In Florence, I live in an apartment with two other girls from my school, Jordan and Dominique. I knew Jordan before coming, and met Dominique when I moved in. So far, we have enjoyed some cozy movie nights and cracking up at Dominique’s hilarious sense of humor.

Our apartment is at the top floor of our building, which is in a great location between the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio. It is considered the fourth floor, but the bottom is considered the zero floor, and with two flights of stairs per floor, we walk up about 100 stairs to get to our apartment!

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This past weekend, two of my classmates and I decided to explore the town we live in for the first time.  It was our first month anniversary of being in Italy (as well as my anniversary of falling in love with Italy), and we hadn’t yet had the chance to really experience and enjoy the small town we live in. Most of our time thus far has been spent walking the main town of Sorrento.

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As I arrived in Australia, I was running on 8 hours of mediocre airplane sleep and could not have ever imagined how long the day ahead would be. The “shuttle driver,” a girl resembling Miranda Kerr the Aussie supermodel more than any chauffer I had ever seen managed her way to my apartment. One hundred and nine pounds of luggage was painfully brought upstairs and I was left on my own. Continue reading →

Welcome readers! For my first post, I’d like to share some details about my study abroad program and why I chose it!

During my ongoing quest for higher education and also through other various life experiences, I have seen myself grow in many ways. However, still unsatisfied, I looked for a way to expand myself and create new horizons. So I approached the office of study abroad at Western Illinois University, where I was graciously welcomed and presented with many study abroad options. Among them were destinations scattered all across the globe. When choosing a location, I had two primary goals in mind. First I wanted to expand myself culturally as well as intellectually. For me, this meant choosing a place completely different from home, so that I could experience the great diversity our world has to offer. Second, I wanted a location that might give me the skills or insights that can create new professional opportunities. The program I ultimately selected for my time abroad was an exchange between Western Illinois University and Ming Chuan University in Taipei, Taiwan.

And it is indeed very different from home. Continue reading →