Kate Struckman-Johnson, Place of Study: Reykjavik, Iceland

Germany is celebrating the 30-year anniversary of the Berlin Wall falling this year. Earlier in October, I was given a chance to celebrate a German holiday related to this tremendous event - October 3 Tag der Deutschen Einheit, or in English German Unity Day.

Freiburg im Breisgau is an idyllic and beautiful city in southwestern Germany located near many towns and landmarks. Last weekend I went on a day trip with a few other Americans to visit a lake only an hour away from Freiburg, Titisee.

Now that I am home from studying overseas, it has caused me to reflect a lot on the time I have spent in Australia, as well as who I was before this semester.

As a student studying for a year abroad in comparison to the more common single semester programs, I’ve been given a lot of time to reflect on my study abroad experience over the last 9 and a half months, and surprise, surprise, most of my reflection has been about German!

One of my favorite things about South Korea is the many flavorful dishes located all over the country!

During my spring break in Uruguay, I decided to travel to Bariloche, Argentina, for a week with three other friends. It was nothing short of amazing.

A lot of people have been asking me if I’m homesick and, honestly, I don’t have a good answer. Europe has essentially become my home for the last semester, and for that reason alone I wouldn’t describe whatever it is I’m feeling as “homesick”.

If you ask any study abroad student why they chose to go on exchange for a semester, they’ll give you the same response every time. They’ll say they wanted to experience a different culture and travel more and they were given this amazing opportunity to do all of that while still getting credit for uni, so why not?

Overcoming FOMO and Making the Most of Your International Experience

My choice to study abroad as a senior at the University of Iowa was one of the most difficult decisions of my college career.

I had grand plans for my study abroad blog. I was going to write an entry every other week. Of course, that didn’t pan out- study, as it turns out, is an essential part of studying abroad and ended up using much of the time I had planned for writing. That plus lots and lots of experiences…