We Had Visitors!

The Bracelet Before I tell you about my past week, I need to give you some background on a bracelet I was wearing since the day I left to study abroad. I was at a market in Hawaii earlier this summer where there were over one hundred different shops and a billion different items being …

Reality has Never Been so Fun!

Classes have begun This past week, we started our classes. I am taking Consumer Behavior, Social Media, and Sydney Landscapes & History. When comparing the course load and grading system to Hope College, there are many differences. For instance, you are never graded on your homework and the professor would not know if you did …

To a new city, and new beginnings!

This week was full of adjustments and learning curves. I currently am writing this in my room which has a window and balcony. It is comforting to wake up to the Australian sun every morning. My living quarters consist of 4 other roommates. Four of them are from the states and one is from Beijing! …

First Stop Down Under

The thing that comes to mind when I think about my first week here down under is wow, I have knocked so many things off my bucket list already. The day I got here, I did miss my connecting flight to Cairns. That was not fun, to say the least, but it only put 5 …

Preparing for Take-Off

Hello everyone, As I am preparing to leave for Australia, a lot has been circling through my mind. People keep asking me, “Kass, are you done packing yet?”. I respond with a laugh and announce that I haven’t even yet begun. I guess you could say I have a problem with procrastination. However, I am …

falling in love with the real Holland

As a Hope girl, I felt like visiting the real Holland was almost obligatory when I live only a couple hours away from there. With two of my American friends from Trinity, I spent 3 days in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Every time I visit a place in Europe, I seem to have this problem where I …

Kerry: the must-see place in Ireland

It’s been a while since I last updated my blog page. To those of you who were waiting for my posts (if there are any), my apologies! Schoolwork piled up in the blink of an eye and I have been basically living in the school library trying to get them done. About 2 weeks ago, …

The biggest takeaways from a weekend getaway in Barcelona

The highlight of this month has been that my lovely friend, Manna Sakon, a Hope alumni who is now a middle school ELS teacher, came to visit me in Ireland during her spring break. We took a short weekend trip to Barcelona, Spain, and two takeaways from this trip were: 1. show up to the …

St Patrick’s Day in Dublin

Apparently, I was one of the 400,000 people who attended the St Patrick’s Day festivities in Dublin on March 17, 2022. As soon as I stepped out of my room at 11:30am on that day, I knew that the whole country was ready to party. I looked to the left and an overwhelming amount of …

Why do you travel?

During reading week, which is basically a spring break with an emphasis on self-studying, I found myself eating a baguette every day and saying merci beaucoup. Can anyone guess where I was? Yes, I was in France! France was one destination I was determined to get to as soon as I decided to study abroad …