Final Thoughts on Europe

It has been a month since I left Europe but with starting a new school year, working and classwork for my study abroad classes it has seemed longer than that.

When people ask me about my trip it is usually either the 2 minute conversation or one long enough for me to  sit down and tell stories.  Most of my 2 minute conversations follow along the lines of "I had a great time in Europe!  It was so much fun!"  "Where did you go?"  "I was mainly in Austria for the study abroad but with weekend traveling and traveling after I went to 7 countries in 5 1/2 weeks."  "Wow, what was your favorite place?"  "London!"
I can't remember the number of times I've had this conversation.  I have it with people and work, at church, and at school.  It's pretty much rehearsed at this point.  My first night back working at the restaurant I was faced with a question I was not ready to answer; "What were your top three things from Europe?"  After thinking some I came up with this list:
1) Harry Potter Studio Tour
I feel bad that this was my favorite thing in Europe but it was absolutely amazing for a huge Harry Potter nerd such as myself.  We went our last day in Europe and it was a great end to the trip.

2) Dachau
Another odd thing to put in a top three but I absolutely loved having the opportunity to experience Dachau.  (If you want more of my feelings on this, look at the previous blog post.)

3) Attending Operas
This was for class; why did I enjoy it so much?  I think one of the reasons I enjoyed going to 3 different operas while in Europe was because it gave me a different view on the Austrian/European culture than I would have experience just as a tourist.  Plus The Magic Flute was an awesome production (and also talked about in a previous post).

I learned a lot outside of classes in Europe as well.  Two things stand out in particular.
1) Traveling takes planning but also flexibility and patience.  Especially in big cities such as Paris and London there are lines for EVERYTHING.  Get to places early and willing to wait in line.
2)  I'm more independent than I give myself credit for.  I've always considered myself independent and try not to rely on others for much but being on a different continent was harder than I expected.  I have never felt more lost in my life than my first weekend in Europe.  Not only did I literally feel lost since I am terrible with directions and had no clue how to get anywhere but I also had not taken public transportation much in the US so I had to idea how to get anywhere if I was able to figure out where I needed to go.  In times of panic like these I normally would call Joe or my parents and figure out what I was doing.  Being in Europe that wasn't an option, especially since I had limited internet access.  I also have never traveled without someone else organizing the trip so the traveling after the study abroad ended was another learning experience.  Overall, I came back to the US feeling more confident that I can get myself out of challenging situations (but still will avoid figuring out directions whenever possible).

London

The last leg of our trip was London.  Of all the big cities we have been to in the past 6 weeks, London was my favorite.  I loved all of the old, historic buildings mixed in with modern business buildings.  While I was very glad I got the opportunity to do so much traveling.  I was glad that London was our last leg.  A few highlights of my time in London are discussed here.

Warner Brothers Studio the Making of Harry Potter tour was probably the highlight of my time in London as terrible as that sounds.  Being a huge Harry Potter fan I was so excited to see the studio where many of the scenes were filmed.  I was so happy to see everything and the first room we walked into was the Great Hall.  I was so happy it was like being a little kid at Disney World (or for me even being a big kid at Disney World).

 

The Potter's House in Godric Hallows 

The last night in London I got to have dinner with my friend Rae.  It was so nice to see her especially after not being home for almost 6 weeks.  It’s crazy to think that I’ll be living with her in a few short weeks. 

On Sunday we went to a Matins service at Westminster Abbey.  We realized that Westminster closes early for tourists and with our limited time in London the only day we could really go to the Abbey was on Sunday when it wasn’t open for tours.  By going to a service at Westminster we also didn’t have to pay to get in and we could still see most of the Abbey.  Since we got there early we got to sit in the front row which was also very cool.  

Westminster Abbey on the first night we were in London

Taking my Parents’ Advice

I like to think I take my parents’ advice more often than not.  I am very fortunate to have parents that taught me and encourage me to be independent but they also don’t hesitate to give me advice when I ask for it (and sometimes when I don’t as well).  Getting my parents’ advice for traveling in Europe was very helpful since my dad lived in Belgium for 18 months before my parents got married.  Dad traveled quite a bit while in Europe and mom visited a few times so I figured they knew what they were talking about, especially regarding Belgium. 

When planning my post-study abroad traveling I really wanted to go to Belgium since my dad had lived there for a bit.  I don’t remember if it was a suggestion to go to Brugge or just a mention that it was one of my parents’ favorite cities but we decided to go to Brugge for one of the days we were in Belgium.  I’m very glad we did.  It was a very nice little city and was a nice change in pace after spending the day before walking around Paris. 

Brugge, Belgium 

There were a good number of tourists in Brugge but locals were still present.  One adorable old lady old lady saw Sarah taking my picture and stopped to ask if we wanted her to take our picture.  Since Belgium doesn’t seem to have one language that is more common than the others she listed 3 or 4 different languages so she knew which to use to talk to us.  She also pointed out the oldest house in Brugge which was right on the main square. 

Picture taken by the adorable old lady

While in Brugge we got waffles because you have to when in Belgium.  I got a delicious waffle drowning in delicious chocolate syrup.  After that it was time to move on to the food and beer suggestions from my parents.  We had fries with curry sauce which were delicious (we ended up getting more today in Brussels).  The first night we were in Brussels we got some beer at the hostel bar (yeah, the hostel had a bar which was pretty great and not nearly as creepy as the bar at the Paris hostel) but they didn’t have either of the kind my parents suggested.  We made sure to find a place for dinner that served both kind that my parents suggested and my goodness, Belgian beer is good.  I ended up getting more beer at the hostel that night.  Of the 6 kinds I tried, the raspberry and peach beers were the best. 

From telling Joe he was impressed that I had started liking beer.  I told him that I liked good beer.  I may just be my father’s daughter after all.  Maybe after getting back from Europe I’ll be more likely to try different kinds of beer but I’m sure they won’t compare.  (Really there is only one way to find out, right?) 

Paris

The first leg of our post-study abroad adventures landed us in Paris.  After having been to various big cities throughout Europe I was still impressed with how many people there were in Paris.  I don’t need to give you a day to day what we did because if you really want to hear you should just talk to me in person when I get back or look through my pictures when I finally get them up.  Here are a few highlights from my time in Paris. 

Mass at Notre Dame:  As Sunday was our first day in Paris and the day we had set aside for sight-seeing I wanted to go to mass at Notre Dame.  We went to the international mass which was only international because the readings were printed in multiple languages and a one minute part before Communion was in English.  It was my first time going to mass since being in Europe and they opened with a song that is commonly sung at Blessed Trinity so that made me very happy.  I then listened to a mass in French but being Catholic I knew what was going on so that was nice.  I thought it was interesting that in the French and English parts of the Order of Worship they printed a note about if you are not Catholic please do not join us in Communion but in the Italian and Spanish sections it was not printed.  Yay for countries that have essentially universal Catholicism!

 

Before Mass

The Louvre: As noted while I spent 4 hours walking around the Kunsthistorische  in Vienna, I wore tennis shoes so my feet wouldn’t hurt too much.  This was a very good call as we spent about 6 hours in the Louvre.  It was very crowded which was unsurprising.  The number of people crowding around the Mona Lisa and taking pictures of it was astounding.  We didn’t see everything because we were past the point of enjoying looking at art.  It was the most recent in a long line of art museums since we have been in Europe so 6 hours was more than enough.      

 

The view from the line to get in

The Eifel Tower Light Show:  I am such a tourist.  I absolutely loved the Eifel Tower light show.  It was literally just 5 minutes of the lights on the tower flashing but it was really cool to watch.  It reminded me of how excited I get during the light parade at Disney, which last time I went I was 18 and still enjoyed it as much as when I was 6.   

“Done” with Study Abroad and onto Traveling!

Our study abroad program is officially over.  After four weeks in Bregenz, everyone is off their separate ways.  The last few days in Bregenz were filled with class, homework, swimming in Lake Constance and The Magic Flute on the lake stage. 

The Magic Flute was very interesting.  I had been using the internet at the stage since I had gotten to Bregenz and three weeks before the opera was starting they were still finishing the painting.  Our backstage tour the day before we saw the opera revealed they were a bit crunched for time but enough got done and everything was going well.  We were told to think of it as a well done children’s show which I think was the best mentality going into it.  There were stunt people, divers, and explosions as well as elaborate costumes and various “boats” that came around the stage. 

 

Back stage of the Lake Stage

We also learned that we were experiencing the most advanced sound system in the world.  The audio was tracked based on people’s movement not only from side to side but also depth from the audience as well.  Another interesting thing was that the orchestra was inside and mic’d to be heard outside but with the various instruments amplified different amounts as if you were sitting in the pit.  The best part of the performance was that it didn’t rain!  When we check in the morning, there was a good chance of thunderstorms at the time of the opera which changed to a good chance of rain and ended up being absolutely gorgeous. 

I mentioned there was fire, right?

The week included lots of homework as we were trying to get as much done as possible before the program ended.  I ended up with 4 short papers left to write in the next 3 weeks which isn’t too bad.  I did most of one on the train today but currently don’t feel like editing it.  Hopefully I’ll have more motivation before I get home to do some more work. 

Sarah and I are currently en route to Paris.  We have been stopped for over half an hour at some small train station as bad weather blew a tree onto the train tracks.  We were informed that the train has been removed but we haven’t gotten the approval to go.  Oh well, we don’t have a connecting train to catch and the hostel is open 24 hours so we will get there eventually.  I will spend the rest of the time on the train reading, contemplating how I’m going to get all of my stuff home without having an overweight bag, and trying to ignore the very odd sounds the cat kitty-corner to us is making. 

I’m looking forward to all the traveling we are going to do but also am looking forward to being home.  I don’t know if it feels longer than 4 weeks because I’ve done so much or if 4 weeks really is a long time.  Either way I am looking forward to everything we will do in Paris, Belgium and London.  

Dachau

Visiting Dachau was something I had been looking forward to since before our trip started.  It was such an interestingly eerie experience that I will never forget.  We had to write a reflection for class so I will be resourceful/efficient(/any other nice word for lazy) and use parts of that for this post. 

Having the opportunity to experience Dachau was an opportunity I will never forget.  Since I have an odd fascination with WWII I was aware of most of what happened at various concentration camps.  I knew the conditions that prisoners lived and worked in, the way they were mass murdered, knew that some were tortured and that they were used as human subjects for medical experiments.  Having seen many pictures from the Concentration Camps and going to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC when I was twelve, I was very familiar with what happened during that terrible time in history. 

            Being at Dachau was different than I expected.  I wasn’t expecting most of the buildings to be gone, but rather was expecting row upon row of bunkers complete with beds and straw mattresses.  Walking in to Dachau and seeing the square where they had roll-call was very interesting as that was the main point throughout the tour where I felt in the shoes of the prisoners.  Seeing that giant, dusty patch of land gave me an eerie feeling and made me think of all the people who saw that square when entering the camp. 

            The rest of the camp was more of a museum than I expected.  I enjoyed seeing all the artifacts and reading all of the information but feel it would have had a greater effect on me if it were in more of its original state and not renovated.  For example, I feel that I would have been more impacted if the shower heads were still in the first room where the prisoners were washed and shaven before being registered.  I had the same feeling with the bunk houses.  It was eerie being in that building but I also felt removed from the past, like everything had been taken away and rebuilt for the public to see. 

            The crematorium and the gas chambers had an odd feeling to them.  The build-up of trees around the area made it feel disconnected from the rest of the camp, like it wasn’t supposed to be there.  In a way it was nice that the place where the bodies were burned was treated like a cemetery but it also emphasized a jarring difference from the way it used to be.  The crematorium was the only spot throughout the camp that I didn’t want to take pictures.  I felt like I wouldn’t be respecting those who had died in the camp if I did so.  With so many un-named individuals being wiped out of existence in that place, I felt the need to give it silent respect and not turn it into a photo opportunity. 

After we left Dachau our guide showed us some places of resistance in Munich.  It was very interesting to hear about some of the ways that people resisted the Nazi Regime in the area where they were most powerful.  While my classes were primarily about art and opera, we focused on art specifically around WWII and how it was viewed by the Third Reich.  I learned a lot about Europe during WWII and the trip to Dachau was a powerful reminder of everything that has happened.  

Fueling my Wanderlust

You would think that traveling through Europe would help tame my wanderlust but that's not the case. Traveling reminds me of all that I have yet to see.  

Sitting on the train from Venice to Bregenz I was listening to music, observing the changing landscape, and contemplating life.  The entire time I was reminded of taking road-trips in the US and suddenly that is all I wanted to do; road-trip all over the US, while I was on a train in Italy and Austria.  "What kind of person does that?" I thought to myself.  I just had an awesome weekend in Salzburg and Venice and all I can think about is traveling more.  Maybe it will get better as I travel more in Europe, I thought.  That is not the case thus far.

I have done a fair amount of traveling thus far in my life.  At the age of 21 I have been to 32 states.  I considered myself relatively cultured.  Last weekend we traveled to Vienna as a class and I realized how uncultured I really am.  There is so much history and culture in Vienna.  As I experienced in Mexico, there are building that were constructed before the United States was even a country.  With discussions in class I now realize how impressive it is that these buildings still exist after WWII.

The greatest feeling of being uncultured was when we went to The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.  That art museum is giant and the first rooms we went in to was full of craft work.  This was so much to take in but I enjoyed it immensely.  After that room we then continued to the rest of the museum.  That is where things got...interesting.  There is an entire floor of paintings.  That was also the fourth art museum we had been to in three days.  I enjoyed looking at everything but I just could not process everything that I was seeing.  There were so many works of art gathered under one roof and all I could think of was how much longer til we could leave.  I felt terrible for continually checking my watch but I still enjoyed the museum.  I also noted that when I go to The Louve when traveling to Paris, I need to wear tennis shoes.

So. Many. Paintings.

I also had an interesting cultural experience when attending my first opera while in Vienna.  The class went to a Verdi opera, Attila which is an Italian opera and had German subtitles.  Therefore I had very little idea as to what was going on.  We had watched some clips in class however this production had very modern staging.  All the music was the same but the costumes were far from traditional.  We have two more operas while we are here and I look forward to the different experiences that I will gain from them.

 Vienna is very metropolitan as we were told before we left but I didn't realize how much so.  The main shopping streets were very Chicago-esque however there was still so many historical buildings.  With my wanderlust I would rather travel than shop so as I walked around Vienna being a tourist instead of shopping.

Parliament Building

One of the many Hofsburg buildings 

With everything I have yet to do on this trip, I am looking forward to experience more different cultures.  Having the opportunity to experience different cultures reminds me to be humble as I am only one person in this giant world and only one piece of history.  I hope that throughout my life I remain humble and get more opportunities to remind me of that.

Cultural Differences

We were warned in our pre-trip meetings that there would be cultural differences between the US and Europe.  I haven’t experiences as many cultural differences here as I did when in Mexico but there are a few differences.  (Listed in the order I thought of them and not a particular order)

1)      Internet:  As I mentioned before, there is no internet at my homestay.  Not having internet is not uncommon here but in the US we tend to spend astronomical amounts of time on the internet.

2)      Food:  The food here is healthier.  The first weekend we were here there was a festival going on in Bregenz.  The only fried food there was from the “Original American Donuts” stand where the donuts were still fried less than actual American Donuts.  There were also multiple chocolate-covered fruit stands which is unheard of at US festivals.  The portion sizes are also more reasonable.  You can go out to dinner and get a sandwich without all the sides and such that makes dinners in the US so filling.
3)      Smoking:  Almost everyone here smokes and there are many places that don’t have separate smoking sections of the restaurants or some buildings.  I have gotten used to the no-smoking laws in Michigan so I was really surprised to find a smoking lounge when we got off the plane in Zurich. 

4)      Drinking:  There are no open-container laws.  It is a nice feeling to be able to walk down the street with an open beer and sit on the beach drinking. 

5)      Overall health:  I don’t know if it’s because we are in the Alps or not but the people here are generally just much healthier.  When a group from MSU walked up the nearby mountain we had to stop multiple times to catch our breath.  Meanwhile there was a mom with an infant in a carrier strapped to her and a 2 year old wandering down the mountain.  Apparently 2-year-old Europeans are more in shape than 20-year-old Americans.  People here also walk and bike a lot, another reason they appear more in shape. 

6)      Bilingualism:  Just about everyone I have encountered is bilingual at least to some extent.  Not everyone is fluent but they still know more English than I know any other language.  This has been very helpful since I know next to no German but makes me realize how self-centered many Americans are since we seem to feel no real need to learn another language. 

7)      Driving:  Bregenz is a relatively small city where lots of people walk or bike so there aren’t many cars on the roads which is good since most of the roads aren’t wide enough to fit cars going both directions but aren’t one way streets.  This means that as people drive (usually through hills) they have to suddenly pull off to the side when there is a spot to let other people pass.  I have only been in a car once here (when we got picked up from the train station) and it was an interesting experience.  There also are areas that look like paved pedestrian courtyards between shops that randomly have cars on them.  On the plus side, people stop when you are waiting at a cross walk.  This is very different from MSU (and may not work out in my favor when I get back).

8)      Dogs:  People bring their dogs with them everywhere.  The beach, restaurant, train…I even saw a person with a cage for his bike basket to keep the dog in.  That was interesting.

9)      Drinking Water:  All the sinks here are safe to drink from and taste good too (nothing like MSU water).  The fountains can even be used to fill up water bottles, which is very handy.  I should probably check into if this is true for the other parts of Europe I’m traveling to but for now it’s nice at least. 

Overall there haven’t been any drastic cultural differences to get used to so far while in Europe.  I realize I have very little to compare it with but Italy had a different feel than the rest of Europe.  I am interested to see how other cities and countries vary from my experience thus far.  With another 26 days in Europe (and lots more traveling in that time) I’m sure I will experience other cultural differences throughout my travels.  

Adjusting without Internet

We were warned that some of our homestays may not have internet; mine is one of those homestays.  This was hard to get used to for many reasons.  One of my instructors here didn’t have internet at first and he said it felt like he didn’t have a soul.  As a US college kid I spend lots more time on the internet than I need to so cutting back on my internet use wasn’t the problem.  The problem was that without a phone, the internet is the only way I have to contact people.  We can use the school for internet access but that’s pretty much only during the week.

Adjusting to being over 4,000 miles from home was harder than I thought it would be, especially when I wasn’t able to contact many people at first.  I thought I would be ok.  I’m in Europe, I should be enjoying all of it but between jet lag and anxiety I had a rough first few days not helped by the fact that I didn’t have internet for more than a few minutes at a time.  The first morning I was in Bregenz, which was 2 days since I had left the US, I went down to the stage where I was told the day before there was free WiFi.  It was raining and they were practicing on the stage so you couldn’t go on the bleachers but they would be too wet to sit on anyways.  I ended up standing awkwardly balancing my umbrella against my shoulder with my chin as I typed a few emails and a facebook status from my Kindle.  I’m sure I looked absolutely ridiculous but I didn’t care.  It was the only contact I had with anyone from home and it was as the excitement of being in Europe was being replaced by anxiety.    

With only a few minutes of internet throughout the weekend I set up a skype session for some time when I got out of class on Monday.  The problem was that I didn’t know for sure when class would get out but Joe being the amazing person he is got up at 7:45 to wait for me to get online since I needed to skype.  We ended up getting out of class around 1:00 that day since we were just talking about the history of Austria and then ran to the store and the train station to reserve trains for the weekend and after the trip.  I ended up getting back to the school at 8:20 Eastern time to an e-mail from Joe saying that he was going back to bed but he left his computer open and phone next to him so he would hear an email or skype call.  I only had about 15 minutes to skype since there was a group of people hiking to the top of the nearby mountain.  I was glad I was in the classroom alone as I spent most of the call crying for no good reason other than anxiety. 

It turned out that first short skype call was all I needed to get over my anxiety.  Since then I have been fine.  I think a combination of having a more of a routine with classes and doing stuff after class with a group have helped make me less anxious and I also was just more comfortable with everything here.  Joe and I ended up skyping the next day for a few minutes because I stopped at the school on my way back from the beach and he was able to be online.  That skype call went better with no tears on my end.  Yesterday while everyone from my apartment went to the school to “work on homework” between eating dinner and going to the bar I was able to skype again and was all smiles as I told him more details about my weekend that I didn’t feel like taking the time to type out on my Kindle while facebook chatting on the train.  (Trains with WiFi are pretty fantastic.)  I’m hoping that I will be fine with everything for the rest of the trip.  I am having the time of my life and I will try not to let mild anxiety get in the way of that.  

Wearing out a pair of shoes (and burning through my wallet)

Many people who know me know that I have a slight obsession with shoes.  Mainly shoes I got form the clearance rack.  That being said it was near impossible to decide which shoes to bring to Europe.  I cut back a few but still brought way too many with the intention that I would probably wear through at least one pair which was fine since I got most of the them for around $10 a pair. 

This past weekend we had a free weekend with 3 days of traveling planned.  I looked at the weather and saw that it was supposed to rain in Salzburg and then be hot and sunny in Venice.  With all the traveling we had planned we didn’t have a place to keep our stuff so we had to pack everything for the weekend in our book bags to carry around pretty much all weekend so I wanted to just bring one pair of shoes and then flip-flops if needed for the hostel showers.  I decided on one pair, my blue striped canvas shoes, which matched everything I was planning on wearing.  I wore the shoes on Wednesday when it rained in Bregenz and decided that they were more comfortable when wet than dry so that was great.  I thought I hated having wet feet but it turns out that I just hate having wet socks so that worked well for this weekend. 

The bottom of those shoes are twine so it turns out they were still wet from Wednesday when we got on the train Thursday afternoon.  I let them dry off more on the 4 hour train ride to Salzburg and they were dry by the time we got there.  Once we got there we had dinner at a restaurant near the train station where I got Weiner Schnitzel for the first time and ordered a Fanta which is the color of orange juice without all the dye in it.  We then found our way to the subway (after we stared at a map for a while until someone came up and asked where we needed to go) and got on the train less than 2 minutes before it left.  We made it to the hostel fine and chilled for the rest of the night. 

 

Dinner at 8:30 after 4 hours of train ride is great.

We woke up to rain while we ate breakfast but it had stopped by the time we left.  The wet streets soaked through my shoes almost immediately and started creeping up the sides and top as we waked to the subway and through the train station to buy Salzburg Cards which granted us free access to many museums and public buses.  We wandered around Salzburg for a couple hours before going to the train station to find another person from our class who was coming out for a day.  Shortly after we got back into the touristy part it started downpouring.  We decided it was past time for lunch but at this point my shoes were soaked and my big toe on my right foot had worn through the top of my shoes (it was a matter of time before this happened since my big toes curl up). 

Beginning of the day, still not too bad.

Meriposa Gardens

By the time we got done with lunch it had stopped raining so we saw Mozart’s birthhouse and museum, contemporary art museum, and natural history museum.  It had started raining again when we were there, no rest for my wet shoes.  After that we went to the fortress where it started raining again and were then headed to Hellsburn Palace and the trick fountains.  From the brochures we knew what bus to take and what stop to get off so we got on the bus and stopped at what we thought was our spot.  It turns out that the bus we were on displayed the stop we just stopped at in the largest text and then the upcoming stops underneath that.  We thought the largest text was the upcoming stop so we got off one stop too late and my wet shoes had to walk a kilometer in the rain back the other direction avoiding slugs the entire time.  We made it to Hellsburn Palace though and enjoyed the grounds and fountains.  The grounds had the Sound of Music gazebo and the fountains were amazing and built in a few years 400 years ago. 

Trick Fountains at Hellsburn Palace.

In Salzburg before I took of my shoes for the night.  I was leaving wet footprints everywhere.

While waiting for the bus to go back downtown for dinner I decided it was time to take my shoes off since the ink was actually washing out of them and my feet looked like prunes.  Good thing I had my flip-flops with me.  After dinner we went to a bar near the train station to wait for our 1:34am train to Venice.  My sopping wet shoes went from the water bottle pocket of my book bag to the floor of the bar and then to the luggage rack in the train compartment.  With 5 people in a 6 person compartment all with their wet shoes off it stated smelling pretty bad in there and some guy sat in the extra seat for about 5 minutes before he left; probably because he couldn’t stand the smell of feet.  We had a compartment full of drunk people speaking German next to us so that made sleeping difficult until we started moving around 2:30am.  At that point no one had taken the extra seat and we decided to just take over the extra seat so we could stretch out a bit and arrived in Venice at 8:30am. 

My shoes were only slightly damp now but definitely worse-for-wear.  The hole from my toenail was bigger and more prominent, there was a small hole near the outside of my left foot, the stitching on that shoe was stretching, and there were lines from where the dye had come out.  I decided that these shoes wouldn’t make it home from Europe but I wore them all morning as we took the waterbus tour around and then went to the island of Murano.  Sleeping on the train, walking around, and being dehydrated made my feet swell so my feet were starting to hurt a bit.  After Murano we checked into the hostel and I looked at the damage to my feet.  There were 3 identically spaced scabs on my right foot so I decided it was time for flip-flops for walking around St. Marc’s square, eating dinner, and taking a Gondola ride.  Venice is much more flip-flop friendly than Bregenz and Salzburg with less hills and more even brick-work sidewalks. 

Venice!

On the way to Murano.  My feet are swollen here but only got worse in the next few hour.  

The next day we went back to St. Marc’s appropriately dressed so we could get in and wandered our way back to the train station getting lunch and gelato on the way.  My shoes stayed in my book bag all day Sunday so my feet were in much better shape.  We spent about 9 hours getting back to Bregenz with our second train delayed by about 20 minutes getting us back at 12:30am on Monday.  

You can't wear shorts and have to have your shoulders covered but you can still wear flip-flops in St. Marc's.

My shoes came out of my book bag before class on Monday and I’m not sure they will be worn again in Bregenz or just thrown out; either way, they won’t make it home and I’ll have more room for chocolate.  Next weekend we go to Vienna and the weekend after that Munich before I have 10 days of straight tourist mode through 3 different countries.  We will see how many more pairs of shoes I end up wearing through (and how much of my bank account I spend).

Hiking the Alps

After class on Monday a group of people decided to hike to the top of the mountain near Bregenz.  I didn't really know what to expect or even how far people planned on going.  I was thinking something along the lines of US National parks.  I packed up my bookbag to include by water bottle, bathing suit,  and towel because there was talk of swimming when we got down since it was nice out.  I didn't want to wear my gross gym shorts so I decided to be really stylish and wear my tennis shoes with a sundress.

The hike up the mountain was harder than I expected, it was steeper than most of what I have hiked before. Having a bookbag on also left I giant sweat mark on my back so that was awesome but after an hour and a half we made it to the top!  We stopped quite a few times on the way up and felt like lazy Americans but we took pictures when we stopped too.

The streams were really cold so we put our hands in them to cool off.

This alone pretty much made the hike worth it.

Taken at the top of the mountain where the tram lets people off.

On the top of the mountain we got ice cream and looked at the zoo that contained mountain animals.  A few people decided to hike to the next village so we walked an hour downhill to the village of Fluh.  It turns out there isn't much there except for slugs.  The sidewalks right near the grass were covered in slugs.  Other than that we passed a fire station, church, houses and a hotel/restaurant that was closed on Mondays since it was about 6:30 when we got there we were slightly disappointed by that.

The Church in Fluh

 We found a bus that ran from Fluh into Bregenz and took the last one of the night.  When we got off the bus we found other people who had gone swimming after getting back down from the mountain so we all got dinner then headed to the beach (with a beer in hand) to hang out and watch the sunset.  It was a great ending to the night

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Living with a Host Family

As promised, a post about my homestay experience.

I didn’t know what to expect for homestays.  The only homestay experience I have had so far was staying with a family for one night when we were in Mexico for ASB.  Me and 1 other girl who both had high school level Spanish were with a mother, her mother, her 10 year old daughter and 5 month old son for a night.  She knew next to no English (less than I knew Spanish) so the other girl held a brief conversation while at dinner while I spent most the time making faces at the baby.  Needless to say I was a little weary about living with a family for a month after that but we were told all the families would speak English so one less thing to worry about (especially because my German is essentially non-existent).  We received our homestay assignments about a week before we left and I found I was living with 4 other girls from MSU.  I was glad there were so many other MSU students but was unsure how that would work when living with a family.   

All the rooms had Roses.  We also got welcome cards made by the girls and chocolate.

Our host dad and his 2 daughters picked us up from the train station.  We found them because they were standing with Willi (described in my previous post) and we were introduced to Klaus, Keli and Lefe (and I probably spelled both of the girls’ names wrong).  He then took us to their house and told us we would be staying in the apartment on the top floor.  In Bregenz many of the houses have individual families living on each floor in separate apartments and the family we are “staying” with owns both the ground floor and top floor apartments with another family living between the two.  There are 3 rooms plus a bathroom (with toilet and sink in one room and shower and sink in another) and a kitchen.  With 5 girls this means only 1 girl gets her own room.  That girl isn’t me which is fine.  Sarah W. and I share a king sized bed so it’s essentially like having our own bed. 

Bed in our room.  I just have to remember not to hit my head on the ceiling.  

 We don’t see the host family much which is somewhat disappointing as we don’t have the same experience as some other students on our trip but it is also nice to have a place to ourselves.  The first night we were here the parents came up and talked to us and Lefe came up with them and talked to us for a few minutes.  I found out she is 4 years old because I can count to 10 (and now maybe a bit higher) in German so I started counting and pointing at her.  She then continued talking and I just smiled.  I would love to learn more German so I can talk to this adorable blonde, curly haired little girl (but that would also involve seeing the family more than in passing).  The host family has to provide us breakfast and a place to do laundry.  I haven’t had to do laundry yet (it hasn’t even been a week, I brought WAY too many clothes to need to do it anytime soon) but they did put some breakfast food in the fridge/pantry for us and then got us more yesterday.  Unfortunately they did it during class so we didn’t get to see them.  A stack of towels also showed up this afternoon so I know they come up here but we are not in the apartment much.  (Update:  2 of the girls were here and they took our towels and are washing them for us.)

My version of unpacking.  It's only gotten worse... 

We did talk to them for a bit tonight when they came up because a light bulb burnt out in one of the rooms.  I think they are trying to find the right balance between letting us have our space and being there when we need something.  Overall the homestay experience has been uneventful since it is essentially living in a families extra apartment that has breakfast food magically show up and the garbage taken out for us.  Maybe overtime we will talk to the family more however since there is no internet at the house it is more likely that our evening when we are not out (or after we have been out) will be at the school so we can do homework.  (There is homework to do offline too but I decided writing this offline sounded like a better idea than doing homework which I now can no longer avoid.)  

Flight and Arrival in EUROPE!

I was freaking out a bit on the drive to the Detroit airport.  This was a new experience and I was excited but not sure what to expect, that and I have mild anxiety so being about to leave the country for 40 days gives an unsettling feeling.  I met Sarah at the airport, said goodbye to my parents and boyfriend, Joe, and after I printed my boarding passes got in line for security.  This was the third time I had flown in15 months so I knew what to expect and since it was a weekday morning the lines weren’t too bad.  Going through the scanner thing an area around my boob came up yellow so a TSA officer explained that she would have to use her hands to inspect the air and that I could choice to go into a private room if I liked; I really didn’t care so I said there was fine.  Right before she was about to start she stopped and asked how old I was.  Apparently when I’m wearing glasses and have on little make up I look younger than 18.  I guess I’ll take that as a compliment. 

We then flew from Detroit to La Gaurdia airport in New York.  The plane was small, only 3 seats and an aisle across, and the lady sitting next to me had a 4ish month old child sitting on her lap.  Luckily the baby was pretty good and also very cute so even though he woke up when I was about to fall asleep (and therefore I was too distracted to fall back asleep) he didn’t fuss very much and only started crying briefly a few times.  After that flight we took a shuttle to JFK airport and then waited for 5 hours til we could board our plane to Zurich. 

Surprisingly I was not very anxious while waiting to get on the plane and only started to get anxious once we had boarded.  Naturally as I started to freak out the pilot announced we would be another 45 minutes or so.  Every time we moved and the engine roared my heart-rate skyrocketed.  It didn’t help that the monitors on the plane displayed how far we were going (4034 miles) and the arrival time which kept getting moved back.  It also showed the local time in New York and in Zurich.  I had already set my watch for the time change so I checked it every single time the time was displayed.  Once we took off my anxiety eased and all I wanted to do was sleep.

This flight had people from all walks of life.  For example, the guy sitting next to me had on white skinny jeans, a yellow shirt with pink flowers, and a bleached denim jacket; to top it off he had a really thin mustache.  Oh well, he seemed nice enough for the whole 5 words I probably spoke to him.  I got to experience airline dinner and breakfast as well on the flight; definitely not good but not terrible.  The worst part was that all the distributing of food kept interrupting my attempts at a nap.  I also experience turbulence for the first time on a flight.  I always thought the slight bumpiness you occasionally felt was turbulence.  Wrong.  Turbulence is half the tea of the guy sitting next to me splashing out of the cup and flight attendants being asked to take their seats.  Other than that it was an uneventful flight.  I slept from the sun setting below the clouds to the sun rising above the clouds.  Unfortunately when you are flying East that’s only about 3 hours. 

Getting through customs in Switzerland was easier than getting into Canada (and also easier than finding your way through the Zurich airport).  I told them I was studying abroad for 5 and a half weeks and they scanned and stamped my passport.  Being in Zurich we wanted to see more than just the airport so after collecting our luggage, finding the lockers to store it, activating our railpass, etc. we took a train to the main Zurich station.  This was my first time on a train and it really wasn’t bad at all (so one less thing I have to worry about).  We only spent about 2 hours walking around Zurich but we were exhausted from having slept 8 hours or less over what was supposed to be a 2 day time frame.  Getting a 47 pound suitcase onto a train was interesting on the way to Bregenz but we managed ok and made it to Bregenz without any further issues. 

Did you know there was a river in Zurich?  I didn't.  Shows you how much I looked at a map before I came.  

We had seen one of our professors on the train so we knew we could look for him at the Bregenz station and some mysterious guy named Willi that coordinated the homestays and those aspects of the trip.  We were told we would recognize him by his clothes and handlebar mustache and upon getting off the train we saw our professor standing next to a tall guy with a yellow suit, mohair tie, and handlebar mustache.  Willi.  Willi was also with the dad of our host family and their 2 small girls.  I’ll write more on the homestay later. 

After a 3-4 hour nap (which could have been 12 hours for how hard I slept) we went down to the Harbor (of Lake Constance) for the local harborfest.  We had dinner and beer with most of the other MSU students there so all was good. 

Today (which will be yesterday when I get a chance to post this) we had a 2 hour Orientation with our professors and then a 3 hour German lesson.  I still know next to none; maybe 3 more hours tomorrow will help (but probably not, especially since that is our last lesson).  It has been cold (sub 60’s) and raining all day and I do not do well with wet feet so after getting dinner at harborfest a few of us walked around for a bit but I went back earlyish.  I had had enough of rain but apparently everyone else hasn’t, the other 3 MSU girls at our homestay are still out even though it is downpouring.  I will join them on some other night when it isn’t quite so cold and wet and when I feel like drinking a beer.  Instead I spent time putting pictures on my computer and writing this ridiculously long blog post which I will post tomorrow when I have internet.  Even though this post is long I still have a lot of experiences to share.  They will have to wait for another time as I should sleep.  For now…Gute Nacht. 

Packingx2

First off, I leave for Europe tomorrow!!!

This of course means that I finished my packing today, especially since I have to get up early tomorrow.  My flight leaves at 10:20 meaning I should be at the airport around 8:15 meaning I have to leave my house in Frankenmuth around 6 AM.  That is early for a college kid but I'll be able to sleep on the drive to the airport and on the planes.

So back to the whole packing thing.  I consider my self and expert over-packer.  I have traveled enough I know what I need and then normally throw in a few extra of everything just in case.  This mentality obviously wouldn't work for a 40 day trip in one suitcase.  I normally make lists for packing; I even have a notebook of packing lists for trips since the summer of 2006.  This list was on my computer and one of the larger lists I've made.  Not only is it a long trip but I can't rely on my parents to have items such as nail-clippers and other small items I never pack because someone else does.  I also had to figure out what I needed to buy before the trip.  (The answer: A LOT!)

After the lists were made it came time to start getting stuff together.  This was made slightly more complicated because I was packing at my parents' house where some of my stuff was but also had lots at my apartment at school that needed to be packed.  I came home every weekend over the summer to work though so it wasn't a big problem, just required some planning.  As stuff came home, I started laying everything out on my bedroom floor to see what I had to fit into a suitcase.

These were the results:

Not too bad; Right?

Wrong.  Here is the other side of the bed.

This suitcase looked smaller than I remembered.

 Throughout this process I was contemplating how long it would take me to pack.  Joe assured me that packing only takes about 2 hours; I told him it took me 45 minutes to decide which shoes to bring, packing was not going to take 2 hours.

In the end I got everything I wanted to in the suitcase.  There is an option to expand it which I will plan on doing on the way home to get souvenirs back.  I also can throw out the towels if needed.  Now I just need to see if I can get everything I want in my carry-on to fit...

It closes and everything!

The part that makes this post about packingx2 is packing up at my apartment at school.  My lease expires a week after I get back so in the process of bringing stuff home every weekend I also brought home items that were no longer needed at my apartment.  The result is a bedroom at home full of stuff and a very bare bedroom at my apartment.  

My now boring bedroom wall.

Now that packing for Europe is done (or at least just about done) I get to spend the rest of the night with my parents and boyfriend before I leave.  Hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight.  Tomorrow starts an adventure.

Getting Started

In 5 days I leave for a Study Abroad trip to Europe so I decided it would be a good time to start a blog to share my experiences with whoever wants to read them.

I have wanted to participate in a study abroad program since I was in high school.  After looking at many different programs during my freshman year I found one that was during the summer and included an IAH class that was required for my major.  The trip is titled "Music, Art and Language in Bregenz" and is based out of Bregenz, Austria with planned weekend trips to Vienna and Munich.  In October I visited the table for the trip I was looking at and after talking to one of the professors for 5 minutes was satisfied that it was in fact the trip I wanted to go on.  I applied a few days after and was accepted into the program within a few weeks after that.  Then the waiting game started until I knew more about the trip to start planning.

At the beginning of the new semester we started receiving emails from the professors on the trip and had a facebook group set up.  I knew no one that was on the trip but wanted to find someone to travel to Paris with me either before or after the trip.  Through the facebook group I found someone else who wanted to travel while we were in Europe.  We decided that traveling after the trip would be easier because we would be familiar with trains and such after the trip; we also decided to go to Paris, Belgium, and London.  With places to go and plane tickets booked we were on our way to get the journey started.

Figuring out trains to where we wanted to go proved more challenging than you would think.  It turns out Bregenz is a relatively small city so there are not a lot of trains going to and from there in the direction we needed to go.  I didn't feel like switching trains 4+ times and traveling for 13 hours was worth it to go to different places so combing through the time tables was necessary to find a train with the most direct route.  The main reason I wanted to go to Belgium was because my dad lived there for 18 months before my parents go married.  My parents told me of their favorite small town in Belgium so I also had to look into local trains, and figure out how to look into local trains, to plan that leg of the journey.  In the end only a few mild panic attacks ensued from figuring out trains and most were more related to the fact that I have never been on a train before and have no clue what to expect but since they are the only way to efficiently get all over Europe I'm sure I"ll learn quickly.  

After figuring out when we would be where based on the train schedule the rest was relatively easy (or at least significantly easier).  We will sight see and do touristy stuff and other than that don't have much of a plan.  We have places to stay so that's all that's really needed.  We also have a free weekend during our trip where are group of us are going to Salzburg and Venice, luckily someone else took the lead on that so I was spared additional panic attacks.  

If all goes as planned (and I have no reason to foresee that it won't) then we will be going to 7 countries in 40 days.  That probably means I won't end up sleeping all that much but that's ok; this is a once in a lifetime opportunity that so many people are not able to experience.  I'm going to make the most of it.