Wrap-up

I don't want to look back on this blog as a fail, so I decided to write one last post to summarize the rest of my stay in Europe. Yes, I realize it is four months later.

(Sorry no pictures-- its late and I have hwk yet to do).

The weekend after I went to Amsterdam, my parents and my brother came to visit! I met them in Paris, again troubled with train strikes on the way there, where we stayed for 3 nights. We did most of the toursity things like go to Saint Chappelle (a bit disappointing since most of it was covered in construction), Notre Dame (where a man with a mask was scaring tourists) and did a Bateau Mouche ride-- the water boat tours.

We also walked along some of the bridges where people have placed many love locks over the years, where a 12 year old kid tried to heckle my brother for money for a ring he found on the ground (don't worry, Kilbourne's know how to take care of themselves).

I was able to meet up with my friend Sophia there the last night, which was fun because she has a friend that lives in Paris and he showed us some of the local spots.

After Paris, we flew down to Sevilla! It was such a change in weather, it was ridiculous. In Paris we had to triple layer to stay marginally warm, whereas in Sevilla we could walk around in shorts and be fine. I really love the Andalusian area of Spain and the architecture influenced by Northern Africa just a stone's throw away.

After Sevilla we traveled on to Granada. It was fun to be there because my friend Jaimie had studied there a couple summers prior! She told us some of the fun places to go, including the Alhambra and the Arabic Baths. You have to be careful in the upper terraces there at night, though because it can get a bit shady.

Finally, we made it to Barça! I got to meet up with my friend Helen and her dad who is good friends with my parents from school (back in the stone age... :) ). We went to an FB Barcelona game = awesome. They beat Sevilla 5-0, a bit sad for me since I just came from there and loved it but FCB is better. It was nice to ride the tourist bus with my parents since I didn't get to do that the first time I went with my friends. Such good views of the city. My brother skateboarded the whole time we where in Barça, but I guess I can't blame him since it is the skateboarding capital of the world.

Helen came back with me to Montpellier and stayed with me that week. My host family was so nice to let her stay with us and she got to meet my housemates and all of our friends. It was cool for her to see where I was studying abroad and nice to spend the time since I hadn't seen her in forever.

That Friday I headed off to London with 6 or 7 friends. Excited that we were all headed off to a country where they spoke English as natives, my friend Jacob dubbed our trip, "the language of us."

I love London, but everything there is so expensive! Friday night we walked in the rain for 45 minutes to find Chipotle. At first I was pissed, but it ended up being worth it. Saturday we did the free walking tour, of which I am a big proponent in each city. We got to see Trafalgar Square, Westminister Abbey, Big Ben and many others including Buckingham Palace (and got to hear the story of the homeless man that broke in and snuck into the Queen's bed). That night we did the company's bar crawl-- there were over 100 of us in that group which was ridiculous and fun at the same time. Unfortunately we had to head out pretty early the next morning to make our flight, so we didn't get a whole lot of time in the city, but I definitely plan on going back.

That week, a couple friends and I headed off to Ireland! We took off Wednesday night and rode a bus down to Barcelona to catch a flight up to Dublin. We had the shakiest landing into Dublin which made me freak and prompted Jacob to make fun of me; I was not amused. Me, Jacob and my friend Ashley spent Thursday exploring Dublin, tasting some of their fine Guinness and celebrating Jacob's birthday (sorry roommates).
The next morning we headed off on a Shamrocker tour of the southern tip of Ireland. I love that country- everything is so luscious and green. We got to see the famous Blarney Stone on the first day-- one of the girls on the tour somehow kissed the wrong stone! We also stopped in Dingle, Galway and got to see the Cliffs of Moher! So amazingly georgeous, I can't even begin to describe it.

The next weekend, I headed off with my housemate Andrea and our friend Miguel to see our other housemate in Switzerland! We met up and stayed in Geneva since it was halfway there for each of us. Somehow, on the way there we got on the wrong train and ended up back in France after passing through Switzerland. But luckily we were able to catch the last train back. We spent most of the day Saturday at Lausanne and got to see spectacular views of Lake Genève. We also got to go to the Olympic Museum! Thankfully our train back didn't leave til evening on Sunday so we were able to spend all day walking around Geneva exploring. We went to the U.N., saw the giant broken chair and the fountain spouting out of the middle of the lake.

That week after was a bit sad because it was Thanksgiving and all my friends from VT were going home on break to see their families. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays! But all of us Americanos in Montpellier got together at a friend's house and had a Thanksgiving potluck. It was fun because people brought friends from other countries that they had met and we introduced them to our tradition. Everyone went around the room and said what they were thankful for in both English and in French (there were some protests of this rule). Overall, it was a good replacement for not having the real thing.

The next day, my friends Becky, Melissa and I went off to Pariiiiis! (Again). I love that city. It was great because they had already started preparing for Christmas, so the city of lights was lit up with more lights! We went to a cute restaurant Friday night that reminded me of a steak house you would find in NYC. We walked over to the Gallerie Lafayette and saw all the window displays, then we met up with our friend Kimmi and her bf in front of Sacre-Coeur in Montmartre and it started to SNOW! It was so awesome. Until some gypsies ruined it. The next day we walked around a bit and went to the Christmas market on the Champs-Elysées-- we went back that evening to see it all lit up with xmas lights! And then casually strolled over to the Eiffel Tower and enjoyed the views. Sunday, we were all craving chinese food for some reason and found a nice little restaurant to eat at before training back to Montp.

The weekend after, I went to Belgium to meet up with my friend Erin from the field hockey team and our friend MAGALIII who had studied at VT the previous fall. We stayed at her apt in Brussels the first night and got to walk around the centre of town and see the Grande Place and the xmas market they had set up there. The next day, before heading off to Ghent where her parents house is, we stopped at the Atomium that was built for one of the World Fairs. After arriving in Ghent, we hung out at her house for a bit and then went into the little town that was all covered in snow! So picturesque.

The weekend after (my final weekend of traveling), I headed to Baden Baden with my friend Ashley to enjoy some relaxing time in their famous thermal pools. We got to spend a couple hours there, then went to the xmas market they had going on there. I miss the brauts they had, they were soo good. We stayed just outside of Strasbourg that night and then went into Strasbourg that day to see their world-famous xmas market. It was so packed with people and vendors from all over. Then we of course, got brauts before heading back to the train station.

That following week was filled with final exams, which were done on Wednesday and I had the rest of my time to enjoy with my friends and my host family.

I was supposed to leave that Sunday to fly back to the U.S., but due to all the snow hitting Europe, my flights were canceled. Becky, Melissa and I decided to ride the train up to Paris a few days later and catch our flights directly out of there, so we had a couple more days to enjoy in Montp. When Tuesday came, we rode the train up and arrived to find out that we had all been placed on the waiting list (which was not what we were told back in Montp)! We all started freaking out, especially Becky and Melissa since their flight was in an hours time. I made my way to my gate to wait for a couple hours until someone finally showed up at my gate. During that time, I got a call from Becky saying she and Melissa fought their way onto that flight and were leaving back to the U.S. At this point I started getting a bit worried because we had talked about staying with Melissa's family in Belgium in the event that we couldn't fly back to the U.S. before Christmas. Now, I realized I was all alone and really hoped that I wouldn't have to shack up at the airport all by myself.

Finally after about 4 hours someone showed up at the desk and everyone swarmed. I kept hearing horror stories about how people had been stuck in Paris for days, having to sleep on mats and that we weren't going to get out of Paris for at least a week, etc. This only fueled my concern and my sense that I was basically alone in a foreign country. I had to wait another hour or two for the cleared passengers list to finally show up on the sign, and of course at first my name did not appear. At this point I was literally on the verge of tears, trying to communicate with my mom via expensive texts to the U.S. FINALLY my name appeared and I almost climbed over a couple people to retrieve my boarding pass. I had to borrow a fellow passenger's phone to call my mom (bawling at this point) to tell her I made it on the flight list.

After a nice long 8 hour plane ride, in which I was too excited to sleep and could only watch movies the entire time, I anxiously waited in line at customs, at baggage claim, and then finally made my way to the passenger arrival area. As I walked through those doors, all I could see was a blur of faces and colorful jackets. Almost immediately, I saw these little arms fly frantically up in the air repeatedly to get my attention. My mom was waiting there with a bouquet of flowers and a santa hat to shove on my head. I wish a camera crew had been there (they had been at Dulles during those few days interviewing delayed passengers) to catch it on tape. We both started crying at how happy we were I was finally home, thankfully before Christmas.

All in all, my experience abroad was amazing and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm glad I took the risk and ventured out of my comfort zone, flying to a foreign country not knowing anyone since I was the only Virginia Tech student on that program. I made some great friends and had amazing times in different places across Europe.

I definitely plan on going back, hopefully to teach in France for a year!