Foood!

Saludos! So who doesn’t like to talk about food? Now that’s a good question, considering that we LOVE to eat in Spain :). Our schedules are practically run by lunchtime and followed by the famous siesta. Absolutely everything- cafes, pharmacies, and clothing stores- shut down approximately between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. and everyone goes home …

22 and Fall Break!

This past weekend has been fantastic! My host parents planned a surprise birthday party for me with the help of Elena (my Romanian language professor), Jill, and my other colleagues. It was my very first surprise party, and it was definitely a success. I had no idea that my host parents even knew it was …

Volleyball time?

I have survived my Romanian language midterm exams!! On Monday, I had my written exam, and today I had my oral exam – which was a special birthday treat for me. 😉 It is hard to believe that the semester is already half-way over. The weeks fly by so quickly here, and it seems that …

A Day in Sibiu

Today we traveled by bus to the lovely and historic city of Sibiu! We started the day with a tour provided by our Romanian teacher, Elena. We walked on the first iron bridge built in Romania, which is also known as the “Bridge of Lies” or “Liar’s Bridge”. According to legend, if one were to …

Kars Kars Kars!

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go on an organized trip with CIEE to Kars, a small city in Northeastern Turkey. By the title of this post, you can already tell I loved it! 🙂 It was definitely interesting to see a completely different side of Turkey: the community Kars finds itself in …

Elderly Club Group Outing!

One of the highlights from last week was being able to bump around on a tour bus all day for an Elderly Club Group Outing! We visited the Brancoveanu Monastery and the Brukenthal Palace near Sibiu. A team from the United States joined the excursion with the elderly, along with Damen, a Romanian adopted by …

A Family-Filled Weekend

Oh hi again 🙂 I have decided to write another post about my weekend at home in Granada! Carmen and Fabi’s grandkids stayed with us and I spent a lot of time with them. Their names are Cásper, Laurenzo, and Paulita. It was a special weekend because it was Laurenzo’s 8th birthday :). Now, I …

Interview with a Kiwi

The following is an interview I conducted with a native New Zealander, my Kiwi host, and very good friend, Tim Neilson.  Christian: Let’s get the obvious question out of the way first, what is your favorite part of living in New Zealand? Tim: Probably just the chilled-outness of the place, really. Everyone here is really …

Hoş geldiniz!

Finally, my first blog post from Istanbul! I am sorry I have not been updating at all but the past three weeks have been super busy and I was having trouble uploading pictures to the system! Anyway, I’m here!!!! And it’s been 3 weeks and I can’t believe it! The trip here was one of …

The First Glimpse

I have been in Romania for a little over one week now and it feels like so much has happened already! This past week has been filled with all sorts of emotions. As I am still soaking up the new environment and trying to settle into my new routine, I found it helpful to organize …