Last weekend, IES Amsterdam organized an excursion for us to the Hoge Veluwe National Park.  The natural rural setting contrasted with the cosmopolitan Amsterdam, allowing us to take a break from the hustle and bustle.   The Park included an impressive contemporary sculpture garden and museum housing the second largest collection of Van Gogh’s works after the Van Gogh Museum.   After sheltering ourselves from the rain under a pavilion, we went for a bike ride to explore the sand dunes and heathlands unexpected of the Netherlands.

Most of my friends who have studied abroad in the past haven’t spoken too much about the studying part. In truth, much of the learning of study abroad happens outside the classroom, while exploring a new city, conversing with a stranger in another language or trying to read a map.

This past week, however, I had to buckle down a bit and prepare for two projects, two papers, a quiz and two final exams in my university classes.

This weekend we packed our things and headed west for IES Salamanca’s biggest excursion of the semester, a 3-day trip to Portugal. While a few days may not sound like much time, we managed to pack in tons of sightseeing as a group, both in the historic centers of two of Portugal’s most beautiful and historic cities and along the scenic and rugged coast, and still have plenty of time to stroll the narrow and steeply sloping streets of Lisbon’s Bairro Alto by night.

So, I am fully aware that I literally just blogged about some things I’ve been enjoying lately in Siena. But the subject matter of this post deserves a little extra attention. Why’s that? It’s about a chocolate festival. apparently these things actually do exist, so now all of my dreams have come true (okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little..but still, pretty exciting).

This past weekend, I left Spain and hopped on a plane to Marrakech, Morocco. In just two hours, I was on a new continent, about to be immersed in a fascinating culture completely different from my own.

Wanting to learn more about the country, I decided to travel with Morocco Exchange, a program that encourages discussion and exchange of ideas between Moroccan students and students studying in Europe.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been taking advantage of the fact that for once, I’m not traveling on the weekends. It’s amazing how easy it’s been settle into a place so far away from my “real” home. Every time I step off the bus after getting back from a trip, I can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief because I’m finally back in Siena

There are three things in particular that I’ve loved taking advantage of recently:

This year for spring break, instead of going back home to Pennsylvania and working at my local grocery store I got to travel the world. Over the course of a week, I was lucky enough to visit both Spain and France. In this blog post I will be writing about the first half of my trip in Barcelona, Spain.

One of the perks of going in the Spring semester in Japan is getting two week-long breaks: one during the university entrance exams and one during the Spring, which took place last week. I did some travelling to Osaka on my own, and went on an IES-sponsored field trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima after.