Study Abroad 2020

I lived abroad in a small town called Gaming for about 2 months. I don’t mean for this to sound like a sob story, but I was lucky enough to be there during the rise of COVID. Back then my classmates, professors, and I didn't realize how serious it was. In fact we found ourselves joking about it a lot. These were the days where it was only called ‘coronavirus’ and lockdown was impending though we never knew how soon it would come. Making the most out of our time there my friends and I wanted to make sure we got the most out of the little time we had left. Slowly the borders began to close and each weekend we had new limitations on countries we were allowed to visit. Here’s my experience of the countries I was blessed to visit:

England

London, England was my first stop. Me and my friends traveled there for 2 days before we were supposed to be in Austria and check in with the school. What I loved most was that it felt like Europe but without the language barrier. Yes, there were some differences in the lingo however it wasn't too hard to catch on to. We went to Mass at West Minster Cathedral, walked along the Thames, saw Big Ben and the London Eye, and fan-girled over Buckingham Palace.

Melk Abbey, Salzburg, & Vienna, Austria

The day trip touring the Melk Abbey was part of our orientation. The whole Abbey was absolutely gorgeous and probably not something I would have planned myself.

Another day trip the school took us on was Salzburg. This city was so beautiful and holds a special place in my heart. When I was in high school I went to Salzburg & Vienna, Austria and Venice, Italy on a choir trip during spring break. I had packed a lock in case I came across a bridge which I could lock it to. Funny enough there is a bridge in Salzburg where my lock from 2017 resides. I played a thorough game of I Spy and was reunited with my lock. I can confirm that as of 3 and a half years ago, it is still there. We did the whole Sound of Music tour and skipped in the garden where the Von Trapps once skipped. In the evening we also hiked up the hill of the Hohensalzburg Fortress and toured inside it. Vienna was so amazing I think I might name my first daughter Vienna (also LOVE the Billy Joel song). This was a trip we took as a school. We visited many churches, did lots of shopping, and saw so many beautiful landmarks. At one of the churches we visited we were blessed with a relic of the cross Jesus died on (and by blessed I mean it touched my head!!). Does that make me a 3rd class relic? My friends and I had so much fun this weekend because it was a big kickstarter to the semester. This was the weekend we became a solid group. During this trip I had an art assignment due and reported on a piece in the Kunsthistorisches museum. It was amazing!

Berlin

After my namesake I wanted to visit Berlin,

Germany. This weekend I traveled with 4 friends and we were grateful to stay at my cousin’s apartment! I hadn’t seen my cousin in a longtime so it was great to catch up with her. We went inside and on top of the Reichstag Building, saw Brandenburg Gate, and I got to take home with me a piece of the Berlin Wall.

Budapest

Budapest was a city not really on my radar, but I am so glad I was able to visit it. The sights were so beautiful and it was very relaxing. We didn’t do too much that weekend yet somehow I still have so many memories from it all. The Parliament building was beautiful, Fisherman’s Bastion was an amazing overlook, and did lots of shopping. Naturally we had to check out the baths and they felt so …weird? Like, it is completely fine and normal for the locals to check out these places and have a spa day here. For my friend and I it was so so strange. This was culture “shock” that I still think about a lot. Things that are completely normal can be so weird to an outsider. One of the most peaceful blessings was attending Mass in Hungarian. I couldn’t follow along easily but I will always cherish that moment.

Prague

The Czech Republic was the last country we were able to visit before the Austrian borders closed. This city was so charming! We walked around A LOT. I can’t say we did a whole lot of site seeing but the city was just fun to walk around. We must have walked back and forth Charles Bridge 5 times. The John Lennon wall was the most interesting.

Hallstatt

This weekend was a fever dream. This was the weekend my friends and I received the call from the University saying we were getting sent home. I still can’t believe it took until that phone call to start being grateful for what you’ve got. My friends and I decided we needed to urgently take every opportunity we came across to make the weekend memorable. No, we weren’t doing anything crazy, but we were slowing down and living in the moment. The most interesting thing we did that weekend (objectively) was the Hallstatt Skywalk. The view from the top was my desktop background for 2 years after. Up until this point each weekend was a look ahead on what we were doing next weekend, or rushing through our school work during the week so we could plan the next trip. Now, we had nothing left to do. It felt like time stood still.

Looking back (constantly) I think about things I would do differently. Well, I don’t want to ruminate, but I would love to go back and visit these places again. This time I don’t plan on taking anything for granted. My next trip? Ireland.