So it has been just over a week since I returned back to the US and it is starting to sink in that my adventures in Barcelona are over. I’ll be the first to admit that I love being home and I missed my family and friends like crazy. My first few days back home were much needed and I adored getting to see my niece, Kennedy, for her second birthday.

This past weekend I went to Peru. I went with six other people from my program for 5 days. We had a four am flight to Lima and then a connection to Cuzco. LAN offered to change our flight because they overbooked our 4am flight and compensated us 60$. Unfortunately, our connection was scheduled too close and we missed it, however it wasn’t for lack of trying. We ran through the airport security and customs to our gate. We got a new flight only an hour and a half later and finally we made it to Cuzco.

Yesterday I had a magical experience horseback riding in the Andes. Maipo is a little town in the mountains on the border of Chile and Argentina. We got up at 7:15 and took a train, a bus and a taxi do make the 4 hour journey there from Santiago. In the taxi, we were stopped by the police who wouldn’t permit anyone to go up the mountain except for the locals. It had rained all day the day before in Santiago, which translated to snow at higher altitude.

I raced to the finish line….for pickles!

Last weekend I ran a Halbmarathon with Dana and Claire, in rural Germany. It was a decision I made about three weeks ago, and I dragged them in with me. The websites were in German, the hotel sites were in German, I was beginning to think, no one is going to speak English, what the heck are we doing? Google translate was my buddy. I diligently copied everything from the running website into Google translate to find out where the packet pick-up was and how we get to the start.

Inner Mongolia is one of five autonomous regions in China, and its capital city, Hohhot, is about a seven-hour train ride from Beijing. In case you’re not a geopolitical wiz, like me, you probably didn’t already know that autonomous regions in China are areas where the government’s legislative grip is a little looser and there are high concentrations of ethnic minorities—in this case, Mongolians.

Shalom from Tel Aviv, Israel! After my program ended in Buenos Aires, I boarded plane after plane after plane – and after a layover in Santiago, a mere night at home in New York City and then yet another layover in Paris, and ended up in the Middle East. I barely had time to process my semester in South America as I did as much laundry as I could, ate as many bagels as possible (alas, only two) and tried to prepare myself to move to a country whose language I cannot read, let alone speak.

I can’t believe I’m sitting here in my house writing this post. The summer flew by at an incoherent speed. But it truly was an amazing experience, I met two of the best girls on the planet and I think these are friendships that will last a life timeJ

My time is Berlin was filled with many emotions, experiences, and times that I will never forget.

I think if you’re reading this because you chose Berlin for your study abroad experience, you won’t regret it, I promise!

In three days, I will be suspended over the Andes, attempting to capture the majesty of their snow-capped peaks with my digital camera pressed against the smudged window, hours from landing in Santiago, Chile. Now, however, I am in a different kind of suspension. Part of me is still in Boston – frantically trying to pack and see all my friends one last time before I leave.