I’ve been never traveled so much in such a short amount of time than I have abroad. I never left the country until this experience and now I have been to Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy and, obviously, England.
The first country I went to outside of England was the Netherlands. I stayed in Amsterdam and saw the Anne Frank House, Van Gogh Museum, and other sites that Amsterdam is known for. Amsterdam was my first experience of culture shock. Living in London, I didn’t experience as much of a culture shock as I anticipated so I was prepared for the cultural differences when it occurred. For example, there is a lot of cultural differences in the workplace. Everyone offers each other tea/coffee when they make it and if you don’t it’s considered impolite. Talking a lot in the workplace is considered working. Being too direct is considered impolite, so they tend to be very vague and don’t give specifics for projects you could be working on. The only culture shock was having to learn the different unspoken rules of politeness they have, but once you get used to it it becomes the norm. However, Amsterdam had bikers almost running you over everywhere you turned. Prostitution and marijuana are legalized and publicized on every other advertisement. I was overwhelmed by the aggressiveness of the people and I knew that I probably wouldn’t visit again, even though it was a great trip. After Amsterdam, we went to Volendam and Edam. And after those excursions, we went to Bruges, Belgium. I love the movie In Bruges so eating Belgium waffles and then exploring was one of my favorite moments. All of this traveling was in one weekend.
CAPA gave us a two-week spring break so a large group of my friends and I (roughly twelve people altogether) decided to go to Barcelona, Naples, and then Rome. It was late February when we started and it ended early March, so the weather was awful— except in Barcelona. Barcelona was my favorite place I’ve visited by far, while Naples was the worst. I loved Barcelona’s people, architecture, beach and just the overall feeling of the city. In Naples, we didn’t realize how dangerous the city was until we were there. So we explored limitedly and saw Pompeii, some of the Amalfi Coast, and then stayed in our Airbnb for the times in between. I spent my 21st birthday in Rome which was a very fun experience and I love being able to say how different my 21st was compared to the usual American.