So I’ll be the first to admit that blogging regularly isn’t really my thing, but I still try to give the people what they want. The last place I posted about was London, and since then I’ve had quite the adventures.
First I took my talents to see what the Swiss Alps were all about. I was able to ski for two days in the mountains and I was able to see some absolutely breathtaking views. Now the snow itself isn’t all that special, and it’s not like the skiing is just super extraordinary in Europe. Rather, the scenery is what makes it worth it. By far this was the most expensive trip I will do, but I truly got to have an experience I may never get the opportunity to have again. Anyway, apart from the skiing, Switzerland is just such a beautiful place and totally worth the visit in itself. This was a nice change up from the classic site seeing and museums and just had a few days to hit the slopes and do something new. I was able to meet with a familiar face who invited me on the trip (shoutout to Brett) so that made the trip even more fun. Skiing the Alps will probably be a top 5 thing that I’ll ever get to do.
Next, I took advantage of the end of the 1st quarter and took a 5 day trip to the land of the Spaniards. I was able to see both Barcelona and Madrid and both were worth my time. Barcelona is definitely more full of tourists and since it is on the coast, the beach brings in a lot of people from all over. Madrid has more of a local feel, and is a much larger city to scope out. Either way, I was able to meet up with friends in both cities so that always makes traveling a bit more fun. I’ll be honest, Barcelona was one of the first places in Europe where I had to be extra careful with my belongings. There is just more open space and the long wide walkways are full of entertainers who can pretty distracting.
Spain had a lot warmer weather and the food would be pretty cheap if you can find the right places. They have these things called tapas at most restaurants and they are basically a big appetizer, so a few of those and I’d call it a meal for like $6-7. It was a nice break to hear a whole new language and to practice my spanish a little. That’s a good joke because my spanish is pretty terrible, but luckily I was pretty much with friends (Winslow and Evi) who could speak it pretty well. I was able to see a few really neat places. The Sagrada Familia Cathedral, that has been under construction for well over a century, was gigantic and I cannot wait until it is finished in like 2030. Park Guell is a very nice park that has great views of the city. And probably my favorite was climbing up Montjuic hill that allowed me to have some amazing views at the top of Barcelona.
Anyway, I was able to find some really cheap tickets to Barcelona through Ryanair again, but the time for coming home was pretty terrible (6:40 am). Even for the early birds, this was a pretty tough challenge. Essentially, I had to wake up around 3 am to catch the bus at 4 that took me to the airport. Sounds pretty simple, but walking around Barcelona in the middle of the night isn’t a cakewalk. Definitely had to be a little more cautious, but I made it home safe, so no harm done. I’m all about those bargain deals!
My next trip was a pretty quick turnaround of 2 days before I packed up again and hopped on a plane to Dublin. Even though it was the weekend before St. Patrick’s Day, it was still an incredible time in the land of the irish. The city was a lot more low key than most of the other places that I’ve been, so it was nice to break away from the large groups of tourists roaming the cities with their selfie sticks. Dublin has a ton of history, including one of the oldest universities in the world which was founded in 1592 (Trinity College). Also, Guinness is very popular among the irish and has a pretty cool brewery/museum to entertain its guests. But by far the best experience that I had in Ireland was being able to trek across the country to see the Cliffs of Moher. Aside from almost getting carried of the cliffs by the most powerful wind I will ever face (not kidding, it was literally like 70 mph) , I loved this day trip. Seeing out into the ocean and the magnificent scenery around me was without a doubt one of the memories I’ll keep from this trip.?And getting here was in the same price range as my Spain tickets, I just can’t get over how cheap it is to travel over here! The times were actually very manageable, and I really had a great time in Dublin.
After having a weekend to rest up and finish some assignments, I wanted to take my first swing at eastern Europe. The two destinations were Prague and Budapest. It was very stressful getting to Prague on the first day of the trip. The first train was delayed and was going to force us to miss our next connection (apparently it was the last one going to Prague). So in a span of about 5 minutes, we went from the low of having to hold off for another day, to somehow getting a new route that would allow us to catch the train in time. It was pretty lucky, and in the end we made it after about 9 hours. Prague was a very beautiful city, and the food was very good and very cheap. Prague Castle was one of the best things to see as well as walking down the Charles Bridge (even though it was full of fellow tourists). The hostel we were able to nab was super cheap considering we booked a private room (so like $12 a night). It was definitely a good time and we all enjoyed our time.
After 2 days in Prague, we hopped on a bus going to Budapest. It was north of a 7 hour ride, but they had tv screens for every seat, so I was able to watch a movies to help pass the time. One thing that I didn’t mention yet is that even though these two countries (Czech Republic and Hungary) are in Europe, they don’t have the Euro as the official currency. So basically 1 buck is worth 30 czechs and 300 forints. So walking around with a 1,000 bill in Budapest money was like less than $4. But it still made me feel like a high roller walking around with those large bills. Anyway, Budapest was my favorite of the two cities. It was much larger and honestly was more scenic to walk through. The castle district in Buda was one of my favorite places to go. The weekend was a lot of fun and all around was a really fun trip.
Aside from all my travels, I have really adjusted to my new home away from home. I don’t feel like such a newcomer anymore, and have learned to order my favorite things in german at the local bakery. I am kinda sad that I’m entering my last month in Europe, but I can also see the light at the end of the tunnel when I head back home to the states. But I can easily say that these last 3 months have truly been more than I ever could have expected. I am so glad that I was able to make this happen, and I would do it the same way in a heartbeat. It’s not that I don’t have class (you might be thinking this because of all these travels), they are just packed between Tuesday-Thursday each week. I work hard on the weekdays, then get to go see the world on the weekends. But, I still have one more month to do new things, and I intend to make the most of it! Already have a lot of the month planned out, so we’ll see what happens!
As a matter of fact, I’m leaving tomorrow for Paris to spend the Easter weekend there. And even though I’m in Germany, I know my fellow classmates had a great time whooping for the first time. A A A whoop