This semester, I had no final exams, just essays, which allowed me to travel during Reading Week and Exam Week. I spent a week with my grandparents in Eastern Europe, the first time I had been back since COVID. I planned long layovers in Amsterdam and Vienna and got to check out local food markets,…
Category: abroadSELECT
Reading Week
Last semester’s reading week, I came back home to the U.S. to see my mom before she had heart surgery. Over the holidays, I decided I wanted to travel for Reading Week (the equivalent of spring break). I landed on eastern France and Basel, Switzerland. Since I had family coming for “proper” reading week, I…
The Most Violent Storm in Irish History
I hadn’t even been back to Ireland for a full week before the worst storm in Irish recorded history hit. In the days leading up to Storm Eowyn, people at Trinity kept talking about “the big storm.” Despite frequent rain showers, the weather is mild, so I figured people were overreacting. I started to become…
Reflections on Dublin- A Quarter of the Way Through
It’s a little over halfway through the semester, and time is flying by (cliche). I’m a full year student, so I’ll be coming back after winter break. When I was deciding between applying for the full year or just a semester, I worried that a full academic year would be “too long,” but I’ve really…
Enfin: Reflecting on a Semester in Paris
For those just coming across my posts in the Honors blog community, my name is Laura Dibble, I am a rising senior at Pitt about to move back to Pennsylvania next week! I have spent an incredible 18 weeks in Paris with CEA CAPA, studying at a partner university, l’Institut Catholique de Paris. I am…
Do’s and Don’ts Abroad
Looking back to my anxious self back in January, stressing about prepping a great wardrobe and overwhelmed at the thought of organizing weekend travel plans, it’s easy to laugh at my worries. Travel ended up coming together just fine, and Paris is so full of shopping I never was far from access to the perfect…
Un Avenir Parisien
I have certainly spent a moment or two this semester reflecting on the dream of a postgrad life in Europe. Many of my peers in France have expressed that they could not live here in the future, but I still observe Paris through a romanticized lens. I watch the parents marching their kids through bustling…
Temporarily hypothetical (maybe?)
I’m not sure what the future holds, but I certainly wouldn’t mind Dublin being a part of my life once again down the line. If I’m planting some more permanent roots over here, the first step is to figure out where I’d be staying. In my previous posts, I’ve mentioned how perfect my location is…
Balancing Life While Abroad
If I had to sum up the most challenging aspect of studying abroad for a semester, it would be the struggle to find balance. Between wanting to live up to the social media-created facade of the experience, to wanting to honor your own interests and mental health, it can be hard to know how much…
Grappling with Expectations
I’d like to elaborate on something that I’ve mentioned in a previous post: the challenge of my own expectations. In retrospect, the fact that I’ve brought it up already speaks to how much it’s been in the back of my mind since being abroad. Whether I was aware of it at the beginning or not,…