Category: Semester Programs

Paddy’s Day in Ireland

Submitted by Nyasha Rutanhira on the 2025 Spring program in Limerick, Ireland…

When deciding to study abroad in Ireland, it never crossed my mind that I would get to experience St. Patrick’s Day in its country of origin. At the University of Delaware, students know how to celebrate this holiday, so I was excited to compare my experiences at UD with my time in Ireland during St. Patrick’s Day.

Instead of going to Dublin, I chose to stay in Limerick to celebrate in a more intimate community setting and see how the locals marked the occasion. I attended the Limerick St. Patrick’s Day Parade, where people of all ages participated, entertaining the crowds with music, dancing, and performances. In addition to the parade, Limerick hosted other exciting events, including an International Band Parade featuring marching bands from across the United States and Ireland, who were judged based on their performances.

After the daytime festivities, the nightlife was just as lively. Every pub was open, filled with people, and playing live traditional Irish music. It was an incredible experience where I truly felt immersed in the culture, and I know I’ll never forget my St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland.

P.S. I learned that the Irish don’t call it “St. Patty’s Day” — they only refer to it as St. Patrick’s Day or Paddy’s Day! (Submitted March 31, 2025)

Friends and I celebrating St. Patrick’s Day

Cliffs of Moher

Submitted by Nyasha Rutanhira on the 2025 Spring program in Limerick, Ireland…

I arrived in Limerick, Ireland, almost a week ago, and I am really settling in well. I was a little nervous at first that I would have a hard time meeting new people. However, the University of Limerick ensures that its study-abroad students can acclimate quickly through orientation meetings and exciting excursion opportunities.

One of these excursions took us to the famous Cliffs of Moher, an experience I won’t soon forget. The moment we arrived, I was totally blown away—literally. The winds at the cliffs were unlike anything I had ever felt before. Just days earlier, Ireland had been hit by a countrywide red-level storm, and lingering gusts at the cliffs reached up to 50 miles per hour. While my pictures may not capture the intensity, I can assure you that we were struggling just to stay on our feet without being swept away! (Submitted January 29, 2025)

My friends and I in front of the cliffs!

Culture Shock

Submitted by Olivia Merced on the 2024 Spring program in Barcelona, Spain…

While living in Barcelona for about 2 months now, there are a few culture shocks I have experienced. Firstly, meals in Spain are a lot different than in the USA. Here, Spaniards eat a small breakfast, a big lunch, and a small dinner. Dinner here is served earliest at 8 pm which was an adjustment. As lunch is the biggest meal of the day, during lunchtime lots of places are closed. This is called a siesta. This is a time for people to rest and eat before entering the long night ahead. Another culture shock was the metro system. I do not use the public transportation system where I’m from, Delaware. The only public transportation I had previously used was the NYC subway which is difficult to figure out. I was very nervous about using the metro in Spain before coming. However, the metro system is extremely easy to use, as it’s color-coded for each line. Even young children use the metro by themselves. It only took a few rides until I figured out the system and felt comfortable traveling alone. Lastly, the biggest adjustment was grocery shopping. In Spain, people do not shop for 2 weeks of food like we do in the USA. Spaniards like to shop at specific stores or markets for their food. Like, Carnisseria for meat, Fruit, and Vegetable stands, and Bakeries for bread and other baked goods. This was a pleasant experience and adjustment as I’m now eating better quality food and my groceries aren’t being as wasted as they were in the US. Overall, there are many cultural differences between the USA and Spain. Nevertheless, these culture shocks have not impacted my experience negatively, only making it more of an adventure. (Submitted on November 5, 2024)

A Rainy Day in Prague

Submitted by Isabel LeCompte the 2024 Spring program in Prague, Czech Republic…

Almost two weeks ago I landed in the Czech Republic and the reality of my surroundings are slowly starting to settle in. I’m sitting in my small kitchen table to write this however I keep getting distracted and looking out the window. Not surprisingly though, my neighbors across the street are doing the same. Peering out the window and people watching seems to be a common past time here. Every night I come home, and just sit by the window to catch a small breeze and to see how many people grant this street a small glimpse into their nightly routine. If I were home, I would think it odd to peek into someone else’s window and see what they’re doing or even keep the blinds more than a little open. This doesn’t seem to bother many people here. Everyone here is unbothered by others’ attention, and are content with going about the day as they please.
There is one thing I’ve picked up about the Czech people that I think show for a true resilience in their culture. Most people speak English which isn’t a shock however unlike other countries I’ve been to, it’s only when prompted. It’s encouraged to learn the basics of the language in which you currently spend time in, but after that most people fall back on English to get the conversation going. Every time I greet Czech people with “Dobrý den” (hello), they almost insist the conversation keeps going in Czech and wait until I ask them to speak English. Even when I’m visually struggling to understand their native language. This isn’t a criticism, but an understanding of the nation’s history. This territory has belonged to many foreign governments, and forced to forget their own cultural identity. The Czech Republic have only been their own democracy for 31 years, so I understand why there is a polite insistence to speak their own language for as long as they can when visitors start a conversation. It’s small but impossible to go unseen.
This fun fact has absolutely nothing to do with me or what study abroad students experience, but I hope there is a small persistence to keep going without any fear of being the outsider. Or fear of putting myself in temporarily uncomfortable positions, because I know in the end it will benefit me greatly to come home with great memories.
I haven’t been here all that long but I’m starting to miss my family and only within the last two days has it sunk in that I’m not able to go home until December. Of course, there are other students on the same boat and we all share comfort in going through the same excitement and homesickness. Yet even that camaraderie can only carry you so far. There are many mixed emotions and times of loneliness. However, every evening when I come home, I enjoy my few minutes to look out the window and think. Without a doubt, I’m lucky to have this opportunity and learn about my host country and the people that make it a great place to live in. (Submitted on September 9, 2024)

Is the Grass Greener?

Submitted by Jasmine Pennington the 2024 Spring program in Athens, Greece…

My whole study abroad journey was the best 4 months of my life. I was in the study abroad program in Athens and while studying; I was able to travel through Europe. When I was young I told my mom I’d be the daughter who would get on a flight and text her later when I arrived. I dreamed and hoped for an opportunity to travel and when the study abroad program for Greece was shown to me; I knew it was now or never. I want to see the whole world and have even planned on Spring break 2025 to head to Lisbon and Barcelona. My top Destinations I visited were London, Milan, Rome, Venice, Chania, Heraklion, Santorini, Aegina, and exploring the city of Athens. I simply cannot thank the University of Delaware for this opportunity. I have so many pictures of my adventure and want to be able to share the incredible essence of nature’s beauty across Europe. These photos are from my Film camera which I developed recently and wanted to share them with others who share the same dream of studying abroad. I think Athens was the best city for me to truly learn more about myself. It showed me that a simple walk to clear my head made me more productive later in the day. Towards the end of my semester in Athens, I chose to take the last two weeks to truly explore the islands in Greece and one solo adventure; I walked the entire coast of Aegina and it was an 8-hour trek there and back with limited water. I could’ve easily ubered from one side to the other but chose to walk and enjoy nature and see amazing views i couldn’t have imagined in Delaware. I can attach some photos from this walk and it will show why I stopped so much. I’d say in that aspect Greece is truly breathtaking in comparison to the city of Newark. Then I had to run to the ferry because I am a poor planner of time and kept taking stops to just sit on the benches along the way to truly take in how blessed I was to be the first in my family with a passport and first ever in three generations to travel across Europe. 

Then fast forward to the friends I made who were also from the USA, we planned to take a trip to the cities listed above. My favorite city overall would be Chania. The whole Island of Crete which apparently is pronounced Creet-ee and not like saying CreTe. We explored Heraklion and went to the Palace of Knossos, and then went on a 2-hour bus ride to the city of Chania. While we were there we went to a couple of beaches but one truly brought me to tears. I knew I wanted to go as soon as I researched Greece as a whole. It wasn’t even possible for me to go there because the bus routes weren’t fully running when we were there in April. So, my friends all surprised me and said that they booked a Taxi online and booked one back to the airport because this beach had no service and once there you need to have a plan to get back. The beach was called Seitan Limania and it was a trek to get to the bottom and getting back up was a whole other story. My friend took a couple of pics of me climbing it and we took rests because there were no safety ropes, a literal string was the guide to take the trail down the mountain correctly. I wouldn’t change a thing about the ways I traveled in Chania, the food I ate and the people I met. I was there for 5 days and during that time I got to eat fresh seafood and watch the sunsets on the beaches that were truly different from sunsets in Delaware. Every experience in Greece had me in awe of how Cretians wake up everyday and can go swimming in crystal clear waters. I live in Delaware where the closest beach is 2 hours away. I’d say my traveling experience while going to these cities showed me how to be more independent and gain more knowledge on how to properly pack a bag in 30 minutes when your group wants to go to Santorini when you have a final 2 hours before the flight. I really love the people I met, the Greek students I studied with and the local grocery store worker who weighed my kiwis and a single apple I got because I ate it on the way back home. I truly had a routine being in Greece and leaving there was bittersweet but that doesn’t mean I don’t love Delaware just as much. I truly love being here on campus and able to pursue another dream of mine which is graduating and being able to check another thing off my bucket list. I was so in love with the nature there and how their trees, grass, and animals look different. I did miss the campus squirrels because I saw zero while in Greece. My film camera weighed 10 lbs but in my heart, it weighs a ton with all the memories and nature that was captured. It is simply more precious to my heart when I use my film camera to capture a feeling and a specific point in time where my eyes light up to be able to see it in real life. It’s a reminder that studying abroad actually happened and that those places I visited will be a part of me. (Submitted on September 15,2024)

Last week of class in Granada

Submitted by Maxwell Poruban the 2024 Spring program in Granada, Spain…

This week is the final week of classes before finals of the Granada Spring 2024 study abroad program and it’s time to reflect on the academic side of my experience. This semester has been different for a number of reasons, but it has also been extremely successful. The entire program in Granada is immersive: the county and city, the program and homestay, and of course the coursework. At the University of Granada’s Center for Modern Languages, I’ve taken six courses covering the history, literature, sociology, and a philosophic seminar that covered all things Spain. It was hard. That’s the simple reflection. That is not to say that it wasn’t an enjoyable, enriching, and exceptional semester. I would repeat it without question and recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their Spanish and learn along the way. 

My favorite, and most challenging, class was the Granada Institute of International Studies seminar taught under the auspices of SPAN308: Contemporary Spain II. In this class we of course covered all aspects of contemporary Spain, but we delved into the topic in an interactive and hands-on manner. Through writing, multimedia projects, excursions, lectures, readings, and presentations from all manner of local intellectuals we worked through what Spain means today. In addition to my formal education, I also received a huge amount of language help and practice with my host family and simply living in the city of Granada. All of this has contributed to a truly excellent semester. (Submitted on May 23,2024)

Flower power: Día de la Cruz in Granada

Submitted by Maxwell Poruban the 2024 Spring program in Granada, Spain…

Día de la cruz or the Day of the Cross is one of the major festivals that marks the beginning of the festival season here in Granada. All across the city neighbors, clubs, teams, schools and other groups come together and compete in a contest that holds a prize and bragging rights. The contest is to create a cross made of flowers and then surround it with beautiful decorations that represent the theme the contestants have selected. The city is filled with women dressed in Sevillana dresses and men attired in fine suits as they migrate from cross to cross to view the culmination of a long period of work. The other attraction for the festival is that groups who mount crosses often also have bars and food to sell to visitors. It truly feels as if the city has come alive with color and energy to welcome in the Spring and fine weather. (Submitted on May 16,2024)

Las Santas de Zurbarán: Art in Seville

Submitted by Maxwell Poruban the 2024 Spring program in Granada, Spain…

Art, or at least baroque art, has always been a way for the well-endowed and well placed members of a society to demonstrate their power and prowess. This is exactly the case in a series of paintings by Francisco de Zurburán that I had the privilege of visiting with my program in Seville. Zurburán, and his studio based in Seville, was a master of color and light; in person his works are quite extraordinary. I am not much of an art buff; I don’t know much about eras or artists or what they mean. That said I do enjoy going to see art and attempting to learn more about it. The Museum of Fine Art in Seville houses Spain’s best collection of painting after the Golden Triangle of art in Madrid, consisting of the Prado, Reina Sofia and the Thyssen-Bornemisza. It also houses the Santas collection of Zurburán which demonstrates some of his best work and the catholic nature of Spain during the period. What I found most interesting about this series of paintings is the story behind their commissions and the models who posed for the painting. While each painting represents a martyred catholic saint, the women who posed as the models were the wealthy aristocrats who commissioned the painting. According to the resident fine art expert of the Granada Institute of International Studies this style of portrait painting was all the rage and was seen as a huge status symbol in the 17th century. Art will never be my strong suit, but this experience exemplified the social importance that art has and has had in human life. (Submitted on May 16,2024)

Week 17 (Final Week)

Submitted by Hannah Scheck the 2024 Spring program in Sydney, Australia…

All good things must come to an end. Today I celebrated my final day in Sydney. Tomorrow morning I will wake up and fly home. This week I finished up all of my projects at work and celebrated a great Internship with my coworkers. I ate at my favorite restaurants for the last time. I took my time walking around saying goodbye to the city, the Opera House, and the beaches. It was very emotional. I had time to reflect on my experiences here. I believe I have accomplished a lot and grown as a person into a more independent self. I have been dreaming of Sydney since I was in third grade. Coming here was a dream come true. Leaving is bittersweet. I am so excited to see my friends and family again, and tell them all about my experiences here. I am very sad to leave this beautiful country and all of the memories I have made here. This was truly a remarkable experience and I am so fortunate to have been able to be part of it. My time in Sydney has changed my life for the better and it is something I will never forget. (Submitted on May 10,2024)

Our final night in Paris

Submitted by Julia Scott the 2024 Spring program in Paris, France…

As I spend my last week in Paris, I realize just how transformative this time has been for me. The friends I’ve made here, the people who have touched my life and improved my perception of friendship and perseverance, have a special place in my heart. Our last day together was simple – no big museums, no crazy late-night adventures, just the three of us cleaning and preparing for our exit. We started the day with a pastry from my roommate and I’s local boulangerie of choice. The ladies who worked there had seen us order our single shot espressos and pain au chocolats every other morning for four months. She was kind enough to send us away with three complimentary pastries, and we thanked her profusely. The French get a bad rap for being unkind, but it is simply untrue – whoever started that myth probably never took the time to be respectful of local customs and annoyed the locals. It’s not easy to have your home be one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world! My roommate, our friend who is also our neighbor and I all helped each other with deep cleaning. The weather was mild, we played music out loud and reminisced about our favorite moments together. My roommate and I got along famously, but sadly for our friend her roommates were not as kind and left their shared space absolutely trashed and expected her to clean it for them. What normally would have been sad brought us together to clean that apartment in under two hours! When we were finished, we went out for ice cream at our favorite shop and got to work on our apartment. When we were finished, we had pizza in the shop that we shared a wall with that we had frequented often. Our local pizza shop owner had gotten to know us, and it was the first place we had eaten on night one of the study abroad program. We said our goodbyes, and we realized we had never actually visited the eiffel tower at night. So weird! We packed ourselves into the metro, and invited some other friends to meet us there for final good-byes. It was lightly raining and windy, so there really wasn’t anyone else visiting the eiffel tower that night. The rain and wind fluttering the trees that line the gardens around the eiffel tower brought me a weird amount of peace, and melancholy. We stood there silently for a while, just looking at this big metal structure that lights up the Paris sky. Seeing pictures of it does not do it justice, it is an incredible and elegant feat of architecture. When others met up, we took lots of silly pictures and videos in the rain as the tower sparkled behind us and I knew I was ready to go home. Life has a way of pushing us along our paths because we cannot stay in the same place forever. I love you, Paris! Au revoir. (Submitted on May 9,2024)