(Post #20) My Final Study Abroad Traveling Blog.

Instead of getting sad and making this extra bittersweet (although it very much is) that this is my last content of the study abroad semester, I want to carry along as normal and get right into my normal writing. So for one last time, sit back, start scrolling, and enjoy listening to this adventure!

(Saturday, May 28th) Today was a travel day from Amsterdam to Bruges, Belgium. We met an 85-year old Belgian lady on the second train, and she was so sweet. It is so refreshing to meet such experienced people and to hear their stories and perspective on life. When we arrived in Bruges, we walked 27 minutes to our hostel and then immediately went back out to walk around the city because it is so medieval and cute! I seriously was obsessed, Bruges is like a fairytale land. We ate some fries for dinner (I got the local beef stew as a topping), and then we explored the city some more and watched the sun set from a beautiful corner.

(Sunday, May 29th) We had to get business in order and be adults this morning by doing some laundry, so fun! We rewarded ourselves for a hard 2 hours of work by enjoying our first waffle in Belgium! I got a waffle with vanilla ice cream and it was delicious. We then did a 2-hour tour and learned lots about Bruges in such a short time. We also learned there was a movie filmed in Bruges literally called, “In Bruges” and our tour guide told us that he was walking down the street 14 years ago when one of the producers asked him to be an extra, so now basically I know a celebrity haha. After lunch, we went up to the Basilica of the Holy Blood that has a vial of Jesus’s blood brought back from the crusades as the legend goes, and it was a very cool experience to see and say a prayer. The Basilica was amazing itself as I actually felt like I was transported back to the Middle Ages. After this, we did what we had to do in Belgium, and we got some yummy chocolate. After walking around for the rest of the afternoon, we rounded up all our bags and walked 20 minutes to the train station. We met a lovely 85-year-old on the train, and then we headed to Ghent! In Ghent, we had another long walk (yay) and then made it to our hostel around 9:30.

(Monday, May 30th) To start off the morning in Ghent, we walked around the main area and there were so many brick towers and churches and canals to explore. I wanted to eat some traditional Belgian cuisine so for lunch I ordered some Ghent beef stew with fries that was overpriced but delicious. Our restaurant was literally right next to a castle, the Gravensteen castle to be exact, and so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go visit. Normally when we get audioguides for museums and such, it is a boring and slow voice, but the narrator in the castle turned the experience into an informative story/experience while cracking jokes and it was easy to follow along the whole way.

Some of the topics were more heavy as we literally visited a torture chamber and discussed things like that, but I must have to admit that they did get creative with their torture techniques back then. Also, I almost forgot to add that I had the best waffle of my life in Ghent, and that was a liege (which means that there is sugar in the middle) waffle with speculoos (a favorite Belgian flavor) ice cream on top. After the castle and walking around, we went back to the hostel to grab our bags once more and take the short train to Brussels. When in Brussels, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that our hostel is literally in the center of the city, and a 30-second walk to the Grand Place main square. Surprises like these are the best!

(Tuesday, May 31st) What better way to begin the stay in Brussels than by walking 30 seconds to the Grand Place square to take a tour. We walked all over the city and of course saw the famous Manneken Pis (Pissing Boy Statue) peeing into the fountain. What I didn’t know is that this boy statue has a whole wardrobe of clothes and that an official dresser dresses him up every day. It was quite interesting to be able to see that while on the tour! We concluded the tour by eating another traditional Belgian food for lunch: Mussels! Mussels and fries are very popular in Belgium, and although I am not the biggest fan of seafood as the look just scares me a lot- these were quite good. After all this, we did what we must do in Belgium as well, and that is visit the Choco-Story museum. This museum takes you through all of the history of chocolate all the way to the end where we get to taste test chocolate and try free samples- yum! We then decided to spend the night in and watch the movie “In Bruges” which we heard about while in Bruges. I honestly did not like the plot of the movie, but it was really cool to see them show scenes in the film that we had just visited!

(Wednesday, June 1st) My first thought when waking up this morning was, “how is it already June?!” I cannot believe that we are two weeks into this trip and also just hearing “June” was surreal because that means I am going home soon 🙁 But anyways, today was a good day and I would love to share about it. We did not have a very set plan, so it was fun to explore Brussels. Also, sharing a fun fact- the Smurfs were created by a Belgian illustrator, and Brussels has a huge comic influence with comic murals all over the city. We walked around a lot, ate some sandwiches from the grocery store again because our money has depleted quite fast (and I feel like it is a rite of passage to eat some less glamorous meals when traveling for so long) and then we repeated our pattern of collecting our bags from the hostel to catch a train.

Tonight we had a 3-hour train to Luxembourg, and we were greeted with a nice surprise when we entered the city. I honestly had no idea that Luxembourg was basically built into the side of the cliff, but the views as the sun set and we tried to find our hostel were AMAZING. As fun as it was for us, our hostel was at the bottom of the valley, and so we got to see so much of the city with a beautiful lit-up charm as we made our way to the hostel. We have been very lucky to have pleasant hostel roommates so far on this trip, and although the ones in our room this night seemed a little less warm, we had a great view from our hostel window which was a plus!

(Thursday, June 2nd) Waking up in the valley of Luxembourg city is not a bad way to wake up, let me tell ya! We got all packed up and routinely put our bags in storage for later, and then we began exploring the city. We ended up finding a tour to go on and the guide showed us some of the best views and gave us a great inside scoop on the city. We enjoyed the city, got some lunch, and then walked around the palace and other areas. We got very lucky because the weather was warm and amazing!

Luxembourg started the day off fun, but starting at around 6pm, the next 15 hours became the epitome of long traveling and the reality that it is not always glamorous. When planning this 3 week trip, Asia and I knew it would be a little bit tricky to get to Switzerland from Luxembourg as there is nothing that is super direct, but we still decided to book the 1 bus + 3 train journey that would start at 7pm and have us around in Interlaken, Switzerland at around 7:30am. Well.... So the bus and first train went completely fine from Luxembourg to Saarbucken, and then Saarbrucken to Mannheim, Germany, but then as we were trying to transfer trains in Mannheim, we found the correct platform to stand at that said “Basel, Switzerland” but it just never came. We were so confused as time went by and we realized we either missed it or it actually did not come, so we went to talk to the information desk at 10:30pm and they said they do not know what happened because it did come through, but they gave us new tickets that would be leaving Mannheim at 3:30am to go to Spiez and then finally to Interlaken, but this meant that we would have to wait 5 hours and also the transfers between these stations were only 3 or 4 minutes.

Since we did not have any other options, we made ourselves as comfortable as we could on the benches and settled into our home for the next few hours. We met some very interesting characters and at one point all of the power shut off in the station, so I used this as an opportunity to go to the bathroom for free since you normally have to pay 1 euro, but the doors opened as the power went out. After I brushed my teeth and the power came back, we went up to the correct platform with plenty of time to spare, only to find out that our 3:30am train was delayed until 5:23am. We hung out outside and realized that we watched both the sunset and sunrise and this Mannheim station. It was time to leave and around 5:20am and we finally did. We made it to Basel and then found another train to Spiez and then finally to Interlaken.

(Friday, June 3rd) We were supposed to arrive at 7:30am, but we arrived in Interlaken at 10:30am which was honestly okay because the train ride into Interlaken going by the lakes and mountains made it all worth it. I only had 1 hour of sleep in me but the mountains woke me right up. I go to Montana quite frequently and it feels like a second home to me, and Interlaken reminded me of it. We made it to our hostel, washed off our sweaty faces, and then we started the fun! We found out that our phone service does not work in this country which adds a bonus effect, but it was all worth it because we got to do something that I have had on my bucket list for years- PARAGLIDE IN THE SWISS ALPS. I have wanted to do this for years, and we made the plans and it has finally come! At around 2pm, we got picked up and we drove up the mountain for the adventure to begin. My guide, Jero from Santander, Spain, was so fun and we bonded well which made the experience even better. As Jero and I ran off the mountain and into the sky, it was honestly the best experience I have ever had. The only things that I wish were different was that the experience was longer than 10 minutes in the air and that the weather was a little sunnier, but the money was definitely worth it. The views were amazing and I loved floating through the sky.

After, we went back to the hostel and then bought some groceries for dinner. Then, we took a metro to Lake Thun and watched the sunset. It was an amazing experience and a great way to end the night.

(Saturday, June 4th) Yay to our full day in Interlaken. Today was like a dream. We began the day with a boat cruise across Lake Brienz and it was sunny and amazing to see all the views. The waters are so blue because of the glaciers and it was so pristine. It lasted for an hour and a half and then we took a train back to Interlaken. We ate lunch again from the grocery store because food is expensive and then we took the cable car up to the Harder Klum lookout point. The view was amazing and we ran into some friends we met at our hostel. We ate some nice slushies up there and then headed back down the cable car and back to the hostel. Asia, Ana, & I then used some of the leftover ingredients at the hostel and we ate dinner with some new British friends. We spent the night at the hostel just meeting the other guests and it was a lot of fun! We did not stay out too late though because we had to leave early the next morning.

(Sunday, June 5th) Hello! After checking out of our hostel, we walked to the train station to catch our trains to the Zurich station. Luckily we did not miss any trains today 😊 When we got to Zurich, we still did not have service so we asked a worker for help and then made it to our hostel. The past couple of nights we stayed in a hostel room of 10 people, so to now have our own hostel room for 3 people is living in luxury. We settled in and then headed to the movie theater to see Top Gun: Maverick because all of the Americans are loving it and let me tell you, it was totally worth the expensive Swiss price. What was not worth the Swiss price was the $21 simple Burger King meal I bought before the movie because that was the only fast food we could find. The only thing more promised than good public transportation in European cities is the fact that their main squares will always have a McDonald’s, Burger King, and KFC. We also looked at the prices at Starbucks and a small Frappuccino was 8.50 CHF, which is around $9 American dollars- I miss US prices! But anyways, I kid you not, the Top Gun movie was so good that I literally thought I was in the US when the movie ended. Haha nope! I am just a little far off in Zurich, Switzerland. After the movie, we headed back to our hostel and got some work done/rested.

(Monday, June 6th) We began the morning with heading into town to do something we do often, take a tour around the city. It really helps to learn about the place, culture, and history, and a lot of times too the guide has a lot of great recommendations! On our tour, we walked down by the main river and also got a feel for Zurich, it is more hilly than I expected, but a little leg workout never hurt anyone! For lunch, we went to a local beer house and tried Zurich’s famous veal dish called Zurcher Geschnetzeltes and it was very yummy! We also got some schnitzel because I sure do love me some schnitzel.

After, we didn’t really have plans so we just walked around and ended up on a boat cruise that went on Zurich’s lake. It gave us some very beautiful views of the city! After that, we got some groceries and headed back to our hostel where we just hung out for the rest of the night.

(Tuesday, June 7th) As today was the last day of our trip, we took things very slow. We have done a lot of successful and fun traveling over the past couple of weeks, but now we were just enjoying being in Switzerland while I also think mourning our freedom as we head back to the States in a couple of days to begin busy summer lives. After sleeping in and enjoying our private hostel room, we headed downtown to the famous Springl Chocolate store. Normally I would not spend $8 on a single small chocolate tart, but I thought that of course this was an exception. As beautiful as the tart was, unfortunately it did not taste as good, but that is okay! This trip is all about trying new things. We also went to a famous fondue restaurant because Asia has really wanted to try, and for $30 per person for some bread and a pit of cheese, the adventure was a little unsuccessful. I liked the cheese, but I did not enjoy having such a large quantity for lunch. Asia and Ana also thought it tasted too strongly of wine but I think that may have just been the wine flavor. Who knows?! Now in the future, I think it would be yummy to make fondue and try it with some meat or other foods.

After eating, we went to the Swiss National Museum and it was extremely cool and immersive. We stayed until 5pm when it closed and then went to the grocery store one last time to pick up some salads and foods to eat back at the hostel. On the last night of our vacation, us three girls just hung out and reminisced about the trip. It was a little funny because we forgot we had Swiss Franks left to spend, so we went and bought lots of ice cream and postcards- it did not take long for it to all add up.

(Wednesday, June 8th) Well, today was the day. We woke up around 4am and I hauled my carry-on backpack on my back and other backpack on my front one last time as we headed on the metro to the airport. We got all checked in and then hung out as we waited for our first flight to Paris. I was worried that we only had an hour and a half for our layover, but Air France was on time and even gave us croissants and sandwiches which was a nice surpirse. At the CDG Paris airport, we sat in comfy chairs and waited for the flight that would get us back to Seville. On that last flight, I think that is when it really hit me that things are wrapping up, and I got sentimental. Overall I was just happy we made it back to Seville around 2pm as planned.

I tried to renew my phone plan by only putting 5 euros in, but that ran out so I tried putting 15 euros which also ran out fast- oops! I went to my friend Tina’s flat because she had an extra room that I could stay in for a couple of days, and then I started unpacking and repacking 2 suitcases and 2 backpacks to try and get it all to fit. When I needed a break, I headed to get my toenails done with Asia and Ana because let me tell you, after walking literally millions of steps over the past 5 months, my feet needed some TLC. After that, I bought some fans and other souvenirs to bring home, and then I went back to the flat to get ready for dinner. I got dinner with my Sevilla family on Calle Asuncion. They were so sweet, they took me out to dinner and we talked about the semester and everything I did for the past 3 weeks. They have treated me so well and I will truly miss them. I got ice cream with my host mom and host brother Lucas to finish the night. As I walked back to my flat walking through Maria Luisa where I spent so much time this semester, I remembered all the good times.

(Thursday, June 9th) As my last day in Sevilla, it was quite packed and HOT. I forgot to mention that since I have returned, Sevilla is now in full summer season of being in the 90s or 100s everyday. It literally was so hot I laid on the cool tile floor like a dog for a little bit to try and feel better because nobody really uses AC in Spain since it is extremely expensive. I first went to my appointment to get my antigen COVID test because I need that to get back into the States, and then I went to my phone company here because I really need service for plans on my last night. Next, I had a great time meeting my Market Structure professor for lunch to catch up because we had become really good friends, and I’m gonna miss having her as my neighbor!

I made it back to my house to change again because it is so sweaty outside, and then I said goodbye to my good friends Pauline from France along with Asia and Ana from Texas that I have grown quite close to. It really was sad as it made me realize that my time here is wrapping up. I then went to the home of Noelia, one of my Spanish sisters and I had some snacks with her, her brother Josema, and her parents. I am really going to miss them, I had the best time staying with them and meeting the whole family. It was really bittersweet, but I know that I will see them again.

After that, Nolie’s brother drove me to Alicia’s house where I hung out with her family and took some goodbye pics. I was almost brought to tears, but I could not imagine ending my time in Spain with anyone but Alicia, Maria, Marta, and Luzma.

We had classic Spanish tapas as my last meal, and then took an uber home which was quite sad. I spent the night alone finishing packing everything up, and then I had my last sleep in Spain.

(June 10th, 2022). Well. From early January all the way to now, we have reached the end. As I write this, my heart breaks a tiny bit as these were some of the best months of my life, but as they say- all good things must come to an end. I woke up at 5am and headed to the airport around 6 with my 2 suitcases and 2 backpacks. I got there extremely early, but then I had time to do financing and such before my flight to Madrid. At Madrid, I luckily had time to spare because I had to make my way across the airport and it was a 30-minute journey plus a very long customs line. I made it in time to my flight though, and after we all boarded the very large plane and I was in my middle seat, we found out that one of the tires of the aircraft was losing pressure. We sat on the tarmac for 30 minutes while they changed it, and then we began our 8+ hour journey across the Atlantic to Dallas, Texas. On the ride, I watched the movies Uncharted and House of Gucci, read, slept, and went through photos on my phone. I knew as soon as I touched down, my life would completely switch back to how it was, and I was honestly not super prepared for it. We made it to Dallas not too behind schedule, and then I had another 3 hour flight to Minneapolis. I arrived around 10pm and then my brother Justin picked me up which was a nice surprise. It felt good to be back, but also weird. I went home, started unpacking, and found that my mom completely redid my room (and upgraded my bed to a queen size – woohoo) which was a bonus. And then like I did most nights of my life before 2022, I went to bed in my home in the USA.

As much as it hurts to leave my new home, I knew that it was only temporary and I would be back someday. Therefore, this isn't a goodbye to Europe, only a see you later.