Student Morgan Chafe is completing the winter 2015 semester at Memorial’s Harlow campus in Harlow, England. Ms. Chafe is providing regular insight to the sights and sounds of a semester abroad.

As a business student I have learned the concept of work-life balance during the course of my degree. However, I sometimes forget the relevancy of this theory to my own life. Within two weeks of setting foot in Harlow, I knew it would be necessary in order to succeed in the program.

While travelling every weekend, spending spare time booking tours and researching destinations sounds idealistic, in reality it can become very stressful, very fast. Schoolwork gets neglected, due dates pile up and people can't agree on which city they'd like to see next. Finding the balance between school obligations and travel opportunities has been hard, but I was forced to find it – just in time for midterm break!

Midterm break in Harlow is far different than midterm break at St. John's campus. At home it consists of Netflix, George Street, White Hills and last minute studying and papers. In Harlow, we pack our book bags and head to the airport to jump on any flight that will take us away from campus for a week. My destinations included Amsterdam and Berlin, making for an extremely cold but endlessly fascinating break!

From the moment I stepped off the plane I could tell Amsterdam had an atmosphere of relaxation. People took their time getting off the plane and were in no rush to get out of the small airport. Despite the laid-back vibe, we managed to see all the sights on our list, and then some. Anne Frank House provided us with history, Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum gave us laughs and the red light district and numerous coffee shops greatly contributed to our culture shock. The city was filled with other excited tourists and the energy was contagious. 

Berlin's troubled history, current political situation, beautiful architecture and extreme cold continuously surprised us. We made our way through Museum Island, visited a number of monuments, walked the Berlin Wall, enjoyed a night out and ended our journey with a tour of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp museum. We spoke with a number of locals, and had well educated tour-guides, who explained to us that although Berlin is constantly changing, its history has strongly defined its future in many unexpected ways. 

While the week of layering, hostels, and sightseeing was incredible, it was also exhausting.  It's time to switch gears and make a dent in my schoolwork, and maybe catch up on Netflix, before next weekend’s adventure to Lisbon, Portugal, arrives. 

Morgan Chafe is a fourth-year commerce student at Memorial. She can be reached at mec850@mun.ca.