Track Mac

Out of all the trips planned, I didn’t think Barcelona would’ve been as interesting compared to all of the other trips. Yet, it’s in the top three of my favorite trips so far. I felt as though Barcelona was similar to America in a way that it was pretty modern and familiar through their stores, a bit of the culture, and architecture. It was definitely an eventful weekend. Jade, Liv, Shannon, Allie, Kathryn, and I arrived in Barcelona Friday evening on November 15th. We got situated with our Airbnb which was pretty and comfy. We looked for a place to eat dinner.  At dinner, we ordered a bunch of appetizers. My favorite was the pile of mussels we ordered. The restaurant at the time was empty, but we began talking to a local couple who said we picked a good spot to eat. It was the husbands favorite restaurant and he shared that it would get packed later. Probably because we were at the restaurant earlier then the usual Barcelona dinner time, since some European countries tend to ...

For Thanksgiving our University gave us off for the holiday. Since I only take classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I decided to take a long trip. How generous of me to treat myself. I traveled to Italy Thursday night to visit a few friends for the weekend who are studying abroad in Rome and Florence and on Sunday, November 24, me and my broken backpack left Rome for Ireland. Ireland holds a very special place in my heart. As I went into more depth in my homesick blog post, both my parents immigrated from Ireland to America and majority of their family still resides in the beautiful country. My dad is from the West while my mom is from Northern Ireland. While my family on my moms side knew I was coming to visit, everyone on my dad's side knew I was coming except my uncle and granny. Surprise! When I first arrived into Dublin Airport, I met up with my dads two sisters, Catherine and Carmel. My aunt Carmel lives in England and traveled to Dublin for a work trip. She was leavin...

Oh, the topic I probably should be writing more about. Ya know, the study in study abroad. First, some students would be glad to know that there are benefits to classes at The American College of Greece that are better than Loyola (sorry not sorry Loyola). But, then again there are some downsides. Opinions may vary. The way the classes are physically structured, are similar. Meaning they all contain desks while a teacher stands in front of the class. But, their rules and ways of teaching are rather different. For example, you get six skips per class but for language classes, you only get 4 skips. After this, you fail the class. Scary. Another difference is, besides with language classes, there’s not much assigned homework besides maybe reading for some classes or recommended work. Some of the classes use powerpoints while others are merely a lecture class. When it comes to tests, depending on the level of your class, some classes will have a midterm and final exam while some of my...

I’ve been hearing from friends at other abroad programs admitting they’re homesick. While I did understand, I thought it would somehow skip me. My thought process was, “we’re in another country exploring other countries only for a short period of time. Study abroad will be gone in a blink of an eye, and when we’re home, we’ll be wishing we were still abroad. So why waste our time being homesick, and just enjoy where we are?” I was doing swell for a good amount of time and sticking to my initial thought. That is, until I traveled to Ireland. I can see some of my readers already rolling their eyes thinking I'm trying to act super Irish. But, I'm not one of those people who claim to be super Irish because their cousins neighbors cat is 20% Irish. Yes, that was intended to be a hardcore roast to all Irish wannabe's.  You see, my parents both immigrated from Ireland to America. They come from big families, and majority, almost all, of their siblings still reside th...

*scroll down to the bottom for an amateur video I created of my trip!* For a few years now I’ve been dying to go to Africa. Particularly South Africa and Seal island because I love animals and I’m obsessed with sharks, but in general anywhere in Africa would be amazing. After asking many people and being let down by plans falling through, I finally convinced a group of friends to come with me.  On Friday November 8, Allie, Jade, Shannon, Molly, Allie, Kathryn, and I left for Morocco for the weekend. The flight was a bit over five hours, I believe my longest flight yet while abroad. But it ended up being longer since we had to fly in circles over the Marrakesh airport because of ‘protocol’. The protocol we later found out, was the arrival of the King of Morocco. At the time all we were told was the airport was closed for protocol. Imagine being God knows how high up in the air doing donuts for who knows how long.  Our Airbnb had a taxi come pick us up and take us to ...

When I was younger, my aunt Angie and I would dance around the kitchen table to Mamma Mia, alternating between a wooden spoon and a broom as our microphone. Since I was young, I loved Mamma Mia. How cliché and basic is it of me to say Mamma Mia was a contribution to why I chose to study abroad in Greece? Well, it was a big reason why I came. My mom also loves Mamma Mia. She saw it on Broadway eight times. Yes, eight times. Our goal was to go to Greece together and explore the Mamma Mia island. Finally, we did. Two months too long, my mom finally came to visit. I took the metro and met her at her hotel in downtown Athens. Of course, we both teared up and cried a bit. I showed her around downtown Athens and took her to a few of my favorite places. For the weekend of October 18, our Mamma Mia journey began. We took a taxi to Volos, stayed the night there, and took a ferry to the island of Skopelos (the Mamma Mia island) the next morning. Skopelos is very pretty and I imagine it to b...

For the weekend of October 4, majority of the Loyola students in Greece were either going to Oktoberfest or Mykonos (since many of them went to Oktoberfest the weekend before). So sadly, our group was being split up, but another reunion was coming. To start off, myself and about eight other girls slept over in one tiny dorm room to make the trip to either the airport or ferry easier to travel together. Going to sleep at 1 a.m., I woke up at 3 a.m. to leave for the airport with Allie, Sarah, and Cooper for our 5:35 a.m. boarding time. We arrived in Munich, Germany at about 7:35 a.m., taking into consideration the time difference. The airport in Germany was hands down, the biggest airport I’ve been in. It reminded me of a mall. Here, we met up with Loyola students who were abroad in Rome, Spain, Germany, and Cork, to name a few. It was a Loyola reunion. Everyone was running to their friends with open arms, and some even shed a few tears. Some of us split ways, while me and three...