I’ve been back in the US for about 3 days now and I’m totally devastated. All I can think about is going back to Europe. I’ve officially been bitten by the “Europe Bug.” I can’t wait to go back and I’ve already started planning my next trip. Going overseas was the best thing that has happened in my life thus far. I’m so proud of myself and everything that I accomplished by going to school in Europe. I feel so much more confident in myself and in my future. Going over there has given me so many incredible memories and new friends and I’m so thankful for the opportunities that I had. Studying Abroad was incredible and I strongly believe that every person should go. It will change your life for the better.

Rome was so amazing. It seems like I say that about every place I visit but its true, each place is way more incredible than you could ever imagine. The city was way bigger than I thought it would be and the lines at all the major attractions were longer than expected so plan ahead for that. Also there is a dress code for the Sistine chapel and the Vatican so look into that before you go because if you’re not following the dress code they won’t let you in. The coliseum is really cool and the guided tours are awesome because they can tell you all kinds of history that you may not know. All in all I didn’t get to see everything I wanted to in Rome because it’s just too big. You should definitely make a list of the top things in the city you want to see before you have to leave to make sure that you at least get to see the things that are most important to you. It’ll help out a lot when you’re out during the day trying to figure out which site to see next.

Ciao from Capri Italy! I never ever want to leave this island! It’s beautiful here. The water is so amazingly clear, and the scenery is breathtaking. This place is what people think of when they imagine paradise. Today we went on a boat tour of the island where we got to go to the blue grotto and swim inside it! It was amazing. After that we rented a boat and went to one of the grottos and went swimming. Capri is a little on the expensive side but it’s worth every single penny. I’ve never been to a more beautiful place and I know that no beach in the future will ever top this place. We’re off to Rome tomorrow for the rest of the weekend. I can’t wait!

Paris was incredible. By far the most beautiful, amazing place I’ve ever been. They have the bus tours like the ones in Berlin but I would walk and use the subway system. You can get weekend and all day passes for the subway and when you walk you get to see all of the amazing architecture in the city. Everyone has to walk up the Eiffel tower, don’t take the elevator! It’s an awesome feeling of accomplishment and amazing views if you walk up. I would definitely stay till dusk and watch it light up at night. I didn’t while I was there because we were afraid to ride the subway that late at night (our hostel was pretty far out of the city) but I really regret not doing it. We went do Disney Paris while we were there too. If you are a Disney fan I would totally go. It’s different from the parks in the US and totally worth it. Especially the fireworks show at the castle at night.

Getting ready for this weekend’s trip to Paris, France! Definitely the weekend I’m most excited for. Disneyland, the Eiffel tower, Notre Dame, and so many other cool things all in one city, I can’t wait! One thing to do though is make sure you book a hostel way in advance for Paris. They apparently book up really fast and are pretty expensive. The only other thing I have for you today is: if you are ever in Germany/Austria/somewhere with a German culture eat a doner kebab. It’s the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. Just do it 🙂

I went on my first “solo” excursion over the weekend to Berlin, Germany. Not exactly what I was expecting but definitely cool! I went with 5 other people in the program and we had a blast. My suggestion would be to get on one of the hop on hop off bus tours because Berlin is way too big of a city to try to walk the whole thing. The bus tour was like 10 Euro per person and totally worth it. Make sure you go to Checkpoint Charlie while you’re there-it’s very busy but very cool! And make sure to see the area of the Berlin Wall that is left. We ate dinner on a boat that cruised the river while you eat and it was amazing. The city is absolutely beautiful at night! Also there are some great hostels to stay at right outside of the train station that are really affordable and in a great location. The train station itself is really cool too-take a few minutes to look around it if you have time.

Today is one week since I’ve been here. I’m finally starting to get used to the new culture. It’s definitely a shock for your brain to not really be able to understand what the people around you are saying and to get used to not being able to read any of the street signs and stuff like that. Our classes have started and the professors are really cool and the classes are neat. I’m taking International Business and International Management where we learn about stuff like sustainable business practices and the process a company goes through when they’re globalizing their business. So far it’s really interesting especially the sustainability stuff because Europe is way more “green” than America is. Everyone recycles here and is super environmentally conscious. It’s an interesting take since most of what we learn in the US is just profit based business practices. I’m excited to learn more about how business works over here.

So first things first-Jet Lag…It’s no joke. I’m a Louisville native so I live there all the time. For my flight to Austria I choose to fly on the group flight (another really cool thing about the KIIS program where most of the students fly over together to give you extra time to get to know each other). Our travel plans were kind of intense because Bregenz doesn’t have an international airport and the closest one is about 2 hours away. So my entire day was travel, travel, travel. I left Louisville with my family around 7 and headed to Cincinnati, which is where our first flight was departing from. We got to Cincinnati around 9 and stopped for some breakfast which everyone should do before they get on any flight because airport food is always expensive. After breakfast we went to the airport and I got checked in for my flight and checked my luggage and whatnot (by the way for the girls out there, I had one checked bag, a carry on, and a pretty full backpack and was fine. I know people say to take as little as possible but I had a lot of stuff in those three bags and was okay getting around the airport and whatnot by myself) and then said goodbye to my family which wasn’t as sad as I thought it would be. I had too much adrenaline and was way too excited to be sad! So basically I spent the next 18 hours or something like that on a plane which was very, very boring. I tried this technique where I thought I would only sleep during the hours that I would normally be sleeping which didn’t work at all. If you’re flying overseas my advice would be sleep as much as you possibly can. Take sleeping pills if you need to because if you don’t then you will be a zombie once you get to your destination which is no fun at all. I missed basically my entire first day here in Austria because I hadn’t slept at all. So when you’re on a plane just sleep. That’s my only advice so far but classes start tomorrow here so I’m sure I’ll have more advice soon.