Abbey in London!

Hey WIB family! I hope everything is going great in Bloomington. I had some major FOMO this past weekend—apparently I missed out on the best conference yet. Props to the conference committee!

To update you on my life, this week is midterm week so I’m busy writing a bunch of essays and trying to catch up on readings (yes, we actually go to class here). Taking five classes and interning two days a week is a lot more tiring than I expected, but somehow I always have energy to travel or explore London on the weekends. My internship is with a fashion-tech startup called Snap Fashion, a company with visual search-engine shopping apps. It’s been exciting working for a small startup because I've gotten to contribute a lot, and I couldn’t ask for nicer, more genuine coworkers. I’ve done some user-experience testing, blogging and social media work, along with other random tasks like database tidying. Last week I did street style interviews for London Fashion Week and *blogged* about attending a designer's fashion week presentation. Super exciting!

So far, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to Rome and Dublin—still looking forward to my Scotland and Prague trips. My favorite parts of London so far have been Brick Lane, which has amazing cheap market food and vintage shops, Lyceum Theater where I saw Lion King with my dad, and a boat tour I went on to Greenwich where we stood on the Prime Meridian (in two hemispheres at once). To read more about my personal adventures check out my study abroad **blog** where I post weekly about random topics. Miss you all!  x

Abbey

Allison Scott takes on Scotland!

Hey Wibbers! I hope you are all having a wonderful semester! I am having a blast in Scotland. It is so amazing to be immersed in a completely different culture and meet people from all over the world! So far I have only been to Ireland and different areas of Scotland but I have trips planned for Paris, Barcelona, London, Berlin, Vienna, and Prague. 

Scotland is such a beautiful country! While I live in the city, I have been lucky enough to get out to the beautiful hills and countryside a few times. There is absolutely nothing better than looking at a country side that goes on forever! My trip to Dublin was amazing! The city was beautiful and the people were so friendly! Every pub had live music, which was a real treat! Dublin definitely has a special place in my heart!

This is without a doubt that greatest thing I have done in my life and I can’t wait to see what adventures are ahead. That’s all for now! Miss you girls!

Taylor Stinson studies abroad in Hong Kong!

This past week marked my fourth week abroad and City University's Lunar New Year break. To celebrate the holiday, my family decided to meet me in Vientam for 9 days! It was an action-packed adventure as we traveled all over the country. We began in Ha Long Bay on a "junk," otherwise known as a boat typically found in Asia. We spent one night sailing through the beautiful bay. Next, we headed for Hanoi, a busy city in northern Vietnam. We wandered the city filled with french-inspired architecture before boarding our over-night train car to Sapa. This area of Vietnam features many villages of tribal people. We hiked and biked through the gorgeous hills and rice paddies, which can be seen in the picture. We then traveled back to Hanoi for additional site seeing, including a ricksha ride around the city and a traditional Vietnamese water puppet show. On the sixth day, we flew to Da Nang, a more touristy area located along the coastline. My family and I had some custom suits made (always gotta be on that WIB professionalism grind) and biked around the area learning how to make traditional Vietnamese dishes. This trip was unlike any other - we directly interacted with the people of each area, learning their respective cultures, and we saw so much of the country in such a short amount of time. I am so lucky to have been able to go on my first adventure with my family. Now it's back to school in Hong Kong, but I am sure I will be headed off on a second adventure soon with my new friends!

 

To read more about Taylor's

adventures over in Hong Kong 

go check out her blog,

taystins.wordpress.com.

Alli Eschbach's Message from Florence!

Ciao from Firenze, Italia! 

After four weeks abroad, I'm finally getting comfortable navigating Florence, planning trips, and traveling Europe. Last week I traveled to Interlaken, Switzerland and skied the Swiss Alps! This weekend, I took a train 2.5 hours south to the medieval town of Assisi and visited churches nearly 1000 years old! In the next month, I will be traveling to Prague, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, London, Dublin, Venice, Rome, and Croatia!

So far in Florence, I've seen Michelangelo's David and explored a lot of museums, played soccer against Italians, attended mass in the famous Florence Cathedral, and of course, eaten lots and lots of delicious Italian food! Taking a break from business classes this semester, I am enrolled in Art History, Beginners Italian, Oil Painting, Drawing, and an anthropology class revolved around Florence!