“Salut, ça va?” : Mes interactions en Suisse

“Salut”, in French, functions as the equivalent of saying “hi” to a good friend in English, while “ça va” resembles “how are you?”. As you can imagine, this isn’t a phrase that I get to say while I am on Hope’s campus… except to those in my French classes.  In Geneva, this is a phrase …

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 …

A Warm Welcome

In my last blog, I landed safely in Santiago and navigated my way through the airport. As I stepped outside, I welcomed the crisp breeze, a nice change from the stale airplane air. It is currently winter in Chile with temperatures ranging from 50° to 75° F. Although significantly warmer than winters in Michigan, indoor …

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 …

12 Days to Departure!

It is 12 days before I leave for Japan, and it’s starting to sink in that I am leaving the country for an extended period of time. 11 months! My wanting to go to Japan started in first grade with a school project. Ever since then, it has been an exhaustive journey trying to get …

✈——Touch Down

Wow as you’re reading this, I’ve landed in Chile and have been here for a few weeks. While details about flights will be brief, more important is what I took away from this experience. My itinerary for the day was a two-hour flight from Chicago O’Hare Airport (ORD) to J. F. Kennedy Airport (JFK). A …

Au revoir aux États-Unis

“There’s only so much preparation you can do for a chapter of unknowns”.  A friend reminded me of this subtle, yet powerful, phrase the other day. Her wisdom came shortly after I explained the lingering, paradoxical feelings of nerves and excitement that have grown as the number of days that I have left in the …

Goodbye in Barcelona

At the start of the month, my friends and I made plans to take one last trip together to Barcelona, Spain. Like many of the places I’ve visited this semester, I was taken with it in ways I never anticipated. For Barcelona specifically, the architecture and the atmosphere it created was particularly enchanting. Of course, …

The Sound of Salzburg

Cue The Sound of Music soundtrack: I ventured to Salzburg for a day trip this weekend. No, I did not take the famous Julie Andrews picture, sorry to disappoint. However, I walked through some of the filming locations. I also toured a fortress in the mountains and ate some delicious food. A Few of My …

The Beginning of a Beautiful Adventure

And just like that, I’ve been in Poland for over a week now. The last ten days or so have been busy, beautiful, exhausting, exciting, and so much more. I arrived the night of February 10th at the Krakow airport and was picked up by one of our program directors, Joe, and we took a …