I first visited Berlin when I was sixteen. I was doing a foreign exchange to learn French in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a friend of mine’s family had moved to the German city for a year. At the cusp of upper teenage-hood, I was in the throes of puberty’s lingering social anxiety, but forcing myself into new cultures gave me access to a side of myself I hadn’t seen before. I became independent and self-assured, and this new confidence allowed me to explore Berlin without the hesitation I would have had a few months prior.

Well, it’s difficult to say the least that my study abroad experience and these blog posts have come to an end. Nevertheless, it feels appropriate that I began these blog posts with something cheesy and am ending these blog posts with something cheesy :). Studying abroad for a semester had always been a dream of mine and the realization that this is my last blog post only adds fuel to the fire. 

I have been back in the US for almost two weeks now. Here’s where things are at:

With my Milan abroad experience just recently wrapped, I wanted to share why I chose to do a homestay.

Funny enough it was a last minute decision for me. At first, I was slated to live in an apartment setting and couldn’t wait to have my own place in a fun area along with other IES Abroad students. Three reasons why I chose to live in a apartment were: