Made it to Singapore! (Let’s ignore the fact that I’m writing this on June 19, 2026, after I’ve already finished the semester and returned home. I really need to be better about blogging during the semester, but either way, it’s been so cool to reflect on my time abroad and all the things I did and learned.) Ever since I got back to the U.S., people have been asking me what my favorite thing about my semester in Singapore was. I always reply, "I just loved my routine while I

IBEA Weekend 3/4! Every semester, we have a designated IBEA weekend. The previous ones have been to the Black Forest in Germany and North Myrtle Beach in the U.S. This semester, the ESSEC students organized an epic weekend trip to Pulau Besar Island in Malaysia. The experience was so amazing that I still have a hard time understanding how they secured such an incredible vacation spot for us. It literally felt like we had an entire island and resort to ourselves. That's why we

Singapore is conveniently just a ferry ride away from Indonesia, so one weekend in April, one of my roommates and I decided to take a little getaway to Bintan, Indonesia! After our Entrepreneurial Marketing class, we headed to the ferry terminal and took the hour and a half ferry over to Bintan. We stayed at this little beachfront resort called Ten Rooms (which literally has ten rooms, five upstairs and five downstairs that are all facing the beach). There was a little seatin

A Week in Japan! From April 18th-25th, six of my friends and I traveled from Tokyo to Mt. Fuji to Nara to Kyoto to Osaka and back to Tokyo. It was an absolutely incredible trip, and I know it's one I'll never forget. Since there are so many places to travel throughout Southeast Asia, it was honestly hard to decide where to go for spring break because there were endless options. It's actually kind of a funny story about how we ended up choosing Japan. One of my friends was sup

Hello! My name is Valentina Scarpitta, I am a junior majoring in Global Studies and minoring in Mass Communications. I am taking a month-long USC faculty-led program worth six credits in International Multimedia courses to complete my minor in Madrid! My program is led by two professors from the College of Information and Communications, who have assigned us groups to conduct a multimedia cultural research project in Madrid. My group is going to be doing research on the marke

Hi everyone! In this blog, I’ll be sharing a bit about my experience interning in Japan during my study abroad semester. For the past two months, I interned at Intralink, a business development consultancy that also serves as the South Carolina Department of Commerce’s representative in Japan. As a University of South Carolina student, I worked exclusively on projects related to South Carolina-Japan business relations, making it a particularly meaningful experience. I think i

Throughout my total of four months abroad, I have been on a variety of solo trips. These have varied from little day trips, full weekends, and even just hanging out for a few hours waiting for friends to arrive in the new country. It's definitely been a whole new experience, but I wanted to make this post to ease some nerves, give some advice, and just general information on what it's like solo traveling! I originally decided to begin solo traveling because all of my friends

Wow! Time flies as I am now nearing the end of February and more than halfway through my semester abroad! Due to the shorter term, I’ve been trying to keep busy and ensure Im continuing to explore new things. I feel like after the first few weeks its easy to get comfortable and in the grove; however I’ve been trying to keep branching out and avoid continuing to go to the same spots and places, no matter how good they are. I think the biggest thing I learned during my last ter

Hi everyone! Today, I’ll be talking about the time I spent in Fukuoka during Golden Week. Golden Week is a series of national holidays in Japan, so we ended up getting almost an entire week off from school. To take advantage of the break, a few friends and I decided to head south to Fukuoka! Popular destinations like Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto become incredibly crowded during Golden Week, so if you ever find yourself in Japan around this time, I’d definitely recommend visiting s

Hello again! It’s been three months since I first arrived in Sydney and in that time, I’ve explored all over the city, met so many people, and embraced some amazing solo adventures. I wanted to share my top 5 favorite memories from my time here so far. Some are more intimate moments while others are absolute must-dos for your bucket list. The Phantom of the Opera Under the Stars This is probably my favorite memory from Sydney so far. The Phantom of the Opera is one of my favo

It is the last week of my semester abroad! It is surreal how time has flown by. In my block program, I have been blessed to spend 6 weeks each in Sydney, Rome, and am in week 6 in Paris now! I think this type of program has definitely made time go by faster, rather than if I stayed in one city, but I would not change it for anything. There is no other way I could have experienced 3 very distinct cultures, made friends from all over the world, and gotten to live out my dream i

Before flying to Singapore for my next semester abroad, I decided to visit my friend who is studying abroad in Australia. This semester I am focusing on fewer but higher quality trips. From my semester abroad in Germany, I learned that while I can travel to dozens of cities, the experience is not always the best when I am trying to save as much money as possible. I still have to be mindful of what I am spending and I am completely okay with backpacking, staying in hostels, an

We took a weekend trip to Lithuania, where I got to see the cities of Kaunas, Vilnius, and Trakai—and while I love traveling, sometimes it leads to unfortunate outcomes, like getting sick. Suddenly, feeling tired after our trip to Lithuania had a bigger reason behind it: I had caught a cold. Luckily, I was prepared and my program offers really great support. Planning for illness starts before you leave for your host country. You need to consider your personal needs: Do you ge

As the semester comes to an end, I wanted to share some specific reflections I have on wrapping my head around leaving such an amazing experience as well as advice for this part of the journey! Spring break snorkeling in the Amalfi Coast Finals Giving your best effort up until the end isn’t as hard as you think when you’re having fun abroad. The issue is balancing it. You want to go to all your favorite spots one last time and maybe even have some class skips left. Finals sti

Today is my last night in Ireland. I dropped off my friends at the airport and am now having dinner with the last of us before we all go our separate ways. This experience and even this day don’t feel real. I have gotten to experience so much, such as going to the Aran Islands, the Ring of Kerry, and Dingle. I feel sad about leaving, especially now that I’ve only just begun to understand the surface of its culture. My eyes have been opened to Irish culture and the way people

Education abroad goes by quickly. And when I say that, I mean it. It seems like a summer, full semester, or even a year abroad would last a lifetime, but your experience will go by like a flash. I’m still shocked that my semester abroad was already a year ago! It was such an amazing experience that went by in the blink of an eye. But, as they say, all good things must come to an end. So I think we ought to talk a bit about my experiences in my final weeks in Japan as well as

Hey guys!! I’m three weeks into coming to Japan and my class is starting tomorrow. I’m super excited to start my classes and meet my classmates but before that I wanted to share the best eats I had in Tokyo so far! One of my goals of studying abroad is to find hidden gems all around Japan! And for three weeks I have been going wandering around to find the best foods around Tokyo. First thing you have to try after coming is to go to any rotating sushi restaurant. If you have e

Hi everyone! I have officially been in Japan for three weeks now, and what a time it has been. The first two days after I arrived, I stayed with my friend and her family. It was great seeing familiar faces in such a new environment. I was practically running on adrenaline those first couple of days, and once they dropped me off at my dorm, everything really set in. The best way to describe it is like when your parents drop you off at college freshman year—everything feels new

Living abroad. We’ve talked a lot about the adventures, the school, the people, but a massive part of the experience is just living in a different country! Your bathroom might be in a different layout, you may not be able to find the foods you’re used to in stores, or you may not even be able to find clothes that fit you! (Such was my case… I’m too tall for Japan!) But no matter what roadblocks you must face, living abroad is a crucial and, honestly, quite exciting part of st

Hey guys! Welcome to my very late Pre-departure blog post. My name is Temmi and I am a junior majoring in Accounting and International Business with a minor in Japanese. Starting from this mid April, I will be studying at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan!! The spring/summer semester in Japan doesn't start till April so It was a perfect opportunity to complete a busy season Accounting Internship from January to March in Chicago. After all this busy season work, I am very exci