When you move to a big city the first thing you’re going to do is get lost. You will probably get lost almost every single day for the first couple of weeks. Especially if you’re taking public transportation. And even more so if think you’re too good to use a map like I did. But…
Month: January 2016
Publicly Humiliated on Public Transportation
Adjusting to Shanghai was the harshest learning curve of my life. In my first week out of orientation, I quickly began to realize that without the immediate guidance of one of the locals, I was leagues away from being able to function. For that reason most people around you will try to give you a…
Lost in Translation
“Clearly she was expected to say something, but panic at having to speak stole the thoughts from her head.” ― Shannon Hale, The Goose Girl When living in China, it’s important that you try to communicate as much as possible in Chinese, especially with the locals. But don’t, under any circumstance, say things unless you’re…
Ben Gurion Airport
In an hour i will be on a plane to New York. As any person who has studied abroad knows, it changes you. This is also the case for me. I had quite a few expectations and ideas of how studying in Israel would be, yet I could not have prepared myself for what I experienced…
Back in the USA
Now that I am back in the United States, I am missing my time abroad. Studying abroad was an amazing experience that I feel very lucky to have been able to have. The amount of things you can learn about history through experience has been incredible to me. I feel like I learned so much…
Dust in the Westward Wind: Letters from America
I am a first generation immigrant, and those far away distant lands that I may have called home in some other life became ever so nearer. The trip to Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina was enlightening. About 25 years ago stood a country called Yugoslavia, consisted of six republics (now individual, sovereign countries): Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia…
Final Thoughts from within Belgrade
The final week in Belgrade I spent much time packing, and repacking just to make sure that I had everything ready by the time I had to leave the city. I did not have much time to ponder about the great concept of things, and what had just passed over upwards of three months ago….
Back in the US – Life After Japan
As of today, its been a little over a week that I’ve been back in the states after my study abroad experience in Japan. It’s been quite hard adjusting back to American life for me, and the jet lag was definitely my least-wanted Christmas gift this year. Even though I saw them less than a…
Looking Back
Now that it has been almost an entire month since the 40+ hour travel home from Samoa, I have had time to stop and think about how my life changed in the past four months and what I experienced. On one of my flights home, I decided to make a list of only a few…
Reflecting on Shanghai
Wow. I didn’t know re adjusting would be so weird. It’s been very interesting coming back to my home country and seeing all the things we take for granted. It has opened up my eyes to a lot of problems we face as well as a lot of opportunities for growth in both countries. I…