This past week, we had a three day weekend. A couple friends and I took this opportunity to head out of the city. Our destination, Ningbo. Why Ningbo, a small city an hour south of Shanghai? Because we went to a place called the Nanxi Wenquan, which is a hot spring resort. While it was an adventure to get to the resort, as we had to take three different long distance buses, the trip was quite worthwhile.

A few weeks ago, I went to Krakow, Poland for a weekend where I visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps. I do not think that I could adequately express the depth of my experience. I saw the gas chambers, the jail cells, the sleeping quarters, and the endless rows of barbed wire surrounding the facilities. I walked the road of death, the same road that many before me had walked only to never come back again.

These past few weeks my Facebook newsfeed seems to be filled with links to different webpages containing all sorts of lists. These lists are quickly becoming a huge phenomenon that make reading faster and easier, which I guess is crucial to gauge the attention of a world engrossed in all forms of media. And so I decided to make my own list. I am currently half-way through my time here in Italy, and so this is the most appropriate time to really reflect on what I have learned thus far.

I finally had the time to travel to the number 1 on my must-go list in Japan: Kyoto! I walked and ate a lot and managed to visit 5 temples in total. It was a busy weekend (I had to do my homework on the bus ride from one temple to another) but I enjoyed it thoroughly. I would love to visit Kyoto again when cherry blossoms are in full bloom!

I already mentioned how wonderful our weekend was at Ilha Grande. What I didn’t want to include, was any/all of the struggles I had along the way…

Mentally, I felt invinsible. I had unlimited desires to explore different parts of the island and hike all different types of trails. We only had 5 hours per day of electricity and running water, but this didn’t phase me since I thrive in rustic environments. Even my classmates who were initially phased by the rustic atmosphere were immediately distracted by the natural beauty and constant fun.

This past weekend, we went on a “Field Trip” to Ilha Grande, which technically translates to “Big Island” 3 hours south of Rio. Prior to leaving, I had no idea what to expect for the weekend. I knew nothing about this island place… I’ve been so overwhelmed with trying to learn about the city of Rio, that anything outside the city limits was far beyond my knowledge. Even though we have only been here 2 weeks, it’s still nice to get out of the chaos in the city and have a weekend away in a new place.

I arrived safely in Brazil! I’ve been here 2 weeks thus far. Our academic classes haven’t started yet; we had 1 weekend of orientation, and 2 weeks of Portuguese language classes. I’m amazed at the quantity of information I’ve already learned in such a short period of time. Learning while abroad feels completely different than in a classroom. I could write a novel about my experiences and  everything I’ve learned so far, which I often can’t do after an entire semester of a class.

This past week and a half has been such a blur and it definitely feels like I have been in Sydney much longer. On Saturday morning, the day after I arrived, I lugged my stuff to the Sydney University Village and moved into my housing. This is when I first met other IES students and we all took a journey to Kmart (the cheapest retail store around) to buy some essentials like sheets and towels. We were given a vague map and ended up taking over twice as long to get there as we should have. The walk back was brutal.