I had a few days after finals were over and I had not visited Australia. I really wanted to visit my awesome friend Shelly over my semester break, but plans had to change. It was my last week and I needed to have one last adventure. On the night of November 1st, I had bought…
Thoughts After Shanghai
By the end of my trip in Shanghai, I found that there were three overarching themes that I drew from my stay. Here’s a list of top thing I would tell anyone who wants to study abroad in China, or really anywhere: 1. Be Flexible – There’s a saying that I learned early on this…
The Great Wall Was Pretty Great
My favorite experience in China was going to Beijing and visiting the Great Wall of China. There is definitely a reason for why they call it one of the Seven Wonders of the World. One of the best pieces of travel advice I can give to someone wanting to plan a trip to China is…
Leaving Belgrade
I left Belgrade on December 20th for Romania. It was after an amazing night where all of the students on the program, all of our professors and our homestay families and our friends got together one last time. That morning I packed my bags and hugged my homestay mother and cried. I was only gone…
Anxiety-Stuffed Crust
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…
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…