Now that I’m finished with classes, I’m even more excited about all of the traveling that I have planned for my remaining two months here in Europe. A trip to Paris was the perfect way to celebrate the end of the semester!
Allana and I went to Paris together to meet up with her friend Kat from school in the US. We also went with our friend Bradley who goes to school with Allana and I here in London, and also with Allana and Kat in the US. I’ve been to Paris before, and going back there was so cool. I loved being able to go back to the places that I went with my family and reminisce. Allana and I were supposed to fly to Paris on Thursday afternoon (Bradley met us there on Friday because he had class), but both our flights to and from Paris were cancelled a half hour before we were supposed to leave for the airport. We ended up having to get tickets for a EuroStar train later that afternoon. Unfortunately, it wasn’t cheap, which was why we had opted to fly in the first place. It was super stressful, but at least we got to Paris safely! I swear I have the worst travel luck. Every time that I have travelled there has been some kind of fiasco at either the airport or the bus stop or somewhere in between so I was kind of expecting something like this to happen. I could write a whole blog post about my travel horror stories, but I think it would just stress me out all over again.
Our first night in Paris, we met up with Kat and went out to eat at a restaurant near our hostel. We also went to the Eiffel Tower because we wanted to see it lit up at night. It is such a beautiful sight, especially when the lights sparkle! It just never gets old. We went back to the hostel and went to bed pretty early because we had a busy day ahead of us. We were going to Disneyland Paris!!
I never thought that I would go to Disneyland Paris, but I am so glad we did. I mean, come on, who doesn’t love Disney? It was fun to go on some of the rides that we have back in the States like Tower of Terror and Space Mountain, but it was also cool to go on the rides that are only in Paris, like the Ratatouille ride (so cute!). At the end of the day, we were exhausted and headed back to our hostel, got some dinner, and waited for Bradley to arrive.
The next day was super busy since it was our only full day to explore. We hit all of the main attractions like the Sacré-Cœur, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Champs-Élysées. When we were at the Eiffel Tower, we asked a woman if she could take a picture for us. We did the same for her and her friends, and we all got to talking. It turns out that these three women are traveling for three months doing some research for a book that they’re creating called The Beauty Clause. They’re traveling and interviewing women about beauty standards. They ended up interviewing us for their project, and we spoke with them for a while. It was so great to talk to them and hear all about their stories. I’m excited to see how the book turns out. They might even put me and my friends in it! Check out their website: The Beauty Clause
We went to Ladurée on the Champs-Élysées to get macarons at the end of the day, and I swear these were the best things I had ever tasted. I got chocolate and salted caramel. SO GOOD. I always thought I didn’t like macarons, but it turns out that I was just eating really bad macarons because these were bomb. 10/10 would recommend. The next day, we all headed back to school. Thanks to our flight cancellation, Allana and I got to take a nice 9 hour bus ride back to London. Needless to say, it was a long day.
We got back to school around 11:00 at night on Sunday, and I was headed to Brussels the next morning on a 9:00am train. I know there is concern regarding traveling to Brussels in light of recent events, but I can assure you that my friends and I felt 100% safe the entire time that we were there. We had booked our trip over a month before the attack, and we had gotten the OK from our families, home universities, and study abroad programs. This time I travelled with my friends Michelle, Deepal, and Saryah. We spent our first day in Brussels walking around the streets of the city and exploring. We went to see the Manneken Pis, the Grand Place, and the Stock Exchange building where there is currently a memorial for the victims of the terrorist attacks. I really loved Brussels. It’s one of my favorite cities that I’ve visited. The streets are so quaint and pleasant, and of course, there are Belgian chocolate stores and waffle stands everywhere so what’s not to love?
The next day, Deepal and I went on a free walking tour of the city. I always love going on these kinds of tours because you get to learn so much more about the city than you would by just exploring on your own. We learned about the “Chocolate War” that is the reason for Belgian chocolate being so amazing and how to make Belgian fries (not French fries). Belgians are really particular about Belgian vs. French fries. Knowing how to properly make Belgian fries is even on their citizenship test. After the tour, all four of us met up at the Atomium, which is a really interesting building that gives you a 360 degree panoramic view of the city from the top. Deepal and I went inside, and afterwards the four of us just hung out on the lawn in front of the Atomium and listened to music and played cards. Pure bliss 🙂
The next day we were on a bus and headed to Amsterdam! Story time: I hadn’t printed off the luggage tag that was emailed to me with my bus ticket, so I was in a rush to get off the bus and make sure I got my luggage since my name was nowhere on it. In the midst of hurrying off the bus, I left my purse under my seat. Of course, my purse had my passport, all of my immigration documents, and my wallet in it (I know, I know… I shouldn’t keep all of my things in one place like that, but it’s fine. I learned my lesson). I didn’t realize it was missing until we were about to buy tickets for the metro and I didn’t have my purse on me (cue internal panic attack). You can bet I sprinted back to that bus as fast as I could, and luckily the driver had found my purse under my seat and knew exactly what I had run back for. That’s the last time I carelessly leave my purse under my seat. Nothing like a minor heart attack to start your trip off on the right foot!
We dropped our stuff off at our hostel, met up with Allana, and then the five of us headed out to explore! We didn’t know what we wanted to do that day, since we were planning on doing most of the touristy stuff the next day. So we took the metro to a random station that none of us could pronounce and walked around and explored. I LOVE the setup of Amsterdam with all of the canals. It’s so different from any other city I’ve been to. We wandered around and discovered a bunch of cool little places before stopping to get some dinner. After dinner, we walked around a bit more before heading back to our hostel.
The next day, we did a bunch of stuff. All five of us went to the Rijksmuseum and saw the famous “I amsterdam” sculpture in front of it. That thing is just a giant playground basically. People are daredevils, I’m telling ya. They were climbing all over the letters and standing on top of them to get the perfect picture. Do it for the insta. Afterwards, we split up to go do different things. Since it was our only full day in Amsterdam, we wanted to make sure that we all got to do what we wanted. So Allana and I went to the Van Gogh Museum. I’m usually not a big fan of art museums (that’s more my brother’s thing), but I really enjoyed this one. Van Gogh was definitely an interesting guy and so was the museum itself. I took an entire class on museums this semester, and now I can’t go into any museum without considering the wall texts and the master narratives of the exhibits. *insert eye roll emoji*
After the Van Gogh museum, Allana and I grabbed some lunch and then walked along the canals to see the Anne Frank House. Unfortunately, we hadn’t been able to book tickets online to go inside the Anne Frank House. You can wait outside the museum for tickets, but frankly, we didn’t have enough time so we just admired from the outside. I was bummed we didn’t get to go inside, but now I have another reason to come back (and be smart enough to plan ahead and buy a ticket online). At the end of the day, we headed back to the hostel and tried our best to avoid getting hit by a bicycler. There are so many bike riders in Amsterdam. It’s crazy! They are everywhere. My entire trip to Amsterdam could easily be summarized as “two days in constant fear of getting killed by a biker”.
Deepal, Allana, and I took an overnight bus back to London that night, while Michelle and Saryah continued traveling. The bus ride was about eleven and a half hours, which was not the best time for someone who can’t fall asleep on buses (me). At least the bus had outlets and wifi. Priorities, right? About halfway through the bus ride we had to get off to go through UK Border Control. The bus then drove onto a ferry to cross the English Channel, which takes about an hour and a half. Then we were finally able to drive straight back to central London. I didn’t sleep at all when we were on the bus, but I did pass out for about an hour when we were on the ferry. When I finally got back to my room around 9:00am, after only getting an hour of sleep in the last 24 hours I slept all day. Literally. I fell asleep right when I got back and didn’t wake up until 8:00 that night. Whoops…
Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam made for such a fun week of travel. Deepal and I are meeting up with Michelle and Saryah again in Greece tomorrow! We’ll be in Athens and then spending a few days in Santorini. After that I’ll be flying to Italy where I’m meeting my family! We’re traveling to a bunch of different cities throughout Italy, and I can’t wait to spend a whole two weeks with them. Family comes first 🙂
Eva Around the World 