Eurotour

From June 3rd-17th I was traveling (by bus) around Europe. The trip was organized by Rotary, and all 40 Rotary Netherlands exchange students participated. As a group we visited Berlin, Krakow, Vienna, Lido di Jesolo, Venice, Charmonix, Disney Land Paris, and Paris proper. In some cities we stayed only one night, in others two or three. It was an amazing experience, not only seeing amazing things, but also bonding with the other exchange students.

Day 0: Graduation

The day before we left all of the exchange students met in Lelystad for a Rotary graduation ceremony/ShelterBox fundraiser. The students performed a cultural talent show with songs and dances from their home countries. It was a very nice night, much nicer than I anticipated.

Afterwards I went to a party with just my Dutch friends, saying goodbye before I left on my two week trip.

Day 1: Departure

It was only an 8 hour bus ride to Berlin. We only had one bus driver which meant we had to stop for half an hour every two hours; legally. The first thing we saw in Berlin was a piece of the wall, which seemed fitting. We settled into our rooms (two people per room. Some days we were 10 in a room, others 4 or 6) and went for a walk along the river. We went out every single night during Eurotour, which meant no one had a full night's sleep for two weeks.

Day 2: Berlin

We started our time in Berlin with a bus tour, visiting old check points between the East and West. Something I found interesting was the Reconciliation Church. Now destroyed, the Reconciliation Church was walled in between the two sides and made inaccessible. It became a symbol of Berlin's division. Other interesting things we saw include Checkpoint Charlie, and the parking lot that now covers Hitler's suicide bunker.

In the afternoon we had free time. I went with a group to visit the East Side Gallery, the Holocaust Memorial, and some old churches. Walking around it was interesting to look at the architecture and how they had chosen to rebuild the city after the war.

We ended the day with a visit to the Reichstag building, the German house of government which offers tremendous views of the city. We had a traditional German dinner by a local restaurant. We would eats traditional food in every city, and every hostel provided breakfast (which I would also use as a nice take-a-way lunch). We spent the night by the river again.

Checkpoint Charlie

Berlin Wall - East Side Gallery

Reichstag

Holocaust Memorial

Group picture outside one of the city gates

Day 3: Drive to Krakow

Poland has a special place in my heart because one of my best friends (a former exchange student herself) is from and lives there. I was so grateful that Poland was one of our longest stops on the tour, because it meant I got to spend time with her.

This was my second time in Poland (the first being last year when I went to visit my friend), so I saw many of the same things. However, I was lucky enough to see a few new things as well. For example, we revisited the castle of Krakow, but this time I was able to take a tour inside. I learned that Polish kings were always elected, and that heredity was not considered at all. I also learned that people used to be so afraid of dying while asleep that they would sleep sitting up, which is why beds used to be so much shorter.

Day 4: Krakow/Auschwitz-Birkenau

The day started with free time, which I spent completely with my friend. In every city we visited there were students meeting up with friends, usually other old or new exchange students.

In the afternoon we visited Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau. I had seen the former but not the latter. We were split into smaller groups and given a guided tour. It was much more powerful to have everything spoken to you, rather than reading it yourself. I was very proud of my group, which was very respectful. In Birkenau we walked the same path that prisoners would take from the train cars to the gas chambers. It was incredibly powerful. The guides were constantly emphasizing how possible it was for such a tragedy to happen again, and how it was our job was the youth to keep an eye out for each other and the direction of the world. We had wonderful guides the entire trip, and this was no exception.

We ended the night with dinner in the Jewish neighborhood of Krakow, accompanied by traditional Jewish music. We stayed out by the river again, picking us up out of our somber mood.

Day 5: Krakow/Salt Mines

The morning was free time once again, which I again spent with my friend. We also visited a museum of 19th Century polish art. Afterwards I said goodbye to my friend and we headed to the salt mines. I had already seen the mines, which is why I was glad we got the speed tour this time. Even still, the mines were just as beautiful this year as last year, and our guide was hilarious.

Krakow Castle

Art museum tour

Church in Salt Mine

Day 6: Drive to Vienna

When we got to Vienna we had time to walk around the market and tour one of the smaller palaces before dinner. I was completely surprised by Vienna. The architecture there is absolutely stunning. I couldn't get enough of it.

Day 7: Bike Tour Vienna

We took a wonderful bike tour during our last day in Vienna. Again, we had a wonderful guide. We were split into smaller groups and given really sturdy mountain bikes. The brakes were incredibly sensitive. That meant that people were constantly running into each other as someone in front would brake (always more abruptly than intended), startling the person behind them.

I fell victim to this a bit harder than my fellow students. It had gotten cloudy and windy and I had placed my sunglasses on top of my head. We were going down a hill when the wind picked up. My sunglasses fell off. I (successfully) grabbed them with my right hand. As this happened the person ahead of me braked. I instinctively braked too. However, my right hand was still in the air. The result was me trying to brake with only the front tire while speeding down a hill on a bike with sensitive brakes. I 180ed over my bike, with my bike actually landing on top of me. My knee bled a lot and dyed my white sock pink. I had a large bruise on my upper thigh from where my shorts tried to go in an opposite direction from my leg. And I landed full force on my right hand. Somehow my sunglasses escaped unscathed. I wore my hand in a brace for the rest of that day and in a sling for three days after. I am lucky that I didn't break it. Still, it didn't take away from the beauty of Vienna. Plus, I got a free pity-lunch from the Rotarians.

The Carnage

Believe it or not the wrist only really hurt a bit the first day, and then the second. My knee only hurt swimming in the salt waters of Italy 

My leg a week later in Charmonix

Day 8: Beach Day-Lido di Jesolo

We drove through the night to Italy (after stopping at an amusement park in Vienna). We stayed at an absolutely wonderful little Hotel: Hotel da Bepi. I highly recommend it, the people were very nice. We went straight to the beach and immediately fell asleep in the sand. I was one of the only students that wasn't sunburnt the whole trip! We swam and ate pizza and gelato and toured the small town. They were having an American-Western themed festival. People were learning square dancing and selling American goods such as: cowboy boots, cowboy hats, bandanas, American flags, confederate flags, Wrangler and Coca-Cola shirts, dream catchers, jeans, etc. It was a fun time and the people were very nice. I also learned that Italian ibuprofen is sugar-coated like a tic-tac. 

Day 9: Venice

We took a boat from Lido di Jesolo to center-city Venice. The whole day was free time except for our scheduled gondola ride. Exploring the small (crowded) streets of Venice was beautiful. I visited a small museum exhibition in an old church about the history of making string instruments. But generally I just walked around, attempting to get lost on the small paths.

When we got back we had time to go back to the beach. We ended our (short) time in Italy perfectly.

Day 10: Drive to Charmonix

It was raining when we got to the adventure-sport village of Charmonix. We got a walking tour of the village, where we learned some history of the village. The 4 hotels of the town had very large balconies. This is because tourism began when Charmonix was known for it's fresh mountain air, not it's extreme sports. Balconies were made large enough to push the beds out onto, so that guests and patients with lung ailments could sleep outside. The town's local population of 14,000 can blow up to 120,000 during peak season. The sports are so extreme that they average 30 accidental deaths every summer and 10 every winter. The town was held as Nazi headquarters during WWII. They also have a large glacier which is receding at an alarmingly fast rate. 

Day 11: Charmonix

We went on a hike through the mountains. Originally half of us were going to go climbing, but the rain prevented it. I was glad since my hurt arm prevented climbing anyway. After our two hour hike we took a train up the mountain to visit the glacier and ice caves. It was shocking to see how drastically the glacier had fallen in recent years.

In Charmonix everything closes pretty early, so instead of going out we hung out in front of the hostel. I played badminton with a group of friends, who all switched to their left hands with me so that we'd be evenly matched. I thought that was really sweet.

A lot of the exchange students hadn't seen snow before, or had only seen it once earlier in the Netherlands

Inside the ice caves carved into the glacier

 Day 12: Drive to Disney Land Paris

When we got to our hotel we only had time to have dinner and visit the Disney Village (all shops). Still, it got us plenty excited for Disney Land and Disney Studios the next day.

Day 13: Disney Studios/Disney Land 

This was my first ever Disney experience. I was over the moon. I fell in with a group of exchange students that I don't usually hang out with and we had an amazing time. Disney Land Paris is relatively small, so we were able to do the whole park. 

Highlights:

In Disney Land Studios they had a Twilight Zone themed ride. It's like a haunted house/elevator drop ride combo. Basically everything was in French. Or dialogue would alternate French and English.

We walked through the Toy Story themed park (where everything is huge) to get to the Ratatouille ride. In that ride you wear 3D glasses and see everything from the perspective of a rat as the people in the kitchen try to catch you. It was really cute and a lot of fun.

My favorite ride in Disney Land was the Pirates of the Caribbean roller coaster. It had so much detail. All of the rides did. Every ride even had it's own uniform. We saw a lot of people that really seemed to enjoy their jobs.

There was also a parade, where I was able to see almost all of the Disney princesses. I was glad to see them before I was older than all of them. That's a pretty silly thing to find important, but I was glad anyway. 

Overall everything was incredibly detailed and I had an amazing time. It was kind of a weird choice for a Eurotour stop, but I wouldn't have changed it for anything.

Day 14: Paris

We took the bus to Paris and started the day with a two hour bus tour. It wasn't really the best choice because we were using a normal bus that made it a bit difficult to see everything our guide was talking about. Still, it helped us get a feel for the city. After lunch in the beautiful Luxembourg gardens we had free time. Following my dad's recommendation I visited the Musée d'Orsay (I went to the Louvre once when I was small, and didn't want to spend my whole day visiting the world's largest art museum). The building of Musée d'Orsay is beautiful enough on its own. The had a large impressionist exhibition, as well as an architecture exhibit in three parts: general art in architecture, a large Art Nouveau section, and a history of Paris's architecture. I went alone because no one else was in the mood for a museum. We were all given three metro passes so I just went. And after spending a couple hours in the museum I just explored. I didn't really know where I was going, so I just took the above ground trains. When I saw something interesting, I would get off at the next stop. It worked pretty well and I was glad to have a bit of alone time after two weeks of being in groups. I could really go at my own pace.

We met up again for dinner and for a boat tour. We saw the same buildings on the boat tour as the bus tour, but we also got a lovely view of the Eiffel tower lit up at night. We were absolutely wiped by the time we got back to the hotel.

Musée d'Orsay

The museum had a wonderful mini-collection of cardboard opera set models from the 1800s

Day 15: Departure to the Netherlands

There were a lot of tears on the way back. Everyone was sad that the trip was over and that we might never see each other again. At the same time, everyone was glad to be going "home" again. It was a really tiring couple of weeks. Basically everyone decided to take off school the next day, even though we were all home before dinner.  

Now I only have a couple weeks left before I leave. Less than that really. I am hoping to just sit back and enjoy the time I have left, spending as much time as I can with my Dutch friends and family. I'm excited for going home, but I don't really want to leave either. A paradox that I think a lot of the exchange students are feeling right now.

I'll see you all in a couple weeks ; )