My return
My program was unfortunately cut short by about 2 weeks due to the coronavirus. I was told Thursday that I had to leave as soon as possible and I was on a plane Monday morning, so my experience leaving the country and everything that I called home for three months was a bit different and challenging than most peoples. I was not super upset to go home early as I started to get homesick but the abrupt nature of it all was very stressful...
My Barcelona Mom
When I decided to go abroad, my program offered me three different options for housing: residence, host family, or apartment. A good friend of mine studied abroad the semester before and encouraged me to do a host family. I figured a host family would be the easiest way to fully immerse myself in the culture. So I took a leap of faith a signed up for a host family. We were advised to bring them a small gift, something with our home...
See You Later, Barcelona!
Yesterday, I had to pack up what had been home for six weeks and say my good-byes. Now, I am sitting on a plane heading back to Alabama. It is a little bittersweet as I hated to leave, but I can’t wait to see all my people back home. So here is my run-down for the past six weeks. I love Barcelona and the memories it gave me. I started my journey for my Spanish minor and I learned so much about the language from my teachers and host...
Farewell to the city of the infamous gelato!
See ya later Florence, Italy! My time in Florence has ended, and I am now back in the States. While over in Florence, I was asked a plentiful number of times “do I miss my country?” or “am I going to miss Italy?”. After thinking about the two the answer is yes to both. While in Italy I missed being able to cook and strangely I missed driving. Now, the reason behind it did not have anything with being lazy, but I just missed driving...
A magical garden – Villa Gamberaia!!
Need to get away from the city? The city of Florence and the country side of Florence are two very different regions. One region you have tons of tourists, it is overpopulated, and then you have the same street vendors trying to sell you items every corner you turn. Do not get me wrong, the city is beautiful and a marvelous time, however, if you want to visit somewhere that is relaxing and uncongested visit Villa Gamberaia, in...
Florence, the city of exquisite scenery!
What I fell in love with first! I have to be honest, arriving in Florence, Italy was nerve-racking at first. From my luggage still being in Paris, forgetting to get euros out of the ATM, and not being able to get into my home stay house, it was a rough first day. I cried my eyes out on my first day here, however, all of that is in the past and I am now living my best life. The first aspect I fell in love with is the exquisite scenery....