Category: Travels

Phone A Friend!

Serendipity is a wonderful thing, and Noa happened to be visiting Milan at the same time as her old friend, so let the adorable stories unfold!

Hello all!!

Things are getting fairly busy here, which is nice since I like having stuff to do, but it’s also nice because it is definitely not a stressful busy. I have class work but I am never rushed and am only really tired from so much traveling! I just got back from Spring break, but I’ll first tell you about my travels, woes, and other choses (that rhymes and proves to you that I am a French connoisseur), up until spring break. I’ll definitely share about my spring break with my family in a few posts!

So to begin describing my time in Milan, it’s important I give some background information about my best friend Christine. Christine is absolutely, without a doubt, one of the kindest human beings I have ever met. She is also the smartest person I know and is exceptional at everything she does.

As a quick aside, in high school, Christine was initially my math tutor before we became best friends. She helped me a LOT and then one day she texted me in college asking ME for some help with something. This was my chance! I could finally repay Christine for the countless hours she spent explaining the intricacies of vectors. Maybe she will even need MY help with math, I wrongly thought, not even considering the fact that she finished Calculus 3 in high school and I hadn’t even reached that level of math. I told my dad how excited I was, and I waited eagerly until Christine finally responded to my “of course I can help you” text with: “what color nail polish would look better with my dress?”

Why am I sharing this story with you all today? First, to give you some context on why Christine and I are a perfect friendship match, because we provide different (some may even say equally valuable – I KID obviously) knowledge to the table. And also to remind us all to stay in our lanes and remember where you come from.

Okay while that was all incredibly irrelevant to my time abroad, Christine is also a very busy woman who I never get to see. Even if we schedule something for the one day she is in Boulder every year, it usually doesn’t work out. But! We have had weird luck, and what I would classify as a “blessing” by somehow planning trips to be in the same place at the same time without knowing. Last year, we both happened to be in NYC the exact same day, had called each other the night before and then found out and were able to meet up! This year, I randomly gave Christine a call, she mentioned she was in Italy (which I had no idea), and I had mentioned I’d be in Italy for exactly one day the next week since I’d found 20 euro round trip flights. Long story short, Christine was going to be in Milan that exact same day right before she was leaving back to the States and I got to see her!

It was perfect and fun. While I don’t like Milan as a city that much in all honesty (will explain in spring break blog), I had the best time with her and her friend. We went into the Duomo, I shopped (but of course), and we had the loveliest dinner where I ate Milanese Cotoletta and spent almost three hours talking and catching up. At the end of my one day in Milan, I actually cried a lot because it was difficult to see someone I love so much for such a short time and then have to go back to my crazy, different life in Metz. It made me miss home and my people a lot, but was exactly what I needed at the same time. Having stability and people that are consistently there for me is something I take for granted sometimes and I am thankful that I have those people that have treated me with respect and have kept a friendship throughout the years.

There Is No “S” in Hotel

Noa gave hoStels another try during her trip to London, and this time around it was much better! Check out her latest blog post to get some ideas on what to do during your trip to London.

Hello again!

I am now the self-proclaimed cheap flight-finding queen. After my 20 euro trip to Milan, I have become slightly obsessed with finding cheap flights because they are less stressful than trains. With trains they can just sort of cancel them, give you no other options at 1 AM, and when you ask for other options they pretend to Google things for 25 minutes until telling you in German that you could take a taxi for 400 euros.

That being said, I quickly found a cheap trip to London for the next weekend! My friend and I decided we would give a hostel another chance since it wasn’t as last minute as Amsterdam. Also, for those who don’t know, one of my best most avid readers, my 12 year old sister, kindly sent me an edit saying, “you wrote hotel wrong, you put an s in it btw just lettin’ you know.” Just in case any other 12-year-olds reading my blog are confused, hostels are a version of a hotel that you do not want to stay in. The s stands for “super bad.” 

When we got to the hostel in London, called the Wombat, it was actually “Super great!”  Everything was clean, the staff was really nice, and there were no cats in our beds. We got in really late so we went to bed, and the next morning we had a free breakfast at the hostel before we all split up. I visited Oxford Street and walked around all of the shops until I met up with my friend in Chinatown to drink boba. I may be inconsistent about posting my blogs, but at least I am consistent about my nutrition. From there we decided to head over to Camden Market, which I absolutely loved. It reminded me of Pike Place Market in Seattle a bit, but also those indoor jewelry markets in NYC. Definitely up my alley. I love unique jewelry and art vendors, so it was really fun to see.

After the markets we met up with our third friend at an incredible taco restaurant. I cannot remember for the life of me what it was called, but they were exactly what I needed. The most exciting part of London for me was that a few days before with the help of my families convincing, I bought a ticket to see the Book of Mormon. I was worried spending a lot of money on a ticket, but let me tell you that after watching that show I would pay triple what I had paid for. It was by far the funniest show I have ever seen. So crude and hilarious, and the cast was so talented. I have not stopped listening to the music ever since, and I can’t wait to watch it again one day.

To end the night my friends and I sat at a jazz speakeasy, which was really nice. We met a good group of people that had recently graduated from Cambridge, and we spent the rest of the night hanging out with them. The next morning we woke up after only a few hours of sleep, walked around Notting Hill and Kensington Palace, and headed back for the flight home.

These weekends are extremely quick but every one of them has left me with memories that I hope will last me a lifetime. I am feeling really lucky recently and am thankful for everyone in my life. I’ll definitely let you all know about my spring break as soon as I have another chance to write!

For now, thanks for reading!

Taking Advantage of All That Metz Offers: Meet Sommy!

Not many students are so invested in soccer that they email 15 of the local Metz teams and tryout to join. Then again, not many students are completing their master’s in mechanical engineering AND their bachelor’s in applied languages and intercultural studies. Meet Sommy – Georgia Tech-Lorraine’s Renaissance man/master’s student!

The past couple weeks I had the pleasure of meeting two more graduate students! The first student I met I had actually seen before in my French class during our field trips to downtown Metz, and it was nice to get to know him. His name is Sommy, and he is doing a master’s in Mechanical Engineering while also doing a bachelors in applied languages and intercultural studies on the side. He is wrapping that up this final semester with a French capstone course with Dr. Ippolito (also my French teacher!) as well as 3 graduate classes.

Sommy completed his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech in Atlanta and decided to do the combined bachelor’s and master’s (BS/MS) program. He’s studied French for a long time. For the first few years of his undergrad he didn’t take any French, but come his third year he decided to start Duolingo, and thought it would be a lot easier to hold himself accountable by registering for courses. That’s how he got started doing a French minor, and then did the LBAT program in Paris through Georgia Tech. He not only said that the summer study abroad was “absolutely wonderful” but that it also made it a “pretty easy decision” to go to GTL to continue his immersion in the French culture and language.

When I asked Sommy about his future after GTL, he said he is looking for jobs, and industry-wise he’s interested in renewable energy and maybe some aviation/aerospace as well. He’s keeping his options open in regards to where and what he wants to work – even considering both the US and France as potential places to work. He shared that as a graduate student he is required to be a part of seminar course where companies from all over come in and introduce themselves and talk about their projects/services. This allows for corporate relations and recruitment with students, and he said “the fact that we have that as a resource is really cool.”

He also mentioned that his interests align with staying in France after graduation in regards to allowing him to enjoy his hobbies, like soccer, during the week. In Europe, he can come back from work and watch the soccer game in the evening while in the States that would be during the work day. Sommy is an avid soccer player, and was really involved in the soccer community early on in his undergraduate at Georgia Tech.  There is “lots of appeal to social and recreational life in France as well that I have an inclination for,” and the 26 local soccer teams in Metz give Sommy a lot of options to play soccer, even in a relatively “small” town.

While being here Sommy has actually joined one of the soccer teams in Metz, spending the first week emailing 15 teams and trying out with 2. The one he ended up picking is an 8 minute bike ride away, allowing him to practice 4-5 times a week with games on the weekend. They needed a defender, which is his position, and recently it was his first time playing in such cold weather, since Atlanta weather never gets quite this bad. He laughed and said he felt like “bambi on ice,” with the snow in his eyes, it was a “beautiful and fun experience.”

Sommy mentioned something that I’ve been thinking about, saying that his main intention is to be more of a resident of the city, rather than book up every weekend to travel. When studying abroad before, he traveled so much that he doesn’t want to make the same mistake and not take in the city he is living in. This definitely was important for me to hear, since I’ve been booking every weekend to travel. It reminded me of the importance of taking a step back and appreciating where you are! I’m glad I met Sommy, and I wish him the best with all of his plans!

“Nutella is 58% Sugar, And My Body Can Tell”

Many students get wrapped up in traveling to new places, but when homesickness hit, Noa had friends to visit in Paris, and it ended up being a fantastic experience! Check out her reflections on the weekend and why it meant so much.

I wasn’t initially expecting this, but last weekend was the best I’ve had since being abroad. I went to Paris, which is somewhere I’ve actually been twice before, and I think this is part of what made it such a good experience. I also think I am starting to get a little bit homesick. I don’t specifically “miss” home but I think I miss things that are familiar to me. For example, I bought a toaster at the store and that was the best thing that happened to me just because I could finally start eating more meals that I was familiar with. BUT, I also decided to buy nutella, and let’s just say it’s now hidden in the depths of my drawers since it is so bad for me. So going to Paris was important for the following reasons: First, I was staying with a family friend who was the best host and made me feel so welcome. Second of all, I had already been there so I wasn’t stressed that I had to see everything in 3 days and walk 12 miles like I did in Amsterdam. And third, I got some nice alone time – and more importantly I got to drink boba tea while I was there.

I took the train on Thursday evening, which was super easy since I only had to pay 10 euros to reserve a seat and it took an hour and a half. Our friend Lydia picked me up at the train station, and we went to her son’s house where we picked him up and went to eat shawarma and falafel. I think people reading this probably think that’s all I eat in addition to burgers, and at this point you are not wrong. During the week I don’t really have the chance to eat any meat or anything truly filling so these are good options for me. It was actually really delicious, and there are a lot of good falafel places in Paris, so of course we got some the next day too. That next day we also went to the Grand Palais because Lydia had tickets to a Miro and Michael Jackson exhibit. They were two different exhibits, and while we rushed through the Michael Jackson one (it was pretty weird and not our style), the Miro one was really up my alley. His art really developed and changed as he grew older and has a large range of styles.

After our falafel lunch, I spend my time exploring Paris alone. I went back to Notre Dame since that was my favorite spot from the last time I was here, and then found the boba place!!! It was probably the yummiest thai tea I’ve ever had. I went back home that night where I had a nice dinner with Lydia, and then I worked on my probability homework.

The next day I spent most of my time walking along Rue de Passy, which is right by Lydia’s apartment and close to the Eiffel Tower! There are a lot of nice shops, and afterwards I headed over to the Louvre – which I had free admission to as a student in France! I really love all the different sculptures and focused most of my time seeing the different Greek Gods before quickly seeing the Mona Lisa (there were so many people, and it wasn’t as special as I was hoping). Afterwards I had lunch at this cool American diner where I ate… you guessed it! A burger! For dinner that night I went back to Lydia’s house where she had her son’s family over and her husband.

I spent the rainy Sunday morning going to a Giacometti Art Exhibit with Lydia and her husband Ed, and really enjoyed that as well. His sculptures are really different and not like anything I’ve ever seen, almost creepy!

After our museum excursion, I spend most of the day working on homework, had some soup, and was honestly really sad to go! I got on the train home and after reflecting on this weekend, I think having that familiarity of people I know and a place I know better made it a lot more special than other weekends. I will definitely be back to Paris, and I am glad I did something more relaxed to remind myself of the normal pace of life.

The Cat Wasn’t Dead: A Weekend in Amsterdam

Noa spent her first big trip in Amsterdam, and she’s learning a lot while traveling – including to find the humor and find a solution when things don’t go quite according to plan! Check out her blog (and find out what exactly happened to that cat)!

Hello!

It’s been a bit since I went, but I thought I would share about my experiences in Amsterdam! It was my second weekend trip and for a while before I actually came to Metz, I knew I wanted that to be my first “big” trip. By then I had my Eurail pass activated so 3 other friends and I decided to plan out the trains, reserve a hostel, and go! A few things I learned about the last minute planning are that the good hostels go kind of fast if you need enough beds for multiple people but otherwise everything is pretty easy to plan.

We decided to leave Friday morning and chose trains that didn’t have any required reservations which basically means we don’t have to pay any extra for the trains alongside our Eurail. Our first train to Luxembourg went fairly smoothly except for we accidentally got off one stop before, frantically asked a lot of people if this was the right stop and then hopped right back on the train before it continued. As a pro tip, if you are going on a train with its final destination being a larger destination, and you are the only people that are getting off, you are PROBABLY not there yet!

From Luxembourg we had to get on a train to Brussels, and we thought we were fine and could sleep until midway through the ride the train operator says some words in French, all my friends look at me to see if I understood, and a man came over to tell us in French that the weather is bad and the train is stopping at some random stop where we will need to transfer. Honestly, this didn’t really stress me out because I feel like there are so many options for trains and flights, and it was only Friday, so worst case we could always hop on a train back home. We walked towards the exit and met another guy who laughed and told us “Welcome to Belgium. The trains here are always like this.” We talked to him for a while, which made it more of a funny experience, and then got on another train.

Oh, you think we’d get there by now? No, this is where the fun starts! After waiting at the train station, we missed our first train because of the signs not actually showing Amsterdam, another train being stopped early, and finally 11 hours later instead of 7 we made it. By the way, the best part of the train stations is that you need to pay to use the restrooms. No wonder they need free healthcare… everyone holds their pee and doesn’t get to drink water for free… seems like a problem.

Finally we arrived in Amsterdam, and I thought the only thing we need is to get to the hostel and lay down for a second to feel better. Everyone reading this is probably thinking, “Noa, you had such a long and stressful first trek. Whatever larger force is out there that controls people’s fate will give you a good place to rest.” Well that’s what I hoped too, but we arrived to the hostel where I think, “this will be okay,” until I look at the beds and see a large lump, which did not move and turned out to be a cat. For about 5 minutes my friends and I looked at the cat, looked at each other, made some noise, and concluded that the cat was most definitely dead.

At that point, I’m laughing but horrified, trying to find other places to stay, and eventually we go down to reception to ask if someone can remove the deceased cat from our room. “Oh yeah,” they told us, “that’s the hostel cat, she’s really old so she might be dead but maybe not.” Long story short, the cat wasn’t dead, just very old and stiff, probably deaf, and really unkempt. And it kept coming back into the room in the middle of the night until I declared to the staff that I was allergic so that they would keep the cat away. I am not even allergic, I love cats, but I learned I’m not a huge fan of hostel cats.

Morning in Amsterdam

OK, so that was honestly the only couple hiccups in the trip. After we dropped off and locked up our backpacks, we headed to get dinner at a wok place which was really yummy and went back to bed. The next morning, all of my friends wanted to go see the Van Gogh Museum and had tickets, so I decided I wanted to walk more around downtown. This was hard for me at first, because I knew I didn’t really want to go to the museum but I struggled worrying that I’d be missing out. This was a huge learning experience for me because walking around Amsterdam in the morning alone was the best decision I could’ve made. I was saving most of my “museum” budget for Monet-related exhibits since he is my favorite painter, and I hope to visit his house, so I was happy with my decision. Instead I had a yummy croissant and jasmine tea and walked all around the tulip market and through some stores. For lunch I met back up with my friends at a pancake house, got a burger (because this is me we are talking about), and then we went to another outdoor market.

Tulips!

All the markets were really nice and I am glad they are open year round, but it was definitely really cold! For dinner we went to a fun place called FoodHallen, which was basically a lot of different food stands indoors. I ate a chicken shawarma with french fries that tasted nothing like it does in Israel, but it was still really yummy!

After that we had tickets to go to the Anne Frank House, which was really important to me. We spent a lot of time there, really learning about the history and each individual that spent time in that home and those who helped the Frank family. It was very difficult to see but absolutely something that everyone needs to be educated about. I think the part that stuck with me the most was how it initially felt rather big, but that then you realize they spent two years in there living in absolute fear, and it feels a lot smaller. If you are going to visit this museum, which I think everyone should, I would suggest going on an off time if there is one because even in the evening there were a lot of people and it made you have to through a little bit more rushed. Afterwards, we headed back to our hostel and went to bed.

It was a really quick trip, and the train ride home went a lot smoother with no delays. Despite all of the issues that occurred, I’m actually really happy they happened because I learned a lot about myself. I now know what I am more comfortable with and am completely fine with straying from the group to make sure I am experiencing my travels the way I want to. I would definitely go back when it’s a little bit warmer so I can experience more things without having to plan around what keeps me warm!

Colmar – A real life fairy tale!

Can you guess what classic animated movie that the town of Colmar inspired? Find out in Noa’s latest blog, where she talks about her first trip, and why she only wants to travel more now!

Written by Noa Margalit

For my first weekend trip a few friends and I decided to visit Colmar, France. If you’ve seen Beauty and the Beast, it is the town that it is based off of and it’s absolutely beautiful. Initially, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to leave town the first weekend, but a day trip to Colmar was the perfect solution. Also, I had definitely explored downtown Metz more than I was anticipating during the first week just because I had a lot of time after classes to do so.

To get to Colmar, we had to take a direct morning train from the central station in Metz, which went through Strasbourg, and finally arrived in Colmar. It was really easy to reserve tickets. Since none of us wanted to activate our Eurail passes, we just ordered some online and sent them to our phones. I think the most challenging process of the train systems here is that every single person you talk to tells you a different thing. For example, some people said you can’t reserve online, but only at the train station (this may be true for certain cases but in our case it was not). Also, we got to the train station way earlier than we needed to but it was good because we were able to figure out how everything works with no stress.

Since we had reserved seats everyone sat on a different part of the train, and we arrived about 1.5 hours later. When you first get into Colmar, it looks like any other French town until you make your way downtown. At the heart of the city every building looked straight out of a fairytale, with each one colored brightly and little details that made them look really special. I’m not really one to travel in a big group, and as we were walking downtown I already felt a little overwhelmed with the amount of people I was with. The first thing I saw downtown was one of my favorite stores in France, “Maisons du Monde” which has cute home goods and was also a good way to part ways with the group. My friend and I went to the store while the rest went to get lunch and after looking through there we also started exploring to find food. Every corner you turn in Colmar there is something really unique and special. We stopped so many times just to admire the area, I especially liked the copper roofs on the church that were partially turquoise. Eventually once we got lunch I got a baguette with chicken inside, which is my favorite thing to eat in France. First of all, it is so cheap, only about 3 euros. Compared to a sandwich in the states which runs for around  $8, it is also a lot tastier.

Downtown Colmar

After eating, we wandered around more shops, and I bought a scarf since all the French wear scarves and I have to fit in. We didn’t end up seeing the rest of the group until meeting at the bus stop to take the bus home. This was probably the worst part of the trip, since our bus was delayed by almost an hour, and it was very cold outside. I felt like Colorado prepared me well though, and I had on my two pairs of pants, leg warmers, coat, gloves, a hat, and my new scarf to keep me warm. Eventually we got on the flix bus (it took almost 3 hours), and made it home. We decided to take a bus back to keep things cheap, and so our day trip ended up being very worth it.

Overall, I am really glad I took a small trip on the first weekend just to demystify the train experience and to start seeing a little more of the places around me. Sunday was nice to take off and relax, but I think I will try to see a new place every time I have the chance!

‘Tis the Season for Christmas in Metz

Get in the spirit of the holidays with a trip to the holiday markets in Metz with Quinnell and friends. From the hot drinks to the special pastries, Quinnell felt like she “finally made it to a Hallmark movie!”

The iconic ferris wheel near the Cathedral.

We have reached that time in the semester of the season that keeps on giving, and Metz surely knows how to give to its locals the Christmas spirit. Everywhere you walk in Metz in places like coffee shops, grocery stores, and the city itself is decked out in decorations and Christmas cheer is spreading. I have heard from faculty and even some friends of mine that have been to France before that some of the best Christmas markets and festivities from around the world are located in France, one of those happens to be in Metz! I experienced first hand some of the Christmas festivities that Metz has to offer.

The decorations around the Christmas Markets were darling!

I went to the Christmas markets in downtown Metz near the Metz Cathedral. The night air was chilly in the alleyways as other GTL students and I walked along the streets of Metz to the Christmas markets with glee. Once we reached the markets, I was immediately hit with a mixture of wonderful scents filling the air such as apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Walking through the markets I could see couples walking around arm in arm comforting each other for warmth, kids running around getting on amusement rides, and people ice skating holding onto rails to keep themselves from falling on the slippery ice. I felt as if I was in one of those cliché Hallmark Christmas movies! As I continued walking through the market, I decided to try some of the traditional Christmas pastries and drinks. I was able to try a hollow cone-like pastry covered in sugar, and one of the many traditional drinks served warm and ladled from big pots containing the drinks. After all the GTL students and myself got our food and drinks, we ended up trying some of each other’s pastries and enjoying the festivities.

Metz Cathedral in the Night

In the Christmas markets, there are many pastry and food vendors selling a whole variety of food like crepes, beignets, the sugary cone I mentioned, dried fruit, roasted chestnuts, fondue, fish and chips, and cheesy potatoes. Also in the market were little vendors sprinkled throughout selling Santa Claus hats, kids toys, scarves, and handmade gifts for family and friends. This was my first time experiencing a traditional Christmas market, and I really enjoyed it! Some of the other activities that are available in Metz during the Christmas time is the Saint Nicholas Parade, the trail of lanterns, a large Ferris wheel ride which is one of the largest Ferris wheels in Europe, the gourmet market, and the traditions market on Place Saint-Louis.

Being a person that absolutely loves Christmas, I start counting down before Thanksgiving, watch at least one Christmas movie each day during the weekends, and love spreading Christmas cheer – so I thoroughly enjoyed the festivities. Being able to experience the Christmas markets were like a small dream come true because I feel like I finally made it to a Hallmark movie. While GTL is challenging at times with school, travels, and feeling a little homesick during the holiday times, the small community we have formed among ourselves and things such as the Christmas markets help you to feel a bit more at home. As my time at GTL is comes to a close, I hope to experience a Christmas market in another French city – or even when I return back to the United States.

Fall Break: A Week of Travel Adventures

A little #TBT for you – take a trip back in time with us to revel in Quinnell’s fall break travels to Portugal and Spain!

Running to catch trains, being gross from long travels, eating some of the best food I have ever eaten in my entire life, seeing architecture my eyes only ever dreamed of, and experiencing moments of a lifetime is what my fall break consisted of. In comparison to Georgia Tech’s fall break, it is actually a break, a week to just relax without having to worry about school. I really appreciate how during fall break, I was not required to do a lot of schoolwork and had time to get it done beforehand so I could enjoy my travels fully. And so for fall break some GTL students and I decided to take a mini-tour of Portugal and Spain.

At the beach in Porto, Portugal

The first stop on my fall break was Porto, Portugal. I arrived in the city around 8 AM and did the one thing I knew how to do best: search for food like the hungry college student I am. I was able to find a café that was open around that time of the morning and was able to eat a nice, hearty breakfast and get my daily intake of coffee. Porto was a lot different from I expected it to be. I thought I would be overwhelmed by the amount of Portuguese being spoken, however, something very unique to Porto was that since it is so close to France and Spain, there are many languages spoken there even though Portuguese is the national language. Some of the things I enjoyed doing in Porto were seeing the beach and watching my friends surf for the first time in cold waters, visit the bookstore with the red staircase that inspired the Harry Potter books, and eat traditional pernil con queijo sandwich from Casa Guedes. Porto was a lot windier than I expected, but so beautiful at the same time with the yellow and pink tones cascading through the hills on houses with red rooftops.

 

 

The morning we arrived in Lisbon was the day I got the workout of the century, as we woke up late to catch our bus to Lisbon, and all the public transportation was not running at the time. We only had 30 minutes until our bus would leave, and too many hills to climb in Porto to reach the very top of our destination. With a “we can do this” and fitness instructor enthusiasm we made it to the bus station just in time! Once we arrived in Lisbon, the city was full of food and beautiful sites to see. I believe the highlight of my time in Lisbon was getting to try the local fish and traditional custard tart pastries. A sight I could not miss while in Lisbon was the one from Castelo de Saint Jorge, as I was able to see a panoramic view of the entire city of Lisbon from one of its highest points and learn more history about the city as well.

Lisbon, Portugal
7AM flight to Madrid, Spain from Lisbon, Portugal

The next stop on my fall break trip was Spain! The country is absolutely gorgeous and a place I dreamed of going to since I was younger. I have always had a deep admiration and appreciation of Hispanic culture. Spain was a dream: I was able to visit Valencia, Madrid, and Barcelona for a few days. On Halloween night, Valencia came to life with parties for college students and satisfied my paella dreams, as I ate two different styles of paella while I was in Valencia. By the time I reached Madrid, I was exhausted from traveling to so many places, and I was only halfway through fall break! In Madrid, since we arrived later in the day and it was raining, I did what most locals do during this type of gloomy day: I went to Primark! For those who may not know what Primark is, it is the store of your fashion dreams as everything has very low prices for pretty good quality. After shopping, I had some amazing tacos at Takos and the best churros and chocolate in the city. Lastly, I made it to Barcelona with the group I was traveling with. I would have to say that Barcelona was the highlight of my trip, as we spent the most time here, and I did not feel rushed to eat and see everything in one day. While in Barcelona, I was able to meet new people at the hostel we were staying at, take a walking tour in the city, see Gaudi’s architecture casually decorating the streets of Barcelona, and of course see the infamous Sagrada Familia!

Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain

Overall, my fall break consisted of a lot of traveling, satisfying my hunger, seeing historical landmarks, and making new memories with fellow GTL students. From traveling to different cities in Spain and Portugal, I was able to see  how different each one was from the people, slight variations in culture, and food. I have gained a new perspective and appreciation of those countries from traveling there. When planning fall break, I would recommend making plans early to save money on travel, and to visit fewer places because traveling can be exhausting, and it minimizes all the things you can see and experience of each city.

Some Fun-don in London

Maddie enjoyed a visit to London – and not only for the engineering feats along the way, but also for the history she can tie back to her classes!

In mid-October, we decided to go across the pond and spend the weekend in lovely London! (I’m not sure if “across the pond” can be used for going across any large body of water, but I like the phrase so just bear with me.)

Our trip began with us taking the Eurostar train LITERALLY UNDER THE OCEAN! I still can’t get over how marvelous modern engineering is that somehow, we as a species managed to run a high-speed train under the sea. The Chunnel links France and England under the Strait of Dover, sitting at 250 ft below the sea bed at its lowest point, and with its undersea portion stretching a total of 23.5 miles (37.9 km), the longest of any tunnel in the world. Actually going through the tunnel was pretty underwhelming because, you know, it’s just darkness like any other train tunnel, but thinking about the sheer amount of water that was sitting above us made it more exciting.

The fish and chips to go was a nice idea in theory—in practice it was messy and difficult, but still delicious!

Upon disembarking at St. Pancras station, we were quite hungry, so we decided to walk to a restaurant serving a quintessentially British food: fish & chips. We got our orders to go, but fish & chips proved very difficult to eat without forks and while walking, so we sat down on a deserted curb to have our delicious feast, then took the Tube to our AirBNB.

On Saturday, we had a leisurely morning and ate lunch at the ubiquitous Pret a Manger. (I found it ironic that the classic London fast food chain has a French name.) Then, we went to go see the British Museum. Even without the incredible exhibits it houses, the sheer size of the building was impressive—the center of the museum is a huge open expanse of white marble, with sunlight streaming in through the roof and a massive stone pillar of rooms rising out from the center of the cavernous space. Highlights of our visit included the Rosetta Stone, giant Egyptian statues, and an interactive exhibit about a man mummified thousands of years ago.

Soren showed us the Royal Courts of Justice building in London. The pointed arches and circular window are reminiscent of Gothic cathedrals, which we’ve been studying extensively in HTS 2084 at Georgia Tech Lorraine!

At the museum, we met up with one of my best friends from high school, Soren, who’s currently studying abroad at the London School of Economics! After we were done wandering around the exhibits, he showed us around his campus. We saw his dorms, a couple of lecture halls, and the giant LSE library, among other places. He’s studying there for a year, but he’s only been there for three weeks so far, so it’s a very different feeling for him than for us, who already have two months at GTL under our belt. Seeing how he’s just starting his study abroad experience really made it hit home that we were already halfway done with ours.

Lastly, we decided to go to the famous Brick Lane for dinner to get Indian food! The whole street was filled with different Indian restaurants, with people outside each one trying to entice customers to choose theirs. We chose one based off of reviews we had read beforehand and chose several dishes to share between us, including butter chicken, chana masala, vegetable biryani, and naan, of course.

Hannah and Sarah with our delicious Brick Lane meal!

Overall, we had a marvelous time in London with good friends and good food, and I would love to visit again someday to see more of the bustling but beautiful city!

This Is What “Peak” Performance Looks Like

Nothing beats the feeling of accomplishing something you’ve dreamed about for a long time, and Maddie captures that in her latest blog posts, in which she describes her trek up a Swiss mountain.

This was the trip that is undoubtedly the high point (literally) of my European travels: Interlaken, Switzerland. Not only was it one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, but I climbed my first mountain there, something that I’ve always dreamed of accomplishing!

I could barely take my eyes off of the beautiful, grassy hills and the spectacular mountains, which was somewhat problematic for my stubbed toes.

Interlaken is a lovely town situated between two lakes (hence the name), which looked stunning with a beautiful mountain backdrop as we rode the train into the city. Walking down the main boulevard, we saw many quintessentially Swiss things, from watch stores to chocolatiers to a fondue restaurant, all the while marveling at the soaring mountains that framed the sky. One of the most exciting parts of this walk was seeing hang gliders and paragliders soaring and swooping through the sky! They floated down from the mountains and we sat and watched, fascinated, as they all landed on a huge green lawn in the center of the city.

We stopped to take scenic pictures and have a nutritious lunch of brioche, Nutella, bananas, nuts, and other snacks.

The next day, we were ready to hike! The woman at the tourism office recommended that we walk through the valley of waterfalls, as it was very beautiful and suitable for beginners. We decided not to follow her advice, however—we wanted to see the sights from high up, so we decided to attempt a hike to the summit of the Schilthorn from a little mountain town called Mürren.

After stocking up on food and taking two trains and a gondola from Interlaken to reach Mürren, we were ready to begin. It was 11 am when we started, so our goal was to get as far as we could by 3 pm and then turn around to allow us enough time to catch the trains back to Interlaken. The beginning of the hike took us through rolling hills and many pastures, punctuated by the constant clinking of cowbells and the occasional moo. Sadly, the cows did not really want to be pet.

I found a nice branch early on the hike that I used for a walking stick the rest of the way up. It proved very helpful, especially in the slippery snow!

As the hours passed and we continued to ascend, the trail turned from sharp, steep switchbacks up grassy hills to a flatter, rocky path towards the final summit, and then to no path at all as we approached the most difficult part of the journey. At this point we had truly transitioned from hiking to climbing: we carefully pulled ourselves up rocky ledges, following spray painted arrows through the otherwise confusing landscape, and we gingerly made our way up steep, snowy inclines, testing our weight with every step and hoping that the powder wouldn’t give way

On the way down, I was often prone to sprinting down the mountainside, both because it was fun but also because the steep slope made it hard to stop, so you can see my traveling buddies in the distance behind me along with the foggy mountain peak.

beneath our feet. Near the top, thankfully, there were ropes to pull ourselves up the more treacherous inclines, and railings to hold as we crossed narrow rock bridges towards our goal.

With our tired lungs and aching legs, we finally reached the peak of the mountain—at precisely 3:00 pm! I can’t describe the feeling I had when I reached the top; after 4 hours and after scaling 4,366 feet of vertical elevation, I was so exhilarated, so full of endorphins from the strenuous hike up, and so proud of our achievement that all I could think was “When can I do this again?” I’ve always wanted to climb a mountain at some point in my life, and after actually doing it that desire has only gotten stronger. This amazing trip really opened my eyes to the wonders of hiking and climbing, and I can’t wait until my next opportunity to test my limits and scale taller summits!

On the way down the mountainside, after the rain had stopped, we were treated with an absolutely gorgeous double rainbow!!