The last couple of weeks of study abroad just whirled past me. My last trip was to Paris in the company of the best friends a girl could ask for. We all went to Norway together and wanted our last trip to be together as well. We figured out the Paris Metro (which is not an easy task if you ask me), and saw all of the “Greatest Hits of Paris”- the Arc de Triomphe, the Lourve/Mona Lisa, Notre Dame, the Lock Bridge, and of course, the Eiffel Tower.
During my last few days in Berlin, I’ve finally absorbed how much living in the city has truly meant to me. Not only have I experienced urban life for the first time, appreciating, in my impending nostalgia the rhythm of the train schedules, the beauty of both the ornate and utilitarian buildings alike, the constant din of voices and opportunities to go anywhere at any time, but I’ve collected stories and forged memories in a city already rich in stories.
Toward the end of the IES program, my friends and I took a trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I LOVED it. I had never been to such a tropical, beachy city before where people quite literally roam the streets barefoot and in bathing suits, often holding a surfboard, too. We stayed in the Ipanema neighborhood, one of the “nicer” ones since Rio is known to be somewhat dangerous, especially for tourists.
Since I have moved around a lot in myself, leaving has never seemed to be an issue, but this time is was hard. I have already cried in my dorm, the taxi to Zurich and in the lobby of my hotel. I usually have my iPhone with my where ever I go, and it really was the best way to document the many moments I shared with the amazing people I met. These are just a few of the many ( more then four hundred) photos that this always make me smile and remember the great times I had in Freiburg.
After telling a friend about the wonders of a travel bookshop I’d discovered in Nantes’ old quarter, she asked me if I spend most of my time walking around Nantes looking at things. No one had ever pointed out my exploration habits before and perhaps I just thought that’s what everyone did on study abroad, but I’ve come to realize that my relationship with Nantes is very different from that of some of my fellow IES classmates.
After Athens, we headed to the cold. We first went to Bucharest, Romania, and then Sofia, Bulgaria. Since it was cold and raining/snowing a lot I didn’t take my camera out as much as usual. So I am going to combine the two cities into one blog post. Here are some of the photos from the trip, which was overall cold, cold and cold!
I have been on a little hiatus lately due to the crazy last few weeks I have had in Freiburg. But, now I am sitting at the Zurich airport hotel and thought a great way to cheer myself up would be to finish my last blog duties and look back at the semester.
These are a few photos from our part of town, the Fudan dorms and the Tonghe Student Village. This is where we began every day and ended every night, and after 3 and a half months it felt like home! Hopefully this gives you all a sense of where we lived the past few months, and helps you imagine our experiences a bit better.
