Classes in Coming to Life

One of my courses here at IES is Historia y Memoria de los Judíos Sefardíes or History and Memory of the Sephardic Jews. Through this course I have been learning not just about the Jews of Spain but naturally the historical context as well, therefore giving me a broad understanding of Spanish history. Semana Santa …

¿Eres francés? and other ironies

Well then! Here’s my food for the post, known colloquially in Quechua as lawa wallpa chaki, and in English as the exquisite Chicken foot soup. Okay, so I told a white lie. Rather than soup, it was perhaps more akin to couscous, which my host family served to me cooked with the foot of a chicken to give …

Art field trip to Quilotoa

¿Qué tal amigos? I hope you all are doing well and are excited to hear about the second volcanic crater I entered. If you don’t already know, Quilotoa’s crater was formed several hundred years ago, much like Cuicocha. The lake now sits in that crater and is a popular place to canoe and observe. For …

First Impressions

Yes, yes, yes, I am alive and in Japan!!! Sorry if it seems like I’ve been M.I.A. lately! My first few days here were absolutely wonderful, and as much as I wanted to share my thoughts about the beginning of my journey, I  really wanted to just soak everything up by myself first. I didn’t …

Choir and El Clásico

Most of Spain follows two religions: Catholicism and Fútbol! Recently held was El Clásico, the ultimate soccer match between Real Madrid and Barcelona. This match is the equivalent of the United States Superbowl, complete with intensely loyal fans, advertisements galore, and houses and bars full of people glued to the screen. In fact, nightlife throughout the …

The Perfect Holiday Pt. 2: Le Carnaval de Nantes

The highlight of my spring break in Nantes was the Carnivals parade, which had the theme “Around the World.” The floats in the parade represented different countries and cultures and were accompanied by many dancers and performers. These floats were the most amazing ones I have ever seen! You could tell that everyone involved with the parade dedicated a lot of time, …

The Perfect Holiday

Hey there 🙂  The craziness of study abroad has come to a halt because I am now on spring break! Or as Europeans say Holiday. I love to travel and learn about new places but for spring break I decided to return to where I studied last spring; Nantes, France. Sometimes in the midst of …

My Weekend Homestay

It’s been quite some time since I’ve written a post. Life in Berlin is crazy busy! With classes, excursions, church, friends, babysitting and traveling, it’s hard to find time to sleep! Nonetheless, I’ve been having some really great experiences; one being a weekend home stay with a German family. Everyone in my program had the …

Semana Santa Part 2

As aforementioned, Semana Santa, or Holy Week is a very important religious holiday for Spain. Therefore, most everyone is given the week off from work, include us students! During this week, many of us take advantage of being in Europe and travel. First stop: Dublin, Ireland. I had to pleasure of visiting a good friend …

Visiting the Capital

On occasion we have a long weekend in which we don’t have classes on Monday. Naturally this means we have time to travel around Spain. For our first long weekend I went to Madrid, capital of Spain. Madrid is like the New York City of Spain, but prettier and less structured. With the largest city …