Julia on Co-op

After moving away twice for a co-op abroad, I have a pretty good idea of what you'll definitely need while living in a new country and what will just waste valuable space in your suitcase. This list will help you both save a headache once you get to your new country as well as save room for the things you'll really need: Make sure you bring: 1. Power Converters These are absolutely essential, and I promise you will need more than you think. Take the amount of converters you think you'll need...and then DOUBLE it. Nothing's more annoying than having to move a converter from the kitchen to the bathroom every time you want to dry your hair. Plus, they will mysteriously disappear on you, as socks do in the dryer. 2. Your favorite toiletries This is hard to wrap your head around until you've really experienced it, but there are some toiletries that you take for granted and just really aren't available in Europe (and likely anywhere else). From my experie

So, here is where I'll actually talk a little bit more about what I'm doing over here in Slovakia besides hopping on Ryanair flights on the weekends and stuffing my face with local food. When I tell people that I'm a Digital Analyst at IBM, they usually ask "what's that?". On top of that, when I tell that I'm living in Slovakia, I'm usually hit with a "where's that?", too! Well—for one, Slovakia is different than Slovenia—and my job in Digital Analytics is all about measuring a visitor's interactions with the IBM website. I'm part of the Digital Analytics Group in Bratislava, which serves internal European IBM clients. We measure every aspect of a campaign, from page views to engagement rate to completed registration forms. There are a ton of tools we use to accomplish this, including Hotjar, Optimizely, Coremetrics, Tableau, and everybody's favorite, Excel. Never in my life had I seen spreadsheets so big until I joined th

This past week, my best friend Halle hopped on over to Slovakia for a visit! She's a true trip buddy of mine —we've been to Puerto Rico, Spain, and Greece together already. Hal is always a fun person to hang out with, dancing and acting goofy at all times, so I was super stoked to have her visit me here in Slovakia. We'd been preparing for this week for months, chatting almost daily about the fun things we wanted to do and see! We started off with a spontaneous trip to Budapest because she's always dreamt of seeing the famous Szechenyi Baths (which she was right to, they're soooo  relaxing). It was a fun two days gallivanting around the city, tasting traditional Hungarian goulash and taking a boat cruise of the Danube. This was already my third time in Budapest, and I think it's safe to say that it's my favorite city I've ever been to. The streets have an unexplainable atmosphere of grandeur and weirdly feel like home to me. I think I'll return i

Comin' at you live from my Athens - Bratislava flight! I'm on my way home from a seriously AMAZING week in Greece with 7 of my best friends and I. We've been dreaming about and planning for this trip for years, and it definitely lived up to all of our expectations.  Our first stop was a funky Airbnb by the Athens airport - which was one of the most interesting Airbnb's I've ever stayed in. This is due to the 70-year-old Greek man that lived under our apartment whom we dubbed "Papa Greece". He insisted on accompanying us not only to dinner, but to our entire beach day. He even brought a blow-up boat in which he rowed us around the bay in! Later on that day, he invited us down to his kitchen to taste all of the different Greek jams and jellies he owned. He was seriously the cutest and most caring man, and wanted to hang out with us even though he spoke very limited English.  Papa Greece rowing us around in his yacht (almost). Next, we al

Oh, Airbnb—you gotta love it. It's my go-to for finding cheap yet comfortable places to stay when traveling. Hosts are usually willing to spill all their local secrets and seem to always jump at the chance to help you in any way they can. To me, Airbnbs offer a much more authentic way to experience a city you're visiting. Here's a ranking of all of the Airbnbs that are in my login (some others were booked by my friends—I've unfortunately lost those!) 9. Gran Canaria, Canary Islands This Airbnb was pretty overpriced and under-furnished—my bed had only one thin sheet without any blankets on top of it. That paired with the rainy weather and freezing cold shower made it a pretty uncomfortable stay! Plus, the kitchen was weirdly separated from the living room on the other end of the apartment.  8. Ibiza, Spain This apartment was in a pretty convenient location, close to the water, Ibiza's old town, and famous nightclub Pacha. However, it wasn't the th

This weekend, I went all the way back to the U.S. to spend the long Easter weekend with my family! It was super nice to sleep in my own bed for a few nights and eat my weight in Cheez its. However, I had a bit of traveling to do to get here, though--19 hours each way, to be exact. Luckily, this wasn’t my first time at the rodeo in terms of long traveling days. These are the things I’ve learned thus far that will make an intercontinental flight seem to go faster than you can say “ laptops and tablets out of the bag, miss!” . Pack ahead of time (and lightly) It’s really important to not be running around packing your carry-on 10 minutes before you need to leave for the airport. Putting a little extra thought into your preparation can go a long way and make a world of difference when it comes to your overall comfort during your travels. I always make it a point to pack as light as I can so that I’m not stressed and scrambling when it comes time to get settled into my seat! Little thi