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Spring Break, how do I love thee, let me count the ways. Okay, so it was more of a love/hate relationship. It started out spectacularly and then ended on a rather sour note.

We left on March 30 for Budapest, Hungary. It was beautiful there!! BEAUTIFUL, I tell you. The history was all rather fascinating. The group I travelled with went to the Terror Museum. Don’t get any ideas, friends. I’m still terrified of scary movies; this museum was about the reign of terror in post-WWII Hungary. Needless to say, most Hungarians probably hate Russia. (Well, most of Eastern Europe probably hates Russia.)

Budapest

After Budapest, we flew to Brussels, and immediately went to Paris. Probably the first and last time I will be on a first class car on a train. It was wonderful: free WiFi, free food and super comfy seats. In Paris, I’m pretty positive that I hyperextended my right arm. (In fact, today is April 26 and my arms are still kind of numb. That can’t be good, can it?)

And I pretty much dislike Paris. I’m not big into French (finally figured out it is because their language doesn’t sound angry. I like my angry sounding languages: German, Russian, etc.) and I also wasn’t completely stunned by things like the Eiffel Tower. It was pretty, and it was tall. I was more fascinated with Montmartre and the Moulin Rouge.

Unfortunately, there are no pictures of me with a cancan dancer, because Moulin Rouge tickets were like €100, so that was super out of my budget. I did enjoy quite a few crepes, but I didn’t try any escargot.

The palace of Versailles, near Paris.

After Paris, we went to Brussels, and stayed for two days. SO MANY FRIES AND WAFFLES!! (Side note: French fries are not, in fact, French, but Belgian.) It was nice, but by this time, I wasn’t happy with the people I travelled with and was ready to apparate to America (or even back to Salzburg).

Amsterdam. I want to go back to Amsterdam. We only spent a day there, and it was a cold and gross day, so for a city that the author John Green seems to adore, I either can’t see it, or wasn’t there long enough to absorb the awesome that resides there. I tried to go to the Anne Frank house, but the line literally wrapped around the building … way too much of a wait. Plus, as I mentioned, I was freezing.

On Easter Sunday, we flew from Amsterdam to Rome, where the city proceeded to mess with us for the entire trip. We were tired and exhausted of traveling, plus it got down into the high 30s, low 40s, and we were staying in camping villa. That’s right, friends, I went camping. Sort of.

I still saw all the classic sights: Roman Forum, the Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, etc. I was super excited to see the Vestal Virgins (which, if you’ve read Maureen Johnson’s 13 Little Blue Envelopes, you’d understand). AND THERE WAS SO MUCH GELATO!!

The Coliseum

The last day of Rome, we were going to take a train to Florence. I have been in love with Tuscany ever since watching Under the Tuscan Sun when I was like…12. Unfortunately, Rome just did not want me to fully enjoy Tuscany. We missed the first train we could take to Florence; the second train was missed because a Gypsy stole the phone of the one of the girls I was traveling with, and finally, we got to go to Florence. We enjoyed maybe three or four hours of sunlight, but never fear, it was GORGEOUS! I really want to go back!

New friends!

Next time … back to Salzburg, plus Prague!

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Things have been really hectic around here lately, starting right before Spring Break. I had many assignments due that I wanted to finish before my sister and cousin came to visit me. I couldn’t have been more excited to see them! But it meant logging a LOT of hours in the library for the week and a half leading up to when they got here. Most of my friends left for different places around Europe on Friday and Saturday, but my sister and cousin weren’t arriving until Sunday morning so I had plenty of free time to finish up last minute things.

On Sunday, I got up bright and early at 6 a.m. and headed to the Tube to make the one-hour ride to Heathrow Airport. I was so anxious the entire ride, wishing it would go by faster. It took the girls a long time to get their bags and get through customs. Their plane landed at 7:40 and I arrived at 8:30, but they didn’t actually come out of the arrivals gate until 9:30.

They were pretty jetlagged but serious about not wanting to go to sleep so I became tour guide Chelsea and walked them all over the city. We walked around my school here, through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, down past Green Park, to Piccadilly Square, Leicester Square, Chinatown and finishing up in Trafalgar Square. Don’t worry, everything is much closer than it sounds like, but they still swear I was trying to kill them!

High tea at Harrod's.

That day we also went to Afternoon Tea at Harrods. Harrods is such a fabulous place; I’m not sure how many times I’ve been and I know I still haven’t seen everything! After tea we headed back to my teeny tiny dorm to pack for Dublin the next day and print our boarding passes before dinner. We went to have great British roast and play pub quiz for dinner, and I think the girls loved it!

When we got back we finished packing and went straight to bed seeing as we had to get up at 4 a.m. to head to Dublin! The trip there was very long. We had to take an hour bus ride to the airport where we spent some time trying to find our check-in desk. Ryan Air is definitely not the most convenient airline, but then again they do not claim to be. We got to our hostel in Dublin about 1:30 p.m. Fortunately, we had a private room and were able to check in, where we found that we also had our own bathroom – a huge plus! The hostel was a huge bargain with everything we had included and all the help they gave us getting around the city.

While we were there we visited the Dublin castle, the Guinness Storehouse, did a walking tour of the city, where we saw huge sites such as Trinity College, and we saw some great areas of town with the best shops. It was a short trip but we definitely had a fantastic time!

In the gravity lounge at the Guiness storehouse.

Next time … Mom comes to visit!

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We got up early the next day and ventured out on the public transport to see the Van Gogh museum. The museum was incredible, but it did make me realize how much I appreciated his style of painting – the truth is not much. The paintings kind of started to give me a headache. Once we left there we did some more walking around. I feel like the majority of our trip was walking around looking at the architecture.  We went into some of the tourist shops, looking for typical souvenirs. That night we went on a cruise of the canals where we got to see some sights we hadn’t seen yet and hear the history behind them. The canals of Amsterdam are truly a wonder within themselves, especially at night when all of the bridges are lit  up underneath.

The next day was our final day in the city, so we got up early and were second in line at the Anne Frank House. It was amazing how they brought Anne Frank’s diary to life. Since I read the diary when I was younger I was impressed and moved with how real things seemed for an unfurnished apartment. The museum was not meant to be furnished, but they had models showing how the apartment would have been decorated. Simply being there combined with the museum itself was so moving and I recommend it to anyone traveling into the city.

Our train ride back to London was good until we stopped in Brussels, where we grabbed some dinner between trains. When we headed back to the gate, we saw that we were going to have to go through customs and security before boarding the train. We hadn’t had to do that for a train yet, so we didn’t exactly give ourselves enough time. Sprinting through the train station we ran out onto the platform to see our train hadn’t left yet, and we jumped onto the first car we saw.

Saying prayers of thanks for making the train as it began to move just a minute later, we noticed that we were in car 11 with all of our luggage, but our tickets were for car 2. At this point we didn’t care anymore and left our things on a luggage rack in that car and started the ten-minute trek down the train to our seats.

Once we arrived back in London I was so relieved. I had started to become homesick for London on the trip. My friends had warned me about this from when they had gone on trips, but this was my first one so I hadn’t experienced it yet. I think this was when I realized how much I really love this city!

Next time … family visits!

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The "I amsterdam" sign.

Hello Amsterdam! When my friends and I arrived in this beautiful city we were overwhelmed by the beauty of every single building. I am slowly learning that every city has a completely different feel and appearance, specific to itself.

We took a EuroStar train from London to Amsterdam, with just a short stop in Brussels to change trains. The EuroStar really is a fantastic way to travel, and the train station is directly in the center of Amsterdam, which was a huge plus. We simply had to walk around a huge square to get to our hotel.

When we came out of the station we knew Amsterdam was unlike any city we had ever been to. The first noticeable thing was the beauty of every single building. Each building in that square looks as if it was created as a work of art, with ornate designs along the top and domed roofs. Then the buildings on each street look as if they came off of a Hollywood set. For one, they are all built to slant forward (which we later found out is on purpose). The second thing we noticed was all of the bikes! Bikes are the first form of transportation for most of the people in Amsterdam and let me tell you, those bikes were everywhere! I had never seen so many bicycles in my entire life.

We took off around the edges of the square (a canal makes up the middle of it) and quickly learned the hard way that the trams in Amsterdam are the equivalent to public transportation busses, and they drive right down the middle of the street, or the sidewalk as was the case. Good thing they have horns on them, or my friends and I would be pancakes. When we finally made our way to our hotel we were pretty exhausted, so we settled our stuff in and found a burger restaurant that we had heard phenomenal reviews from, and ate some dinner.

We got a good night’s sleep and woke up early the next morning to do a free walking tour, which was a great way to see parts of the city and hear history that we never would have known. It’s amazing how tolerant Amsterdam is of every kind of person and for how long they have been this way. The locals joke that they are not sure if they are tolerant or if they are good businessmen who don’t want to turn away customers. Either way, Amsterdam today is home to all different types of people and they make up a culture that is incredibly unique.

That night one of my friends and I took a tour of the Red Light District. We figured you had to if you were in Amsterdam! I’m definitely glad we took the tour, as it was eye opening and we learned a lot about the economy and government in the city over time. We also learned that since the city has legalized certain practices, the rates for crime related to those practices has dropped significantly. Amsterdam is actually considered one of the safest cities in Europe.

Next time … more of Amsterdam. And we almost miss our train home.

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Well, I’m officially 21, but before you freak out, People At School, I had a test at 8:30 the morning after my birthday, so not a lot actually happened. I finally figured out what I’m doing for Spring Break, so be prepared for some EPIC pictures!

Now, as of my last blog post, I said I was going to discuss my travel plans, but I don’t want you all getting too jealous, okay? (This means you, Joey.)

First off, we have a two-week Spring Break (or Easter Break as it’s called here) and it officially starts on April 2, but a lot of us are actually leaving on March 30, when four friends and I will travel to Budapest, Hungary. From there, we have a flight to Brussels (Belgium), and we’ll take a train from there to Paris. PARIS!! I’m so excited about going to the Moulin Rouge!!

On April 3, we’ll go back to Brussels to hang there for a day or so until we head by train to Amsterdam, where we’ll wait until our flight to Rome on April 8. As of right now, details are still iffy, but we’re kind of crazy for flying into Rome on Easter Sunday. Okay, I believe crazy may be an understatement.

We’ll  be in Rome for a few days, then go to Florence before we finishing our week in Italy in Verona, on our way back to Salzburg. (Just FYI, I’m planning on going to Venice this weekend – March 24.)

I’m starting to really miss home, but I’m also becoming more comfortable using the train system. This happens when you have to travel to Munich by yourself. (But really, it’s no big deal. Two hours on a train is do-able). My birthday was really hard because I got a package from my mom that included a card that sang “In My Daughter’s Eyes” by Martina McBride, and I won’t lie when I say that I started crying hardcore. At least I was in my room, right?

But regardless, I’m SUPER excited about my break, and I can’t wait to have gelato in Italy!! (Really, I mean, YoLo, you’re good and everything, but you aren’t Italy.)

If I’ve managed to walk off quite a few pounds, I feel like I’ll put them all back on in Italy.

Here are a couple photos from recent adventures:

Krystina and friends at the opera in Vienna.

Krystina in front of the Schoenbrunn Palace.

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I’ve also been traveling. My roommate Rebekah and I went on this tour with Andreas (our cultural coordinator/director/person/thing) and five more of our fellow program attendees to Berchtesgarden and the Lake District (Salzkammergut). Berchtesgarden is near where Hitler’s second base was located (after Berlin, of course), and his main area, the Eagle’s Nest, is still there. It was kind of cool, but I would like to go back and actually see the Eagle’s Nest. Right now there is just too much snow for anyone to trek up the mountain to see it.

Because we went to Berchtesgarden, we had to journey into Germany. You’d think that driving into another country would be a big deal, but it was no bigger than driving across the Ohio River into Evansville.

The Von Trapp family villa.

I can’t wait to go places. Salzburg is beautiful, surrounded by mountains, but I didn’t come here just to be in Salzburg! I want to travel! Verona, Italy, (the location of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet) is only a few hours away by train. (Okay, so more like 6-7, but still. That’s a weekend trip, right there).

A bunch of people have already started planning their Spring Break trips, but I haven’t the foggiest idea where to go. I’m tempted to pack my backpack full of clothes, buy a train ticket to the first place I see (and can afford) and just go. Backpack around Europe for a week or so, and then come back and ‘recover.’ But nothing is set in stone.

Oh! Fasching! Fasching is what the Germans celebrate instead of Mardi Gras; it’s been described to me as the German Halloween (because it wasn’t until about 10-12 years ago that the German-speaking people even began celebrating Halloween). I dressed up as a zombie, and my friend Allison dressed up as a “pretty pretty princess” (her words, not mine) and we went out. It was a lot of fun, plus I met Gandalf, as well as some very interesting characters.

Kinda fuzzy, but this is Krystina and her friend Allison with a group of Italians they met at Fasching.

It’s beginning to be difficult to be away from home. It feels like I’ve been gone for at least a month, and I’ve only just started my third week here. By the time May rolls around, who knows how long it’ll feel like I’ve been here.

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February 24, 2012

At M&M World.

I wasn’t lying when I said I was glad I didn’t spend the money on the Paris trip, but I was pretty jealous of all my friends traveling while I stayed at home. So almost immediately, I began booking trips that I had only been talking about up to that point. A few weeks ago a group of ten of us booked a trip to Barcelona over Easter weekend, so I already had some experience with finding what seem like decent, cheap places to stay and forms of travel. I’ll be in Barcelona from April 5-10 over our Easter Break and I cannot wait to be someplace warm and sunny!

My roommate, Lauren, and another friend Kayla and I decided to go to Amsterdam and booked our seats on the Eurostar. We haven’t yet decided where we are going to stay but we have some options in mind. Those tickets are booked for the weekend of February 25.

I also booked a trip to Dublin, Ireland for a few days over Spring Break for my sister, cousin and me. They are coming to visit for the entire week, leaving on St. Patricks Day. Unfortunately since they leave that day from London we couldn’t spend it in Ireland, but I have heard many times that St. Patty’s Day in Dublin is pretty much a tourist trap. Instead, we opted to visit the city from Monday-Wednesday during Spring Break. This way we can see some of the festivities without paying the holiday flight and hostel prices. Now if I can just find someone to go with me to Prague, my goals for the semester will be set!

Had to get the picture in the phone booth.

As great as everything is here, I did start to get a little homesick a few days ago. Even though I’ve lived in Owensboro two hours away from home for the last two-and-a-half years I always managed to make it home at least once a month, even if it was only for a few hours to pick something up. I also spent winter break this year in Arkansas for an internship, so until May I will not have been home for more than a few days since August.

I’m not wishing my time here away, or saying that it isn’t fabulous, but I think it hit me exactly how important my family and friends are. Not being able to call them whenever I want (go-phone problems) is really, really hard. But even with all of that said, one of my precious four months has gone by much faster than I thought it would, and I can’t decide what speed I would like the other three to pass at. I am sure they will go by very fast and I will look back on this wishing it lasted longer.

Right now, it’d be nice to see my old Kentucky home for a few days but I’ve got enough packed into the next few weeks to surely take my mind off of it!!

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Well, as of my last blog post, I said I was planning on climbing the mountain. I pretty much haven’t even thought about climbing it. I have, however, had to walk 25-30 minutes to class every day, and on Mondays, I will be making that trip at least three times. So, that’s almost like climbing a mountain, right? LOL.

My classes finally started on Feb. 20. Classes begin at 8:30 a.m., and we complained about that for all of two minutes before we were told that we only have class at 8:30 because no one wanted to have class on Fridays. So, I don’t have class on Fridays. Boo. Yeah.

It’s starting to get warmer around here. Until about two days ago, it was either snowing or raining. Now, I can walk around in my chucks and a jacket. It’s still chilly, and if we go up into the mountains, there will be snow boots and coats involved, but we’re pretty good in town.

Me and one of the other girls here walked around town and tried to get ourselves lost. It didn’t work. Still, we stumbled upon a store that sold incense, perfume, and all sorts of ‘oriental’ things. (I don’t know about you, but I don’t consider Egypt part of the Orient. But the name of the shop had ‘Orient’ in it, so…) I got a really pretty scarf and some AMAZING perfume.

A sampling of pastries that we all go to town to try.

Let me tell you, Europe is expensive. I bought snow boots back in the States, and walked so much in them that I got holes in the bottoms. Of both of them! I had to buy new boots, and they cost about 65 euros. Doesn’t sound bad, but lemme tell you how much that is in dollars: $98. I about croaked when I saw that on my bank account. I can’t find it in myself to be too angry; getting those boots kept me from getting sick because I had holes in my boots.

Next time … travel plans!

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February 14, 2012

So we have all begun to settle down into a routine. My classes are going really fantastically, and my schedule is even better. No class on Tuesdays and Fridays! I don’t think I could pick my favorite class if I had to. History of London has been great because every Wednesday we visit a different museum or area of town. This has helped me see so many different parts of the city already and there are so many places we are going that I cannot wait for! Tomorrow we are going to the Tower of London to see the crown jewels, and as a silly girl I cannot wait for this.

Sometimes it can be a little difficult getting to all of these places–some of them are an hour away on the tube. I can for sure say I did not expect two hours roundtrip of travel on my expense every week. And trust me, the tube is more expensive than you would think – those trips add up!

My Mainstream Film Studies class is probably the most thought provoking class I have ever taken. Every movie we watch has so many different theories attached to it that I never would have pulled out of my mind, and it is incredibly interesting to hear opinions from kids across the globe, especially when these theories usually concern the United States. My other classes are Photography and Political Communication (which can get a little heated with so many different nationalities in the room).

Along with routine comes repetition. My friends and I are always looking for a new restaurant or pub to try out. There are some great places very close by that are quick, easy choices for dinner or to hang out at for awhile. These places are very convenient, but we are trying to experience new places and things. Our meal plan only covers breakfast and dinner Monday-Friday and we don’t have kitchen facilities, so on the weekends we are forced to eat out somewhere. Finding new places can be hit-or-miss but some of my best meals here have been at places we walked into randomly.

We’ve also visited many museums, in an attempt to become more cultured, including the British National, Museum of London, Museum of London-Docklands, and the Victoria & Albert. We also got swept up into a giant celebration for New Zealand day, where people wore outrageous costumes and rushed to Westminster to see a traditional dance called the haka performed. It was quite humorous watching these people who were dressed so ridiculously fill up one of the most prim and proper areas of London.

A crowd gathered near Westminster Abbey for New Zealand Day.

This past weekend most of my friends went on a school-sponsored trip to Paris. Seeing as I just visited Paris in August, I opted out of paying the $400 in order to spend it elsewhere. They had a fantastic time, but I am glad I did not go because they saw mainly the same things I saw just a few months ago and apparently it was freezing. London has been pretty cold, but not anywhere near as bad as the rest of Europe.

This left my friend Nick and I to do some exploring of our own over the weekend. We had an eventful Friday night with some other students so our tired selves took it somewhat easy on Saturday and went to Borough Market and outdoor market with vendors that sell almost anything you could imagine. We sampled cheeses and jams and bought two of the most amazing grilled cheese and scallion sandwiches I have ever had. That will definitely be someplace I plan on taking my mom and sister when they visit! After leaving the market we warmed up with tea in a small cafe and called it a day.

Chelsea and her friend Nick take advantage of the interactive art in the Victoria and Albert museum.

Next time … travel plans!

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As Chelsea said in her blog, when people talk about study abroad, they never tell you just how hard it is. Granted, I never had extremely long layovers or anything, but I’m pretty sure I pulled a muscle dragging luggage around.

I arrived in London Heathrow at 6:45 in the morning on February 4. I spent two wonderful days in London where I got to go to Platform 9 ¾ AND I found the TARDIS. Sadly, I couldn’t find the Doctor anywhere, but never fear, I shouted for him. (I hope you get these references. If you don’t, you should definitely look them up.)

Platform 9 3/4.

Now, as I type this, I’m sitting in my dorm room (or as they prefer for us to call them, residence halls) in Salzburg. It’s very, very, very cold and has not stopped snowing since we came from Munich.  Of course, despite the cold, it makes for very pretty pictures.

Salzburg in the snow.

We moved into our dorms yesterday, and I live in a building connected to and run by the Catholic church. It’s called Institut St. Sebastian, and is pretty close to a lot of the shops. There’s a really good Italian restaurant just down the street. I pretty much have failed at trying Austrian food. I know I’ve only been here for two days, but I’ve eaten Italian one day and a Butter Schinken and Gouda sandwich, which was pretty good.

Shopping in Austria is way different. You have to buy your own bags to carry groceries home, so next time I’m taking my backpack.

Today, I had orientation, and afterwards, we went on a city tour. Apparently, a tour of Salzburg includes the mountain next to it L. My legs hurt so bad, and I was so not prepared for that hike. I totally broke down in tears on my way up (but I honestly don’t know if that was from the pain or from homesickness, or maybe a bit of both). HOWEVER, I totally made it up there. And I will go back again and again until I can walk up that mountain without my legs hurting. That’s one of my many goals for this semester.

My other goal is to learn as much German as possible. We’ll see how that one goes too.

Tschüss!

Krystina

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