Given my shyness, it might be surprising to hear that I have made a lot of new friends in such a short period of time. I feel like I’ve known some of them for years. It’s amazing how travelling and living together can make people become close to one another. For these four months, we are family in a sense. I hope I continue to see and talk to these people afterwards. Even if I don’t, I will always be able to look back happily on this experience and know that they were what really made it.

It’s funny how a change of scenery can change so much about you. The question remains, will I still be different when I return home? The other day my roommates and I walked to Juniculum, one of Rome’s seven hills. Piazza Garibaldi sits at the top of the hill and has the best views of the city. As we sat admiring the view we talked about our future and what’s in store next year back at school. We couldn’t fathom what life will be like after this is all over.

I for one already have a different outlook on life than I did before coming. I’ve surprised myself with how little I care about a lot of the things I used to think were important. I will be a very different person, hopefully for the better, when this is all over. Until then, I’m going to enjoy every day. I think the key to my happiness is not taking anything for granted. Maybe that’s why life back home can become a grind sometimes. At times the same routine day in and day out can grow monotonous and wasteful. Here, I’ve taken nearly every day and made the best of it. Leading up to this trip, I was told by everyone that this will be a once in a lifetime experience. It’s hard to really understand what that means through words. You have to experience it yourself. Now that I’m here, I get it. This is as good as it gets and I’m making the best of every opportunity I get.

When considering their favorite city in the world, a lot of people choose Paris. There’s always talk about how romantic and pretty it is, but I ended up liking it for very different reasons. After a late arrival on Thursday night, I set the morning and lunch aside for the Louvre Museum, supposedly the largest museum in the entire world. One could literally spend days in the building and not see everything there is to see. My favorite pieces were ancient Egyptian sculptures but more so than any art piece, I loved the building itself.

As I said before, the building is massive and intricately decorated throughout. The building is styled how much of the rest of the city is. After a number of hours at the museum we took a stroll along the River Seine and ended up at Notre Dame Cathedral. It’s hard to describe the scale and beauty of the cathedral in words. You have to see it in person to fully understand it. That night, we ate near our hostel and went out in Bastille, a trendy area of the city with lots of restaurants and bars. Getting to and from wherever we wanted to go was very easy thanks to the Paris Metro system. As much as I love the EL, it can’t hold a candle to Paris’s system. It was very fast and surprisingly easy to navigate.

The next morning we trekked to the Arc de Triumphe, commissioned by Napolean as a promise to his fighting soldiers. The Arc heads the Champs Elysees, one of the more famous streets in the world. At the other end of the street is the Louvre – which you can see from atop the Arc. North of the central part of the city is Montmartre, a bohemian neighborhood on a hill. At the top of the hill sits Sacre Coeur, a beautiful church which overlooks the entire city of Paris. In front of the church sits steps where people can watch street performers and look out over the horizon. We were lucky enough to watch a soccer/street artist perform some amazing tricks. It was quite the site to see.

After recharging with a long nap, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower. Despite the wind and rain, it was beautiful and worth every minute. When going to a big tourist city like Paris, it’s hard to avoid tourist trap restaurants and get truly authentic local food. I’m not sure if the meal I ate was authentic or not, but I don’t really care. It was amazing. After escargot for my appetizer, I gorged myself with fondue and nearly exploded and topped the meal off with creme brulee, one of my favorite deserts. The next morning we were too tired to do much of anything and ended up going to Musee D’Orsay which houses many famous impressionist paintings, including a number by Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Renoir and Degas. Unlike most people, I didn’t think the city was particularly romantic. I did, however, really enjoy the architecture and the atmosphere. It seems as if there is an extremely diverse population both in ethnicity, economic status and language. It created a unique melting pot of sites and sounds that I sincerely hope I can experience again sometime soon.

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Before coming to Europe I knew next to nothing about Prague and the Czech Republic in general. After some friends went and had great things to say, I put it on my list of places I had to see. After a late Friday night flight, my group arrived and tried to find a live jazz club but failed and settled for a cool bar where we drank Czech beer until very late. After an early wakeup we went on a free walking tour of the city. Lead by our Welsh tour guide Huw, the tour was very informative and gave us a broad overview of Czech history.

The Czech Republic has undergone many changes throughout it’s history and wasn’t what it is today until the early 1990s, after the fall of Communism. Because of all the changes, Prague contains many different styles of buildings, creating a unique and beautiful city. After the walking tour we took a castle tour, which surveyed the grounds surrounding Prague Castle. The grounds contain everything from government buildings to villages to the Castle itself.

After a lackluster bar crawl throughout the city we called it an early night. During our last day we were eager to see as much as possible. A quick walk over the Charles Bridge took us to the John Lennon wall. Since his death in 1980, people have been writing and drawing Beatles and Lennon related things on the wall. It is much smaller in person than it seems in pictures. Given all the wonderful things we saw in Prague, I’m surprised that the wall, something completely unrelated to the city itself, turned out to be my favorite site. Although not all the messages were positive, many of them spoke of peace and happiness, something almost everyone can agree upon.

The afternoon took us to a Salvador Dali exhibit and a Jewish Ticket Tour. The city of Prague once contained a small Jewish neighborhood that was eventually walled off and seperated from the rest of the city. The Jews here were mistreated and in many cases deported. Because the Jewish area was so small, the cemetery quickly filled up from wall to wall. To accomodate for the new deceased, they started burying their dead on top of one another, creating layers of graves. Walking through the cemetery and surrounding monuments reminded me yet again of the gross acts of the first half of the 20th century and WWII towards Jews. Although it is hard to stomach at times, I hope to one day take a World War II tour throughout Europe and see what’s left of the concentration camps.

This trip to Prague was completely new to me. It showed me just how much Europe has to offer. One week prior I had barely heard of the city. After just a short weekend I know a bit about Middle-European history and have found yet another city I love.

This past weekend I traveled to Venice, Italy. The purpose of the trip was two fold: to see the city and to experience Carnivale, Italy’s version of Mardi Gras/Halloween. After an early train from Rome (via Bologna) we arrived midday to a sunny Venice. Because of Carnivale, the city was packed wall to wall with people. It took us nearly three hours to find our hostel, large in part because of my poor preperation skills with the directions. Another hour passed as we sorted out our hostel situation. We finally had a chance to explore the city and headed straight to Piazza San Marco, the center of Carnivale. There were thousands and thousands of people, many of whom were dressed head to toe in costumes.

I was told that many of the participants are wealthy Venitians who want to show their status. Others are fashion designers. It was quite the spectacle. In the square I met many friends studying abroad in other cities throughout Europe. It was great to see them all and catch up, even if just for a short time. As it grew dark, a small group of us took a gondola ride. It might seem cliche, but it was a very enjoyable experience. Venice and it’s many smaller canals are very different during the day than the are at night.

Afterward we ate a nice dinner along the Grand Canal near the Rialto bridge. The next day we failed to see many of the sites we wanted to see (Murano, the glass blowing island, Burano, the lace island, the bell tower and basillica at Piazza San Marco) due to the huge crowds. Despite missing all of this, it was nice to walk around and see more of the city. Although I had a great time, I would never go back during Carnivale. It was a very unique experience seeing the grand costumes and large crowds but I’d rather go back when it’s quiter and easier to do the things I want. Luckily, I will be able to go back when my Mom visits in two months!