Almost Nearly Getting Close to Counting Down
25,969 minutes left until I go home. which sounds like a lot until you also take into effect that I’ve been in London for 134,232 minutes. Also a lot of minutes. I was speaking with my program coordinator the other day and we were talking about the age old problem of flatmates not washing dishes and I made some remark about how it didn’t really...
Abroad from Abroad
Being Hungarian, a trip to Hungary had always naturally been a dream of mine. With my great-grandmother on my mom’s side being born there, I definitely felt a connection to the country, but I had simply chalked it up to an impossibility for me. When I was talking to my mom about where I might go for fall break, though, she had a surprise for me – she’d planned a trip for us to visit the “motherland” together! Since I was studying...
The Uji Chapters
Of all the unread books on my shelf back home, none is more intimidating than Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji. The translation I own, the 1926 translation by Arthur Waley, lands at over a 1000 pages. (The Tale of Genji taking up a large amount of space on my Japanese Literature shelf in Birmingham, AL) Murasaki, a lady of Japan’s Heian court, wrote Genji roughly a thousand years ago, with the novel itself tracing the...
Boots and Blazers: Russian Style and How It Has Changed Me
Russian fashion sense is truly a thing to bear witness to. Before coming to Saint Petersburg, I had only heard that they “dress a bit nicer” than we do in America. I had no idea what I was in for. The women here dress in a rotation that often consists of some sort of patterned or leather jacket, an array of blouses and unique tees, tapered jean cuts or dress pants, heels or boots, and a detailed leather handbag by the European...
Study Abroad Part 3
This study abroad trip was definitely one for the books. I made friends that will last a lifetime and not to mention the new culture that I experienced. I was in a culture very different from the one that I was used to back home. The experiences I had from new foods to new environments and a different culture. The picture I post with this was from the last night in Greece. This was the view from the rooftop restaurant at the hotel....
Packing for success
Packing up and moving for 5 months is not an easy feat. Especially when you have to add baggage weight limitations and the ability to take everything you have on the go. Then you add in the fear of something being lost or stolen, and it turns into an even more overwhelming task. I somehow managed to take a carry on, backpack, and one checked bag with me for my semester in Barcelona. When I arrived I noticed that many...