“It’s almost over!” calls out one of my classmates when we’re greeted by a posted reminder of an election viewing event on the IES abroad bulletin board. I said the same thing to a British friend of my roommate when she asked if I was stressed about the coming election. And to the Dutch R.A. in my building the day before. And my Dutch sociology professor earlier this week. The phrase seems to rest on the tip of the tongue,…
After spending another two wonderful weeks here, I can say without a doubt that I still love Morocco. My aforementioned excitement over the cooler and drier weather has been replaced by a more general excitement about all of the sights Morocco has to offer, and the last two weeks have been jam-packed with fun and unique (and occasionally educational) visits and experiences. Before departing for Ben Smim, a village in the Atlas Mountains, I spent one final day in Rabat…
“I need a vacation from my vacation!” is an exclamation I associate with ardent Mediterranean cruise-goers, or perhaps with ambitious trans-continental road-trippers. Either way, someone wearing sneakers and holding lots of maps, enthusiasm waning as sweat trickles down their furrowed brow. The same principle of this ironic need for a respite from a character-building interlude in one’s otherwise mundane life, however, applies also to study abroad. “I need a vacation from study abroad,” one might say, or more specifically, “I…
A package of bleach in Prague will cost you about a hundred Czech crowns. It can be purchased from any drugstore or Tesco. It won’t look like the bleach you would get back in the U.S., but maybe you’ll think it’s kind of exciting that all the little things are different here. Purple hair dye will cost another hundred crowns. While the box says purple and the people on the front have violet locks, this dye will turn your dark…
I am extremely fortunate that the schedule of my study abroad program makes is possible to travel around Ireland on the weekends. So far, Jake and I have made it to Cork, Galway and Dublin. In term of Ireland, these are all large, major cities. However, it is important to remember that the entire country of Ireland has a population of about four million (less than half the size of New York City), which means that they are not particularly…