Beautiful Scenery + Delicious Food + Wonderful People = Nice Weekend

*from April 21 & 22
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We took a bunch of pictures and then went up to the old castle & waterfall. [More pictures!] We also found a garden./park/play area & a view that overlooked the port. [More pictures!] We went in search of food afterward & found a creperie in the market area. I got a smoked salmon with creme fresh crepe. :) One of my friends got a tomato & mozzarella crepe--but it came with smoked prosciutto. I ate some/most of it since she wasn't used to the semi-uncooked texture--kind of like sushi. I would've eaten more, but I didn't really like the pesto that was with it.

View of the Beach

Waterfall on Castle Hill

Port of Nice

After lunch, we found the flower market & came across a seafood restaurant where the lady insisted that we take pictures of the food. I found an orchid plant that I wanted to buy for my mom, but didn't know how I could bring it back to Germany/the USA. [*wouldn't be able to bring it to the USA anyway since plants aren't allowed*]

Seafood Platter

Flower Market

Orchids at the Flower Market

We spent more of the afternoon going into the little shops (mostly souvenir shops)--I bought a new scarf for 5 euro. :) We saw a mansion's gardens and then bought gelato. We ate on a bench, looking at the Sea. After we were done eating, we sat on the beach. So relaxing. I took pictures, watched the waves, thought, and prayed.

Ferrero Rocher Gelato

Wave Watching

We went to a model car collector shop and then went to the hotel. On the way back, we saw some street dancers.

We walked back to the old part of town because we decided to try to check out the piano bar that was next to Wayne's Bar. The piano bar sold mostly drinks, so we had dinner at Wayne's.  It seemed to have an American theme, which was nice. I ordered a Wayne's Club--it came with chips...actually, it came with three chips.

Wayne's Club...with 3 chips

On Monday morning, we got ready & packed up our stuff. We had breakfast at the hotel & thanked the owner who "is SO nice!" We went to the train station, where I tried to reserve a seat for Paris (again) but was told that there were none available & that the French holiday ends on May 3rd. We got on the train to go to Ventimiglia. Ventimiglia-->Milan. I tried to reserve a seat for France again, but was told that I had to make the reservation in Konstanz. We bought pizza & gelato for lunch at the station, along with snacks--I got "Mango & Friends" juice, wafers, and a Tronky bar (which was basically like an inside out Ferrero Rocher.

Yummy Pizza

Snacks!

Milan-->Lugano. Lugano-->Zurich. Zurich-->Weinfelden. Weinfelden-->Konstanz. We arrived around 10:30pm and walked back to the apartments. I went on Facebook, unpacked, ate a little, and then it was time for SLEEP!


Peace. Love. Happiness.
--TR

A Nice Time in Nice (& Monte-Carlo!)

*from April 16 & April 20
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I'm currently on the train to Milan. When we arrived in Ventimiglia on Friday, we didn't know what platform to go to to catch the train to Nice. The train we came on was a little late. We searched for a departure board, but they didn't have anything listed... We found someone who works at the station and he said all the trains were done for the day. (I think we actually walked by the train we were supposed to be on.) Not exactly the news we were hoping for. The next train would leave at 6:00am...We were in Ventimiglia around 9:30pm. He suggested that we take a taxi to Menton (8 km away), then from there take the bus to Nice. That sounded like our best option...basically since no more trains were leaving that night. We got a taxi and the driver took us to Menton. He&  didn't always stay in his lane, seemed to be speeding, & would pass cars going over solid lines...apparently those have a different definition in Italy (?). Our crazy ride was getting pretty expensive...good thing we'd split it between 3 people though. We got to the Menton bus station...which was closed. Awesome. But not really. We asked the taxi driver if he could drive us to Nice & how much it would be. He said yes & it would be 100 euro (we didn't have to also pay the 30+ euro from Ventimiglia-->Menton). So we decided to have him drive us to Nice--much better than trying to figure out what else to do since we definitely did not have very many back up options. Ventimiglia-->Nice took about 1 hour.

During our drive, we got to see the gorgeous coast at night with all the building lights. We got to Nice & had him drop us off at the front entrance of the train station. He was really nice & we're thankful he was able to drive us that far! We asked at the information desk if they knew where our hotel was. Turns out it's very close to the station. We headed to the hotel (at this point it was around 10:30pm & we were hungry!--Schoko Balls + chips can only sustain you for so long). We got to the hotel & tried to open the door. Seeing & perhaps hearing our struggle, a lady came out of no where. She was the owner of the hotel. She was surprised we were so early because they weren't expecting us until 12:30am. We checked in & she was happy she got to leave work early. Out first impression of her is that she's really nice! :)

Since all of us were hungry, we went out to find somewhere to eat. We went to Woody's, which seemed like an American bar/restaurant. I don't usually eat burgers, but I ordered one since I thought it'd be more filling than pizza. I went with the Delux Burger and it came with coleslaw and fries. We all enjoyed our burgers & they were quite satisfying.We left Woody's to go back to the hotel for sleep!

Delux Burger

Saturday: We got ready & had breakfast at the hotel: croissant, baguette, butter, jam (strawberry, cherry, apricot), tea. The bread was delicious. We went to the train station to get a train to Monte-Carlo. We arrived at the Monaco Monte-Carlo station and got timetables. My friends were going to spend the day walking the race track route. I was going to watch the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tennis tournament. I had to wait for the train, so in the meantime, I looked at souvenirs & ate a ham & cheese panini. The train came, and it was about a 6 minute ride to the Monte-Carlo Country Club.

Breakfast in Nice

I bought a ticket for Center Court. I went to go find it, and after roaming & trying to get directions, someone told me it was closed, but that I could go to Court 2 (only covered court) to watch. After waiting (they only let people in during breaks), I finally got in--third row near the baseline. It was awesome to see the clay court! I came during a match in 1st set progress: Mayer vs. Delbonis. Apparently Mayer's coach was sitting in the general area that I was in because he kept yelling/looking over when things weren't going right for him. 2nd set: Mayer messed up his ankle, but got it taped up and he continued playing. Delbonis won: 7-6, 6-4. The next match was Couillard vs. Ungur. Ungur won 6-4, 6-2. Third match I watched (it rained all day): Robert (French) vs. Bachinger (German). Bachinger won 6-1, 6-3. I got up & walked around. I bought a MCCC 2012 hat, saw Center Court, and bought a Nutella crepe. I walked around more & looked at the shops/stands.

Ungur

Nadal Poster

Center Court

Nadal Poster

Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters 2012

The closest I came to seeing Nadal was on a poster.

I went back to the covered court and got in the front row near the other baseline. I saw Rosol vs. Rufin and left at 6-7, 7-6 because I had to catch the 6:29pm train back to the Monaco Monte-Carlo station to meet up with my friends. We went back to Nice/the hotel to decide where to go for dinner.

ATP World Tour

At the Train Station

We went to Old Nice in search of somewhere to eat. The hotel owner suggested Gesu & 2 other restaurants with local Nice food. We walked to the old part of town in search of a restaurant. We found the church, there were blue lights about part of a street, and we saw color-lighted people above part of the square. We kept walking, and it was semi-sketchy because of all the narrow alleyways that branched off the streets we were on. We found some restaurants and decided on Gesu. The place was pretty packed. The host put us at a table for 6 that already had 2 people sitting/eating at it--kinda awkward. It took quite a while for him to take our order--I got Cannelloni & wine. Our food was pretty quick to come. I tried some of my friend's tomato/mozzarella/bread After dinner, we went back to the hotel.

Notre Dame in Nice

Lights above the Street

Conversation a Nice

Cannelloni

Sunday: We all got ready & then had breakfast at the hotel. We went to Mass at Notre Dame in Nice. The Mass was in French. [During our walk to the church or at some point in the weekend, one of my friends asked why I knew some French ("chaud"=hot) that our other friend didn't know--he took French for 3 years. My French knowledge is 99% credited to my brother, who has been learning French since his grade school days. I guess all his talking to me in French & my "ignoring" it helped/soaked in lol. I also think it's kinda weird that I can sometimes read French.] The French Mass did have some differences--not too sure what prayer they were saying. The French Mass also made me realize that I don't know the Mass extremely well. For example, I couldn't remember all the words for the Nicene Creed. When Mass is in English, it's like you kind of follow along with everyone else--but with the French one, I was solo. I feel like I need to go to an English Mass very soon! And when I'm back in the USA, I'm going to work on really understanding the meanings of what we say during Mass. After Mass, I walked around the church--it was beautiful.

Notre Dame in Nice

We walked to the old part of town. We went to a really cool store (Pylones) with a bunch of random, bright colored things. It was pretty sweet. I thought about buying many things, including a rubber duckie shower radio :P but resisted. 

Pylones

The sun was out and the weather was really nice, except for the huge grey clouds that seemed to be coming, so we decided to hit up the beach first so we can get pictures. On the way we went to a couple souvenir shops. 

Finally made it to the water! BEAUTIFUL! The water was so blue & the rocks/pebbles were cool. I took my shoes & socks off & put my feet in the (cold) water of the Mediterranean.  :)

Nice, France on the Mediterranean

Beautiful Shore

[By the way, currently on a train to Salzburg, Austria!--next stop for me for a train change is in Ulm. I'm so excited to see the "The Sound of Music" stuff! I wish I had my guitar with me lol. Also, there is currently a nun sitting to my left across the aisle...how fitting :) ]


Peace. Love. Happiness.
--TR

Daily Life, A Change in Plans, & the Start of Another Adventure

*continued from April 13 (after "More Rome!" post)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday: I had classes--Fluids, Machine Design, Heat Transfer, Machine Design. Lunch was pasta with cream sauce, salad, & chocolate pudding. It was pretty good, but then again, I was also really hungry. After class, I went to Nestel, a bakery near the University, and Ninos, where I got pasta with Gorgonzola cheese for dinner. I went back to my apartment, ate, Skyped/Facebooked, and tried doing a little homework. I'm thankful for Skype & Facebook! Being able to contact family & friends back home definitely help make me feel better. Going to class helped too since I was with other people.

Wednesday: I had Fluids, Germany within Europe, and Heat Transfer. For lunch, I had turkey strips in sauce, rice, potato soup, and beans. After class, I went to Deutsche Bank, Muller--where I got mango juice, Ritz crackers, apple Capri Sonne, Nutella, hand soap, mon cheries, & Pringles--and got a pretzel on the way back. I wanted to stop by the church but it was closed after 6pm. I had a nice walk back. I Skype chatted with my mom then went out for dinner (I had a hashbrown with ham & mushroom, covered with cheese + salad) with two of my friends. I Skyped with friends and Facebook chatted with my brother about Paris. My original plan was to stay with one of his friends and come in Thursday night and leave Monday morning.

Thursday: I got ready and then went to go print out France information. I went to the train station to reserve a seat to Paris, but it was sold out... :(  I then tried calling my brother's friend to let her know I couldn't go as planned.

We met up to go to the other university to pay for housing. Afterward, we went back to our apartments and stopped by the Star Dog hotdog stand  for lunch (got a chili cheese dog). I met up with two of my friends to go to the train station. I tried making my Paris reservation for Friday, but that was full, too. :( I ended up booking a trip to Monte-Carlo/Nice to go with my friends. We went back to the apartment and picked out our hostel in Nice. It ended up being 87 euro each for 3 nights. I plan to book this weekend to go to Paris next weekend.

Today (Friday): I woke up, did some last minute packing, ate Ritz + Nutella, wrote down a to-do list for Monte-Carlo/Nice. The three of us met up at 8:15am and left for the train station. Konstanz-->Zurich. Zurich-->Milan...As mentioned before, we had to get off the train. Made it to Bern. Bern-->Milan. I bought chips in Milan & we are now en rout to Ventimiglia. Earlier, a guy in our cabin brought pizza & Sprite--looked SO good...as we ate our chips & drank water. I can't wait to have actual food! Going from Bern to Milan, I brought out the Schoko Balls (i.e., cheap version of Coco Puffs). A lady sat next to me--from California.

Snow-capped Mountains :)

Chips!

From Konstanz-->Zurich, there was a dad with 3 kids on the train. The youngest son looks out the window & points in excitement at the "marshmallows" a.k.a.what seemed to be packaged hay bales. From, Zurich-->Milan, I saw the Alps and they are pretty. :) In Italy (to Ventimiglia)--I saw cacti growing on the mountain. Hopefully the rest of the weekend goes well...maybe I'll find a nice French guy in Nice (LOL) or better yet, maybe I'll find Nadal! :)


Peace. Love. Happiness.
--TR

More Rome!

*from April 13
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I'm currently in Zurich, Switzerland sitting on the train at the station waiting to leave for Milan to get to Monte-Carlo. Two friends that I'm traveling with are sitting in the seats behind me. Since I have almost 4 hours on the train, I'll attempt to catch up on my journaling.

Rome, Italy

The gelato is SO good! :) After some of us got gelato, we went to the Vatican. We got pictures with one of the Swiss guards. The Vatican at night is gorgeous! I think I got some pretty good pics. I also took some time to pray, which was an awesome experience. We roamed around, trying to find the Spanish Steps - (we didn't find them though). While we were leaving the Vatican, we saw a bunch of people standing around and saw some police cars. Being curious, we walked over and realized that they were waiting to see the Pope drive/ride by as he left the Vatican. We continued roaming and went towards the castle & statues. The river walk/bridge reminded one of the guys of the scene in Ratatouile when Linguini decides to free Remy after capturing him in the jar.

We went to the [Ponte Sant'Angelo] - the bridge with statues. Again, being curious, I made the suggestion of walking on the riverwalk to get to the next bridge. It definitely smelled pretty bad, but ducks were swimming in the water so it couldn't have been too bad. We came across a guy sleeping in a box under one of the bridges. :( There were metal rings in the wall that two of the guys decided to climb on.

Ponte Sant'Angleo & Saint Angelo Castle

Back on the main land, we saw some sort of court house, Saint Angelo Castle, and a few more statues. We headed back towards the Vatican. They had part of the street blocked off near where a driveway entrance is to the Vatican. The Pope was coming back, so we decided to wait. The Pope's motorcade came & we even got a glimpse of him in the car! I realized that he had gone to/come back from leading Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum. I'm sure that would be awesome to be at - it's definitely something I want to go to. We made it back to the B & B, and we came up with Saturday's to-do list.

Saturday morning, we had breakfast in out rooms: orange juice, croissant, (pre-packaged) toast with cherry & strawberry jams, and tea. It wasn't the best, but it was food. One of the guys left to go to Florence, and he other 4 of us started working on the to-do list.

We walked to the Botanical Gardens. This walk involved almost totally walking around the perimeter walls of Vatican City. We finally found the Gardens. There were a lot of beautiful plants/flowers. I saw a HUGE aloe plant, lots of palm trees, bamboo, fountains, and 2 ducks. The ducks actually waddled towards us.

Botanical Gardens

After that, we were all hungry, so we went to find the homestyle restaurant we read about online "Settimio" - when we finally got there, we came to the conclusion that it was closed/gone. We walked a little bit (relatively speaking) and decided on "L'angoletto Romano Ristorante." There I had spaghetti with bacon (& maybe mushrooms) and water. It was pretty good & the noodles were al dente.

Spaghetti

After lunch, we went to the Pantheon. The Pantheon is also the Basilica of Santa Maria and Martyrs. I didn't realize that the Pantheon's skylight is a legit "sky"light. It rained a little bit and there was definitely water falling to the floor in the Pantheon.

Pantheon

Pantheon Ceiling

We saw Trevi Fountain & there were A LOT of people. We saw the Spanish Steps, and then went to the Colosseum - man, is that massive. We also saw the Arch of Constantine. We each bought our ticket to see the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. We started with the ruins - it was amazing to see - especially the area where the judge/court room used to be. It was like a city within the city.

Crowd at Trevi Fountain

More People at the Spanish Steps

Colosseum

Arch of Constantine

Roman Forum

At one point, someone asked me to take a picture for her, so I did & she thanked me in Spanish. I responded with "de nada." :) I've definitely learned that knowing other languages could be really useful. I've been using a combination of English + the few German, Spanish, & Italian words I know.

We were getting ready to head to the Colosseum when we realized that it closed at 6:30pm. We were a couple minutes late when we got there. Luckily, our tickets were good for 24 hours, so we planned on going back after Mass on Sunday.

We went to find somewhere to ear dinner & chose Al Gladiator, which was right across the street from the Colosseum. The owner (or whoever was outside trying to get people to eat there) told us the food was really good. We gave in. The 4 of us ordered the same thing from the lunch menu: bruschetta + margherita pizza + Coke. It was pretty good.

Margherita Pizza

We went to a piazza [Piazza Repubblica] where there's a large fountain--one of the guys said it looks cool at night. It wasn't too dark yet, so we walked & waited around a bit. We took more pictures when it was darker & the Piazza looked beautiful. We stopped by a street vendor where I bought scarves. We went to the Old Bridge Gelateria for gelato. :) I got Nutella, cookie, & black cherry. So delicious! We went back to the B & B for the rest of the night. I got to Skype call one of my best friends :) & my parentals. :)

Piazza Repubblica

Then it was Sunday morning! :) The plan was to be at the Vatican at 7am. After we all got ready to go, it was nearly 7 but the good thing is that we didn't have too far of a walk. It was a beautiful morning with barely any clouds in the sky...different than was the forecast predicted. We got to the Vatican & there was already a LONG line. One of the guys & I went around to another entrance to see if the line was shorter. We called the other guys to come over. The line was still pretty long, but we couldn't do anything by wait. While in line, I saw quite a lot of Filipinos! :) There was a group from Notre Dame University a little ahead of us in the line. A little after 8 or 8:30, the line finally started moving. Before that, I was able to give away my extra ticket to a guy that was looking for one. I'm glad the ticket didn't go to waste.

Ticket

 We finally went through security (they had metal detectors & scanners). Then we went to find seats. We were pretty lucky & found 4 open seats decently close to the front-center. I was SO happy to be there! The sun was shining, too, so that made it even better! :) We sat next to an Italian woman from Venice, who didn't really speak English.--She spoke to us in Italian. She was really nice. We got Mass booklets that were in English & Italian, so that was nice to use to follow along with the Latin Mass. Choirs were singing before mass started--beautiful. We met a couple behind us from Atlanta, Georgia..--They went to Christmas Mass at the Vatican before & said there wasn't nearly as many people. There were A LOT of people.

Before Mass

A LOT of People

Bands & guards processed in, and people stood on their chairs to see. I was reminded of & felt like Zacchaeus. When Mass was about to begin, people were told to sit. The belts started ringing & Mass at the Vatican was almost starting! The Mass that I've been looking forward to was finally here! :) Happy Easter from the Vatican!

The Mass was beautiful & I am so glad that I was able to be there. It really meant a lot to me & I'm glad things worked out in the end, considering I thought it might not have happened for me. After Mass, the Pope gave his Easter message from the balcony & said Happy Easter in different languages. There were definitely a lot of Filipinos because I think they cheered the loudest :) when he came to the language. He also gave the blessing/prayer for indulgences. The bands/guards processed out and then people were allowed to leave. I'm glad that the rain held out throughout the entire Mass.

Pope Benedict XVI

 When we got out of the Vatican area, we went back in the direction of the B & B. We stopped to get doner kebab for lunch. Delicious. Back at the B & B, the owner had already fixed the rooms for the next guests. I was glad he let us keep our stuff there during the Mass & trusted us to leave the keys when we left. We got out stuff and "checked out." We went to Trevi Fountain (I wanted to throw a penny (or 2 cents) in--had to do that from far away...I think it made it into the Fountain), and then took the metro to the train station, switched lines and went to the Colosseum.

Doner Kebab!

More People!

Someone told one of the guys that he probably couldn't take his luggage in, so the 4 of us split & 2 of the guys went in first. The other guy & I got gelato (I got hazelnut & frutti de bosco) and I bought magnets and a "I <3 ROMA" shirt. We switched turns at the Colosseum. Again, it is massive.

Colosseum

After that, we headed to the train station. We still had a little time, so we went to Ciao restaurant to find some dinner. I got chicken + peas & carrots. Definitely not the best food, but I ate it anyway. Our train was going to leave in 10-15 minutes. so we got up to go...this was when one of the guys realized his bag was gone. :( We made it on our train & tried to process what happened. All of our bags were under the table and we were all there. We must've been distracted by eating, because none of us saw anyone come near our table. Luckily, he had all of the important things on him: passport, Eurail pass, money, & camera. Still can't believe that happened. :/ It definitely put a damper on what otherwise would've been a perfect weekend. I still LOVE Rome...just a little less because of what happened.

I slept on & off during the train ride. 3 or 4 people came to check on our tickets & then another person came to check our passports. We made it to Munich on Monday. At the train station, I paid 1 euro to use the bathroom. Obnoxious. We waited in one of the waiting rooms for a while then bought breakfast. Then we were on the train to Ulm. When we got there, I said bye to the guys & caught the train to Radolfzel, then to Konstanz.

After arriving in Konstanz,I went to Deutsche Bank then walked to the apartment, but got lost. I asked a guy with a daughter riding bikes how to get to the university. He pointed me in the right direction & I made it to my apartment eventually. I had ham, cheese, & yogurt for lunch. When I was at my apartment, I started to feel extremely lonely. :( I missed people, and I was still upset about my friend's bag being stolen. I was able to Facebook chat and/or Skype with my family and friends, so that helped me feel better. :) Then I had the same lunch combo for dinner.


Peace. Love. Happiness.
--TR

In a Matter of Four Hours

Well, this is a little different. I remember back in May I took a 4-5 hour train ride with Paris, France being my destination. This past weekend, I drove about 4 hours and ended up in Ohio. Like I said, this is a little different.

Travel in Europe still amazes me. It's so awesome how you can hop on a train and within a couple hours you are in a totally different country--different scenery, different people, different language. Before going to Europe, I never really realized how small it is compared to the USA. Yes, the train typically does go faster than a car, so the actual travel time is a little less comparable--but I think you get the point.

My drive wasn't too bad, but it certainly wasn't that exciting. Sometimes the train rides weren't too exhilarating, but at least there were usually some awesome sceneries to stare at out the window. This time around, I didn't see snow-capped mountains and I didn't see numerous lakes and streams. Rather, I saw corn fields and drove through tiny towns that weren't too lively.

For one of the group projects we worked on for our Germany within Europe class, we compared German transportation to that of the USA. The sections of our project were: roadsigns, trains/public transportation, and cars. Train travel in the USA...well, yeah...it's not as popular as in Germany. I have taken a train in the USA because at that point in my life I had never taken a train, aside from the kind you would find at an amusement park. My brother and I took the train to New York. Total trip time (includes a bus ride and a layover) = 16 hours. One way. Would I do that again? Most likely, not.

I've thought about figuring out how many hours I spent on a train during my European travels...I haven't actually done so yet, but all I know is that it is A LOT. According to my Eurail Pass travel log, I rode on many, many trains. What my travel log doesn't reveal are the metro rides, bus rides, tram rides, etc. Between public transportation, bike rides, and walking!, I definitely covered a lot of ground.

My four hour drive this weekend was definitely worth it though, because I got to spend the weekend with my brother! :) (I will have to write another blog post about this trip later.) and I also got to see one of my sorority sisters on my drive back. :) Overall, it was a wonderful weekend, which left me eager for my next travel adventure!


Peace. Love. Happiness.
--TR

It's Been a Month

As of August 3rd, it has been one month since I returned to the USA from Germany. Many would think that I would be fully adjusted to life in North America by now, but the reality is that I am not. Yes, I know that while I was over there, I was homesick many times and would say that I couldn't wait to be back...but now, I find myself wanting to be in Europe again.

I'm experiencing what is called "reverse culture shock." I don't know how long it's going to last, but all I know is that sometimes it is not very enjoyable. Before I came back, I knew that it was going to happen--so I was sort of prepared for it. When I read articles about it online, written by people who have been abroad, I find myself nodding along in agreement. It's comforting to know that there are other people out there who have shared the same feelings.

I'm worried that I may talk about my experiences abroad too much sometimes, so I try to hold back even though I just want to share my experiences with people. I also try to refrain from comparing Europe vs. North America. It's great that I have some family and friends who have been abroad so that we can share our stories with one another and take a trip down memory lane.

I was only there for 3ish months (which by looking at the bigger scheme of things, is a relatively short amount of time), but I guess that was just enough time for me to be somewhat attached to life in Europe. While I was there, I don't think I totally realized how much fun I was having or how much I actually did like living there.

I'm glad that I have been able to keep in contact with the friends that I made over there (most of them being other exchange students as well). Facebook and Skype are so amazing; I've been able to message/see/talk to my friends who are on the other side of the world. We're all back in our respective countries, we're all missing each other, and we're all trying to get back into the groove of the way things work at "home."

When I arrived in the USA, I didn't really have time to fully unwind, as I was quite busy with other things--i.e. I went on a road trip to Canada two days after I came back, started back at work the following Monday, took the next two weeks off of work so that I could mentor a program at my university...So yeah, I didn't get too much of a break. I think that's why this past week has just been so strange--because I finally have time to just be and it's just really hitting me that I'm not in Europe anymore. The past couple weeks, I was preoccupied with other things so I didn't have time to fully grasp the concept of me being back.

I was so used to packing every week to go somewhere for the weekend. Luckily, I have been able to plan a couple road trips for this summer--not anything like my 9 or 11 hour train rides, but 3 or 4 hour car rides that will at least get me traveling and seeing more of the world.

Looking back at pictures and thinking about all the adventures I have had definitely makes me miss my study abroad life even more, but it also lets me reminisce about the most awesome time of my life. 


Peace. Love. Happiness.
--TR