Ten day break crept up on me so quickly, I couldn’t believe
it was already time to leave and I’m shocked its over. I had a blast travelling
with six other members of my group, Erin, Mike, Alyssa, Sarah, Emily, and Colleen.
We were headed to Brussels, Amsterdam, Munich, and Salzburg. Before we left,
the Park Lodge had a contest for us. They told us that whoever had the cleanest
cottage would get a free beer at the pub. Needless to say, we cleaned like our
lives depended on it. We even baked cookies so our cottage would smell good.
When we went to the pub, there were 30 baby Guinness shots lined up at the bar,
apparently we all did such a good job, we were all being rewarded. A baby
Guinness is Kailua with Bailey’s on top and its pretty good ;) Since the girls’
cottages were the cleanest, we also got an apple flavored shot—I was weary
about drinking so much because we were getting picked up at 1am to take a night
bus to Dublin and catch our 8am flight to Belgium but somehow I managed.
After traveling all night, we finally arrived in Brussels,
Belgium. I hadn’t researched what there was do to un Belgium at all but I
looked forward to being somewhere new. We got to our hostel and were tired so
all seven of us took a nap and then we decided we should probably do something
since we were only there for two nights so we walked to the Grand Place which
was a beautiful square with illuminated buildings that seemed to be frosted in
gold. At nighttime, it was one of the most beautiful places I’d ever been.
After walking around and taking pictures there, we looked for somewhere to eat
and ended up getting a cheap but delicious sandwich. After dinner we got
dessert at a chocolate shop, something Belgium is known for and they were AMAZINIG!
I only got two because they were a little spendy but that was definitely
enough. The girl working also offered us a chocolate olive, which we were
tentative to try but then she explained they just looked like olives but were
just chocolate covered almonds and those were yummy too. After this we went to
find a bar and ended up going to an Irish pub where I had the infamous Belgium
beer, Stella Artois. It was okay but I still preferred Smithwicks; little did I
know, the next night I was about to be introduced to the absolute best tasting
beer. We talked to the bartender at the pub and she told us a few places we
should go the next day. One of my favorite things she said to us was, “You come
to Belgium for three things, work, school, or love.” It was so poetic.
Waffle! |
The next day Erin and I explored the city. First we got a
Belgium waffle with whipped cream, chocolate, and strawberries on it! Then we
went shopping along the street with the most stores. After a few hours of this,
we walked to the cathedral. In Europe there is amazingly beautiful architecture
that you don’t find at home and I love it there were relics of a saint and the
church was dedicated to two saints, there was glass on the floor in certain
places where you could look down and see remnants of the old church before they
built over it.
That night, we went for dinner at the Hard Rock Café. We
ended up having to wait over three hours to be seated but we passed most of
this time in a bar down the road, tasting the famous Belgium beer. Colleen’s
brother had been in Brussels before so he told her what beer to try and we had
two kinds that were absolutely amazing. I had a raspberry beer and a peach
beer, which were incredible! They were delicious and I was sad to learn that
you cannot get them anywhere else.
Canals in Amsterdam |
After
dinner, we were pretty tired so we went to bed and woke up the next day, ready
to leave for Amsterdam.We got to
the train station and found out that trains leave almost every hour so we had
lunch and then I took my first train ride! The scenery on the way wasn’t that
great so I slept through most of it. When we got off the train, we took a tram
to a street that directions to our hostel told us to get off at. We got a
little lost but ended up finding it okay. This hostel was definitely the worst
one I’ve stayed in yet. It was dirty and I felt so gross there. We tried to
spend as little time as possible in it because it was torturous. I was sleepy
and sick of eating food that I was unfamiliar with so we went to McDonald’s for
dinner J
That night we went to a pub crawl that took us to various bars in Amsterdam. It
was a good way to find fun places to go and there were a lot of people our age
there.
The next
morning it was raining so we went to the Heineken brewery. I heard that it was
a really good tour but it was a lot more fun than I expected. It was self-guided
and it took us about four hours to get through it all because there was so much
to do. We starred in our own music video, learned how to properly drink a
Heineken, tasted wort which is the liquid extracted after mashing, learned how to pour a Heineken, and
my favorite part, and experienced in 4d what it was like to be brewed. We were
malted, boiled, mashed and put through the process of making a beer! The Heineken brewery was my favorite thing we did in
Amsterdam!
We were
leaving on a night train to Salzburg the next night but we had all day to tour
the city so in the morning we went to the Anne Frank house. I went to Auschwitz
earlier in the semester so I was not really looking forward to the feeling I
got from being there again. Despite this, it was interesting to see the house
where her diary takes place and to imagine how terrible it was to be trapped
inside day and night.
After the
Anne Frank house, Mike, Colleen, Emily and I went to the Van Gogh exhibit.
There were several other impressionist artists and the exhibit took you through
his development as an artist, which I really liked. I haven’t done a lot of art
since high school and it was impressive to be in the presence of such famous
works.
The night
train was an interesting experience. The beds were tiny and the room was
cramped but we all found it pretty funny. The other girls went to play cards
but I was tired so I stayed and tried to sleep. I was in a half-sleeping state
when I heard a knock at the door and an accented voice stay “Police! Police!” I
had no idea what was going on and it scared me a little but the man explained
to me that I was crossing the border into Germany and he needed to see my
passport. After this, I slept off and on until we reached Munich the next
morning. It was a gorgeous day and we checked into our hostel and then took a
much-needed nap. Thankfully, this hostel was much nicer than our previous one
and I took a nice hot shower and felt clean again.
Later in
the day, Mike, Colleen, Sarah, and I walked around the city of Munich. It was
sunny and warm and a perfect day. We did a little shopping and I got a new
dress for thanksgiving! Then we met up with the other half of our group and
went to the beer garden. There is a stand where you buy your beer and then picnic
tables where you sit. I’ve never been to a beer garden before so it was really
fun.
In the
morning, Colleen and I walked around Munich while the others went to Dachau, a
concentration camp near Munich. I didn’t go because I had already been to one
and Colleen and I both wanted to get to Salzburg earlier so we spent the
morning in Munich and then hopped on a train.
This time,
the train ride was beautiful. We passed through the cutest towns and I thought
it looked just like a ski resort. When we got closer to Salzburg, there were
snowcapped mountains and it was gorgeous. Our train had no stops so it only
took about an hour and a half to get there. We waited at McDonalds for Jack and
Joe, who are both studying abroad in Austria this semester, to pick us up. It
was Colleen’s 21st birthday so they greeted us with a case of Stiegel,
the beer brewed in Salzburg. Four other people from Ireland were also visiting
the Austria group so that night we went out with a ton of people for Colleen’s
birthday. We went to a beer house called the Augustiner and it was crazy. You
grabbed a mug from a shelf, paid for it, had a guy fill it up, and then went
into a huge room that looked like a giant cafeteria. It was a lot of fun to see
everyone from St. Ben’s and St. Johns!
The next
day, Jack brought us to a really good pizza place and then showed us around
Salzburg. He showed us a bunch of places in the city and then we went to his
school, which was incredible. It’s an all glass building and we went up onto
the roof where we could see the fortress and the mountains. Erin really wanted
to go to the gazebo from the Sound of Music so we walked there the next day.
Jack's school--so pretty! |
Salzburg was beautiful! |
On
Saturday, Erin, Jack and I climbed Gaisberg, a 1288-meter hill that is more
like a mountain. They are both in much better shape than I am so it was tough
but it was totally worth it and a great way to end our ten day break.
I had so
much fun on break and I went places that I hadn’t heard a lot about before
going there but the group I traveled with was great. We went with the flow and
we explored each city we were in. It was a nice break from the slow pace of
Spiddal but if I never stay in a hostel again I would be ecstatic. It marks the
middle of my semester abroad and I was happy to begin my journey back to the
Park Lodge but also sad that my trip was over and that December was looming so
quickly. I had an amazing time travelling in Europe and I know that I will
never again have the opportunity to do anything like this and I feel so lucky!