Czech-ed out, lol

Well, my Eurotrip is officially over and I’m supposed to write a reflection of my time abroad to wrap up this blog I’ve been keeping. I wish I would have written this a few days ago when I was incredibly sad about leaving Europe and returning home, but now being home for a few days I’m realizing how glad I am to be back. I missed my family and friends and some comforts, but I did truly love every second of my break from real life in Europe.

I feel incredibly blessed to have been able to spend a semester abroad, which is not something everyone can say. I saw thirteen countries, fell in love with cities, and learned an awful lot about myself and the world. After travelling to huge cities, and finding my way when everything is in a foreign language with no problems, I feel pretty confident in myself to go anywhere I wish from here on out, which is a pretty cool feeling. One thing that I gained from this trip, is confidence in myself. There were even times that I was travelling alone and it never really phased me. That forced me to move outside my comfort zone and get to know people from all over the world. And I can truly say that those times alone, were some of the best times I had abroad.

There are definitely things I will miss from my time abroad, and there are definitely things that I missed from home. I didn’t realize it would feel this nice to sleep in a queen bed and shower in a clean shower, haha. Hostels started getting pretty old by the end of it. Some things that I’ll miss will be just the way of life. Walking so much, the food – always being fresh it seemed, gelato everyday, cheap cheap beer – except my liver will be happier without it, and really I’ll miss the break from normal, everyday life. I worked pretty hard to be able to have this semester and it felt pretty great to worry about what city I wanted to see next rather than chemistry reaction mechanisms. And I’ll definitely miss the group of people. We had a blast traveling together.

I did miss my family and friends while abroad, but I can’t say I missed much else. And truthfully, I just wanted my family and friends to be in Europe with me. I didn’t miss the food, ice, free refills, anything. Yes those things are great, but I liked the European way just as much. I just fell in love with pretty much everything about every city and really had no complaints. I’m pretty open minded and easy going and that helped me out.

I seriously can’t say just how blessed I am enough. I feel really lucky to have had this experience. I can say that I changed a lot (hopefully for the better) and found a new sense of what the world is. This is why traveling is so important. If you reading this from a University of Nebraska school and considering going abroad, absolutely do it. You will never regret it and it will be one of the best, most fun times in your life. I would definitely recommend everyone to buy a plane ticket, take a semester, and peace out of life for a bit. It’s a great get away that fulfills that urge to get out of town, but it also makes you appreciate Nebraska, family, and friends. Travel is a great thing.

All of these pictures seem to have a reoccurring theme of wine. Hmmm?

This is my last post, and I’m actually feeling emotional about it all ending, haha. Here’s some of my favorite pictures from my trip. Bye bye until the next time I stamp my passport. My goal is too fill it before it expires :)

London

The last stop this time around was London. In true Therin style, I almost missed my flight and almost had some more time in London, haha. But I'm on the way home and feeling like London was the perfect end to this semester abroad.

We arrived late, took advantage of the cheap drinks at our hostel bar, and watched England play Russia in the Euro 2016 match. Europeans love football (really, really love soccer) so it blast drinking with a bunch of English people. And English people drink a lot, haha. 

Foster's is the world's worst beer. I don't know why everyone complains about Heineken.

The next day, we saw the sights, unsure of what to do on the Queen's Birthday celebration, since a lot was closed. We ran into some American Ex Pats playing beer pong along the river and we made friends and ended up joining their boat party and getting our sight seeing in. It's pretty hilarious, but it was so much fun. The next day, we went on the free walking tour, with a wonderful guide, and went to the natural history museum in London. On our tour, we got to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and ALL the sights. 

The iconic London photo. That's Big Ben in the back.

"So what is this boat party for? "Freedom." It felt wrong celebrating America on the Queen's b-day but hey.

Shakespeare's Globe

From our lil boat party :)

Buckingham Palace

Westminster Abbey

At the Tower of London

 

We spent our last day touring the Tower of London, the old, medieval castle and fortress of the city. We had this hilarious guide, a Beefeater, as they're called who gave of the history of the Tower and the history of the Kings and Queens of England. We saw the spit where Henry the 8th had two of his wives beheaded, so that was pretty interesting. This was my favorite part of our time in London, the history here was filled with stories.

After the tower, we headed to the Camden Lock Markets. It was the weird, hispter part of London with all kinds of food vendors, flea market stalls. and people selling literally everything. There was a ton of cool stuff to dig through. For our last night, we went to Wicked on the West End, and ended the night with a bottle of wine.

I can't believe my semester and time in Europe has already come to an end. It went so fast. Now for 12 hours of traveling and getting back to Nebraska!

Amster-dayyyum

Amsterdam was absolutely lovely. It's a beautiful, extremely fun, livable city. We spent our four days experiencing the culture, eating chips (also known as french fries) with mayo and curry ketchup, wandering around canals, eating waffles, and lovin life. We ate good food and drank tons of Heineken. Our first day, we hopped on a free waking tour, and met up with our friend Jenny who is studying in Amsterdam this summer. It was great to see good friends from home :) 

During our stay, we got to go to the Heineken Brewery for a tour, we saw the Anne Frank House (my absolute fave), hung out in Vondel Park, went on a canal tour, experienced the Red Light District, and walked around the city. Amsterdam was one of my favorite cities. 

The Anne Frank was one of my favorite things I've seen in Europe. I have literally dreamed of going to see it, ever since reading her diary when I was younger. The museum did not disappoint, and it was an experience seeing the Secret Annex. At the end of the tour, one of my favorite parts, was a video of numerous people from around the world speaking about Anne Frank's legacy and what it means today. It was really cool to hear what different people from different parts of the world took from her story. 

Amsterdam is a pretty unique place considering that it's legal to buy and smoke marijuana in coffeeshops, and prostitution is legal. It was interesting to learn that the Red Light District is actually an incredibly safe part of the city (we stayed there), and that most locals don't smoke weed, it's mostly a tourism thing. Amsterdam is truly known as being a liberal city, and it shows. The memorial for the legalization of gay marriage outside of a church. Probably wouldn't fly in Nebraska. 

Amsterdam was a blast. Fun nightlife, and 

a beautiful city. I can't forgot to say that the Netherland's is one of the tallest countries in the world! Someone even told me "you aren't tall here!" Haha. 

One of many canal photos.

Beautiful church by our hostel in the Red Light District.

The Anne Frank House. One of my favorite experiences in Europe by far. 

Prinsengracht Canal. You can see the line for the Anne Frank House.

S'cute.

Met up with Jenny!

You're not in a European city if you don't visit a brewery am i rite.

The bookshelf leading to the Secret Annexe.

Found a Czech Bar!

Famous apple pie.

Italy never gets old.

It's 2:30 am in the Milan train station and it's surprisingly not that miserable because it's Italy. But we'll see how this 6 am flight goes. Here's me posting about how much fun I had (again) in said city (again). But really, Italy never ceases to amaze me. This time the northern part of Italy. Lake Garda, Lake Como, and Milan. It was such a wonderful week spending time away from big cities and relaxing by the lake.

I spent one day alone in Lake Garda, just exploring the town, the lake and the beautiful views. I met some great people at the hostel and ending up having a wonderful night just drinking wine and meeting new people. I love how being on your own forces you to open up and meet those around you. We all ate dinner at the hostel and eventually ended up setting up a beer pong game where I got show off my America-ness. It was a blast and the lake and weather was beautiful. 

Next stop was Lake Como where I met up with Hana. I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful lake. Or had as much fun at a lake that's supposed to be one of those classy tourist destinations. We stayed in the only hostel on the lake, ehich happened to have the cheapest wine in all of Italy. Dangerous. So we drank some, or maybe a few liters, every night. When in Rome, right?

We spent our first day exploring Bellagio, the cutest little town on the lake. We wandered around window shopping, had gelato, and just sat admiring the lake. We had dinner and dessert and wine and eventually made our way home. The next day was our adventurous one and after waiting out the rain, we decided to rent bikes and go for a nice bike ride. Which ended up being a grueling one, lol. But we eventually made our way to another beautiful lake in the area and had a little picnic. We just picked up some fresh fruits, veggies, and foods at the supermarket and it was amazing. I've never had a better starwberry in my life. And I'm sad that I never will. We made it back to the hostel, had dinner, and ended up drinking wine and going to the one Lake Como bar with a bunch of British racecar drivers. Definitely some of the most interesting humans I've met. But the bar was packed and it made for one of the most fun nights I've had in Europe. 

We took it pretty slow the next day and I spent the day just laying by the beach reading. Lake Como was one of my absolute favorite destinations. And one place I have to go back to.

Finally, we spent our last day in Italy in Milan, just seeing the sites, eating gelato, and waiting for a 4 am bus to the airport :) But this time around in Italy has been nothing short of fun, beautiful, and awe inspiring just like always.

Cloudy day at Lake Garda.

First views of Lake Como from our ferry.

Arriving at Lake Como!

We took a ferry across the lake from Varenna to Mennagio, the town we stayed in.

Pretty views

Our hostel patio in Lake Como.

Views of Bellagio, one of the towns on the lake.

Explorin' Bellagio.

Waiting for our ferry in Bellagio.

Views on our biking adventure.

Gelato in Como. 

Italia

!!!! 

Post biking picnic.

Last dinner in Lake Como.

Beers and pizza in Milan. 

Last Italian gelato.