I left off on the last blog with Venice, so I’ll start there. Saturday and Sunday in Venice were straight out of a dream. Saturday, I ran into my friend from campus, who was on a different study abroad trip. We were able to have dinner together and swap stories from our travels, and it was nice to see a familiar face. Our group met up as a whole for the last time Saturday night, where we listened to a live band and had drinks at Cafe Florian, the oldest cafe in Europe. The night was very relaxing, and I enjoyed simply getting to eat food and chat with my friends.
On Sunday, I went to Italian mass with two of my friends. Afterwards, we met up with two more and took the train into Venice. I didn’t dress to go into any churches, so unfortunately I had to wait outside while others toured ancient basilicas. We ate lunch at a small Venetian restaurant, and I had the best bruschetta and calamari I’ve ever had. In the afternoon, I went with my friends to take a tour of the city on a gondola- something I’ve wanted to cross off my bucket list since I can remember. It was amazing. Our guide was funny, the city was beautiful, and my friends made fun of me because at the end I was crying tears of joy. To pay me back for the ticket, one of them sent me a Venmo transaction titled “For crying”. Afterwards, our group split between luxury looking (not shopping), and touring another basilica. We all ate dinner that night and took the train back to our hotel on the mainland.
Monday, the study abroad trip split into two parts. My group was route B- and with our schoolwork finished, all we had to do was sightsee. Our trip started with taking a train to Verona, Italy, where Juliette’s house was unfortunately closed. After a lunch, we took another train to Trento, Italy, where we would eat dinner and spend the night. Trento is a very sleepy town in the mountains with no nightlife, so everyone took the opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep.
Early on Tuesday morning, we took another train to Innsbruck, Austria. By the way, we took trains for the rest of the trip. The train system in Europe is convenient, but with such heavy suitcases it was exhausting. In Innsbruck, we had to start learning German. This was tricky to pick up on, but not as much as Croatian was. Our professor had planned for us to take a cable car all the way to the top of the Austrian Alpines; it was breathtakingly beautiful. A few people pet some sheep we met along our climb, and some threw snowballs at each other. This too up most of our day, and afterwards, we ate some schnitzel at a local restaurant and went to bed.
On Wednesday, we traveled through Germany without stopping to get to Salzburg, Austria. This was home to Mozart’s birthplace and the film site of The Sound of Music, which I honestly thought were both underwhelming. By this point, everyone has seen so much of the architecture that it just wasn’t stunning anymore. We moved on to Vienna, which consisted of a night of cathedrals, dinner and music. Not much interesting happened the first night.
Thursday in Vienna was supposed to be an early morning, but without having to travel anywhere, everyone slept in. My friend and I got up slowly, then went to see Belvedere Palace (and the famous painting The Kiss!!), eat local Austrian again, shop in downtown Vienna, and go back to our room. On the train back to our hotel, I ran into another one of my friends from school who was on vacation with his parents. It really is a small world! That night, a few of my friends and I saw an opera with my professor and his wife. It was long, and we were in the standing room only section, but the show was still a memorable experience.
On Friday, my group took a four hour train ride to Prague, Czechia. This was out last stop. When we arrived, the girls got together and got a late lunch, ice cream, and took a nap. No one was in the mood for sightseeing, and when I woke up, my roommate and I got takeout, ordered a movie, and went to bed. I didn’t feel guilty for not going out, surprisingly, and it was nice to have a reminder that a foreign place can still resemble home.
Saturday was our last day. I got up and saw the Prague castle, the cathedral connected to it, and the John Lennon wall. My friends and I ate lunch, got ice cream again, and went back to get ready for our farewell dinner. That night, the whole route B group met for dinner. It was a bittersweet goodbye, but we all reminisced on our favorite memories. My mom picked me up from that dinner, and we left to go home.
I learned a lot about myself studying abroad, and for that reason, I’d recommend it to anyone. I learned how to try new things with people I barely knew and how to push myself to keep going simply because I didn’t have time to stop. I now have a greater appreciation for Europe, but also for the U.S. as well. I used to want to live in Italy out of college, but I have decided that I prefer the States more than anywhere else. There is really no place like home.
Thank you so much for reading my blog posts about my trip, and if you ever have the opportunity, go abroad! Tide rolls everywhere!!