Over the Spring Break allotted by Sacred Heart University, I had the opportunity to travel to London, Amsterdam, Belgium and Florence. For this trip I met up with my best friend who is also studying overseas and we traveled around Europe together. London is a must see if you get over to Ireland, not only because there is so much to do, but because it is so cheap to fly there on RyanAir. My plane ticket ended up being about ten euro each way, so why not! There is an organization called ‘new europe’ that offers free and paid tours, as well as pub and bar crawls in major cities. We took advantage of the free walking tour and spent three hours running around the city with a comedic tour guide and managed to see every aspect of London. At night, we participated in the pub crawl, which was worth the eleven pounds, and we got a nice taste of the English nightlife for a very reasonable price.
Amsterdam was an amazing city, for obvious reasons. The buildings are beautiful, the city is so clean and you feel as if you are on a different planet. Everyone rides bicycle, and there really are no cars at all. Everyone was so nice,used bicycles and canals for transportation, and the natives seemed very content with their lives. After getting lost a few times in the outskirts of the city, we managed to learn the streets of Amsterdam like the back of our hands. For the evening,we spent our time in Rembrandt square, which has numerous clubs, bars and cafes. Obviously we had to see the red light district, and there really isn’t much to do there other than walk around, so we spent most of our nights in Rembrandt square.
In Belgium we lived on a diet of Belgium waffles, chocolate, and French fries (where they are actually invented) and beer. After stuffing our faces, we walked around Brussels and visited the ‘mannequin piss’, which is a famous statue of a little boy peeing into a fountain. The chocolate shops have huge sculptures of this everywhere which is kind of hilarious. The chocolate museum was only 4 euro and worth seeing, and since our hostel was located in Grand Place Market, we were in the center of everything and all historical sites. At night, we checked out Delirium, which is in the Guinness Book for serving over 2000 different types of beer. Across the street there is also an absinth and tequila bar as well, so there is really no reason to leave Delirium village. In Belgium we experienced hostility from the natives that I expected from the French citizens in Paris, and we had major problems with our dysfunctional hostel. Looking back, the hostel experience we went through was hilarious, but at the time we were afraid to sleep! Being mindful of strangers and your safety are so important when studying in a different country and I would suggest always carrying the number for the American Embassy in your pocket, just in case.
Our trip ended in Florence, where my best friend and I met up with another close friend from America who was studying in Rome. I loved Italy, and in the future I plan to rent a car and spend two weeks traveling all over the country. The pasta was amazing here, however I found that the pizza in New York is better! Wine was less than 3 euro for a bottle, so we had wine with every meal and before we went out to the clubs at night. The nightlife in Italy is much different than Dingle, and people do not go out till much later and stay out much longer. When going out in Florence, I would not suggest going alone, and we found the Italian men very aggressive. One Italian guy walked up to my friend, took a lick of her gelato, said thanks and walked away. The weather here was beautiful and we were able to break out t-shirts and flip-flops. Florence is also known for their leather, so definitely take advantage of this and purchase leather goods for yourself- invest in a leather jacket!
Not everyone had the opportunity in our group to travel as much as I did around Europe while in Dingle, and traveling is not for everyone. I learned to be more aware of my surroundings as well as to be open minded about trying new things and being a part of a different culture.
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