Before leaving and after getting there, the program taught us something that kind of looks like a roller coaster. It was a chart of emotions and feelings students generally experience when going abroad. It started …
Erik Helm
Rhinoceros Part 2
Several months ago, in my post entitled “Rhinoceros,” I wrote about my mental health and the challenges I was facing with it during my first couple weeks abroad. Now, here we are, at the end …
Becoming Home
Going abroad means a lot of social transitions, new experiences and the ultimate routine changer. It means a culture shock into a painful adaption period into an eventual acceptance of a new life. I’ve found …
Learning How to School
Sometimes, it’s hard to remember that “study abroad” starts with the word “study.” You’re telling me this isn’t a four-month vacation? It’s true, it’s not. Just like Madison, classes have midterms, tests and papers. But …
Rhinoceros
I’m sure right now you were just scrolling through Facebook, passing seemingly dozens of people saying “follow my blog while I’m studying abroad in (insert foreign city here) this semester!!” And then, when you go …
Pizza Night
It’s Friday evening and I’m waiting for dinner to start. Normally, my host family won’t feed me on the weekends, but since we just got here the day before she’ll make an exception so she …
Going for that cookie
When I was young, I remember one time where it was just me and my dad for dinner, an oddity considering there was five of us at the time. I don’t remember what we ate, …