Art, Antiquity, and Science Across the Sea

Written by: Ashlyn Willis

Hello, and welcome to a new chapter in my experiences with the fields that I love so much! As an environmental science major with a passion for the visual arts, I’m incredibly excited to be traveling on a journey to Georgia Tech Europe, in Metz, France. This blog will be an exploration of the beautiful intersection between art, nature, history, and sustainability, all of which have shaped my perspective on so many things. I want to share with you how these passions of mine blend together, especially during my time in Metz and across Europe.

For as long as I can remember, nature has been my greatest inspiration. From intricate designs in the petals of a flower to the rhythmic flow of a river, the natural world has always sparked my creativity. I’ve often used art to capture all the beauty I see in it. But my connection to the earth doesn’t stop at its visual beauty; I’m equally interested and inspired by the science that makes it all work—how ecosystems thrive, how animals adapt, and how we, as humans, must take responsibility for preserving these things for future generations with sustainability and conservation.

These photos are just a few of a vast collection I have of ones I have taken that truly represent for me how much nature and the natural world mean to me, for all its beauty.

Beyond nature, I also have a deep love and interest for history and culture. Europe is a pinnacle area of historical significance, where every city, every building, and every street has centuries of stories tied to them. When I got the opportunity several years ago to travel to London and Edinburgh, I was struck first most by the rich histories of these cities, from the ancient walls of Edinburgh Castle and Old Town to the iconic landmarks of London, such as the Tower. The way history and culture inform the present is something that I find inspiring, especially in the context of sustainability. How do past societies interact with their environments, and what lessons can we learn from their successes or mistakes? These are the kinds of questions I plan to explore throughout my journey.

Metz, where I’ll be studying, is a city also steeped in rich history, from its medieval architecture to its modern-day culture. The opportunity to live here, while traveling around Europe, gives me a unique chance to learn not just about sustainability in Europe and the European Union, but about how different cultures view the natural world. I’m excited to see how art, culture and history, and environmental science can come together. I hope to explore how European cities have balanced modern development with environmental preservation, and how art has played a role in this dialogue.

“Spiral” collage piece inspired by my love for historical science and art, drawn from the Victoria and Albert art museum and the Museum of Natural History in London, UK.

Printmaking piece from a photo taken by me in Oxford, UK

“Chaoskampf”, a piece painted by me inspired by the commonality of mythological themes found in different cultures.

In this blog, I’ll be sharing my experiences as I navigate these fields. I’ll take you along on my travels to places throughout France and beyond, showing how each destination has helped my understanding of these subjects, as well as my day-to-day life, of what I am experiencing! I plan to use this blog as a platform to explore how these seemingly separate interests can be intertwined, as well as tracking all the unique things I experience and find there. Thank you for joining me on this journey to Georgia Tech Europe! I can’t wait to share how art, science, history, and culture will continue to inspire my growth as I get to explore Europe, and bring the lessons I learn to help my future goals!

Meet our Summer 2025 Bloggers!

Written by: Alex Stallworth and Ashlyn Willis

Introducing… Alex!

Salut à tous, mon nom est Alex! I am a first year Aerospace Engineering student at Georgia Tech, with a concentration in propulsion and fixed-wing aircraft. As a Georgia Tech tour guide, I’ve spent the last semester giving tours of the ins and outs of campus, but this summer, I’m excited to embark on my own tour of France, Germany, the Netherlands, and beyond! Whenever I have free time, you’ll usually find me watching some kind of sport. In Europe, I’m ecstatic to delve into the world of soccer and rugby, to see firsthand how deeply sports are woven into the culture of different cities. But my adventures won’t stop at the stadium; whether it’s beholding the sheer majesty of the towering spires of Notre-Dame, or savoring a plate of authentic Italian pasta in a secluded trattoria, I’m more than ready to experience Europe through its landmarks, flavors, and traditions. While my excursions will keep me busy exploring cities, I won’t neglect the opportunity to unwind and escape to nature. I’ve already planned to hike the Alps and explore the Black Forest, but I’m also looking forward to uncovering hidden gems in the community of Metz. 

With passport in hand and a 200-day (and counting!) Duolingo streak at the ready, I’m so excited to embark on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure—come along for the journey!

Introducing… Ashlyn!

Hello, my name is Ashlyn, and I am an environmental science major with a passion for the visual arts and the natural world around us! I love exploring the connection between science and creativity, using art to highlight the beauty of nature and exemplify environmental awareness. Whether through painting, drawing, or science, they all promote my love for the intertwining of these subjects.

Special interests include: Art, Biology, Environmental Science, Nature, Outdoors, Animals, Reading, Cooking, Baking, Arts and Crafts, and Traveling.

Keep up with them as the summer semester progresses for their insight and experiences while at GT-Europe!

I’ll Return Soon

Written by: Katherine Sanders

At 3 pm, my phone buzzes every five minutes, notifying me of my friends’ locations. Life360 lets me know that they’re leaving “home,” some arriving at “culc” while others go to different buildings for lectures and GTXR meetings. Although the knowledge of their locations doesn’t give me any benefit right now, the notifications remind me of campus life. I’ve missed it a lot. 

In a couple of days, I will fly to Montana. I leave my apartment at 1 am, fly to Dallas at 2 pm, make my connection to Billings at 7 pm, and hug my parents before going to bed at 10 pm. I will return for six days before leaving for Florida on May 9th. 

The flight from home to Paris was daunting, but the journey back and quick turnaround are nothing compared to the travel I’ve experienced this semester. It has taught me perseverance and strength. Maddie and I stayed up for 36 hours straight to save money on accommodation in Barcelona. This 24-hour travel day will feel like nothing.

The past four months have felt like years. Our “EUROPE” shared album holds pictures from the cities I loved. I often think about how I’ll visit them in the future. In Prague, I’ll go inside the castle. In London, I’ll take my time to look around the museums. I’ll go to Paris in the spring rather than the winter. I think about who I’ll go with–children? Parents? New friends? Old friends? I look at the nice hotels in convenient locations. When I’m older, my family and I will stay there. 

I look back on this semester and am proud of my choice to study abroad, but wish I did many things differently. Here’s how you can do better than me (and please, do better than me): 

Don’t overpack 

I packed two suitcases full of heavy winter clothes. They are near the 50lb limit, and as I look at my overflowing drawers, I wish I had left more room. Traveling each weekend requires you to pack light anyway, so there’s no need to bring tons of shoes or jeans (you will rewear them whether you want to or not!) 

Clean your room 

I’m not the cleanest person, but my room at GTE is the dirtiest I’ve ever let my room get. Every time I arrived back from a weekend of travel, I carelessly unpacked my items, knowing they would just be packed up again soon. As dishes piled and trash filled, I started telling myself, “I’m leaving again anyway.” My room never felt like my room. I dreaded returning to it. My bed was never made, and my desk was never clear, but I didn’t have the energy to fix it. 

Explore Metz 

The streets of Metz are picturesque. When the weather got warmer, we sat by the Temple Neuf for the entire afternoon and talked. The view across the river was beautiful, and listening to locals talk was calming.

Start your work early 

I started all of my homework two or three days before it was due, and it overwhelmed my short weeks. If I had made it a habit to finish my work as soon as it was assigned, I would have felt more inclined to clean my room or explore Metz! 

Truthfully, I don’t know how you wouldn’t make these mistakes. Maybe you’ll start your homework early, but let it catch up to you. Maybe you DO need 50 lbs of clothes. Maybe one trip into Metz was enough. I made all of these mistakes, but it didn’t make this semester less rewarding. 

I learned how to navigate Eurail. I learned Assembly, C, and numpy functions. I learned how to stay calm when I miss a flight. I learned how to triple integrate! I’ve been on tens of trains, fourteen countries, and consumed ten pounds of Persian food (most of which is fessenjān).


If you read my blogs to prepare for your semester abroad, stress just enough. Plan your trips. Book things in advance. Clean your room. Cook real food sometimes. But don’t worry about executing everything perfectly. It’s okay to miss home, and it’s okay to adapt to new routines, because you live in a new country now, and not everything can be the same. 

If you read my blogs to gather insight into what your children/siblings/friends do while they’re gone, I bet they’re having a lot of fun, but I bet they’re missing you. 

If you read my blogs to keep up with my adventures: I’ve had the best time containing these memories into short pieces for you to see. Every weekend trip, every stupid mistake and every six hour layover was worth it knowing someone might laugh about it.

In four months, I will check Life360 to know if Zach is coming back to our apartment for dinner. We will make Persian food–fessenjān, tahdig, geymeh and shirazi salad–and we will gather around our dinner table to catch up. My phone will ping with notifications of our friends arriving. They will tell us about their 2025 and we will tell them as much as we can remember about ours.

Old Friends

Written by: Katherine Sanders

We walked to brunch in Alicante at 10 am. The streets were starting to fill with people again, awakening late after a night of dinner and dancing. Turning down a side street with garage doors and trash cans, I saw someone who sort of looked like me. It was the girl whose name some people accidentally called me in middle school. It was my chem lab partner from high school. 

I stopped and said her name. “Katherine,” I said.

“From high school?” she replied.

She’s studying abroad in Alicante this semester. She was walking back to her apartment, where her mom waited for her. 

The rest of the day, I repeated to myself, “I saw someone from high school.” 

My high school held about 1,800 students with almost 400 in my grade all four years. I cannot fathom the chance of seeing someone from high school in a somewhat obscure Spanish city, let alone someone I was friends with and felt comfortable talking to.

Maddie’s best friend from high school, Maeve, studies in Dublin. We visited her during St. Patrick’s Day where she was kind enough to let us stay in her flat. Our visit was spent hanging out with her and her friends rather than site-seeing–a greatly needed break. 

Maddie always told me that Maeve to her was like me to Maddie. Maeve to Maddie was like Maddie to me. I could see it that weekend. We all sat at their dinner table, talking about Maeve’s friends in the flat. “Maya is my Katherine,” Maeve said as she described her relationship to one of her flatmates. That made it easier to understand their relationship. Maeve to Maya is Maddie to me… Maya to Maeve is me to Maddie… 

“My friend Meredith is in Boston right now… I’ll probably visit her in the fall this year…” 

“Meredith is your Maeve.” Everyone nodded in understanding.

My friend from high school studied abroad in Barcelona the entire school year and will return to Montana in two days. He helped me pick out my first-day-of-high-school outfit and sat next to me in AP World History. We took French 1 together, but he majors in Spanish and I saw him in Barcelona this past weekend. 

Saturday night, I directed Maddie and I toward the location he sent me. I looked up and on the balcony, he waved while looking down. “Come in the door with all the colorful paint on it.” 

For two and a half hours, we sat and talked about our college lives. Although he has spent so much time away from home, he still carries conversations effortlessly. He tells stories with great impressions and large gestures, making me laugh since we were fourteen. 

During the fall semester, I woke up every morning forgetting that I was in Georgia. The white light from the sun looked like the light reflecting off of snow. Nostalgia took over my life as every scene looked like something I had seen before when I was 17. My brain didn’t let me be 19. This spring, I was reminded of my past with a completely new backdrop, and my case of nostalgia is cured.

What’s in My Bag?

Written by: Katherine Sanders

With over 100 hours spent on trains and 10 hours on budget airlines, I’ve almost mastered the art of packing light. I never was a light packer–I arrived in Metz with two near-fifty pound suitcases even after sacrificing clothes I “needed to bring.” Fortunately, I have learned from these past 12 weeks: here are my best packing trips for weekends abroad.  

At the beginning of the semester, you’ll use your Eurail pass for every trip. Trains don’t check bags, which leaves it up to you to decide how much to bring. 

Traveling by Train

Backpack 

Your usual school backpack or special travel backpack is perfect for the trains. Mine usually comfortably fits all of my clothes, makeup, and electronics. I can fit a two-day trip into just my backpack. 

Tote Bag

If you ever end up at the Metz mall, go to Primark and ask for a big bag. Primark sells VERY large, cloth tote bags that are perfect for traveling. The bottom of the bag isn’t square like a usual reusable grocery bag, making it easier to fit under the train seats. For three or four-day trips, the addition of a tote bag makes lugging everything around slightly less painful. My backpack holds my clothes and (maybe) my computer. I usually put it on the shelf above the seats to save space while I keep my tote at my feet. In my tote, I put an extra pair of shoes, my makeup bags, headphones, my hair brush, and toiletries. This way, if I need to do my makeup, brush my hair, or listen to music, I can grab them easily. 

Clothes to Bring 

In the Spring semester, all European travel destinations will experience low temperatures and moderate winds. Packing light is sacrificed for staying warm. 

For bottoms, jeans are the best choice. Jeans are meant to be worn multiple times without washing. Denim is very durable and doesn’t produce odor quickly. Jeans are quite bulky, so I suggest bringing only one or two pairs for less back pain. 

Maddie and I come from Montana and Vermont, two states that experience startling low temperatures. We often made fun of our friends for bundling up when Atlanta hit 50°F. However, the cold of humid cities along with the length of time spent walking outside forced me to start layering. I wear leggings or fleece-lined tights under jeans or pants to stay warm. 

Traveling by Plane

RyanAir Constraints

RyanAir is the airline GTE students use most when traveling long distances. RyanAir has a strict bag policy: you are only allowed one small personal item for free. That personal item must fit into their size limit (40 x 20 x 25cm). The usual travel backpack is larger than this, especially when filled. 

I asked Baran for her small tote bag for my first RyanAir flight. I didn’t want to risk paying for a checked bag. After getting past security, I wanted to see if my small bag was too big. RyanAir has these metal containers that demonstrate how small a personal item should be (it’s too small). The small tote was just right, but due to my backpack’s bulky pockets, putting the tote inside of it made it too big. I wore my backpack under my jacket in fear that the ticketers would stop me. However, passing through and boarding the plane, I realized that they didn’t seem to care. When boarding budget airlines now, I make sure my backpack LOOKS small enough. They have never stopped me, my friends, or anyone I’ve noticed with a much-too-large bag. 

Clothes can add up quickly, so stay conservative when packing for plane rides. I always wear a pair of jeans for the weekend on the plane to free up space in my bag. If you are planning on bringing a bulky top or sweater, wear it on the plane. 

Frequently Forgotten/Surprisingly Useful Items to Bring 

  • Travel sized toothpaste
    • It’s easy to forget about liquid limits on planes. If you have to throw away your large toothpaste at the airport, expect a busy day running to Carrefour on Monday. 
  • Chapstick 
  • Passport
    • Even when you’re traveling inside the EU by train, police may enter trains and check every passenger’s passport. This is very common in Germany! 
  • Physical Euros (maybe even CZK) 
    • Some stores don’t accept card payments under €5. 
    • If you ever travel to the Czech Republic, it is common to see stores only accept cash. 
  • Portable Charger

Personality Isn’t Lost in Translation

Written by: Katherine Sanders

I took Introduction to Linguistics the summer after my freshman year at Georgia Tech. I needed six credits of humanities, and with minimal credits from high school, I didn’t have much time to satisfy the requirement during a fall or spring semester. My classes have influenced me to stay disconnected from the obscure subjects I learn. There isn’t much time to love writing or history when computer science is my priority. My linguistics class was only a month long and wasn’t neighbored by any computer science, math, or science classes. This made it easier to grow an interest in language. 

My favorite assignment asked us to explore an article about how language affects the way people think. Lera Boroditsky traveled to northern Australia to learn about Kuuk Thaayorre. The Kuuk Thaayorre language relies heavily on the cardinal direction. To say “Hello,” the Kuuk Thaayorre people say, “Where are you going?” To reply, one would indicate a cardinal direction: “northwest,” “south,” south-southeast,” etc. When one refers to any object in space, they refer to it in a cardinal direction (I have a giant bruise on my north-northeast leg). The Kuuk Thaayorre people must know the cardinal directions relative to themself at all times if they want to interact with others. This makes them highly aware of their location, and thus incredible at navigating unknown landscapes.

At dinner in Alicante, I dropped my fork on the ground. When asked what happened, an English speaker would respond, “She dropped her fork.” A Spanish speaker would say, “The fork was dropped.” This difference tells us that when Spanish speakers watched me drop my fork, they focused less on who I was and more on the accident that occurred. Later, they may forget about who dropped the fork and only remember that the fork had fallen at some point. 

Our trip to Italy made me think more about how language may affect citizens’ personality. Carlotta, our friend back at Tech, is a native Italian speaker with both of her parents from Italy. While on the phone with her, Baran asked for restaurant recommendations in Florence, and Carlotta’s mom immediately responded with Trattoria 13 Gobbi. 

We were seated in the back. Twenty minutes later, a group of older men in suits sat down at the round table behind me. The groups’ food was brought out as soon as they arrived before we could even order. I suddenly felt out of place. Some important-seeming people were eating the same food next to us in the same restaurant. 

“But we’re computer science majors at Georgia Tech.”

“We won a track at the AI ATL Hackathon.” 

“We are the founders of DressCode.”

We tried to convince ourselves we deserved to eat there, but the camaraderie the waiters had with guests was unbeatable.  

Shortly after, the waiter began performing a famously hard Italian opera song. I tried my best to look forward. Turning around and gawking seemed inappropriate, and I already felt like I was taking up too much space. But the men at the table pointed to us. They pointed to their ears, then pretended to pull out a camera and smiled. They were gesturing for us to listen and record and were encouraged by our enthusiasm. I’d love to believe it’s because their language has taught them that enthusiasm is necessary for communication.  

Read about Boroditsky’s findings: https://www.edge.org/conversation/lera_boroditsky-how-does-our-language-shape-the-way-we-think

My Sickness to You, Your Health to Me

Written by: Katherine Sanders

March 20th was the first day of Spring and Nowruz, the Persian New Year. While we made Dubai Chocolate in the lounge, Baran explained the initial tradition of jumping over a bonfire. There isn’t any bonfire around GTE, so we lit a candle in the parking lot later that day. As one runs over the fire, they say in Farsi, “My yellowness to you, your redness to me.” Maddie and I said, “My sickness to you, your health to me,” as we jumped over the flame. 

The next morning, Baran invited us to her room at 10am. A few items lay on her desk in a beautiful arrangement. They all represented different values one would like to uphold in the new year. In Farsi, they all start with the letter S: 

Sabzeh (sprouts): Rebirth

Samanu (wheat germ pudding): Power

Senjed (oleaster): Love

Serkeh (vinegar): Patience

Seeb (garlic): Health 

Somagh (sumac): Sunrise 

Baran laid out a white scarf and gold dress as the tablecloth. She popped out a small mirror from an eyeshadow palette and decorated it with white eyeliner. It sat on a white box wrapped in a white tube top. The mirror was held up with the makeup palette and accompanied by a gold claw clip in the shape of a flower. She filled one of the glasses that came in her cupboard with vinegar. 

A young hyacinth was on her desk. She bought it from the flower shop five minutes from our dorms. The hyacinth came in a small pink bucket, fitting the established color scheme well. The wheat paste was in a small metal container. It’s thick, grainy and slightly sweet. 

A bouquet of flowers Baran bought from the week before had dried just enough to decorate the display. A dried flower floated in the vinegar, two balanced with the garlic cloves, three sitting in the sumac. The flowers she bought at Carrefour the night before were placed in an empty Coke bottle and a fake tulip she bought in Amsterdam was in another old glass. 

After her differential equations quiz, Baran bought eclairs and tartes from Paul. She arranged them on a tiered platter made with two plates and a glass cup. 

We sat in front of the display with the window open, ate the pastries, and drank tea. The brightest sunlight I’ve seen in Metz shined into the room. 

Will Travel for Dubai Chocolate

Written by: Katherine Sanders

Traveling to a new country means a new version of the Little Prince. For some, it’s a new postcard or magnet. For us, it’s another Dubai Chocolate bar. 

At a street vendor in Berlin, Baran asked if she should buy a Dubai chocolate bar for us to split. A Dubai Chocolate bar is a milk chocolate bar filled with pistachio cream, tahini, and toasted knafeh. I had never been particularly intrigued by the bar due to its odd texture, but I’ve never said “no” to a new food. We took the bar to Dead Chicken Alley, sat down at a picnic table, and tried it. We’ve never been the same.

On our way from Prague to Salzburg, we stopped at a Spar to grab dinner. Maddie gasped and pointed to a shelf while we waited to checkout. It was a Dubai chocolate bar. This bar had less crunchy knafeh than the first, but it was still good. In Salzburg, we heard a woman say “Dubai Chocolate” and snapped our heads around. A local coffee shop sold a Dubai chocolate milkshake. We had to get it. 

Our spring break allowed us only a few hours in Madrid as we hopped along coastal Spanish cities. We walked quickly through El Retiro park towards Myka, a frozen yogurt shop with Dubai chocolate toppings. Melted chocolate and pistachio cream mixed with knafeh on frozen, plain greek yogurt.

I’m embarrassed about Vienna. Walking around the market in the morning, a man tried to convince us to buy a 15 euro bar of Dubai chocolate. We refused – something we wouldn’t do now. Heading towards the opera house, we went into Spar to get an energy drink. A lime green drink with a brown label caught my eye. It was a Dubai Chocolate flavored drink. It looked like Mountain Dew. I bought it. The three of us sat outside the opera house and sipped from the bottle. Horrible. Thirty seconds after Maddie left for brunch with her cousin, Baran and I spotted a Lindt chocolate store. Large green posters displayed in the windows read: Dubai Chocolate. Lindt’s new Dubai chocolate bar was released that week. It was 10 euros and still the best Dubai Chocolate bar I have tried.

We searched for Dubai chocolate in Edinburgh. We stopped in every random grocery store and chocolate shop in hopes they sold the bar. By the end of the trip, I grew frustrated. “We haven’t had Dubai Chocolate since Vienna!” That was six days ago. 

Maddie and I flew from Paris to Belfast to celebrate St. Patricks Day in Dublin. The Belfast shopping mall has a Belgian Chocolate shop. It sells cups of strawberries topped with chocolate, pistachio cream and knafeh. We got the bus off a stop early to stroll through the mall and pick up a cup before our train left. The toppings were perfect, but there were too many strawberries. The strawberries were too thick. We wanted more of the topping.

Baran came back from Poland with a jar of pistachio cream. With a free afternoon and an unsatisfiable craving, we got the C12 to Carrefour. 

INGREDIENTS:

1. Milk chocolate bars (ours came in a pack of five, but we used two)

2. A crunchy cereal substitute for knafeh (preferably a shredded wheat cereal)

3. Tahini

4. Cooking mold used for madeleines

We arrived in the GTE lounge kitchen with our ingredients and started on our chocolate. It only took us an hour. 

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. Melt two bars of milk chocolate 

2. Crush the cereal up and mix with pistachio cream

3. Add a bit of tahini and salt

4. Paint the madeleine molds with a thin layer of chocolate and let harden in the fridge

5. Add a spoonful of the pistachio/cereal mixture 

6. Cover with melted chocolate and let harden in the fridge 

Although nothing will ever match the Lindt chocolate, these little bars will hold us over for when we miss Dubai chocolate. 

Eating My Way Through Metz

Written by: Katherine Sanders

I take food VERY seriously. For me, experiencing a new country primarily means experiencing a new cuisine. In Germany I needed schnitzel, in Italy I needed gelato, and in Belgium I needed chocolate. My willingness to eat out on the weekends usually means that in Metz, I take advantage of all the free food opportunities I can get. 

Breakfast is catered by Paul. You can expect to get a different breakfast every day of the week, but there isn’t an assigned food for each day. It rotates between full size croissants and pain au chocolats; mini croissants, mini pain au chocolats and mini gourmandises; powdered jelly-filled beignets and nutella-filled chocolate-dipped beignets; and chocolate chip brioche with an assortment of breakfast cakes.

Coffee, orange juice, and apple juice are always provided. There is also a vending machine in the lounge that serves lattes, cappuccinos, americanos and potage “tomats” (tomato soup???).

As I’ve mentioned before, lunch at GTE is provided by the nearby high school, “Crous.” The lunch period for French high schools is very long. In French culture, lunch is a time to take a break and socialize. Working while eating is unacceptable and fortunately, I comply. 

Unlike in the U.S., where lunch is usually a grab-and-go situation, French organizations take their lunch seriously. The local cafeteria available to GTE students serves lunch consisting of a savory side, main, and sweet side. Students are allotted ten points. Five of those come from the main course and the other five come from two sides. You can mix and match however you like, but your plate cannot exceed ten points.

Sides are usually carrot, celeriac root, beetroot, green salad or potato salad. Depending on the size, these are usually worth two points. Sometimes, there’s fish, liver pâté or hard-boiled eggs. These sides are worth three points. Every day, a new type of cheese is given as a side for two points.

The main meal is typically a combination of meat (or substitute), grain, and vegetable stir fry. Students have a good amount of power in what they get on their plate. You can mix and match a single protein with different sides. There are two types of meats, one a vegetarian option and one chicken, turkey, or beef. Couscous, rice, or mashed potatoes are the grain, and the constant vegetable stir fry always has green beans and carrots. There are a few odd days where french fries, lasagna, or kebab are choices. If you tell the servers you are “grosse faim” (very hungry), they will give you “une grande portion” (a large portion). The same goes for if you are “petite faim.”

For dessert, fruit, coffee, flan and vanilla yogurts are always offered. Typically, there are one or two flavors of mousse or pudding. Since these desserts are prepackaged, they are worth two points. If students are lucky, there can be hazelnut fritters, crepes, tartes or cake. These are all three points. Fruits are always bananas, kiwis, apples and oranges. A large piece of fruit and two small pieces of fruit are two points.

At the end of the line, you place your prepaid “Izly” card on the scanner. I’ve seen some French students pay by card, and it looks like the total is only 3€. After paying, you offered a free “pain” (roll of bread.) I’ve described the cafeteria multiple times, but again, it’s like a high school cafeteria. Water pitchers are at the tables, and students fill them up with a pedal-powered water fountain. 

Even after weekends with nice meals and authentic European food, the cafeteria never disappoints me. 

P.S. I have a food account (@nibblesbitsandbytes on Instagram (it’s a play on terms for binary strings)) and write food reviews!!!

Following the Scent of AI to Vienna

Written by: Katherine Sanders

Studying abroad in the spring gets cold quick. In the first weeks, every country we traveled to sat around 35F°. Walking around and admiring architecture was entertaining until the cold overwhelmed us. To escape into warmth while staying entertained, we retreat into Sephoras. At the Sephora in Prague, Baran wandered over to the perfumes while I swatched lip liners on my hand. Baran is picky when it comes to scent, so I went over with her and asked what makes a scent “good.” There’s different concentrations of elixirs… and some notes are better than others… but I still couldn’t grasp what makes a scent objectively great. 

Since my nose can’t pick up on the best scent for me, I let AI pick. Cosmotecha Vienna is a perfume shop located in Vienna. It’s run by EveryHuman, a company that creates personalized perfumes based on customers’ results to a personality quiz. With Baran’s love of perfume, my love of personality quizzes and our shared CS 3600: Introduction to AI class, this was the perfect activity for us to escape the Austrian cold.

Cosmotecha is a small, narrow space in the heart of the city. On the right, a sleek machine fills small viles with different liquids as the conveyor belt moves. Grey stools line the wall, seating customers as they complete the quiz and watch the machine. EveryHuman’s founder Frederik Duerinck says the machine is AI-enabled and learns how to create new scents with different ingredients. It understands what scents work well together, but takes liberties in creating new fragrances.

The personality quiz starts with multiple choice questions: words to describe your personal style, where you grew up (suburbs, city, countryside) and your hobbies. Then, there are questions similar to personality tests like MBTI. From not at all to very much, customers declare how much they relate with statements like, “is shy,” “easily distracted” and “is curious.” The quiz asked where we would rather be at that moment. The beach? The countryside? Baran and I chose the center of a bustling city. We didn’t want to be anywhere else.

Baran and I took our time answering each question. We added insight to make sure we both had a mix of our own personal vision and the perceptions from those around us. I usually think of myself as a dark, deep purple, but I’m more lavender than I thought. Baran is much friendlier than she thinks. The quiz ends by asking what scents we would enjoy in our fragrances. I chose to have more oud and musk and less citrus and fruit, but the machine had a different formula in mind.

Soon, three perfumes were created, boxed and handed to me. Spraying them on strips of paper, I was schocked. Each one was exactly how I wanted to smell. They weren’t just “fine” or “good,” they were right.

“636” is complex and grounding, reminding me of the luck I have; “audrey” is elegant and admirable; and “vitality” is youthful without smelling immature. While there was some intuitive reasoning behind the names for my scents, the main reason for their names was the reminders I needed. 

I cycle through each perfume now, reminded not just of their meanings but of the experience of exploring a friend’s passion.