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.
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