As my first semester at IES Beijing comes to a close, my friends and I have just about mastered the art of staying in touch. With technology enabling all kinds of interaction across the world, I guess I really just don’t even understand how people used to stay in touch before the internet.

On my last full weekend in Quito, two friends, my host dad, and I took our last paseo, a camping and hiking adventure to Laguna Quilotoa, the largest (or highest, I cant remember) crater lake in Ecuador. Distinguished by its turquoise waters, the site put on quite a show for us, as we enjoyed 70 degree weather and sun, and hiked a section around the rim, more difficult than it looks for the dry, loose sand that makes up the terrain in this environment.

I think if you took an unofficial poll of ex-pats and students studying abroad, the times when homesickness is felt most acutely is during the holiday season. Here are some tips to avoid catching the plague of all study abroad students and foreigners on the most contagious of days: The Holidays.

In my last post, I posted a video of our program’s trip to the Galapagos Islands, a childhood dream come true for me and one of the deciding factors of me choosing the IES Quito program for my study abroad experience. It was a trip of a lifetime, five days away from the city on these remote, exotic islands. I felt like I was living in an episode of a BBC or Animal Planet wildlife show, practically waiting for Jeff Corwin or some British guy to narrate the behaviors and wildlife.

With respect to the passing of Nelson Mandela, I’ve decided to reflect on my service while I have been abroad.

Paris may be known as “The City of Lights,” but around Christmastime, I’d say that London gives Paris a run for its money.