These past 7 weeks have just flown by. I can not believe I only have 6 more weeks here! I came into this knowing it would be an experience full of travel and self-discovery, but I didn’t realize how attached I would become to the friends I’ve made here! Leaving them is going to be difficult…
Spring break was quite the adventure. I traveled to three places: Copenhagen in Denmark, Stockholm in Sweden, and Prague in the Czech Republic. Each place was so unique (and freezing since it was the coldest week in the whole winter!)
I went to Denmark with my friend RT and we spent two days exploring as much of it as we could! We had so many cool experiences there: he even taught me how to feed pigeons (pigeons are everywhere in Europe!) One of my favorite experiences was the famous round tower, where we walked up the whole thing with our suitcases (bless RT for carrying my bag up for me!). The top had a spectacular view of the city that we stared at for so long! Another highlight was the most famous statue in Denmark: The Little Mermaid! It was a lot smaller than I expected, but being a huge Disney fan and having read the original Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson it was still super exciting. Overall, Copenhagen was a pretty cool city.
The next day, RT left me and I took a train by myself to Sweden! This was the part of the adventure where I wanted to do the most self-discovery. I had never traveled alone before and I wanted to push myself. Honestly, Sweden was incredible. In the three days I was there I did so much and met so many cool people! Some highlights include Skansen, the largest outdoor zoo in the world, The ABBA museum, which was filled with interactive games, and the Vasa Museum, which holds the famous viking ship that sunk 100 meters from shore! The whole time I was there it was snowing. Being a Floridian, I had never been in snow! I felt like I had entered a Winter Wonderland. Minus the one time I was walking through a full on snow storm, I could not stop smiling as the white flakes blew around me.
After my adventure alone, I flew to Prague where I met a ton of my friends! My roommates from London met me there and I also have a friend studying abroad in Prague. We walked across the famous Charles Bridge at sunset and went to some really interesting museums (including modern art museums, the Franz Kafka museum, a medieval torture museum, the communist museum, and even a sex toy museum!). However, my favorite experience was when we stumbled upon a “secret” bar. It’s called that because it was in an underground bunker that was used as a secret bar during the communist regime. We had to enter through metal bars and then walk downstairs where there were rooms full of swings, dogs, chains hanging from the ceiling, and a live band that played everything from the red hot chili peppers to bohemian rhapsody! Quite the experience…
Overall, all three cities had so many unique things to offer it’s hard to pick a favorite. However, being alone in Sweden really allowed me to process a lot about my life as well as prove to myself that I can be independent! I can’t wait to keep traveling throughout my time here. I’m not ready for it to end!
Until next time…
Joy
