“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” ― Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It This quote stands out to me…

Before venturing over to London for the weekend, I had many thoughts about the city. I did not understand the “hype” behind a place like London – an English speaking, tourist trap that seemed like a European New York city. Oh, and did I mention expensive? I had these preconceived notions about a place that…

Over the past 3 weeks, I have explored my home city of Madrid, Spain. Most study abroad students travel on the weekends, and I will soon be one of them; however, I made sure to reserve my first month to explore my host city and surrounding cities, traveling only close to Madrid. This has not…

I can not believe I arrived on February 3rd. It feels as though I arrived last week, yet I have lived here for years. Though, I have survived my first month in Madrid! It is hard to sum up my cultural experience thus far. The emotional wave of arrival, settling in, exploration and more is…

This past weekend, my program had a 3-day excursion to 3 cities around Madrid, Spain. These cities were absolutely fascinating, and I thought I had seen enough cathedrals in Madrid, but in fact, I had not. The cities included in the overnight excursion were El Escorial, Salamanca and Avila. El Escorial is a city close…

Elizabeth Hepburn Year: Junior Major: Marketing & Business Information Systems From: Philadelphia, PA I am so excited to be a madrileña for a few months! In Madrid, I will be attending the Universidad Antonio de Nebrija through ISA’s Madrid Spring 1B program. I will be taking classes in International Marketing, International Communications, Spanish Art and Architecture,…