Featured image: Visiting the Lagunas altiplanicas in the Atacama desert At the start of my time abroad, my host mom encouraged me to savor every moment, since it would fly by before I knew it. Despite Adriana’s 18 years of experience as a host mom, I don’t think I completely believed her, but as I write this final post from my bedroom in New York City I can see she had a point. My last month abroad was known as…
Featured image: Ponte Vecchio in Florence during one of the 10 seconds it was not raining. Hello again and welcome back to Thao Does JYA. This week we’ll be covering parental visits and final exams. It’s been quite a while since my last post and I’m just a mere 11 days from departure. We’ll begin where I left off, I suppose. Just as I had settled into my routine it was over, or so it felt. I volunteered about ten…
Featured image: View of the Moscow skyline from the lookout point at Zaryadye Park. Vsem privet! (Hi everyone!) Spring is in full bloom here in Moscow (and I’ve got the hay fever to show for it). Just a few weeks ago I still had to bundle up in a coat, scarf, and boots, and now I’m in dresses, skirts, and shorts. The weather here can be unpredictable—a bit like Poughkeepsie weather—since it can jump from under 50℉ up to 75℉…
Featured image: Sunset over Escuela Ñirrimapu in Padre Las Casas, Chile Throughout the past month I’ve thought to myself countless times, “Where am I… and how did I get here!?” I often think this when I fall asleep during bus rides and wake up in another dimension, but also at random moments when I pause to reflect on the unique experiences I’m having. This was especially true during the first week of April when we traveled to Temuco, located south…
Featured image: Sunset at Rukurukulevu, a village we had dinner at during our first night in Fiji. Bula! Currently, I am heading into the last two weeks of my program. However, instead of worrying about the 30-page research paper I should be writing, I’d like to take y’all on a trip down memory lane and talk about my program’s excursion to Fiji! Early in the morning on the last Saturday of February, we boarded a plane and set off for…
Featured image: Me and my friends in front of one of the many murals at the artful Vila Madalena neighborhood. São Paulo has such incredible street art, and this is just some of it! Hello from Brazil! I’m currently at the bus station waiting for the bus that will take me and my friends to Rio for the Easter weekend, which is a 4-day weekend here! (Our Brazilian program coordinator brought chocolates for us all today! Isn’t she the sweetest?!)…
Featured image: A Panama cross-branded tree frog we found while frogging in a creek on our very last night of group field work in El Valle. Last night at about 10:30 we finished our final field work as a group for the whole semester! It’s surprising how quickly the time has gone, especially in the last few weeks. Since our last stay in Panama City, where we finished up our Spanish classes, we have been out traveling the country again,…
Featured image: A mural at Escuela La Victoria that reads “Public, Free, and Quality Education“ After 36 days in Chile, I can proudly report that I’ve only led my friends astray on the metro five times! We have one more week in Santiago before traveling, so here’s hoping I don’t make it six. Now that I have a routine and can (usually) find my way around, the days and weeks are flying by. For the month of March, my schedule…
Featured image: Part of the Rostov Kremlin in Veliky Rostov, where I traveled to a few weeks ago. Stage two of my study abroad journey: welcome to culture shock! From everything I’ve read about the stages of study abroad, I can tell I’ve reached the point (which occurs around a month in) where the rose-colored glasses have slid down my nose, and I’m starting to notice cultural differences about Russia that I hadn’t until now. Learning a foreign language is…
Featured image: Canale Grande in Venezia It’s hard to imagine that I’ve been here in Italy for over two months now and have just under two months left. It’s not that I’m particularly apt at staying here or particularly attached to going home. There’s just a vague sense of comfort to finding a routine, but here, I’ve found, my routine is very easily disrupted. In late February, my boyfriend found his way across the Atlantic and stayed in Bologna for…