When you're young, you hear about all of these countries around the world that are home to all different types of people, culture, languages, foods, monumental statues, etc... But what you don't hear about, is the feeling that you get when you travel to one of these places and actually experience what it has to offer. This summer, I was granted with an opportunity to travel around Europe to 7 different countries with a musical program. Those countries being England, France, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy, and Germany. We would sing in these amazing churches that have been around for years and that were incredibly important to history, and we would get to perform for people who come to services there on a normal basis. In more ways than one, this was the most eye-opening experience that I've ever had. My top 3 favorite things from the entire experience were:
# 3.Food: Okay now if we're being honest here, everyone loves food. Eating is something you do when you're hungry, something you do when you're bored, and sometimes you just eat something because it looks amazing. (I do it too, no worries). But if you think American food is good... You have yet to try anything European. I made it a goal of mine to try something new in every country that we went to so that I could get the full "tourist experience". If you ask me, this was one of the best decisions I made on that trip. Though in London, I cheated. Most nights dinner consisted of chicken tenders or Italian food... Oh well. In France, cheese. So much cheese and bread. But also escargot, freshly made crepes, and my personal favorite, pistachio macaroons! I highly recommend everyone getting their hands on one of those bad boys. In Austria, they had the most amazing soup, in Switzerland, they had the most amazing chocolate... That’s coming from someone who doesn’t even like chocolate. I don’t even know the words to describe authentic Italian pizza, so I'm not even going to try. Last but not least, fresh sauerkraut in Germany, wow. So many mouth-watering foods that I will forever be happy I tried.
# 2.Culture: Culture is definitely one of the most exhilarating things about traveling. Getting to see how people in different countries interact with each other, how they treat strangers, how their mannerisms are so different than ours, is just so interesting to me. We're all the same, yet so different. One of my favorite gestures was when I was speaking to a French man at a crepe stand outside of the Eiffel tower, and he called me "beautiful" at the end of every sentence. It may seem repetitive, but hey, it'll make ya feel good about yourself.
# 1.Sight Seeing: Finally, my favorite part. Sightseeing. Nothing in this whole world compares to how I felt standing with one of my best friends on a super tall rock in Zermatt, Switzerland, overlooking the Matterhorn. Snow covered, freezing, but in that moment, I had never felt more alive or more free. It’s the same thing when you finally get to the top of the Eiffel Tower, after taking the stairs or taking the elevator (like me) and you get to see the entire city of Paris from one spot.Maybe you even decide to climb all of the stairs up to the Sacré-Cœur in Montmartre, or even take a joy-ride on the London Eye and getting to take in the entire city of London. You can see these sights on TV and the internet all you want, but seeing it with your own two eyes brings on such a happiness and serenity that I have yet to find anywhere else. After this summer, traveling has become my new favorite hobby and I don’t think that’s ever going to change.
