I wrote this the summer that I came home from studying abroad,

and just recently found it again.

I really love reading this - it's amazing to see my feelings on returning from my study abroad semester,
and looking at my feelings now, over two years later.

To have come home from such an adventure, and feel that I'd changed so much.
And seeing as I'm now London-bound for good in less than a week...
I guess it wasn't just a phase.

06.24.12

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

Never did I think that a semester abroad would change everything I was so confident about

and flip my desires to the future into a completely different direction. 

Thinking about leaving the country for almost half of a years time, all by myself? 

To be honest, that kind of scared me. 

With a little push and shove though, I decided that with my newly-found independence

I may as well get out there and try something else new on my own - a little adventure?

Might be good for me.

What I didn't realize, was how good it really was.

So much has been given to me in five short months away from my home that I never thought was possible.

I've learned the beauty of spontaneity. 

I've learned how much more there is to this world, beyond what I've known for so long. 

And there is still so much to learn - about yourself, about others, and about this world.

I have learned how much I am capable of - living in a completely new environment,

exploring a city that I knew nothing about 2 days before I decided to fly there for a weekend,

that I am so much stronger than I ever gave myself credit for. 

I remember trekking through Scotland and having that moment

where I realized how much more is out there for me. 

There is something about making the journey to get somewhere, taking a seat, 

and looking out at that incredible view that makes your see that your life and 

the possibilities are endless.

My favorite quote comes from J. R. R. Tolkien; 'Not all those who wander are lost.'

My goals and ideas for the future have changed drastically since I have gone on my adventure,

which can be stressful, but if I've come home with any knowledge 

regarding what's to come in my life though, it's that it isn't bad to drift off path a little bit, 

and that you may not be getting lost at all, but finding where you are supposed to be.

After our backpacking adventures during our month long 'spring break',

we had a weekend group trip to Scotland.

We were so exhausted from three weeks through Europe, that we were not looking forward to the visit at all.

I know. What kind of snobbish travel gods did we think we were? 'ughhh, Scotland. I'm like, SO tired from prancing through Europe already, but I guess we'll go...'

Anyways, like you've probably predicted, it was an amazing trip.

One of my favorites.

You can read more about what we did in this old ramble of a post here.

There are few moments when you really get that time to sit down and think about who you are,

and reflect on your life a bit.

But put me on top of the highest mountains and place me in front of an incredible view,

and you got it.

The Highlands in Scotland have some of the most amazing views I'll ever be able to see in my life.

They've got some incredible history as well.

I was able to look at some of the oldest mountains in the world and the newest mountains in the world,

right in the same view,

I was also able to stick my face in a pool of water that was supposed to give me eternal youth.

I'm still wondering why I'm getting older...

I like take pride in my amateur photography skills from this trip too.

Some may say it was the incredible views, but I say it's my natural-born camera skills...

And then you can see what Heather and I are working with...

During our study abroad 'spring break'

that was more like an entire month off of school,

Heather and I had purchased a Eurail Pass for our mini-backback trip

from Germany to Switzerland to Italy.

Our first stop was Munich,

where we spent our time mingling through the famous Hofbrauhaus, beer mug in hand,

eating pretzels, admiring the many lederhosen that were on sale everywhere,

and seeing as much as we could of the city.

When it was time to leave, we headed to the train station

to start the trip and hop on our first train that would take us down to Switzerland.

Heather and I are very smart - we like to know our surroundings, and make sure that we are where we are supposed to be.

Sometimes, though, we overlook it a little bit

and jump onto whatever we think is right -

which in this case, I mean literally jump onto a random train.

We had our tickets and were walking towards the track that our train was to depart from.

We were right on time, and noticed the train was getting ready to move,

so without hesitation we hurried on.

Well.

Turns out, this was the train that was leaving before the train we needed to get on was arriving on the same track.

Which is fine,

unless it's an overnight German workers train.

We walked on into a room that looked like a kitchen.
There were cabinets, a refrigerator, and a middle table with a wrap around booth.
Not exactly the normal train with rows of seats that we were used to.

By the time we finally realized, 'this is not where we're supposed to be'
the train start moving, and that was it.
We were stuck.

We walked down the connecting hallway, and saw the cabins
that were full of tiny bunk beds and men sleeping in them.

Not really knowing where or what to do,
we just took a seat in the kitchen and thought about our options.
Which was to sit there, and just hope this train wasn't traveling 15 hours to Poland or something.

When one of the guys finally came out, he was very surprised to be greeted 

by two young, clueless American girls.
He didn't speak much English, but understood our waving hands and 'we're not supposed to be on here!'
And from that, we understood from him that the train was traveling to Lucerne, Switzerland,
where we'd be able to get off and figure out the right train to board.

Within a few minutes, another German man came out,
who, while shocked to see us, didn't seem to care that he was only wearing a wife beater and tighty-whities in front of us.
He snapped some German to the first guy, and I'm assuming their conversation was about how we accidentally got on.
This man didn't quite understand that, and for the next hour we were on the train,
we were entertained by this scantily clad foreign man
yelling out 'you vill be arrested! *handcuffs gesture* you are not allowed!'

HEY. WE KNOW.

Luckily, it was only about an hour and a half train ride
before we arrived in Lucerne and could jump off.
The nice German man helped us get our bags off, and gave us a nice wave.
And the other one continued his German rant until we were out of sight and couldn't hear him.

Laughing as we exited, we passed a train employer who gave us a sly grin with eyes that were saying "Silly girls, what are you doing? ...you know you're not allowed to be on that train!"
With a cute smile back, we high-tailed it out to find the train that we were allowed to take.

Lesson of the day: (literally) don't jump on the first thing you think is right.
Or do, because it makes for a pretty funny memory.

Speaking of lessons, here's another one:
GET FREE STUFF IF YOU CAN.
AKA JOIN THIS GIVEAWAY!

I am so excited about the NEW Erin Condren Life Planners! They are so cute, I just had to link up with these ladies to co-host this giveaway.
Be sure to enter below for your chance to win one!

I'm pretty upset I didn't remember it for that post,

though I'm not sure it would surpass the one I did include about dodgy dudes and police officers..

Anyways,
while Heather and I were on our mini backpack excursion through Europe,
we spent a couple days in Interlaken, Switzerland.
The hostel we stayed in had an underground bar,
which happened to be really the only thing that was open at night in the small town.

The last night we were there, we made our way down to check out the place.
A tiny, but typical hostel bar, full of different groups of foreigners.
We got some drinks and took a seat at a table by ourselves,
but it wasn't too long before three guys who had been at the bar approached us.

They were three French guys
who spoke some English
... and by some English,
I meant they knew how to say "um," "no," and "what??"

One of the guys knew a little bit more, and was able to translate as best he could,
which wasn't very well.
But he disappeared once he realized
his friends had each grabbed one of us to talk to.

They sat with us for a few minutes.
Heather talked to one guy, and I was in conversation with another.

I use the word 'conversation' incredibly loosely,
as our conversations really went as followed:

Me: "Where are you from"
Him: "Where... em.. ???"
Me: "You have no idea what I'm saying do you..."
Him: *blank look of confusion*
Him: "You .. uh ... no ... um... " *waving his arms around trying to speak in sign*
Me: "well then..."

We didn't get much farther than that.

I did notice out of the corner of my eye though,
while Heather was focused on talking to the other guy,
the one I was speaking with gave his friend a look/nod,
as is the universal guy code for "dude we're totally going to nail these chicks!"

Which really just made me laugh.

It wasn't too long after that until Heather and I made our getaway
and mingled around to some other folks.

Later on in the night though, the guys showed up again and came straight over to us.
Attempt number 2 I guess..

The friend who spoke the most English leaned in to us
and explained that
"they had lost the key to their hotel room,
and they were going to have to stay in ours."

Um, what?

Heather and I gave a stare
as blank as the one I received trying to talk to the guy.

There wasn't even a need to use the excuse of a boyfriend.
We couldn't help but laugh with each other, followed with a
"Uhh ... no .. you're not staying in our room."

We floated around the bar a bit,
until we found a clean getaway
to get back to our room without being followed.

Let me break it down for you.
Three FOREIGN dudes,
can not understand a single word that comes out of our mouth
yet still think that they can 'read' signals we were (not) sending out,
that give them the impression that we were down to hook up?
And then their big plan for success,
is actually to say that they lost there key
and oh man, there's NO WAY we can get back into our room,
so we need to sleep with you.

How mind-boggling is it that this seriously happened?
How hilarious is it that it was an ACTUAL attempt to hit on a couple of girls?
And how easy was it to shut them down?

Too easy my friends,
way. too. easy.