What were you grateful for this week?I was grateful for my trip to Innsbruck this weekend! It was beautiful and a good little travel break.

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?Feeling homesick and down on myself. Doubting my abilities.

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week.This weekend on my day off on Sunday I spent them with the family taking care of the daughter and making cookies with her and playing hair stylist with her.

Tell us about your week! This week was good. I learned more about my abilities. I learned how to stay calm in frustrating or hard situations. I learned to ask for help when I need it and rely on my own abilities when I need to. I learned more about my inner strength and how to be confident traveling to other countries totally on my own, as well as handling stressful situations at home. I learned that I’ve built a resilience while I’ve been here and things that used to make me panic or insecure don’t bother me as much anymore. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve built thicker skin, maybe it’s the fact that I’m going home in three weeks so I’m separating myself from the situation. Maybe it’s both, I’m not sure.

Other than that, I had fun visiting Innsbruck this weekend! I took a cable car up in the Alps and that was gorgeous. I also shopped around the malls and had lunch in one of the oldest buildings in Innsbruck that is now a Hard Rock Cafe. I also went for a beautiful hike in Merano. 

On Sunday I went to a fun parade with my host family and it was the Festival of the Grapes and the parade was 45 different colonies that had the original costumes from this region of Italy. It was fun! After the parade, we had some gelato with the family and my host sister and I made chocolate chip cookies.