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Espresso and Ambition

A not-so-serious gal with some serious dreams.

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5 Stupid Things Studying Abroad Has Made Me Miss

February 3, 2017 by Taylor 2 Comments


The other day it occurred to me that most of the things I generally miss about the U.S. are really random, insignificant things. I generally find myself missing little conveniences of life much more often than the big stuff that you’d generally expect me to miss, like my hometown or my apartment. So for today’s blog post, I’m documenting the “5 Stupid Things Studying Abroad Has Made Me Miss.”

 

1. Chinese/Mexican food

When I say this, I don’t even mean I miss the authentic stuff (although I still miss that stuff too). But what I really miss is the cheap, Americanized Chinese and Mexican restaurants like Panda Express and Barberito’s. Granted, there’s actually a lot of food I miss (the British aren’t exactly known for their cuisine, after all), but these two genres of food are somehow the ones I miss the most.

 

2. Knowing what slang words mean

I genuinely feel so disconnected from popular culture. While, on one hand, I don’t know what a lot of British slang words mean because I’m not from here, I also don’t know what most of new American phrases mean. When the whole “how bow dah” thing became big, it literally took me two weeks to figure out what on earth people are talking about. Studying abroad creates this awkward in-between of cultures wherein you’re not really involved in either culture fully and it’s just weird.

 

3. Sephora

While I miss this, I’m sure my wallet doesn’t. For some reason, despite there being Sephora stores all over Europe, there aren’t any in the UK. I miss the convenience of being able to go to one place to stock up on all of my favorite products at once instead of chasing them down all over the place, and I miss the free 2-day shipping program that my Sephora card has in the US. I really could modify this to say that I miss online shopping in general, because I honestly just miss getting a new package once or twice a week (yes, I do shop online that much – it’s a problem).

 

4. Driving

I’m one of those people that actually weirdly loves driving places. It’s almost somewhat calming to me, and I love that it’s kind of an escape from everything else. When you’re driving, you don’t feel like you should be doing something else instead, because you genuinely can’t be doing anything else while driving. In the passenger seat, you get that guilty feeling of “I should be doing my homework or reading or something.” The concept of driving here terrifies me though; I don’t think I could handle driving on the left side of the road with my seat on the right side. Nope, not for me.

 

 

When you buy a fancy coffee thinking “wow, this is only three pounds!” only to have it hit you that you really just spent like $5 on a tiny coffee.

5. A solid concept of how much things cost

I feel like I spend significantly more money abroad than I do at home (despite the whole not shopping online thing) purely because my sensitivity to what’s actually expensive is diminished. Since a pound is worth more than a dollar, I’ll see something that’s only 5 pounds and think to myself “wow, that’s so cheap!” without even considering that it’s realistically about 1.25 times that cost when converted to dollars. I only have a really solidified sense of how much I’ve spent when I look at my credit card bill, which is probably not the best place to have to check for that sort of thing.

 

So there you go: five random, ridiculously specific things I miss about America. Although if you look at it in the grand scheme of things, I’ll still happily go without those five in exchange for all of the amazing things I’m experiencing here. For example, as I’m writing this, I’m sitting in a hostel in Edinburgh getting ready to go climb Arthur’s Seat – and I wouldn’t trade that for all the Panda Express and Sephora in the world.

xo, Taylor

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Filed Under: Etc., Study Abroad, Travel

Comments

  1. Rae says

    February 5, 2017 at 10:43 am

    What a cool post! I’ve never lived abroad, so I often take these simple pleasures for granted! Thanks for sharing 🙂

    Rae
    Mindful Rambles

    Reply
  2. Shannon says

    February 9, 2017 at 2:43 pm

    I studied abroad last school year in Italy for a semester and as much as I loved it there, I definitely still missed certain aspects of home. For me, it was Chick fil a! Luckily my parents picked me up from the airport and we went straight there! Enjoy your time in Europe while you can! It flies by way too fast!

    xoxo

    Shannon | http://www.prepavenue.com

    Reply

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Meet Taylor

A real-life combination of Elle Woods and Hermione Granger. Recent graduate of the University of Georgia, currently living and working in DC. New blog posts every Monday, new YouTube videos every Thursday. Subscribe by clicking the link below for post updates and exclusive content!

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tayy_kay

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🔥 nasm certified personal trainer
✨ self-love + balance
🎥 2 new workouts per week!

tayy_kay
without heavy weights, it’s sometimes a little c without heavy weights, it’s sometimes a little challenging to really feel like i’m working at my full potential on leg days 😶 enter: single-leg movements. since all the weight is in one leg, you’re putting way more emphasis on it than you do during two-leg movements - and you’ll definitely feel that 🔥 you also get some added bonuses in the form of ensuring you’re working each side of your body equally AND a balance challenge!!
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you can add in weights or bands to up the challenge level, or do it all bodyweight like i am here!
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1️⃣ 15 single-leg box squats per leg (use other leg as a kickstand for an easier modification!)
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2️⃣ 15 bulgarian split squats per leg
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3️⃣ 15 single-leg hip thrusts per leg
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4️⃣ 15 single-leg deadlifts per leg
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throw on at the end of a longer leg day workout or do it 3-4 times as a workout all on its own!!
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👚 @girlfriend 🎧 numb - neffex
🖤 go easy on yourself 🖤 this is a weird time 🖤 go easy on yourself 🖤 this is a weird time to be alive, and it’s more important now than ever to listen to your body and stop being so hard on yourself. motivation is a fickle thing and working out when you don’t have all the equipment you love is weird. give yourself permission to take a break when you need it. don’t beat yourself up for missing workouts - exercise should be something you do because it makes you happy, not because you feel like you have to punish yourself. if it doesn’t make you happy that day, that’s okay. give yourself a break, come back and try again tomorrow. 💪🏼
circuit-style upper body workout 🖤 honestly not circuit-style upper body workout 🖤 honestly not kidding about how much i love this long resistance band, it’s so versatile! definitely worth getting your hands on one for home workouts 😊 (although almost all of these can be completely with dumbbells or heavy objects if that’s what you’ve got in hand)
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also please watch to the very end of the fourth video for quality footage of greg 😂
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1️⃣ 12 long band shoulder presses to standing chest presses
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2️⃣ 12 upright rows to bicep curls
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3️⃣ 12 overhead triceps extensions per arm (the one leg stance is some bonus balance work!)
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4️⃣ 12 rear flies, featuring greg trying to fight my shadow
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5️⃣ 12 commandos
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6️⃣ 12 side-to-side pushups
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repeat 4x total!!
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👚 @underarmourwomen
🎧 best of me - neffex
giveaway 🔥 we’re all handling this weird, cra giveaway 🔥 we’re all handling this weird, crazy time in the world a little differently, and for me, it’s looked like a lot of establishing to and sticking to routines (seriously, sometimes it feels like my skincare routine and workout split are the only thing still giving meaning to days of the week, lol). my morning smoothies have been another important one - there’s a recipe in my story highlights and surprise surprise it uses this protein powder 😛
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anyways, onto the real reason you’re here! i’m giving away 25 $20 giftcards for @310nutrition with NO STRINGS ATTACHED 🤯 you hear that? you ain’t gotta do a thing to win - the first 25 people to use the code KAYGC20 on their order automatically win. get your hands on some fire plant-based protein powder, courtesy of me and 310 😋 (p.s. if you’re still seeing this caption, there are still giftcards available!!)
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#310gc20 #310shake
sometimes you just gotta get hella dressed up and sometimes you just gotta get hella dressed up and hold a fake photo shoot just to prove to yourself that you’re still a real human
posted a new youtube video. this picture is tangen posted a new youtube video. this picture is tangentially topical. link in bio.
upper body circuit ‼️ i’ve been gravitating upper body circuit ‼️ i’ve been gravitating towards circuit-style workouts lately, because they really work up a sweat and home workouts just don’t feel as legit to me unless i’m hardcore sweating 🤷🏼‍♀️ i don’t mind not breaking much of a sweat at the gym, but it feels weird not to when i’m working out at home - anyone else feel this or am i just weird?? 😅
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do all exercises back to back with no rest in between!
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1️⃣ 10 push-ups to renegade rows
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2️⃣ 12 alternating bicep curls
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3️⃣ 12 diamond front raises
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4️⃣ 8 sets of 3 tricep pulses to this lil cross-body weight move that doesn’t have a name {keep your core tight to feel it on your obliques!}
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5️⃣ 15 bent-over rear delt rows
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6️⃣ finisher!! 🥵 10 burpees with 2 shoulder taps and 2 toe taps in the middle of each rep
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repeat 🔁 for a total of 3 rounds!!
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👚 top from @gymsharkwomen, shorts from @nike 🎧 dangerous - neffex
would be nice if both sides of my head could agree would be nice if both sides of my head could agree on whether my hair is wavy or straight, but apparently that’s a little too much to ask of it 😂
got a circuit-style leg workout for you today! 🥳 there are 3 sets of 3 exercises that you’ll complete back-to-back - once you’ve done those three moves, rest for 30 seconds before repeating them all over again 2 more times! rest for 1-2 minutes in between each circuit - keeping your heart rate up is the goal here, i was driiiiiiipping sweat by the end of this one 🥵
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circuit 1️⃣: 10 step-ups to reverse lunges per leg
10 reverse lunges to curtsy lunges per leg
20 lateral lunges
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circuit 2️⃣:
10 squats to surrenders (stop in a squat position before standing up at the end to really feel this one)
10 stagger-stance rdls
20 criss-cross squat jumps
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circuit 3️⃣:
15 leg lifts per side
10 single-leg glute bridges per side
15 frog pumps
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👚 top from @fabletics, joggers from @gymsharkwomen
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