Now that my time has ended in Shanghai, I can only look back and thing about what my life would have been this year. How many places I wouldn’t have seen, people I would’ve never met, lessons learnt, and most importantly, culture I would not have experienced – especially the food. So after much reflecting…
Month: December 2015
Hello from the Other Side (of the Atlantic)
This winter break has been the strangest two weeks of my life. When I travel home for break, it’s typically a 1800 mile stretch, so I’m used to not seeing my friends for months on end. The 4683 miles from London to Denver feels the same. The time I’ve spent at home has felt completely normal and I’m…
Armando At Home: A Brief Reflection on Identity
We’ve all heard that “you don’t know what you have until you lose it” and that “distance makes the heart grow fonder,” two expressions that come to mind when I consider how my travels have affected my identity. I left for Jordan seeking perspective and an appreciation for a different culture than my own, and…
Lisbon, Doha and Paris in 10 days: Part 1
October 29 – 31: Lisbon, Portugal About 2 weeks after I travelled to Prague, it was time for me to make way for Lisbon. Ihe was already supposed to travel to Doha for the WISE Summit to present a project that I was working via the WISE Learners Program. Since Qatar Foundaton was already covering…
The Gothic Beauty of Praha
On October 15th, I made my way to Czech Republic. This was the start of my Euro-trip that I had wished to go on for so long. With a backpack and wanderlust in my viens, I boarded Ryan Air, probably the cheapest airlines ever according to my opinion, to the city of Prague. The first…
There and Back Again
Well, a semester has come and gone, and I’m glad I can say with full confidence that it has been a good one. I know that reading this you all probably can’t imagine how thrilling the experiences were, how kind the friends I’ve made are, or how delicious the food I ate was. It’s hard…
Final Blog: Jordan
Europe is weird. America is weird. These are the first few thoughts I had while on my layover in Europe and upon returning home at the conclusion of my study abroad experience. It did not hit me until I jaywalked across a Frankfurt road and was chastised by a Frenchman. So the next time I…
The End to an Arab Adventure
I sit now in Montage cafe, at the bottom of Rainbow St., right before the steps which lead down to Wasat al-Balad (City Centre), downtowan Amman. A thirty minute walk, this hidden cafe has played host to numerous social and academic endeavours of mine. Here I met Shadi, the soft voiced but endlessly talkative Palestinian waiter…