Coffee & Honeycomb: study abroad

Showing posts with label study abroad. Show all posts

THE THANKFUL PROJECT DAY 4 : AN EXPERIENCE

Monday, November 4, 2013

I'm linking up with Kenzie @ Chasing Happy this month to participate in THE THANKFUL PROJECT.

Never heard of it? Taken from Kenzie:

"The Thankful Project will be 28 days of intentional gratitude and community. Each day, we'll write a post in response to a gratitude prompt (see the list of prompts by date below)... The motivation behind The Thankful Project is this: an attitude of thankfulness can help us push through and overcome just about anything..."

Isn't that great? I love that Kenzie thought of this and is sharing it with the rest of blogland. I missed the first three days, but I am just going to jump right in to day four. Today's prompt is an experience.

One experience that I am thankful for is living in Verona, Italy for four months.

I studied abroad in Italy in the spring semester of my junior year (January 2013 - May 2013.) It's been less than a year since it happened, but it feels like such a long time ago. Once in awhile I'll come across an old photo or even a scenery in a movie, and I'll immediately recognize the location and feel a wave of nostalgia. The memories will suddenly resurface and feel so vivid, taking me back to the different conversations, smells, emotions, and feelings. Wow, it is still so surreal.

Studying abroad in Italy was probably one of the best decisions I made in college and that semester will always hold a special place in my heart. :) It was a time I learned a lot about myself, about this world, about God, and building relationships with people different from you. I feel so fortunate that I had the chance to go and that my parents were supportive and helpful to make that happen.

Rather than try to condense the greatness of Europe with a few words, you can find photos of all the places I went here! They're all directed from my wordpress so it takes awhile to load, but I think I'm planning on making a "city guide" for Europe sometime soon.

But yes, if you are in college and have the opportunity and means to study abroad, do it. Please do yourself a favor and do it — even if it's only for a break and not a full semester. You'll see so much beauty, taste and smell such different flavors, and witness cultures and lifestyles you didn't know existed. And you will fall in love with all of it.

*Find my European adventures here.
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* Share what you're thankful for and link up your posts here.

vacation leftovers | liberation break

Friday, July 12, 2013

In italy, all schools are let out for a week in the month of April for something called, "liberation break," which is basically a national holiday celebrating their independence as a country! (Yes, they get a whole week to do that.)

My roommate's boyfriend, along with his brother and best friend, came during that time to backpack Europe, so we spent the break together touring Rome and Cinque Terre, Italy. Here's a little video I made of the trip. :) The quality is very low budget, and I had no understanding of how to manually focus or use the zoom, but its still fun to look at. If anything, the music is pretty catchy!

GODERE! (:

liberation break from jenny kim on Vimeo.

The Last Supper @ Casa Vino

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Spring Cleaning.

Monday, April 8, 2013

The month of March was a fun one. Traveled with new friends, caught up with old ones. Visited five different countries. Played in the rain, played in the sun. Got my phone stolen (twice). Watched an English musical, watched Spanish flamenco dancers. Rode a gondola in Venice, rode an ATV in Greece. You know, the usual. (:

Now, it's starting to look a lot like spring around here. Flowers have started to bloom and patches of dirt have been newly replaced with fresh green grass. My favorite part? Looks like flip flops are out for good.

But a change of season means more to me than just pretty nature. Like fresh laundry and new sheets or a clean page in the journal, spring is the opportune time to turn a new leaf in my own personal life. A total spring cleaning.

New priorities, new goals. This month of April, I want to actively start adding healthy habits and good decisions into my daily life. And it will look a bit like this...

Get back to the heart of worship. Recently I heard that what we know about God is, and will be, the most important things about ourselves. That is a very strong claim, but I am an absolute firm believer in it. With all the travels and craziness that consumed my life in the past four months, my pursuit to know my maker fell into the backseat more times than I'd like to admit. But, Jesus has reminded me of his infinite grace and love; and in response, I am shaking the dust off my hands (again) and fixing my eyes back on Him. What will that practically look like? Fill my brain with more truth, less garbage. I would be kidding myself if what I read, what I watched, or what I talked about didn't influence my thought process and eventually, actions. I know alllladat is very closely interlinked. So, I want to start spending more of my free time reading encouragement and truth, reading the word, listening to sermons, and enjoying/pursuing interests the Lord has placed on my heart.

Take care of my body. I never had a healthy eating habit. Most of my meals were consumed in the car ordered from the drive-thru, or past midnight, or purchased from the bakery of the grocery store. Now that my body is decaying and my metabolism is slowing at an uncomfortable rapid rate, I need to start taking care of myself better. What will this look like? Eat less carbs, more veggies. Stop snacking or eating out of boredom. Eat more meals at the table, not on the couch. Pour less sugar in the coffee.

Work out every day. I picked up pilates this past month. Nothing extreme, just some youtube videos I found online, but I've actually noticed difference in toning and posture — and body image as well! I dread Insanity and I dread running even more, so it's nice that I've found a work out I enjoy! (:

Read two books. I don't work too well without a deadline, so I'm going to add some pressure and try to read two-three books each month. This month I plan on finishing two books before the calendar turns.

Journal. I come home in exactly 26 days. Before I know it, life in Europe will only be a memory, and the only thing real I'll have left are these blog posts, photos, and faded memories I manage to retain. And to help that retention, I want to journal each day — feelings, funny moments, interesting foods, lessons learned — to really make the days count.

Photo Look Book : Barcelona

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Churros con Chocolate

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Spain's most popular dessert is churros with a side of hot chocolate. Walk through the main streets and you'll be able to find it offered at almost every dessertery. It is, however, more of a day treat, so when we were looking for the cure to our dessert fix after dinner (which was around 11 pm because Spaniards eat late,) no one was serving it anymore. We made just fine with waffles and cream, though. We're easy.

We ate churros three times throughout the duration of our stay in Spain, but my favorites were the ones in Madrid from Chocolateria San Gines. The venue was recommended to us by a friend (and TripAdvisor), so we set time out of our day (before Taco Bell and after Starbucks -- I know, the culture just oozes out of us,) to pay a visit. We ordered our own individual churros, but shared the hot chocolate. Hot chocolate in Europe is not like American's winter favorite. It's thick, with the consistency similar to rich fondu; and I've noticed most people use it for dipping, not drinking.

The chocolateria was beautiful - walls lined with b&w photos of past celebrities, deep green, rustic seating, rich, gold accents, vintage-inspired decor, and simple table setting.

XO.

LESS ISN'T SO BAD AFTERALL

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The crust is my favorite part of the pizza. I'm a firm believer in the idea that "the best should be saved for last," which is why the inventors of pizza placed the dangerously delicious doughness we now call "crust" around the END of the pizza. (Because it's the best.)

This belief might be due to the fact that I'm from Chicago, home of the incredible deep dish pizza. (Miss you, Lou's. I'll be back one day.) The deep dish pizza -- one slice's width, length, depth all bigger than the palm of my hand, requiring silverware in order to enjoy it. My need for a fork and knife is probably a good thing so I don't step over the barbaric line in public and just inhale the whole thing. The past three years while I was on campus in Champaign, deep dish (done well) was always difficult to find, so I would religiously make a trip to Lou Malnatis, my favorite pizza joint, every time I visited home. One deep dish pizza, Lou's salad, and a side of pepperoncinis always did just the trick.

So once my bags were packed and we said our good-byes, (Me and Lou Malnatis, that is), and made the difficult decision to go live in Italy for a semester, you can imagine my disbelief when I found out that Italians enjoyed their pizza THIN-CRUST!!!!

"Wait a minute. You mean to tell me, there's LESS crust? LESS?! I just don't understand... What's the point?"

Simply put, I was pretty upset.

Anyway, trying to be the open-minded and not-typical- ethnocentric-American individual I am, I gave it a try.

Confession: I actually liked it.

My roommate from sophomore year and oldest friend came to visit Italy for her spring break. For her first night, a few of us from the same hometown decided to all go out to dinner and celebrate. We chose San Matteo as the venue because it was highly recommended across the board to be THE best pizza in town. Plus, apparently news had broken out that one of the employees was a former model, so not only was it famous for its pizza, but also for the adolescent girls flocking for some eye candy. Both reasons were enough for us to make a visit. Dinner and entertainment? Done.

The menu was long and extensive with pages after pages of different pizzas. The four of us are very indecisive individually, so collectively, it took that much longer to order a dish. We each perused the menu carefully reading each description under pizza name, and finally settled on three that we decided to share family-style.

{ Italian thin crust is something entirely different from Chicago style. The crust is thin and chewy, crispy around the edges. The sauce is light and fresh as opposed to the usual thick and creamy tomato sauce. This one was topped with shredded cheese, pepperoni, and mushrooms. Despite the thinness, it was actually very filling! }

{ Fresh mozzarella and prosciutto shaped in a heart. I didn't fancy this one too much because the prosciutto made each bite a little too salty, but the other girls really liked this one. Despite the thinness of the pizza, it was surprisingly very filling and satisfying. Between the four of us, we were struggling to finish the last slices! }

{ Cooked spinach and fresh mozzarella This one was one of my favorites. Between the thinness and freshness of the ingredients, it really brought out the complex flavors of cheese, tomato, and buttery goodness. }

My lovely dinner dates.

I keep finding myself craving for thin-crust pizza now. My palate has expanded -- not that I'm abandoning my first love by any means -- there's enough [ food ] love to go around for this chick.

London Street Markets

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

I think over the past few months I've gained a new appreciation for and liking to food markets. There's just something about all the hustle and bustle that really pulls my heart strings...the fresh food, writing on chalk boards, quirky branding, free samples, and sounds of chatting and eating. In London, we visited two of their larger street markets, Camden Town and Borough Market, both really different from each other but also both abundant with food (and free samples). (;

* Camden Town is actually the location of where my iphone was stolen the first time.