Paris and Amsterdam!

Hi sorry for taking so long between this and my last post! I have been traveling so much recently, it is so great to see so many different countries and cultures. Last weekend I was in Paris with my Mom, her friend Annie Walsh, and my cousin Bridget. The four of us strolled around the beautiful streets of Paris and hit up all of the big stops in the city. Since we did so much I will just highlight my favorite parts of the trip. We popped into the Lourve and saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and other priceless and famous works of art. We went to Versailles for a whole day, and we walked around the beautiful palace and then walk through the massive gardens of the estate. Every aspect of these gardens were perfectly manicured and decked out with fountains and flowers. That night we went to the Eiffel Tower, and saw it all lit up and sparkle. We met a nice man named Roy who's wife accidently ordered too many tickets so we got to skip the long line, and got tickets from him. Two terrifying elevator rides later, we were at the top of the Eiffel Tower. The top with breathtaking for three main reasons 1. it was one of the prettiest views I have ever seen, 2. it was absolutely freezing and literally difficult to breath, 3. I am absolutely terrified of heights. Luckily the views from the top were so stunning I was able to forget about the reasons two and three very easily. The last night we went to a Cabaret show, which is not as cute as they make them seem in the United States. The four of us could not stop laughing at the many naked men and women that walked across the stage. Overall the night was so fun, and something I know I will never forget. The weekend was amazing, and gave me that perfect feeling of home that I needed halfway through my semester abroad.

Amsterdam is one of the most interesting cities I have been in. It has a different feel than most cities, and every block that we walked looked similar but had its own certain charm. The city connected through many different canals that are all so beautiful. There were not many tourist attractions that we took part of besides the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House, so for most of the weekend we just walked around. On our last day we took a Canal Cruise throughout the whole city, where we received a little history on each part of the city. The cruise was my favorite part because it was a peaceful ride where we were able to talk to each other while also enjoy the city. The most interesting part of our journey was probably our hostel. We staying a "Camping Hostel" which was thirty minutes outside of the city. I am not going to lie I was dreading this decision after it was made by several people that I was traveling with.  I have never really been the camping type, but much to my surprise I ended of really liking the place that we were in. We stayed in Chalet ten which had four bunk beds, and a table in the middle. It was a very peaceful place to come home to every night, and enabled all of us to spend a lot of time together. This trip was one of my favorites because I got to really enjoy my time there instead of rushing to places that I feel I need to see.We got to wander around the city and really pick up on the atmosphere of Amsterdam.

PROST!

Hellooo! Made it back from Oktoberfest safe and sound!! Oktoberfest was the coolest event I have ever been to in my entire life, I will start from the beginning and try and describe to the fullest. The first day we were there we had slight issues with the train systems, "so easy literally no one could mess it." Yup. You can mess it up. So we are trying to get on a train to City Center and we ask several people "every train stops in city center" was repeated to us several times. So we did exactly what people said, and got on a random train. We learned no one should wing it with the train system that is in another language. Moments after we sat down we realized we were on an express train to Austria. Yup, Austria. Luckily there was one stop before leaving Germany, and the man who was helping us told us we were only 15km from the Austrian border. Then he points to this beautiful set of mountains and tells us that we are all staring at the Swiss Alps. Our jaws dropped, because seven of us managed to mess up this easy train system within our first hour of the being in Munich.

We eventually dropped our stuff off at the hotel and then headed over to Oktoberfest. We take the escalators up and are immediately overwhelmed with mass amounts of people and carnival lights. At night the festival was so amazing. Our first activity, besides getting sausages, was going on the massive swings. I honestly was absolutely terrified, and was pretty much dragged on the swing. BUT I went on them and they were so cool. We were swinging above the whole festival so fast, and we were able to see all of the lights. I would have taken a picture, but my hands were paralyzed with fear, and to be honest I would definitely have dropped my camera while swinging.

All of the other days we spent a lot of the time in the tents. Everyone who attends this festival is so friendly. Within ten minutes I already had friends from Germany, Italy, and Spain. Everyone is just looking to have a lot fun and experience every part of the festival they can. The beer was really good and really strong. The mugs were massive and I had to use two hands to lift them half of the time. Overall the trip was the most fun I have ever had and I think everyone is already looking into how we can get back there next year!

Swiss Alps from the train station

View of the swings from the bottom.