journey – Postcards from GW

By sarajebbar

This is it, the end of my journey in GWU. I can’t believe it’s already here, the end of one of the best semesters I had so far. But yeah, we all knew this time will come sooner or later. Here I am sitting in the airport waiting for my flight and writing my final blogpost for the semester. I never thought this moment will come by this fast, but time flies here in GWU. Last week was such a hectic week. From finals to the last goodbye parties, it was so emotional to live the last days of the semester.

Studying abroad was an experience that I enjoyed so much. For me being an exchange student meant experiencing a new culture, traveling a lot, meeting new people, and adapting to a new environment that is very different from the one I live in my home country Morocco. Washington DC was one of the greatest places to live in. I really enjoyed living in the city center of the capital of the US and visit all the monuments, museums and touristy spots whenever I felt like: late at night, on sunrise or on sunset… One of the things that I’m very glad I did this semester were all the trip I did around America. Starting from Baltimore, to New York to Florida, to Mexico to Canada to Cuba and finishing with the West coast. I’m so grateful I had the chance to travel around the continent, discover new cultures and take more and more pictures. I believe that being in the US helped me visiting new places I never thought I will visit from Morocco.

Travel was great but the most precious thing I earned this semester were the friendships with people from all around the world. Before coming to the US, I knew I will meet people with whom I will have fun and spend good time. But I never expected that I’ll meet people that will become family in such a short period. I met people with whom I laughed, cried, danced, cooked (mostly pasta and ramen), traveled to exotic places, sang, chilled at dorm on lazy days, spent hours in Gelman procrastinating, and more and more. And I’m grateful I shared the best moments of my GWU journey with them. I think the worst part of the study abroad is the fact that these people will not be around on a daily basis. But memories never fade away and I’ll never forget about all what we lived in GWU. I believe that we will meet again somewhere in the world, maybe in Morocco (such a great country to visit lol) *coughcough* or maybe somewhere else. I know we might be in opposite sides of the planet, but I know for sure our friendships will not end here. The boarding time of my flight to West coast is here, which means I need to end this blogpost here.

GWU was great, the US was great and special thanks to all the people who made my semester memorable. Can’t wait to come back to DC again. It was a BLAST.

IG:@Sarajebbar

By evavilloslada

Hi everyone, this is my first post on this blog and I'm glad I can share this new journey with all of you.

Well, I'm going to start introducing myself so you can understand me better. My name is Eva , I'm 19 years old and I'm from a little town in Spain, but I've been studying law and politics for two years in Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.One of my hobbies is traveling, so I take every chance I get for doing so.

Although I want to visit every place I can, Unites States have always had a special place in my heart. I've always dreamed of studying in the Unites States, maybe the fact that most of the stories of the books I've read and the films I've watched unfold on the United States has something to do with it. My dream became real when my older sister's friend studied a year in Boston and told me everything about her experience, and how to achieve that. Therefore one of the first things I plan on doing is visiting every place I can before returning to Spain, and America is much bigger than Spain so I can't imagine how many places I need to visit.

As I've said I study politics so when the opportunity came I thought, what a better place to study politics than in Washington D.C.? When I found out that I had been chosen I even cried with joy. But I think I didn't believe it until a few days left before I arrived.

I've never been in the US before, so my expectations are pretty big. What I want the most is meeting new people and making friends from different countries, also learning to speak a perfect and fluid English. When I think about this year I think about all the things I'm going to learn starting with a new culture, visiting new places and learning everything I can about how politics work here. This is not the first time I experience the university life in its fullest because when I moved to Madrid two years ago it was also a pretty big change for me, though I do think this time the change will be way bigger. I will be living in 1959 E Street Residence Hall so I hope it helps me to meet more people than I would living on my own.

I'm also eager to go through the orientation week, this kind of things don't exist in Madrid that it's not a good thing because when you arrive to a new place the thing you need the most are friends so you don't feel alone.

I've been reading this blog for a while now so I could learn everything about what other students were living. This is the main reason why I really wanted to write on this blog so other students could know what means living in Washington DC, also because this way the people I know from Spain will be able to read everything I experience and maybe next year they decide to start their own journey in the United States.

I hope that telling here this journey helps you in any way posible, and that you tell me your experiences too so I learn more things and benefit from this experience as much as I can. See you soon!!

Tag: journey

This is the End

A new beginning.