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 :)