After nearly 5 months, I am on my flight home to the good ol’ US of A. I didn’t get a chance to post much during the end of my experience 🙁 but after studying …
end of program
Dreaming in Italian
I had a dream I went to Italy and I lived there for a year. I left behind my city and everyone I knew, looking a change in a life that felt the same. I …
Bella, Act 3
Note: What follows is a work of fiction. While the characters in the story- including I, Pier, the narrator- are inspired by real life, their existence is bounded by the of the limits of the …
Reverse Culture Shock (An Epilogue)
There is no stranger feeling than getting off a plane and feeling like your home is an alien planet. After living in Korea for four and a half months, I felt very overwhelmed and out …
Getting Back to the New Normal
It has been well over a month since I returned to the states from my semester studying abroad in Ireland and then traveling for three weeks post my program ending. During that time a lot …
The Beginning of the End
By mid-June in Bologna the air is hot and stagnant. The heat hangs low in the porticoes and by midday it feels too hot to go outside. Italians walk even slower to keep from sweating …
The Epitome of Bittersweet
I left for home bright and early on Friday, June 7th. I had a 20-hour travel day ahead of me, but my excitement for heading home got me out of bed quickly. Not only was …
A lifetime in four months
As you’ve probably guessed from the title, this is my four-month-anniversary-and-one-week-left-in-Aix sentimental post. Although I’m sure I’ll have better and deeper reflections on my experience here once I’m back in my regular life in America, …
Thoughts of a semester gone by
I think I can speak for almost all college students when I say that the idea of summer, the ending being oh-so-near, is often one of the best parts of Spring semester. However, being abroad …
Goodbye Dublin, Hello Three Weeks of Travel
Nobody tells you how hard it is going to be to say goodbye to your study abroad experience. For me, it was a moment I dreaded throughout the whole program, I knew it would be …