If you’ve ever been on the Madrid Metro, you’ve probably heard the announcer voice say: “Próxima estación, (insert stop name here)” which means “Next station, (insert stop name here).” As an “aficionado” of the Metro de Madrid, I’ve heard this voice more times than I can remember. In a way, it’s been very comforting getting used to hearing that phrase as I learn to explore and navigate not only the city, but myself as well. 

Now that I have lived in Rome for 3 months, I’ve gone to some pretty cool places and seen some really amazing things.

As people come to visit, I have fleshed out this itinerary, my pride and joy, that I am passing on here. Native Romans will definitely know better spots and different areas to see, so this is just a tentative list of all the things I’ve loved going to and have really enjoyed showing other people. When in Roma!

For shopping:

Thinking of taking a trip by yourself? Going solo can be a bit scary, but I promise it’s worth it.

While you study abroad, there are plenty of opportunities to partake in cheap flights and jump on an airplane to another country. Almost every weekend I have been so privileged and grateful to see different areas of Europe I thought I would never have the opportunity to see. One weekend, however, I had no plans and thought it might be fun to do a trip by myself.

Studying abroad in Berlin was something of a restart for me. Although a few students from my home university enrolled in the same IES Abroad program that I did, I did not know any of them before we had a brief orientation for the program at our university in the United States. In my few months in Berlin, I have been lucky enough to meet many amazing people and form friendships with people from all over the United States—and even some from Germany and other places—that I hope will last a lifetime.

The clocks turned back, the sun sank lower, and as darkness fell across the Kasbah by the sea, Ramadan had struck Rabat. 

Once I decided to study abroad, my parents immediately started looking to see if it was possible for them to visit me while I was in France. I’m lucky enough that everything worked out and they were able to travel to Nantes during my younger brother’s spring break. In this blog, I’ll go through some of the things we did in case anyone else has visitors coming to town.

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Throughout our study abroad program, there are several overnight field trips that students can go on with IES Abroad. These excursions are included in the cost of the program, excluding some meals. Throughout the semester we’ve previously traveled to the Loire Valley and Bordeaux. These field trips have been some of my favorite ways to spend time with my friends in the program and explore France outside of Nantes. In this blog, I wanted to take you through our last overnight trip at the end of March when we visited cities in the Normandy region.

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