Man's best friend, indeed
Laura Butterbrodt
Multimedia Journalist
Bulgaria Week 8 & 9
March 5-18, 2018
Saturday, March 10
1:30 a.m.
Hello from Amsterdam! I arrived in the city at about 5:30 tonight with Raj and Aarya, and we have just been exploring the city a bit with a couple of Aarya’s friends, Kavya and Sumit, who are joining us on our trip. It’s my first time staying in a hostel!
The beginning of my week was not too eventful. Everyone had midterms and projects due before spring break, so we all kept a pretty low profile while we all tried to study.
I flew back to Bulgaria from Athens Monday morning, and spent the rest of the day rewriting my blog that I forgot to save from the night before. It was more exciting than my homework, so of course it had a higher priority. Then a bunch of us watched The Shape of Water after it won so many Oscars.
The rest of the week was mostly just filled with me thinking about what I should be doing and continuing to not do it, but I did end up completing all my homework. Killin it! I had a presentation yesterday that went really well, so overall it was a successful week.
Thursday was International Women's Day. People in Bulgaria make a way bigger deal out of it than I've known people to in the US! Lots of people gave away flowers, and Ana and Max both gave me some <3
Celebrating being done with midterms! Ana, Cyriane, Max, Lea
Lea and I struggle with being apart so I left a part of me with her <3
So far I really like Amsterdam! We have only seen it at night, and it’s really rainy here. It’s supposed to be raining basically our whole break, no matter where we go, but I’m just happy to be here. I’m excited to see the city in the daylight because it seems really beautiful!
I’m going to get some rest now so I’m all ready for a day of exploring tomorrow, but I knew if I didn’t write down anything now I would get too busy later and forget.
Monday, March 12
2:20 p.m.
Amsterdam was so beautiful! I am now on a train with Raj and Aarya to Brussels for the next leg of my trip.
Saturday we met up with Fabrice, Kavya and Sumit. We went to a coffeeshop, then had lunch at a place called The Grasshopper. (Edit: Apparently the restaurant we were at was a different restaurant inside the same building as The Grasshopper?) After that we got on a hop-on hop-off canal boat. I wasn’t feeling very well, so I spent most of the evening sleeping at the hostel. I was super well rested after those 14 hours of sleep though!
Yesterday was a better day. We did a lot of the touristy things, including Body Worlds, the I AMsterdam sign, the Sexmuseum, the Heineken Experience museum and the Amsterdam Icebar. We even walked through the Red Light District last night. Very interesting!!! Can you tell by our itinerary that I am traveling with five boys? Kavya and I are the only girls so we have to look out for each other. So far it’s been just fine!
Body Worlds, a museum that uses bodies donated to science to display human anatomy, was cool but it was smaller than I expected and it was a lot of things I had learned in Mrs. Carmany’s high school anatomy class :)
I really wanted to go to the Anne Frank museum, but tickets were sold out for the whole weekend. Bummer! The Icebar was literally just a giant room covered in ice where you enter, take two shots from a shotglass made of ice and leave. I can just go outside in Minnesota and do that! It was fun though, and just another part of the experience.
Soo many people at the I AMsterdam sign!
At the Icebar: Me, Max, Raj, Sumit, Kavya, Aarya, Fabrice.
At the I AMsterdam sign when it was less crowded
Max, Fabrice, Raj, me, Kavya.
I think my favorite thing was the Heineken Experience, even though I don’t like beer. It was a huge walk-through tour and there were lots of amazing graphics and interactive technology displays. It ended at a bar where we got free Heineken. I managed to finish one glass all by myself – a huge accomplishment for me!
Amsterdam is so beautiful with all the canals and buildings alongside the water. I felt like everyone was a tourist, though, and almost everyone was American. I even met a couple of girls from Minnesota in line for brunch!
It also seemed like everyone in the city was under the age of 40. I guess it’s a popular place for young people to visit. It was really fun, but I don’t think I could live there. I would definitely get run over by a bike – they are EVERYWHERE!
Something I ordered for brunch at Omelegg (I don't remember what it was called, but I met some girls from Minnesota while we waited in line to get a table!)
Stroopwaffle <3
A delicious pancake to start my last day in Amsterdam
Me and Max (Photo credit to Aarya)
Aarya and Raj being photogenic on the metro
Me and Fabrice
Photo credit to Aarya but I just really love this picture
Friday, March 16
11 a.m.
Brussels has been so great! Honestly, I did not know what to expect from Brussels at all. In fact, I’m sorry to admit when I first met Ana when I got to Bulgaria and she said she was from Brussels, I had to look up where it was. I had never really heard of any of the attractions to see here other than the statue of the little boy peeing (which I have since learned is called Manneken Pis).
When we got to Brussels, we met up with Sumit and Kayva again, who had an earlier bus. We grabbed some pasta (I forgot what good lasagna tasted like because of the AUBG canteen ruining it), then Max’s train arrived and we headed to the Airbnb. It was a really nice space, but it was essentially a private hostel because it was five beds all lined up next to each other in a big room. I’ve gotten so used to sharing a room with other people that I don’t even care anymore.
Our first night, we stayed in for most of the time hanging out. We got some really gross tacos delivered, then we went out to check out the bar Delirium, which has more than 2,000 types of beer available. Of course, since I don’t like beer I didn’t really care, but they played really great music and Sumit provided our entertainment for the night. Our Airbnb was really far away from everything, so we took Uber almost everywhere we went in the city. Everything seems to be really spread out. I was surprised by how big Brussels actually is!
The next morning we went to a restaurant called Peck 47 for brunch then walked around the area, where we found the Grand Place, which is Brussels’ central square.
Then we found Manneken Pis, which really was our main goal of the day. I was glad the Belgians from AUBG warned me that it was really small, because it probably would have been disappointing if I was expecting to see a gigantic (or even life-size) child peeing instead of a tiny little statue. We also found the dog version of the statue.
Next we took an Uber to Autoworld, which is a big museum that walks you through the evolution of cars and the famous models and tells where they were made. Personally, it was not my favorite place just because I don’t care about cars at all. I did like the exhibit with the VW vans decorated with the Flower Power patterns, but other than that I was mostly just trying not to fall asleep. Once again, that’s what I get for traveling with boys :)
Outside the museum was the Cinquantenaire, which was so beautiful! From there we walked through a park, then continued to another park that was similar to the first park but (apparently) smaller. Fascinating stuff. Then we Ubered back to the main area with shops and restaurants near the Grand Place to get Belgian waffles. That sugar was what I needed to regain my strength! But only temporarily, because when we got back to the Airbnb after that I took a nice long nap to get ready to go out.
Cinquantenaire
Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History
We met up with Laury and a group of her friends from her school here in Brussels. We started at an event hosted by her school, then they took us to another bar that was serving some great Sex on the Beach drinks.
Wednesday we let ourselves sleep in (probably because none of them wanted to deal with a sleepy Laura again after the day before) and ordered ramen to our apartment. Honestly, without Uber I don’t know what our Brussels experience would have been like because I feel like everything we did revolved around its service.
We finally headed out around 3 p.m. and went to the Atomium and Mini-Europe. MINI EUROPE WAS SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE AUTOWORLD! It was adorable: a huge park with miniature replicas of all of the biggest attractions for each European country with the history and relevance of the site. I loved being able to say I’d been to quite a few of the places! <3 Click the photo slider for full pictures.
Been there!
Right across the street from Mini Europe was Atomium, which was made for the 1958 World’s Fair and housed a museum. It was a very cool, unique place! After that we decided to walk to the Royal Palace, which brought us through another park. I really enjoy all the green spaces in Brussels because it makes it feel much less urban than it really is.
View from the top of Atomium
We took another Uber (surprise) back to the city square, where we got more Belgian waffles. We headed back to the apartment and packed up because Aarya, Raj, Kavya and Sumit had to leave for their train to Paris in the morning. We planned to meet up with the Belgian guys from AUBG, Kevin, Hugues and Quentin, but they got back to Brussels really late and were too tired. Instead we just went to a couple of bars, including Delirium, then headed back home.
Yesterday Max and I hung out when the others had already left for Paris because Max was taking a train home to Germany for the weekend, and I was sticking around for the Harry Styles concert (which is tonight!!). We were both soo tired that we just sat round cafes until I was able to check into my hotel room.
Some other pics from Brussels:
It’s been weird having my own space in the hotel for the past day! I am used to constantly being around other people, and even back at AUBG I still have a shared room (even though I love living with Lea!). It was so nice to have my own space for a while, and I took a much-needed nap. Then ordered a burrito (Once again, thank you Uber). After a while, though, it got super boring. I called home to Mom and Dad (and Marnie!) to update them on my trip so far, then also got to call with Sid and Tiff!! It was so great to talk with all of them. It made me pretty homesick to finally get to talk with them and realize how much I miss them, but at the same time I need to remind myself that I’m on spring break in Europe!! I can't be sad with a trip as amazing as this!
Now I’m just writing down everything before I forget, then will start getting ready for the concert. I’m meeting up with Laury and one of her friends for the afternoon, then heading to Antwerp for the concert. I am SO EXCITED!! It is so surreal to think that two months ago Laury causally brought up that she had tickets for the concert, and now I am in BELGIUM going to see HARRY STYLES with her!!
So much love <3 not pictured: Sid
Monday, March 19
5:30 p.m.
The concert was SO GREAT!! It was definitely worth having one less day in Paris (since I have been before) in order to go. Laury and I spent the afternoon together walking around Brussels, then we met with one of her friends and headed to the train station together to go to Antwerp.
The Antwerp Train Station
The Antwerp train/metro station was SO confusing! Neither of us had any idea what we were doing and there were hardly any signs to help us figure it out, but we made it to the venue with plenty of time to spare. We spent almost two hours outside in line to buy t-shirts, where we were freezing and being pushed all over in the crowd. We finally went inside the Sportpaleis only to see there were a bunch of other merch tables inside with hardly any line! So frustrating, but we got our shirts and were still on time to the concert.
Being at the concert made me remember how much love I have for One Direction (lol so cheesy but I will love them forever) and how talented Harry is. Basically Laury and I fell in love all over again! The concert was great and he sang songs from his album, two unreleased songs, a few covers of other artists’ songs and some One Direction songs!!! I’ll post videos for anyone who wants to hear, but be warned that the video quality is not good because I was dancing/watching the stage/dying.
Harry Styles
Harry Styles
Sign of the Times
What Makes You Beautiful
Anna (unreleased song)
We thought Laury’s dad was going to pick us up from the concert, but there was a miscommunication so we ended up getting another train back. It ended up working perfectly fine in the end!
The next morning I got on my train to Paris and headed to the hotel. It was really cold and rainy when I arrived, so I just went to the hostel and waited in the lobby until I was able to check in. Aarya, Raj, Sumit and Kavya were staying in the same hostel, but they were all sleeping so I didn’t see them for a few hours.
The hostel was only a five minute walk from Sacre Coeur, so I went there to drink my coffee and explore. I didn’t stay long, though, because it was raining and a man started yelling at me and grabbed my arm and pulled on me so I decided that was enough solo traveling for the day.
The rest of the group had done most of the sightseeing the day before, which had much better weather. The lack of proper sleep from the rest of the trip was catching up to us, and I could tell I was getting a cold. We got lunch then went back to rest a little more, then we went to the Eiffel Tower. By then it was snowing the biggest snowflakes I have ever seen! I was feeling pretty sick, so it felt especially cold outside. We stopped in a restaurant to warm up, then walked to take some pictures of the Eiffel Tower at night.
Aarya and Sumit riding the carousel in front of Sacre Coeur
It was apparent everyone was exhausted by the end of our trip, so we once again went back to the hostel to rest. It was St. Patrick’s Day and our last night of spring break, so we wanted to go out and celebrate. We went to an Irish Pub that was super crowded!
The next day, Sunday, was even more low-key than the day before. We basically spent the whole day waiting in the hostel lobby until it was time to leave for the airport. We did go out for breakfast to get croissants, because France. I got a text message that our flight from Paris to Munich was canceled, so we got rescheduled to go to Vienna. We had an overnight layover there and were provided a hotel room. I was a little disappointed that our layover was at night because I wanted to see the city, but at this point in the trip I really just wanted some sleep and to get back to my own bed.
Traveling so much was so much fun, but it made me really homesick! I realized after coming home that I like seeing cities, but they just make me tired. I was so glad to see the mountains again and to have some nature around me! I cannot wait until I can be back at Pickerel Lake this summer enjoying nature.
Looking back, I think Brussels was my favorite city (although I loved them all so much!!) just because I had no expectations. I spent much more time there than the other cities so I got more comfortable there, and all of the buildings were so fancy and intricate.
Now that I’m back in Blagoevgrad, I need to get back into the swing of things, like studying, working out and getting more than four hours of sleep per night. No wonder I got sick! My mom reminded me of how special my trip was when she told me that I could have been back in Granite Falls working at the community center over break like I was before. No thanks!! I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to explore Europe with some great friends. Studying abroad truly does help you do things you never thought you could!
I apologize for the information overload in this blog! I hope you enjoyed if you made it all the way to the end.
Love from Bulgaria,
Laura
