Hey there. First off, I'd just like to say sorry for not updating this in a VERY long time. I was traveling for a lot of April, some of my family visited, I was studying/working on finals, and then I traveled some more in May! Anyway, here's a recap of some of my favorite things of the places I've visited with my friends and family.
Copenhagen
This was probably one of my favorite places that I visited. It was our first stop on our spring break trip. The weather was beautiful. On the first night in Copenhagen, we took a boat tour through the canals (Nyhavn canal!) and into the open water. It was absolutely stunning. Copenhagen is a beautiful place, and starting our first day there with a tour on the water was a wonderful way to begin our adventures in the city. We visited Christiansborg Palace and got to see the queen of Denmark, Margrethe the II! That's the second queen I've gotten to see while abroad. Another fun thing I did was go to Tivoli! It's a beautiful amusement park and gardens. I love roller-coasters and hadn't been to Six Flags in a while, so I was very happy to be there.
Prague
This was the second time I visited Prague! The first time was with Rachel, one of my best friends from home. It was cool to be able to experience the place two times with different people. I had probably one of the best meals of my life at The Mail Room Bistro. It was a chicken thigh with roasted gnocchi and baby spinach, all in a light gravy. Absolutely delicious. I revisited the John Lennon Wall, and we had a stranger crash our group photo (I'll insert the picture below). I explored the Prague 7 area, went to a beer garden, and walked down the narrowest street I've ever walked on! It's literally as wide as a person and there's a stoplight indicating when you are allowed to walk through. If you wanted to fit two people in there, you'd have to both slide by sideways, and even then it would be a tight squeeze.
Vienna
Vienna was...interesting. I'm glad I visited, but it by far was not my favorite place. I went to the opera though! We bought standing room only tickets for four Euros. However, I am only 5'2" and standing room only basically implied that I wasn't going to be able to see all night. Four of us left after the first act, and my other two friends left shortly after that because one of them fainted. What an eventful night! I had breakfast at Cafe Central, which felt way too fancy for me but was cool nonetheless. I had the best croissant of my life there. The highlight of Vienna though was probably Schonbrunn Palace. We did an audio tour of the palace and I can't even begin to describe how majestic it was. I learned a lot too!
Budapest
Budapest was also one of my favorite places that I've visited! It was the last stop on my spring break trip before I went back to Scotland to see my mom and Bri. The first night we were there Jess, Kayla, Liz, Kristine, and I went on a night canal tour. They gave us mulled wine as we set sail. I remember this boat tour as being one of my happiest moments while studying abroad. I was on a boat in Budapest, sipping wine with friends, looking at the beautiful city illuminated at night. I just felt an immense sense of gratefulness of where I was in life at that moment. Another highlight of the trip was the Szechenyi thermal baths. I got to swim around in the pools and just hang out. Who would have thought I'd be in a bathing suit in April!
Scotland (with family!)
On April 18th I picked my mom and Bri up from the airport! I had made a "Welcome to Scotland" sign for them, and ran straight into my mom's arms. May have shed a tear or two. We went to Edinburgh Castle, which gave us the first good view out of many. From there we walked the entire Royal Mile to Jacob's Ladder, a VERY long and steep set of stairs. That led us to Calton Hill, a beautiful hill on the top of Edinburgh. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site! There's an unfinished National Monument there that was supposed to look like the Parthenon. We hiked up Arthur's Seat!! It was a warm, sunny day so it provided a clear sky for us to see all of Edinburgh from the top. We ended up getting lost because we wandered off to a different path but that just led to more exploring :). We walked through Greyfriar's Graveyard, where JK Rowling found inspiration for names of some of the characters in Harry Potter. Riddell, McGonagall, Potter, and Black were just a few of the graves that we saw. It was wonderful to show my family around one of my favorite places.
Rome
This was my first and only solo trip while I studied abroad. A bunch of my friends had done Rome, Florence, and Venice and I would have loved to join but I was back in Edinburgh writing essays :(. Rome was also one of my highlights of studying abroad!I think that it was really important that I did at least one trip by myself. It taught me how to be more independent, and I also really enjoyed it. I could go wherever I wanted to eat, walk as slow or as fast as I wanted, and start/end my day at any time. I do obviously prefer to travel with friends, but this was a fun trip. I ate a LOT of pasta- I tried carbonara for the first time! Some friends I made at the hostel convinced me to go on a bar crawl with them and that ended up being fun! I had the most amazing gelato at Old Bridge after walking through St. Peter's Basilica. I spent HOURS at the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. They were pretty awesome. Oh, and the Trevi Fountain was pretty cool. Rome, you've got a piece of my heart.
Amsterdam
I knew that I had to visit the Netherlands while I was abroad because part of my mom's family is from there. Amsterdam was probably my shortest trip, but it still was very fun! On our first day we did the Heineken Experience and that was so much fun. We got to learn about how the beer was made, the different parts of the beer making process, and got to practice our perfect pour (with a fake glass and no actual beer). It was a loud, colorful, bright and fun experience. I also went to the Anne Frank house, which was one of the most interesting things I've done all semester. The Van Gogh museum was pretty cool because he was one of the first artists I ever loved as a kid. I was able to see his famous sunflower painting!
Belfast
When last minute flights to Dublin are too expensive...go to Belfast instead! On our first day we laid in the Botanical Gardens and longboarded outside our hostel (a very chill first day). The next day we went to the Titanic Museum! I have always been intrigued by the story of the Titanic, so it was awesome to learn about the history behind it and the company that made it. We went to the Peace Wall, which relates to the Troubles conflict in Northern Ireland. It was a pretty cool walk down the length of the wall. Giants Causeway was probably the highlight of my trip though. It's a area covered with interlocking basalt (rock) columns. Essentially it was a bunch of pentagon/hexagon shaped rocks rising out of the ground. It was so green there and the weather was fantastic. It's also a UNESCO World Heritage Site!
Paris
We took a train to Paris! It was long but fun because I just talked with my friends and played name games/category games to pass the time. We went to mass at Sacre Coeur, which is a church at the top of this large hill. I guess you have to put in the work to get to God's house haha. I saw the Nike statue and Mona Lisa in the Louvre. My friend Kelly told me that if you wanted to spend 30 seconds at each piece of art in the Louvre, it would take you SIX weeks to walk through the entire thing. My favorite part of Paris was watching the French Open. It was the qualifiers but very cool nonetheless. I've never watched professional tennis before!
We saw the Eiffel Tower both in the morning and lit up at night...it was absolutely stunning. On our last day we went shopping for a bit on Champs- Elysees and I saw the back of David Beckham's head! That was pretty cool.
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Tomorrow I move to Connecticut to start my internship with Synchrony Financial. I am so thankful for the people and places that made my study abroad experience so wonderful. It has taught me so much about myself, other cultures, and how to appreciate life more. On to the next chapter!
