I’ve officially been in Paris for six weeks, which means that I’m starting to transition from the “everything is new and I’m still adjusting” phase into a “everything is still new and I’m still adjusting, but I think I’m starting to get the hang of it” phase. Those may sound like pretty much the same thing, but for me, the subtle difference means that while I’m still getting used to the French language and culture, I’m not totally thrown off…
It has now been more than a month since I have arrived in Copenhagen, and even though I have only been able to explore a small fraction of what this city has to offer, I’ve loved almost every moment of it (with the exception of my ongoing sickness). I haven’t been able to travel outside of Denmark yet like some of my friends have, but I also haven’t felt the need to because there is still so much here to…
The halfway mark for my program is coming up next week (along with my 21st birthday), AND I just got back from my first trip to Paris! One of my close friends from high school is studying abroad there. It’s so unreal, and yet, not so hard to believe. Yes, sometimes I look around my room and remember when I was unpacking, but this weekend on my way back from the train station, it hit me that I was thinking,…
Per my promise in my previous blog, I have traveled to Dublin since my last post. It was a fantastic experience. Not only was it my first time traveling alone, but Dublin is also a vibrant city with a lot to see and do—more than I could get to! I also went on a trip to Howth, a small peninsula outside Dublin that extends into the sea. I saw landscapes that I couldn’t believe were real, and I had to…
My study abroad experience has been one for the history books thus far. From the very beginning, I have been dazzled by beautiful sights and powerful moments. The first happened right in the beginning when I got to watch the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean on my flight to London. Upon arriving in London, I made my way through customs and passed across the UK border. This was the first time I had ever stepped foot on foreign soil. Nothing…
Bonjour, salut, coucou, my name is Matthew McCardwell, and I am a junior Art History major at Vassar, currently “studying abroad” in the city of lights, Paris, France. As Nicole pointed out in her blog entry, the Vassar Wesleyan Program in Paris (VWPP) group has been exploring since the 7th of January. The first three weeks in Paris have been a grand tourbillon: our first few days discovering the city from the vantage of our hostel; the love affair between…
As I scrambled to finish packing my bags the night before I was scheduled to depart for Exeter, England (procrastination helps to settle my nerves), I had some time to reflect on my impending adventure. I was set to achieve two personal milestones: one immediate, the other more long-term. To begin, I had never traveled alone, and the next day’s journey promised to be the globetrotting equivalent of joining the Polar Bear Club as a means of learning how to…
I’ve been in Bologna for about four weeks now, and I’m still getting used to the lifestyle and cultural differences here. Probably the most pressing cultural difference for me is the great quest to find tea in a country that pretty much drinks exclusively coffee. Tea does exist here, but it’s mostly the shitty store brand ones or weird flavored teas I can’t be bothered with or one centigram of chai for 15 euros. I’ve also had to get used…
Hello from Paris! As of right now, I’ve been in Paris for three weeks, and it has already been a huge whirlwind of fun, stress, and excitement! So many things have happened already in this short amount of time that a review of all of them is honestly impossible, so instead I’m going to focus more generally on what this initial adjustment period has been like for me. Studying abroad has been something I have looked forward to for a…
In my last post, I wrote about getting oriented in London and settled at Goldsmith’s. After getting cozy in New Cross, I was ready to venture out and explore London–starting, obviously, with the most touristy things. In my first two weeks as a London resident (*squeal*) I’ve visited St. Paul’s Cathedral, the British Museum, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Barbican Theatre, the Museum of London Docklands, the Design Museum, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Tate Modern, and the Jane…