Week 37: One last grand excursion (before the fam arrives!)

Well here I am, writing to you from Vienna! What an awesome week this has been so far! And of course a major part of the reason why this week has been so awesome is all the travel I’ve been doing, and all the friends I’ve been seeing! Not the least of whom is my best friend of course, my twin, with whom I started out the week, but who regrettably couldn’t join me for the rest of it due to exams. Nevertheless, I will be rejoining her before she knows it, so I hope she’s not too cooped up in Lille in the meantime.

Monday was another absolutely free day, and so of course Alex and I filled it up with Netflix, and specifically Downton Abbey. She actually got caught up on Once Upon a Time, and so now she wants me to catch up on that too… but that’s a different story. I wanted to write more of my blog, as I’m still behind, but didn’t quite get there. I will find time somewhere. I swear, this is one of the times in my life where I have put forth almost all the effort that is in me! …which isn’t saying too much, as I’m still behind… but anyways. Since we would be leaving the next day for our big trip, I actually pulled myself away from the screen long enough to get most of my stuff packed in my little carry-on suitcase, and we had a quick dinner before more Netflix and then bed.

The morning brought more lazy time, and even more Netflix, but eventually it really was time to get going, and so I threw a couple last things into my suitcase and we ran some errands like starting the process of closing Alex’s bank account. We ended up leaving for our shuttle to the airport at 3:30PM, and then we were off! We arrived at Charleroi airport excited for a new adventure, and we ended up chomping down some apples that we had got for a snack at the grocery store. Once we got our visas checked and got through security, there was nothing stopping us from getting to our destination! Our flight to Budapest was quite late, it got in at around 11:00PM, and so we had a taxi take us to our Airbnb place that we had previously set up. It was nice to be able to take a taxi and not have to conform to the times and conveniency of public transport (though we really didn’t have the latter as an option so late at night). Once we arrived at the place we would be staying, we had a good chat with the very nice and polite host, Alexandra, and then since we wanted to get a jump on the next day, we settled in for the evening and made sure we had everything ready for the next day.

Ready to set off for a new adventure!

Airbnb, sweet Airbnb - what a relief it was to finally make it here.

Seeing as the public baths we had preregistered for opened at 6:00AM, we were in no hurry to get there exactly when they opened (why would any college kid do such a thing?), so we started out the morning decently early but not garishly so. We went down to the metro, which was pretty old and a little sketchy-looking, and initially we couldn’t find the machine to get metro tickets, and so we hopped on the train thinking nothing of it - until we ran into transport agents in the station we arrived at, and got a fine for not having tickets. (Lesson learned: always look for a ticket machine.) After that little hiccup, we actually met up with our friends from Lille, Milan and Akela, as they had been there for the weekend and would be leaving the next day. We met them up for lunch, and after an excellent lunch recommended by Akela, we all made our way over to the baths (Szechenyi baths, for anybody interested to know :)), and then Milan and Akela went on their sightseeing way. We had absolutely wonderful day at the baths, swimming around in the many, many pools and even treating ourselves to massages, and after having a bit of lunch on the deck, we swam around a bit more, stopped by the castle not too far away, which was a beautiful sight, and then by the time we headed back to our place, we were pretty tuckered out. We found some Chinese food for dinner on the way, funny enough, and then we made it back and flopped into bed - but not before enjoying some screwdrivers with the vodka that Milan and Akela had left us (as they had had a flight in the morning). All in all, it was an excellent day!

Alex looking cute in the ancient metro ^^

Meeting up with Milan and Akela! 

Getting in a tiny bit of sightseeing with Milan and Akela.
Here we are in front of Budapest Cathedral.

Me in one of the beautiful outdoor pools!

The beautiful castle near the city center (also an attempt to cram in some sightseeing).

The Champs-Élysées of Budapest, looking down the road from Heroes' Square

The next day was our sightseeing day, and so after a night of screwdrivers, we got up perhaps a little later than we should have, but feeling fine. It took us a while in the morning to get everything straightened out and organized for the day, and so we got out the door a little later, but we still had plenty of time to see the beautiful sights in Budapest. We of course hit up the main sights, the President’s residence across the river and the Parliament building right on the river, and then we did some plain old walking around as well. We went at a pretty slow pace, but it was nice to sit down and enjoy everything as well - quite a contrast to most of the trips I’ve been on this year. After a full day of sightseeing, we had been planning to sleep in the airport (perhaps not the best choice, but Alex’s flight was ridiculously early), and so our Airbnb host drove us to the airport and we settled in for a pretty short night.

Parliament

A beautiful day in a beautiful city.

Right in front of Parliament - it was an absolutely gorgeous building!

The President's Residence

Heroes' Square

The beautiful old train station in Budapest.

Very early the next morning, Alex and I made our way up to check in and security to get Alex all set up, and we discovered that no one should ever fly on WizzAir airlines. They are a low-cost airline, and so yes, the price of the flight was nice, but then for their “free” carry-on, their size standard is about half that of even other low-cost airlines, and so we ended up having to pay a hefty fee just for Alex to have a normal-sized bag. It ended up being alright in the end, and I bid Alex goodbye as she made her way into security. A bittersweet moment for both of us, to be sure; it’s not just saying goodbye to someone, it’s saying goodbye to my best friend, no matter for how short a time. After seeing Alex off, I picked up my things, jumped on the metro and headed over to the bus station to catch a bus to Vienna! That wouldn’t be my final destination, but I actually ended up registering for a German carpooling website and managing to get a ride from Vienna to Klagenfurt, a city closer to Graz in the south of Austria, which is where my Lille friend Anna is from.

Right when I got to the bus stop in Vienna, I had enough time to charge my phone a bit, and so I relaxed with a café au lait and a croissant while checking for updates from my friend. Before too long, I headed over to the meeting place, which was about 20 minutes away on the U-bahn, and then I ate my lunch, wrote more of my blog, and eventually caught the carpool. My goodness, the ride was the most beautiful of my life!! I had never seen such rolling green hills, that really did seem alive (not necessarily with the sound of music, but certainly with some surreal quality). The driver of the carpool was nice, and she spoke English well (I don’t think I would have been able to get the ride if she didn’t!), and the conversation on the way was mostly in German, but every so often the driver would try to include me in on the conversation by asking me a question or two in English. Altogether, it was an excellent leg of the journey. Finally, I was in Klagenfurt, I waited a little bit, and then Anna and her mother came to get me from the train station! I felt immediately welcomed into her family, which was a really nice way to start my stay in Austria. Plus, I was more than excited to see my friend whom I hadn’t seen in months, really since January when I had left! We dropped my suitcase at Anna’s house, and then we went exploring a bit: we took a walk down by the lake just a few minutes away, and then later Anna’s mom joined us for an evening foray into the town next to theirs, where we saw lots of really nice cars due to a car festival that’s currently underway in Klagenfurt, and even stopped for some gelato before heading back home (and I also couldn't resist the call of the playgrounds near the town center!). It was such a great night!

On Saturday, we definitely wanted to capitalize on as much of the day as possible, as it would be the only full day I had in Klagenfurt, sadly. We had a lovely breakfast, and I even tasted my first soft-boiled egg (which was excellent!), and then before too long, Anna and I headed out to see the few different towns around the lake. Her actual town is really called Krumpendorf, and there are several others along the lake (which really reminds me of Cinque Terre in Italy!). We were dropped off in the center of Klagenfurt, where we walked around some churches, the main square with the famous dragon statue, and we both learned lots about the history of the town. We had an interesting discussion about how people like me, tourists in this case, expect inhabitants to know what we want to know about their own city, that is, all the legends, numbers, and facts, but really, inhabitants aren’t geared toward tourism, obviously; they just live there. I certainly don’t know too much about Waukesha, except that it used to be a spa town back at the turn of the 20th century because of the then-recently discovered natural hot springs in the city. We even walked through the market right by the main square of the city, where we got some souvenirs, as well as some presents for our moms, since it was Mother’s Day!

One of the oldest churches in the city.

This church had such a beautiful interior!

A quaint little main street we encountered as we made our way around town.

In the middle of the town square, there was this fountain, depicting part of the legendary history of Klagenfurt...
which apparently includes a dragon, and the figure on the right defeating him.

We saw this Maypole on one side of the town square, which Anna told me it's tradition to climb up...

...so I couldn't resist having a go at it :)

Harley Davidson gathering in the town square... say what??!!

Because, Austria... :)
(We found these at the market - a little shot bench, one shot for each decade of a 40-year-old's life.)

Lunch at the market, with typical Klagenfurt fare as the feature.

Eventually, we made our way over to a park, where we met up with another one of our friends from Lille, Dina! (Did I mention I made lots of international friends in Lille? :)) We hung out for a while in the park, catching up and chatting about future plans: looks like a Masters degree in either Paris, Berlin or Vienna is in the works for Dina, and Anna will be doing an International Studies masters program as well... and I'm still a little up in the air on that count. After such a great chat, we said another bittersweet goodbye, as Dina has her bachelor’s thesis to work on, and then Anna and I strolled around the city some more. She even showed me her university, which I think is really cool when I go to visit friends - not only do I usually get to see where they live, I sometimes get to see where they actually get to go to school all the time! Can’t say as much for taking friends to my university across the pond haha. After seeing Anna’s university, we headed to the lake again, which was a beautiful sight, and grabbed some coffee while taking in the gorgeous views. If there’s ever a reason why I’m going back to Austria (apart from visiting friends, of course), it will be for the exquisite natural scenery!

Anna, Dina and I. We had a great time catching up!

The Opera House in Klagenfurt

Anna and her lovely university ^^

On our way back home, we ran into some fun signs, like this one.
(Take me to any of these places!)

Anna already misses Lille and France!

After all that, we finally made it back to Anna’s home, where I met Anna’s extended family come to visit from Vienna! What a wonderful get-together - I got to see a fascinating mix of Austrian and Philippine culture at play. We chilled in Anna’s room for a bit, in which time I worked on my blog a tiny bit and chatted with my sisters on Viber, and then we returned for a barbecue with the whole family, which ended up being a lot of fun! We started off with some jokes, and Anna’s family told me all about how her cousins need to practice their English and so I was the perfect person to talk to, and they told me clever riddles and jokes and stories, and even performed some card tricks! It was one of the best Saturday evenings I’ve spent in a while - I am so glad I got to meet most of Anna’s family. They are all so nice and welcoming and friendly. Anna and I then got a little bit of fresh air with a walk down by the lake, took some more photos of the astounding landscape, and then made our way back to the house. One thing I will say is that these people certainly are not shy about being night owls; we were singing Christian songs to the tune of Anna’s aunt’s guitar until the wee hours of the morning, and they even continued after Anna and I went up to bed. Although, before we actually fell asleep, I had one very important chore to attend to: Anna had to see The Sound of Music for the first time! We got through about an hour of it before I started to fall asleep, and so Anna suggested that we save it for another time, to which I agreed, and we made our way to bed.

The mountains were never completely out of sight.

A beautiful evening at the beautiful lake. What a great end to a great day!

My time was short in Klagenfurt on Sunday; unfortunately, as I had booked a morning bus back to Vienna, I couldn’t attend mass with Anna and her family, but we certainly made the most of our morning. What I hadn’t discovered in Lille was that Anna actually is a trained singer, and as a parting gift, she played piano and sang “Someone Like You” by Adele! That was such a beautiful moment, and if my voice hadn’t been so weakened by a nasty cold, I could have actually sang with her, but as it was, I really enjoyed and appreciated it - she has a fantastic voice! Then, Anna’s mom was even so kind as to pack me lunch, and then she drove me to the bus station to catch my bus to Vienna. What a wonderful stay it was! I really couldn’t have asked for more for this weekend. On the four-hour bus ride to Vienna, I intended to work on my blog, but I really just ended up sleeping a lot, since I hadn’t had that much sleep over the weekend (which probably did nothing for my cold). Since it ended up that I hadn’t booked a place to stay in Vienna for tonight, Anna’s family was nice enough to offer me to stay with them in their apartment, and so I took a few hours to change my cash from Hungarian Florints to euros, charge my phone in a café, and of course see some sights in Vienna such as St. Stephen’s Cathedral and the Hofsburg. After doing a tiny bit of souvenir shopping, I made my way to the apartment, a journey which was seamless due to some very clear and accurate directions from Anna’s cousin Jenny... and here I am!

St. Stephen's Cathedral, almost exactly as I remember it from when I visited Vienna
at the end of a previous trip to Slovakia!

The beginning of the Museumsquartier, the area where there were so many museums in which
you could lose yourself for a month! Plus just a pretty area in general.

The Hofsburg, a beautiful castle in the middle of downtown Vienna.

A delicious Viennese coffee I got while waiting for my phone to charge.

What a week this has been. I know I say that with almost every week, but really - one after the other, they keep surprising me, in the best ways possible! First traveling with my best friend for the middle part of the week, then spending the weekend with a friend in her hometown (which is one of the coolest ways to discover a new city if you ask me!), and now on  to visiting another friend in the capital city of her country! I can’t get enough of Austria, and I can’t wait to meet up with Nina to discover the city I’ve only seen once before. Before I say too much, I’ll leave more adventures for next week - see you soon!

Week 36: Pilgrimage! ...and goodbyes.

What an incredible week this past one has been! I have experienced (a tiny part of) the Camino de Santiago, crossed a country border twice, and learned so much more about the culture of Spain… just in time to leave, unfortunately. However, I am constantly reminded that you’re not supposed to cry because it’s over, but rather smile because it happened. So, through this blog post, I will attempt to find all the happiness I can in these experiences, even though they are flying by like nobody’s business.

Our start day to the excursion was Sunday, but we really started going on Monday. We had a reception from the municipal government in Zamora, which was a cool way to welcome us to the place and learn about the history. The professor who talked about such history was a little dry, and so it was difficult for some of us to stay interested, much less even stay awake, but in the end, the information did sink in a bit as we were given guided tours of the city itself.

Waiting for city officials to address us in Zamora.

A statue of a hero who saved Zamora back in Roman times.

Learning about the history of the cathedral.

Ruins of a castle.

A beautiful bridge along the river in Zamora.

Tuesday had been the day I had most been looking forward to: it was the day we went to Portugal to walk a sizable part of the actual Camino de Santiago! We took a 3-hour bus to the city we’d be hiking through, called Braganza, and had an amazing time. Everybody made sure to keep pace with each other, and we ended up at lunch in a hotel not too far from our destination. We stopped off at an ecological center in Branganza where we had also been invited to visit, and so the people there told us about the town and what it does for the Camino. In the end, it was one of my favorite days of the trip!

Hello Portugal!

Ready to roll!
[Taken just before we departed on our walking way.]

We found some poppies along the way!

We even managed to come across quite a friendly donkey.

The main church in Braganza.

Wednesday was a neat day because we went to another tiny little town called Puerta de Sanabria, where we met with more city representatives, and as we learned about the ecological system there, we also hopped on a type of environmental boat with glass covering (not a glass-bottom boat). It was funny because at one point, they tried to get us to believe that the lake was inhabited by a type of Loch Ness Monster, but the effects were just a bit too manufactured to be convincing, but we definitely all had a good laugh. We would all say later that this was basically our favorite part of the trip, except for a few. We then proceeded to an education center to learn more about the ecology of the lake and the disastrous flood that happened in the area in recent history, which was an interesting experience; we watched a video about the disaster, and then got to walk around the exhibit in the center.  Before too long, we were all ready to head home, and so after having lunch at a roadside restaurant in Sanabria and tasting some local cuisine, we returned to Zamora where we had been able to leave the rest of our things during this little trip, and had some free time before continuing on with the day.

The lake at Sanabria. What a beautiful place.

Learning about the lake. The guy in the picture even dove in the lake
with scuba gear to give us a live view of underwater ruins!

Walking into the education center.

Medieval architecture all over the city.

A stone sign addressed to pilgrims following the Way of St. James.

An example of some of the beautiful architecture in the tiny village.

The end to this amazing journey was on Thursday, as we woke up super early to be able to return to Madrid at a decent hour. We got back to Toledo just before lunch, and as everyone ate, we all shared our plans with each other about where we would be traveling, or if we’d be going back home. At least a good portion of students returned home on Friday… but first we had to get there. Before Friday came, we decided to make the most of our time left in Spain and do as the Spaniards do: party! Allison and I met up with Rodrigo and his friends for one last time, to celebrate a festival important to Toledo where everyone that night camped in tents in the valley. Allison and I decided to make a night out of it, and so we stayed up, dancing all the night away with our friends. All too soon, morning came - and by morning, I mean 5:00AM, when we all had to be up and about to be in Madrid for some people’s early morning flights.

One last night of partying with our Spanish friends :)

It was sad to say goodbye definitively to everyone, especially since some of us had become really close during our semester stay, but as some of the group had flights right away in the morning, it was a short and sweet goodbye. A kind-hearted and fun-loving coordinator of the program, Yuki, mentioned on the way to the airport that she would be upset if not everybody was crying, and weirdly I wasn’t, and so she jokingly started sulking around, but in the end, there were enough tears shed between the whole group to float us all into the airport. This moment definitely reminded me of how I had made so many transient friends during the semester, and not people who were in Toledo, but rather people I met while traveling. It’s sad to reflect on the fact that sometimes you make such good connections with people, you just seem to really click with them, and yet you have to say goodbye probably for forever, so soon. Anyways.

The group parted ways before too long, but thankfully some of my friends weren’t leaving Madrid right away, at least not in the morning, and so we hung out in Madrid, seeing a few more sights and ducking into a few more cafés. Allison in particular didn’t have her flight until later in the evening, and so we strolled around Madrid, trying to tick a few last boxes off our lists, including buying a few last souvenirs. In the end, we made sure Allison got to the airport early enough to get through security and all without rushing, and finally it was just me in the Madrid airport for most of the afternoon and into the evening, as my flight wasn’t until the following morning. Luckily, I found a (relatively) comfy place to sleep, on a couch in a little café, and so I cozied up with my bags and settled in for the nicest night’s sleep I’ve ever had in an airport.

In the morning, I made sure to set a few alarms just in case, but I woke up quite soundly at 6:00AM. After freshening up a bit in the restroom, I collected all my bags, and made my way to my flight that would take me from Madrid to Brussels, Belgium. My friend Fatima had ever so graciously agreed to meet me at the airport to help me get all my luggage on the train to Lille, and also to help me navigate everything since she speaks the language (Flemish), and she actually came with to Lille, where we all made quite a day of it! Fatima is lucky enough to live close to Lille, only an hour or two away by train, and so she can visit whenever she wants (theoretically, at least), so a day trip to her study abroad city was no big deal (that galls me just thinking about such a thing in my context!). I actually got to meet Alex’s Canadian friend Krista, who is absolutely a riot! It was great to meet her best friend in Lille, and I had heard so many good things about her. After dropping my bags off in Alex’s room, Fatima and I went to hang out with some of our friends from my old residence, walking around Vieux Lille, enjoying some more Merveilleux pastries that were absolutely delicious. In the end, we ended up visiting my old residence at my insistence, because I wanted to play some ping pong like old times, and there we happened to run into my former neighbor, who was all French charm, and also Rob! We chatted for a bit, and then all too soon it was time for us to part ways. Luckily, parting ways wasn’t too sad for me, because I had my best friend to return to! Alex and I chatted for a while, sat down with Krista to eat some delicious fried rice for dinner, and then she did a dangerous thing: she introduced me to Downton Abbey. Of course I’m now hooked on the series, just as she is, and so now I have to carve time out in my schedule to watch it all… Maybe this summer. :) and so the evening slipped away before us, and we eventually snuggled up and went to sleep.

Finally, Sunday has rolled around - and I got to go to mass with Alex and Krista at the cathedral that I ended up really liking in Lille! (Not least of which because it was only two minutes walking from my residence :)) That was a really nice way to start the day, and we even grabbed some coffee and croissants from a café right across the street afterwards, as our little homage to Sunday morning brunch at home. When we got back to Alex’s place, we settled right back into watching Downton Abbey. It is such a good show! We eventually got around to packing for our upcoming trip a little bit, but we didn’t quite get all packed. Oh well, we still have until Tuesday… Anyways, in the evening we had quiche with Krista again, which was excellent (even though I got stuck with dishwashing duty), especially since Alex made it! So in the end, it turned out to be a great Sunday.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned before - Alex and I are planning to go to Budapest together this Tuesday! We’ll be there until very early Friday morning, and so we’re planning to go to the famous public baths for some pampering, and then walk around and see the sights in the city. After that, I’m planning on meeting my friend Anna up in her hometown of Klagenfurt, Austria, and then onto Vienna meeting up my other Austrian friend Nina, and finally on my own onto Prague. It’s our last big trip before our family gets here in just a couple weeks now, so we just cannot wait!

My trip to the Camino de Santiago only fanned the flames further for me, in the way of wanting to come back someday and do an actual pilgrimage on the whole trail. Ideally, it starts in Paris, and you walk all the way down south through France, through the Pyrenees, and then west onto the northwest coast of Spain, to Santiago de Compostela, which is where St. James the Great is buried. I hope to be able to do this sometime soon, seeing as I’m only getting older and I’d like to do all of this while young and unattached, so I hope I can organize something within the next few years already. I already want to come back to Europe as soon as I can after I finish my degree at St. Norbert! And with that, I think I’ve done quite enough reflecting for this last little paragraph of the week, and so I’ll say my goodbye - ¡Hasta pronto!