Hi! We're two wandering college students abroad. Here we'll share all our little tips and tricks for travelling the world alone and with people, and share our wacky adventures!
I lost my phone the night before I was supposed to take the plane out to Frankfurt. The early flight meant I didn’t have a chance to thoroughly look for it before heading out, and I didn’t want to bring my laptop with me in my day trip bag, seeing as I was going to be carrying it around all day. So, at 4 am, I headed to the airport with a small notebook filled with flight information and train numbers and times to/from the airport, and relied on the fact that my dad, who I was meeting there, was probably a little more organized and had his phone on him.
Now if you know Frankfurt, you’re probably asking yourself: “Of all the German cities, why THIS ONE?” If, like me, you’ve never been to Frankfurt, this seems like a perfectly reasonable city choice. Not as popular as Berlin, but sure, it’s one of the major German cities, it has to have something interesting to see. Right? Well, kind of. It has a couple of interesting things, but after a half day of running around the place, you’ve pretty much seen everything. For fun, I’ll go ahead and list them here:
The old city - pictured above - is very cute, but after the brutal bombings the city suffered in the world wars, a large majority of it had to be reconstructed. I still think it’s quaint, some reconstructions are better than others, and some people took the liberty of making modern interpretations of the old houses, which I thought was fun. As an architecture student I understand that most European architecture is built around restoration and renovation, and there’s a lot of value to working with the constraints of context. But my dad was very upset that it wasn’t real, and that sentiment seemed to follow him through the rest of the day, as he scrutinized every building for any sign that it might not be as old as advertised. Definitely not for everyone.
Bartolomeu’s Cathedral - Again, ok for your average architecture nerd, not great for someone who wants to see something “real”. As my eloquent father pointed out, the exterior looks older than the interior. It’s true, the inside is very simple in comparison to the more crafted exterior, and the “exposed brick” is painted on. My guess is that what was inside - statues, paintings, etc - has been redistributed to other museums or sold for money. But the basic layout and structure is still there. Your friend the historical architecture nerd can still have fun here.
The Goethe House - This one takes an hour or two. I would definitely say if you head to Frankfurt you should go there. It’s one of the few things my dad didn’t hate, and it gives a glimpse of what life was like living in this city a while back. For rich people, anyways. It’s a lot more informational than the Cathedral of the old city, mostly because it actually has information about the place written in languages other than German.
There’s also a fun bridge and a neo-gothic cathedral on the other side of the river. And, a surprising twist, the mayor’s office is part of the relatively untouched old buildings. It’s not in the guidebooks, but you can just walk in and no one will stop you. I wouldn’t spend too much time there or bother too many people - this IS a functioning government facility (duh), but you can take some pictures and admire the courtyard views. It’s really quite pretty.
All of this took us about half a day. The good news, though, is that Frankfurt is actually a pretty great home base for day trips in the area. The train systems are good, albeit confusing if you don’t know German, and it’s easy to get to places around the area. We spent day 2 in Heidelberg.
Hello! I am finally contributing to this blog! I say finally because I’ve been telling Ophelie that I’d write something for weeks now. So anyways, hiya! I say “hiya” because that is how people say “hi” here. I hope to muster up the courage to say “hiya” back to someone at least one time before I leave but we will see...
Edinburgh is a magical city full of twists and turns; it is just as easy to orient yourself as it is to get lost––I have taken this duality to heart and use it to reassure myself both geographically and metaphorically.
I will be candid: studying abroad is not easy. It feels right to bring this up because just as I’ve adventured, befriended, and laughed, I’ve also cried, doubted, and wallowed.
Now, nestled in October, I’ve found that my sense of home here grows stronger as it continues to steep. I feel like describing some of my favorite places so far will be easier than trying to backtrack through everything I’ve done. So, here is a short, incomplete list of some of my favorite Edinburgh adventures:
The above picture is of Arthur’s Seat. Arthur’s Seat is a hiiiiike. I say “hiiiike” because it is very steep. The view though, is absolutely worth it. From Arthur’s Seat you can see how the hills roll on around Edinburgh, and you can see the sea and how it murkily glitters. Hiking Arthur’s Seat made me feel like a hobbit in the best way possible.
This picture is of a path by the castle in Old Edinburgh. Under the castle, there is a street where markets used to be held. I love to walk around in the Grassmarket area because it makes me feel like a castle underling scurrying around beneath the looming castle. If you are a fan of BBC’s Merlin, you will understand why this sensation brings me joy. I have yet to be inside the castle however, lying out on the lawn beneath it (this is what the first picture is of), and walking along the path are very grounding activities.
Lighthouse Books is pictured above. Lighthouse Books is Edinburgh’s “radical bookshop,” and they truly live up to that description. The bookstore prioritizes intersectionality and features an amazing array of authors, topics, and genres. I spend a lot of time in Lighthouse Books.
The last place for today that I’ll mention is Maison de Moggy. If you don’t speak/understand French (like me) it means: House of Cats! It is indeed, a house full of cats, well, a cafe full of cats. It is unbelievably soothing to go to the Maison de Moggy and just be amongst some very sleepy cats. I’ve been here twice already and I fully intend on returning.
Well, I think this will be all for today! Overlook any typos, grammar mistakes, etc...they were all artfully intentional ;). Hope you’ve enjoyed this intro into my experience in Edinburgh! I am so excited to write more!
On the 24th of September I woke up to the sounds of gunshots resonating through my flat. I knew this was the official day for la Mercé, a holiday in Barcelona, and they’d already been celebrating for three days prior, so I assumed something interesting was going down. A little bit curious but still very tired, I lay there for a second to see if I could figure out what was going on without getting up. Hannah mumbled something about sleep and shoved her pillow over her head.
When I finally made up my mind to go investigate, I found a circle of people dressed in traditional outfits and shooting glitter from guns, and a group of groggy spectators with ear plugs surrounding them. The gunmen had a whole routine, shooting in various patterns and at different rythms.
La Mercé is essentially a long weekend with programmed and unprogrammed celebrations throughout the city, all to celebrate the Virgin of la Mercé, the co-patron saint of Barcelona. The day itself starts off with a giants parade, headed in a loop down La Rambla and through the plaza de Sant Jaume. Generally loved by children, it’s a cheery and colorful parade which features “giants,” or large figures carried by hidden people. These giants are usually a representation of someone or something important to the city of Barcelona. This year I saw a series of Gaudi inspired giants, a soccer coach, and a series of different professions represented by figures in dated clothing.
This parade happens right before the start of the castellers performance (pictured above). In this traditional sport, teams of castellers show off their skills, namely, their ability to make human towers. Starting with a strong base, towers will rise as high as they dare, in various configurations, and then deconstruct. Associated bands will play inspirational music once the tower hits its third floor. These towers very rarely fall in a way that injures anyone, and children often take part in the sport, usually making up the top couple of floors. Originally an all-male activity, it now includes women.
This traditional Catalan sport is very much a representation of regional values: it shows off teamwork and resilience. It’s because of these strong ties and the associated pride that Hannah and I found ourselves enjoying the performance in the midst of proud cheers for Catalan independence, under a Catalan independence flag.
One of the most anticipated activities of La Mercé, however, is the correfoc. To the sound of drums and amongst devils, it seems that the entirety of Barcelona comes out to dance around in fire. If you’re scared of getting burnt this is not the activity for you - but if you’re fearless, bring a cotton shirt and cover your legs.
These programmed activities are the highlights of the festival, and they’re usually crowded (for good reason). But La Mercé is packed with unprogrammed performances and celebrations - I never found the morning gunmen on any listed program, and I walked through concerts and operas planned by citizens that weren’t listed either. These were popular but less crowded by nature of not having had as much advertising, and the crowd usually consisted of the people of that neighborhood and whoever was walking by at the time. That’s part of the beauty of this festival - you can run into anything, and discover new bits of culture and tradition everywhere.
After five alarms strategically placed at three minute intervals Hannah and I finally rolled out of bed at 7:30 am. After two cups of coffee I finally felt awake enough to make my way to the bus, and promptly fall back asleep in the seat.
Our destination, the coastal town of Palafrugell, lies about 1.5 hours from the city of Barcelona. It is one in a string of small towns and villages lining the popular destination of la Costa Brava, all interwoven with hiking trails and hidden beaches. I’d chosen to head there in order to see a part of Spain outside of a large city and give my head a rest from overanalyzing various depictions of the Madonna and Child (which somehow seem to oversaturate every Catalan art museum).
It didn’t take long for us to realize that the costa brava towns are fairly touristic. Within five minutes of walking through Palafrugell, we’d already encountered three different hotels. They also seem to be a popular location for retirement homes and vacation houses. Still, the beautiful scenery is not to be missed, and the old architecture is still there. White houses with blue shutters dig themselves into the side of the mountain, squeezed between the small roads and their neighbors.
We hiked along a sun-soaked winding path that follows the coast, stopping whenever we wanted to enjoy the view and take pictures of the Mediterranean sea. On our way to a hidden beach during high tide, we encountered a variety of different fellow hikers, from different parts of Europe, all converging to this beautiful destination for a short vacation. As we were approaching our destination, we were stopped by someone who was in our bus with us on the way there. “Where are you guys heading?” He asked, eager for friends to hike with. “The beach!” A look of terror seemed to strike his face. “The beach? Oh, I tried to go there, but the waves are terrifying.” We left him still reclined on a stone wall, worry in his eyes. What we realized as we got there was that the waves were indeed terrifying. Extremely high and powerful, we had to leave our bags on top of some rocks to keep them safe from the tide. But this didn’t stop us from going for a swim. By the time we decided to head out to lunch, our bathing suits had sand in every crevice, and our feet were numb from trying to grip onto the rocky beach sand.
We headed back to the town and after a satisfying amount of tapas, we chose to read at a calmer beach. This is when it dawned on me that everyone at the hidden beach had been about our age: young enough to be a little bit reckless, but not so young that someone finds the need to tell us to stop. It made sense: our little corner of the mediterranean would probably have drowned a child under ten. We sat at our new family friendly beach and read. After a satisfying day of relaxation and water, we headed to the next town over, where we were complimented for our bravery by a string of strangers who had watched us tackle the sea, and promptly fell asleep on the bus.
The coffee in Spain, specifically in Barcelona, is simply amazing. As someone who basically lives on caffeine, one of the first things I learnt when I arrived was how to navigate the Spanish coffee culture.
Waltzing into the nearest coffee shop, heart full of hope and a caffeine withdrawal headache on the way, I asked for a coffee and was immediately handed... a shot of espresso. This honestly shouldn’t have been as big of a shock as it was since this is how a lot of European countries serve their coffee. But having just finished a year of college in the states, I was too used to drinking American coffee on the go and by the gallon to remember that that’s not how everyone else does it. So for any traveling coffee addict who hasn’t yet gotten familiar with coffee order variety, you might have to get a little snooty about coffee. I’ll give you my go-to orders:
Cortado - basically a shot of espresso with some milk. Strength: 4/5
Cafe solo - single shot of espresso. Strength 5/5
Americano - THIS is the closest thing to your US/CAN coffee, but it’s still a lot stronger and thicker here than it usually is North America, so if you don’t love the taste of coffee, I’d ask for a latte. Strength: 3/5
Cafe latte - my mom’s favourite. Strength: 1-2/5
This is just my list, obviously there’s a million more options, and I’ll put in a master post later for anyone who’s curious.
Touristic Versus Local - Now, for all the above orders, strength will vary greatly between coffee shops that serve more tourists and ones that serve more locals. I would try to order in Spanish if you can. Even if you have an accent, you’re more likely to get what you ask for than if you order in English. By that, I mean that the more touristic spots have had enough customer pushback to realize that the average ‘Murican tourist drinks coffee but doesn’t love the taste of it and doesn’t know enough about the different coffee types to make an educated decision. So they will try to serve you strength level one cafe lattes no matter what your order is. They just think you don’t know what you’re ordering and they want to make sure you’ll like it. So bottom line: Order like you mean it. And if you like cafe lattes better anyways, then you do you. Although I do recommend you try a different order here at least once. (It’s just really good).
Culture - The Spanish usually sit down for a cup of coffee with friends. Coffee can be something that you take randomly throughout the day, or as the last part of your meal, but either way, it’s a time to relax with the people around you. It’s fairly rare to walk into a coffeeshop and see people sitting down alone with their computers open to the work that’s due tomorrow. If you need to work, do it at home or in the nearest library. On a similar note, it’s rare to see people take coffee at the same time as their meal. It would be about as weird as seeing someone eat their dessert at the same time as their dinner. That being said, you do you, and if you come to Barcelona and happen to want coffee with your paella, no one is going to stop you.
One of my favourite places in Barcelona is the Montjuic castle. Up on a mountain, visible from almost anywhere in the city, the fort is one of those things that you see every day and think “I wonder what that is,” until you actually head out there. Although it’s harder to get to from the city itself, the trip will be worth it for the amazing views, the lush greenery, and the fact that even during peak tourist season, it’s not so crowded.
The fort itself sits strategically above the Mediterranean, with a direct view above the city of Barcelona and beyond, towards the mountains. The Reaper’s War (the Catalan Revolt), in 1640, saw the start of this new military enclave in action. This revolt lasted decades, saw the involvement of France on the Catalan side, the occupation of Barcelona by the French, and saw Montjuic grow and switch hands. The fort was used as a political prison from which thousands of executions happened, including Lluis Companys, the president of the first Catalan republic. But the revolt climaxed when the Spanish army, after a hiatus, took the fort back and turned the canons towards the city, shooting at Barcelona over and over, through the night. An exhibit on inside the fort goes over this in more detail, with added visual and graphic representation. It’s a great way to get an overview of significant Catalan history, and a more significant understanding of political sentiments that are still relevant today.
How to get there: Take the taxi, funicular, or bus to the fundacion Miro, maybe take a couple of hours and visit the museum itself, and then follow the signposts for Castell Montjuic (not Montjuic Centre). It’s fairly simple to navigate, even if it’s a good distance. Walking this bit lets you see the gardens, which are simply serene and beautifully quiet, and otherwise easily missed. Once you get to the castle, get your ticket and head on in. Unless you’re a very thorough visitor, the guided tour is not going to give you too much more than you would get on your own.
Just wanted to let you know that I’m glad you’re here, looking through this currently very bare blog. I’m planning on posting about my travels, mostly because I’m currently studying abroad and foresee a lot of travel in my future. This is partially for me, as a personal record of my travels, but it is also partially for you, the reader, if you want to know about my wacky adventures.
This post is a cityscape of Tokyo. Feel free to DM and ask questions about my time there! Happy to give suggestions.
