Ten years ago, I was staying at a small college in Quebec, Canada, as an international exchange student. Just before the autumn, I became friends with another exchange student from France, who happened to live only a few doors away from my room in the same dormitory. We started hanging out together, and during our …
Several years ago, I lived for a year in Sheffield, England, doing a graduate study in math. Though I didn’t have my own family in the country, one of my mother’s close friends, whom I call Rosy in this story, and her family lived in London. So, during my time in Sheffield, I often visited …
Spilled coffee: unexpected misery and unexpected kindness Read More »
About ten years ago, I came to Canada for the first time on a year-long college exchange program. I had never lived in a foreign country before, and even though the language wasn’t too much of an obstacle (except the speaking part), I immensely struggled with some culture shock. The shock was usually around small …
Several summers ago when I stayed in Sicily for three weeks in a graduate math summer program, I got myself an unexpected souvenir – a beautiful bathing suit. Even though the purpose of the stay was to study and work on a math project, we participants had evenings and weekends to explore the city of …
About a decade ago, I happened to spend one month in spring in Boston attending an English language program. I home-stayed in the northern suburb of the bustling city and commuted every day to the city centre to attend the lessons. After the classes, I would pick a place to spend my afternoon exploring the …
About a decade ago, at the end of my first stay in Canada as a college exchange student, I made a trans Canada bus trip with a friend. She was an exchange student from France, whom I had met and become friends with at the campus dining hall during our eight-month study period. We somehow …
I’m not a person awfully invested in make-up items, but there is one lipstick by Giorgio Armani in my drawer. It’s a lipstick that I bought at the end of my stay in Rome two years ago. In the entire history of my life, I had purchased a lipstick only once and that was a …
Four years ago, I spent the Christmas holiday with my beloved former host family in Edmonton. After the Christmas celebration, I went out with two other girls (one current and one former homestays) to downtown for boxing day shopping. We walked through the shopping mall stopping at different shops that interested us, and came upon …
The first time I saw a real moka pot (a metal equipment to make espresso) was when I visited South Italy several years ago for the first time. At the time, I got the chance to hang out with some Italian friends, and what I saw in every occasion was the presence of a moka …
