MUNICH, Germany- being in Beautiful Bavaria

Germany was amazing. I absolutely loved listening to Germans speak.
The only new thing I learned how to say was "Ich liebe es" which means "I'm loving it" ahaha it was the logo on the McDonald's which is very popular overseas as well :)
Our first stop in Germany was Munich where we stayed at the affordable 'Hotel Maria' for three days.
Some of us took an optional excursion to see the Dachau concentration camp which was extremely sad and dark but part of history nonetheless, that was around an hour drive away from our hotel.

 (Dachau)

In this part of Munich it is very quiet with coffee shops, markets, internet cafes (LIFE savers :) ) and laundromats. A very quaint place. However, our hotel was just a quick walk away from the metro station and a popular Munich club (which played random American music from current hits to very old oldies, similar to "Happy Days", it was hilarious to watch Germans dance)..
I loved touring downtown Munich and seeing the famous Glokenspiel and exploring and looking at different shops.

 

(The Munich Glokenspiel)

(Kaylyn and I enjoying our wheat beer)

( a tasty genuine German meatloaf/sausage meal at "Brauhaus" where the waiters and waitresses dress like true Helga's and Franz :) )

MUST DOs in Munich: Well if its October you better checkout Octoberfest! If not there is a plentiful variety. First of all you must consume genuine German wheat beer-it is super tasty!

You also must see the Glokenspiel, Dachau and eat some meatloaf. Also many of our groupies went to "Hofbrauhaus"and loved it.

**My must buy for Munich was a true german mug for my dad officially "made in Germany" their price ranges vary from 5E to 15E, for great quality. Of course there are other mugs that are much more expensive..

My BIG FAT GREEK experience :)

GREECE,
(on the mainland)

(most of our group at Delphi :) some of the greatest people ever!)

My first European country/experience. We all arrived in Athens. The whole time I said to myself I cannot believe I am here, Greece: the birthplace Aristotle, democracy and mythology-all the amazing things I had learned about.
Getting off the plane they had these computers and machines that screened everyone that walked passed checking to see if they were sick (no doubt because of the swine flu frenzy), that was pretty cool, I never saw one of those in the U.S...The first thing I did was change my dollars into Euros :), it was quite exciting until I realized how much the currency exchange was not in our favor haha. But it was a first, I never had my own euros before :).
Then after we all got passed security and whatnot and got our luggage we got to meet everyone on our EF tour and our beloved Spiros (our tour guide). We then all loaded on a bus and headed to our hotel in Athens, which was a brisk walk away from the Acropolis :).
I will not lie I was a little shocked at our hotel accommodations as in NO A.C (however this would be a common trend throughout europe). Alana and I quickly adjusted to this lack we were definitely not used to. As well as the strange shower systems, I just about flooded our first hotel because I lost control of the shower head, it was quite complicated for me.
Our first hotel had an amazing view of Athens :). Athens' is quite the packed city.

The Acropolis at night :)

haha Underwater fun-not my best pic, but what a great day :)
Look how clear the water is!! Corfu, Greece

BAKLAVA! :) Our first night we went into the local town, about a ten minute walk and had some amazing authentic Gyros (pronounced Euros) for a euro! and of course we had some delish baklavah too :)

(below our tour guide at the Acropolis, right before we all witnessed a robbery!)

After Athens and our touring of the Acropolis and Zeus's temple, we traveled by bus to Delphi where the ancient oracle lived, it was quite a hike to get to Delphi, I don't know how the ancient Greeks did it without proper shoe soles!

After Delphi we ate at this adorable quaint Greek restaurant where Alana and I had a REAL Greek salad and some more baklavah. It was nestled by the shore of the sea and some of the boys went swimming and a couple of them endured some sea urchins which are quite abundant in the Mediterranean.

Me about to jump into the beaaaaautiful water in Cofu Greece, We had kayaked to the rock island. Amazing day :) <3

MUST DOs: On the mainland: See the Acropolis/parthenon, have a gyro, go to the Athens market square (so much to see!) and people watch, take a greek metro (quite the adventure and cheap), see the Acropolis and Zeus' temple at night, have some Baklavah, go to the first Olympic Stadium, go to Delphi- we did the main sites but there was so much more to see.

AMSTERDAM

The Place I miss most...

I fell in love abroad with this magical place. First of all it was summer, June, and it was cold. Most people wore 3 layers in the daytime here. I had one of the best days of the whole trip in Amsterdam, the perfect day really. We woke up, had a hotel European breakfast, which was basically hard bread :) (hostel lifestyle!), then we took the metro into the city. Our first stop was a 9:00 a.m tour of the actual Anne Frank annex! It was incredible and surreal to be in such a historically known place (you learn about Anne Frank and the World Wars in middle school..). The whole tour was eerie. The part that I think made most people very emotional (besides witnessing the conditions of such a brave girl and her family) was the video of Otto Frank, Anne's father (who survived his family), on the vidoe he says he never knew such "adult" was in his young daughter and that she had serious thoughts and that he did not truly know her (his reaction to reading her diary). It was very intense.

Outside it was chilly and breezy.

We all then went on a walking tour through the larger portion of the city with a woman who was a graduate student at Texas and came out to Amsterdam to finish her thesis and ended up falling in love too and stayed! It was such an educational and thoroughly enjoyable tour. We saw sooo much I wish I could remember it all but just to name a few: Rembrant's home, red light district, homomonument, patha theatre and so much more...After the tour a group of us went to the "iamsterdam" sign, we probably climbed all over the sign for a

(Alana and I on the sign!)

good hour, it was soo much fun! It was the nicest feeling to feel so content and peaceful so far away from home. I remember a group of us just laying on our backs on the fountain near the sign. It was awesome. After our sign fun we continued our explorations solo. We ended up in "Vondel Park", as soon as we entered there was music. Just regular amsterdamnians hanging out and relaxing and enjoying this beautiful place. The park was luscious green and there was a lovely stream that flowed. The group of us sat under a tree and enjoyed the free entertainment. If I was a local that's the park I would hang out/bike ride in all the time. It was full of all types of people, young/old/families.

(Candace, Adam and Kaylyn @ Vondel Park, precious!)

Alana and I outside of Anne Frank's, near one of many beautiful canals :) 

A perfect chilly day! It was June and we had 3 layers of clothing on!

an unsuspecting shot, I love this beautiful canal city :)

typical Amsterdam cafe 

MUST DOs:

Anne Frank's Annex, ride a bike like a true Amsterdamnian, Go to the Pancake Bakery (DEF. must, the best pancakes of your life: http://www.pancake.nl/), go to the iamsterdam sign which is located next to the Van Gogh Museum, see at movie at the Patha theatre (famous for world premieres) we saw a movie there!, go to Vondel Park and spend the afternoon relaxing, go see one of the last dutch windmills ( I believe we saw one of seven left), --there is sooo much to do get a little lost and have the best time in this amazing place.

TravelTravel. First Post

(The Eiffel Tower (Paris, France) at night , beauuuutiful)

This summer I had one of the most amazing experiences of my little life. I traveled with 35 of the most interesting and amazing students with EF College Break. We did the Ultimate Tour of Europa from Greece to Italy to Holland to Spain and Germany and the Czech Republic to France--all over continental Europe! It was incredible! I have so many precious pictures and fun stories I'll have forever. I want to share them.

below, the Spanish Steps (Rome, Italy)