Things My Travels Have Taught Me

So, it seems that you can’t globe-trot over three countries (soon to be five, once the semester ends!) without learning some things. Here are a few examples…

1. If you want to save money, you will probably have to travel during the night. Possibly multiple times.

2. Spain trains and France trains are pretty nice. Italy trains…not so much.

3. There are a LOT of skeezy people in this world.

4. If you are an American girl traveling in Europe, you definitely will get whistled at, called beautiful, or otherwise pseudo-accosted by random men, no matter how ugly you happen to look at that moment.

5. I can fit everything I need for approximately 10 days (minus food) into my backpack and purse. WIN.

6. Not showering for over 24 hours will, in fact, not kill you.

7. Bring Kleenex everywhere, because two out of three bathrooms will not have toilet paper in them.

8. On that note – if a bathroom is clean and has toilet paper, soap, hot water, and some way or other to dry your hands, you have clearly died and gone to heaven. One or more of these things is always missing. In fact, if there even IS a bathroom, you better count yourself lucky. Bonus points if you don’t have to pay for it. Let’s just say that I’ve gotten good at holding it/taking advantage of my opportunities when they arise.

9. RyanAir’s strict weight and space limits can make a person extremely creative. Wearing three shirts, anyone?

10. Europeans reeeally love ceilings with ridiculously elaborate paintings all over them. REALLY love them.

11. No matter how much you plan ahead, there will always be desperate moments when you have no idea what the crap you’re doing and manage to get through by the very skin of your teeth.

12. When all hope is lost, McDonald’s will always come through for you. Always. Judge if you must; McDonald’s has earned my love forever.

13. Also, McDonald’s is way fancier in Europe, and has different things in every country. Toblerone McFlurries in Spain (America has seriously got to get in on this), delicious bakery-worthy pastries in France, and the McToast and Kiwi on a Stick in Italy (what??).

14. In a pinch, Italian has enough cognates to be almost understandable, if you speak Spanish. Thank goodness.

15. How to navigate the metro. Seriously – if you come to Paris with me, I could probably get us around quite successfully.

16. You will see all sorts of great pieces of art and culture, but you will probably have no idea what they are. Take advantage of every informative plaque that you can, because they are mighty few and far between. And if you have the means (I currently do not), invest in an audioguide whenever possible. Worth it! It gets really boring after a while to walk around and say “Huh…no idea what that is, but it sure is pretty.”

17. It is entirely possible to get tired of seeing great works of art, castles, and cathedrals. Am I a snob or what?

18. Take a mid-day break. Don’t believe me? Do without one and then see how long you can go without ripping someone’s head off or becoming nothing more than a numb pair of legs and uncaring eyes.

19. Don’t try to see everything in one day. Take a chill pill! You’ll enjoy it more if you have time to linger and really take everything in. Otherwise, you get filled up really fast, and the excess sight-seeing and historical information just spills right over the top, never to be seen again.

20. You really don’t have to take pictures of every little thing. For one thing, you’ll get tired of it quickly, and then when you see something truly amazing, you won’t feel like snapping any photos of it.

21. The pictures you took of that random building or this random piece of art meant something to you at the time, but no one else will care or understand. And even you will probably look at your photos later and think, “Why the heck did I take a picture of that? I don’t even know what it is.” So unless you really have the desire for a picture to remember something by forever, you might as well not bother.

22. When you walk by someone in a big city, you never know what language will come out of their mouth.

23. It’s standard to hear 5 or more languages spoken throughout the course of a day.

24. No matter where you go, there will ALWAYS be a group of Asian tourists. Probably lots of them. Those peeps are hardcore about their traveling!

25. Every country has its own unique feel, and it’s not always what you would have expected it to feel like.

26. People from a certain country have their own unique look – I feel like I’m getting to the place where I could make a guess at where someone is from, just by looking at them.

27. You have to learn to let things go. Sometimes you have to miss something for sake of time or money, and sometimes you have to shell out more than you were planning on, and sometimes things will get messy and take way longer than you think they will. But you just have to go with it and hope that things will turn out better next time. Because, inevitably, they will.

And the most important…

28. God loves me. A whole lot. And He’ll never, ever let me down or stop guiding and protecting me! There have been uncountable moments when I’ve succeeded with God’s help alone.

There probably are/will be more than this, but this is what I remember for now. Honestly, I think I’ve learned more outside of class than in it!