My last week in Vienna has been incredibly overwhelming. Three of my five classes not only asked me to write a final paper, but also to take a final test. I’ve been trying to plan stuff to do with my family while they’re here. Trying to figure out when I’m seeing the rest of my family when I get home. I have a new role on the St. Thomas USG Executive Board that I’m trying to settle in to. I have to make plans to move into my housing for the next year when I get back to the United States. I had to pack up my life here in Vienna too.

1. Microfiber towel

I read a IES Abroad blog from last year who recommended bringing a microfiber towel and I’m so glad I did. They’re lightweight, dry fast, and absorb water so much better than normal towels. A few other people on my trip also brought them, but the ones that didn’t searched to find them here but everything’s more expensive in the Galapagos so definitely bring a good towel

In the last few weeks of the semester, I took my favorite class of the whole program with the coolest teacher. Our class was about research techniques but basically just ended up being a shark research class which I was very happy with. After our first week of classes we got to leave for a weekend trip to Santa Cruz for more diving. On the boat over I saw over a hundred dolphins and a few turtles. 

After finishing our third class of the semester we finally had a break from school! Although it feels like time’s flying and I’m more than halfway done with the semester, I was so excited to visit the other islands with IES Abroad and my classmates! We left on Saturday morning for Floreana island where only around 150 people live. Our group dropped off our things at a restaurant and loaded the open air chiva busses to visit our next destination, a Tortoise Sanctuary in the highlands where we walked beautiful wooded paths and saw many giant tortoises.

After my time in Vienna, my friend Anjali and I decided to spend the second half of our Spring break in Prague, Czechia! Now, I know a little bit about Prague since one of my good friends is currently studying abroad there, but I was excited to finally explore what the city had to offer after getting some great recommendations. That being said, we only had two days to see what we wanted so I am going to give you another list of my top three places you should visit if you're in Prague!

Havel's Market

My biggest piece of advice in terms of getting into the country itself is to MAKE. SURE. YOUR. VISA. MATCHES. YOUR. PASSPORT. EXACTLY. Was it the smartest decision to fill out my Australian visa application with the random burst of energy I got at 10 p.m. after driving 16 hours back to school after Thanksgiving break? Probably not. Did it all work out in the end anyway? Yes, but I could’ve saved myself a lot of unnecessary stress if I just did it right the first time.