4,430 miles

...That's a rough calculation of how far Amy and I traveled over the past two weeks.  If we had been cool enough to wear pedometers for the course of the trip, I'm sure our numbers would have been absolutely ridiculous, especially considering the hundreds upon hundreds of steps we climbed.  Steps, we learned, are big in Europe.. we had been spoiled in nice, flat Copenhagen- everywhere we went, there were steps to the top of monuments, steps up to our hostel rooms, hills to climb, cliffs to walk on, and of course getting lost a few times and somehow ended up at a higher elevation than the castle in Prague.

If nothing else, we EARNED every delicious crepe, fried dough, sausage, schnitzel, Radler, pasta, gelato, and glass of wine that we had.  I suppose we had a great time on the way too.  :)


Before leaving, I was super stressed about packing and navigating through all the places we'd be going.  I had gotten so used to Copenhagen, and this was the first time I'd be traveling pretty substantial distances without the comfort of having school plan out everything for me.  You always hear horror stories about missed flights, sleeping in airports, exorbitant fines for not having the right train ticket, pickpockets, and other fun things like that.  Naturally, I was stressing (and admittedly still got pretty stressed as we moved from place to place), but we made it!!  In a carry-on bag,  mind you.

Amy and I are now expert packers and re-packers.  I don't think I'll ever struggle to pack for a weekend trip in a single backpack again.. or at least I'll never have an excuse anymore, since I lived out of a backpack for two weeks and had everything I needed.  Even after accumulating "sheep sweater" in Ireland and cursing it's existence every time we traveled thereafter, I managed to even bring home a few more small souvenirs, albeit at the expense of my towel, which I ditched in Sean's trash can in Rome.  Amy, who bought just a few more things than me, even convinced Baltic Air that her large plastic souvenir bag was a purse.

The most stylish handbag Europe has ever seen...

At this point, I feel like I could probably navigate public transportation semi-successfully any place I go, which makes me feel overall much more confident.  It's weird to think that when I was little, school trips had chaperones to keep us all together, tell us what to do, and guide us...  Now, I was suddenly set out into the world, didn't have to answer to anyone, spontaneously took a night train to Italy just because, and was responsible for myself.  When exactly did I grow up?  

As much confidence as navigating on our own gave me, it was SO nice to spend time with my friends who are abroad.  I can't thank them enough for not only letting us stay with them (even going so far as sleeping on the hard floor using a sweatshirt as a pillow like Dave did), but also taking the time to show us around and giving us a much needed break from reading maps and being 100% attentive to everything around us.  It was also so nice to see them all again.  The last time I saw many of them was over the summer, which feels both like it was just yesterday and also like it was ages and ages ago.  It was cool to see how the experience of being abroad has affected everyone and to hear about how they have grown as a result.  It makes me so happy to know that everyone we saw was loving their abroad experience as much as I'm loving mine, although they all differ so much.  The best part was being able to pick back up right where we left off- it was so nice catching up with people who knew me so well, and the many many hugs weren't bad either.

Being in Florence especially made us all realize, once again, that we're ACTUALLY abroad.  Since so many of our friends had gone there last year, we had all heard so much about the city.  Our Florence friends have been there for over two months, and we talked about how it was so cool how even though we were sitting at the same restaurant our friends loved so much last year and how we were just steps away from their old apartment, these were our stories now.  It might be the same city, but whereas before we felt that we weren't ready for our own abroad experience, we all agreed that this felt like our own.  Thinking back to last year when I thought about going abroad and how terrified I was to leave and how much I held on to every story I had ever heard about it, I no longer feel like I need to constantly compare everything to what my friend's did last year.  

We also had one more special friend with us through the whole trip...  Sheila.  Sheila the Sheep.

Amy carried Sheila around through all six countries..  It's a long story, but basically Sheila was a gift from Amy's boss at work.  After sending a picture of Sheila in Copenhagen back to her boss, it was such a hit that Sheila came on our two weeks of travel and got pictures in front of all the big monuments- sometimes getting even better pictures than Amy and I.  Clearly, Sheila was in her glory in Ireland, where her ancestors outnumber humans.  She liked Austria too, even though there are goats there instead.  The travels have taken a toll on her fragile frame (she's small and porcelain) but she, like Amy and I, survived and made it back to Denmark.  

It was a great two weeks, but its good to be back in my own bed and really notice how Copenhagen has started to feel like home.  It's bizarre not spending every waking moment with Amy though..  luckily, she's only across the courtyard.  But what am I going to do next semester?!  AH.  Luckily, we'll always have amazing memories with the most amazing friends in the most amazing places.  Thinking back on it, even now, I can't believe those two weeks were real.  One day London, the next Paris, Prague the day after.  Who does that?!  A study abroad student.

"We became the stories, we became the places."

:)