Starting in Australia!

Starting in Australia!

The first leg of my trip began in Melbourne, Australia. I was lucky to have overall smooth sailing with all of my flights and my baggage made it intact. A full wrap around neck pillow saved me on the 14-hour flights from Houston, Texas to Auckland, New Zealand and I...
Home Again

Home Again

Wow, that flew by. Though looking back on just how many memories I have just of these 18 days makes me feel like I was there for months. What a beautiful country to visit and an amazing group of friends to share it with. I can’t speak for future groups, but I truly...
Belize Bound

Belize Bound

As I finish up packing for my faculty-led trip to Belize, I’m taking a minute to write this post. Back in around February this year (I know, last minute planner), I saw an email for a faculty-led research opportunity in Belize. It stuck out to me because the...
Belize in Retrospect

Belize in Retrospect

It’s been a few days since I’ve returned from my study abroad trip in Belize, and I don’t think the extent of the things I experienced has quite caught up with me yet. Though I was only in the country for around a month, the range of things I saw and felt seemed to...
F1 On A Free Day

F1 On A Free Day

Our abroad trip, UA in Europe: Climate and Water, has two free days built into our schedule. One of these was out of Trento, Italy, on the 19th of May. This happened to be the same day that the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix (a Formula 1 race) in Imola, Italy, was...
The Long Way Here

The Long Way Here

I have made many long-distance trips in the past. Whether this is a car trip with my family to Florida or a multi-hour flight across the states, I can confidently say I have some experience with this. However, none of this can be compared to the length of...
My First Days in Dublin!

My First Days in Dublin!

Hello! My name is Lija Gaikis, and I am a third year student studying abroad in Dublin, Ireland at University College Dublin! I arrived on Tuesday, January 16th, and it has been a wild week and a half. I am initially from Chicago, IL. When I got off the plane the...