My last days in Arles. It hasn’t seemed real that the summer is finally coming to a close until now. “Profiter Bien!” (which means to benefit) from our last few days, everyone said. I found myself just walking the streets a lot in my last hours here, taking in the sights and familiar faces I have come to know so well. A last look at the Théâtre Antique, a last afternoon passed in the park, a last ice cream at Soleileis (the best ice cream in Arles, if I do say so myself), a last Saturday morning market to buy peaches and olive bread.

This is a multiple of things, like a piece of work for my video production class, an entry into the IES Abroad film festival, but most importantly a reflection on my time and changes as a person whilst studying abroad.

The WIR Team has become exactly what it says to be—a Team. At the end of our emails we sign them with the WalkInsideRome initials. At first when I heard the team refer to it as signing WIR at the end, I thought, “Why would a professional company sign a letter with we’re”? In more ways than one the WE’RE would have sufficed. The people I intern with are a close knit of people that are not only tolerant, but mentors to everyone who is willing to learn.

When you’re a college student, you quickly get used to people asking you what you study.  It’s a good “get to know you” question, an easy way to begin a conversation.  This being said, upon entering into college, I expected “What’s your major?” and “What do you study in school?” to be hurled at me left and right.  What I didn’t expect was the plethora of judgment that met my answer.

Study abroad is over…

(Warning: lengthy post ahead; scroll to bottom for a TL;DR – too long didn’t read) My first week here in Sydney has been such a jam packed week full of awesome events and outings planned by the IES Abroad team to get us acquainted with Sydney. After a long morning of hauling suitcases to our apartments and getting settled, the entire IES Abroad family enjoyed a lovely dinner boat cruise in the Harbour (notice my spelling of harbour but that’s for another post). The boat cruise was beautiful and the views and sights were breathtaking.

Here’s a little video I threw together yesterday (during my 7 hour layover in Miami) to say bye to home and hello to study abroad! You get a sense of what my hometown in Colorado is like, as well as what I packed for this four month adventure.