As is apparent from the articles I have written this semester, my study abroad experience has mostly been in managing the tension between lofty goals and the reality of my limits as a person. As the semester draws to a close, I have to wonder—did I get beyond my fears and make the most of it? Of course, from this vantage point, the only thing I am thinking about is what I wasn’t able to do in my short time here.

Instruction at Oxford is weird. People’s subject is very important to them, and all of the freshers knew what they were studying the moment they came in. I have truly struggled writing my History essays, and some of my feedback is that my writing isn’t correctly within the discipline. The first day of my primary tutorial, my tutor told me to refer back to my first historiography course.

I left my AIM earrings in the rush to get to dinner on time, which normally would mean nothing. However, it was Thanksgiving dinner, and so the choice to wear my earrings was a very significant one. I forgot to do it, sat down for dinner, and tried to see if Smoke Signals was on any UK streaming service for free. It wasn’t. I explained awkwardly that Thanksgiving is an emotionally fraught holiday for me, and made a joke about me being a bad native because I didn’t like squash. 

If you were to ask me for an example of a sporting event that inspires unity, my first thought would be the Olympics. National teams in a variety of sports come together in a worldwide event that can bring a pause to conflict, break down barriers, and bring together massive national and international communities. It seems like the only perfect example, right?

That’s what I thought before coming to Morocco.

As a fellow coffee and tea addict, I think it is part of my duty as a Vienna correspondent to tell you all of my favorite coffee spots in the city. Coffee culture in Vienna is a bit of a learning curve since the options here to get a boost of caffeine are quite different than in the U.S. Back home, my go-to orders are often a latte, cappuccino, London fog, chai latte, or matcha latte (all with oat milk of course!), but the majority of those drinks are not very common in traditional Viennese cafes.

I have never cared as much about football as I have in the last two weeks. It is insane that the World Cup is occuring at the same time as our study abroad experience, and even though I never used to pay attention to the World Cup, or even professional sports in general, I feel pretty lucky that my study abroad semester and the World Cup lined up. I definitely would not have gotten the same exciting experiences, like being in a metro car shaking with the cheers of orange-clad, slightly drunk but contagiously happy Dutch people, if I were in America.

Warning: The title of this post may be misleading. Read on at your own risk.

There’s no such thing as a “typical day” in Vienna. One of the things that I love about Vienna is the variety of things that happen around the city, so each day brings a new adventure. But, in the title I promised a blog post about a somewhat typical day, so I decided to choose a day to describe.

Here is what my day looked like on a Monday in December:

Leaving London has snuck up on me. Wrapped up in the chaos of finals and evaluations and soaking up the Christmas celebrations in the city, it only recently occurred to me that I’m having the last of my experiences here as I write this—last day at my internship, last classes, even my last blog post before I fly home. I’ve tried to commiserate with my friends in the program about it, but many of them seem to feel differently. It’s not that they’re excited to leave, but they have loved it so much that they are deciding to plant themselves here after graduation.

My headphones were a constant item in the fanny pack I wore as a crossbody during my time in Buenos Aires, so whenever I was in transit or really just relaxing, I was almost always listening to music. Listening to songs that matched the mood made me feel like someone out there, even if in a completely different situation, understood the energy I was feeling. I began to make playlists based on my routines and, along with my monthly playlists, accumulated quite the list of new songs.

I did end up going to the Sinterklaas parade. That Saturday morning, November 13th, I did some catchup work at Coffee Company on Kinkerstraat (recently my go-to study spot, ideal for being productive and people-watching) then biked to Leidsplein, the final destination for the Christmas procession. There was a giant stage and framework for spotlights set up in front of the Internationaal Theater.