Category: Uncategorized
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Chapter 13: Things I’ve Learned from Studying Abroad
I just watched Christopher Nolan’s Inception for the first time, and if you haven’t seen the film, it is all about dreams. Leonardo DiCaprio’s character is troubled with memories of an alternate reality he and his wife created through their shared dreams, a world that is nearly indistinguishable from actual reality. Unlike the common dream…
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Chapter 12: Viva La Vida
I have been home for exactly one month now, and I have dreaded writing this final blog. Although I’ve already said a tearful goodbye to my little Dutch home, this feels like sealing the chapters away for good. I’ll save my “List of Lessons Life Abroad Taught Me” for Chapter 13, and though the beginning…
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21 at 21
I feel beyond blessed to have been able to travel to 21 countries by the age of 21, including 14 US states and living in 3 of them (the US, Australia, & the Netherlands)! All of my trips were fully funded by myself (primarily through scholarships, of which I am SO grateful), so I feel…
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Chapter 11: My Atlantis
This month granted me my everlasting study-abroad wish: slowed time. Like a fairy godmother, May extended its four weeks to capture many memories from Madrid, Vienna, Bratislava, and Paris (as well as Dublin today!). Of all the months, I am most reluctant to part ways with magical May, because I fear June will not be…
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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Ben and I used to eat tubes of chapstick together, one of us keeping an eye out for our dad as if we were top espionage agents. Blueberry was my favorite flavor, and the chalky consistency never seemed to bother us. Mama called us her “twins,” and we almost were, only 13 months apart. We…
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Chapter 10: The Little Prince(ss)
In almost every fairytale, there is a point at which the protagonist realizes their magic will soon dissipate; the clock striking midnight (Cinderella), the final rose petal falling (Beauty & the Beast), Ariel’s legs transforming back into a tail (The Little Mermaid). At this climax, the characters have a greater resolve to experience as much…
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Chapter 9: Pretty like the Sun
March passed mischievously fast, just as the sand in a board-game’s hourglass funnels without any notice. The pink and yellow tulips blooming along the liquid-mercury canals welcomed the beginning of spring, our long awaited friend. Although erratic, the sky in Utrecht is finally revealing its blue behind the otherwise grey curtain of clouds. The sun’s…
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Chapter 8: Northern Attitude
All of February seemed to be dusted with the iridescent sparkle of new beginnings. This sweet month embraced me with my greatest European dream: Venice. Tying my hair in a blue headscarf and soaking up the sun-rays (with which I haven’t felt in eons) made it very difficult NOT to romanticize the experience. I wish…
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Chapter 7: Apricity
January was like “liminal space”-a transitional period in between where you’ve been and where you’re going. Seeing all of the semester students go home to their countries felt like I had hit the restart button, being left behind to savor Utrecht for another five months. Paradoxically, though, the realization that I am halfway through this…
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Chapter 6: A Princess Diana Christmas
This New Year’s, listening to the distant booms of fireworks (the Dutch go CRAZY for New Year’s Eve), has me reflecting not only on the past month but all of 2023. One of my friends told me that I will feel much more than one year older after this experience, and even after four months…
Drops of Jupiter 