Finals season is in full swing so shenanigans have significantly decreased. I, fortunately, don’t have my final until 27 June so I was able to afford a few moments to enjoy myself this week....
Author: astropolitan
An astrophysicist trying to survive Switzerland without Flamin' Hot Cheetos.
Week 20: Our final week of freedom
Classes ended this past week and the reading period began. This coming week we get 17 new housemates. Our era of freedom is drawing to a close.
Week 19: A quick hop across the pond
In this week’s episode: an average (yet warm) few days in Geneva, and a five-day adventure back to sweet home Chicago.
Week 18: Most exciting morning so far??
Last week got off to an interesting start.
Weeks 16 + 17: Various updates
This was my first free weekend in a long time and it’s been absolutely lovely. Almost every weekend of this study abroad program I have traveled somewhere—even if only a day-trip—and it has been totally exhausting.
TENERIFE // 30.03 – 01.04
It has now been over a month since Dan and I took our two-and-a-half-day trip to Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary Islands. This post has been dormant, half-finished, for nearly as long; spring break and assignments, sadly, pushed it to the back burner. In light of my recent trip to Barcelona, I realized that I couldn’t write a blog post about one Spanish city without the context of the other. Plus, I’ve been working on this one long enough….
Spring Break Part II: Roma
A summary of my Rome trip in numbers: 72 hours, 80,000 steps...and one 6,000+ word blog post.
Week 15: I finally go on a hike!
It has been seven days since we’ve returned from spring break and tensions between the physics students are at an all-time high. With 40 internship students moving out this weekend as their study abroad ends, unwanted bits and bobs are being redistributed and left for scavenging. A repository has been set up in one of our study rooms where the departing students can leave various undesired articles such as toiletries, towels, non-perishable food, and clothing. Once in the study room, it’s fair game for those of us who are here for another two months....
Week 12: Spring break begins…
It's Friday, April 14, and I’m writing this post from Milano Porta Garibaldi, one of Milan’s train stations, while waiting for my 23:17 train to Rome. I’m sipping lukewarm Pepsi from the station’s supermarket because (surprise, surprise) all the coffee shops are closed at 9 o’clock at night—even in Italy. I've spent 1.10 Euros to use public bathrooms today. (Now, it's late on Saturday night and I'm publishing this post from Rome. Lack of internet has delayed this posting so it's happening now. Treat the narrative as if you're reading on Friday. 😉 )
We’re halfway there… [Week 12]
This weekend marks the halfway point in my study abroad program. Isn’t that crazy? Starting tomorrow, I’ll be closer to leaving Geneva than arriving here. The days are getting longer as we creep closer to summer (soon the Sun will be up until 9pm! I can’t wait!) and the temperature is more consistently in the 60s. I’m itching to break out my sundresses…. With three months gone and three months to go, I feel I’ve done so much, but there’s still so much I have yet to do. The first half of this program progressed lazily, steadily, but now I’m afraid I won’t be able to accomplish everything I’d like to with the time remaining. I suppose it’s a nice problem to have.
