Does traveling with your parents really conquer homesickness? 

An overarching struggle that many students seem to face while studying abroad is homesickness. This could be triggered from various things such as illness, seeing a dog that reminds you of your dog, something going wrong while traveling, and the list goes on.  One thing that I was really nervous about upon entering my abroad …

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 …

When Your Bestfriend Visits You in Ireland!

I’m a graduating senior studying abroad in Ireland. Many people ask me, “Aren’t you sad to miss your last semester on campus?” Well sort of, but not really, because all of my best friends are off-campus this semester. Rachael, the one studying abroad in France, flew over to Ireland to see me this weekend! Rachael …

The Unexpected U-turn: Expectation vs Reality

6:00 AM. Beep beep! My alarm rang. My eyes were barely open, but I managed to wiggle out of my bed. Why would I wake up so early on a Sunday? It’s because I was going on the Cliffs of Moher tour with my friends! It’s the place where one of my favorite movies, Harry Potter …

A Weekend Trip to London

I never knew that international travel can be done so casually. Not even two weeks ago, my flatmates and I spontaneously decided to fly to England (thanks Ryanair for being so affordable). After an hour-long flight, I was in a whole different country. Two years ago, the summer before the beginning of the pandemic, I …

Paranormal Experience: Exploring a Prison in Belfast, Northern Ireland

If you know me personally, perhaps you would describe me as a serious person. Definitely not rebellious. Maybe a little bit of a party pooper?  Those of you who know me, you might have to update your impression of me. On Friday, I did something incredibly wild (in my opinion)! With three of my flatmates, …