First 10 day break: Edinburgh, Dublin, Stockholm and Amsterdam!!

Here goes the start of my first 10 day break! We flew out of Milan to Edinburgh on early Saturday morning. Getting to Milan’s airport was a headache. Peoplesaid that they found a way to get there for free, using our rail pass, something that no one has found a way to do before. We usually have to take a bus that costs 35 franc one way or 60 for round trip, something that no one wants to pay for. Well the night before we’re supposed to leave at like 10:30-11ish I was talking to the woman at the main desk at where we live told me that this train that we were planning on taking was a horrible idea. Since it was really cold and snowy the local trains probably would not be running, especially at 5:30 in the morning when we were going to get on the train. By this point a lot of people were asleep and I realized that we (20 of us) had no way of getting to the airport because 20 of us could not show up at the bus in the morning expecting them to haveroom for all of us. One of our professors, Julien, found out about this dilemma and helped me resolve it. He got on the phone with the bus company and arranged for a big bus for all of us but by the time that we got this all sorted out it was 12:30 and most people were asleep. I needed to inform everyone on what the new plan was as well as get cash from them all. This burden was placed on me but without this we would have all missed our flights.

We all get on the plane and it was the scariest flight of my life. There was so much turbulence that I felt like I was in the scene from LOST where the plane went down. There was this one woman who was screaming while all the turbulence going on and looking back on it, it was quite humorous.

We arrive in Edinburgh and I instantly fell in love with the city. Little did we know though, that the day we arrived was the day of the huge Scotland vs. England rugby game. There were people every where getting ready for the big game- tons of guys in kilts walking towards the stadium. This actually worked in our favor because the other side of town was empty for us to do sight seeing. We really booked it around Edinburgh so we could see everything. My favorite parts were going up to the huge castle and then going to this park where the ‘second Parthenon’ was supposed to be built. Apparently Edinburgh was the Athens of the north so they started to build another Parthenon but soon realized that they had no money so it was only partially completed. But from this area the views of Edinburgh and the landscape were breath-taking! As game time approached, we went to a bar to watch the game with all the locals! Sadly, Scotland lost but none of us really knew anything about rugby anyways. While talking to some locals we told them how we were going to Dublin the next day and they thought we were following the rugby tournament because apparently the next game in

the tournament was in Dublin where Ireland was playing Wales. This gave us a little piece of mind on why the hostels were so booked in these two places for our stay!

I absolutely fell in love with Edinburgh and want to eventually move there. Everything about the city was wonderful. The people were so friendly, the buildings and streets were so charming and within the city it felt very welcoming. I wish we got to spend more time in Edinburgh, and I already plan on going back as soon as I can! It was a good thing I had a ticket booked out of Scotland because I did not want to leave!

In the morning we took a very short flight, 40 mins, to Dublin. We got into Dublin and I have to say I was not immediately impressed. It felt like just another big city because we got off the bus on the main street. My opinion did change though. Our hostel was a bit of a walk away but it was so worth it! It was an amazing place- the lobby was actually 3 floors, all of lounges, big TVs and a bar area! The room was also great- so clean and spacious! We walked around Dublin on our own that day and that night was both the rugby match and the super bowl! We knew it was going to be a late night so we rested up a bit because the super bowl did not even start until 11:30 their time! Ireland lost and my patriots lost so sports-wise, it was not a great day!

The next morning we went on the walking tour of Dublin! It was so awesome because we had a great tour guide who knew everything about Dublin so we got to learn all about the history of the city! My favorite part was probably walking through the Trinity College campus. It was so cool how it was in the heart of the city but once you walked through the campus walls, it was like the city was miles away! We also went to this really cool museum where there are preserved bodies from hundreds of years ago. They were in these bogs that the alkaline levels were so neutral that it allowed the bones, hair and nails to stay intact! We had the most amazing dinner that night. Luckily, we past this small restaurant that looked really cool so we decided to eat there. We all had one of the best dinners of our lives!

Next we made our way up to Sweden! Stockholm was a city that I really did not know anything about nor had an idea of what to expect. The beauty of it pleasantly surprised me! Our hostel was in a very convenient location, it was right along a very large pedestrian street. The street was lit up at night with tons of Christmas lights and such, which made it fun to just walk along! My favorite part about Stockholm was walking in the old downtown part.It was narrow, cobblestone streets that were just lined with various little shops and restaurants. Megan, Lindsey and I went into this small coffee shop to escape the cold and get something warm to drink. Megan and I ordered chai lattes and we were served them in these huge bowls. Never in my life have I had a chai that was so good!

We went to the Vasa museum where there is the huge vasa ship that was discovered in the waters right by Stockholm dating back hundreds of years yet the ship was still in perfect condition. Now the ship is in this museum and it is just surreal. You can’t appreciate how big this ship is unless you are standing right next to it. They also had specialists do facial reconstruction on the bones that were discovered so they could see what the people who were on the vasa looked like. It was all so impressive and overwhelming because it was hard to believe how this ship was really hundreds of years old and I was standing right in front of it. The only thing I did not like about Sweden was that the people there were the most unfriendly towards tourists that we have seen so far.

Our last stop of this crazy trip was Amsterdam. It was so cool to see it when we did because all the canals were frozen over, something that has not happened in over 20 years! Everyone was ice skating down them or just walking on them to avoid walking on the streets because the streets there are crazy! There are cars, busses, trams, and the thousand bike riders as well as pedestrians walking around. Amsterdam was another place that I didn’t really know what to expect. The architecture there and how the whole city is set up around the canals was so cool. Going to the Anne Frank house was probably one of my favorite things I did this break. It was so interesting to walk through it and actually be in the place where I have learned about for years.

It was a weird transition going from the Anne Frank house to the Heineken factory. But the Heineken Experience was definitely worth it! It was really interesting to learn how beer was made and the history of Heineken (as well as tasting some of the beer J ) My first souvenir that I brought on this entire trip was this customized Heineken bottle! It was sad to see this trip come to an end but by the time that I got back to Lugano I was so happy to see my bed and get a nice 13 hour nights sleep J