Believe it or not, in between my various excursions to Papallacta, up Pichincha and most recently around Quilotoa (as well as many others), I also attend classes. My favorite class – Spanish – is taught by an incredibly caring and exuberant professor. While technically a grammar class, the emphasis is on oral fluency and with such a small class size (there are only 4 of us!) we spend plenty of time in conversation.

Hi, all. Trinity Week is upon us and so the beginning of revision as well. The weather has been very, very nice lately though — we’re talking low 60s F and sunny, here, sure it’s a miracle — and on Monday I took a break from studying (yeah, I know, pretty quickly, huh?) went to St. Stephen’s Green to document Dubliners soaking up all the vitamin D that has been denied them for the past five months.

Travel is full of all sorts of delights. Looking at your credit card statement after a trip, however, isn’t one of them. While some of the expense of travel is unavoidable, there are a few easy ways to cut costs during weekend trips:

1) Shop around and book early

This past weekend  I went to Izmir and Pammukale! The city of Izmir is located in the Northwest of Turkey. It is a beautiful city thats by the sea. Pammukale is a small town by Izmir that has beautiful hot springs. The are nicknamed “cotton castles” because of its white color. Below are some pictures of Pammukale.

“Where, if not in my own town, should the most extravagant and solid of my work endure, where if not here? - Dali

I can’t believe I’ve yet to do a post solely dedicated to food! The food in Spain has been nothing short of amazing, albeit different from what I’m used to. The Spanish have a generally light breakfast around 8-9 AM, a heavy lunch between 2-3 PM, and a light dinner around 9-10 PM. Every morning, my host mom (who is an amazing cook) makes my roommate and I freshly squeezed orange juice, green tea, and toasted baguette with olive oil and tomato.