CAPA WORLD

In today's post, Ryan lists the top 10 tips to keep in mind and put into action when it comes to creating quality blog content and documenting your journey and experience abroad.

I can’t believe how lovely my summer semester was! It’s been a true whirlwind of experiences, and I could not be more thankful! I feel so grateful that I have been able to document this experience through blogging for CAPA, so that I can look back on all the great opportunities and times I have had in this program! This blog has been extremely beneficial in my travel by keeping track of all the things I have done while in London.

In this week's post, Maya addresses a common concern about studying abroad: homesickness! Read more  for her tips on coping with homesickness and why you shouldn't let that scare you away from studying abroad!

So it has been about a month since my arrival to Barcelona, Spain and while this has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, homesickness is inevitable. Being so far away in a country with a new language, new foods, and new culture will definitely cause someone to start missing home. You would think homesickness comes from just being in such a different place but it can hit at the most random times.

In today's post, Sydney puts a list of 10 things you can do to be a part of the local culture and city life when you arrive in Sydney for your semester abroad.

While a summer semester abroad may not seem like a long enough time (like a fall or spring semester abroad) to explore all the different things that Sydney has to offer, here's a list that I've put together based on my experience. I can 100% say that this is a good place to start—regardless of how long you'll be abroad. Here are some of my favorite things that I’ve done while abroad in Sydney.

1. SPEND TIME AT THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

First, spend time at this iconic landmark. Yes, it’s a huge tourist attraction…but that’s for a reason. If you don’t have the money to actually go to a show or a behind-the-scenes tour, but you want more than just a picture outside, try a sunrise yoga class.

Martyn Megaloudis is an official CAPA blogger for fall 2018, sharing his story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Marketing major at the University of Pittsburgh, he is studying abroad in Sydney this semester.

In this week's post, Martyn creates a quick guide based on his exploration of Sydney's art and culture so far and shares several go-to spots for music, art, architecture and nature in the city.

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For today's post, I wanted to talk a bit about some of the art (whether painted or sung) that you can generally find around the CAPA Sydney center and in the city. I haven’t managed to hit all of the cultural touchstones of Sydney yet, but here are a few highlights of what I’ve seen so far. Small note to take—I know very little about plants, architecture, and art so those sections may be lacking in any expert evaluation.

Music

Foundry 616 hosts a wide range of jazz acts including The Baker Boys.

Five minutes down the street from the CAPA Sydney center sits the small jazz lounge, Foundry 616. Despite the sign outside (which is never lit up and very easy to glaze over), Foundry 616 is hard to spot—being just one of three doors at the entrance to a large business building. Enter and you’ll find a dimly lit lounge that provides a small stage for performances and smaller concerts, as well as the option to dine in. The lounge offers free admission on Tuesdays, and hosts “The Baker Boys” which is a jazz collective that allows musicians from every avenue from Sydney to showcase their talents for prospective bookings. I’m a sucker for jazz and jazz renditions of non-jazz songs, so I really enjoyed their performance- I’m not getting married anytime soon so I’m not going end up giving any of them jobs, but they did put on a good show! I would say if you have a spare hour on a Tuesday it wouldn’t hurt to check out Foundry 616.

In this week's post, Connor uses experience so far on his CAPA Florence program to debunk some myths you may have heard about studying abroad in Italy.

Before coming to Florence to study abroad, I had a lot of pre-conceived ideas about what my time here was going to be like. These notions came from my own head, what I read, or what other people told me they thought it was going to be like. After being in Florence for about a month, I realized a lot of these ideas were just myths. I am going to debunk some common study abroad myths in the following post:

Marianne Zarzar is an official CAPA blogger, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Sociology of Law, Criminology, and Deviance major at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, she is studying abroad in Sydney.

In today's post, Marianne reflects on her study abroad and internship experience in Sydney, what she misses about it, and tips on how to handle coming back home and maintaining relationships.

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I never knew it was possible to miss a place this much. Coming back home was filled with mixed feelings. Even though I am happy to be back, I have missed Australia and all the friendships and connections I made throughout my study abroad experience. I have been back home for a couple of weeks now, and the most random things still remind me of Australia. I have also started noticing some of the slight differences between Australia and the US in terms of how we do certain things a bit differently here. For example, the tiny space between bathroom stalls here in the US are huge compared to the ones in Australia, but I had never noticed until I came back. Also, I got so used to walking on the opposite side of the street, which actually makes a lot of sense to me, that I still do it even after having been back for a while.

Having been an exchange student before, I somewhat knew what to expect when coming back. I knew for example that almost no one will be as interested in hearing about your overseas experience as you are in telling them. This is not to mean that they won’t be excited for you, but this experience will impact you so much that you will be able to talk about it forever.

Kelly is an official CAPA blogger, sharing her story on CAPA World. A Journalism major at University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, she is studying abroad in London.

In today's post, Kelly reflects on her time studying and interning abroad in London and shares encouragement and advice on how to make this your best decision yet.

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If you’re having doubts about studying abroad or it has barely crossed your mind, look no further for advice than what I’m about to tell you.

Deciding to study abroad was quite possibly the best decision I’ve ever made. When I got into the CAPA London program to study and intern abroad, my dad asked me if I really wanted to do this. I was offended at the question and honestly teared up for a second at the thought of not going. That question did make me have second thoughts for a moment, though. I suppose that if I didn’t go, I wouldn’t know what I missed. But now that I’ve spent the best months of my life studying and interning in London (yes, I know—it’s a very cliche thing to say), I wouldn’t take it back for the world.

Casey Rhode is an official CAPA blogger for fall 2018, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. An Interdisciplinary Studies major at Arizona State University, she is studying abroad in Dublin this semester.

In this week's post, Casey shares how a case of traveler's cold helped her discover her new love of Irish tea, how she's embracing the concept of "tea time," and her recommendations for the best spots to get tea in Dublin.

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I want everyone reading my posts to see my entire adventure, even the not so fun parts, so here I am. The sickness that our advisors mentioned we would get after about a week finally got to me. I wish I could say everything was all fine and dandy this whole week but being sick and starting classes and an internship isn’t the greatest combination. I’ve been drained and cold and coughing up a storm in the middle of classes. I’ve taken a bunch of medicine to hopefully feel better soon, but the one thing that has really helped is the tea I brought from home: organic roasted dandelion root tea with a couple drops of lemon juice.

Tea Garden's selection of teas

Now, I’m not a tea person normally, but for some reason since I arrived in Dublin I have been drinking tea every day. I can’t go a day without it, partially because so many people are also drinking tea, so I feel obligated to drink it during “tea time”. By the way, “tea time” is actually just any time you want it to be, which I kind of love.

 Maisie Haney is an official CAPA blogger for fall 2018, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. An Art History major at Rollins College, she is studying abroad in London this semester.

In this week's post, Maisie shares several tips on how to start a blog and document your experiences through words, photos, and music.

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You will notice that I have only posted two blog posts thus far, but you will also notice that my posts are what my gran would call “spectacular.” If you want to know a thing or two about how your blog can be equally spectacular, give this little post a read!

Here's what it looks like to arrange and design your own blog
to chronicle your study abroad experiences.

First of all, you are going to want to choose a topic or theme that you feel comfortable writing about—you want to write A LOT, pupils. For school-sponsored or study abroad blogs with a student or parent audience, such as the one I am writing for you now, many of my blog posts will be about the study abroad experience as it relates directly to my location and my interests. I find it important for the topic to stray from vagueness, as posts with a narrower subject are inherently more eye-catching and, frankly, worthwhile. To illustrate, I would rather read a blog post titled “The 80’s Japanese Synth-pop You Need for a Shimmery Summer” than one called “Summer: An Essential Playlist”. Essential is such an overused adjective in the music journalism industry, and I do not shy away from a summer that shimmers.

Kelly is an official CAPA blogger, sharing her story on CAPA World. A Journalism major at University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, she is studying abroad in London.

In this week's post, Kelly shares what it's like to keep in touch with friends and family in the US and the apps she uses to bridge the gap.

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No matter where you go—whether it’s a state away or a completely different time zone away—there’s a good chance you’ll want to keep in touch with someone you left behind. You could be going on vacation, leaving for college, moving for a job, or chasing an adventure. When you’re studying abroad for four months in a completely different time zone, it can be a little trickier to keep in touch with those you care about from back home. It’s definitely doable, though.

I’m not much of a homebody, so going places for extended periods of time doesn’t tend to prompt homesickness. That being said, I haven't kept in touch with my family that much, maybe once a month or so. But I do keep in contact with two of my best friends every day. I often speak to my family over the phone using it as usual or using WhatsApp’s calling feature. WhatsApp is a messaging app owned by Facebook that you can download to keep in contact with people. A lot of people use it for talking to others overseas.