If you can't already tell from my other blogs, I tend to be very touristy when traveling to other cities during my time abroad. This past weekend I took touristy to the next level by going on the Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg, Austria. I'm a big fan of the Sound of Music so I was very excited for the tour, which is the main tourist attraction in Salzburg. Unfortunately there was some crazy weather on the day of our tour, it actually snowed...at the end of April!! Other than that I loved the tour. We got to see a lot of the sights where the movie was filmed, and got to hear about behind the scenes secrets. A fun fact that isn't much of a spoiler is that the front of the house in the movie is completely different than the back of the house! We got to see the gazebo, the houses, the abbey, the church where the wedding was filmed and areas of the lakes and mountains region. The tour also included music from the soundtrack on the bus which turned into a sing along of some sorts. Salzburg was a beautiful city and I hope that one day I can go back and see more of it, hopefully when the weather is nicer too. Overall this tour was very worth while, and I highly recommend going on it if you can!
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Keeping up with my blog has become so much more difficult in the final month of studying abroad (wow I can't believe I'm saying last month)! I've been so busy traveling, doing school work and exploring Copenhagen every day. Last week I got the chance to travel a lot because it was our Spring Break. I traveled with one of my good friends from Indiana who also is on DIS. Our first stop was Budapest, where we stayed on the Pest side because the city is split by a river and there is a Buda side and a Pest side (who knew)? I was pleasantly surprised by this city. There was so much to do and it was so cheap which was great considering that Copenhagen is the exact opposite of cheap. Some highlights of Budapest were Parliament, the Chain Bridge, Matthias Church, Fisherman's Bastion and the Szechenyi Thermal Baths. The baths were definitely one of the most interesting "attractions" I've ever been to. I use quotes because to us it was definitely a tourist attraction but there were a bunch of local Hungarian people there who clearly did not see it as an attraction. I felt like the baths were worth going to but I probably wouldn't return. One of my favorite things in Budapest was the Fisherman's Bastion which is a terrace on the Buda side with towers to look out onto the city. After climbing up a lot of stairs and a steep hill we reached an amazing view, it was so worth it.
Our next stop after Budapest was Florence, Italy but on our way there we stopped to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa because our flight landed in Pisa. I loved seeing the Leaning Tower because it is something that I never intended to see but it happened to work out! The fact that the tower is leaning completely on accident is a cool story to hear about and seeing the tower in person was even cooler. My friend and I took the typical tourist picture with our hands holding up the tower and then we headed to the train station to get to Florence. One thing I will say I wish I did more of abroad was taking trains. Copenhagen is not exactly easily accessible by train so I knew I wouldn't be taking trains from Copenhagen but it's a huge bonus to be in a city where it is easy to take trains. The train from Pisa to Florence was so easy, less than 45 minutes! We didn't initially think of this when we planned our trip to Florence but we happened to be there on Easter. A lot of the attractions people see in Florence were fully booked but we still took in so much of the beautiful city. A few of the many things we did while in Florence were seeing the Duomo, the leather market and central market, Piazzale Michelangelo, Santa Croce, the Ponte Vecchio and I ate some of the best food I've ever had in my entire life. The leather market was so cool to see and haggling with the people who sell stuff was a whole new experience. My favorite part of Florence was Piazzale Michelangelo. We walked up a lot of steps to get there to see a beautiful sunset on our last night. My friend and I also saw a bunch of familiar faces while on this trip which made it even more fun. We saw a lot of friends of ours who also go to IU, which gave us a little taste of home. Before I went abroad I read so many different blogs from DIS students and students on other programs. More often than not they talked about being so busy and not being able to blog and at the time I figured I would be fine and that blogging once a week wouldn't be a challenge. WELL I was wrong. I now understand where these past bloggers were coming from because I have been insanely busy and haven't had a lot of time to blog. But right now I'm taking a break from exploring cities and sitting in a coffee shop, ready to blog. Since my last blog here are some things that I've been up too...
Last Thursday I turned in my FINAL paper for my core course, Competing Narratives: Modern European History. After working on this paper for over a week, and doing a lot of drafts, I was very relieved to turn it in. Being done with this class also means no longer having to wake up at 7:00 am to get to my 8:30 am core course, and I am certainly not complaining about that. After turning in my final paper I headed to Mallorca, Spain for a much needed weekend full of warmth and relaxation. Mallorca was definitely not a city that was on my list of cities I wanted to see before abroad but it was so worth it. Booking this trip felt like one of those "you only abroad once" moments and I'm so glad that I did it. I went on this trip with 5 other friends who I've met while on DIS. We basically spent the entire weekend laying by the pool and the beach, which we all agreed was amazing. This trip was so different than any other trip all of us have been on. Traveling usually includes doing as much sightseeing as you can in the time you are in a city. What no one tells you about abroad is that this can be so tiring. It is very worth while but so was our relaxing trip to Mallorca. We got to see some great views, walk around a cute town, and got some sun at the same time. All in all it was an amazing weekend and so much needed after turning in a final paper! |
AuthorHi! My name is Annie and I am studying abroad for four months in Copenhagen, Denmark!
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