Back in the USA

            I have been back in the USA for 4 days but it feels like a lifetime ago that I was leaving London. I think because we took so many weekend trips around Europe (and the fact that I have just been laying by the pool while home) that it feels like I’m just away for a few days and ill be back to our flat in no time. Traveling to a total of six different countries while abroad taught me so much both about their culture and about myself. Here are the highlights of what I learned while away.

French People do NOT like vegetarians. If I had a dollar for every person who asked me if it is difficult to be vegetarian since I became one in the beginning of high school I could pay my Drexel tuition no problem. Until I went to Paris the answer has always been no… now it is “no as long as I am not in France.” French food is heavy on meats of all kind and I’m pretty sure their definition of vegetables is frites and grapes used to make wine. They also don’t understand when you try to ask for something sans meats. Never the less I managed to survive the five days on pastries and cheese (not a challenge for me) and did manage to find the lone French waiter who understood and was nice enough to make me a special plate.

Prague has AMAZING food. If you can’t tell from my posts all summer I am obsessed with food. It is one of my favorite parts of traveling so I was so excited to get to Prague and discover that they had a lot of really good food. I wasn’t expecting much… maybe because I thought it would again be heavy on the meat, so when we sat down for out first meal I could barley contain my excitement. Highlight of our three days there (food wise) include avocado tartar and a strange but really good potato vegetable dish.

Avocado Tartar... Delicious!

Amsterdam is as beautiful in the rain as it is in the sun. Since Europe decided to grace us with all sorts of extreme weather this summer it wouldn’t be complete without the worst storm Amsterdam has seen in 10 years. I may have spent the majority of the weekend looking at my umbrella but when I did get to glimpse the canals they looked very picturesque with abandoned bikes leaning against railings.

Barcelona has the most unique architecture out of the counties we went to. When planning what we were going to do the thought of going to more churches seemed a little overwhelming given we had already been to so many. However we decided to go anyway and I am so glad we did. Although La Sagrada Familia isn’t finished yet it was the most beautiful church we saw and the architecture was so unlike anything else we saw this summer.

Inside La Sagrada Familia

   The Amalfi Coast is the most beautiful place in the whole world. Ok so I actually kind of knew this since I went with my parents once but I was only in middle school so my memory wasn’t very clear. Going again really showed me that it was even more beautiful then I remembered… and that the food is the best! I also was able to make it to more towns then I did with my parents and really saw how each one had such a different flavor. It is almost not fair to clump them together as “The Amalfi Coast” since each differs greatly from the next.

Having London as our home base meant we spent the most time there and as such it taught me more then any of you want to read. That being said I’ll leave it at this… Go to Duck and Waffle at 3am. Located on the 40^th floor you get an amazing view of the city and it’s so special to go at night. The atmosphere is so unique as it is a 24 hour restaurant however unlike those in America it isn’t a diner or anything like it that is usually open late night. We went on our last night out in the city and it was the perfect way to see the city for the last time. Since it was a perfect ending to our trip I’ll also let it be the ending to my posts and to my junior year at Drexel.

The view from Duck and Waffle-- the photo does not do justice!