What I did on my free travel week

It’s not easy planning a trip when you have all of Europe to choose from, but us girls eventually decided on Venice as our first destination. And let me tell you, Italy did not disappoint. The food was “am leckersten” (the most delicious), the beaches were beautiful, and there were gorgeous buildings, bridges, and churches around every corner. We were fortunate enough to find cheap flights for only 25 Euro from Berlin to Venice. We also found a super cool youth Hostel (Anda Hostel) to stay in. It was only 80 Euro for a 4-night stay, with free wifi and AIR-CONDITIONING!!!!!!! The Hostel itself was extremely hip and modern. You could swing from chairs that hung from the ceiling, hang out in the bar area, play ping-pong or other games that were set out, or listen and dance to the live music.

On our first full day in Venice, we took a boat tour through the canals and stopped at three different islands, all for only 20 Euro! It’s so different to take boats through canals instead of driving cars on roads, but almost all of the islands are too small for cars, and can only be accessed by the water taxi system. The first stop was to Murano, which is famous for blowing glass. We actually got to see a live demonstration of a horse figurine being made. The next stop was to Burano, which is famous for its Lace and colorful buildings. The last stop was to Torcello, and on this island, we just stopped for lunch and ice cream. 

On our second day in Venice, we went to the beach on the island of Lido, and it was amazing. It was so nice and refreshing to just lay out and relax for the first time in so many weeks. The beach was beautiful and the water was perfect for swimming in. I could have floated in the ocean forever. We were able to tan little, and in my case get sunburnt. Most importantly, there was a cheap ice cream shop on the beach. We loved the beach so much that we decided to go back on the third day also. 

We found this really cool restaurant about a 5 minute walk from our hostel, called Pizzeria de Michele, and they had the most amazing and unique pizzas. Each slice had 2 layers and they were packed with all sorts of good toppings. On our last night in Venice, we found an authentic Italian place called Trattoria San Basilio with a view of the canals. We all got pasta and it was some of the best pasta I’ve ever had.

All in all, we LOVED Venice. Everything was beyond gorgeous and we had a blast with just us girls. Don’t get me wrong, the guys on this trip are all awesome people, but being able to go on a trip with the girls that have grown so close to me is very special. There’s no way I could have stayed sane this long without them by my side.

But we were also excited to get to our next destination of Munich, because the entire time we were in Italy, we kept speaking German by accident. The number of times we told people “Danke”, which means “thank you” in German, is embarrassing. To get to Munich, we took a train straight from Venice. Fortunately, our German student’s rail passes could be applied to this trip, which means we only had to pay 4.50 euro for the 7 hour and 35 minute ride. The train was definitely long, but the views of the northern Italian vineyards, the Austrian Alps, and the southern German countryside we got to experience made it all worth it. 

We only spent 1 day in Munich and it definitely was not enough time to do the city justice. The entire day consisted of walking and seeing as much as we could. We visited Marienplatz, where we climbed 306 steps (I counted) to the top of a church, where we could see all of Munich. 

Since we had no set plans for the day, we just wandered around the city until we stumbled upon something cool. We found the English Gardens, which was this ginormous park. There were tons of nature trails, flowers, and streams to swim in or just dip

 your feet in. We actually saw a surfing event in a part of the river that had waves and a strong current, which was really fun to watch. We even stopped for a while near a stream and played some cards. 

Believe it or not, we ran into some familiar faces for dinner. Some of our fellow students also happened to be in Munich at the same time, so we all met up at the train station and got a meal together. We went to the Paulaner Bräuhaus, which was a cool Biergarten with “sehr lecker” food.

To finish out the trip, the girls and I hopped on a train that ran through the night to head back to Berlin.

It was such a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to travel to such beautiful places with the people I have made such close connections with. So many great memories were made, and I’m so thankful that this program exists to give students the chance to have the time of their lives!!!