Claude Monet’s House and the Towers of Notre Dame!

As an avid art fan, I was super excited to get the chance to go to Claude Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny. Giverny is a small countryside town in Normandy, France. Giverny is famous for its rolling countryside hills and impressionist art history, which was a great change of scenery from the busy streets …

French Soccer, Versailles, and the Louvre!

With the World Cup kicking off this weekend, my study abroad friends and I bought tickets to the World Cup send-off game of France vs. Ireland at the Stade de France. As an avid soccer fan, I was super excited to see one of my favorite national teams (France, of course!) take on Ireland. European …

Latin Quarter and First Day of Classes!

Classes finally started at the IES Center! My first class is French 101 with Professor Lerouvillois. I have never taken French language before, but I find learning the language very interesting. I think the language rules are very similar to Spanish which I studied for five years, so I am learning pretty fast.  After class …

Eiffel Tower Picnic!

After attending another IES orientation for French culture in the morning, the entire IES business group decided to head to the Eiffel Tower for a picnic. A picnic on the famous lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower is pretty high on my bucket list, so I was super excited for this! We bought some …

First Day in Paris!

After months of preparing and the excitement leading up to studying abroad, I’m finally here in the famous Ville de Lumiéres (City of Lights)!  After an eight hour flight, I managed to navigate the massive Charles de Gaulle airport and catch a taxi to my apartment in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.  My apartment is …

World’s Best Cup of Coffee

So…. Maybe I haven’t found the world’s best cup of coffee, but I have been on the hunt for Manly’s best cup of coffee! My goal for this term has been to try every little cafe, and there are a ton, and see which one had the best latte. I have been spoiled since being …

Life in the Castle

After a few months of living in our beautiful ICMS castle, I still haven’t been able to get used to the fact that I am in Australia. Yes, I am going to school, studying, hanging out with friends, watching Netflix, drinking an absurd amount of coffee – the usual things that college students do! But …

I Am Thankful For…

This Thanksgiving obviously has been a strange one – being in a foreign country that does not celebrate Thanksgiving is a new one for me for sure! No one is yelling at you to stop playing Christmas music until after Thanksgiving (so for all you Christmas music lovers out there, come to Australia) which has been …

Aussie Quirks

Since arriving in Australia, I haven’t had much of a culture shock necessarily since it is an English-speaking, developed country. However, Australia does have its quirks – some commonly known to the rest of the world, others not so much! One of my favorite things about Australia is the laid back surfer lifestyle. “Shirts and …

Melbourne Cup

A couple of friends and I decided to spend the weekend hard at work… on vacation… in Melbourne! How could we not go when there is an opportunity to go to the Melbourne Cup? For those of you who don’t know (I was one of those people if I’m being honest), the Melbourne Cup is the …