vacation

hello everyone. 

The last two weeks I have been running around Europe, and it was a freaking blast. Our group went to seven different countries. The cities we went to were Amsterdam, Prague, Dresden, Krakow, Vienna, Budapest, and Athens. All of them were my favorite in different ways. Since a lot happened, I will just make a list of major events and highlights. Honestly all the highlights include food. 

AMSTERDAM
-In Amsterdam, we had some really fun, really loud hostel roommates. When we got there it was King's Day, so everyone was drinking and partying. We liked two of them, but the other one was so loud when she came back at like 3 am, freaking out because she was too drunk to realize her backpack was on someone's bed in the room and not back on the boat where she got drunk lol. so we didn't like her  

-We were surprised to see and hear a lot of English speakers around us. In Russia, we are used to hearing Russian everywhere. So hearing English was refreshing. 

-There was not a light in the shower so that was an adventure 

-We got some famous fries with fry sauce. But it was more like mayo, so that was disappointing. 

-We went to the Tulip Festival at Keukenhof, which is the famous really touristy one. But I LOVED it. We spent hours there. The park was huge, and it had so many fun things to look at. 

-We rode bikes around Amsterdam, which was stressful in the city because I was too short for my bike so it was hard to stop and start again lol, but once we went where there was less traffic, it was way fun and way pretty, even though we had a close call with a bus.. 

-We went to the Van Gogh museum, which I also loved. There was one painting that someone stole from the museum and it was gone for a long time, but they recovered it a few years ago and I thought that was insane. I liked it because each floor went through his paintings chronologically so you could see how it changed over the years. 

-We tried to get tickets to the Anne Frank house, because when we tried in advance they were sold out, but there was a small chance we could get them exactly at 9 am the morning of. But the website said there were at least 1000 people ahead of us. I would love to go back there for that. We did take a picture in front of it though. 

-CHEESE. There were so many cheese shops and they all had samples available, so obviously I tried all of them. Dutch cheese is SO good. If it wasn't our first stop I would have bought some of their airplane ready ones. They had some fun flavors, like red pesto, and lavender. 

-We took a boat tour on the canal, which was good. I'm not a super huge fan of boat cruises because I can never see anything and plus sometimes they're not in English, but this one had headphones with an English option, so I liked it a lot better than the one in St. Petersburg. 

-One night for dinner I ordered a Dutch pancake, which was a giant pancake with cinnamon ice cream, and that may have been my favorite thing I ate the whole time, mini stroop waffles, and chocolate shavings on it. Changed my life  

 

the best pancake i have ever consumed ft my sunburned face

TULIP FESTIVAL I LOVE FLOWERS

 PRAGUE  

-We took an overnight bus to Prague from Amsterdam, and I sat by this guy named Thomas who was going to Prague to surprise his family. He showed me pictures of his little sister and we talked for a little bit and that was nice. 

-In the morning we were driving through Germany, and there was just fields and fields of yellow flowers and yellow flowers are my favorite. 

-We went to the Old Town Square and climbed the astronomical clock 

-A guy tried to get me to buy something from him and I said no and he cussed me out lol 

-We got trdelnik cakes, or chimney cakes. Prague is famous for them and they are bomb. It's pretty much a cinnamon roll cone with ice cream or cream or fruit or whatever the heck you want inside. We got them more than once, and my favorite one I got was something called "The Frozen Queen." It had chocolate inside, ice cream, and strawberries. 

-We went to the Lennon Wall, and wrote something on it. I wrote "Enjoy your Life"

-We walked across the famous Charles Bridge, and went to Prague Castle, which is this amazing Gothic cathedral, and a few of us got tickets to go inside. It was worth it if you ask me. We saw an old palace, the castle, a really really old church, Golden Lane, and an old medieval dungeon lol. 

- Our hostel looked like a bunker but I liked it a lot 

 

 

  

 

Prague Castle

 

Felice and I shared a bomb sausage ft Prague Castle behind us

DRESDEN

-We took a day trip to Dresden, Germany from Prague

-We walked through Zwinger Palace which was beautiful 

-My favorite thing from Dresden was Frauen Kirche, which is this amazing cathedral. Dresden is cool because it was destroyed during the war, but since has been rebuilt, and I heard that they used original bricks for some of the buildings they rebuilt. We climbed up to the top, and it was so pretty. I will never get tired of views like that. 

-I got curry with bratwurst in it. Changed my life  

-We stopped at a Lindt store.. dangerous place I tell you. I got one of almost every flavor lol 

Zwinger Palace 

    

        

Frauen Kirche 

POLAND 

-We got on the wrong train in Prague on our way to Poland, but there were a lot of tender mercies. We were going in the right direction, just one train too early. We had decided earlier not to exchange our leftover Czech crowns, and it was just the right amount of money to pay for our tickets for the train we had got on accidentally. The train man was nice though and told us which platform we needed. Our actual train was delayed about an hour, which was a blessing, so it just picked us up at the next station and we made it to Poland okay. 

- We went this kebab place for dinner, and it was pretty much shawarma in a box. Cabbage, meat, and sauce. Way good 

- We walked through a cool fortress and saw some gorgeous cathedrals, and a mini souvenir market.

-GOOD LOOD. THE MOST AMAZING ICE CREAM I HAVE EVER HAD. It's so creamy. they change their flavors every day. We went there every day, and even multiple times some days. Some of my favorite ones I had were the dark chocolate kind, and the salted fudge kind. 

-We went to this really good Polish place for dinner one night, and I got potato pancakes with goulash... changed my life 

-Goat cheese salad. Bomb

-We walked to the Jewish quarter and saw Schindler's Pass, but the factory was too far to walk to 

-We did go to Auschwitz and Birkenau. I am still trying to find the words to describe that experience, and wrap my mind around what happened there. It was horrible. Some of it was really hard to look at, but it adds another layer of understanding to what happened, and I am glad I got to see that. 

-I feel like Poland is underrated and I would love to go back there. Not just for Good Lood, but mostly for Good Lood if I'm being honest. 

 

Auschwitz  

 

Birkenau

Wawel Castle 

 

We found this really cool overgrown fortress on our way to church. None of us packed dresses lol 

 

VIENNA

-We went to Schoenbrunn Palace, which was super pretty. We didn’t go inside though, just around the gardens. 

-We went to the Belvedere, and would have gone inside, but it was a bit expensive and we only had that one day in Vienna, so we walked around it. 

- We saw some cathedrals. In one, someone was playing the organ and I loved it. I have seen like a thousand cathedrals, but I like them because they're all so different. 

-We got wiener schnitzel at Naschmarket obviously 

-Vienna honestly wasn't my favorite..? I think if I had more time there it would have been better. 

Breakfast at this cutie Viennese cafe

 

 

Schonnbrunn Palace 

          

           

The Belvedere

 CHEESE

There were a bunch of these in front of the opera house and I was like AH. We would have gone to Mozart's house, but we did not 

 

pretty sure i did not get one good, normal photo of me during this whole trip 

BUDAPEST 

-We saw a church inside a cave, and it was cool, but also kind of weird lol 

-We hiked up to the top of Gellert Hill, and the view there was INCREDIBLE 

-We met someone from Utah, and his wife was from Hungary, and we talked to them for a few minutes. His wife was so cute, she was so excited for us and the countries we went to. I like talking to fellow travelers 

-For lunch, I had chicken goulash with gnocchi noodles.. changed my life 

-We saw St. Mathias church, which is so pretty inside and outside. And Fisherman’s Bastion. Which is just a walkway to see the view pretty much. 

-We saw Shoes on the Danube, which is a monument to honor the Jews who were killed Arrow Cross fascists in World War II 

-We saw hecka cathedrals 

-We saw the outside of the Parliament building

-We went to Szechenyi thermal baths, which was super fun.  

-For dinner, we went to this place called Karavan, and it had all these food trucks, so we all could get what we wanted. I got red curry and it was sooooo spicy, but everything I eat in Russia has like no spice, so I was okay with it. 

 

 

these noodles were so yum. also the waiter at this restaurant was so nice even though he spoke like three words in English

 

like i said, no normal photos of me 

me jumping off the stairs at Fisherman's Bastion

 

hey my name 

 

the inside of st mathias church

the outside of st mathias church

 shoes on the danube 

szechenyi thermal baths 

ATHENS

-When we checked in to the airport for our flight to Greece, we were told that we were supposed to check in online, which we were not aware of. So we had to pay 60 euros each lol. But it’s okay 

-Our hostel was in a super sketchy neighborhood. After we checked in, we went out to grab dinner before it got dark. And literally right outside the doors of the hostel this old guy told us it was a dangerous neighborhood and to be careful, so that was comforting. 

-For dinner I got these meatballs with pita bread. way yum 

-I cried at the Parthenon. The view was just so pretty 

-Abby and I only paid to go to the Acropolis and it's slopes. So we went to the Parthenon, and then the girls who paid for some of the other attractions went and did that. We could still see some of the other things they saw, we just didn't go inside. I liked seeing the theater because I'm a nerd. 

-We got gyros…changed my life 

-We walked around the streets and got ice cream and some towel wrap things for the beach 

-We spent about five hours at the beach the second day. We got there in the morning so no one was there, and it was so nice. The water was cold, but once I got used to it, it was okay, so we swam and played in the water for hours. I also got v sunburned, and my legs are currently peeling. I put on sunscreen but I reapplied too late. My left side got the worst of it, and my legs were burning up so much the next few days. We got dinner nearby the beach, and I got another gyro but it had fries inside lol. We also got ice cream there, and it was SO GOOD. We also tried to find a pharmacy so we could buy aloe vera for our sunburns, but every single one of them was closed for some reason, so I got some lotion at a decent looking store close by our hostel to help cool down my legs. I barely slept because I was in so much pain lol. Now I can barely sleep because my legs are so itchy, but it's okay.

 

 

 

this was casually right outside our hostel window. super fun place. The hostel itself was new, and it was really nice. But outside was scary not going to lie. One of the only few times I have not felt safe while I have been away from home.

Our host sister, Noza came with us on this trip. Here's a picture of her, me, and Abby sitting in the Mediterranean. no big deal 

And that's it folks. I come home in two weeks, so that's exciting. I can't believe how fast this semester has gone by, and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing when I get back, so that will be fun to figure out. There will probably be one more blog post for the last two weeks of my time in Russia, so stay tuned. I have learned so much here, and I'm going to miss it a lot, I already know. But I'm glad I had the opportunity to come, it's been amazing. 

-maddie