This has been my first full week in Santiago in April. While it was nice to spend the weekend in a familiar environment, I plan to go to Mendoza, Argentina this weekend!

I’m really bad at goodbyes. I’ve been putting off a final blog post because it’s one more thing that tells me my time is done here in London this semester. Of all the preparation and things that I planned for before studying abroad, somehow saying goodbye to the friends I’ve made was just not something I thought about doing. I didn’t expect to feel so much like I’ve settled into a home and a family. Tearing myself away from that is really difficult.

I have to leave this amazing country in one day. I can’t believe that this day has finally come. It’s funny how fast time flies when you’re having fun. Sounds cliché, but it’s true! Words cannot even begin to describe how much my time in Ireland has meant to me. It’s been a huge blessing to meet the people I’ve come to call mentors and friends, see the beautiful countryside, discover unique places in Dublin, and become a part of the city.

In about an hour and a half I leave for Tibet!

We’re taking a train from Beijing to Lhasa, travelling by the famous Qinghai-Tibetan railway. This will take us about 48 hours total.

I’m going on a ‘mobile learning’ course. This means that whilst I’m travelling I’ll be taking a class. We will learn things on site, as we move from place to place. The course I’m currently taking is Ethnicities in China. The focus is on ethnic minorities in China, with a special focus on Tibet. We’ll be in Tibet for 16 days.

After two weeks of running around and hopping from one university building to another, I finally feel that my routine for the rest of the semester is starting to take shape.

As I’m writing this, my classmates back at Bowdoin have already entered the final stretch of the academic year, with barely four weeks left to go, whereas I have just finished my second week of classes. The German academic calendar is pretty unique in that semesters run from October to February and April to July.