Touring Spain One City at a Time

Spain is a treasure trove full of historical sites. These places make the historical sites of the United States look like babies. Through out this month long study abroad trip, we have been able to visit many of these beautiful cities. These include Madrid, Salamanca,...

From the Top of a Mountain

Think of the flattest place on the Earth. Well, that’s where I live, Illinois. Smack dab in the center of the Midwest. Being the second most mountainous country in Europe, Spain is full of beautiful peaks, and I am a stranger to these mountains. Every day I get to...

Getting a Little Taste of History

As an engineering student, history class was never really my thing. Reading page after page of a textbook about the Renaissance was such a chore. But learning history from a piece of paper verses actually walking through it is completely different. Spain is a country...

Auf Wiedersehen

And just like that, the trip was over. I traveled back to the States with a number of my fellow travelers, which eased the separation anxiety a little.  Arriving home, my main concern was staying awake to overcome jet lag. A ten-hour flight will do a number on your...

Commencement

It’s hard to convey the range of emotions going through my head as I prepare to depart for Ireland and Germany. The week prior has been an absolute whirlwind; four final assignments capped off by my college graduation. It’s safe to say that I’m totally sleep deprived,...

Going to España

From the day I was born two things were predetermined by my parents: that I would go to college and that I would study abroad. Fortunately, as I grew up I agreed with their ideals fostering a love of both education and travel. The only questions I had to determine...

Off to Spain

Although I’ve never been the best speaker I’ve had a fascination with Spanish culture since the 2nd grade. My elementary school had an Spanish class one a week for all grades. Although I obviously couldn’t learn much Spanish as a student while only...

Learning How to Speak Again

“Ano….Sumimasen, ichi onegai shimasu”. I said confidently to the staff member behind the counter. I knew she would understand what I was saying. A little cavemanish, but definitely passable, or so I thought. Oh no, she was giving me that look, that look I had seen so...

Almost Over

I’ve officially finished my course studies in Dublin and bittersweet doesn’t begin to cover it. I’ve managed to spend the last four months seeing every piece of Europe I could, and I’m not done yet! Although I didn’t know a soul in the...

El Primer Día

While I’ll be gone for a month, I know my time in Spain is going to fly by. Quite honestly I think I’ll be having such an incredible time here in Spain it will be entirely too difficult to get homesick, although you would have found me frantically calling all my...

Incoming to Ireland

As a Chemical Engineering student, I had resigned myself to the fact that a study abroad for an entire semester was going to be impossible. Sophomore year, when I realized if I completely rearranged my schedule for the next 3 years there was a possibility to make it...