It’s been almost three weeks since my last post, and that time has been saturated with a hundred noteworthy moments. Sorry I’ve been so remiss.

I should start by saying the summer term is officially over. It ended on the first Friday of August, and included a morning written exam, a graduation ceremony at midday, and a going-away party of sorts that lasted until the next morning. When I woke up Saturday, everyone was gone, save the resident assistants and one other straggler who will be staying in Beijing until December, like myself.

Santiago is very, very real. I have a home address, a loving host family, and a growing circle of friends. I take the metro, I go to class, I explore the city. I buy things like tissues and soap. In short, I’m not “traveling,” but “living” – albeit in a place where everything is different than I am used to.

I could probably stand at the intersection of Providencia and my street, spin around, and write an entire blog post about wherever I end up pointing. Although I’m actually snug at home on my bed, let’s say I did just that…

The concept of entering the “real” world is very fascinating. Since I was little, I have tried to plan my future career and how to successfully accomplish my goals. My dream is to one day become a Diplomat and proudly represent my home country, the United States of America. Although I have carefully outlined the steps of this process, it has not been an easy path. But who said that accomplishing your biggest ambition was ever going to be simple?

I never imagined that seven weeks would go by so quickly. Although I was ready to reconnect with my friends and family back in the U.S., it was so much harder leaving London than I expected it to be! On my last night, I walked from Piccadilly Circus to Green Park, past Buckingham Palace and down the Royal Mall, through Trafalgar Square, by Downing Street and Westminster Abbey, and ended by the Houses of Parliament and Thames River, facing the London Eye.

I thought that for my last post from Berlin I would share a few insider tips about places to see in this wonderful city. For this collection, I focused on special places that are easy to miss rather than giving a summary of the main touristy sights (which you should still see if you do come for a visit!).
Park Inn

I’ve been home for one week, and I go back to school in one more week. It’s been filled mostly with telling and retelling the same stories to different people, but I’m glad to be back. It’s tough to say that France made me appreciate the fact that I’m American or that I live in the United States, because that’s not quite exactly what I realized. I think a better way of putting it is that I came to appreciate things that are truly American: the Blues, William Faulkner, the BioShock video games.

This whirlwind of an adventure has come to a close too soon. The only 6 and a half weeks I spent in Siena have been some of the most amazing weeks thus far in my life. I never thought it would be possible to learn so much about Italian language and culture, Siena, food, and myself in a single summer. Since being home, I’ve already had many people ask me what I miss most about Italy; that would be the food.

I’ve been at home for about two weeks now, but I have a few last words of advice for those going to Berlin this fall.

First off, if you read my first post, one of the things I was most concerned about was living in the home stay. I can tell you, you have NOTHING to worry about!!! IES Berlin does a fabulous job of picking the hosting families, and everyone had a great time. I loved my hosts; they were so kind, funny and really tried to make me feel welcome.

Italy is obviously known for many things, but food might be the number one. There is pizza, olive oil, tomatoes, and PASTA! Some believe that pasta was brought over by Marco Polo from China, but they’re wrong. Instead, pasta in various forms have been around since the Etruscan times, as shown by the frescoes in Etruscan tombs. Thereafter, pasta was written about during the Roman empire and in ancient Arabic texts. This all occured before Marco Polo even came back from China.