Study Abroad Blog

I like to think there exists some magnetic force out there. Call it God, Mohammad, Oprah or Keith. Whatever it is, one thing is for sure – it’s listening. Last October I was exhausted. I was knee deep in research papers and I was beginning to think I was losing my soul to retail. But one thing led to another and I entered a contest and then by some sort of divine intervention (see above), I actually won. Almost a year later and on the eve of my big adventure, I’m ready to go. Euros have been exchanged, 6 weeks worth of clothes have been strategically packed into one carry-on luggage (what was I thinking?) and my passport eagerly waits to be stamped (over and over again).

To make things just a bit sweeter than they already are, I get to see some beautiful places before my classes begin later this month. Hint: My next posts might include Greek, Arabic, and French lessons.

More than ever, I am certain: Il meglio deve ancora venire. (That is, once I get my toiletries past TSA).

Today my boss asked when I would be leaving to Italy so she could she mark off my “vacation days” (under no circumstances should this be mistaken for as paid vacation). I replied nonchalantly – “Oh, next month.”

And that ladies and gentleman, made my day. This simple realization is important for 2 reasons:

1. I no longer have to receive bewildered stares from friends, co-workers and strangers when they discover that the itinerary I spent 20 minutes telling them about (with more enthusiasm than that guy in the shamwow commercials) is not a few weeks away, but actually next year.

2. Do I even have to say it? It’s so close I can already taste the gelato (one scoop cioccolato, two scoops bacio!)

A few days ago I was having a conversation with my good friend Susan about the way things happen in life (don’t worry, I’ll save my deep introspection’s about the meaning of life for another post– probably after a magical night in Perugia and a few Peroni’s deep).

Anyway, after a few frivolous complaints back and forth about final exams and customers at work that chip away at one’s faith in humanity, I realized that I spend a great deal of my time waiting. So instead of waiting for inspiration and happiness to fall from the sky and land neatly on my lap, I’ve been out on the hunt for it.

From focusing on my personal writing, to checking off titles on my “Must Read” list, to going on bike rides on 75 and sunny days, I’ve been keeping myself busy. I’ve even found time to enjoy a new relationship with someone absolutely wonderful and equally passionate about travel (who came into contact with me after a random google search that led him to this blog, only to find that we go to the same college. So another grazie to International Student for not only making travel dreams come true but love connections, too!) As terribly excited I am about what awaits me next month, life on this end is pretty sweet.

So now that I’ve assured you of my overall well-being, here’s a little gift from me to you. These websites will make your travel planning experience a whole lot less stressful.

1. Kayak.com – When I was looking for flight deals, I was absolutely shocked by the prices. I spent my days waiting (haha, get it?) for Alitalia and Delta’s homepage to announce summer deals until I discovered this little gem. Basically, Kayak searches hundreds of available deals online so that you don’t have to. In other words, just type in your desired itinerary and Kayak will pull up all the deals available through online travel agencies, airlines, and even Orbitz. That way you can make sure you’re getting the best deal out there – I have a $908.63 plane ticket to Rome during summer high season to prove it!
2. Couchsurfing.com – Perfect strangers? Their couch? Another country? Don’t be alarmed. Couchsurfing is a fantastic resource for young student travelers on-the-go and with little money to spend on a 5 star hotel. Much like MySpace and Facebook (minus everything that is annoying about them), Couchsurfing is an online community for travel aficionados who are eager to help fellow travelers out – by either meeting up with them for drinks, showing them around the city or letting them crash on their couch. Look into it and thank me later.
3. Igougo.com – This website allows users to share stories and photos of their travels, making it a great resource for you to research fun and interesting things to during your visits. For example this. Beats wikipedia.

Please stay tuned for my next post. I will be posting my tentative itinerary… which is shaping up to be quite the adventurous undertaking!

In my experience (short, as it may be), I’ve observed a trend in the way things tend to occur. It seems that the best things in life have a way of sneaking up on you on some regular Wednesday afternoon with little to no warning.

About a month ago, my parents asked me and my brothers how we felt about a family getaway. Much to my surprise (and delight), the itinerary they had in mind didn’t include an all-you-can-eat buffet on a cruise or another visit to everyone’s favorite mouse. Instead, the plan was to visit Big Ben, Mona Lisa and that country their daughter is absurdly in love with.

And so commenced our impromptu 12 day euro-trip across London, Paris and Rome.

Now, this website is called International Student and although I didn’t enroll in any classes during my stay, I think it’s necessary to mention just how educational these trips can be (and I don’t mean renting the audio guide at the Louvre Museum). In fact, sometimes you learn more from the English guy that sits next to you on the 45 minute tube ride to Buckingham Palace than you would from sitting in any classroom. Or from the late-night trip to the hotel lobby for the free-wifi only to engage in a side conversation with a woman on business from Nice, who tells you about the growing immigration problems the French are facing. Oh, and where you can do the best shopping in town (hey, we’re well-rounded)! Or from spending 15 hours on an overnight train to Rome stuck sleeping in the same room as an elderly Italian couple (yes, it was every bit as cute as it sounds) and telling them about your plans to live in Perugia this summer. “Ahh, brava!” Or from the too-close-for-comfort encounter with a pick pocket-er in a Paris metro who was this close to snatching your bag.

I guess I should also mention that this trip coincided with my 21st birthday, which just so happened to coincide with the Italy segment of the trip. Which means that by some sort of universal divine intervention and cosmic aligning, I said hello (or should I say ciao?) to another year of my life having quite possibly the most delicious dinner, with the most incredibly amazing family I could ask for, drinking the most exquisite bottle(s) of vino bianco, in one the most beautiful cities in the world. My old childhood friend Cristina told me that if I ever find myself at 40, having a mid-life crisis, she hopes I can look back at this time in my life and realize just how wonderful life can be.

Traveling has a way of waking you up inside, shaking up those parts of you that become idle when you stay in one place for too long. It helps you discover aspects of your very being that want, desperately, to be explored. All you need is an open heart and an open mind.

*Summer update: FLIGHT HAS BEEN BOOKED. 82 days left! But who’s counting?

Ciao amici! Now that 2010 is well under way, I have been keeping busy with the monotonous routine of school and work. The great thing about writing an extensive analysis of Jack London’s “The Mexican” is that in my moments of writer’s block I get to drift into thoughts about the summer that awaits me. I kind of can’t even imagine what life was like when I didn’t have something like this to look forward to. How does everyone do it? I mean, without having the prospect of doing something this exciting… well, life just seems a little boring.

Anyway, I have been enjoying watching the euro plummet. While European bank systems feel like doomsday is approaching, as a student traveler I feel like it’s Christmas morning. I have been constantly searching airfare deals. Back in November, when I won the contest, flights were actually the cost of my grand prize! Mamma mia! But as the days go by, airline summer deals are slowly surfacing. Which means I should have my flight booked sometime this month.

Right now I’m in the back and forth and sometimes frustrating process of finding student housing. If all goes well, this should be figured out by next month and pictures of my future humble abode shall be posted. It’s truly amazing how far a little google search can take you – about 5,000 miles across the Atlantic to be exact.

Lately, it feels like the Universe is conspiring to constantly remind me of just about anything Italian. From the world’s (okay, maybe just mine) recent fascination with MTV’s Jersey Shore Italian guidos to the Sicilian kid that sits next to me in my Communication Theory class  and has the cutest accent ever, to romantic comedies called “When in Rome”.  Maybe it’s just a string of coincidences. Whatever it is, I’m not complaining.

Also, want to know all the latest information for International Student travel? There’s an app for that! No, really. This fine website has made their little nook on the cyber smart phone realm. You’re just a few finger taps from all the information offered on the site and you’ll have instant access to my blog! So just search “The International Student” on your app store.

Then I found this awesome app for my iPhone:

Mamma mia,

Sandy

Ten years ago I anxiously stood next to my parents on New Year’s Eve of Y2K and wondered if the end of the world all came down to a 10 second countdown.

Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One… Nothing.

Ten years later and I’m glad to say things have changed. I am now an adult, (or some variation of) and instead of being absolutely terrified that the world will come crumbling down, I find myself anxious to see what it has to offer me.

I’m not sure what it is about this time of year that makes me so excited. The last few seconds before the confetti is thrown in the air and cheers and hugs are exchanged, I feel an intense rush of adrenaline. A new year, a new start, a new opportunity to catch up on old resolutions. Then there is this quiet but powerful voice that lingers in the background: “But will you actually make this one count?”

While my old resolutions were feasible goals such as pass College Algebra, get a gym membership, stop watching reality television (okay, maybe not entirely feasible), my goals for 2010 are a little more vague but a whole lot more meaningful.

1.    Learn Italian – I have had Rosetta Stone Italian sitting on my desk for 2 months now. While it has made a great coaster, it will probably be much more useful for getting me around this summer and saving my Italian professors several eye brow raises. What excuse will I have not to? After all, I will be living amongst the best teachers for six weeks – locals. Who knows, maybe I’ll ring in 2011 a little differently – Dieci, Nove, Otto, Sette, Sei, Cinque, Quattro, Tre, Due, Uno!

2.    Learn to cook – How am I ever going to survive six weeks in Italy if I don’t know how to whip up some pasta? Through my late-night research, I’ve read the same thing over and over again: as a student in Italy, splurging on expensive Italian restaurants is not the way to go. Besides, the true authentic Italian taste will always come from your rusty old student apartment stove.

3.    Stop Saying No, Start Saying Yes – One day, when I look back at this time in my life and all the wondrous opportunities that keep knocking my way, I’m going to regret all the times I’ve said no. No to watching that terribly reviewed movie with that terribly awesome friend. No to staying out late because I have to wake up early for work. No to trying that yoga class in an inexplicable attempt to go against the grain. No to taking a train to Florence with those guys we just met. And if you really think about it, yes in Italian just has a better ring. Si? Si!

It’s bittersweet parting with 2009. It has been a year to remember for more reasons than I can count. But according to astrology, 2010 is the year of the Pisces (I’m a Pisces) and because of some once in a blue moon (literally, I think) phenomenon, this year is destined to be a great one. So while 2010 has big shoes to fill, I have a feeling it won’t disappoint.

Buon Capodanno,

Sandy

I was incredibly lucky to meet some of the brains behind operation International Student in person on December 7th.

Though I must admit that I was a bit nervous about this. I mean, what if they didn’t like me? What if the “brains” behind Hello 2 Ciao wasn’t as funny or charming in person and they changed their mind? What if this was all a brilliant Internet scam?

Turns out this wasn’t a huge conspiracy against me and Keith and Annemarie are actually real people who have made careers out of making international travel for students a viable opportunity. Sound cool? Yes, very cool. And much to my relief, Keith and Annemarie are the most down to earth grown ups to ever hand me any sort of money.

They also gave me this (which my children will see and never stop hearing about “when mommy was just 20 years old she won a contest…..”)

Grazie mille International Student,

Sandy

Ciao, I’m Sandy. I am a twenty year old journalism and English literature student at the University of Miami and next summer I will be spending six weeks living in a small town in central Italy learning Italian. I’m a writer, not a filmmaker, so the last thing I saw myself doing was entering a short film contest. But I did, and here I am. A word of advice – never sell yourself short.

I got the phone call on November 20 at 4:32 pm. Let’s just say getting a call back from Michelangelo would have shocked me less. The six minute conversation is now a blur. I do recall Keith, president of International Student, asking what I was up to. I said I was just taking it easy and hanging out at home. You know, like any normal person would be on a Friday afternoon. Translation: I had been up since 7 a.m. refreshing the contest page approximately 240 times an hour. Yes, InternationalStudent.com can thank me for that peak in hits. By 4:38 pm, my life took the sort of direction that changes things. The kind of changes you look back on fondly twenty years from now.

When some of my classmates pressed me for details about “that website I always see you on,” I told them it was a video contest to study in Italy. Their response (verbatim): “Oh my God! You’re going to love living in Rome.” I had to clarify that I was in fact not going to live in Rome. Instead, I would be staying in Perugia. “Peru—isn’t that like in South America?”

So why Perugia? For starters, Perugia is the capital of the region of Umbria. It is often referred to by natives as the “Heart of Italy,” named after its location in the center of Italy. Naturally, I was sold on this charming little tidbit. I mean, if I’m going to immerse myself in a culture what better way than to go straight to the heart of it? With just over 165,000 residents, it’s the ideal place to get the personal and authentic Italian experience I’ve been yearning for. Plus, there’s a 10 day international jazz festival, Umbria Jazz, that goes on during the summer. Free live music performances on the street begin early in the morning until late into the evening. Did I mention it’s also known for its chocolate? And boy, do I love chocolate.

Now, I think I should be clear on something. This blog isn’t just about me documenting my trip so that I can plead a case for once upon-a-time-coolness to my future kids (though that’s an added bonus). Instead, this blog is intended to take you with me. I want you to take the nine hour flight with me. Eat the questionable airplane food. I want us to walk down the cobblestone pathway together and grab a slice of pizza at the local pizzeria. I propose that we try every single gelato flavor at least once, even the funny sounding one that we think translates to cucumber soup. Let’s make new friends, watch the sunrise together, and ask our new friends just about every question we can think of. How about we promise to practice our Italian with everyone we meet, even at the risk of completely embarrassing ourselves? Above all though, I want you to discover with me all that this boot shaped country has to offer.

I am infinitely thankful for this opportunity that still seems unreal to me. Thank you to my mom, dad, and brothers – Ralph and David, for watching every version of the video that never made the final cut and listening to all of my creative frustrations. Thank you to my best friend Deborah who I am so excited to say is joining me on my adventure next summer and thank you to my unbelievably supportive boyfriend Clint.

To all the contestants: your videos made me lose sleep. I mean that, of course, in a good way. Your videos were so wonderful that I often watched them over and over again, questioning if I even stood a shot. If I could bring you all to Italy with me, I would.

My deepest gratitude goes out to InternationalStudent.com and the wonderful people (and brains) behind it. Thank you to the judges – Cheryl, Clark, Jim and Markus (yes, you with the glasses!) Finally, thank you to everyone who watched my video, voted and is reading this. I promise to make this worthwhile.

Right now, I am $3,500 richer. By the end of next summer, my goal is to be even richer – in fantastic memories. (I hear the exchange rate on that is priceless.)

Andiamo,

Sandy

I didn’t plan on ending the blog this way, although I should have known better. As the end of the MBA came and went I found myself slow to grasp the fast moving reality that the glorious days of being an MBA student in Barcelona were coming to an end. Not only was my life as a student being processed into memory, but I was wandering in a blissful daze through what will likely be my final month-long journey through Europe for some time. My graduation trip came and went faster than I could believe, and it seemed like the night I drifted off to sleep after an exhausting ceremony (and celebratory festivities, of course) I awoke to find myself boarding a plane westward bound for California…it was all over.

Indeed, it was all over and despite all the photographic evidence of my post-graduation journeys through Milan, Florence, Naples, Pompeii and Venice, Italy; Prague, Czech Republic; Cologne, Germany; and Montserrat, Palma de Mallorca and San Sebastian, Spain, my recollection of these visits is more dream-like than anything.

It has been a sad reality, accepting that the MBA is now no longer something I am in the midst of, but something I can only look back on. At the same time, though, I recognize that, much like my undergrad experience abroad, these last 18+ months have truly changed me. Every place I have seen, every person I have met and every single thing that I have done – all of it – has made some impact in my life and has altered, at least a little, the way I see and experience the world around me. Ultimately, this is why I chose to pursue my MBA at ESADE in Barcelona, Spain, and I can honestly say now, after the fact, that this was the second best decision I have ever made (the first being the decision to propose to my wonderful wife) and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

I am now in the process of being re-integrated into the realm of “normalcy,” and I am thankful every day for being blessed with the opportunity I was given in the job I accepted. I am now a Financial Analyst working in the travel industry, actually, and I fully believe it was my experiences at ESADE that set me apart and opened the door to this next chapter of my life.

Thank you to everyone who has asked questions or followed at least some bit of my tale. Lastly, I must give an extra special thank you to all the people at InternationalStudent.com for creating the video travel contest, choosing me as your first winner and ultimately providing this blog space for me to share my story – Thank You All!!

I have accepted the fact that I was never able to get a grip, much less a firm grip on time throughout most of the MBA, and this was especially true during the final term. I knew time was going to fly, but seriously, is this a joke? I began writing this post months ago and know it’s a little silly to post it now, but what the heck, why not? I’ve got free time now so I can actually try to provide all the updates I feel are necessary before officially signing off, so here goes.

I was sitting in class last week, watching final presentations and I had to give a double take when I saw the date at the bottom of someone’s slideshow – March is almost over!!! I graduate in *gulp* four days! What the what?! Ok, so at the very least I can give a re-cap of things and stuff I’ve been up to, so let’s get on with that, shall we?

Las Fallas – Valencia
What started off as a day when local Valencian carpenters would drag all their scrap wood into the streets of Valencia and make bonfires has morphed into quite possibly one of the most incredible festivals I’ve ever experienced first-hand. We took the train from Barcelona to Valencia on March 18 and had the privilege of witnessing the final two days of the Las Fallas festivities and boy what a show it was.

The present day festival has the many, many little neighborhoods all over town spending a good part of the year creating what I can only describe as works of art. They create these massive sculptures (and by massive I mean about 3-4 story buildings high) depicting, often, controversial current events topics and have them on display throughout the week in the middle of intersections. Come the last evening of the festival, they certainly go out with a bang, or thousands of bangs, and flames as they torch the sculptures right there for everyone to see. As you can imagine, the r

Going on exchange, in retrospect, has turned out to not only be the best decision I made during my undergrad, but also while here in Barcelona. It was a much more difficult decision to make this time, however, knowing that I would be leaving such an incredible city behind for about six months. Yet, considering my post-MBA goals, I knew it was the best thing for me to do. Now, I have finally found my way back to my dear Barcelona and, all things considered, I’m very happy to be back!