Pick Your People

Happy Friday! After the full week of travel during Reflective week, it has been refreshing to be back in Liverpool this week! To echo the words of another friend studying abroad, I hadn’t realized how much Liverpool had started to feel like home until I returned from Italy. On Sunday, I left the city center …

Four Countries, One Week

Hello from Ireland, Wales, and Italy, although by the time this is published, I’ll be back in England! At Liverpool Hope University (LHU), terms are split into four weeks of class followed by a reflective week. Reflective weeks are weeks without classes intended for students to catch up on work, study, research, or rest. This …

Semester recap: Rome edition

This morning I finished the first half of my exams and walked away feeling pretty lucky. The important classes are finished, and the tests seem to have gone well. (Of course, we’ll see in 3 to 6 weeks when I get my final grades back.) As of today, I have eight days before I head …

Exploring London with Flying Dutchmen

My spring break here in Rome was held over Easter weekend, for obvious reasons. Since Rome is a place of pilgrimage for Catholics, it can get pretty crazy over Easter. So, I decided to meet up with my friends Annika, Jack (both studying in London with IES and CIEE respectively), and Grace (studying with IES …

Serendipity in a brand-new Italy

Last week, my mom and grandma visited me. We spent our weekdays in Rome and our weekend in Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. I never get this way when I’m gone for a semester at Hope, but wow… There is something emotional about getting to see (and also say goodbye to) your family when you …

Rome Life: Day 60

This week begins the second week of the second half of the semester. Over the hump! Last night one of my housemates and I found ourselves stuck at our tiny kitchen table swapping our harrowing stories of our journeys to Rome. We talked about the tears that inevitably came, of the plane mishaps and unexpected …

My time in Rome!

Dzien Dobry everyone! We’re back for another blog on life in Krakow! Jumping back a little to March 14th, it was another week of classes! I had Theology of the Body followed by Mass at the Dominican church as usual. Later that night we had another community night with adoration and confession followed by dinner …

Five of the lessons I’ve learned so far (Rome Edition)

1. The winter coat is more important than the actual outfit. I’m serious about this one, and I think about it almost every day. No, I’m not proud of my very evident trashy coats here. Peacoats are everywhere––Flannel ones, bright red ones, classic black or tan ones. They line the streets. Any old pair of …

Lessons, with love, from Florence

Our sweet, homemade-wine-connoisseur, charming lisp-having AirBnB host, Antonio, said, “I have been to New York. It was almost like being in a fictional place, since everywhere you turn there is something to be recognized from a movie or TV show or famous picture.” What he didn’t know was that staying in his countryside Villa––decorated with …

Pick a Favorite?

Every Monday, the classroom is filled with chatter about what everyone did the previous weekend. “How did you like [insert city name here]?” “What did you do there?” “Oh, I loved/didn’t like that city” “What’s your favorite place you’ve been so far?” Of course I participate in these pre-class discussions. How could I not? The …