Rotterdam

Today we visited the city of Rotterdam, which was a little over an hour away by train. The train was nice, it was two stories and on the way there we got to see the countryside, horses, cows and a few windmills. When we got to the city, we rented bikes so we could ride to the boat port and get a boat tour of Rotterdam. Or should I say attempted to ride lol lets just say bike riding is not my strong suit. So while everyone else rode bikes there I took the tram to the boat port. While on the boat we got to do a tour of the ports of Rotterdam. After the tour, I went into the city to do some exploring. I ate lunch at this burger place and did a little shopping. The city of Rotterdam looked pretty similar to Amsterdam but it was smaller and there were less people. Overall, today was a good day.

Day 3 Amsterdam

Yesterday was a very productive work day. We finished all of our interviews with no problem since everyone spoke english. Also, we took lots of pictures around the city because we were able to move at our own pace. During our walking tour, the tour guide talked about boat houses. So when we were walking we noticed a lot of them. Some more modern looking than others, but it was still cool to see that people are actually living in boats. We decided to get lunch at a bad time and ended up eating McDonald’s, which I feel like I’ve had more of on this trip than ever before. After lunch we went back to hostel and relaxed before dinner. Dinner was very disappointing. They attempted to make
curry chicken. What a fail. I hated it, but after dinner we went to a souvenir shop and I got pizza. 

Amsterdam

Today started out pretty much the same as yesterday. After breakfast , we went out into the city to try and get as many interviews done as possible. We visited a few spas and cosmetics stores first so Sky and Taylor could get the information they needed. It’s a lot easier to conduct the interviews here in Amsterdam because most of the people here speak English. Yesterday during the walking tour, we learned that some people here live on houseboats and while we were out today I saw a lot of different types so that was interesting. We had lunch at McDonald’s and after that I went to the Marriott down the street to talk to management there to see if I could get a interview. I was able to talk to the marketing and social media coordinator and get her email so that was very helpful. We wanted to visit the Anne Frank House today but unfortunately we weren’t able to get tickets, so advice to anyone who wants to visit: try and book the tickets before you get here. Since we weren’t able to go to the museum, I came back to the hostel to do laundry and get some work done. 

Amsterdam Walking Tour

This morning we woke up around 8 and had breakfast at the hostel. This hostel I buffet style like the one from last week but they have a lot more breakfast options. I was very pleased with breakfast this time, which makes me even more excited about being in Amsterdam. After breakfast, we did a free walking tour which was about 3 hours. That sounds one but we had a great tour guide, Kor, who made the tour fun and the time flew by. He was very knowledgeable about not only the history of Amsterdam but the history in other cities and their respective countries as well. During the tour, I learned a lot about the history of Amsterdam. Did you know Amsterdam is only about 800 years old?Also, that for a long time they did not have numbers on their houses or last names? Instead they had house signs, which is a picture that depicts your occupation and it was how they distinguished who was who before they got last names.

After the tour, we went to the mall just to look around and get lunch. Their mall is much smaller than the ones we visited in Berlin. After the mall visit, we decided to head back to the hostel and relax until dinner. For dinner the hostel served pasta, it was really good and it reminded me of spaghetti. After dinner, me and Sky went to a comedy show. The comedians were pretty funny and it was nice to see Amsterdam all lit up during the night.

Day 2 Amsterdam

So what I’ve learned is that all Europeans like sandwiches for breakfast. Very disappointing. I decided to skip on breakfast today. Right after breakfast went on a VERY long walking tour, which was actually amazing. Our tour guide was amazing and kept the whole tour very fun. I now feel like I know more about Amsterdam’s history than I do America. He also threw in some facts about other countries as they related to Amsterdam. My favorite things that he talked about was first how the houses are not straight and that is because they messed up when building the city. Also, when he talked about how gay marriage was legalized in 2001 and they put the monument in front of a church. During pride month the church puts up huge pride flag to celebrate as well, which is something you don’t see everywhere. After the walking tour we went to get lunch and see about working on our projects. We ate lunch in a mall and it was very good. Today was very productive. I walked seven miles.

Hello Amsterdam!

Today we traveled from Berlin to Amsterdam. We got up very early to go to the train station where we got breakfast. I tried to get a regular apple juice and it turned out to be carbonated, which was such a disappointment. But what was even more of a disappointment was when i tried to go to McDonald’s. They had nothing worth eating. After getting food, we got on the six hour train to Amsterdam. I slept the whole and had a seat to myself. 

Once arriving in Amsterdam, we took a tram to the hostel and got our rooms. I enjoy these rooms much more than the ones in Berlin. By the time we finished settling, it was time to go down dinner that the hostel provides. I can’t tell you exactly what it was, but it was surprisingly good! After dinner we had a brief orientation. Orientation ended and some friends and I decided to explore a little bit. The city is beautiful and I would love to come back here on my own free time. 

                                                                central station  

Last Day in Berlin

The last day didn’t start as every other day surprisingly. Sunday was a free day and we got to wake up late, so no turkey sandwich for breakfast! Sunday also happened to be one of the hottest days in Berlin ever, but when I got up we decided to go out in heat to get pizza. After getting pizza, I spent majority of my day laying in bed, trying to stay cool. It wasn’t until around 8 when everyone
ran in the room and said “get dressed, let’s go!” We decided to go see the East Gallery Museum which is basically the part of the Berlin Wall that was kept and artist were allowed to put painting on it. I noticed that we must’ve of been in a very touristy area because a lot of the signs were now in english. I was very glad we went to the gallery and it was probably one of favorite parts of the trip.

Goodbye Berlin, Hello Amsterdam!!!!!

Were in Amsterdam!!! It’s the second week of our trip and I’m so excited. The week in Berlin was great, I feel like I got to experience and learn a lot but now I’m ready to see what Amsterdam has to offer. We left for the train station pretty early so we had to eat breakfast there. I settled for a regular frosted donut from Dunkin’ Donuts. At this point, I’m sick of the food in Berlin so a donut will do. The train ride to Amsterdam was six hours but it wasn’t that bad. The train is much roomier than the plane was and nobody sat in the seat next to me.

We made it to Amsterdam around 3:00 and the weather is so much different here. It’s a lot cooler here than it was in Berlin and I appreciate it. This hostel is a lot nicer than the one in Berlin, and the food is better. So far, its looking like this week will be better than last. There’s also a park next door which is nice. We went for a walk through the park before dinner. I’m excited to start exploring the city tomorrow! 

Last Day in Berlin

Today is our last day in Berlin and I can’t believe it. This week has flown by and now its time to head to Amsterdam. The temperature today was a little over 100 degrees so we spent most of the day in the hostel. Today was our free day for the week so we didn’t have to get up early and go anywhere. I tried to sleep in but the sun rises so early and my bed is right by the window so I wasn’t able to sleep as long as I would like. I did skip breakfast though, I’m sick of the breakfast at the hostel. I spent the majority of my morning catching up on the work for the week. I wanted to try and get as much as possible done so I won’t have to worry about Berlin work while I’m in Amsterdam.

In the afternoon, some of the other students and I went to visit the East Side Gallery. The East Side Gallery is an area where part of the Berlin Wall is still up and artists had the opportunity to paint whatever they wanted on it. It was nice to see the different art styles of each the artists. The East Side Gallery is near a few restaurants and a “beach”. It was nice to be able to see another part of Berlin and to experience more of their history before we left.

River Cruise

Our week in Berlin is almost over and I’m a little sad. Because it was so hot earlier this week we weren’t able to do much and tomorrow is going to be even hotter so we won’t be able to spend that much time outside so I’m a little disappointed. I was able to travel to a few different areas of the city and I finally tried some German street food yesterday so this week was still fun. For future students, bring old, comfortable shoes because there will be a lot of walking. I already have blisters and we still have two weeks of this trip left.

This morning we took a river cruise and it was really nice. It was pretty hot and the boat was open but it was such a nice view. This cruise was in German so I wasn’t able to keep up with what the tour guide was saying but I did take a few pictures. The architecture of the buildings here is really interesting to me so I got a few pictures of the buildings I thought looked nice. After the cruise I visited a few hotels to try and get my interviews done but that didn’t go as great as I thought. I’m meeting with Dr.V tomorrow to go over what I have so far and hopefully he can help me figure out what to do next.

Berlin Day 4

Today has been a very easy going day. It started with the same sandwich breakfast of course. We then went on a boat ride of the city which was very nice. The only downside of the boat ride was that it was only in German so we couldn't understand anything they were saying. The view of the city was beautiful and I was able to take many pictures. After the boat ride, we went to a couple of stores to get snacks and then attempted to work on our projects, but no one in the area spoke English very well. For the first I was able to come back to the hostel and take a wonderful nap. The week has been a bit draining because of all the walking. I did get a lot of work done today and it felt good to be able to relax.

Trip to the German Parliament

Today started off pretty much the same as the last few days with added back pains. The hostel put new mattresses on all the beds and they were extremely hard. It felt like I was sleeping on the floor. After breakfast, my class and the economics class took a field trip to two different malls to complete a pricing assignment. For the assignment, we had to compare the prices of similar items from each mall. First, we visited KaDeWe which is the second largest mall in Europe but its not like the malls we have in America. Instead of individual stores, each floor is dedicated to a specific product or department. It reminded me of a giant Macys. The second mall we visited was the Galleria in Alexanderplatz. This mall was a lot smaller than KaDeWe but it was structured the same. The biggest difference between the two were the prices and the type of products each mall sold. The items and brands in KaDeWe were luxury brands, their whole first floor is only luxury stores such as Rolex, Chanel, and Bulgari while the Galleria carried more affordable brands.

After the mall trip, we visited the German Parliament and it was pretty boring to say the least. I feel like I shouldn’t say that lol but it was true. And our tour guide didn’t make it any better. She was very knowledgeable but her delivery wasn’t great so it was hard to follow along with what she was teaching. At the end, we were able to go to the rooftop and take pictures. It was very pretty up there and the view made for a nice background for pictures.

Berlin Day 3

Today started with excruciating back pain due to new beds in the hostel that basically felt like I slept on the floor, the same sandwich breakfast, and lots of walking. We went to two different malls, the Westside mall and the Eastside mall. Both malls were similar in the fact that they were department malls or the example I gave was that they were 7 floor Dillard's or Macy's. The malls differ in the products that they carried. With the Westside mall being the second largest mall in Europe, it began to be a bit overwhelming. They carried literally every designer brand you could think of and it was a higher class meaning I didn't buy anything basically. The Eastside mall catered to the more average people and only had high class stores here and there, not everywhere. Also, the crowd that hung around the Eastside mall was different. There were many homeless people who approached us asking for money. The best part about this trip was that we found our way back to hostel with no problem this time lol.

We also took a tour of the Parliament today. It was boring sorry. The tour guide kept asking us questions that no one knew the answers to. It was almost like we were supposed to take a class before we went and that was the test. Also, there wasn't really much to see and she just stood and talked to us for the whole hour. I recommend not dressing up because your feet will hurt. I've done more walking here than I've probably ever done in my life. Overall a very productive and tiring day.

Westside Mall

Getting Lost...

So far, staying in the hostel hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be. The food, especially the breakfast, has taken some getting used to. On the other hand, the fact that they do not put ice in their drinks is something I don’t think I’ll ever get used to. Drinking warm apple juice with my breakfast is a weird sensation. Besides all that, I am enjoying my time in Berlin.

The temperature dropped greatly today so we were able to go out into the city today. After breakfast, Dr. V took us to Potsdamer Platz where we got to see pieces of the Berlin Wall. We also visited the Mall of Berlin and it was huge! I think it was the biggest mall I’ve ever been to. There were so many stores, we couldn’t get to most of them but the few stores we did go in we’re having nice sales and I was able to get a few nice things. For lunch we decided to eat McDonald’s to see if the menu was any different than the American one and sadly there were a few differences but not many.

After leaving the mall, we got on the train to go to a different part of town just to look around and go to a few shops. When it was time to return to the hostel, we ran into a little issue. We put the wrong address into the gps and got on the wrong train. After getting off and waking for a few minutes, we realized we were going the wrong way. But once we were able to get the correct address, we decided to just walk back to the hostel instead of getting on another train and possibly getting more lost. Eventually we were able to get back to the hostel. Although we did get a little lost and had to do some extra walking, I enjoyed being able to see the different parts of Berlin. I wish I was able to go and experience some more of this beautiful city but we still have a few more days here so hopefully I’ll be able to see everything I want.

First Day in Berlin

When we arrived last night, we had to take a train, a bus and walk a little before we reached the hostel. At the orientation, Dr.V mentioned that there would be a lot of walking to the hostels and to pack light. I honestly thought I did but as we were walking here and I was pulling my luggage I discovered I did not pack light enough. I can be a over packer so I asked my mom to help me out and I still ended up with a heavy suitcase. Advice to any future participants: when Dr.V says to pack light, PACK LIGHT. You’ll be thanking him when your dragging a 40 pound suitcase down the street.

Today is our first full day in Berlin and it is beautiful here but it is so hot! Somehow we managed to end up here on one of the hottest days this summer with temperatures up to 98 degrees. With it being so hot, Dr. V advised not to spend too much time out in the sun. So after breakfast, which consisted of bread, lunch meat, yogurt, and cereal, we went out out to explore a little. We walked to a convenience store similar to walgreens were I made the mistake of purchasing sparkling water instead of plain water. We also walked to a atm where I was able to take out a few more euros. After this little adventure, we came back to the hostel to relax before going on a group excursion.

Along with the Econ class, we traveled to the DDR museum. This is an interactive history museum that focused on life in East Germany after the Berlin Wall was built. The museum exhibits touched on how the government owned all means of production, a “house” where guests could go from room to room and see how Germans lived during that time, and a mock kindergarten classroom. I appreciated how each exhibit was in German and then translated to English as well. This made it much easier to follow along. As someone who generally enjoys museums, I found the DDR museum to be really nice and informative.

Berlin Day 2

Once again, we woke up bright and early to get breakfast, which was the same as yesterday. Immediately after breakfast, it was time for us to go into the city to work on our project! Dr. V attempted to teach us how to take the train. We all took the train to Potsdamer Platz to go to Mall of Berlin. Before walking over to the mall, we were able to see part of the Berlin Wall. Eventually, Dr. V left us to adventure on our own and start our projects. For my project, we visited various beauty stores. We also did a little bit of retail therapy, well actually I did a lot. We ended up eating lunch at McDonald's, which Dr. V sore it was same, but it was completely different. I played it safe and got chicken nuggets. In an attempt to get back to the hostel, we ended up lost for an hour. When we put in the hostel in the gps it gave a completely different place. We walked from Alexanderplatz back to the current hostel. In the end, my feet hate me.

First Full Day in Berlin

On our first full day of being in Berlin, it just so happened to be on of the hottest days ever! We woke up bright and early to get breakfast, which was a little unusual. For they offered bread, lunch meat, apples, and yogurt. They had a variety of juice, but what I learned is that Europeans are not big fans of ice and cold drinks. It was challenging to drink warm drinks in such warm weather. Also, I ended up making a sandwich and yogurt with cereal in it. Sandwich good, yogurt terrible.

After breakfast, we had orientation and then broke up into our classes. While most classes went out into the scorching heat, Dr. V made it very clear that he didn't want his class to go out and do too much walking. We did end up going to a store similar to Walgreens and a grocery store to get water and snacks. Both stores weren't too much different from what we have in America.

After going to the both stores we came back to relax before going to the DDR Museum. It was only a short walk to the museum and we were able to a bit of sightseeing. The museum showed what is was like to live in East Berlin after World War II. It showed a mockup of what a house would look like, how education and sports were run, and military life. They showed how the government controlled everything from what people wore to what groceries they could buy.

Overall it was a good first full despite the heat!

Goodbye Nashville, Hello Europe!!

From the moment I inquired about the TNCIS GEC II program, I was immediately excited. I started applying for scholarships and researching the countries before I was even accepted. Eventually, I put in my application and prepared my other documents and after that there was nothing else I could do but wait. As time went on, it seemed like forever before I finally received my acceptance email.

As the days leading up to the trip passed by, it seemed like time was dragging by but eventually it became time for me to travel back to Nashville. This will be my first international flight so I’m not too sure what to expect. I packed American snacks and brought a pillow and blanket for the pane just in case! Unfortunately I didn’t have a window seat on any of the flights so I wasn’t able to take any good pictures while we were in the air. The flight from Nashville to Chicago was short but the second flight is the one I was worried about.

Before this trip, I had never flown for more than a hour and I didn’t know what to expect but surprisingly the flight from Chicago to Helsinki, Finland was better than I expected. The downside to this flight is I was not able to sleep that well. A word of advice to any future TNCIS participants: try to get as much sleep the night before as possible. With this being an international flight, they did provide us with dinner and breakfast the morning after. It was...interesting to say the least. I’ll insert a picture below and let you guys form your own opinion about it lol.

Finally after flying to Finland, we took our final flight to Berlin!! I’m so excited about being here and seeing what the city has to offer.

Day 20: Bond between Twenty Seven strangers

Day 20: The bond between Twenty Seven strangers.

It was the day when it was time to leave. Days passed so fast that it seemed a very short trip. Everyday meeting, going for excursions, exploring  different parts of the city, ensured me that Europe is a safe place for girls. I really enjoyed fully my whole trip. Now that I think of past days I figured I have traveled through tram, train, the second fastest train(China got the most fast train I read and Europe’s one is the second fastest), rode bike at a total different city, travelled trough cruises, explored canals, traveled through the taxi, Uber, bus, metro too! Oh yeah also experienced the top view of Paris through the Ferris wheel too. All the thoughts were making me nostalgic.
Early morning we all took our packed bags and went outside to start our journey back to Nashville.

TNCIS assured our comfort by renting a huge coach bus that took us to the Paris airport. Is was long for an hour and 30 minutes and very comfortable.

When we reached the airport and had to pass through all the security checks and finally at 11am we got to seat on the aircraft. The delta airways treated us very good and their customer service was appreciable. Our flight was eight hours long to Detroit. I watched three movies that I was planning would watch but somehow skipped all the time. So it was great watching those. Then I had almost 3.5 hours left so I took a nap for about 50 minutes. After waking up somehow the time passed gradually through having snacks, dinner, ice cream, then again snacks etc. for eight hours flight I must say delta airlines were very generous and took good care of us.

Paris, France; to Detroit, United States.

Landed Detroit safely and passed through immigration which took a awhile. But good thing was we had time as our next flight was almost after three and half hours. We freshened up and waiting on the gate area.

Hello Nashville!

We took the last plane trip of our study abroad program to Nashville. It was an hour twenty five minutes long. Then from Nashville we all started heading for our own homes and the group of twenty seven strangers(DrV isn't stranger to me, took two classes with him at TSU, also will take one more in the upcoming fall semester; otherwise it would've been 28.) who supported each other while exploring three totally different countries far from home but had to break the bond and leave through wishing everyone good luck and prosperity for future. 

Day 19: Palace of Versailles

Day 19: Palace of Versailles.

On the last day of Paris we had two options to choose from the Disneyland or the Versailles Palace. I chose Versailles palace because I don’t know when again I am going to come back in Paris to witness the heritage of Versailles.

I bought the ticket online a day before the visit. When I went there I had to pass through the long line. It was a hot day but finally I got into the palace. The Versailles Palace was created under the ruling of King Louis IV. It is a little far from the main city Paris. If someone wants to know how the royals used to live their lives I would definitely recommend this palace. Every space of the palace was created with care and a lot of hard-work of the working people which was very prominent when I took a glance. Starting from the entrance door looked like it was gilded with gold then through the audio guide I got to know everything was made with bronze.

Panorama view of the entrance: Palace of Versailles

One by one I was passing the rooms. I saw the hall of mirrors where thousands of mirrors covered a huge place, with lavish chandeliers, and mesmerizing artwork at the ceilings which we would call the ballroom at present days. The king’s room, princesses’ room, all was gilded with bronze. There was a room with a huge gilded clock, a lavish bed, furniture and some sitting spaces. Through the audio guide I got to know that was the meeting room of the king but not a bedroom. King Louis IV took all the decisions here until his death. There were so many rooms with so many stories. But I would definitely like to mention about the library where the Queen and others used to spend times. Also the artwork in the ceiling at one of the King’s room got 300+ characters which left me speechless to see how patient the artist was.

The Hall of Mirrors

After the palace I bought the ticket which was 8€(after showing my student's ID) to enter the royal garden to see the fountain dance. The garden got so many roads just like a huge maze. The fountains were so beautiful. One was like beautiful than the other that I couldn’t select which one was the best. But thing for sure the royals made sure to show their lavishness and power at every corner of the palace.

Garden of Versailles

Day 18: Shopping Mall Forum des Halles

Day 18: Shopping Mall Forum des Halles

First of all the architecture amazed me when I was passing it after spending almost whole day collecting data for my research. I went there to catch the a train from the RER of Chatelet les Halles so that I can go to Cite University from there. But I stopped and explored the underground mall instead for a while. They it it looked from the outside it was indeed very beautiful on the inside too. It was so clean I couldn’t imagine as it was close to the train station. This shopping mall welcomes 150,000 visitors daily including the locals and the tourists. Also it was still the second most visited shopping mall in France with 39.2 million visitors.

I got back to the hostel of Cite University and France was celebrating the Bastille Day. At night they will have beautiful fireworks. The group planned to go somewhere close to watch the view. I was excited too. But don’t know why I didn’t feel like going in the end with the group. But the fascinating fact is I couldn’t stop my excitement after going through some Instagram stories posted under the hashtag Paris that day. I found several places from there, googled many that how far what was from the place I were in. I was wearing my pjs and took my hoodie and called an Uber. The driver was very nice though after saying bonjour I couldn't speak a thing or understood and explained that I talk very little French nicely. I put my navigation to the planet food area which was just nine minutes away but got a good view before I even got there, though it was way far from the Eiffel Tower  but atleast I saw the fireworks a bit and that was enough for me. I stayed ten or twelve minutes and came back through the Uber. It was short but it was wonderful indeed. So here's a very bad resolution zoomed picture of that night.

Bastille Day

Day 17: Bonjour, Saint Germain l’Auxerrois Church

Day 17: Bonjour

Day 17th in the morning I googled where can I go to see something antique and different. I couldn’t decide so took the pass for the underground train  and headed towards a church named Saint Germain l’Auxerrois Church. I reached the close station and walked there.

I passed through an antique building but didn’t know the name of it. But it was pretty. Then I read and gathered a bit of information about it. So since the PLM law of 1982, the twenty communes that divide the city of Paris each have a borough mayor, in addition to the mayor of the municipality of Paris mairie d'arrondissement. So it was related to the city development works. After I passed that I finally discovered the beautiful Saint Germain l’Auxerrois Church. The glass painted windows, the unique designs, history wrapped up with every aisle, walls, specially the interior design was so wonderful. The rituals they followed, the story of Jesus etc was highlighting every corner of the church. I literally was starring at the beautiful creation for a long time and did nothing. The hardwork who designed this church and the people who built this church gave their full concentration and crafted this place with affection it was prominently visible. I stayed there for a while and roamed around the whole church.

Then I walked a bit more passed the Louvre Museum but didn’t meet Monalisa this time. I hope someday I will comeback again and see her. With that hope I moved forward to explore more. I passed the lovers bridge over river seine. People were playing the authentic music that I’ve always heard whenever I watched Paris in the movies. This time it was reaching to my ears directly and it was wonderful. From the bridge I saw the institute of France. At first it looked like an antique palace or court house to me but after learning I got to know about the institute of Paris.

The Institut de France is a French learned society, grouping five academies, the most famous of which is the Académie francaise. The Institute, located in Paris, manages approximately 1,000 foundations.