March ended up being my busiest month. Not because of classes, but because of traveling! There were many ups and downs during the trip, but I would say the best one was going to Iceland. Nothing beats the chance to explore the icy unknown.
Iceland:??????????
The first place we went to was Iceland. Funny thing was, my friends and I came back from Luxembourg the day before this trip, so it was safe to say that we were all rushed and worried about all the packing and preparation we had to do in less than 12 hours. I ended up deciding that I HAD to wash and dry my clothes at my friend?s place (since she had a drier) and ended up getting back home at 3 AM, 5 hours before my flight. OK! I can just stay up like I usually do. Or take a quick hour nap. Or, you know, just take my nap and sleep through my alarm while I’m at it. Lucky for me, my roommate ended up waking up when my friend started spam calling both of us (for him to wake me up). As you could already tell, this trip was starting off well.
Day 1: Our first day consisted of us driving around the Golden Circle. Here, frozen waterfalls, icy paths, unfrozen water falls, and even a geyser made up the wonders of the Golden Circle. Unfortunately, walking slowly down icy slopes is never a great idea. Especially when you fall on your butt twice, once going up and going down. Note to self; buy hiking boots or ice spikes. Due to some unexpected issues that occurred that day, the two groups ended up being separated (there were ten of us in two cars). Our car, when we were done with everything, decided to change our plans up and walk to the Abandoned Plane that afternoon, seeing as everyone else in the other car didn’t want to do it the next day. That was horrible. Let me explain it in the easiest way possible; walking through winds speeding past at seemingly 60 mph (might be an exaggeration) while being pushed and pulled by the wind, a large amount of sand flying into our eyes constantly, and the temperature drop due to the wind chill. I didn’t need a meteorologist to tell me that that wasn’t the best time to have gone on an hour-long hike, both ways. At the end of the Black Sand Beach, we ended up at the Abandoned Plane. With its white body contrasting the black sand, many photographers are attracted to the site (as seen with three photographers at the site). I saw how it was unique and looked like a piece of art, but at the same time, I never really understood why the Icelandic government decided to just leave an abandoned plane in the middle of nowhere Iceland for tourist to go look at. Why not clean up the mess (as to prevent any environmental issues) or just, you know, move it closer to the entrance so there’s not an hour-long walk. The real bummer was that there wasn’t even any souvenirs shops there at the site. That night, we tried to go looking for northern lights. Unbeknownst to us, we didn?t even expect for it to be snowing heavily. The road to get out of the cabins we stayed at ended up having way too much snow that we couldn?t get out to go look. We ended up staying in the car for an hour (since it had a better view than our cabin) to try to catch a glimpse of anything, which we couldn?t.
Sunset at the Golden Circle! ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Abandoned Plane
Day 2: Day 2 was a lot easier for our car. Seeing as everyone in the other car decided that they now had to go see the plane, we decided to sleep in. Yet, funny enough, even with sleeping in, we were still ahead of them, schedule wise. We arrived at the actual Black Beach and even climbed up the side of the cliff there! We then went on a two hour drive and ended up at Skaftafell, to see the Sv?nafellsj?kull Glacier. And lucky us! The wind yet again felt like it was 60 mph! Trudging through the snow with winds this strong made it almost impossible to even get close to the glacier safely. It was disappointing since seeing a glacier up close was on my bucket list.
? ? ? ? ? ? On the cliffs! ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Welcome to the Black Sand Beach!
Sv?nafellsj?kull Glacier
Day 3: Today, we went back towards the Sv?nafellsj?kull Glacier to go visit the Ice Caves. With a hefty price of $180, I decided that my money was better spent elsewhere, so three of us waited for everyone else. The views we got at the nearby beach and even the glaciers there made the wait not bad. After this was over, we were ready for the longest drive we had to do, a six hour drive all the way to M?vatn, a beautiful lake with a nearby volcano. The winding roads on the mount side, icy roads, and detours due to closed roads helped make this ride even worse. That night after getting to the hostel, we tried to do another aurora chase, which ended up being a failure. The radar was picking up a lot of clouds in our area and our best bet was to go over an hour away to get even a chance of the lights. We didn?t want to risk it with a non-full tank and camped out at the side of the road. We had to give up and headed back to our hostel.
Day 4: We spent the better part of the day exploring M?vatn and driving around to the various sights. The two places to see were Hverfjall and Dimmuborgir. Hverfjall, the nearby volcano, ended up not being a place we saw due to the roads being icy and dangerous for a Texan to drive. Our friends in the other car apparently went all the way up through, but I have no regrets due to many unaccounted-for dangers. Dimmuborgir is a national park with various lava and rock formations that shape the area. The funny thing about the park is that the Yule Lads, essentially Icelandic Santas, lived and roamed around the area. There happened to be one there who ran up and down the side of the rock formations with ease. It was kind of funny seeing him trying to ask someone to marry him by proposing with a toilet brush! With that done, our next stop was Akuryei, the second largest urban city after Reykjavik. The biggest thing to see there was the church of Akuryei, Akureyrarkirkja. It?s shape and design was unique, which is probably due to some cross influence of Lutheran and Icelandic culture. With nothing else in the town, we continued on our drive to get to our next place.
Hverfjall
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ??Akureyrarkirkja
Day 5: Our second to last day in Iceland was spent going to the west peninsula of Iceland, Sn?fellsnes. The first city we got to was Helgafell and we mapped out our plan for the day there. The first thing we saw was the second church on our trip, the Stykkish?lmskirkja. Just like the Akuryei, this one also was designed in a very interesting way. I?m usually not that interested in the outside of churches/cathedrals since they?re usually the same design (gothic), but these churches just really interested me due to how different they were. Afterwards, we did a small backtrack to get to the Bjarnarh?fn Shark Museum. One thing I found out about Iceland before getting there is that they have something called H?karl, rotten shark. It has been a cultural and historical food in Iceland, so I just had to try it. Words can?t really describe the taste. It wasn?t as bad as I thought people said it was. It was just tasted and smelled of a lot of ammonia. In fact, even the way they ferment the sharks is interesting. Due to the sharks that are caught having high amounts of urea and trimethylamine oxide, they have to be processed and fermented (underground) before being able to be consumed. They use only the body of the shark though, which made me question what the fins were used for. Funny enough, on our trip to the museum, two people from China were there to inquire about purchasing the unused shark fins for consumption in China. Our trip around Sn?fellsnes ended right after our trip to ?j??gar?urinn Sn?fellsj?kull, the national park located there. The views of the ocean and the surrounding volcanoes made the view surreal. We went down to the beach and saw two seals in the ocean near the coast. Everyone tried their hardest to get them to come to shore, which I doubt would?ve ever happened. We ended the day driving back to Reykjavik to get ready for the early morning.
Stykkish?lmskirkja ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Rotten Shark
Day 6: The morning started out with us getting up early to get to the Blue Lagoon, a popular geothermal spa resort. This place was amazing! Minus the chilly winds that plagued us the moment we stepped outside of the water. The water was amazing, the view was amazing, just getting the opportunity to do this blew my mind. We stayed for a few hours, enjoying the nice water, until we decided it was time to get lunch in Reykjavik. We went to see the last and final church during our visit to Iceland, Hallgrimskirkja. This one was on an even more grander scale compared to the other two with its size rivaling many other cathedrals in mainland Europe. This grand church was a great way to end our tour of Iceland. Due to a mistake, my friends got our last hostel at Reykjavik instead of where the international airport was, 40 minutes away. This influenced many things; the first was that we could?ve had a better parking place when we went to explore the city. Second, was that it affected how we would return the car, as it required me to drive pretty fast to get our car back to the rental place in time. But, we made it in time, even if just barely! That night, I decided that I was going to go to the bars nearby and would be dragging my friend along. The reason being was that compared to the last two Reykjavik hostels, this one was closer to the bars than the other two. No trip is complete without experiencing the night life of the city. Trying the local beers and the specialty liquors weren?t remotely cheap at all (one beer I got was $14 and two shots I got were $10 each, totaling $34 just for three things) but allowed me to try some new things, the shots. The first was Brennivin, Iceland?s national schnapps, and the second was Bjork, liquor produced from birch sap. These two shots were unique and, to me, seemed to really show the culture of Iceland and how they live off the land (being how the shots were fruit and birch tree based).
Blue Lagoon Entrance ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ??? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ? Hallgrimskirkja
Going to Iceland was amazing. I got to see so many things that I wouldn’t usually see (mainly a glacier) and got to experience Iceland as it is. Unfortunately for me, the trip was expensive (a single bowl of soup was upwards of $15…) and majority of the driving was done by me, meaning 3 to 6 hours of constant driving sometimes. But, it was a great learning experience, on the driving side. I did learn how to deal and cope with ice/snow and discovered that 90 km/h is slow. I wouldn?t have given this trip up for anything.
The next trip is divided into two parts; the first is with my friend, Alexis, who’s at Madrid for her exchange program, and her three friends, followed by me with a group of friends from EBS. The different groups really change the whole aspect of the trip and was what made and broke the trip for me.
Berlin:
I’ve always wanted to go to Berlin for as long as I could remember. It’s a city full of history; the capital of Prussia, the capital that split in two, the Berlin Wall, and much more. No matter what it was, I had to go experience Berlin. Luckily for me, Alexis was planning on going there! We ended up only staying in Berlin for one day/night, which was fine for me because I could always try to revisit Berlin if I ever felt the need to. We decided the best way to see all the sights was with a walking tour. It just so happened that our hostel was a meeting place for a free walking tour that took us to see the most essential parts of Berlin. Of the places we saw, the most memorable one to me was the Brandenburg Gate. From starting as the gateway to Berlin when the city first started to the Quadriga being taken away by Napoleon after defeating Prussia to the now historical importance of it and the plaza it’s at, you learn so much just from that one area! At the end of the night, I’m glad that we also got a chance to have a pint of Guinness to celebrate St. Patty’s Day!
Berlin Wall protected from vandalism? ? ??? ? ? ? ? ? ??? ? ? ? ? ? ??? ? ? ? ? ? ??? ? ? ? ? ? ??? ? ? ? ? ? ??? ? ? ? ? ? ??? ? ? ? ? ? ??? ? ? ? ? ? Brandenburg Gate
Prague:
Prague amazed me to no ends. From the minute we got there, we were already seeing wonders. The city hall was close to our hostel, so we quickly booked it over there and went up to the top of the tower in time before it got too dark. The view we got was unbelievable. We saw everything; the castle, the various churches, the far away tower on a hill, and much more! We knew from those sights that it would’ve been a day tomorrow. One thing that every has to at least experience when in Prague is the five story club. While clubbing may not really be my thing, getting to experience something like this that isn’t exactly found in the states blew my mind. The ability to change to different songs whenever, the sheer amount of people crammed in there, and the over atmosphere of happiness really made the place shine. The main things we wanted to see during our trip was the John Lennon wall and the castle. The castle was not what I was expecting. Unlike other castles in other cities, the one at Prague felt like a small town by itself, with its multitude of buildings and various sights to see within the palace.
Trekking through the rain to get to the John Lennon Wall
View of Prague from the top of the City Hall
Vienna:
Vienna, for all of us, was more of a time to relax. We had already done so much climbing beforehand at Prague that all we wanted to do this time was explore the city. We visited the Sch?nbrunn Palace and then the main castle in the city the next day. Sadly, we came an hour before closing so there was only so much we could see within the palace. But outside behind the palace, the gardens were spacious. We spent the better part of our free time climbing up the hill to the top where the Gloriette and a small pond were situated. Alexis and I went all the way to the top of the Gloriette which gave us an amazing view on the sunset and over the city. As amazing as the place was, I still found it second to Versailles.
Sch?nbrunn light at night
Alexis and I from the top of the Gloriette
The next day was spent exploring the rest of the city. Since everyone else had to leave that night to get back to Spain, we quickly went through all the places we could. We started at the main palace and went to the Austrian National Library. Afterwards, Alexis and I yet again split from the rest and went to see the Beethoven Museum. As great a tour as it was, it ended up being a skeleton of his house in Vienna. Beethoven moved out before he passed away, meaning that all his belongings weren’t even there to begin with. That the layout of the room was left for your imagination and what researchers believed.
Finally, the thing that I was looking forward to the most, the Vienna Philharmonic. My friends wanted to go to an opera performance, which really didn’t appeal to me. So, I looked up the Vienna Philharmonic and saw that they had 5 euro standing tickets! Even if I had to stand, paying so little to experience one of the best orchestras in the world was a steal! Vienna might’ve just became my most interesting trip thus far!
Budapest:
Going to a cheap country makes everything much more fun and interesting. Eastern Europe, for those who don’t really know, is a lot cheaper than Western Europe. Food, alcohol, even living is a lot more affordable. The first thing we did was to go to the Sz?chenyi Thermal Bath. Compared to Iceland, it was a lot more older in how it felt. The indoor baths and two giant outdoor baths were more of a meeting place for the residents of Budapest rather than a tourist attraction. Being more like a pool made the whole experience different than what we felt at the Blue Lagoon.
Day two consisted of going to the Budapest castle. The amount of people there was outrageous, with both castle grounds and the nearby Fisherman’s Bastion being filled with tourists taking all the pictures they could. As my friends were busily getting all the pictures they could of all the different poses they could’ve gotten with all the different lightings/effects they could’ve found, I choose to just explore the palace ground (Yes. I finished walking around most of the castle ground before they even finished taking pictures). The sight of the castle and the view from the Fisherman’s Cove gave a much older look at Budapest that contrasts with the rest of the city.
Fisherman’s Bastion
After lunch, I decided to ditch my group. By being the seventh person (and only guy) in the group, I was often pushed out of the group. They would all be speaking their own languages to each other, be avoiding me, and wanted to only do things that they wanted. One thing that they didn’t even want to experience was the night life in any of the cities. Especially with Budapest having its Ruin Bars, I felt that it would’ve been a waste to not go experience it. The Ruin Bars are hipster looking bars that have taken over the old Jewish Ghettos. Everything was flashy and reused, the beer they had was different and like that of a microbrewery, and the place was filled with people of different ages, showing that no matter how a bar looked, it was for everyone. I couldn’t say I experienced the whole thing (since it wasn’t during the night), but I am glad that I choose to do what I wanted and experienced Budapest in a different light before I left.
A quiet, calm Ruin Bars
I mentioned earlier that the different groups changed my view on my trips. The reason being is that other than not having any sort of common ground with some of the girls on the trip, they just didn?t really care about what I wanted to do. This made traveling with them a pain. I obviously didn?t find out about it till it was too late. I joined them mainly to get the opportunity to go to Poland. Visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp has always been something that I?ve always wanted to do.
Krakow:
Krakow, the old capital of Warsaw, contained many historical locations. Our group had a big debate before we got to Krakow about when we should do the Auschwitz-Birkenau/Wieliczka Salt Mines tour. For me, it was the best idea to just get picked up two hours after getting to Krakow and do the tour then, since we would have a guide driving us. After a long debate and everyone finally understanding that they could go to sleep on the ride, we decided to do the tours on the first day.
Auschwitz-Birkenau felt and looked as how I was taught. It was a memorial full of history and sadness in the atmosphere. Going from seeing pictures of the area to being at the areas where the cruelty happened is a big change. Being that it’s most likely the last concentration camp I’d be visiting during my exchange program, I was glad that I at least got to see Auschwitz-Birkenau and got to learn more about the horrors that happened there. It’s great that Germany, and other countries affected, have gone through many lengths to keep these memories alive as so that no same atrocities would happen again.
Entrance to Auschwitz
Afterwards, we went to the salt mines. I really didn’t understand how these were famous, until we got in. The mines, expanding many miles under and across the city, were mined as early as the 13th century. All that history, how important it was in the past (with that one salt mine itself being a gift to a queen), and all the engineering and architecture to keep it as breathtaking as it was amazing. For example, you don’t expect there to be a chapel in a salt mine right? But jokes on you. There were in fact two! With one of them being a famous place for even marriages. Plus, this mine told me that Chopin was Polish, something that I never knew, and something everywhere in Poland likes to bring up.
Main cathedral within the Wieliczka Salt Mines (Pictures weren’t allowed unfortunately without paying)
We wanted to explore the rest of the city and learn as much as we could during our last day. We found a golf cart tour and decided that would be the easiest way! The most notable things for me about the trip were visiting the Jewish Ghetto, old Jewish Town, and Schlinder?s Factory. The Ghetto and the old town weren’t fancy by any means, but they were full of history and culture; an assortment of monuments in remembrance of WWII to large marketplaces happening in the middle of the square. The city was alive no matter where you went. Schlinder’s Factory, sadly, was sort of a disappointment to all of us. Being within the old factory, and with such an importance of what happened there, we assumed the whole museum would’ve been about the situation. Well, they touched upon him and what he did in Krakow, but after and before that, everything else was about Krakow in WWII. So Schlinder and his Factory only played a small part in the museum of Schlinder’s Factory. But on the bright side, I got a history lesson on Poland/Krakow in?WWII. That night, I wanted to go see the bars at the Jewish Ghetto. Funny thing is that the bars happen to be located in old Jewish ghettos, as seen here and Budapest. I found a microbrewery pub and got to try some nice different beers. Afterwards, I head out to another bar in hopes of burning some more time before I went back home. I ended up meeting a group of guys from England and hanged out with them for the night, making my trip a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would?ve been.
Warsaw:
Warsaw was interesting. Despite it being a city of history, there really was only the old town for us to see and experience things. Everything was crowded with tourists with tourist prices or was closed due to it being Sunday. Overall, the trip was just a time for me to relax. The girls in my group decided that they wanted to watch movies and just go shopping. Being things that I didn?t want to do, I spent minimal time with them. On the first night, I stopped outside of a sports bar since Poland happened to be playing against Montenegro in the World Cup qualifiers. The moment Lewandowski made a penalty kick, the whole place exploded in cheers, reminding me how big a deal Lewandowski was in Poland. The next night, I decided to go try out the bars in Warsaw. There wasn?t much to see or do in the area being a Monday night. I happened to meet some new people at the bars to hang out with, who happened to be more guys from England. Overall, both of my nights in Poland with a cool group of guys that I just meet ended up being great nights for me.
Warsaw old town square