Europe
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The grand tour. The tour was grand, indeed. In fact, it was grand, spectacular, amazing, wonderful, and all of the other great adjectives. This trip was my first time out of the Southeastern US. I had never flown alone before. Or been in a non-English speaking country. It was a big step for me as…
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Greece is a country with a ton of history and culture. We’ve all learned about Greek mythology at some point: Hercules the strong hero, Zeus the god of thunder, Medusa and her head of snakes. At one point in history, these stories were believed to be real. They explained the ways of the natural world…
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I studied abroad in Italy with the Viticulture and Enology Maymester program. The focus of the program is on the science behind growing grapes and techniques but also has a heavy focus on wine and the wine-making process. Before this trip, I only had wine a few times. I honestly didn’t care for it at…
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Ever since my mom took me to an impressionist art exhibit at the Cleveland Art Museum as a child, I have been transfixed by the dreamlike expressions of colorful landscapes that many of the artists painted. Although I admired many of the pieces and the artists who painted them, the artist I was drawn to…
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When most people think of Italy, they immediately think of Rome. They picture the Trevi Fountain, Coliseum and probably, The Lizzie McQuire Movie. Although Rome is “cool” and all, authentic Italy is found in the medieval villages scattered throughout the mountains. (You know a town is medieval if it is surrounded by a stone wall.)…
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In Athens, my weekly trip to the grocery store is always somewhat a mindless, somewhat mechanical part of my everyday life. I know exactly which aisles I need to go to pick up my essentials for the week and the exact amount to sustain me until my next trip. When traveling abroad however, the grocery…
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**DISCLAIMER: I’m vegan.** Before I left for Spain I was kind of worried about what I would be eating while I was there. Spain has lots of ham. A LOT of it. We were still staying with host families who knew our dietary restrictions and who would be cooking for us, but as for going…
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WOW! What a trip! Spain is definitely my favorite place to visit inside of Europe (probably because of how perfect the weather is there). This was my second time traveling to Spain, my fourth time traveling to Europe, and it is a different experience each time I travel. Traveling is something I am very passionate…
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Throughout my Maymester in Spain, we visited lots of different farms. We visited farms where they grew all sorts of fruits such as avocados, mangoes, bananas, nísperos, and cherimoyas. We visited different research centers that grew avocado and mango fruit trees, that grew dragonfruit (I had never seen a dragonfruit plant before so that was…
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We had a lot of great material packed into this trip, so we did not have much time to go on our own trips, but we did have about 4 different days we were able to travel or do what we wanted. I would highly recommend traveling to Orvieto if you are in Italy. This…