Things I Learned from My Travels

1) Couchsurfing. Do it, Love it. Seriously. I've realized that if you want to really experience "the real culture" of a place, there are realistically two ways to do it: couchsurf, or know someone who lives there who can show you around (or at the very least, make friends with locals who can give you advice on what to do). Yes, there are a few somewhat creepy people, but for the most part my experiences with it have been great.

2) The traveler's paradox (at least for Americans): We want to experience "cultural things" like a "real" French dinner, or a "traditional" German beerhouse. Everyone dreams of finding that perfect little hole-in-the-wall family-run restaurant in whatever country (Well, most of us. There are, of course, Americans who go to Europe and eat McDonalds). We often despise "tourist traps" but we are tourists ourselves. We are limited by our own language and culture. If you don't know any of the language at all, you're going to gravitate towards places with an English translation menu or at least English-speaking waiters. Going to Prague and finding ourselves without any signs in English or French was a bit scary. My friend Laure and I found ourselves terrified when we went to an Afghani restaurant in Munich without either of the above. We pointed to words on a menu, having no idea what they were going to bring out. It's very hard to have your foreign cake and speak English too. That's where #1 comes in!

3) Don't judge a culture by one person (or two, or three, or four people!).

4) Be aware of how you come across to people of other countries, for they will sometimes judge your culture by one person.

5) I tested my limits. My spring break was the first time I had really traveled by myself, including places where I didn't speak the language. It's scary, fun, and exciting to travel by yourself like that. There were times when I wished I had a travel companion (being by Lac Leman in Geneva, for example) and other times when it was kind of nice being a solitary traveler in a foreign land (at the very top of Mt. Pilatus, for example. So peaceful and meditative). I ate new foods, met new people, had interesting conversations, and was out of my comfort zone for 17 days.

6) Watch your money in "cheap places." Not necessarily for pickpockets, but for spending more than you think. For example, I spent more money in Prague for three and a half days than I did in Switzerland for a week, because a) we stayed in a cheap hostel, but a hostel nonetheless and b) My mindset was something like "OMG OMG OMG NO EUROS! EVERYTHING IS SO CHEAP!" And some of it was. A pint costs 50 cents there, compared to 4 in France. But other things weren't so cheap. In Switzerland, in addition to couchsurfing the whole time, my mindset was something like "OMG OMG OMG NO EUROS, BUT SWISS FRANCS! EVERYTHING IS SO EXPENSIVE!" The only things I bought for five days in Switzerland were a banana, a bread roll, a chocolate bar (completely necessary!), a can of soup, as well as a bus ticket, a yoga class, and a lift ticket to peak of the Pilatus mountain.

7) Yoga, even in a different language, is still amazing. ahhh!

8) Be aware of how different factors affect your opinion of a place. The weather, tiredness level, and who you're with have enormous sway over whether or not you enjoyed a location. I realized this after I met up with my five friends in Berlin--all of them had gone to Oslo(!) while I was in Austria. And they thought it was awesome, while Hilary and I both thought it kind of sucked. The weather was pretty shitty our first day and a half in Prague, and all of us were exhausted. Two of my friends left early because they were just not digging it. The next day and a half were BEAUTIFUL, and after some rest I really began to like Prague a lot better. And I am firmly convinced that it's not where you are but who you're with!

9) One person's paradise is another person's hell. Know what type of traveller (see number 12) the person giving you advice is and how the "three factors": weather, fatigue, and companions, affected their trip.

10) Globalization, and Americanization are the names of the game, for better and worse. McDonalds are everywhere in Europe, as well as English speakers of varying degrees. I'm going to make another post about this later, but it was weird having every European know who Obama, Biden, and Palin were when I couldn't name any of their politicians (not France or Germany, but come on, who knows any current Czech Republic government figures?). Even graffiti is often in English!

11) Learn to go with the flow, especially when you can't do anything about the situation...like volcanoes you can't pronounce blowing up in Iceland.

12) There are different kinds of travel personalities: The chill-out-and-do-nothing traveler, the tourist-trap magnet, the guided-tour group junkie, the extreme cheapo traveler, the no-budget-at-all tourist, the I'm-only-here-for-the-nightlife type, the I'm-so-cultured-I-was-born-in-a-museum kind, on and on. I think it's hard to find someone who agrees on everything unless you have an identical twin, but if you want to hit every museum in town and they want to go out until 5 am and crash until 3pm everyday, or if you're planning on living off a piece of bread a day and they want to splurge on Michelin-starred meals, you're going to have problems. I was lucky to be with a group of people who I got along with and had a basically similar travel philosophy: student budget, spend money on worthwhile stuff (new experiences, a good meal once in awhile), see a few museums/attractions balanced with free, walking around-type sightseeing balanced with going out at night.

13) Technology has forever changed travel, the world, and how we interact with it. I was listening to my Dad's music mixes on my ipod while riding trains across Europe (note to Dad: Mixed Irish and Sixties Summer 1 and 2 are excellent!). When I got stuck because of the volcano, everyone was on their laptops or in internet cafes changing their travel plans: planes, trains, buses, cars. I could skype with my mom and ask her about what I should do instantaneously.

15) Don't forget the natural, free stuff! Climbing the Pilatus mountain in Switzerland was one of the greatest experiences. I did pay for a lift ticket to the very top of the mountain, but we also hiked for about 3 hours to get that point (we could have paid for a much pricier ticket to ride the whole way up and down the mountain, but it was far better to hike!). Going to the park in Munich was also tons of fun.

16) You will NEVER appreciate clean laundry as much as after having spent 17 days in four outfits. I'm pretty sure Angers could smell me while I was still in Paris.

17) When in doubt, say yes.

I've learned so much from my experiences here in France, and I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to do it.

Dublin in three days :)

Bisous,

Claire