Another major difference is the exam period itself.  For the spring semester the exam period is spread out through the entire month of May.  I had my last class on May 2^nd and didn’t have a final until the 22^nd.  This is great because it gives us time to do some traveling (I went to Spain!), but also leaves a lot of time for procrastination, which speaking of that, I should get back to studying!

In the afternoon we rode the cable-railway up to the Salzburg fortress, and wandered along the ridge to the Augustiner Bräu at the Kloster Müll, at which point we enjoyed an evening meal together as Central College Abroad. After dinner, we had the chance to explore Salzburg a little bit more on our own before heading back to the hostel for the night.

On Sunday, we were given the whole day for us to do as we pleased, weather it be to visit Hellbrunn and her fabulous trick fountains, wander around the city of Salzburg some more, or become a true Austrian Tourist and take the world famous Sound of Music Tour. (Which is what I chose to do). On the tour we saw all of the filming spots from the movie, and even heard some pretty funny stories about the cast and how the film was produced. After my tour there was still some time before the train back to Vienna for all of us to „chill“ at the  Mirabell Gardens (Where THE Julie Andrews once sang and danced around)

(One of the many amazing views of the weekend)

Until next time!

Adel

Monet’s house and gardens are quite a popular place to visit in France, and we saw at least four other American study abroad groups there on the same day. The property has been open to the public since 1980, but before that, it took many years and a lot of money to restore the house and gardens back to their former glory after the bombings in World War II.

I had seen Monet’s water lily paintings in the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris, and I was very excited to see them in person. Unfortunately, the water lilies were not in bloom yet (July is when they really bloom), so we were a little disappointed. Despite this small setback, the rest of the gardens were quite beautiful. It was so refreshing to see so many colorful flowers everywhere after such a long winter. There were tulips, violets, and many other kinds of flowers that I couldn’t name offhand. By the small pond, there was a weeping willow along with a Japanese bridge, which can be seen in Monet’s paintings.

I naively assumed that Monet’s house wouldn’t be anything special next to the amazing gardens, but I proved myself wrong as soon as I stepped in the door. Monet’s house is moderate in size but makes up for this fact with what is inside. All of the furniture is old fashioned, and the walls are covered with Japanese art. One thing I really enjoyed was the brightly colored walls in the dining room and the kitchen, which were yellow and blue respectively. My favorite room was the studio, which held at least twenty paintings by Monet. I am currently learning about Monet in my art history class, so it was really nice to see some of his work and its inspirations in person. I would love to come back to Giverny someday in the summer to see the water lilies in full bloom and to see this quaint house again.

Welcome to Ronda, a small town in Andalucía that sits upon a precipice.  It is well known for its three bridges: the Roman Bridge, the Arab Bridge, and the New Bridge (which can also be classified as neoclassical, since it’s not so new anymore).

When Veronica arranged a trip to this small piece of history, I signed up because several of my professors had highly recommended it.  My thought process was, “Oh, sure, I have free time that weekend and I like seeing new things.  Win for me!”

A couple weeks later, I received an email from my mom.  She had just found out that there was a little town in Spain called Ronda that had some monuments that she wanted to see and encouraged me to go check them out if I had the chance.

“Mom and her monuments.”  It’s a bit of an inside joke for my family.  Growing up, whenever we went on trips, it felt like we had to stop at every single plaque or monument to read about whatever obscure historical event happened on that corner of the world.

I quickly typed up a response, feeling pretty heroic.  “Don’t worry, Mom.  I got this,” I thought.  It just so happened that a trip to Ronda was already planned and paid for.  I just had to wait for that weekend to roll around.

When I Skyped with her and my dad a little bit later, it occurred to me that I should ask for some details about these monuments that she wanted to see.  After all, Spain is a pretty historical place.  Of all the things to see, why did she want me to go to a small place like Ronda, which I hadn’t even heard of before coming here?

It turns out that my mom’s life is going through some changes.  Other than moving to a new area, getting a new job, and having her last kid leave the nest, she is also going through the process of becoming Catholic.  While I was growing up, my family wasn’t particularly religious, so she had to explain to me that every person has a saint.  I knew a little bit about this through my classes because Catholicism is fairly prevalent in Spanish culture – for example, I had learned recently that people in Spain often celebrate their saint’s day with the same type of enthusiasm as they’d celebrate their birthday.

The saint my mom identified with the most was San Juan Bosco.  He appealed to her because during his life, he took young, homeless boys off the street and taught them skills they needed in order to find work and make something of their lives.  He did exactly what my mom wants to do: he improved the lives of youth through education and love.

Even though Bosco did most of his work in Italy, there is a house dedicated to him in Ronda.  It was donated to the society he founded and used for the care of people who were too sick and elderly to care for themselves.

When we arrived in Ronda and my friends started coming up with things for us to do, I insisted that before we explore the city or go hiking around the bridge, we find Bosco’s house.  I pointed out the location on the map and they agreed.  After we found the house, I felt that my quest had ended and my friends and I ran off to explore the trails.  As is typical of my friend group, we got distracted when we came to a small park, the entire group splitting apart to take pictures of different things.  There was a moment when I looked up from my camera and realized that I was more or less alone.  Starting in the direction my friends had run off to, I stopped suddenly.  There he was, right in front of me.

I found Bosco!

Big Ben and Parliament

I have always dreamed of visiting London; seeing Big Ben has always been towards the top of my bucket list. Last weekend, I finally got to make that dream a reality. Of course I wanted to see as much as possible in the three days that I was there, so I arrived with a long list of sights to see. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize how big London is, and I didn’t get to cross everything off my list during this trip. As soon as we walked outside of the train station, I instantly knew that I was in London. Everywhere I turned, I could see red double-decker buses and telephone booths, and as I listened in on conversations on the street, I could clearly hear British accents. I can’t describe how nice it was to finally be surrounded by English for a change!

When we arrived, the weather was a bit rainy, so we didn’t get to see many sights at first. Instead, we spent our time mostly indoors on Saturday, first at the world’s largest Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum. I had been to one before in Wisconsin Dells, but this one was undoubtedly the best of its kind. I personally love everything bizarre, so I had to go inside once I heard it was the world’s largest Ripley’s museum. They had all sorts of strange items, including a prehistoric shark’s set of teeth, an iron maiden, and shrunken heads. It may not have been worth the 22 pounds that we paid (even with a student discount), but it was a nice was to pass the time out of the rain.

Bre and I in front of Buckingham Palace

The highlight of my weekend was without a doubt seeing The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre. I am a huge fan of the story; I have read the original book and many other fanfiction novels about the Phantom, and I have seen the both original and most recent film countless times. I adore the soundtrack and can sing you any song you choose by heart and play it for you on the piano (not necessarily at the same time!). During the show, I couldn’t help but mouth the words along with the actors. I was completely blown away by the quality of the singers’ voices and the special effects. When the chandelier went up at the very beginning and the organ started wailing the main tune, I had a mini heart attack and had the widest grin on my face. I believe that the Phantom of the Opera is a very important part of London’s broadway history, and I am so happy that I had the chance to see my favorite musical on stage in the best place in the world to see it performed.

After two days of rain, the sky finally opened up on Sunday and made way for a unbelievably beautiful day. My friend and I spent the entire day walking around London sight seeing. Our first stop was Abbey Road, made famous by the Beatles’ album of the same name. There were many tourists there literally stopping traffic just to snap a photo like the Beatles, and of course I became one of them. We then headed toward the River Thames, where we passed Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminister Abbey, and a lot of other really cool buildings. I was really surprised by how many great tourist spots were all clustered together in the same area. It did make for an easy sight seeing tour, though! After that, we saw the Globe Theatre, Millenium Bridge, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and the London Bridge, just to name a few.

I was completely amazed at how much there is to see in London, and I’m sad I couldn’t see it all in three days. Now that I know how great London really is, I am itching to go back and take a closer look at all this city has to offer.

Millenium Bridge and St. Paul’s Cathedral

London Bridge

The first week the entire Central group went to Ireland, which was included in our tuition.  We spent half the time in Dublin and the other half in Galway on the far west coast of Ireland.  In Dublin we were able to see the city on foot on our own and through some walking tours led by Tecwyn, where we saw Trinity College, the Oscar Wilde memorial, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  Some of us also went on a tour with some local musicians who taught us about Irish music.  This was my favorite part of Dublin because I really felt immersed into the culture listening to the music.  Dublin was nice because it allowed us to see city life in Ireland, but I much preferred our second stop in Galway.  The countryside of Ireland is absolutely beautiful, so it really couldn’t get much better.  One of the days in Galway we took a ferry to the Aran Islands, where we were given bikes to ride for the day.  By the end of the day we figured we biked around 8 miles, so we were fairly tired, but the views were incredible.  It was an amazing day and definitely a highlight of the Ireland trip.  Another favorite of mine was the Cliffs of Moher, which are basically just giant cliffs with straight drop-offs to the ocean of about 1,000 feet.  It was beautiful and a bit frightening at the same time.

The whole group in Dublin!

Some of the girls at the Aran Islands

Close to the edge at the Cliffs of Moher!

Having fun at the cliffs. And on our first try!

The next 2 weeks I spent traveling with my friend Mallory.  Our first stop was London.  Here we saw all the major sights, including the London Eye, the Tower of London, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, etc.  We navigated our way through the tubes and barely ever got lost, which was a major plus.  On our final night we went to The Lion King at Lyceum Theatre, which was definitely my favorite part of London by far.  The show was absolutely incredible!  If you ever make it to London, it is a must see for sure.

Mallory and me with Big Ben

Mallory with the Royal Family at Hamleys Toy Store (biggest toy store in the world!)

Ready for The Lion King to start!

After London, our next stop was Paris.  I thought the sights in Paris were wonderful and good to see, but Paris itself is not my favorite city.  I had a great time there, but I didn’t think it was the most comfortable place to be.  Our first full day in Paris Mallory and I went to Disneyland.  It was a lot of fun and it was awesome to be able to ride some roller coasters!  Our favorite was Rock ‘n Roller Coaster.  We also enjoyed the light show on the castle at the end of the day.  The next few days we spent traveling around Paris, where we saw Notre Dame, the Louvre Museum, Montmartre, and of course the Eiffel Tower.  We also took a bike tour one of the nights that took us around Paris that included a night boat ride on the river and a trip to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle at night.  Seeing the Eiffel Tower at night was probably my favorite part of Paris!

Mallory and me at Disneyland

Eiffel Tower by day

Eiffel Tower by night

After Paris we took a long train ride to Bocholt, Germany, which is very close to the Netherlands and is where my friend Lukas lives.  We spent a few days at his house and he showed us around.  The first day there we spent it in Bocholt, where we just cycled around the town and enjoyed being away from the big city of Paris.  That night Lukas invited a lot of his friends over for a bonfire.  It was a lot of fun to see how students in a different culture get together.  It was basically the same type of get together we would have in the US, except they brought dough for us to cook bread over the fire.  I thought this was a bit strange to have at a bonfire, but it was actually quite delicious!  At midnight that night it became my birthday, and it was very exciting to have Lukas and his friends sing happy birthday to me in both English and German!  The next day we took a day trip to Amsterdam along with Lukas’ friend Miriam.  I loved seeing all the canals in Amsterdam, as they were very pretty.  I thought the most memorable part of the day was seeing the Anne Frank museum, which is the actual house Anne Frank and her family hid in during WWII.  Then our final day with Lukas we traveled to the town of Münster, where we met Lukas’ friend Julian, who is studying at the university there.  Julian showed us a bit of the university, and it is quite different compared to Central.  Just one example is that there are close to 40,000 students at the university in Münster; I cannot imagine what it would be like to go to school with that many students!  We also walked around the markets in the town and tried a few of the German foods.  One that we really enjoyed was currywurst, which was delicious!

Currywurst!

Lukas, me, Mallory, and Miriam in Amsterdam

Our next and final stop was Munich.  We didn’t have much time in Munich and by this point in our trip we were pretty tired, but we still enjoyed the city.  We saw the famous Glockenspiel and a lot of buildings that were involved in WWII.  We also spent a day at Dachau Concentration Camp, which was extremely powerful to see.  We’ve always learned about concentration camps in school, but you never realize exactly what they were like until you see one.  It was pretty heartbreaking.  After we spent the day here, we were definitely ready to be done with our traveling.  For our final meal in Munich we had döner, which is my new favorite food!  It is so delicious!  It was a great way to end the trip.

Glockenspiel in Munich

Delicious döner!

All-in-all, I feel extremely lucky to have travelled to all these places over break.  It was a great experience and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but I was definitely glad to be back in Bangor.  It was a strange feeling getting off the train and having it feel like “home.”  I guess that means I’m having a great experience studying abroad Wales.  Only about a month and a half left, and I can’t wait for the rest of the semester!

The past three weeks have been quite an adventure. With my last class before break being on Thursday, my Easter break began early Friday morning. Flying out of Bratislava Airport, Ashley and I flew to London Sutton and made our way to our first hostel in lovely London.  On our arrival in London where we spent one night, we visited the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, Windsor Castle, Kings Cross Station, and a true English pub! Onward into our adventure, we took the overnight bus to Edinburgh where we hiked to King Arthur’s Chair on Sainsbury Craig just after sunrise, visited Stirling Castle, Inverness (a city on the shores of Loch Ness), and Urquhart Castle, as well as toured Edinburgh. After Scotland, we took a train, a bus and a ferry to make it to Northern Ireland. The two nights that we spent in Belfast, before heading south to Ireland, allowed us the chance to take a walking tour of Belfast, and visit the northern coast, which included Giant’s Causeway, and Carrick-a-rede Bridge. My last seven days of break I spent in Ireland, divided between Dublin, Cork and Galway. And, I would have to say that Galway ended up being my favorite city of the whole trip! Anyways, after touring Ireland for a week, (seeing as much as I could) I traveled back to the place known as Vienna, via the Bratislava airport, and relaxed for the last few days of break before classes began again.

Last week, the first week of classes after Easter break, all of the craziness began again. Internship, university classes, and Austria in context. With spring coming this month, it is warming up and all things spring are showing up around the city. This weekend there was Steiermarkt at the Rathaus Platz, and the Vienna Marathon throughout much of the city. Coming up in the next few weeks Central College Abroad will be offering two Music workshops, and we will be taking an overnight trip to Salzburg. ‘til next time!

A 5:00 a.m. departure time made for a fast 8 hour trip to Palenque on Thursday morning. Along with some other fellow classmates, I strategized the night before and didn’t go to sleep until 3:30 in the morning. At first, this seems like a terrible idea but I was able to sleep the entire ride to Palenque and I felt refreshed and ready for a tour of the Mayan ruins at Palenque. Personally, these were my favorite ruins of the semester. The temples were literally built in the heart of the mountains and the jungles that cover them. The scenery was unbelievable and several times I caught myself in a haze pondering all my thoughts atop a massive temple overlooking jungle and mountains. Normally, this would not have been my idea of a good way to refresh after a long day of traveling, but the peacefulness and relaxation the scenery brought was breath-taking. I can speak for the entire group when I say it was a perfect way to end a long day and we were rewarded by having the rest of the night free to do whatever we pleased.

The spectacular view from atop a temple at Palenque

A temple surrounded by jungle at Palenque

The largest temple at Palenque

Friday called for another early morning, but with the satisfaction of Thursday we welcomed 6:00 a.m. with emotions of happiness and an eagerness to start our day. The schedule included more traveling, but we knew it would all be worth it. The ruins of Bonampak were interesting and unique in their own way; much like all of the previous ruins we have visited. The experience of traveling to the ruins of Yaxchilán was irreplaceable by any other means of transportation. We loaded two small boats and set out on our journey up the Usumacinta River through the tropical jungles. Along the way we saw many different species of birds, trees, plants, and my personal favorite; howler monkeys! The ruins were situated directly on the Usumacinta River and they made for a tremendous way to finish our Mayan ruin excursions for the semester.  We capped off our trip the best way possible by relaxing at a local restaurant; eating chicken, quesadillas and drinking thirst-quenching lemonade.

The view from Bonampak

The main temple at Bonampak

The Usumacinta River and one of our boats for the voyage

We finished our trip on Saturday by visiting a beautiful waterfall close to Palenque before we made the long expedition back to Merida. The waterfall was very peaceful and the scenery was once again nothing short of spectacular. It left everyone in the group feeling relaxed and ready to tackle our 8 hour trip back to Merida. The weekend excursion to Chiapas was a unique experience because we were finally able to experience a different side of Mexico. The majority of the group was pleased with our trip and a few even went as far to say it was their favorite of the semester!

The waterfall we saw on Saturday

Chateau de Chillon

When I arrived on Saturday morning, we left straight from the airport in Geneva, Switzerland to go see a castle in Montreux. I had never visited a castle before, so I was really excited to explore Châteaux de Chillon. The castle was built in the 12th century and is located on an island on Lake Geneva. It was made popular by Lord Byron’s poem The Prisoner of Chillon (1816) about a monk who was imprisoned there. Châteaux de Chillon is quite large, and it took a few hours to see the whole thing. My favorite parts of the castle were the dungeon, the chapel, and the weapons room. This castle is my cousins’ favorite to visit, and I would definitely recommend seeing it to anyone traveling to Switzerland.

I had no idea that I would be touring Switzerland for a whole day, so I was very happy to see Montreux and a completely different traditional Swiss town called Gruyères. This small town is home to the famous Gruyère cheese, which I tried for the first time and loved. My cousins believe that this town is the most beautiful they have ever seen, and I may have to agree with them. The town is situated a little higher into the mountains than Montreux, so I was amazed by how perfect the view of the mountains was. Gruyères is the perfect example of a postcard town. For dinner, we ate fondue and crème brûlée. This was another first for me, and I just fell in love with fondue. I’m already a big lover of cheese, so I’m not surprised that melting it just made me love it more.

Annecy

On Easter Sunday, we drove to a lovely town called Annecy, which is just south of Lake Geneva. Once again, I was shocked by the beautiful view in this town. Annecy is just North of Lake Annecy, and lining the lake are gorgeous mountains. To top it off, there is a castle downtown. What more could you possibly ask for? We spent the day taking in the sights around town and enjoying the little bit of sun while we could. Since it was Easter, I learned a little bit about how the French celebrate this holiday. Instead of the Easter bunny bringing eggs to the children during the night, the bells from Rome fly to France and bring them instead. How this is possible, I don’t know, but I like the creativity! Apparently French children also make nests outside of their homes for the bells to put the eggs in.

Another fun holiday that happened to be the next day was April Fool’s Day, and boy, do the French like celebrating that holiday. Somehow in Annecy, we stumbled upon a Poisson d’Avril festival. Basically on April 1st, the French (mainly children) go around secretly sticking paper fish on the backs of unsuspecting people. When the person finds the fish, they are called the Poisson d’Avril or the April Fish. Legend has it that in the 16th century, King Charles XIV changed the French calendar to the Gregorian calendar. Before this change, New Year’s Eve had been celebrated from March 25th to April 1st according to the Roman calendar. Those who hadn’t heard about the change and continued to celebrate New Year’s on April 1st were made fun of and called April Fish. I think this legend is hilarious, and I wish we celebrated this in the U.S. At the festival, they gave out fish stickers, and we had fun watching children slyly stick them on adults’ backs.

My cousins and I in the Alps

On my final day with my cousins, they took me to a town called Les Houches in the French Alps to see the mountains a little closer. We put on our snow shoes and hiked along the ski trails for hours. It was surprisingly warm up in the Alps because of the direct sunlight and the reflection off of the snow, and I ended up with a sunburn on my hands and the bottom half of my face. One thing that I’ll never forget is how we climbed a summit of a mountain. Although I’m not that great with heights and had to inch my way both up and down, I can proudly say that I’ve climbed a mountain. (Maybe not all the way up by myself, but I still climbed the summit of a mountain!) Before I went to the Alps, I thought that I had already seen some amazing sights that weekend. It wasn’t until I got up the mountain and looked up at Mont Blanc (the highest mountain in Europe and the 11th tallest in the world) that I knew I had seen something extraordinary. I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful the view was from the top of that mountain, and I know that I’ll remember that moment for the rest of my life. The mountains have absolutely captured my attention, and I’m already dying to return as soon as possible.

I had such a wonderful time with my cousins Easter weekend. I experienced so many new and exciting things, and I’m very grateful that I was able to spend Easter with my family. I can’t wait for my next visit to Challex and the Alps! Maybe next time I’ll have the nerve to try my hand at skiing.

French Alps

Gruyères

Our view of the Spring Equinox

Picture perfect Spring Equinox

With the bitter disapointment of Thursday behind us our group set out for the gorgeous cenotes of Cuzuma. In store was three of the best cenotes we have seen this semester. Actually getting to the cenotes is an adventure in itself. In groups of four we boarded little carts that would be pulled by horses on small train tracks deep into the forest. With the knowledge of our experienced leader, Valerie, we decided it was best to visit the last cenote first in order to avoid the masses of tourists. Each cenote was spectacularly gorgeous in their own unique way. The clear blue waters and fascinating rock structures made for an unforgettable experience. The majority of what we have seen and done this semester can be hard to put into words in order for one to have a full understanding of the natural beauty. I believe pictures can create the best image of what our actual encounters have been like, so here are a few pictures of the three cenotes we visited on Friday.

Our transportation to each cenote

Looking down into the first cenote

Inside the first cenote

The second cenote

The last cenote of the day