thesethingsicapture

A QUICK UPDATE   I wasn't going to write a blog post this week - it's 12.37am Saturday evening and this will go up tomorrow at 11am - but I really felt the urge to write a brief update about this week rather than a topic-based blog post. 

AMERICAN CAMPUS TOUR  This week I'm showing you some pictures from around my campus, to give you some idea of what an American University is like! The grounds are very well kept, and when we first arrived (when it was summer) it was absolutely beautiful, so a lot of the photos I've used are from back in August! Of course, its beautiful when it snowed too, so I had to put some snowy pictures in!

SPRING BREAK PART 2 ALBANY, NEW YORK For the rest of Spring Break I was lucky enough to stay with two of my American friends; one who lived near Albany, and I went back to my friends house who I stayed with for thanksgiving near Poughkeepsie. I was so thankful to them and their families,  I had a wonderful easter break and I was lucky enough to see a lot more of New York State itself!

BONJOUR MONTRÉAL! Last week was Spring Break, and I went to Montréal!!!! Montréal was another place I had always thought of visiting when I found out I was studying in New York. It was actually one of the places I selected as an option to study abroad, and the whole French region thing really interested me - although it was soooo much more French than I had expected!!! My friend drove us both to Montréal, where we stayed for 2 nights; which was definitely enough time to see the city!!

UK VS USA – ACADEMIC LIFE   A few weeks ago I did a poll on my Instagram Stories asking what people would prefer to read about studying abroad next, and a post comparing the UK and US's university/education system came out top. I could honestly talk about this topic for days and the differences were a real challenge to begin with. I probably couldn't even tell you which I prefer because there are definitely advantages and disadvantages to both.

LOOKING BACK ON LAST YEARS TRIP Today marks one year since my first time in New York City. It had been my dream for a long, long time to go to NYC, and when my university advertised a politics trip there I jumped at the chance and saved up all my pennies to go. One year on, I've been to the city 5 times (how is this possible?!) live close by and know my way around it pretty well. So to celebrate how amazing this last year has been I thought I'd share some of the photos from my trip last year - and because I never did my blog back then it will be nice to have them documented somewhere!!! 

MY WONDER OF THE WORLD Our trip to Canada involved one day visiting Niagara Falls! When I found out I was coming to New York for my study abroad year, I realised it was only a 4-5 hour drive from Niagara Falls, and so I told myself I really had to go. We tried and planned a trip to go last semester, but for one reason or another it never happened- and I'm actually quite glad it didn't because we were planning to go to the American side, and I'm so glad we went to the Canadian!! We planned this trip when we got back in January and it gave me something to look forward to, and it was an amazing day. Now, I was 100% convinced Niagara Falls was one of the 7 Wonders of the World, and after an intensive google, I've had to accept it isn't - I got very excited when I thought I had finally been to one of the seven. However, I think it definitely should be on that list (have you seen it by the way? It's actually a very random list in my opini...

A WEEKEND IN CANADA   2 weeks ago I spent the most amazing weekend in Canada. Living so close to Canada (5 hours is very close in the US) meant that I just had to visit at some point during my year abroad, and I'm so glad we did. The people were just lovely, the laid-back and chilled atmosphere was so refreshing and Toronto was just absolutely beautiful. Walking around Toronto made me feel so at home, it reminded me so much of England!  We went for 3 full days and spent 2 of them in Toronto, Ontario.   I honestly had the most amazing weekend ever, and can't stop thinking about it, and so of course I had to document it on here to look back on it in the future. Enjoy! 

A GIRLS WEEKEND IN NYC Since September, some of my very best friend from home have been travelling all over the world, and their last stop was New York City. As I moved to New York in August, I hadn't seen them in 6 months, so of course I just had to get the bus to the city for the weekend and see them! This was my 5th time in the city, and although I'm definitely no expert, I put my tour guide skills to the test and spent 2 days showing them some of my favourite parts of the city - proud to say we didn't get lost (I don' think) at all! The girls had an extra 4 days after I left them, and so we did all the really small - but must-sees - whilst I was with them, and then they did the super duper stuff - such as Top of the Rock, 9/11, Statue of Liberty - later in the week.

SEMESTER TWO BEGINS This is my seventh week back in New York now, and lets just say its absolutely flown by. I don't know where the past seven weeks have gone - January did seem like it lasted forever, but February has absolutely flown by. 

NEW YEAR IN THE DOMINICAN Finally, I have got around to writing a blog post, although this one is going to be very short and sweet. I have been back in New York for over a month now, and have been so busy - hopefully I'll have a blogpost up soon with everything I've been up to and why I haven't blogged yet this semester. Before coming back to New York, I flew to the Dominican Republic for a family holiday. This was the first time my parents had more than 2 days off in a row in the whole year, and our first family holiday in a long time - and it was just perfect. So here's some of my favourite photos!