To my mom,

Hi, mom 🙂

I needed to write about the last few days I was able to spend with you in Prague. We’ve been talking about you coming to visit me in Europe since I decided I was undoubtedly spending a semester abroad… and that was before I even got to college. I’m so happy that I got to be with you for your first European experience, and I hope Prague and Vienna were all that you could’ve hoped for.

I’m so glad I got a few more days with you here in Prague. I got to show you my favorite restaurants (Thai food included), coffee shops, sights, and so much more. I think we covered the entirety of Prague walking around, and popping into every shop we saw. It’s such a good feeling to know that you can picture where exactly I’ve called home for the past four months.

So, thank you for flying across the ocean and coming to see the city I’m living in. Thank you for going out of your comfort zone and trying weird foods with me. Thank you for bringing me all the clothes I knew I would forget at home, and even more for taking home all of my winter clothes. We both know there was no way my bag would be under the 50 lb. limit on the way home… Thank you for telling me I’m crazy for wanting to go to Chile next, but letting me do it anyways. Thank you for adjusting as well as you could… especially with the coffee (hope you’re keeping up the good work with not using sweeteners at home) Thank you for understanding why I love Prague so much. I’m so glad I made you love it, too. And lastly and most importantly, thank you for even making this a possibility for me. I never would’ve gotten here without you and your constant encouragement to follow whatever crazy dream I’m having.

See you in just over one month (you too, Dad and Jackson) I love you all!

 

Three generations, two foreign cities

Within 18 hours of getting back from Munich, three visitors showed up in Prague for me. My mom and two grandparents came all the way across the ocean to spend the week with me, and I couldn’t be more thankful and happy about it.

Praha

It was SO cool to be a tour guide for my mom/grandparents. I showed them all of the must-see places (St. Vitus Cathedral, Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, John Lennon Wall), had them see the amazing view from the Astronomical Clock tower while I was in class, and made them try the famous ice-cream filled tredlniks. We found our fair share of amazing restaurants, befriended all of our waiters/waitresses, and tested out some new foods and drinks. We also witnessed a wedding and saw the bride being twirled around in front of the Astronomical Clock. Talk about a fairytale wedding… and she looked absolutely beautiful.

I think it is needless to say that they were absolutely amazed by Prague, specifically how clean it is and the all of beautiful architecture. We had some favorable weather and really made the most of our week together. After the first night of heading home alone, Papa insisted I stayed in their hotel with them for the remainder of the time. He didn’t like the idea of me going home at 11 PM alone. Funny, because I did tell him about the amount of times I’ve done that at 3 AM by myself… but hey, I didn’t argue.

Mamie stories

• She claimed that a hotel worker was her boyfriend
• She ordered an $80 steak. Meanwhile — My meal, Papa’s meal and Mom’s meal COMBINED were not even $80. So there’s that.
• Direct quote: “I put Michelle on one of those leashes for children and hooked her to the clothes line”
• Direct quote: “My phones charge lasts so much longer here than at home”

Vienna

After a few days in Prague, the four of us took a bus to Vienna to spend our last weekend all together. I can’t believe/explain how much there is to see in Vienna.. three massive palaces, parliament, the town hall, cathedrals, beautiful gardens, etc. etc. I did not expect for Vienna to offer so much, but I think we were all pleasantly surprised. My only complaint is how much construction was going on to all of the historic buildings — it took away from them a little.

Once we got into Vienna, we spent our first day exploring the city center. We saw the St. Stephen’s Cathedral and sat at a cafe people-watching for a while. None of us really had an itinerary planned out, so we thought it’d be best to get a tour of Vienna the old fashioned way, via horse and carriage. We had the BEST driver/tour guide. He showed us so much and serenaded us almost the entire time. He was hilarious and so sweet, and Papa took to calling him “Mr. Buttons” (we still aren’t exactly sure why)… Definitely happy about taking this ride though, because it gave us ideas of a lot of places we wanted to head back to the following day.

First thing in the morning we set off for the Schönbrunn Palace, the most visited attraction in Vienna. We honestly could’ve spent an entire day here alone. We took an hour-long tour of the inside of the palace, which was stunning as could be expected. So many stories of Marys and Elizabeths and Napolean. I’m not exactly a history fanatic, but I thought all the stories were interesting. Like for example, only one of the many Mary’s was allowed to marry someone she loved. The rest were forced into marriages for political reasons/peace between countries. What a life.

Afterwards we explored the gardens, hiked up the hill for an amazing view of Vienna, and peaked into the Tiergarten Schönbrunn (the oldest zoo in the world). Then we headed to the Volksgarten (rose garden), Parliament building, and the Hofsburg Palace. That night we went to a very authentic restaurant where the waitresses wore drindls and the waiters wore lederhosens, and we tried a traditional Viennese meal: Wiener Schnitzel. Yum.

Our final day together, we explored a little more to areas we hadn’t been yet. We saw the Rathaus, the Sigmund-Freud Park, had lunch at Café Central – a famous café that has been around since 1876, and used to be frequented by Sigmund Freud, Adolf Hitler, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Alfred Atler, etc. From there we went to the Belvedere Palace — equally as beautiful as the Schönbrunn Palace — and then eventually said our goodbyes to Vienna. My mom and I got on a bus and headed back to Prague, and my grandparents set off for a 12-day tour of Austria/Switzerland.

Side note: A major, major thank you to my wonderful grandparents for everything. I loved being able to share my beautiful city with you and loved exploring a new city just as much. I am so thankful to share my love of traveling and experiencing new places with you both. This was something I will never ever forget, and I am so blessed to have been able to share it with you both. Have an amazing rest of your time in Salzburg and all over Switzerland. I love you both with all my heart.

Frühlingsfest in München

München

My weekend in Munich was very different than most weekends I’ve spent traveling.. I was headed to Munich for Frühlingsfest (springfest) which is essentially just a smaller Oktoberfest… I’m sure you’ve all heard about that. I was staying with my friends Mike and Johnny in an airbnb a little outside of the city center. Meeting up with them was complicated to say the least… by the time my bus got into Munich on Friday afternoon they’d been wandering around for a little while and since my phone doesn’t work in other countries without WiFi, it was a bit of a challenge to get in touch with them. But one thing I’ve learned being abroad is that is ALWAYS going to happen. You are very much forced to deal with it.

I spent an hour or so wandering around completely alone in Munich. A tram ride, a metro ride, and a 25 minute walk later.. I somehow found them in the Englischer Garten. They’d made a new friend (Yosh?) so all four of us started to explore Munich before starting our night.

 

This is me wandering around Munich alone 🙂

The tiny bit of sight seeing we did… We saw the Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall, pictured left) the Frauenkirche (a church in the city center) and then climbed the St. Peter’s Church Tower to see an incredible view of Munich. It was a 300-stair climb but the 360 view was well worth it.

Frühlingsfest

I had NO idea what to expect out of Springfest. But when we got off the metro, what we saw in front of us was a massive fair. There were rides, food stands at every corner, 2 foot hotdogs, and hundreds of people wearing drindls and lederhosens (the traditional German outfits for women and men).

There were also two covered tents that were the source of the real festivities of Springfest. Inside these tents were hundreds of picnic tables lined down the walls with a stage and band at the very end. Along the sides you saw hundreds of waitresses wearing drindls and waiters wearing lederhosens, each carrying 10 liters of beer. The amount of people that I saw get absolutely annihilated by a waitress using the beers as a shield and/or to shove people out of the way is crazy, and I definitely am counting my blessings that I wasn’t one of them. It didn’t look very fun.

We spent essentially the next 36 hours in a tent drinking liters on liters of beers. Yes, we did go home to sleep. But first thing in the morning it just started over. From 11 AM – 11 PM. We forgot to eat basically all weekend, we spent 30 minutes waiting in bathroom lines, and I ran into more people from USC/UNH than I can count. It was insane and so much fun. The first night we spent watching German grandpas dance and making new friends from Holland, and the second day we spent dancing on a table with 4 German girls and a handful of Mike’s friends from UNH. There honestly isn’t much else to write about because I’m not kidding when I say that is how we spent our entire weekend.

P.S. People say German beer is the best beer in the world. They really, really aren’t lying.

Prost, München!

Prague x2

After getting back from Amsterdam I made the decision to stay in Prague for a few weekends. I had a lot of school work coming up, friends coming to visit, and honestly I just really wanted to be in my own city for a while.

The first weekend was a much more relaxed one. Taylor had her friend Savannah coming to visit, and the three of us explored a lot during the days. We were blessed with some beautiful weather, which made for the perfect day to head up towards the Strahov Monastery and share some blueberry beers. Taylor also showed me a really cool bar that I hadn’t been to before. When you first walk in, you load money onto a chip, and you use this chip to pay for drinks all night. The bar itself was pretty indescribable but it was a fun one for sure. We made new friends with a girl named Veronique from Germany and a guy named Kennan from Sweden, and ended up hanging with them for the rest of the night.

 

The second weekend was probably my favorite that I’ve had in Prague yet. Taylor and Lauren had their friends Ethan and Kevin visiting, I had Cari visiting, and my friend Becca came with her friend Andrew, too. Oh and Taylor’s parents were here! Needless to say we had quite the group for the weekend and it really just worked so well. Our first night out we headed to U Sudu (our favorite cave bar) and then Lucerna for some 80s/90s dancing. Coincidentally I ran into my friend Rachel here, who is actually studying in Vienna but came to Prague for the weekend. The club is huge and was absolutely packed, so the fact that I literally bumped into Rachel not even knowing she was at the club is pretty incredible.

Taylor, Lauren, Kevin and Ethan all went to the Kygo concert on Saturday night (still bitter that I couldn’t go) so Cari, Becca and Andrew and I got dinner and drinks before meeting up with them later that night. We ended up going to another one of our favorite bar/clubs called Chapeau Rouge. (Kevin impressed everyone again with his unreal dance moves). Cari, Ethan, Becca and Andrew were staying until Monday/Tuesday, so I got to spend all of Sunday with them, too. Then Monday night I took Becca and Andrew to The PUB (its a restaurant/pub that has beer on draught right at your table so you can pour your own beers). Our friend Simon met us there – he’s the one that came to my high school as an exchange student in our senior year, so obviously Becca had known him too and wanted to see him again. It was definitely funny reminiscing on the good ole days together.

 

Like I said, the past two weeks have been so much fun. I couldn’t touch on everything fun/good that has happened or is coming up soon, but here are some more highlights:

• I leave tomorrow to go to Munich for Springfest (a smaller version of Oktoberfest)
• My mom, Mamie and Papa will be here this coming Monday!!!
• I bought my tickets to Santiago, Chile. Yes you read that right, I’m going from Europe to South America
• Passed all my mid-term exams, woohoo
• The weather is finally getting nice
• I realized I only have 3 weeks left of classes…… and I’m not okay with it

That’s about all I can think of for now. Many blog posts will be coming up soon 🙂