I spent a month of Summer 2016 traveling around Europe, and it was one of the most beneficial and enriching experiences that I've experienced yet. I traveled to Dublin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Venice, Florence and Rome. I honestly think I spent more time planning that trip during Spring of 2016 than I did school work. It was the trip of a lifetime and I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

I experienced so many different things at once it was mind numbing at times. Dublin was stunning, everything really is GREEN! The natives are friendly and welcoming. I was shocked when arriving at the amount that the Irish DO drink! We all know there's a stereotype for every culture and this one fit.

I feel in love with London as soon as we got off the plane. I can't tell you why, but I could feel it in my bones. The architecture is other-worldly, how it goes from modern to buildings hundreds of years old. It blew me away the public transportation and how efficiently it all ran. I adored being able to hop on a tube and be on the other side of the city in 15 minutes flat. The variety of food made my mouth water. And most of all, who doesn't love a British accent! One night in London, we were eating at a pub watching the Manchester vs. Iceland soccer game during the Euro Cup and I had probably the most shocking experience of our entire trip. My boyfriend has red hair, and some natives from England didn't want to sit with us because they thought he was Irish! When they heard him speak they then apologized and actually bought us beer for the mix-up. It was shocking to me to experience that!

I'll be honest, Paris is beautiful, but I really wasn't the biggest fan! I loved the scenery and all the delicious bread, cheese and pastries, but I didn't really like how crowded it felt. I felt it much more difficult to explain where we were needing to be dropped off in Uber's, and the food was much overpriced. We were also in Paris at a bad time, there was a break from the soccer games and the Euro Cup was being held in France leaving Paris packed during that by-week.

I adored Amsterdam. The scenery is so different from what I see in my everyday life. It almost looks like all the houses are leaning on each other like you lean on your girlfriends when you leave the bar, for moral support. The food was AMAZING. I had an awkward experience with marijuana where I walked 'home' with my eyes closed for over a mile holding the pinky of my boyfriend's fingers. It really shocked me most once the sun went down. I knew they partied, but never did I imagine it would be like that. Maybe it's because we have open container laws and laws against marijuana, but it was weird to see groups of people you wouldn't imagine fitting together, doing just that and partying like they've known each other for years.

Berlin and Munich somewhat blended together for me. I was still recovering from Amsterdam and we had been doing so much walking it was all catching up to me. I had some of the best chicken I think I've ever eaten in Berlin that I waited for over an hour for, it was so worth it. My biggest shock for Berlin was that we were in the nightclub district. There are clubs there where people will enter Friday night and not leave until early Monday morning. I can't even fathom what they do in a club for over 48 hours or the amount of drugs they have to take to stay awake for that long.

Venice, Florence AND Rome were HOT and so much walking was involved. There were minutes where I thought I would puke from heat exhaustion, and there were a few times where I DID cry. It was absolutely stunning, but I don't think planning to end there in the heat of mid-July was the best idea. In this areas I found the price of produce SHOCKING. I love arugula, and it runs about $3.99 here for a bag of it, but when walking through grocery stores in Italy I noticed for a bag it was €.99. The fruit was even cheaper! It just amazed me that for a burger here its $1 at McDonald's, but there its almost €6 for the exact burger at McDonald's.

All around I would recommend traveling as much as you can, whenever you can, for as long as you can before you can't anymore. Its such a difference experience for every person and each city touches you different.