As I finished school on May 13th, giving myself only 8 full days to prepare for a 2-month trip abroad, I bring you along with a lot of the things I did to prepare for my first time out of the country!

—

Two months in Wien were not exactly what I expected... I learnt to go alone with it and with my feelings... so here are three unimportant, yet significant moments of my summer.

There was one day. 

Luka gave us a tilt of the head and a squeeze of the eyes, indicating that we should go upstairs for a coffee break to touch the fish together.

In June, the air was filled with the scent of flowers, but there were no flowers in sight. 

The sun was shining, there was no shade on the balcony, and everyone squinted.

When I first landed in Paris more than two months ago, I was confused, jet lagged, tired and anxious. I knew how to speak French, but had only practiced in a classroom environment. I had not been to France in several years, and had never traveled internationally without my family. I tiredly stumbled from the airplane, to a taxi, to my IES Abroad apartment.

Dublin was an insane journey and the best six weeks of my life. Last summer was a difficult time for me and I came to Ireland with no idea what to expect–I knew no one and I had no idea what my classes would be like. Despite this, I felt at home after only a few days and never wanted to leave. My new and dear friend Gaby agrees; we have both done a fair bit of traveling and Dublin is the first place that we both clicked with that quickly and intensely. I became close friends with many people from the program and fell in love with the city.