Speedrunning Europe; another list
· 2 min
I took on student debt to go on Study Abroad in my final semester of college. From an Adventure per Dollar point of view, it was money well spent. The irony is that (and many globetrotters may relate), I was begging to return home by the end of it. Seesawing between attending finance classes to packing at 4 am, every single day for 119 days straight was different, with a complete lack of routine or consistency.
This is a list of my most memorable experiences in each place I visited, which I hope can serve as inspiration for things to do or as an example of the kinds of serendipitous encounters that travel affords. It may also help you weigh the cost-benefit analysis on the labor of traveling.
- Tasted port wine to my absolute delight in Porto – this is a wine we need to tell more college students about…
- Formally asked my girlfriend out at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, while it was sparkling, of course
- Met an official TED speaker and her kids at a rooftop thermal bath in Budapest
- Hï, Ibiza :)
- Hiked the Vatnajökull glacier in Iceland
- Swam in the Adriatic Sea on a hidden beach off the coast of Dubrovnik
- Sneered at a Kazakh billionaire’s yacht, the Dynasty, in Malaga
- Slobbered over some dry-aged Florentine steak in Florence
- Sat, painfully, on an 8-hour drive out to the Sahara Desert in Morocco with a high-grade fever
- Saw the Northern Lights dance in the polar night of Tromsø
- Caught Frozen in London’s West End, which singlehandedly kickstarted my appreciation for theatre
- Let go of all my inhibitions at the Amsterdam Music Festival
- Winced at the 500-person lineup for St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and f**ked off
- Stumbled into a man cracking open a stolen suitcase in an alley in Venice
- Stared at Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son and Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights in Madrid
- Candidly, snoozed through Joshua Bell & the Wiener Symphoniker in Vienna, as well as the endless number of Christmas markets
- Witnessed a heavily tattooed man randomly assault our tour guide on a Free Walking Tour in Lisbon and run away, after which the poor girl immediately started bawling :(
- Graciously received a few racist gestures during a bar escalation in Milan
- Walked around some dilapidated, communist-era buildings in Gdansk
- Toured Lidl, amongst a million other activities, in Barcelona
- Bonded with some American business students at the Vzorkovna Dog Bar in Prague
If you need any travel recommendations for Europe or a comprehensive packing list, reach out.