Week of Travel!

On Saturday I traveled with most of the class to Zermatt. It was a bummer we couldn't see The Matterhorn because of the weather but I honestly think the town was the most beautiful place I have ever traveled to. I could not believe how cute the city was with all the shops and then everywhere you looked was just so pretty. The train ride up was so entertaining as well because everywhere you looked you would see a different scenic view.

We were originally going to take the gondola up to the mountain but it was expensive. So instead we made some sandwiches, and went on a mini hike to have a picnic. After it started raining so we walked around the shops and took a train back down the mountain. We had dinner at Crans Montana and then relaxed and went to bed. 

Sunday we had class in the morning. I loved it because we had a huge discussion for about 2.5 hours all about what surprised us the most being in Europe. We talked about the difference in public transportation, language, culture, history and many other topics in comparison to the United States. Listening to everyone's opinions and having an open talk about it all was really neat.

Monday morning we had another cooking class! The food we have been eating at the school is so delicious. We took a look at their menu for the students provided during the school year and it was crazy! They had things like lamb, duck, horse and really fancy menus almost every night. We found out there is about 1200 students a year that attend the school for about 30,000 Franks. It's super competitive and hard to get into as well. Anyways we worked in the kitchen with their head chef and it was fun but wasn't very organized. It's interesting to compare the technology and equipment to our kitchen we use at school because we are a lot more advanced. 

For lunch we prepared a variety of foods including; pork loin, monk fish, different types of salads, sugared carrots, a vegetable that I couldn't understand what it was (but didn't taste very good) and a few other items. Lunch turned out to taste pretty good and in the afternoon it was raining so we had a relaxing day.

Tuesday we started our travels to Italy!!! We woke up super early and made it to Florence around 12. We had our first meal and I ordered pizza. People weren't kidding...it was AMAZING! We checked into our Air BnB around 3 and got settled. For dinner we wanted pasta and I order a pesto gnocchi that I seriously could eat again for every meal. We found a local gelato place and went on The Ponte Vecchio bridge to watch the sunset and took so beautiful pictures. USA was playing Belgium at 10 so we found a bar called "Friends" and made some American friends in there while we watched the game. 

Wednesday morning was our first day we could sleep in, practically this whole trip! So we had a nice morning and then went and explored the city. We saw The Duomo, The David statue and many other sights. Florence has been my favorite city by far that I've visited in Europe. We went to the leather market as well and had some fun shopping and bargaining for some purses. Wednesday was a great day and we ended it by getting some pizza to go, eating it on that same bridge and then walking up to the Piazza Michelangelo to watch the sunset again and enjoy some wine. The view was beautiful and you could see the whole city of Florence!! 

Thursday we had a girls day! We woke up, did some shopping and then took a wine tasting tour from Florence to the Chianti region in the Tuscany. We had such a great time...we started off touring a famous castle and actually got to do our tasting inside of it. We walked through their wine cellar and they had bottles that were produced all the way back to 1906. After the winery they took us down the mountain to their city center and gave us a few minutes to walk around and explore. Thursday night we had a late dinner and enjoyed some wine that we bought from Chianti. 

Friday morning we woke up to catch a train to Venice but unfortunately the one we wanted was sold out and for the next so many hours they all were! So we decided to change our plan and just head to Verona. We bought tickets and until it was already too late, realized they were for another train station in Florence! So we waited in line for about 1.5 hours until they finally exchanged our tickets and printed us new ones. We are staying the night in Verona and are going to do Venice tomorrow instead during the day and then head up to Innsbruck, Austria. Today was a frustrating travel day but we got it all figured out! I'm having a great time in Italy though and am excited for the next few days! 

Bye Netherlands....Hellooo Switzerland!

On Tuesday I went to a wholesalers market and a micro brewery for class. I thought it was fascinating to hear him talk about all the different departments and their needs. It was neat how you could literally get anything from costumes, to meat products to chocolate or even furniture in this one warehouse. I really enjoyed the trip here. This whole Study Abroad experience has made me realize how many different aspects there truly are to running a restaurant and/or hotel. There are so many different departments and other people involved in making it run well that I never had thought of before. 

We got to sample the food and tons of cheeses. I couldn't  believe there were over 4600 cheeses stored at a time. They were all so unique and different tasting than any I've had before but so delicious! When we talked about the wine, I was surprised to hear that US wines were the #3 most sold. For being in Europe, I expected that to be a higher number. Next, we went on a tour of Breda's only micro brewery. We had lunch and I enjoyed all the beer we got to taste. 

On Wednesday we took a class trip to Amsterdam. We toured 2 high class hotels and a famous hostel that advertises themselves as "The Worst Hotel". During our first hotel tour there were tons of security and so many girls waiting outside. We found out that One Direction was just about to check in and some girls in my group saw Harry Styles!!! After our tours we went to the Heineken Experience which was their huge factory and took a tour of that.

Wednesday night was our last night in Breda so we had a dinner and packed up. I loved The Netherlands so much and Breda has been one of my favorite cities we've been to so far. Thursday morning we had class and had a guest speaker come and talk to us about the history of The Netherlands. We had a scheduled night train our of Amsterdam for Thursday to take us all to Switzerland. 

Thursday afternoon we had a great time in Amsterdam and I really enjoyed the city. It was so unique and beautiful because all the canals run through the city. We finally got on our night train and it was defiantly an experience...there were 3 to a compartment and had beds that folded down, but the room was the size of a bathroom. It was so crowded, but we made the best of it and had a good time. 

Early this afternoon we finally arrived at our school. We're in a little town called Bluche! We took a gonadal up to the next stop which is where The Cran Montana resort area, shops and restaurants are at. The town I'm in has a population of about 300 I believe. Switzerland is absolutely beautiful though and tomrorow I'm going to see THE REAL LIFE MATTERHORN!!!

Switzerland!!

Amsterdam with Brittney and Melissa!!

Germany/Cooking Class!

This weekend we traveled to Germany! It was a lot different than I expected but I enjoyed it and am glad we took a weekend trip there. The first two nights we traveled to Berlin. There is so much history and it's so interesting to me at how much younger America is in relation to Europe. We planned a tour to see The Concentration Camp.

Thursday night I came down with a stomach bug which was such a bummer. My number one thing I wanted to do in Germany was go to the concentration camp so Friday I rallied, but it caused for a long day. We took a really detailed tour that took almost the whole day. It was so informative and interesting but also so sad. I find this history in time so fascinating to study and it was so real seeing it and being in a place where all these awful things happened. 

On our way home we stopped to see The a Berlin Wall. I expected it to be much greater than it was and it was sad to see all the graffiti all over. I'm happy we stopped to see it though because it's another thing to check off my bucket list! 

Saturday we traveled to Frankfurt. I didn't realize it was such a business town, but we had a great time there because we were able to watch Germany play at a fun sports bar. For lunch we also found a chipotle! I think one of the biggest things I've noticed that's different here is the portion sizes of food, and the prices. Food is served in such smaller portions here and you sometimes end up paying more! I ordered the same thing at chipotle that I normally do, paid double the price and got a little over half a normal serving. Overall, Germany was a lot of fun and we learned a ton within the history of it all. 

On Monday we went to NHTV (the school in the Netherlands) and took a cooking class in the morning! They have a very large hospitality program and it was interesting to compare to ours. I talked to a man who ran the restaurant about their program and I really liked it. They said first years work for the restaurant and help serve and maintain. Second years become managers of the restaurant. Third years are required a 6 month internship and fourth years are supposed to get a management internship. By the end they are graduating with so much experience so I thought that was really neat.

We prepared lunch and it was DELICIOUS!! We currently live in a hotel so it was our first "home-cooked" meal since we've been here is it was so nice. We had BLTs in classic Holland bread served with fries, shrimp croquettes, salad and soup. For desserts we had a chocolate mouse cake, creme brûlée and strawberries that were soaked in balsamic and sugar! Everything was amazing and it was fun because we all cooked different things.

We rented bikes in the morning and rode them there. In the afternoon we had a guest speaker come and talk to us about "imagineering" and it was so interesting. He had such a different view of the hospitality industry but it was really inspiring to hear him talk. Tonight the Netherlands play so we're just getting ready for that and have class again tomorrow! 

250 people who lived in here...so sad...

The Barracks

Jail cell for people who were a threat to the Nazi party.

The Concentration Camp. 

The furnace which they cremated the bodies :(

The Berlin Wall

Cooking Class!!

Field Trips!

This week has been full of field trips to many different places. My teacher's biggest thing is he wants to make it so we have the most experiences and see the most we can rather than just sit in a classroom and read a book. It's awesome.

On Monday we took a trip with my class to Rotterdam, Netherlands which is one of the biggest port cities in the world. We first toured a hotel there which is famous because the same guy who built the interior did the exterior design as well and it's the only building in Europe where it was the same person. It also is a huge building that's not just a hotel but offices, apartments, restaurants and stores as well. Next we toured a hostel. I had never seen a hostel before and it was a lot nicer than I expected. Later in the day we went on a boat cruise around the ports. It started to rain so we just all sat inside but I love boats so it was fun! 

Tuesday morning we took a bus to Schiedam, Netherlands. First we took a tour of the cities canals on the cutest boat and I really enjoyed it. After that we toured the Kettle One Distillery. I had never been to one before so it was so interesting to see how it was all bottled, labeled, packed and shipped. At the end of the tour we did a vodka tasting. Sipping on vodka was not my favorite....I don't think I'll ever do a vodka tasting again. Haha it was cool though because it's a family owned company and the 11th generation Notel (family name of Kettle One) gave us our tasting. His father's signature is on all the Kettle One Vodka bottles. To end the day they let us get a drink at their bar and they gave us goodie bags with 4 shooters (different types), a recipe book and a pamphlet of the company history. I learned a lot more than I expected to about the process of making alcohol and production of producing the product. Tuesday was one of my favorite days. 

Today we went to Brugge, Belgium! It was a cute city and we had a fun girls day there! It was a much older city...it took us about 2.5 hours to get there and we wanted to make sure we were back for the game tonight so we didn't spend a ton of time there but we enjoyed lunch, ate chocolate and shopped a little then headed home. 

Tomorrow we're leaving for Germany. We are spending 2 nights in Berlin and 1 night in the Frankfurt/Heidelberg area. I am really excited for Germany and am ready to start another travel weekend. The Netherlands played in the World Cup tonight so Breda was a blast and we won again!!! 

The building/hotel we toured in Rotterdam! 

Canal tour with the girls!

Schiedam!

The Kettle One Factory!

The worlds largest wind mill!

Girls day in Brugge!

Melissa and I!

Paris!

We arrived in Paris Thursday afternoon. We took a high speed train here and once we got into the station had to figure out the metro system....there were SO many different lines and routes, plus no one spoke English to help us. We made our way to our stop where we were meeting the next person for our place to stay. The apartment was really neat! We had a view of the Eiffel Tower out of all our windows. Night one we had crepes for dinner and then went and saw the Eiffel Tower. It was about a 10 min walk from our place and it was beautiful!!!

We woke up really early to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower day 2 and we were one of the first 100 people in line, which is really good! It was supposed to open at 9 but they said there was a delay bc of a broken lift. We continued to wait and wait and eventually we found out that the security guards went on strike and were not working. We had already waited so long that we didn't want to leave so we just hoped they would open soon. There was a meeting and they said they would announce what would happen at 12. When that happened they said they had another meeting planned for 2. We had ready waited almost 4 hours and decided to leave. It was a bummer. 

So next we took the metro and went and saw Notre Dame. They was a huge line to go inside and at this point we were so over lines we decided to just walk around it. The details on the building were so cool! We got lunch and then went back to our apartment and relaxed. I ordered pasta and it was AMAZING!

For dinner we went to a local place because our apartment was in a residential neighborhood right outside city center. We watched the World Cup game because Netherlands were playing and when the US isn't playing we decided that's our new team because that's where we live! Haha they ended up beating Spain (who is ranked #1) and it was fun because we went to a crepe bar/restaurant to watch the game. 

We had to be out of our place by 9:00 am and were planning to catch the train to Brussels at 10:00. Well....when we got there some of the train stations employees went on strike so everyone was changing their tickets. When we got to the window everything was sold out...the earliest they could offer us was 3:45 to a different city. Instead, we just got on a suburban train, and were going to have 5 stops, taking us almost 6 hours! On train 1 there was a technical delay which made us late and miss all our other connections. So at every stop we had to re route. It was SUCH a long day..our way there took us 1.5 hours but back to Belgium took us almost 14!!! 

Overall, I did not really like Paris as much as I thought I would plus we did not have very good luck! Although the Eiffel Tower was worth the trip itself...the people were really rude, no one spoke English and it was really dirty. I expected it to be much different but I'm glad we came because I loved the Eiffel Tower!!! 

View from our apartment! 

Found the hunchback!

Notre Dame group! 

Notre Dame! 

Group Picture! 

Macaroons with Melissa! 

Selfie with the Eiffel Tower! 

Belgium!

I had a great time in Brussels! We took a few trains to get there and when we arrived we had reservations to stay at someone's apartment through the website called AirBnB. It was the first time we had all tried the website so we did not know what to expect. We walked through the town and our apartment ending up being so central and perfect location!! 

View from the window of our apartment!

Walking the streets! 

WE FOUND BELGIUM WAFFLES!!  Riley lived here for 9 years so he said this was the best place! 

MY WAFFLE!! With strawberries, chocolate sauce and powdered sugar! 

The famous "Mankekin Piss" statue!

Part of city center, it is SO beautiful! The official name is Grand Place! 

Another building in the center! 

We found roof access on our apartment and went up there at the end of the night! 

We had waffles for dinner and then met some of Riley's friends from high school at Delium Brewery. After we went back to the square when it was dark and all the lights were on, ate French fries and met some kids from London and Germany. Overall I really enjoyed Brussels!! 

We left in the morning and had 4 connections on the train from Brussels to Paris. On our third changeover we arrived and the train we were supposed to get on didn't exist....so we raced around trying to find another one when we ran into 7 other students doing our same program that had the same problem. We realized we had to buy a ticket to Paris on a high speed train but got a discount because of our train passes we have. Anyways, that's where I am now!!