#summiteurope2015

[containinginfinity]

As of today, I have officially been home for longer than I was abroad, and I'm still reeling from it all. Europe was everything I hoped it would be and more. I love this picture from Budapest because I think about how @kelseymarie0273 almost didn't let me get up there to take it, and @phoenixjray told me it looked like a senior portrait. I'm thankful for y'all (and everyone else from #summiteurope2015) @summitglobaledu

[europeandreamin2015]

Budapest, Day 5 (Day 50) - Last Day

This morning we all woke up and had to go take our final exams, which was about as much fun as you would expect. After that we kind of wandered around, and ended up getting food at an all day breakfast place, where I wanted a ham and cheese omelet and they were out of ham?? So I got what they called the “American Breakfast” instead

From there we did more wandering and finally returned to the hotel, where I considered packing but didn’t.

At 7:30 we all met downstairs and went out to dinner together, where Brian was nice enough to buy some appetizers for the table and a drink for everybody. For real food Kelsey and I split a fish and chips, and once again I forgot to take a picture until halfway through but have a picture anyway

Then at the end we all took turns going around the table and speaking a few words to the group, just about how much fun we’ve had, how much we’ll miss everybody, etc, and it was in general just an overwhelming experience of “this is really it, it’s really coming to an end”.

From there we all went to a 360 bar, and basically it’s just at the top of a tall building so you get a 360 degree view of Budapest. It was already 11 or 12 by the time we got there, so the view wasn’t the best it could have been because it was so dark, but it was still good. It was good having a last hurrah and taking pictures and generally just soaking it all in.

When we finally got back to the hotel there was lots of hugs and general “are we really leaving? Is this really it?” By then it was 1am and Kelsey came back to my room to help me pack, which surprisingly was not nearly as difficult as I had feared it would be. I finished at around 2am, Kelsey left, I slept for an hour, then woke up and hopped on the shuttle to the airport.

Once again there was some drama about the expiration date of my passport, but thankfully it also ended in them letting me through because they felt bad for me.

The flight from Budapest to Barcelona was on a plane with the smallest leg room I have ever seen, even for a regular seat. It was probably comparable to the terrible bus we took from Prague to Budapest, and I tried to get some sleep but it didn’t work out very well.

All in all it took a full 24 hours to arrive home, BUD -> BCN -> CLT -> RSW, and I finally arrived to my house at midnight, extremely tired from lack of sleep but grateful. I will write a sappy reflection post at a later date.

[europeandreamin2015]

Prague, Day 8 (Day 41)

This morning nobody set an alarm, but we all got up around 9:30 or 10 pretty much. Mostly we just sat around for the morning, and eventually Kelsey left for class. I made myself some pasta for lunch, and at some point after that I left and did some shopping very close to our apartment, and I actually got a bracelet, a jean jacket, and a half sleeve tshirt. I still have yet to buy a tourist tshirt, but it’s still on my list.

Once Kelsey got back we had dinner, I made myself burritos and Kelsey had some pasta, and then we received an invitation from the girls in our program in the apartment upstairs to go out with them, so we went. I had a really nice time talking to Megan, Maggie, Eliza, Taylor, Phoenix, Kelsey, and Haley, and apparently they really like my blog? It’s so funny to me to hear that people on this trip are reading it, mostly because I’m writing it for the people back home and they are more or less experiencing it with me, but it’s nice to hear that they like it too. Here is a friendly reminder that your super power is the ability to change the way other people are feeling with just your words, and also those girls made my day better.

We had been planning on seeing the John Lennon wall while it was still light out, and after we left the other girls the sun had already set but we went to see the wall anyway. We took some pictures, but we’re planning on returning tomorrow and I think those pictures will probably turn out better. We used flash and there were some street lights but those pictures are still pretty questionable.

As I was sitting down to write this post, Maike invited me, Kelsey, and Phoenix out again because they found a place that had some awesome dancing. Phoenix decided she was done for the night, but I quick changed back into my dress (out of my pjs) and off we went.

It was definitely much more crowded than other places we had seen, but it was also very strange. Some guys who were distinctly shorter than me kept trying to dance with me, and it was just ???? If you’re approaching me on a crowded dance floor, obviously you know nothing about me and are just doing it for the shallow reason of because you think I’m cute. That’s obviously the way things work in such places, but do you not think that if you are a solid 3-5 inches shorter than me that I will also be just as shallow as you and decide I don’t want to talk to you because you don’t meet the height requirements? In my daily life it’s not that big of a deal, but on a crowded dance floor? Really??

There was a guy who was at least as tall as me who tried to dance with me, but it was very loud and his accent was very thick, so I had no idea what he was trying to say most of the time and altogether gave up on the idea rather quickly. On the plus side, the only guy left in our program, Andy, was also there, and he actually did a pretty good job of fending off unwanted creeps, without even being asked, which was an unexpected plus from him.

We finally left around 2:45, very tired. I figured I would finish this post and update you on the fact that I supposedly walked 6+ miles in a combination of yesterday and today (since midnight), but a lot of today’s must have been from my phone swinging while dancing or something, because I don’t think I’ve actually walked the 2 miles it claims I have since midnight.

Altogether it was a good night, and I’m ultimately pretty happy with the way it turned out. We have a professional visit tomorrow afternoon, which should hopefully be good.

[europeandreamin2015]

Prague, Day 6 (Day 39)

Today we woke up relatively early and went on a walking tour of the Old Town and Jewish Quarter of Prague. Our guide was really great, and Prague itself has so much history it made for a nice time.

Once the tour was over we returned to the apartment and most of us took a nap, we were just so exhausted.

Kelsey and I had our Thai massages at 4, and it was quite the experience. First of all, Kelsey said that in her prior experiences they would give you a huge tshirt and huge pants to change into so that you would be comfortable and they wouldn’t actually be touching you. This place only provided us with a tshirt, and said we were supposed to be in our underwear. That was a little sketch, but we were in the room together so it made it a bit better. It turns out that they had towels they put over your legs instead of pants, which worked out fine, it was just strange.

Also, not all of their moves were exactly relaxing, some of them actively hurt. We more or less attributed it to the fact that our muscles were probably extra sore from all of our traveling and such, and it seemed to get a little bit better every time they did it, as though the muscles were loosening a bit, but we couldn’t be sure that they weren’t just bad at it. What was extra strange was that in places where I knew there was most likely a knot (certain places on my back/shoulders), and I was sure that with their expertise they would know it was a knot, they didn’t spend any additional time trying to get it out. They massaged it as much as they did any place, but you’d think they would have happier customers if they made sure to get the knots out instead of massaging places that might not exactly need it?

To top it all off, we were pretty sure we didn’t get the full hour that we paid for. We weren’t sure exactly what time we got there, it might have been 3:50 or something, but then we had to change our shoes and clothes, and then wait a few minutes for the masseuses to come in, so it was probably at least 4 o’clock by the time they actually started, and they finished at 4:45. It’s not that big of a deal, except we paid for an hour? Of course we didn’t know for sure when they started so didn’t say anything about it, but we were awfully suspicious, especially since they could have used that time to get out knots or something?

After the massage Kelsey and I went to the grocery store where we got more miscellaneous items, then we came home and Kelsey made pasta, which was good.

After that we more or less just hung out around here and listened to more Beyonce before going to bed around 11:30.

We walked 4 miles today, and only half of it was the walking tour, which was interesting.

[europeandreamin2015]

Prague, Day 5 (Day 38)

Since we stayed out so late last night, I didn’t wake up until around 12:30, and was still groggy. Eventually the other roommates woke up and Phoenix, Kelsey, and I went out for lunch at a bistro place nearby. It was very quaint and I got pasta and some bread for only about $3, and of course was starving and proceeded to eat it so quickly I forgot to take a picture. It was a red sauce with cheese on top - pretty standard.

It was also a relatively small portion, so I was still hungry, and maybe 30 minutes later as we were leaving I got some more pasta to go, for only about $2.25 or something, and I ate it once we got back to the apartment.

After that we more or less all took a nap, still exhausted from last night. We eventually woke up, and I made burritos for Kelsey and I, which were good once again. There was a goodbye dinner planned for one of our professors who is flying out tomorrow, but by the time we went to leave it was raining and we didn’t really know where we were going so we decided against it and ended up getting some ice cream at a nearby place and just called it done.

Tomorrow we’re going to do a walking tour in the morning which should be fun, then Kelsey and I both scheduled a Thai massage at a place here in the afternoon. She’s obsessed with massages and apparently these are only 16% the cost of what they are at home, and I’m feeling like I could use a massage, so we’re gonna go for it and see how it is.

Today I walked nearly 3 miles, which is a little bit surprising considering how much I slept but I’ll take it.

[europeandreamin2015]

Prague, Day 2 (Day 35)

Last night I actually got a solid consecutive 8 or 9 hours of sleep, and woke up with a full 2 hours to get ready for my day, which just leads to a happy Katherine.

This morning I was a real adult and stuff and made scrambled eggs, along with yogurt and a banana. Instead of class today we had a professional visit to Skoda, which is apparently a very successful car company but does not ship to the US so it wasn’t very interesting for us, especially since we just saw a BMW motorcycle plant in Berlin. This was another location where no pictures were allowed, so I have none.

This visit kept us out all day basically, from noon to 6. After the visit Phoenix and I went to a mall a ways away (but very accessible by metro) in order for her to get hand weights to use to work out. When we returned she immediately worked out and I made dinner, which was burritos. It was really not difficult since all I had to do was brown ground beef, but I did it and it was good, which was my adulting success of the day.

After that we basically just hung around, class tomorrow at 8:30am.

I only walked 2 miles today, which is interesting, but we took a bus to the visit, and even once we were there we still took the bus to all of the different locations in the plant, which is nice but explains the low number.