City Hopping: Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin

Like I've said in a recent post, I just had a week and a half break from classes - yes, I promise, every now and then I do actually have a class or two here in Paris. During this break I was able to go to Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, and London.

The break began with a class trip to Belgium where we toured the European Parliament and listened to a few lectures on the Euro, Greece's financial crisis, and the economies of various European countries. Later my group and I got a traditional Belgian dinner, got Belgian waffles for dessert (probably one of the most wonderful things I have ever eaten), and went to a bar that offers over 2,000 craft beers, The Delirium, afterwards. I've already talked about how some of us got lost trying to make it back to our hotel that was about a seven minute walk away followed by my homesick meltdown, so I won't repeat myself here.

The next day was a free day, and I didn't have to be at the train station until that evening, so we went exploring. Brussels is surprisingly small as far as the "touristy" things to see. The Grand Place is unbelievable, as is the chocolate. That night I took an overnight train to the Netherlands to stay with a friend from College of Charleston.

Amsterdam was great, no surprise. We walked all over, went to the Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House, did a little vintage store shopping, took a quick visit to the Red Light District, and explored the city. The weather was too cold and rainy for a bike or boat tour, so I'll have to save that for the next time I'm back.

The next adventure was taking the overnight bus to Berlin. The initial difficulty was finding where in the work my bus stop was. It was actually outside of the station, across the street, down a "hill" for lack of a better description, towards a tunnel under a bridge. It was also after 10pm, about 35 degrees, and I was loaded down with a duffle bag that probably weighed more than me. For a few minutes I did feel extremely anxious and like I wasn't going to be able to find this bus stop, I had no phone service, the information desk was closed as was everything else in the train station except for Starbucks, and the people I asked for directions didn't speak much English so I had a really hard time figuring out exactly what they were trying to tell me. If you haven't figured it out, I was also all by myself for this. I never realized how stressful it is to travel alone.

Luckily for me, after a less than comfortable night on the bus, my AirBNB host gave me really great step-by-step directions on how to reach the flat I had rented for the night. Finally I was able to set out to do the number one thing that brought me to Berlin for the day –– The East Side Gallery. For anyone who doesn't know, the East Side Gallery is what is left of the Berlin Wall with sections that have been sold to various artists to create something beautiful out of something that created something so terrible. I had seen pictures of various paintings, and there was one in particular I wanted to see.

If you can't read the English section, it says, "I painted over the wall of shame so freedom is ashamed no more. Inferno ruled too many years, until the people chose the light. I put my faith in you, Berlin, and give to you my colors bright." I had to get this picture off of Google, and here's what happened. I began at one end the wall and walk down the entire thing looking for this particular painting so I could take my own picture of it. The more I walked, the more I wondered if the spot had been re-sold to another artist and painted over. Finally as I'm getting towards the very last piece of the wall, I notice a familiar pattern. I ran up to it, and saw this ––

It's the same painting, only completely vandalized. I was kind of heartbroken. It appears as though the city is going section by section and doing restoration because parts are blocked off by gates, and those areas are completely un-vandalized, even by Sharpie signatures. One day it will be beautiful again, but my luck. Next I went to Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall Panorama Museum. Unless you're a history buff, there's not a whole lot to do in Berlin besides museums, and I've done a lot of the museums and sites the last time I was in Berlin, so I wandered around Alexanderplatz and waited to hear from the group I was meeting up with. 

The next day we were off to London, and I think London deserves it's own blog so I will stop here. 

Enjoy my pictures of the East Side Gallery! And of Amsterdam :)

 Amsterdam Canals

 Amsterdam Canals

Amsterdam Canals

Bonjour From Paris: Ticket for One

Originally published in The Tiger Newspaper, Feb. 29, 2016

To my Tigers, 

I just got back from a week-and-a-half break where I got to do some traveling. It was an adventure — and an emotional rollercoaster — to say the least. 

Everything from getting lost to an emotional meltdown over being homesick to feeling accomplished for figuring out a new country’s metro system to facing unexpected expenses to feeling on top of the world because I was just happy.

My meltdown in Brussels went something like this: After being up since 5 a.m. to travel from Paris to Brussels, touring and sitting through lectures all day and almost crying at dinner for no reason other than just missing home, we got Belgian waffles and went to the Delirium — a famous bar that offers over 2,000 craft beers and happens to be a bucket list destination of mine. Needless to say, we were exhausted, and the beers I had had did not help my patience, and the smallest things were upsetting me. 

A group of us decided we were ready for sleep so we left to walk back to our apartment which was about a seven-minute walk away. An hour and a half later, in 34 degree weather and rain, after I broke down and turned on my data to try to get us directions to the hotel, we were still lost. Finally, after running into an awesome British guy, who has seen more of the U.S. than I have, gave us the directions that finally got us back. I walked into the hotel room and set my bag on a small table where it fell less than two feet and broke the Delirium glasses I was trying to keep as souvenirs for another girl and myself. 

I just sat down and full on Kim K. ugly cried. All I could think was “I can’t wait to go home. I just want to be home.”

Fast forward to the end of the trip: London. I’ve been once before, and it’s probably tied with Warsaw for my favorite city in the world. First, I got to see “The Lion King” in theater, which is something I’d been very excited about. 

Needless to say, it was amazing. The music, the set, the costumes, the props, and the incredible amount of detail—it was honestly jaw dropping. The next morning I got to do the number-one thing I HAD to do in London: The Warner Brother Studio’s Harry Potter Tour. Forgive me for being dramatic, but it was probably one of the greatest things I’ve ever done. Seriously though, the amount of time and detail that went into each scene and set is unbelievable. 

During the days, the girls and I spent some time exploring, and I got the chance to do some solo exploring where I found some great markets, bookstores, street performers, musicians (a personal favorite of mine) and, of course, Starbucks. 

On our last night, the rest of the group I was with had tickets to a fashion show, and after finally deciding I didn’t know what to do by myself for most of a day and the evening, I gave in and went to the theater and got the cheapest tickets available for “Wicked” — also an absolutely incredible show.I don’t know a lot about classical music or opera or theater, but my mom was a musician when I was growing up, so hearing songs from musicals or pieces by Mozart and Beethoven always remind me her. 

Sitting in those shows made me happy, not just because they were great shows, but because of how they reminded me of my mom and how happy music and these shows make her. It reminds me of being younger and eating Chinese take out while watching “Phantom of the Opera” or “Fiddler on the Roof” on DVD with my mom and sister and hearing my mom quietly sing along, or listening to the sound of her flute filling the house while she practiced for an upcoming performance. 

While it did make me miss home, it simultaneously made me feel close to home even though I’m 4,000 miles away.

There is a part of me that is excited to go home every single day. I don’t think it means that I am unhappy; I think it just means I have something really incredible to go back to—and for that I couldn’t be any luckier.

Enjoy the sunshine and blue skies you’re getting, Tigers. I promise you’re getting more of it than I am. It’s something I can’t wait to come home to.

Till next time.
- Kelsey

   

 Brussels, Belgium

 Brussels, Belgium

 Brussels, Belgium

 London, England

 Buckingham Palace

Bonjour From Paris: Surviving "Adulthood" While Overseas

Originally published in The Tiger Newspaper, Feb. 15, 2016

Hello again, Tigers, 

I’m back in Paris after a long weekend to Ireland, and I actually have to do some studying this week. Ireland was great, actually much better than I expected it to be. In some ways, almost anything that could have gone wrong did, but it was such an adventure. 

I can’t help but feel like I’ve grown up more in the 40 days here than I have in the last few years. Sure, going to a school on the other side of the state was a big adjustment and made me grow up some, but even in Clemson I’m somewhere in between a teenager without a lot of responsibilities and being an adult with rent, bills, school and a job. Here, I’m living off of my savings with no income like I’ve been used to for the last several years. I’m far away from my family, having to keep track of my money even more carefully. I’m planning trips around Europe which is pretty glamorous. What I didn’t expect is for it to be as nerve-wracking and stressful as it is. 

Being here in Paris, though, is starting to make me get a better grasp and understanding of the idea and meaning of really being an adult. 

Yes, I am 21. I am a little over the age where I’m only legally an adult with “teen” stamped on the end of my age. I can legally buy alcohol in the U.S., I can sign a lease, I have a job, I pay taxes and I do take care of myself. 

In the last week, I’ve rented a car and taken a road trip literally across a foreign country, went the better part of four days without Wi-Fi, gotten lost several times, stayed in a cottage without “adult” supervision (I say that because I still have a hard time admitting that I and the people I’m with are actually not children anymore). I also spent a good hour thinking I missed my flight when the only flight back to Paris that night was full and I had an 8 a.m. class the next morning.

Since being back, I’ve booked some trains and buses to and from a few different places and lodgings because I have a break at the end of the month. I’m definitely ready for all the planning for the break to be done, because it’s really stressful figuring out all of these logistics. I’m definitely not complaining, but it has without a doubt been a growing experience having to be this responsible for myself. I’m so used to going on trips where the adults do all the planning, and I just pay and show up. I never realized how much work went into all of these trips. 

I guess what I will end with for now is just a reminder that we all need at one point or another to slow down and enjoy the place we are in in our lives. A lot of times we are so focused on the classes we want to take next semester, or the job we want to get after we graduate or the graduate school that we want to get into that we forget to enjoy where we are. 

College really is an amazing time in life. We as college students are stuck in a very “in between” place. We’re in between home and being on our own, in between being a teenager and adulthood, and in between a school schedule with all of its breaks and careers with no summer vacations. It can be annoying and stressful and scary, but it is our last chance to enjoy a little bit of having the best of both worlds. 

Till next time, Tigers. -Kelsey

 Dublin, Ireland

 Somewhere on a roadside in Ireland

 Cliffs of Moher

 Cliffs of Moher

 Cliffs of Moher

 Cliffs of Moher

 Cliffs of Moher - Go Tigers!

Bonjour, from Paris: 2

Something I learned to love when I still went to College of Charleston was to get lost in a city and see where I ended up. I stumbled upon a lot of great little finds and favorite spots. It's something I have always missed since transferring. Clemson is beautiful, but a lot of that beauty requires a car, hiking boots, and some bug spray. I often miss just being able to walk out of my dorm and go down whichever side street I felt like until I hit the water at the Battery.

Being in Paris has given me a chance to relive those freshman year glory days. A group of people decided to go out on Friday, but I was feeling really homesick and just wanted to stay in and watch Friends on Netflix and eat my feelings in whatever was in my fridge. I ended up getting a text from one of the girls in my group asking if I wanted to go explore. I thought it would be good to get out, so I said yes.

Side note. As I'm writing this there is a pigeon picking around at my feet. I'm indoors. I came indoors to get away from this pigeon.

Back to my story. We decided to go to just pick a random metro stop and see what was around there. I'm not exactly sure where we were, and by then it was kind of late so a lot of the shops were closed, but we ended up just walking towards the Eiffel Tower and found a restaurant to grab some creme brûlée because we decided we were craving it. It was a simple evening, but it was something I really needed. I've gone exploring a few times on my own –– which has always been fun –– but it was nice to have someone with me this time.

Yesterday two other girls and I decided to explore Le Marais. Towards the end of the day, we decided to stop in and try some random pubs. The first one was a Mexican pub so we each had a drink and some nachos. Next, realizing how close we were to Notre Dame and decided to look for a place towards the Latin Quarter and ended up in having a drink in a pub from a table near the window where you could see Notre Dame(forever an obsession of mine). Finally, we ended up in another Spanish pub in the Latin Quarter.

Doing things like this is definitely making it feel more like I'm actually living here, and not just on a vacation. All of the touristy spots are well worth the trip, but just purely exploring and seeing what you stumble upon is part of the adventure.

Today has been a good day mood and homesick wise. I miss my family, but I really feel like I'm settling in here. I told myself over and over before coming here that the first month would be the hardest. I think I was right.


-Kelsey

From my solo exploration to the top of Notre Dame

View from the top of Notre Dame

View from the top of Notre Dame

Antique store in Le Marais

Hotel de Ville

Le Marais

Pub near Notre Dame

Bonjour, from Paris

[Originally published in The Tiger on Jan. 28, 2016]

I’ve been in Paris for about a month now. I don’t speak French, I’m 4,138 miles from home, I’m six hours ahead of all of my friends and family, I don’t have an oven, the poor French just can’t say my name (FYI, Kelsey doesn’t translate well to any language in my experience) and Paris is downright expensive. Every day I get a feeling of “Wow, Paris is the most incredible place ever!” but also “Wow, I’m really homesick.” The best way I can describe it is that scene in “Tangled” when Rapunzel leaves her tower, and one second she’s celebrating her new freedom and the next second she’s crying to go back home. And here I am, more than 4,000 miles away from everything that is familiar to me.

I’m still in the process of getting settled. My room is together, I’m learning how the metro system works and I’m learning French; but being in a foreign country is a big adjustment and can be intimidating when you realize you’ve been here for more than a week or two and you’re not getting ready to get on a plane home anytime soon.

I’ll fill you in on a few things that I miss most – Cajun filet chicken biscuits, delivery pizza and (because I just got over bronchitis and pink eye in my first month of being here) Campbell’s chicken noodle soup. It’s also funny how when I’m at home, McDonald’s is a last resort for me. Here though, it’s comforting because it’s so familiar.

This is actually the second time I’ve sat down to write this, because, to be honest, I’m still gathering my own thoughts about this whole experience. I’ve traveled more than some, but a lot less than others. One thing I have learned though is that your expectations are rarely
met –– in good ways and in bad. Things tend to either surpass our expectations, or they fall short. Things don’t always go as planned, and sometimes things downright suck. But honestly, even the things that suck are part of what makes these experiences so great.

For me, it kind of sucks being 4,000 miles away from Bojangles.’ It kind of sucks having to go to a doctor that you have trouble communicating your symptoms with. It kind of sucks being half a day away from my friends and family. But at the same time, I’m in a city many people dream about and never see. I get the chance to climb to the top of 850-year-old cathedrals that took 200 years to build. I get to stand in front of priceless paintings and sculptures of artists like Van Gogh and Da Vinci. I get to go to a school in a building that is a national monument commemorating the 200-year anniversary of the French Revolution, and I get to plan trips to other countries that can be done in a weekend. I get to learn how to really and truly stand on my own two feet in a country where I don’t even speak the language, and where I have to learn how to figure things out on my own.

I don’t really know what to expect for the next four months, but I know it’s going to be the adventure of a lifetime.

It’s intimidating, definitely – but what great adventure isn’t?

Till next time, Tigers.

-Kelsey

Montmarte

          

Museé D'Orsay

Le Seine

Hall of Mirrors, Versailles

Versailles