St. Andrews
After handing in two papers that morning, I boarded a train and travelled about two hours through Scotland to visit my friend Mattie where she herself was studying abroad at St. Andrews.
Before it got dark, the train ride was beautiful. Mattie and I had a wonderful dinner, went home and watch a few episodes of Broad City, and went to bed around 11 and didn't wake up until about noon the next day. We were both wiped from writing our papers and clearly needed the sleep. We headed out into the adorable town to get some lunch, followed up by gelato and a tour of the town/campus before it got dark (which it did at around 3 p.m. in Scotland that time of year). We saw the pier, and some ruins, and it was absolutely stunning. The wind and the ocean surprised me, since I hadn't felt either in a long time. We picked up two bottles of champagne from the local Tesco, headed back to Mattie's flat and ordered two large pizzas. That night we consumed everything by ourselves, and it's something I'm proud of to this day. Mattie showed me the local scene and we had such a fun night. Staying with Mattie for those two days is one of my favorite memories from abroad.
Prague
This was the farthest from the U.S. as I'd ever been, and it was different. It was very cold and beautiful. It looked like it was out of a Disney movie. Building were painted bright colors and cobblestone streets led everywhere. I went with three of my good friends who I met in Scotland that were also abroad, and we had a great time. We ate one Czech meal, one Thai, one Mexican, and one Italian, so it was a very diverse eating experience. We saw the Lenon wall, the castle, Charles Bridge, and a very empty and kind of scary park. Everyone was very nice and we had a great time.
London
I've wanted to go to London for as long as I can remember and I'd been to the airport many times by this point. But this was the first time I got to go and stay and visit. It was everything I thought it would be. I saw most of the sights and even one of my friends from Kenyon who had grown up there and was living there for a while. Having dinner and drinks with him was some of the most fun I had abroad. I only wish I could have stayed longer in London and seen more.
Venice
Here I met up with the friend I went to Amsterdam with earlier in the semester. We were both done with our semesters and were biding our time until our flights home. It was a confusing and winding city but beautiful. Unfortunately the photos from Venice were taken on my phone, and so are more difficult to put on the blog. There wasn't much to do so we were glad we only had about a day there. So we hopped a train to Florence!
Florence
This is where we got in the most activities. We had a lot of pizza, pasta, and wine. The wine was crazy cheap, which was fantastic after Scotland, which has to import everything thus making it expensive. We saw the magnificent statue of David, we climbed a big hill I forgot the name of, went to a famous museum, climbed the duomo, and had plenty of gelato. One of my favorite memories happened after lunch. We were walking down the street and I stopped at the window of a shoe store. All the shoes were the same light brown color because they were made from the same type of leather. We went in and Alex and I were each immediately drawn to a pair of shoes. The man running the store, who designed all the shoes himself, simply looked at our feet, yelled something to the man in the back, and poof! Our perfect sizes were on our feet. Without hesitation, we bought our magic shoes. The whole experience took about ten minutes. Whenever I wear the shoes, I remember Florence and the cranky magic shoe man.
Paris
This was my rendez-vous point with my parents and sister, who flew in to Paris from the States that morning. On the plane over and then the taxi to the hotel, I was so excited I could hardly stand it. Paris is always amazing, but being there with my family made it a thousand times better. It was Christmas Eve and we went to the Eiffel tower before collapsing out of exhaustion. Since I had a European SIM card in my phone, and I spoke French I was the designated navigator and translator. Thankfully my French came back after a few exchanges with the waiter at our first dinner. Since we'd all been to Paris before, none of us felt the drive to go to the obligatory tourist destinations or museums, so we got to wander around the city, going into whichever shop, restaurant, or museum we wanted to. We went to a wonderful restaurant Christmas morning on the tiny island that holds Notre Dame. We went to Shakespeare and Company bookstore, we popped into a tiny gallery showing works by Keith Haring, and I got to eat all the butter I could consume at my leisure. It was a wonderful trip and left me anxious to get back to France!
Edinburgh
The trip was cyclical and we came back to Edinburgh, packed up my flat, moved into the one my family rented for the week, and enjoyed Edinburgh. The city was gearing up for the Hogmanay (New Years) celebration that the world fames it for, so the city was more crowded than I'd ever seen it. It was great showing my family the sights and the streets I'd been living in for the past four months. I loved being able to show them where I'd been and all the cool spots I'd discovered. We marched with hundreds of others through the city with torches up to Calton Hill where a beautiful fireworks display took place. We took a tour of the highlands. The photos below are from that trip. The next night we hustled in with thousands to the Hogmanay party. There were three different stages all having concerts at once, and Sarah and I elbowed our way through the crowds trying to stay afloat in the sea of sweaty drunks, avoiding in particular those who looked especially apt to trample us underfoot. After we braved the crowds and emerged in the private garden area to meet up with our parents, things calmed down a bit and we enjoyed the most spectacular fireworks show I'd ever seen. Then it was time to head home. The semester was over.
During my semester abroad, I learned innumerable things. Some which I can name are: how to navigate public transportation, pack for a long weekend in just a backpack, schedule and plan, make friends as an (almost) adult, manage money, get to know a new city, attempt to cook for myself, adapt to a foreign education system, and travel as much as possible in a short amount of time. In Scotland, I went to the most beautiful places I'd ever seen: the Highlands. The Highlands emit a kind of magic you can only know if you go there. I can see how those who lived there believed in fairies. The Highlands gave me life when everything else seemed to be sucking it out of me, and they'll always hold a special place in my heart. Being abroad wasn't always easy and I'd never have been able to do it without the love and support of my family and friends. My semester abroad left me the wiser and ready to go somewhere else and do it again, maybe this time with a little more knowledge and experience. For now, my next adventure is a little closer to home. Stay tuned for news of life in Brooklyn.
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