Five weeks abroad may not seem like a long time to some people, but for me I feel the opposite. I got to experience many amazing things that people have only dreamed about and I have met people who I feel I will be connected to for the rest of my life. There was one guy I met in particular, who is from Washington, who I have many things in common. The first day I met him, it seemed like we would never really talk, but one day we happened to sit next to each other in class and we found out we had very similar interests and almost instantly developed a friendship. We have taken most of our trips together and we are actually planning to meet up in the future to each other around our city. While I have known him a short period of time, he has been more of a friend to me than some of my “friends” back home. It is unfortunate that we do not live close together, but I believe the bond we have developed over these past five weeks will be unbreakable. Thus, I leave the recommendation of talking to as many people as you can while abroad. Talk to people who appear to be different than your friend circle back home and get to know. Although, it may seem like a waste of time, but you could possibly develop friendships with people all over the country, who are not only good people, but also a potentially resourceful business contact if you decide to move near their area in the future.

Another recommendation I have if you are studying abroad, is find that one person in your program that has travelled a lot and befriend them. This person will have all the insight about all the places you are thinking of traveling to during your time abroad. These people are great resources, honestly in some cases more beneficial than the people who work for your program. They know good places to eat, good places to sleep, interesting monuments/structures to go see, and even nightlife places to experience, if that is in your realm of fun. So get to know everyone in your program, if you can, because you will never know who holds a wealth of information. Also, if you do encounter someone with this knowledge, of what seems everything, they may be able to help you save money on trips.

In terms of your financing while studying abroad, you should definitely over budget. I know it is recommended to take $200 worth of euros, but personally I felt this was not enough. Therefore I ordered $600 worth of euros and it turned out that I still did not budget enough money prior to leaving. With one week left in Torino, I had no cash and most places there do not take cards, which is a real nuisance. Thus, I had to go to an ATM and pay the fees for withdrawing such a miniscule amount of money. Heed my warning, take much more money than you need abroad because you will feel better going back home with money to convert back to U.S. dollars, than coming home with an empty wallet.

Studying abroad has made me appreciate aspects of America that I took for granted. For one, food in America is way cheaper than it is in Italy. I will never forget walking into McDonald’s and seeing a McChicken with medium fries and a medium drink for 5.50 euros. Another thing that should not be taken for granted is free water. Probably one of the hardest things I have had to adjust to, is paying for water at restaurants. While it is possible to get free water by asking for tap water, most waiters/waitresses are not fluent in English, therefore they end up bringing out the “premium” water that increases your bill. The last thing that I have taken for granted is the high speed internet that is offered in America. For most of my time in Italy, except for like 4 days, I did not have Wi-Fi in my apartment. While it is not a big deal to me that I cannot check social media, however it was very annoying for school purposes. There was a couple of assignments I could not turn in because our Wi-Fi was out, when it was supposed to be “working.” All is all, do not take the small things for granted, because studying in another country will open your eyes to how the world operates in relation to America.

Another recommendation I have if you travel to Torino, is to trust the Pizza Kebab guy. Now I know this may sound silly or I just may have been lucky with the guys I have talked to, but whenever I needed directions, the Pizza Kebab guy knew where to go. Do not get me wrong, I do not understand Italian in the slightest and some were hard to communicate with, but they knew where I was trying to go and at they at least were able to point me in the right direction. For example, I went to Florence and was having difficulty finding the leather market. I was in a big Piazza and sure enough there was a Pizza Kebab stand, so I went up to the vendor and simply said “leather market” and he pointed towards a street and made a hand gesture to turn left, so I thanked him and followed his directions. Then, as always the Pizza Kebab guy was right and I found the leather market. So when in doubt of directions, find a Pizza Kebab guy to ask for directions.

One thing that I recommend when you travel abroad is pay attention to your surroundings, as well as the people you may come across. If you become too engulfed in the scenery, you may pass up on an opportunity to meet someone, who you may never have thought of encountering. Thankfully, I adhered to this recommendation, because I got to meet one of my favorite DJs, DJ Mustard. The encounter was kind of spontaneous and funny. So to start off, I took a weekend trip to Barcelona and walked for hours around the city, roughly 30,000 steps, and I had a flight back to Torino very early next morning. With little sleep and the previous day’s adventures, I was very exhausted. After boarding the plane, to make matters worse, we were delayed for like 45 minutes, due to engine issues. Not only was I exhausted, but now nervous, my vision of the day was not very optimistic. However, it was a safe trip and I was able to take a 30 minute nap. Then, as I was departing the plane, I noticed this short guy with a Gucci backpack, followed by what looked like a 6’5”, Pittsburg Steelers linebacker. After further inspection, I was filled with excitement as it turned out the mysterious person was one of my favorite DJs, DJ Mustard. He was headed to Torino for the Rhianna concert. I got to take a picture with him and just like that, my rough day was immediately turned around and I quickly forgot everything that was making my day less enjoyable. Thus, stay aware of your surroundings, because you never know who you will encounter.

As I write this post, I am spending one of my last days here in Costa Rica. I cannot help but have feelings of sadness, excitement to go home, and utter awe at what I have learned. If you were to ask me what I learned in my classes I would say nothing.  In comparison to all of the other parts of the trip outside of class, I have learned so much about the Latin American culture and customs and I have truly fell in love with the places, the people I have met, and my host family.  In my Spanish conversation class, I learned Spanish words and phrases and had to give many presentations. In my international marketing class, I learned a lot about how to work in real world situations by doing many case studies, presentations, and examinations of marketing outside of the class in Costa Rica.  I enjoyed my classes even though they caused much stress at times and made me a bit crazy with such a jam-packed schedule. But as the weekends quickly approached each time, I could not wait to go out and explore the country.  The people, the culture, the food, and the beauty have all amazed me.  I will miss seeing the mountains every morning when I workout or walk to class.

I believe that studying abroad is about studying (trust me I did not realize how much there would be), but also about not getting too caught up in the studying and spending time experiencing the culture and the people within it.  Whether it be spending time sitting outside in a park, exploring the nearby city, or doing something crazy like white water rafting or bungee jumping or rafting that you have never done–I urge you to do this! Make sure you make connections with your host family (if you have one), meet other people all over the world, try new foods, and step outside of your regular schedule.  For me, it was hard to eat rice and beans every day for breakfast and not go to the gym one single day for thirty-eight days. But I know that once I go back to the states, I can continue with my green smoothie and daily workout with the remembrance of such a great experience I have had here in Costa Rica. Caio, pura vida, te amo, Costa Rica 🙂

I have been fortunate enough to spend the last month in the absolutely wonderful city Berlin, Germany. This may sound odd but most people think of study abroad places such as Italy, Spain, England or some country like one of these. You very rarely here of studying abroad in Germany (at least I didn’t know anyone else who has done it). Honestly it wasn’t even my first choice (Prague didn’t fit my schedule). What I can say though is that I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else.

The main focus when most think of Germany is WW2, concentration camps, war memorials, Berlin Wall. While these are huge aspects of the trip (I was fortunate enough to see all of these), there is so much more to Germany than just this dark part of their history. You rarely hear of the beautiful lake side beer gardens where you can take a row boat out on a beautiful sunny afternoon with your fellow classmates. You rarely hear about the amazing night life that literally never sleeps (bars and clubs don’t close). You don’t know about the hospitable locals that you will meet during their daily lives. I can say that Berlin and Germany as a whole is so much more than what you typically hear about. I can say that I climbed for seven hours to the second highest peak of the Alps in Germany (seven hours of fun). I can say I saw a beautiful countryside covered in sun flowers and small villages. I can say that for a month beer was cheaper than water (pretty amazing beer if I may say). Not only did I get to experience all of these things, but I also got to meet some absolutely amazing people. Hugo the frenchman from Nice, Chonsu and Cem from Turkey, Noel from Sweden to name a few. People from all over the world who knew no one coming into the program. All of us exploring this amazing city for the first time and being introduced to a whole new culture.

Everyones study abroad experience is amazing. I think that no matter where you go you are bound to have a spectacular time. All I ask is when you are deciding where to make your journey don’t just follow where everyone else is going. Take into consideration going somewhere different. Go somewhere that interest you but don’t be limited by what’s popular. Go explore some place none of your friend have been to and do something unique. Learn something new, be adventurous and be unique.

While traveling abroad, it is custom to come across many different cultural differences. Here are some that I have observed from the Costa Rican people, known as “ticos”.

1) They throw their toilet paper in the trash because the pipes in most places are old.

2) They shorten everyone’s names. For instance, my name had been changed from “Carolina” to “caro”.

3) They are very comfortable with getting close to each other and even give each other kisses as greetings.

4) Their houses are very close together and it is very easy to hear other neighbors at night.

5) They stay up late (even until midnight) and wake up early cleaning or cooking.

6) Since they are sustainable conscious, they have shower heads that heat to make the water warm.

7) There are no such things as directions in Costa Rica. Everything is relative to one another. For instance, they might say “The house on the right, 200 meters from the old tree, yellow, with a big fence”. Weird, huh? And streets aren’t named either.

8) They have huge sets of keys. I’ve had to use 4 keys to get into my house because of all the gates.

9) It is very common to have rice and beans (Pico de gallo) for every meal.

10) They like to drink coffee at a young age. The nine year old grandson in my house drinks it.

11) They have fresh juice for almost every meal. It’s typically a fruit blended with water.

12) Their groceries here are very expensive due to high import prices…. a jar of Jif is $6!

13) A “fast food” restaurant can take up to 45 minutes to get you your food because of their “Pura vida” (tranquil) lifestyle.

14) It is not uncommon for the entire family to live in one house or the grandma to take care of the grandchild, rather than the mother.

15) Cars do not yield to people.

These are just some things that I have observed, but many things I have observed are very interesting. My Spanish teacher here loves shopping so much that she often gets a brand new pair of sandals delivered to our classroom in the middle of class! I have been enjoying learning cultural differences and adjusting to the Pura Vida lifestyle.

Now that I am on the last leg of my journey in Europe, I have officially been to 4 countries while knowing a local of three. To start my adventure, I spent six weeks studying in Florence, Italy. Lucky me, one of my teammates from school lived a long and treacherous four-and-a-half-minute walk from where I was staying. Not only is it nice to see a familiar face, but you get to truly experience the city… local style. Even if it’s something as small as going to a gelato shop that the tourists don’t go to (and that later becomes your go-to) to going to an Italian style BBQ, use any connections you can while abroad. With the help of my friend, I had the most delicious pizza that I will forever be missing. Next on the agenda, The Czech Republic. Another teammate of mine lived roughly 20 minutes from where I was staying in Prague. This was more beneficial than ever expected. Czech is quite the language not to know considering I couldn’t begin to pronounce any of the words. While I only spent 2 days in Prague, the troubles seem to go away when you are with a native. The people are friendlier and more understanding when you walk around with a local, which really elevated my whole experience in Prague. Onto Amsterdam, I met my mom’s high school bestie for lunch one afternoon and she gave me the low-down on the city. She gave me a list of restaurants that were her favorite, which boat tours make you look not so touristy (but really, are there any that succeed in that?), and what areas are great for a good look. Overall, travelling to cities where you know someone not only helps you get to see the city from a different perspective, but also gives you a sense of comfort.