Here’s what you should ACTUALLY pack

For those of you who are studying abroad soon, I’m sure you’re trying to plan how you are going to pack everything you’ll need into a suitcase and a back pack. There are hundreds of lists online about what you should or should not bring, and believe me, I read a good chunk of them …

Trust your gut ;)

Food has definitely been a recurring topic on this blog, but this post is extra special to me.  I had the unexpected opportunity to independently travel outside of England and visit Marseille, France. It was upon recommendation of my dad who said “the food there is great!” I quickly discovered that, as per usual, he …

The Disgruntled Tourist

The smartphone A gift to man-kind A computer, phone, and camera All in one! But for the love of God Put  It Down. PLEASE. ——- Nothing is worse Than watching fireworks through the screen Of the person blocking your view And you Yeah, you with the incessant NEED To document every second for your feed …

Quick Ramblings

I will forever be grateful for this amazing experience. I feel incredibly blessed to be studying abroad and learning from a new lens, but I have to admit, at times, it is hard being away from home. I miss my amazing, loving parents and sun-shiny sister so, so much, even though our family group chat …

Netflix and Knitting

Studying abroad is a blast and a half. You’re in a new country, you’ve met awesome people, and you’re making memories to last a lifetime. But if I told you it was the time of my life 24/7, I’d be lying. Like anything, studying abroad has its downsides. When you’re in a big city like …

10 Reasons to be Thankful

Every Thanksgiving, Americans around the world are asked to practice gratitude and thankfulness. For me, this was the first Thanksgiving I was not celebrating with my family. It was easy to wish to be back at home, among the delicious fare my family whips up. But I found myself in London, thousands of miles away …

A Familiar Face & More Hot Takes

This past weekend one of my best friends came to visit me in Liverpool, all the way from Michigan! The travel bug has surely spread through my friend group as she left me to head for Ireland, Germany and Poland. A curious thing happened this weekend – I became a tour guide of sorts. What …

A Wale(s) of a time

Standing back on solid ground with my hands shaking, a classmate asked me, “Is this what you imagined studying abroad would be like?” I replied, “No, I imagined myself in the library doing homework!,” to which our international student support manager overheard us, laughed, and smiled.  I had just completed the second part of that …

The Globe Theatre

In 1613, one spark from a cannon started a fire that burned William Shakespeare’s Globe theatre to the ground. Now, over 400 years later, people from around the world flock to London’s replica of the famous Elizabethan theatre to experience what it was like to watch Shakespeare’s plays back in the day. I have been …

A future sociolinguists take on Brexit

*dictionary definition of sociolinguistics: the study of language in relation to social factors, including differences of regional, class, and occupational dialect, gender differences, and bilingualism. One of the classes I was very excited to take while abroad was Multilingualism. Multilingualism is simply an individuals ability to communicate effectively in 3 or more languages. I grew …