Back in "The States" (Reflection)

(My own choosing #3)

Being back in America is surreal. After coming back from three months of new things and experiences, it was a culture shock to have familiar things everywhere. I keep forgetting that, yes the waiter does speak English, and no I don't have to pay to use the public bathrooms.
Reflecting for the past week and a half has left me in awe at how lucky I have been to experience everything that I have in these three short months. Short is an understatement. When I think about my first week in the Czech Republic, it seems like just last week or a few days ago. But looking back, I am a completely different person and I know that the small portion of this large world that I saw changed my life forever.
For any future travelers that are thinking about or going on this trip I have hopefully some helpful advice:

•  Being scared is completely and totally normal, and I think if I wouldn't have gotten so scared before I left, I wouldn't have been able to realize how silly I was being and how much I would love it.
• Packing: Pack what you need and not what you think you need. If you don't wear it at home you won't wear it there. This was especially hard for me. If anything just save up more money and buy clothes in Europe. Who doesn't like saying "yeah I got this in Europe." There is an H&M in every city you will go to and they have cute things for good prices. Pack multiple pairs of shoes and be prepared to leave them. Boots are heavy and you may have to part with a nice pair. By the end of it, you will memorize your classmates outfits and the answer to "didn't they wear that yesterday?" is always yes. 
• I came in with friends and not only that but my roommate. I am so grateful to have had them with me and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. It is important to have people around you who you feel comfortable with and who you are ready to know everything about. Getting annoyed with these people is normal and bound to happen. Learning each others ticks and ways about them is so fun because you get to know a stranger by the end of it that might turn out to be your best friends. 
• Weekend Traveling: Don't pack heavy. It is a pain to carry around a giant backpack if you don't get the chance to stop at your hostel before you start doing things. There will probably be a trip that you take on your own without a teacher with you where you aren't as prepared as you thought you were. Take suggestions from people who have been to that city and try to plan out your day as best as you can. Nothing sucks more than being a bad tourist in an awesome city. 
• Spend your money. I brought over $2000 and ran out. That is how much I earned the three months I was at home and I had to borrow from my parents, but paying it off was worth it. I regret not buying the cute scarf in Amsterdam and I don't regret spending $18 on a gondola ride in Venice. Paying for experiences is always worth it and it makes for great pictures and stories. 
• Travel for yourself. This is the time in your life that you can be selfish. You can take these weekend trips with your friends and have fun doing it. There is nothing wrong with buying yourself a t-shirt or buying expensive pasta in Italy. Don't hesitate and learn as much as you can about yourself. It will be so worth it in the end when you have a boat load of stories, new friends, and awesome experiences.

My old new best friends

Listen to this.

I learned, in the past three months more than I have in any classroom ever. Not only information on the history of Europe and America, but about myself, my peers and my outlook on the world. I wouldn't trade this for anything and I recommend it for anyone.  I think that studying abroad should be a requirement for everyone to graduate. If you have any doubts about going just stop it. GO. It is only three months and it was the best of my life. I will always keep the Czech Republic close to my heart and it will always be a home away from home.

Humans of Olomouc

After living in Olomouc for almost three months, I have to say it is a wonderful city. There is so much to do and a perfect size for me and our group. While staying here, I have met some pretty awesome people and loved every meeting these kind souls. One of the first people we met on this trip is someone who ended up helping us with our last minute travel plans and saved our butts quite a few times. Her name is Tereza and she goes to school at Palacky like where we go. She immediately gave us tips and was so willing to lend us a helping hand whenever we needed it. Tereza helped me and a couple of other girls with our trip to London. She told us all the great places to go and she helped with train tickets and reading all of the websites in Czech. Needless to say, if we didn't have Tereza to help us, we wouldn't have had any successful trips outside of the field trips. 
One day, there were six of us stopping and getting coffee before class at one of our  favorite coffee shops. Someone approached us and asked the most common question we get which is "Are you from America?" of course we said yes and it turned out that she was also a fellow American. April immediately was kind to us and her welcoming spirit was good to hear within the first few weeks. She invited us over a couple of times to have dinner and spend time with her family. Her husband, David and their three kids were really great company and the food was AMAZING. Having a home cooked meal was something all six of us loved having and them welcoming strangers into their house and cooking for them is bold, but also so kind. Their kids were so cute and we loved playing with them for the two nights we were with them. I am very happy that we ran into her because now we made relationships with not only an American family, but people who live in the Czech Republic. It will be much easier to keep tabs on Olomouc and how the city is doing.

April's precious kids

This city has become one of my favorite places ever because of the people that we met and that it was our little home away from home. I am very sad to leave it, but I hope that in the near future I will be back to visit my favorite food places and to see my new friends that I was ever so lucky to make. 

"Work Makes You Free" #9

(Field Trip #3)

My weekend in Krakow, Poland is one that I will never forget. I learned that Polish culture doesn't involve being very polite, that there are beautiful castles in Poland and more than I could have ever imagined learning about the Holocaust.

The city center of Krakow

We started the day on Friday morning by driving to Krakow and then spent the afternoon in the Salt Mines right outside of Krakow. It was amazing to see entire caves and sculptures made entirely out of salt! A few people even licked the walls but that just would have put a bad taste in my mouth ;). We walked down six flights of stairs before reaching the bottom. I never would have thought that salt mines would be so cool until I went in one. I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun we had.

One of the scultures made of salt in the mines

The next morning we all got up early and walked to one of Krakow's castles. I really like going through castles because it reminds me of the movie Princess Diaries. Then we went to the treasury and armory to see crowned jewels and armor and swords. I like looking at the jewels, but the armor really doesn't interest me that much anymore and all of it is starting to run together. After that, a few of us went with Jan to Oskar Schindler's factory. This was a museum set up in chronological order from when Krakow got taken over by the Nazi's and throughout World War ll. This was a very interactive museum that showed what it was like to be a citizen and Krakow and then a Jew. There were so many disturbing things that went along with this museum, but it did prepare us thoroughly for our next day when we visited Auschwitz concentration camp.

One of the blocks that 700 people lived in

The urn memorial

Pictures of some of the prisoners

This is the trip that I have been looking forward to and dreading at the same time. Immediately when we drove up, the energy shifted and there was a seriousness that came over all of us. There were so many things going through my head the whole time that it was hard to stay focused and remember where I was.  Trying to understand the pain that the 1.2 million people who died there went through was not easy.  The whole time I was thinking about how they came here to die and almost none of them had any idea what the overall plan was and why they were being sent there. They were walking on the same soil as me to their death. First, we went through the museum and the part of the camp that housed a lot of the prisoners. There was a memorial in the first building that held ashes of some of the victims of the Holocaust. We noticed that it was rather small and there is no way that 1.2 million people's ashes were in there and we found out that the majority of the ashes were located in a pond outside of one of the gas chambers. We went through a few buildings where the prisoners lived and I would say that it is smaller than the house I grew up in with four people and a dog. The tour guide said that in this building held 700 people at a time and we got to see a room set up like the ones that were originally in there. It was either 10-12 three story bunk beds or piles of hay to sleep on. And on each of the beds slept four men. In a few exhibits there were items taken from the prisoners upon arrival and saved. The numbers of the items were astonishing and seeing the number of people's belongings put it into a perspective that not many people think about. All of a sudden the number of people go from a million into each individual person who had a life there. The shoes, glasses, and suitcases that were all stacked into piles that no one could count made the number so much larger in my eyes. The pile of things that made me the most emotional however, were the prosthetic legs, crutches, back braces and walkers. Being a special education major, I have known a few people using these items. Although I will never truly understand what it means to have a physical disability, I do know that from what I have seen from an outside perspective, it is not easy. For example, if someone loses a limb and then gets a prosthetic, the process is huge. Getting from physical therapy, to trying different types of prosthetic, to getting used to it after months and years of pain and then finally being able to use both limbs again is a process no one should have to go through. Although it is hard, it is so rewarding to work so hard to have a close to normal life again. Seeing those was so hard because someone worked so hard, just to have it ripped from their lives and immediately killed. Another thing that was incredibly hard to see was the two tons of human hair behind glass. When the women got to the camp, they were shaven just like the men and they took all of the hair and shipped it off to places in Germany to have their hair made into textiles and linens. It was unbelievable that there was so much and that wasn't even half of what they had. Plus for most women, hair is a safety blanket in a sense and it makes us feel attractive. Being venerable in a place like that without hair is unimaginable.

Part of the giant stack of 80,000 shoes- not even a 10th of the amount of people killed

Prosthetics, braces and crutches

The prisoners glasses

There was so much to see there and so much history that filled the halls of the buildings and streets of the camp that it was hard to keep up. We went into the only gas chamber that was still standing in Auschwitz. Going in and seeing where thousands of people were killed at a time was overwhelming. Considering that a group of 30 of us took up a substantial amount of room in the big open room with no windows except for the ones at the top where the gas was poured in, it was not somewhere anyone would want to be. If you looked closely at the walls there were scratch marks from the people trying to escape the painful death that the Nazis put them through. They said that it took 20 minutes for two thousand people to be killed.

The Gas Chamber

After we saw that, we went a little bit up the road to the main extermination center called Birkenau. The buildings that the prisoners stayed in at this area were originally used as horse stables and were barely changed at all for the people staying there. The living conditions were awful and it was hard to listen to the tour guide explain what they went through every day. He was also describing some of the jobs that the camp made the prisoners do. One of them was a latrine cleaner that basically cleaned the excrements of 3000 people twice a day. He was explaining though that it was the best job to have because it was inside for the cold weather, the soldiers never went in their due to the smell, and the workers had unlimited bathroom use while the other prisoners only had 30 seconds twice a day. Then he took us up the hill a ways to the remains of the gas chambers that 1.2 million people were killed in and then cremated. To think of all of the lives that were lost in just one of those buildings was unfathomable and I have never thought that this evidence of this horrible genocide would be right in front of my face.

The toilets for the prisoners

The stables where the prisoners stayed

The remains of one of the gas chambers

After learning about it in history classes that started in fifth grade, I thought that I would be prepared for what I was about to see. I was completely wrong. I also knew I would be different after seeing this, but I did not know how shocked I would be at what I thought I knew all about. I knew nothing and seeing it in real life clicked in my head how important it is for everyone who can to see this in person and to realize what happened to so many people so quickly.

Copenhagen!

(My own choosing #2)

Having the ability to fall in love with a new country every week is something I am extremely thankful for on this trip. This weekend, Lauren and I got the chance to go up north to Copenhagen, Denmark. It just so happens that I have a cousin that lives in the city and she was sweet enough to host us and take us around for a very busy weekend. 

Liv and I doing the "American girl" pose

When we arrived in Copenhagen, we were picked up by my cousin Liv and took the metro to her neighborhood of Nørrebro. Right when we got there we immediately realized how people get around- riding their bikes. When we got to her apartment she had three of them waiting for us to ride to a

near by park where what seemed like half of the city celebrating the first of May and workers appreciation day, where many businesses are closed and people have the day off. With everyone having the day off, it made for a lot of drinking and partying in the middle of the afternoon for those who were there. Walking around and people watching was the most fun part. There were lots off politicians that were making speeches for the upcoming elections  for next year. We all had a beer and watched some very interesting shows that were being put on by local bands. We had tons of laughs and giggles while people watching and it was a good way to start our trip. We then got back on the bikes and headed back to Liv's apartment and she cooked us a beautiful home cooked meal that we more than appreciated. 

A bike parking lot in front of the train station

The view of Copenhagen from the Round Tower

The next morning Lauren and I felt refreshed and ready to start the day thanks to the breakfast that Liv cooked us. There is truly nothing better than waking up to the words, "I made banana pancakes." Luckily, Lauren's friend from Sweden got to take a train into Copenhagen and meet us to spend a day. It was so much fun having her along. We started out the day going through the main city center and with Liv being a local, she was very patient to take us into a very touristy area of the city. We got some shopping done and then went to what is called the Round Tower. It was built in the 1670s by an astronomer for a planetarium type of building. At the top was a beautiful view of the city and we got to go up and see the telescope and the room where the ceiling opened up so he could look at the stars. For lunch that day, we got a Danish hotdog. I know that I talk about food a lot in this blog but here's another description of one of my favorite parts of the trip. The hotdog was covered in ketchup, mustard, a Danish condiment called rumalade, raw onions, French fried onions, and pickles. I don't know about you, but after typing that my mouth is watering. We stuffed our faces and then a student research group was collecting surveys about people's beer habits and then there was a taste test with a couple. We said "free beer why not". After that, we made our way to New Harbor and got on a boat that took us on a canal tour of Copenhagen. We learned a lot but it was nice to have Liv with us to add little comments of information in the back of the boat. Especially when the tour guide said that every month the naval based fired "canoes" instead of cannons. When we got off the boat we wanted to go to the small community of Christiania. It was too far to walk so we took one of those bike carts where we rode in the back while someone pedaled us there. It was funny but also scary because our driver kept running red lights. But I'm obviously fine because I'm writing this blog. The community of Christiania was one of my favorite parts of Copenhagen. It started in 1971 as a youth revolt and became a Freetown. The people that created it built everything they could and lived for themselves for a long time. It does cost money to live there now but the mantra of when the community was created is still the same. They are extremely peaceful and the locals fell right into the hippie category. The Main Street in Christiania is called Pusher Street and there are no pictures alowed because in this town, marijuana is tolerated and sold on the streets. There are no photos because it has caused many problems with police and people of Copenhagen who do not like it. When walking around you could feel the sense of community and how people were happy with their simple life. I would love to go back and spend more time there. Sadly after that, Lauren's friend had to catch her train back to Sweden. For our "dinner" we got French fries and rumalade, then we face timed my parents and they were more than thrilled to see Liv after so long. It was a perfect ending to an eventful day. 

Stuffing my face, per usual.

New Harbor!

On Sunday, we got to sleep in and then begin the day by biking to a local cemetery. This was much different than the ones in America, because if you were just riding by, you would think it was a park. It was really peaceful and there were tons of people reading and walking around. All of the graves were personalized and there were flowers and plants growing and thriving on the graves rather than just set on top. There was even a little nook dedicated to children that passed away. This was really special because one of Liv's friends had a child buried there so we got to hear a little about the details of the grave. There were flowers planted and toys scattered on top of the grave. Behind the headstone there were little folded pieces of paper. She then told us that those are drawings and letters to the little boy that his classmates in kindergarten made for him. It was a really touching story and having details and connections in a place like that made it so much more worthwhile. After that, we biked to the Little Mermaid statue, made famous by the Danish fairytale author Hans Christian Andersen and taking a very crowded picture by it. Then we walked around a Kastelle that was an old army base. We had lunch by the canal and had really good fish and chips (I won't go into detail about this one). Then we walked our bikes over to the king and queens palace and got to see where they live and where the princes and their families live as well. After seeing that stuff we rode our bikes to an ice cream place because after a long day of riding we deserved it. Liv then took us to Tivoli which is an amusement park type of place that had a great atmosphere. We hung out there for a while and then headed back home. We ended the day by getting some sushi.

One of the children's decorated graves.

The entrance to the cemetery.

The Little Mermaid!

Copenhagen was an extremely pleasant surprise, as I had no idea what to expect at all. The only thing I knew about Denmark was that I had family there and when they speak Danish, it sounds like they have a potato in their mouth. I am more than excited to go back there again and spend a lot more time there then just a weekend. 

Spring Break at the University of Mommy!

(My own choosing #1)

After having to say goodbye to the beautiful city of Venice, Anna and I said "hello" to Rome. We took a high speed train from Venice to Rome and had the privilege to meet my mom and aunt in our nice hotel to start our ten day tour of Rome and the Amalfi Coast! After not seeing my mom for a whole month I was more than happy to give her a big bear hug. Even though I am almost 20 years old, seeing my mom after a long time will never get old.

At Monte Cassino

The next day we woke up early and our group of about 30 people (Anna and I being the youngest by about 30 years) went to the Vatican City and saw the cathedral and the Sistine Chapel. These things were absolutely unbelievable to see in person and the detail in the paintings was something I did not expect to be so blown away by. That afternoon, our group went to the Colosseum for an in depth guided tour. I have never seen gladiator or 300 so I honestly didn't know anything about it. I did not know how much violence took place there and it was something that i learned quickly was not a good place to be if you were a prisoner. It was one of those places that pictures didn't do any justice to the breathtaking architecture and age. That evening, the four of us went hunting for cheesy souvenirs and good food. We were not disappointed in the slightest. We stopped at a little bistro and we looked over the menu. As we were doing that, a waiter came up to us and was extremely nice so we decided to go in. I kid you not it was the best meal of my life. Our waiter made the experience so much fun on top of the delicious food. I actually cried at the teirimisu.
The next morning we were already on our way toward the Amalfi Coast. Our first stop was to a town called Monte Cassino. We took the bus to the top of one of the mountains and there was a Montessori that had a cool museum and pieces from the Rome Tower, a pretty cathedral and a lot of monks. It made for really pretty pictures and there was a beautiful view of the mountains. That night we got to our extremely nice hotel on the hills of the Amalfi Coast facing the ocean. It looked just like a picture in a travel magazine. We all had dinner together so we could get to know some of the people in our group. I met some pretty awesome people from all over the United States. It was really nice to hear American accents for a whole week as well.

The four of us :)

The view from our Hotel in Vietri

Early after dinner, we went to bed for the early morning we had that next day. That morning we went to a small town called Sorrento right on the coast. It was a nice city for shopping and we got to take a tour of a woodworking shop. That afternoon, we went to a Lemoncello facotry. Lemoncello is the popular liquor that is produced in southern Italy. Who knew that southern Italy had lemon trees because I sure didnt. Most of my best experiences in Italy had to do with the food. That night we went to a delicious seafood restaurant that had SIX COURSES and unlimited wine. It was so ridiculous how many courses that we had that every time they brought our more food, we would laugh because we weren't even hungry anymore. But I am so glad that we went to that restaurant and had that experience.

Lemoncello tasting!

Large lemons in Sorrento

With Anna and I being the youngest ones on the trip, our sleeping patterns clashed with the flow. We stayed up late every night just to get up early the next day. The next morning that we had was painfully early for the both of us, but it was the most fun day that we had on the trip. We got to go to a buffalo mozzarella factory! The buffalo were pampered and spoiled to produce the best milk. It is worth all their pampering because the best cheese, ice cream, cappuccino, and ricotta cheese inside of a canoli that I have ever had in my whole life were all made with the milk from the buffalo. I never would've thought that a buffalo would produce something so delicious. Later that day we went to the Greek town of Paestum. There was a recovered town from the ancient Greek days. It was really cool to see the old temples and amphitheaters, but I realized that after about an hour of looking at old buildings I get bored. For dinner that night we went to a hole-in-the-wall family-owned restaurant that made us all feel Italian. 

The precious buffalo

Winery on Mt. Vesuvius

Paestum!

The best ice cream and canoli of my life

The next day the group had the option to go to the island of Capri. The four of us decided to save our money and explore the little town of Vietri. We shopped at an unlimited amount of ceramic shops and ate pizza while walking on the beach. The beach was way to cold to swim in but it was just right to put our feet in. That ocean was the clearest water I have ever seen. When we got back to the hotel, the four of us treated ourselves to a spa day that was very relaxing.

The beautiful Mediterranean sea

On our last day on the coast, our group went to Pompeii! This is something that I have been interested in for the longest time. I have watched documentaries and learned in many of my classes about this giant discovery and I was so excited to actually see it in person. To think that an entire city could get demolished in such a short amount of time is insane. And to think of how long it took us to find it after it happened was even crazier. This was something that was taken to us by a tour guide and I do really wish we could have explored the city on our own. Like I said about Paestum, I got bored after a while and I wish I didn't. I would have really liked it, but it was so much slower with a tour guide and it would have been nice to go through it on my own pace. For lunch after Pompeii, we got to go to a small winery on Mt. Vesuvius. Having homemade spaghetti and wine made Anna and I feel so fancy. That was another one of my favorite things that we did. That night we went back down to Vietri, as if we didn't do enough shopping the day before and finished our night with a really good local pizza shop.

A seafood and gnocchi dish

The streets of Pompeii!

On our way back up the coast we stopped in Naples to go to the archeological museum to finish our tour of Pompeii. This time Anna and I went through the museum on our own and had so much fun. We found the erotic room from Pompeii and like the seventh graders we are giggled the entire time. It was fun to mess around. That afternoon, the group headed up the coast on our big bus. We ended in Rome and had a farewell dinner at a fancy restaurant that was another three plus course meal and a show that included opera singers! If we didn't feel Italian before that we definitely did then. After that, I had to say a very hard goodbye to my mom and aunt for another month. I am so happy and thankful that they came all the way to Italy to spend time with me and I am happy that I got to go on vacation with my three favorite people (besides my dad and brother). It was so special to get to experience all of that with them and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Vienna and Venice! #8

(Field trip #2)

I cannot think of a better way to begin a spring break then by taking a field trip to Vienna, Austria followed by Venice, Italy! Both of these cities were beautiful and completely different. At the end of my London trip (which was two days before Vienna), I had come down with a rotten cold. It was just one of those where you want to sleep all day and you go through tissues and cough drops like you are getting paid to do it. Not much was going to stop me from having fun in these amazing cities, even though I was so sick.

A cathedral in Vienna

One of the hundred canals through the city

When we got to Vienna, we settled into our hostel and got to see the city square and go down the main street where there were a TON of dangerous places to shop. We learned how unique the city is and how much history is in every place we go. That afternoon we got to go to the Vienna Treasury and see some really cool crowned jewels. That was the mot interesting museum we went to as a group. The next day, the group of us woke up early to catch a horse show. I was not feeling the best and accidentally fell asleep at the horse show that turned out to actually be the practice so I didn't feel as bad. After that, a few of us went to go find somewhere for lunch. We went to a little cafe and I had some soup because that's exactly what I needed on that cold day. At the cafe we ran into a German couple who spoke almost no English. Even though we didn't speak the same language, there was no barrier and it was one of the best conversations that I had here. They were so nice and the lady even gave me a hug before they had to go. After the cafe four of us went to a museum called "Haus of Musik". It was the best part of Vienna to me. We got to see some of the most famous classical composers things and learn all about them. Artists like Mozart and Bethoveen were featured in this museum. We also got to learn about the science of hearing and how the ears hear different things. There was a really cool room that was supposed to sound like what a baby hears when its in the womb. It was a really cool thing to see since we were in the city of classical music. That afternoon I took a five hour nap followed by an eight hour night of much needed sleep.

Piano stairs in the "Haus of Musik"

One of my crowns at the treasury

In the "Haus of Musik"

The next day we were back on the bus and on our way to Venice. We took a quick pit stop at a place that had a beautiful view of the Swiss Alps, then after a seven hour bus ride we got to our final destination. Venice is unlike any city I have ever been in. I was shocked at it's beauty and it completely exceeded my expectations. When we got there we immediately walked to our hostel and then Martin lead us to the city center and St. Marcos square. He introduced the city and then said "Okay find your way back." The thing about Venice is that a lot of it looks the same and there was no way I was going to get back on my own. Luckily Erica and Anna have excellent sense of direction because we got back safe and in good time. We ate an excellent dinner and gelato following. When we got back to our hostel we decided that a group of us were going to wake up early and go exploring in the city before it got busy. That was the best idea we ever had. When we woke up there were barely anyone but locals on the streets and vendors getting their shops set up for the day. When we woke up early it made for excellent pictures and a whole new view on the city. We walked the opposite way from our hostel and found a really pretty park and a great restaurant. It was so early that we were having coffee with our ravioli at ten in the morning. I loved getting to explore Venice with my friends and having such a great time so early. We met up with the group soon after that and got to go to a couple of cool museums with great art and a beautiful cathedral. After that we were free to go exploring again in Venice! We did and got pizza on our way back to our hostel and we may have stopped at a few stores as well. Then we were off for our spring break! Venice and Vienna were a blast and I cannot wait to go back to those cities in the future. I never feel like I have enough time to explore everything I can in these cities, but I'm not complaining because that just means that I will have to come back in the future with my family.

Our morning ravioli

On our gondola!

St. Marcos Square

All of the early morning crew!

I'm Seeing Double... Decker Busses #10

(Personal Excursion)

This post is a little bit late, but a couple of weeks ago a few of us hopped on a plane and went across the English Channel and spent the weekend in the UK. When I was younger, I wanted to go to London more than anywhere else in the world. I think it had something to do with the Mary-Kate and Ashley movie "Winning London", but either way it was on the top of my to do list. This was the first trip that we took on our own without teachers or chaperones or just a way to get from point A to point B easily. Lets just say that it made it a little more interesting that way.

Our first tube ride!

Fish and Chips!

Big Ben!

While booking the trip, there were a lot of things that we were sure about. Where we were staying, what we for sure wanted to see, and that we were going to take the London Underground (tube) everywhere we went. When we got there the first thing we weren't sure about was where we were staying. I was the one who booked the hostel and online the reviews were great and we made special requests for what time we got there and we were 100% confident in where we were staying. That completely flipped and when we got there, we discovered that it was also a pub and there was no one in the building. Not only that, but it was a good 45 minute train ride and walk out of our way. All of us had stayed in the airport the night before that and with little to no sleep, we were stressed, scared and tired. We went back to the train station and a nice concierge man was able to help us figure sleeping accommodations for that night. We accidentally upgraded to a four star hotel and we were more than happy with that.

Our Upgrade!

Buckingham Palace!

After the hostel fiasco, we were on our way to see what London had to offer. We went to the tower bridge and walked downtown from there to Big Ben, the London Eye, and Buckingham Palace. For lunch we had to stop for fish and chips and a beer to go along with it. We really felt like true tourists after we did that. We got a really good deal with the London Eye and got our tickets before hand and also with that ticket we got to go on a river boat cruise at night to get to know London more. With there being so much history and things to see in London, it is like we barely scratched the surface of that beautiful city. Things weren't as close together as we thought they were and we did A LOT of walking.
This trip really taught me how it is to plan a trip by myself and to get to know a city in under 48 hours. I really appreciate all of the planning and things that our teachers and even my parents have done for me in the past. I had a blast in London and I would go back in a heartbeat. Maybe with a little more planning next time, but none the less it was one of my favorite cities that was nothing like I expected it to be and of course it was very impressive.

STATS OF THE TRIP: 

• Miles walked: 14.8
• Hours slept: 7/36
• Times ripped off: 4
• Lessons Learned: 5
• Laughs: 1 million