES Abroad took us to one of the oldest restaurants on Omotesando rd. in Narita to eat “unaju,” or grilled eel over rice.
One of my biggest challenges while studying abroad in Italy has been learning Italian and feeling confident enough to speak it when given the chance. Throughout this process I have realized that I really love languages, especially Italian, but that doesn’t mean I am quite comfortable with it just yet. Nonetheless, last week, during my social action seminar, my class had a guest speak who came to talk to us about special education in Italy. And although he understood English well, he preferred to give the presentation in Italian.
I have always dreamed of going to Ireland, and so I knew that if there was one place I would visit while in Europe that would be it. I went to Dublin, Ireland for the second leg of my journey during spring break, and I cannot tell you enough how surreal my being there was. I visited Trinity College, the Guinness Storehouse, Wicklow National Park, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
For weeks I, as well as my peers, busied ourselves studying for midterms and making plans for spring break. But I don’t think it really sunk in that I would be going to Barcelona, Spain until I had finally boarded the plane. Barcelona is a beautiful and incredibly colorful city; it is quite unlike any place I have ever visited. Every barrio in Barcelona has its own vibrant culture that just sweeps you right in and makes you want to stay there forever! And the food, oh my goodness!
Here I am on a bus with broken wifi driving through the curvy roads of Cantabria watching the fields of la España verde, teary-eyed.
I had the privilege of spending a few days with my host family in their summerhouse in a small town in the north of Spain called Pechón. It was an exceptional experience that truly brought me closer to my host family.
The fall and spring semesters are structured differently in Spain, and one of the most notable distinctions is the 10-day break for Semana Santa (Holy Week) during the spring. This means that IES Abroad offers fewer group excursions than during the fall, and that students have a space of time when they can travel independently just about anywhere they’d want to go.