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.