My time in Amsterdam has come to a close—I have finished up my finals for my courses, I have returned key fobs and books, I have begun to share hugs and goodbyes with the friends I made. I have checked into my flight tomorrow, I have started packing up my room, I have gone through the groceries I have left. One thing remains to be done: returning my bike to a nearby Swapfiets, a bike subscription service.
This is a love letter to Vienna. To warm cups of Häferlkaffees at Viennese coffee shops and street corners rich in architectural history.
Vienna: A cultural melting pot
As a Muslim student of Indo-Aryan ethnicity, I had expected to feel some degree of “otherness” while living in a European capital. Much to my surprise, I found Vienna to be home to a multitude of people—immigrants, vagabonds, students, families, dreamers.
My 22nd birthday weekend is one I never want to forget. I went to the Nagoya matsuri (festival) this weekend and the Toyota-shi matsuri on Sunday. Both were a great time in their own ways, and I am so lucky to have both on my birthday weekend.
I am proud to be many things: imaginative; a woman; a political science major; passionate; academic; a child of an immigrant; hard-working; a Harry Potter fan; a friend; biracial; and so much more. Among what I am proud of being is bisexual. This is a part of my identity among many that make up who I am. I understand that some people may not accept this about me or others, but no matter where I go and the environment that I am in, I surround myself with a community of people who love everything about who I am.
Like being a foreigner in any country, experiencing cultural differences can give you culture shocks. I have experienced culture shocks before, having lived in Spain for an academic year in high school. However, since Spanish culture is closer to Western culture like the United States’, it is safe to say that the shocks that I experienced in Japan were more difficult to absorb. Of course, there are small differences from US culture in Japan like not holding doors open for strangers or the bright and cheery “irasshaimasei” every time you enter a store.
In the Netherlands, save up your plastic bottles and aluminum cans---they can be returned to most grocery stores for a small profit. Statiegeld, which translates to “deposit” in English, is an initiative to keep plastic bottles and cans out of the trash, allowing consumers to receive store credit for the bottles they’ve already paid for. We are right at the end of the semester, so I wanted to try this out for myself with the few bottles I had saved. This process was very simple—click on the photos below to see how it's done.
Welcome to my final study abroad blog post! I write to you from back home in the US, having taken some time to gather my thoughts about the very best things I did this semester in Tokyo. There are so many amazing and unique experiences you can have in this city given its massive size so I can’t include everything here, but this should be a solid list to get you started.
Being queer, nonbinary, and a lesbian in Spain, and particularly in Madrid, has been a deeply affirming experience. Spain has a rich history of LGBTQ+ activism and a vibrant queer culture, but living here has also revealed how much work remains to be done to ensure equity and inclusion within the community, especially for those who identify as trans or nonbinary. As someone who exists at the intersections of these identities, I’ve found Madrid to be a city of contrasts—both progressive and imperfect, but undeniably alive with queer joy and resilience.
This Wednesday, me and a couple of friends went to Ghibli Park! If you don’t know, Studio Ghibli is known for its unique anime style and beautiful, fantastical stories in the form of films. I grew up watching Studio Ghibli from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind to Howl’s Moving Castle. Some of their titles, like Ponyo or My Neighbor Totoro, might be familiar to you, as they are incredibly popular films even outside of Japan. The park itself is closest to Nagoya out of the major cities in the country, which is lucky for us.