If you told me freshman year that I would be living in Singapore for a semester during my senior year, I wouldn’t have believed it. Picture my freshman year starting amidst the swirling chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom calls echoing through the walls of my home in the Rio… read more
Moody College of Communication
A Move to Paris
A fear of leaving home, of language barriers, of making new friends and of meeting new people. Every single day. These are a few fears that would overtake me before I moved abroad. When I arrived in Paris, I had never been more eager and scared at the same time.… read more
It’s Okay to Slow Down
I have about two months left in my exchange program in Japan, and I’ve already been here for two months. Coming from immigrant parents and growing up in a small border town, I would have never thought I’d be studying abroad in a country more than 6,000 miles away. Before… read more
Embracing Spontaneity
Throughout my life, I’ve always been a planner. I’ve always had every detail to the second written down, organized and filed. I rarely make plans at the last second or embark on something when I don’t know all the details. It’s just how I’m wired. However, my way of organizing… read more
Taking the First Step
Throughout high school, studying abroad was always something that interested me. My mom instilled a love for traveling in me at a young age, so the thought of going out and exploring Europe felt like a clear decision. There is so much to see, and studying abroad is a unique… read more
Musings From a Month in Aarhus
When I decided to spend more than five months in a new city on a new continent, many people thought I was crazy. Nobody understood why I left the comfort of my hometown to study abroad in Aarhus, Denmark, a town that is barely one-third the size of Austin, Texas.… read more
Rekindling the Old and Igniting the New: Reflecting on Connections
Connections between people and places bring the world together. Especially in a place like Brussels, creating and maintaining connections is incredibly important. The way the city itself is connected, as well as how it’s connected to the rest of the world, has inspired me to reflect on the connections I’ve… read more
Questions I Hope to Have Answered by the End of My Stay in Europe’s Capital
Currently, I’m in my fourth week of classes with the IFE (Institute for Field Education) program in Brussels, Belgium. So far, the classes I’ve taken regarding the history, culture, and urbanism of Brussels and Belgium have been incredibly interesting. As a class we get to go to museums, day excursions… read more
The Hardest Decisions Create the Greatest Outcomes
I’m going to be honest: the closer I got to my flight date to leave Texas and go to Mexico, the more I doubted I would board the plane. The summer was two months full of obstacles with registration, health clearances and personal things coming up a week before take-off.… read more
Le Début
My study abroad experience in Paris is markedly divided into two sections. I moved here the first week of June – nearly three months prior to any official study abroad programming – and spent the summer establishing a routine: venturing into smaller museums solo, devouring literature, and discovering local spots.… read more
