Travel England

Studying Abroad in London (January 2012 - May 2012)

Kim and Kanye outside of the Athenaeum Hotel

I spent the second semester of my sophomore year in London at NYU in London. While there, I was taught by British professors, took a Shakespeare theatre course complete with a trip to the Globe Theatre and lived with a British family for a weekend.

During my time in England, I was able to visit Cambridge, Bath, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Stonehenge, Dorchester and Dover.

I also saw Kanye West and Kim Kardashian my last day there!

Things you should know...

Weather
If planning on studying in London, make sure to BRING AN UMBRELLA (or two) and understand there may only be a handful of nice, sunny days in the four months you will be there. If you can get past the weather, London is a really great city to study in. There are lots of museums, shopping and nightlife!

Food
Sainsbury's is the place to go for food! The only reason I, along with my bank account, survived the four months abroad was because of Sainsbury's frozen meals.

Transport
The bus system was also relatively easy to navigate, along with the underground. If you have extra time and want to save money, try out the buses. You can see more that way, too!

Do a Host Program!

Take advantage of HOST programs while you are abroad (HOST UK is the program I was part of)! Not only was it great to get out of the city for the weekend to head to rural England, but it was wonderful to live with a British family for a few days and see how they live day to day. I lucked out and was placed with a great family! We had home cooked meals, went for walks across the farmlands and along the coast and saw a movie at the local theatre - Salmon Fishing in the Yemen!

During my train trip to Dorchester, I was EXTREMELY nervous about meeting my host family, but once I was there and met them, all nervousness subsided. They were great and it was one of the highlights of my semester abroad! Living with a host family for at least a weekend is a MUST if you study abroad!

Pictures from the cities of England

Pictures from London

Countries Visited While Studying in Europe

Weekend Trips

Sweden (February 2012)

My first weekend trip in Europe was to Stockholm for a mere Ryanair flight of 80GBP. Mind you, it was February and we went to Sweden. I wore layers upon layers and I was STILL FREEZING - even with stockings, leggings and jeans, two pairs of socks and three layers of shirts. Moral of the story - DO NOT GO TO SWEDEN UNTIL SPRING/SUMMER! It will be much more enjoyable!

Also, I learned from this trip that it is best to travel either alone or with 1 or two other people. We went on this trip with about 8 people and it was messy - everyone wanted to do different things and we ended up separating during the trip. Regardless, we still did some cool things, like going to the Royal Palace and checking out Skansen.

For my first weekend trip, it was pretty cool! Swedish was an awesome language, too. In hindsight, I REALLY wish I tried the swedish meatballs, but I guess IKEA swedish meatballs will do until my next adventure to Sweden.

The Netherlands (May 2012)

You cannot be in Europe for 4 months and not visit Amsterdam! Another solo adventure, but I definitely felt safe! Surprisingly, for being known for its abundant marijuana and prostitution, there seemed to be hardly any crime. I spent two full days in Amsterdam.

The first day I was able to see the whole city and went to the Anne Frank House. I wasn't really impressed with it, however, and would've been fine without seeing it. Vondelpark was really nice, but again, itt would've been nicer during the summer! The red-light district was also interesting - I went both during the day and at night and there was a BIG difference in what was seen. Coffee shops selling weed were EVERYWHERE and the smell of marijuana was as common as the smell of food carts in New York City. The houseboats were also worth seeing and some of the buildings in Amsterdam are leaning!

The second day, it was colder and my legs hurt from walking around so much the day before, but I still ventured into the heart of the city. It was May 5th, Liberation Day. In the morning, everything was being set up for a special ceremony including the Queen of the Netherlands. Since I already saw all of Amsterdam, I figured I would stay for the ceremony and see the queen. I had a spot right up by the railing, so I got a perfect view of Queen Beatrix!

France (May 2012)

My last euro-adventure was in Paris. In retrospect, I wish I had more time in this beautiful city. I only left myself a day to explore before I had to be back in London. The eiffel tower was better in person and for a person who hates art, I actually loved the Louvre. I even sat through a service at the Notre Dame Cathedral! DO NOT LEAVE Paris without buying macaroons! I will definitely be back to give this city another go in the future!

Spring Break

After weeks of planning and reviewing my budget, I decided that it would be in my best interest to choose only two countries to visit during my two week vacation. I chose Poland, where my roots lie, and Greece, since I needed to soak up some sun before going back to rainy London. This was my first solo adventure, and I was looking forward to it.

Poland (March 2012 - April 2012)

I spent 7 days in Poland - 3 in Warsaw, 3 in Krakow and 1 in Zakopane. Poland was by far my favorite country visited. I felt like I fit in.

In Warsaw, I visited many of the museums and monuments. The museums were great and I learned a lot. However, the city was a lot more commercialized than I expected and it wasn't exactly what I was hoping it would be like regarding the culture. If it wasn't for the museums, I could've done without the trip to Warsaw. Warsaw was also my first time riding a tram!

Krakow was another story. I fell in love the moment I entered the market square. Krakow has the largest medieval square in Europe, which I thought was pretty cool! There were tons of stands selling trinkets, Easter flowers/little yellow chicks (I was there right before Easter), candy and food. I was in heaven. I also had the best Pierogi EVER in Krakow. Many of the buildings were older and the city did a great job of preserving buildings and giving the city an older, more cultural vibe. I also made sure to visit the Wieliczka Salt Mine and Auschwitz-Berkenau. I don't think I would've been able to stay in Krakow after I went to Auschwitz - what I saw there was haunting. It was very difficult to wrap my mind around everything I learned about the happenings there. All in all, Krakow was definitely one of my favorite cities.

My last day in Poland was spent in the Tatra Mountains near Zakopane. I took a bus from Krakow to Zakopane and then spent the day in Zakopane hiking to Morskie Oko. It was SO PRETTY! The best part was there was snow on the ground and on the mountains, but it was warm enough to just hike in a sweatshirt! I wish I could've spent one less day in Warsaw and one more day in Zakopane. A very pretty mountain city, but I couldn't believe it when I saw an Auntie Anne's Pretzel Shop near my hostel!! Globalization at it's finest!

Poland was a very reasonable country to travel in. The only things I purchased before my trip were plane tickets from London to Warsaw, hostel bookings and a plane ticket from Krakow to Athens. I took a train from Warsaw to Krakow - a first class ticket with my own "sleeper" car was extremely inexpensive. Then I took a bus from Krakow to Zakopane roundtrip. I was able to purchase both the train and bus tickets the day of travel. Food was also cheap. Poland was a great country to visit with very pretty sights and it didn't throw me over my budget at all! I DEFINITELY recommend visiting this country!

Greece (April 2012)

Traveling to Athens alone was probably not the best idea I've ever had, especially since the riots were still happening at the time. But for a college student on a budget, it had to be done. I ended up saving about 300 euros by flying from Krakow to Athens, then taking a ferry from Athens to Mykonos rather than flying directly to Mykonos from Krakow. In the short span of time I was in Athens (about 6 hours in the afternoon/evening) I went on a tram tour of main city sights, walked on foot to other monuments near my hostel, got lost and then almost got caught in a riot. Thankfully, the greek folks are nice and a man was able to lead me in the right direction to both avoid the riot and get back to my hostel safely. Needless to say, in the future if I decide to go to a semi-dangerous city, I will make sure to go with at least one more person.

The next morning, I took a ferry from Athens to Mykonos to spend some much needed time on the beach. A van from where I was staying picked me up at the port and then brought me to the resort. The low cost option was a room with windows that didn't shut and a bathroom a hike away. It was not what I was expecting, but it was fine for a couple of nights. While it was hot and sunny during the days, the nights got very cool. So beware -- bring warm clothes even if you think it's not going to get cold! Also, it's worth figuring out whether your resort is on a regular beach or a nude beach. Knowing this will help ease the shock when you're walking out to the beach and you look up and see a big, well, you know, in plain sight! The best part was renting a four wheeler and going four-wheeling throughout the island!

Also, if you're going to a warm place before "tourist season" officially opens up, make sure to bring your own sunscreen! I paid 15 euros for SPF 7 since that was all they had! What a ripoff!

Scotland (April 2012)

I finished up spring break with a bus trip to Edinburgh with my aunt who visited from New York City. Again, Scotland would've been better if visited during the summer, but it was still a nice trip. We visited Edinburgh Castle, climbed Arthur's Seat and walked around to some of the monuments and other important buildings!