Welcome back to our abroad blog (=abrog) feature, Gentlemen, Scholars and Study Abroggers, in which we showcase one transatlantic blog each week.  On the menu this week is Rachel Knight Squire’s blog, Squiring Around London.

Rachel Knight Squire is spending the semester in London, and doing an admirable job of translating U.K. culture into West Philadelphia terms.  For example:

Goldsmith’s is another London university that Penn kids can go to – it’s a little farther south of the city (like a 45 min bus ride from us at UCL) but has its own neighborhood charm going on. Think Market Street between 40th and 43rd, without the liquor stores and with better architecture.

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During the fall of junior year, many eager Penn students leave the coccoon of Philadelphia for the unknown shores of Europe, South America and beyond. For these members of their own little temporary “lost generation,” starting an abroad blog (or abrog, if you will) is as much a rite of passage as the journey itself.  In this occasional feature, we will spotlight one such blog.

Our first abrogger is once (and future?) Street editor Annette D., currently studying in Padua, Italy.  Her blog, Annette Abroad, chronicles her adventures discussing American politics with Italians, drinking lo sprizz (the city’s special drink) and watching episodes of CSI Miami dubbed in Italian.  Here’s a choice excerpt, in which she describes hiking on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea:

While the four of us debated whether or not we wanted to try to open the fence, a pair of hikers happily passed by us, exclaiming “Scusa!” and proceeding to easily hop the fence and trek down to the rocks. That made our decision for us—a friend and I hopped the fence (although not quite as dexterously as the hiker) and headed down, where we hopped (read: tiptoed and/or slipped) across rocks from ledge to ledge and dipped our feet in the ocean.

Some cardinal rules of abroad blogs is that they’re usually on blogspot or wordpress, they’re usually called something like “[Person's Name] in [City/Country]“, and they’re usually really well-maintained for the month of September, and then increasingly sporadic after that.  Will Annette’s blog go the distance?  Will her Italian meals continue to be delicioso?  Bookmark her blog and stay tuned.  And if you know of (or write) an abrog we should feature, let us know.