It’s been almost two weeks since I returned from Ecuador. Coming home that first day, I couldn’t believe that just two months ago, I had stood in the same place getting ready for my flight there!

Living in Brazil during the World Cup has been a unique opportunity for our IES Abroad cohort to experience. The Rio we have experienced has been full of many people of many different nationalities, proudly waving their country’s flag through the streets. It has been heavily patrolled by police and the military on a daily basis. The streets have been packed. The bars have been even more packed. Fireworks were heard all through the night. It has been soccer 24/7.

Early Saturday morning, I had a rather unwelcome surprise. I had half of a breakfast biscuit for breakfast Friday morning, but because I had it in my bag all day long in case I wanted it later, it was a bit soggy (yes, it was that humid out) so I threw it in the trash bin and went to sleep. Around five AM Saturday morning, I woke up to a rustling noise coming from the trash bin, and I turn on the light to see a rat trying to get the second half of that breakfast biscuit!

Now that I’ve settled back into the rhythm of being back at home, it’s hard to believe that not so long ago I was in Rome. While I wish I could have stayed in Italy for longer than I had, I’m so thankful to have called Rome my home for 6 wonderful weeks! It was quite the learning experience – both inside and outside the classroom – and I never could have imagined how much I would come to love the things that make the city what it is including:

I was really looking forward to my trip in Zhangjiajie, and I’m still glad I went, though it wasn’t at all what I expected.

I took the ditie (subway) to the airport on Thursday, and I had a two-and-a-half hour flight to Zhangjiajie airport. I was so nervous when we were landing and all I could see out the window was pitch black. Zhangjiajie is what Wikipedia calls a “prefecture-level” city with a population just shy of 1.5 million, so compared to Beijing, this is the middle of frigging nowhere.