My January has been one of the best months abroad so far. It seems like seriously just a few days ago I was celebrating the "Nouvel An" in Paris with my good friend Katie, my boyfriend Laurent, and some other super great people.
Country 1: I spent my 21st birthday in Paris, went to a bar and had my first drink! No, just kidding, but I did receive a free cocktail and the chocolate orange cake Laurent made was great. :) I spent two weeks in Paris, one week being a tourist with Katie and the other relaxing before my ten day trip around Europe. With Katie, we went to Moulin Rouge, Sacré Coeur, the TOP of the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, The Champs-Elysées, L'Arc de Triomphe, and some other things, including everything we did in Amiens et in Moreuil with Kennede, aka Cannelle.
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| Moulin Rouge |
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| View of the Eiffel Tower from Montmartre |
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| Me, Katie, and Rob in front of a monument I can't remember the name of |
Country 2: I left for Budapest January 8th to spend 5 days with Guillaume, Claudie's niece, and his wife Zsoka, oh and their cat, Tom. This was one of my first times visiting a country other than France in Europe. Before my study abroad trip I had visited France three times and the Azores once. If you don't know where the Azores are, you should look them up and then visit. Hint: Beautiful tropical islands off the coast of Portugal. You'd think for one of my first times visiting a country other than France I'd go to Spain or Italy or Germany, but it was Budapest. I would have never thought to visit Eastern Europe if I hadn't been offered a bed to sleep in by some super great people and if one of my good friends from high school, Chris, wasn't studying there. Even though I could barely understand or pronounce one word in Hungarian, literally barely one word, Budapest was a great trip. I got to visit Hero's Square, The House of Terror, St. Stephen's Basilica and Square, Budapest City Park, Gellért Hill and Citadella, the famous and ultra fancy Gerbeaud Coffee House, Roosevelt Square, the Central indoor market, Castle District, and the BATHS, oh the baths. The Baths. Thermal Baths. Did I know they were super popular and not expensive in Hungary? No, but let me tell you, when I walked into Király Fürdó, Turkish baths that were constructed around 1500, I felt like I was walking into one of those Greek movies where everyone is socializing and talking politics and planning to kill Julius Ceasar. I went to another one of these baths the next day called Széchenyi. It was pretty sweet as well, but not as old. Bigger and outside, meaning you're warm but during the freezing Hungarian winter, these baths had a lot of different pools, saunas, etc. It's pretty cool when you think about this all being natural mineral water from the underworld of Hungary. I left Hungary with an invitation to come back from Guillaume and Zsoka, some Hungarian wine and some of that famous Hungarian paprika. I think I'll be going back.
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| House of Terror, museum remembering Hungary under the Nazi regime and the Soviet Union |
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| Saint Stephen's Basilica and Square |
Country 3: My next stop was Geneva, Switzerland... for one night :). I was greeted at the Geneva airport by my mom's work friend, Sophie, and another friend, oh and Swiss chocolate. They took my to my hotel and waited for me as I checked in and put my bags in my room, and then we went out for FONDUE! YES.
You'd think after a semester in Paris I would have gone out for fondue, but no, just raclette, so I was content to finally go to a real fondue restaurant. I spent the night in the most comfortable bed ever. With four fluffy pillows. And a free breakfast the next morning. Then I visited Geneva before I had to head back to the airport for my flight to London. I climbed up to the top of St. Peter's Cathedral, which looks out at Mont Blanc, the town of Geneva, and parts of France. I was also able to see la Chaise cassée (Broken Chair), a monumental sculpture promoting the elimination of mines as well as remembering those who have been killed by antipersonnel mines. This was located in the Place of Nations, right in front of the UN building. Other places I saw in Geneva included The Opera House, Rousseau Island, le Jardin Anglais, the Reformation Wall, Place et Temple de la Madeleine, the WHO building, and the Musée de la Croix Rouge (Because the Red Cross started in Geneva!). Being an International Studies major, I was stoked to see all of these buildings and what they represented.
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| Chaise cassée with the United Nations building in the background |
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| Saint Peter's Cathedral |
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| At the entrance to the Musée de la Croix Rouge |
Country 4: That afternoon I caught my flight to London. Now if any of you know about London airports, you know there's the Heathrow airport, closer to everything, and then there are the other airports. I arrived in one of the others, Gatwick. It just sounds gross. Lucky I didn't miss my bus like I though I had (because my phone didn't change automatically like I thought it would) and had a nice long ride to the center of London. Took the TUBE to Victoria station where I stayed. Right in the center of everything I was given an apartment type room with a little kitchen instead of a smaller room with no kitchen like I paid for. No worries, it was the same price, which was great because I ended up saving money making my own food. I was so tempted to imitate the accent, but resisted. I got to see a lot of things in London: Parliament and Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park and Green Park, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, St Paul’s Cathedral, Millennium Bridge, and Harrod’s. I took my sister Katya’s advice and got a coffee at Caffé Nero, and I ended up getting tea and gelato at Harrod’s.
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| Parliament and Big Ben |
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| Hyde Park |
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| Buckingham Palace |
I am now in France relaxing before I head back to Paris on Monday, only to get ready to leave Saturday January 29th for Portugal, country number 5. I haven’t seen my family since the beginning of August, but my dad is going to pick me up from the airport in Lisbon, and I’m so excited to see him. I honestly don’t really feel ready for Portugal: I have forgotten a lot of my Portuguese, and I do not have my visa and will be heading to Portugal without one. Yeah, that’s right. I am just starting to feel as though my bags are under control. Since I’m flying Easyjet I have a super strict weight limit, so I’m going to have to pay for extra luggage. It’s not too bad though; I’m only up to 65 Euros for the entire flight, luggage and all. Much cheaper than it would be to fly from San Francisco. Plus, I have about a suitcase of clothes and gifts to send back with my dad, so in reality I am packing lighter to Portugal. It just won’t seem like it right away.
I hope these pictures give you an idea of my time abroad. Sorry these posts end up being so long, but I’m grateful in thinking that someone is reading them, and hopefully it encourages you to travel abroad!
