Europe Adventures

I love language, I culture, I love travel, and I love meeting new people. I've always had a dream of taking time off and traveling the world. I got an incredibly rare opportunity to stay with my best friend from growing up family's friends in London. They are from Paris and amazing people. It's time for me to document my post-undergraduate graduation travels :).

London is just a big, more diverse, and cooler Boston. But the rest of the UK is different. I never really expected to visit the UK due to weather and similarities to where I grew up, yeah ignorant, and throughout the last month there have been so many destinations that have opened my eyes. Inside London, I was mesmerized by Shoreditch and all the street art in the borough. Going to Brighton during a heatwave was amazing because of the small city vibe I'm used to, great weather, and a pebble beach so I didn't get all sandy. But we needed to go farther, and so we booked a flight to Inverness, Scotland. Isle of Skye is part of the Scottish Highlands, famous not only for their cows but also for their rolling hills directly on the coast. The drive there we passed by Loch Ness, super lame. We spent 3 days sunrise hiked 2/3 and missed a major Aurura the first night we got there which was a dagger for me. If you're ever in the area, the Isle isn't big but do not miss out on Old Man of Storr, Fairy Pools, and Quiragg. We went to Edinburgh for 3 days after, which Matt loved, a very gothic and Victorian mix. On our way back to London we stopped in York, and I didn't realize how big the minster was. I got to go though, my train is about to arrive in Paris!

Okay, so I was in Paris for a couple days in March of this year, I hated it. I flew to Prague to meet up with friends from University, took a bus to Munich, and then had a train from Munich to Paris -- I got there the day the strikes started, but at 6am my train got canceled. And same with everything else on that trip in Paris pretty much. It was cold, rainy, windy. This time around, I decided to not even attempt to do anything touristy, as opposed to staying in the 15th district, (very touristy area where the Eiffel Tower is), I stayed in the 19th. The 19th district is where the canals of Paris are and it's mainly locals. My friend Matt and I have family and friends that live in Paris, so for four days, instead of racing from booking to booking, we got to immerse ourselves more in the lifestyle of the people who live there. The weather was 75 degrees F and sunny everyday and the people weren't as grumpy to us. I'm still scared of them though -- very stoic and intimidating until you get to meet them haha. I never wanted to go to Paris again, but this time around I really reconsider that statement. À bientòt, Paris. Time to visit a close friend of mine I met at Harvard in Geneva!

So, Switzerland might be the most unique country I've ever been to. Stepping off the train it just felt different. The air was crisper, the streets were cleaner... I don't know. I was only there for two nights and my friend let me stay in his place, his mom cooked for us and then treated us to dinner. The first night we were treated to a gorgeous sunset, sneaking into a private sauna and spa, jumping off a 10m diving board, and lots of fondue. The following day we ended up back in France -- Yvoire, a small medieval town. As opposed to Geneva, this small town was fairly empty, probably not like that during the summer. We took a boat from one side to the other and had a 360 degree view of whatever side of the alps we wanted to look at. By sheer coincidence, I got a phone call from another one of my friends from Harvard who landed in Geneva that day. For the next few days he was in Lausanne because his graduation from EPFL was the next Saturday. Day 3 of Switzerland was a group trip to Lausanne for lunch with half the Harvard crew and a quick visit from my end -- still a school I can only dream of going to. Now, it's time for Italy.

When I travel, I like to plan. This time around our goal is to go with the flow. I have a general idea of where I want to go and see but who knows if it's gonna even all be possible. Stop 1: Milano. As of know, Matt and I have been incredibly lucky to be able to stay for free wherever we have gone. But that has also led to not meeting anyone at hostels. Italy is one big hosteling adventure, and I really wanted to meet people. That's exactly what I did. Night 1 two local Milanese Polytechnique students were studying at our hostel and for the rest of our stay they took cafe of us. Milan itself is definitely not my favorite city I've ever been to. Especially if it wasn't for them. The duomo is immense, took almost 500 years, the fashion is incredible but strict, and you can't go wrong with the food. An expensive city for sure. I try to do a walking tour in ever city I go to: the history around Europe connects more and more as I get to do them in more cities which I find so fascinating. Obviously, it makes sense, but getting to walk through history is kinda amazing. I learned about Milan's two downfalls and golden ages and more. Zio night! We also went to Lake Como, a unique area, but overrated in my opinion, maybe it was the weather.

My parents came :). Who knew every member of our family would be booking one ways to different destinations within two months of each other. At a minimum, Venice is incredibly unique. I loved how the canal walls doubled as the walls of houses or restaurants. But it was packed. For offseason in Venice I can not even fathom how gross it would be in the summer. The best part about Venice was taking the ferry to the different islands, specifically Murano and Burano. There were 3 amazing restaurants recommendations that were all closed but let me know if you need them. Murano was special for my parents and I. We were there for almost 3 hours and stayed on one side of one street the entire time. Murano is famous for its glass blowing and one store we found out is completely family owned. The grandson, who is younger than I am, was working behind the counter. He explained how his grandfather is a master -- working for almost 50 years, while he has been working since he was 15. The conversation involved a history of the island, the family business, and the burnout. Our next stop on the island brought us to an unbelievable display of glass. A three story building with glass everywhere. Our way back down and we met the grandfather, a live translated conversation.

I love the Alps. I'm gonna go back 100%. The clear water and immense mountains were mesmerizing. My parents crushed it too. Just driving around and then hiking up, gorgeous views sunsets, the list goes on. We stayed at Europa Adventures in Alleghe -- even the apartment was unreal. I met two women at the top of our Passo Giau hike. They inspired me because they were probably around 35-40 years old and only started climbing within a year how cool would that be. This one will be short.

Florence was probably my favorite city in Italy. The Duomo was immense, and other than La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, is probably the most impressive man-made building I've seen. It also helped I met some of my favorite people on my entire trip here -- two digital nomads, one who is 24 on his 4th startup, and the other Stew, shown in the picture :), has been traveling for the last 1.5 years straight. Florence is the home of the renaissance, the modern Italian language, gelato, and so much more. This, unfortunately, was Matt's last leg of the trip, he had to go home early. So the next few days, all we did was hang out. Walked and ate with my parents, then at night we would go out, hang out in the hostel, whatever -- just good times.

The best parts of Napoli: PPP, parent time, pizza, pompeii. Mother and father decided to go back home after Napoli. During our time, we made sure to go to Pompeii. It's incredible how much thought went behind this international training hub so many years ago. Currency exchange, fast food, laundy, and so much more. I love how they're still undergoing discoveries and new parts of the city. Napoli itself was chaos. Vespas everywhere, pollution everywhere, and really nice people. I met some locals at a hostel that brought me out one night, and their version of going out is standing outside of bars and everyone just talking to each other -- pretty cool. I had a margarita pizza for every meal and top two are at Pizzeria Piva or the Pompeii resturant haha. In my original trip plan, I was going to Rome and Cinque Terre prior. I did not make it to Cinque Terre due to weather, and the plan for Rome changed because my parents had already been. If everything went to plan, I wanted to spend ~a week in Napoli/Amalfi, yet again the weather was poor so I continued to Rome.

Honestly, seeing the old with the new in Rome was unreal. People always said to me it was like walking through a museum and I now understand why it's so true. I know, slavery was a thing, but it's still crazy to me that this massive Colosseum was built in 8 years. Everywhere you look, there's some huge statue or impressive building, here's the thing though, I think the food I had in Rome was the worst of my entire trip -- that might have been bad selections on my end. I took a little interlude in the Siena countryside to take a little break from the fast paced travel, work on grad school, job apps, and my portfolio. The day I was leaving to Siena, one of the trainlines going south lost power and there were 6 hour delays... not as relaxing as I would have hoped. Highlights include: Pantheon (mainly the dome and its construction), Galleria Borghese, Colosseum, the hostel having a keyboard and jamming out with people. Many hostels have guitars, but this was the only keyboard I found on my entire trip so it was fun to play for a few days when I returned from Siena.

So, this part of the trip was very impromptu. My friend from Wentworth grew up in Barca, he wasn't planning on being there in the near future post-graduation, I got a text from him one day, and then a couple weeks later I visited him. I'm so glad I did, I briefly met his family during graduation, but not for long. They are so sweet and so welcoming. It was as if they had known me their whole life. My first full day I had a very traditional lunch with the entire mom side of the family. Most of them spoke a little English but the Grandparents only spoke Spanish and Catalan. His grandmother gave me a tour of her house in Spanish and then we went to a Lleida vs Espanyol B match afterwards. The next few days we stayed in Barca -- tried to hit the best Bravas spots as well as the spots in Barca I hadn't seen the year prior. Over the next weekend, his parents joined us as we went to Madrid, a city where I didn't realize how vast it actually was.

It's hard to pick just one pic, and one post for this gorgeous country. With its major cities presiding on the coast of the Adriatic, Croatia's Venetian architecture is one of the most special places I've been. Every city surrounded or encased with walls, sunsets every night, and amazing food, you must come here. My friend Chris and I accidentally stumbled upon abandoned military bases, had all of Dubrovnik to ourselves, and did some cliff jumping along the way. The country now uses Euros though. It was probably the most expensive place on my trip and that's with cheap accommodation during the offseason!

Okay... months later here we go! Montenegro was part of the road trip after Croatia. Well, a stop in down pouring Mostar for a couple hours came first. Mostar had amazingly good food for so cheap. One day I would love to go back to Bosnia. Montenegro was a two day stint of beautiful nature and great new friends. Chris and I met Emma from France and Jonathan from London, along with many others. Emma, Chris, and I did a sunrise and sunset hike on day 2 to really capture as much of the Bay of Kotor as possible. In the morning, we got lost at the beginning of the trailhead, found the switchbacks, and ended up at the abandoned fortress. It was kinda spooky upon entering because we found a burnt mattress and with leftovers of charred high heels. The sunset hike was one of my favorite parts about europe, (shown in the picture). You hiked to the top of a castle that overlooks the bay and the colors upon setting were so perfect. I ended up climbing up the broken wall and just sitting there thinking to myself for a while. I was about to take on my own journey solo for the first time and a lot of thought went into that. Emma ended up joining me up there and we got to talk for a while about whatever. Chris and I had to leave that night to get to Podgorica.

I ended up in Belgrade, Serbia. Many people I met recommended it to me. Truthfully, I never expected to go to Serbia, but it was amazing. One of the music capitals of the world -- I did not catch any concerts. All I did was explore the first real communist city I've ever been. The different between the Croatian-Venetian castles I saw a couple days before and the grey post NATO bombed Belgrade is staggering. The locals were incredibly friendly and their appreciation for Tesla shines through. Oh the food was unreal too. The Balkans all share similar cuisine. Lots of red meat and good soups with a paprika base. Not a whole lot of greens.

Okay, everyone has to go to Budapest at least once in their lives. Budapest was actually three different cities -- Buda, (Obuda), and Pest that merged in the 1870s. The Danube river splits Buda and Pest. So why is it so amazing? The architecture is stunning, the language is so confusing, the cuisine is delicious. Because it was Ottoman they have Turkish baths. It's a great city to do solo because there are always events going on to meet people. I got there the day before the Christmas markets opened too so that was an added bonus.

Probably the most impressive city I've ever seen -- Vienna, Austria. So, Vienna turned out to be the last leg of my trip because I went home for the holidays. Built upon years of history and wealth, every street is just absolutely gorgeous. Other than the Schönbrunn Palace, I did not purposely seek out any touristy attractions in the city and all I did was walk. I got lost many times but no matter what street I was on you would see the beauty. I went to an opera, hated it, but had to do it, ate amazing seasonal duck and cranberry dish, and explored the numerous Christmas markets. Austria has so much more to see and I'm sure I will be back.