About Me

My photo
The McDermott Scholars Award covers all expenses of a superb four-year academic education at The University of Texas at Dallas, in concert with a diverse array of intensive extracurricular experiences, including internships, travel, and cultural enrichment.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Anna's European Travels

Rolling with the Locals

Outside of studying at Schloss Brunnenburg with fellow UTD classmates, I spent some time before and after traveling through Europe to study other types of European architecture. Every European city I visited was so different from anything I knew in America--so many of the buildings, especially the museums and churches, are so old and magnificent. I loved learning about the different quirks of each city through free tour guides as well as my hostel-keepers. Although I had studied abroad in Argentina the previous summer, I had never traveled extensively on my own, so this summer was my first time doing that. Thankfully, the rail system in Europe is very easy to navigate, and after a few nervous rides on my own, it seemed like there was nothing to it.
Even though I have only studied Spanish in school, I surprised myself with the ability to pick up limited but essential phrases in other languages, such as Italian and German. For example, while wandering around Berlin with a couple of new friends from London, I surprised them by reading off gelato flavors in German! While traveling on my own, I also was reminded of how different, yet how similar, people across the world are to each other. In Seville, I bonded with two sisters from France and a guy from Australia over the course of two short days. Even though we were from very different parts of the world, we could still easily relate to each other and joke with each other as we explored a new city together. Overall, I am very thankful for the opportunity to travel and study abroad in Europe this past summer, and the experiences and memories that I made while there will not soon be forgotten.