This past weekend my roommate, Yarden, and I took a spontaneous trip to Granada, Spain. After a 5 hour bus-ride we arrived at our hostel in the Arab district, which was absolutely phenomenal. The streets leading to the hostel were cobblestone and lined with many little Arab vendor shops with leather goods, mosaic tiles, jewelry, …
“Rasasvada” : the taste of bliss in the absence of all thoughts. These last two weeks were full of fun. After finals were finished it was time for everyone to let off some steam. The very first weekend I spend in Thessaloniki, Greece (northern Greece) with a group of students, SLAs Anna and Jenny and …
“Dérive” (french) : literally means “drift;” figuratively means a spontaneous journey where the traveler leaves their life behind for a time to let the spirit of the landscape and architecture attract and move them. This last week was a whirlwind with midterms and papers and it was nice to take a quick break from reality and …
The Beijing Center hosts many programs and opportunities to travel around Beijing and greater China, most of which is included in tuition (saaweet!). At the beginning of the semester we went on a 16-day trip from Beijing to the western border, about 50 miles from Pakistan. Mid terms week occurred two weeks ago, and as …
I took advantage of my 10 day fall break and traveled to Berlin, Rome, Florence, Paris, and Versailles with some friends. Needless to say, I was exhausted after this trip, but had many wonderful memories, have become more culturally diverse, and have strengthened my friendship with some great people. My first destination was a 3 …
Merci, Paris, for a spectacular weekend! London will always be my favorite, but spending this past weekend in Paris made me realize why everyone loves it so much. It was beyond gorgeous. Even in the wind and rain, the beauty of the white stone buildings made the whole city feel like a palace. The Eiffel …
How do you become a non-touristy tourist? You can’t. If you want to be like a local, you’ll grab some take out and plop down on your couch for the better part of your trip. What you can do, though, is be a cultural tourist rather than a sight-seeing one. Back home in Chicago, I often …
Last week my friend Natalie came to visit me from Rome. It was great to get a little taste of home while being so far away! Low point in the week: Really missing my American peanut butter. Highlight of the week: Discovered ‘Sainsbury’s Lemon Curd’, a sweet, lemon, jelly-like spread. I ate it with shortbread …
“Analysand” : a person undergoing psychoanalysis. I use this word to describe these two weeks with the utmost seriousness. The first reason is because these two weeks took me through a journey that sent me diving deep deep down into myself and asking “What can I do to help the world?” Not only did I …
So yes, I realize I am the world’s worst blogger at this point but you’re just going to have to forgive me because not only has Rome captured my heart it has also captured most of my spare time. That, and it’s midterms week(s) so yeah, sorry everybody. Fall break was absolutely amazing. I met …