The area along Avenida Diagonal at the corners of the Left Eixample, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, and Les Corts districts is one of the densest sections of office buildings in the city of Barcelona. While the district is similar in many ways to office areas in the United States in it's sometimes interesting, sometimes extremely neo-liberal feeling of 1980's architecture, it is crucially different in the scale of its buildings, position in the city, and uses. By looking at this area, we can identify many ways in which European cities are planned differently to American ones.

For spring break, I took a trip to Italy with three of my best friends. We had a wonderful time, visiting four different cities. Here are my thoughts about each of our stops. 

Venice

Before studying abroad, I really had no idea what to expect as far as classes, academics, and grades. All of my friends who had studied abroad in the past had different experiences with this based on their locations, so I pretty much went into it blindly. Read along if you want to hear some uncensored information about the classes abroad–specifically the academics in Amsterdam where I am studying!

After a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch in 2010, University of Canterbury (UC) student Sam Johnson knew he had to do something. So he created a Facebook group for students who wanted to volunteer to help with the clean up. The group gained serious momentum over time, and before long, his casual Facebook group turned into an official UC student organization with chapters all over the country, as well as recognition and partnerships from all over the world. Still today, the organization engages 3000 students a year at UC alone. It is called the Student Volunteer Army (SVA).