I went to Europe.

This post is long overdue. I got back from Europe over a month ago, but I still go through withdrawals on occasion. I didn’t want to be one of those people who come home from their study abroad and complain about how much they miss it…but unfortunately, I think I have been.  A lot of people have asked me the typical question “How was Europe?” and honestly, I never know what to say. I mean, how do you quickly summarize the most amazing experience of basically your entire life? I usually just tell people it was incredible, because that’s the only word I can think of that even comes close to describing how much I loved Europe. However, I’ve decided to try and briefly recap my 6 weeks in Europe for those of you who only got the one-word answer.

Rome

The perfect city to start in. I was in Rome for 9 days. This may not seem like a long time, but when you walk around the city from 8:30 in the morning to 11:00 at night, you get to see quit a lot. This is usually how we felt at the end of every day:

Even though I was exhausted after each day (due to jet lag, lack of water, sore feet, and not being accustomed to this kind of lifestyle), it was a great way to start out this adventure. Each day it got a little easier to be walking around all day, and after a little while, I was able to enjoy everything without thinking about how tired I was. It’s a good thing too because there is so much to see and do in Rome! There is so much history crammed into this city. I think it’s amusing that you can walk out of the metro station and suddenly you are standing right in front of the Colosseum, or that you can shop for clothes and eat dinner right next to the Pantheon. 

Highlights:

-Climbing to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica

-Seeing the Sistine Chapel

-going inside a church that was decorated entirely with human bones (picture quality is bad because I wasn’t supposed to take pictures…)

-Eating gelato (lots and lots of gelato)

-getting stuck in a bathroom stall sized elevator for an hour with 5 other girls (not really a highlight, but I will never forget it)

-Seeing the Colosseum (especially at night)

-Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne (my favorite piece of art that I saw the entire time)

-Trevi Fountain

Pompeii/Naples

Another question that people always ask me is “What was your favorite place?” I never have an answer for this either, but I can tell you that my LEAST favorite place was the Pompeii/Naples area. It was really cool to see the ancient cities that were preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and Naples’ pizza is delicious, but other than that, it didn’t do much for me. It’s not a very safe area (a girl got assaulted by our hotel last year), and everyone there just sits on the side of the road, smokes, and stares at you. And pretty sure we went to a restaurant run by the Mafia. Pretty sketchy.

Highlights:

-eating an entire pizza by myself

- Getting to see the ancient ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum

Florence

I am in love with this city. No man will ever compare. It is so beautiful and picturesque that it’s a little ridiculous. If you are looking for the perfect honeymoon destination, go to Florence!

Highlights:

-Listening to the Monk chants and then seeing the beautiful view of Florence from the church

-getting to see Michelangelo’s David

-The Leather Market

-The Gelato Festival

 Athens

After being in Italy for almost 3 weeks, I was ready to move on to Greece. Once we arrived in the Athens airport, I could almost immediately tell that we were in a different country. It wasn’t just the fact that everything was in Greek instead of Italian, it’s something that I can’t even explain. Every country, and city for that matter, has a different feeling. The food, the way people act, and the look of the city is different. I didn’t really have any idea what Greece was going to be like, but I was pleasantly surprised. I loved the people. They are a lot friendlier than Italians. And Greek gyros are out of this world.

Highlights:

-The Acropolis/Parthenon

-The Greek Coast

-Our Toga party (that we cleverly made out of our bed sheets)

Road trip through Greece

After leaving Athens, we began our road trip through Greece. Every morning we would pile onto the bus, drive for about 7 hours (while making stops along the way at churches/museums and such), and end up in a different city every night.

Nafplio, Delphi, Olympia, Kalambaka, Thesseloniki

I’m not going to go into detail about each of the cities that we stayed in, but I will mention Nafplio. This city sits below a mountain that has a huge castle on the top. In order to get to the top you must climb over 900 steps. My legs hurt the next day, but it was so worth it because I got to see the most gorgeous view I have ever seen in my life. We sat up there for about an hour because the beauty of the Mediterranean Coast was a little overwhelming. Another prime honeymoon location.

Olympia is also worth mentioning because I saw the site where the first Olympic Games were held.

Highlights:

-The monastery that sits on a sheer cliff

-Riding a ship around the Thesseloniki bay

-Having fun on the bus

-the Epidaurus Amphitheater

Berlin

Berlin is also one of my favorite cities. I felt a little ripped off though because we were only there for 3 days. And most of that time was spent going to all the museums on Museum Island (there are 5), and getting lost for about 6 hours while trying to find a concentration camp. But I loved the feel of the city, and it was a lot cleaner than previous ones. 

Highlights:

-Riding a double decker bus for the first time

-The Holocaust Memorial

-Everyone in the group going to dinner together and each being served basically an entire pig

-Seeing ‘The Avengers’ for the first time in a huge movie theater that was all underground

-Going to the most magical chocolate store ever

-Lego Land!

Paris

I’ve wanted to go to Paris for as long as I can remember. It was probably after I watched ‘Sabrina’ for the first time. I have two friends that are on their missions in Paris right now, and all I can say is they are lucky they get to be there for 18 months. 

Highlights:

-Finding the Eiffel Tower on the first day without any help, and then climbing to the very top

-Getting to see the most famous painting in the world

-The entire Louvre Museum

-Randomly running into my friend Abby from High school in the Musee d’Orsay

-Experiencing Mass inside the Notre Dame Cathedral

-Fulfilling my life-long dream on going to the Palace of Versailles

London

I have to admit that I felt relieved when we got to London because I could finally understand what people were saying, and I didn’t feel like an idiot when I tried to order food. If I go on another study abroad, I am definitely just going to London. There is so much to do! So I tried to cram as much as possible into the 4 days that I was there. 

Highlights:

-Westminster Abbey (I had no idea that so many cool people were buried in this church! i.e. Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, Handel, Elizabeth I, T.S. Elliot, etc…)

-Seeing Les Miz

-Seeing Singin’ in the Rain (by myself!)

-getting to see Henry V in the actual Globe Theater (and I understood the whole play)

-Platform 9 ¾!

-Taking all the classic touristy pictures

Ireland

After the study abroad was over and everyone else had left for the United States, I went to Ireland for a few days with a couple of the other girls. I’m so glad that I stayed because Ireland was fantastic and so beautiful. On the first day we drove to the city Cork, and then the rest of our time was spent in Dublin. Driving around was interesting because the steering wheel was on the opposite side of the car and we had to drive on the left side of the road. We had a few close calls…

Highlights:

-The Blarney Castle (even though it was down pouring the entire time)

-Eating at a real Irish Pub

-Trinity College

-Getting to meet Yoda

Random thoughts:

-Other than going to museums, I’m pretty sure that eating consumed most of my time. Usually with Brianna. But isn’t that one of the biggest parts of experiencing Europe? 

-Every single day I wished I could speak another language.

-The only thing that I didn’t like about Europe was their electricity. I had a lot of problems with my converter. It fried my straightener and my hair. And in Greece my converter started smoking and then blew out the lights in my hotel room. 

-Until I went to Rome, I’ve never realized that I am grateful for public restrooms and drinking fountains.

-European street musicians are legit. My favorite was this one guy who was rockin out on a white electric violin. 

-Everyone in Europe smokes. EVERYONE.

-I loved going to church in the different countries! The members were so giving and had so much faith. It’s amazing to see how the gospel is exactly the same no matter where you are in the world.

-I learned so much about European Art History! Which I guess makes sense since that was the focus of the study abroad. But I’ve never taken an art history class before, so I didn’t know anything. I mean, I know of all the really famous art like the Mona Lisa or the Pieta, but it was always a little embarrassing when the group would approach a statue or something and everyone else would be awestruck that we were seeing such a famous piece of art, and I would be thinking to myself that I had never heard of it before….oh well, I’ve heard of it all now!

-I feel like going to Europe helped me gain a new perspective about life and about the world. A more eternal perspective. There are SO many people in this world, and when you stop and think about it, we are all pretty much the same. Everyone has a past, everyone has plans and goals, and everyone is struggling with something.  It’s amazing the love you can feel for people you don’t even know when you think of them in this way. I know I definitely felt that when I was there, and I hope to never lose that attitude. I know I am not the same Rebekah that I was when I left, and that I have changed for the better.

****This post only touches the surface of everything that I learned and experienced in Europe. So if you aren’t satisfied with this, then I’d love to talk to you for hours if you are willing to listen. And trust me, I could go on for hours.