Eurotour: Days 4 & 5

If you haven't read my previous post, it tells all about the first three days of my bus tour through Europe! We visited Berlin, Dresden, and Prague, and now we're on our way to Austria!!!

Day 4: Vienna

From Prague, we took a quick 5 hour drive down to Vienna, Austria!

Vienna was definitely had a jam-packed schedule, but it was so much fun! It is SUCH a beautiful city, and the people there are super nice. My friends Georgie, Scarlett and I stumbled upon a huge street market near the harbor that was so cool! We ended up eating lunch there and looking around.

Georgie and Scarlett

After the street market we walked back to our meeting point. The city is really so beautiful I hope I will get to go back there one day.

That night our exchange program arranged it so we got to see and orchestra performance! It was so cool, they all dressed in traditional clothing and there was also a ballet number and two opera singers! It was quite the event, but unfortunately we were not allowed to photograph or film the performance. But the venue was quite beautiful as well!

My friend Aiden and I felt quite posh as we enjoyed the complimentary orange juice served at intermission.

After the performance we went back to our hostel and took some photos! Aiden is quite the photographer and was kind enough to agree to do a photoshoot for us...

Unfortunately we had to leave Vienna the next day, but the time we spent there was well spent.

D1440-1450 Vienna

Day 5: Lido di Jesolo

Now this might be my favorite place we visited on Eurotour. It's not a big, famous city like almost everywhere else we went in these two and a half weeks. It's just a small tourist town in the Northern part of Italy. But I have so many good memories here that I made with the other exchange students, Lido will always hold a special place in my heart.

It was a bit of a drive from Vienna to Lido, but it was one of the most beautiful drives I've ever been on in my life. I remember we were all a bit tired after Vienna, so we all fell asleep on the bus. When I woke up again we were driving through the Alps on the border to Italy.

It was a little hard to capture the mountains on camera while in a moving bus, but I will always remember how vast they were. Our whole bus was in awe of our surroundings, it was really a magical moment.

We spent three nights in Lido, so it was one of the cities we stayed the longest in. After arriving and getting some good pasta for dinner, we went to bed and had the next day off!

Our hotel was right by the beach, so our group decided to take a day and relax. It was the first time I had swam in the ocean since August and it felt so good. You can imagine the Brazilians went crazy over being able to swim in the water again after nine months!

View from our hotel balcony

We had a lot of good nights in Lido, a lot of laughs. I will never forget that place.

And now I'd like to say thank you to Marilyn Maracek for donating to my GoFundMe! Without your donation I wouldn't have been able to have these amazing experiences to share with you! Thank you so much, I will forever be grateful.

Danish Word of the Day:

Strand- Beach

Eurotour: Days 1-3

The reason that I have not been so active on my blog recently is because I have been traveling! Quite a lot, actually. My exchange program offers and end of the year trip called Eurotour, where we are given the opportunity to tour around Europe for two and a half weeks by bus! So around thirty some other exchange students and I boarded our bus on May 14, and set out on a long journey together.

Day 1: Berlin

The first day we drove all the way to Berlin. It took us maybe eight hours to drive there, because our bus driver needs to stop every one and half hours by law to take a break.

We made it to Berlin in good time, checked into our beautiful hostel, and went out to eat dinner together. It's quite funny walking around in a group of thirty-some international students in a foreign country. We definitely turned some heads walking down the streets!

After a good night's sleep we set out sightseeing. We had a wonderful tour guide named Gert who led us around the city. He's been giving tours for fourteen years! So it's safe to say he knew what he was talking about.

We visited the Berlin Wall, although we didn't have a lot of time with our jam packed schedule. It was so incredible to be in such a historic place I've been hearing about for so many years.

D1440-1450 Berlin

Day 2: Dresden

On Day 2 we left beautiful Berlin and made our way down to Prague! On the way we stopped in a town called Dresden, Germany. 

There we were allowed to walk around and explore the city a little. One of my friends knew another exchange student living there, so he was able to give us a little tour and find us somewhere good to eat!

We ended up in a little street market where we got some Bratwurst and ice cream:)

Yu Jin & Our Ice Cream

Dresden was a very beautiful city with really interesting architecture, I wish we had had more time to look around because it seemed like a very historic place.

After Dresden we hopped back on the bus and drove down to Prague!

Day 3: Prague

On Day 3 we were in Prague! I have heard so much about this city, everyone has told me it's one of the most beautiful cities in the world so I was really looking forward to going here. We had a hotel a little outside of the city, so we had to take a train to get to the center. The escalators in Prague are some of the scariest I've ever been on; it might seem like something strange to notice or talk about, but they are the fastest escalators I've ever seen in my life, it felt like going on a roller coaster!

We made it to the city center and went on a tour of one of the castles. It was so beautiful and had an amazing view!

Sophie, Scarlett, and Me

  

I'm really so thankful I got to go on this tour because I met so many people who I couldn't imagine my life without now! I've made some of my best friends thanks to this trip.

After visiting the castle we were free to explore the city! My friends Scarlett, Sophie, and I set out to find somewhere to eat. 

After eating we explored a little bit and found a really cool puppet shop!

It seems that puppets and wooden toys are very big in Prague, or maybe the Czech Republic in general. 

Again, I wish we had more time to explore Prague, but from what I saw it was a very beautiful city.

D1440-1450 Prague

Now I'd like to just say thank you to Michael Roomberg for donating to my GoFundMe! It's because of your donation that I was able to partake in such an amazing trip! I've really met some of my best friends on this bus tour and made the most incredible memories, I could never express how grateful I am that you were able to help me achieve this dream! Thank you thank you thank you!!!

Danish Word of the Day:

Tur- Tour

Legoland

On May 8th I was given permission to skip school because I was going to Legoland!!! One of my really good friends, Scarlett, offered to bring me with her and her counselor!

I spent the night at Scarlett's house so we could get up bright and early and set out to Legoland. Since it was a Tuesday in the beginning of May, there weren't a lot of people there! The weather was absolutely beautiful, so we got really lucky.

Legos are SUPER popular in Denmark because it's a Danish company. They take a lot of pride in it, so Legoland is one of the most famous tourist spots to go while in Denmark. I was so grateful to Scarlett for bringing me.

Scarlett and Me on a Lego Ride

They have entire cities and villages made out of Legos here; it's really incredible! They are so detailed and intricate I really wonder how long it took for them to build the whole theme park.

It was really incredible, they even had a whole section for Star Wars! (Scarlett's counselor was very excited about it)

And, of course, they had Nyhavn in Copenhagen!

Thank you so much to Scarlett and her counselor for bringing me to Legoland, it was such a great experience I was really grateful for the opportunity to go!

Also thank you to Emilie Mondrup for donating to my GoFundMe! Thank you so so much, it was honestly so kind of you to donate! Your family is so sweet and thoughtful and has given me so many opportunities while here in Denmark, I will forever be grateful!!!

Danish Word of the Day:

Legetøj- Toy

Hamburg & Sam Smith

Hello all! It's been a little while since I've posted on here...sorry! These past few months have been the CRAZIEST of my life (as you will see).

So, we're going to have to back up for a moment. On April 27, 2018, three other exchange students and I set out on a journey. We hopped on a bus in Aarhus and rode it all the way down to Hamburg, Germany!

It was a pretty long journey; by bus it took about eight hours to get down there, with only one stop at the border. We were very tired when we arrived, and hungry!

Giorgia and Me on the Bus

After we arrived and checked into our hostel (which was beautiful by the way), we set out to find a place to eat, and we found one! We were craving burgers, and by some miracle were able to find Dulf's. 

Maybe it was because we were so hungry and tired, but those burgers were the best we had ever had. Each one we got was absolutely delicious, we couldn't stop talking about them for the rest of the night! If you ever find yourself in Hamburg, I HIGHLY recommend going to Dulf's. You will not be disappointed!

The next day we spend sightseeing Hamburg. It's a really beautiful city, and pretty easy to navigate. Two of the exchange students I was with had studied German in school, which made it a lot easier.

For lunch we found ourselves in a large park, where we were able to find a street vendor and enjoy our meal sitting in the flowers:) We also got some really good salted caramel ice cream for dessert!

When we got back to the hostel, we prepared for the reason we really came to Hamburg...we were going to a Sam Smith concert! Luckily for us the hostel we were staying in was just down the street from the venue, so we were able to walk there no problem. There were so many people there, it was such an amazing experience!

Sam was absolutely incredible, he has a voice spun of pure gold. I had such a fun time with my friends and was so grateful we got the opportunity to take such an amazing trip together.

Here's a little snippet from the concert...

And now I'd like to give a huge thank you to Meredith Palin! Thank you SO much for donating to my GoFundMe, it's because of your donation that I was able to go to Hamburg and make all of these incredible memories! Thank you soso much, I will never be able to express my gratitude enough.

Danish Word of the Day:
Tyskland- Germany