My first day in Toledo, after more than 24 hours of traveling, my new host mom told me a famous story. It was the story of El Pulgarcito, who we call Tom Thumb. Luckily, my host mom understood that I was tired and that my Spanish isn’t very good, so she spoke slowly and repeated words when my face told her that I had no idea what she was saying (it might freeze like that because I wear that expression a lot here). The story was written by the Brothers [...]

Welcome to my study abroad blog! This semester, or from roughly January 13th to May 1st, I will be living in Toledo, España!  I am so happy to have the privilege of studying at the University of Minnesota, a university that prides itself on the vast opportunities available for students like myself to travel the world and see new things! It was really easy to begin my study abroad process at the U, and I will be receiving credit for my Communications Studies and Spanish Studies majors, as well as finishing off my Leadership [...]

I would, first and foremost, like to apologize for my tardiness regarding this post! Between the orientations, getting to know my flatmates, jet lag, an the tiniest bit of laziness, I did not have the privilege of free time in which to gather my thoughts! But, as I sit here in Café Nero on Glouster Street, I am finally given time to share with you all my first day experience! So, London. London, London, London. The city that has a hypersensitivity for etiquette and order. I am absolutely in LOVE [...]

What can I say about my first four days in Dublin? Honestly it is hard to describe. Its been a whirlwind experience and I still feel like I am on vacation, not living here for four months. My initial thoughts are I love Dublin and Ireland already. Day One I got off the plane fairly dazed and confused.  It was 6am, I had slept maybe two hours, and I really didn’t know what to expect.  My first impression of Ireland was dark.  It was not light until about 9am!  Our [...]

I didn’t really realize how powerful “home” can be until I had to leave it today. Or yesterday. Or whatever day it was. I don’t even know anymore. Maybe it’s harder to leave people than to leave places. Maybe that’s why I felt like bawling at the airport hugging everyone goodbye (goodbye, see you soon, whatever you call it, IT STILL SUCKS). Also I got a bit teary on the plane ride when I realized I forgot to say goodbye to Kippy (my dog). It probably didn’t help that I [...]

“ay, eres alto!” After stepping under a street lamp in the bleakly lit parking lot of the Supermercado, I bent over to greet my host mother for the first time. My apparent gigantism seems to be a common theme throughout my travels, and the population of Ecuador is no exception. Pilar, my host mother, is roughly as tall as my belly button. Yet, our extreme difference in height does not stop her from giving me one of the warmest welcome, a hug and kiss on the cheek, I have ever [...]

After months of planning and much anticipation, I am here in Rome, Italy studying abroad for my third time.  I arrived here almost two weeks ago and have been adjusting pretty well. The picture on the right is of my condo that I share with 7 other girls in my program. We have one whole side of the second floor, and lucky for me, I have a spacious single room. My roommates are all from different states (California, Arizona, Indiana, and Pennsylvania)     The is a picture of Global Campus CEA- [...]

As I’m sure everyone is aware by now, I’ve arrived in Montpellier, France. It’s been 3 weeks since I left home, 14 August 2012, and a lot has happened since then and even for only having been in France for 2 weeks, I already feel like a lot has changed. I have a lot to say, but I don’t know where to start. 14 August 2012 – I had been packed for weeks already. Excitement and fear were the most constant emotions in my life and I didn’t think much [...]

After a sleepless “night” crossing half of America and the Atlantic Ocean, waking up to a beautiful sunrise over Ireland that looked like this: and sleeping through an entire plane ride to Rabat, I’m in Morocco. It is unbelievable. I’m absorbed, completely, by jetlag, but here are a few brief highlights so far. Arid. There are trees and green things here, but for the most part, everything really is dirt-colored. The three-hour drive from Rabat to Fez took us through Meknes, but otherwise we saw lots of small subsistence farms [...]

Started my journey to Israel with a security guard in Minnesota. I was stiff, nervous, and clueless… and he could tell. He asked, “You don’t travel much do you?” I mumbled no, realizing that I stick out like a sliver in my own state. Gotta work on that. My flight arrived in Amsterdam at 1pm today, which was really 6am for the midwest. I sat next to a 70 year old woman named Rosemary who asked a lot of questions and had a lot of answers. One of these questions [...]

Well, I was definitely not excited yesterday afternoon. Once I got to the Atlanta airport things started getting a little better. I ended up meeting one of the people from my program, Jackson, at our gate and it was nice to see a “familiar” face (we’ve been facebook friends for a week or two). After we boarded I heard two guys in front of me talking and we realized that we were all studying at the same university, so my class of 4 students doesn’t mean I won’t meet other [...]

Ciao! Roma is bella! After not having internet for a few days in our apartment, this post will be a condensed version of the first few days. The eight-hour, sleepless flight to Amsterdam: I sat smushed between Katie and this horribly cynical woman whose elbows were in my rib cage almost the entire flight while she studied her “Birds of Europe” book like she was being tested on it. Protip—don’t make small talk with me while I’m trying to watch Harry Potter 7. You and I both know that you [...]

I wanted to make a post yesterday, during my layover in Amsterdam. But I had no time! My trip over here went amazingly fast. I’ve never had a better flight than the two I just experienced, if you’ll believe it. I rode for 9 hours overnight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, and slept just the right amount. Then I booked it to my next flight at 11am in the Amsterdam airport (4am Mpls) for a 5 hour flight. After getting bamboozled by the randomness of Jordanian streets, my taxi driver finally [...]

To Germany! So background info about me and this trip before we get into the nitty gritty of where I’m at in Germany right now. I’m a student studying advertising/art & design and this summer I have two trips abroad: one for a month in Germany and one for two months in Japan. I love traveling and have been quite a few places so far, but this summer will be some of the longest traveling trips I’ve ever done. I’m in Germany for a study abroad trip through the graduate [...]

Well of course we had to have a little bump in the road to test our strengths and attitudes while under pressure in the first moments of our journey! The day started off well. It was a beautiful sunny, blue skies day that would allow for easy plane travel. (No storms or wind to hinder the flight) We had an easy drive over the airport where we 2.5 hours early…which is typical for the Rouse family. We were sitting down after we made it through security and I found this [...]