Oh the Places I Went

“The best things in life are the people we love, the places we’ve been, and the memories we’ve made along the way.” –Unknown

Hello everyone!

I’m sorry it has been a super long time since I’ve written, but sometimes things like life get in the way of fun stuff like blogging. I will try to be better at it again this summer and next year, but no promises. Anyway, I got back almost 2 weeks ago from an incredible journey abroad in Europe with fellow education majors. As part of our course requirement, our professors required us to keep a journal about the happenings of our trip, including the places we went, the things we saw, and our thoughts, feelings, and reactions. I am so glad they did that because now I have something to look back on for the rest of my life. This adventure was one that I will never forget and I wanted to share some of the highlights with you guys. I hope you enjoy!

Amsterdam.

Our trip began in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and it was a phenomenal way to kick it off. While there, we did three days of Montessori training and learned a lot about Montessori practices. It was great to see a different philosophy in education than I am used to and I will use some of what I learned in my own classroom. While in Amsterdam, we also did a canal tour, visited the Anne Frank House, observed in the Montessori School Anne Frank attended, viewed the art in the Van Gogh Museum, and stopped by the Cheese Museum.

The canal tour was so wonderful and allowed us to relax while taking in the beauty of Amsterdam. The city is just so quaint and not as crowded as some of the others. The most dangerous thing was the bikes. They were everywhere…I even got hit by one and have a scar to prove it…haha.

I’ve always had an appreciation for Anne Frank and her selflessness at such a young age has always intrigued me. It was really neat to visit the Montessori school she attended and just see what kind of education shaped her. The school is still fully functioning and we got the privilege to sit in on both upper level classes (4^th-6^th grade) and lower classes (Pre-K-1^st grade). Their philosophy in teaching children and the purpose of children in the world is pretty amazing. The children are pretty independent at a young age and do not have a teacher telling them what to do all the time. They’re able to take their learning into their own hands and have their own understandings of the world. It is a pretty special thing to witness. I’m sure the Montessori school had something to do with shaping who Anne Frank was. Visiting her house and reading parts of her memoir for the second time gave me an even greater understanding of the sacrifice her family made to try and save as many Jews as possible. She was truly a remarkable young girl and I hope she is remembered for generations to come. “All of her would-haves are our opportunities.” –Emma Thompson

I had seen the Van Gogh museum before, but did not really appreciate or embrace it the first time. This time, however, I had decided before even going in that I was going to enjoy it. With my open mind, I realized that Van Gogh’s artwork is remarkable and I find it really interesting that he used many different styles instead of just having one signature style. He was brilliant and it is crazy to me that the public did not care for his art in his day. He did not become a famous artist until after he died, which is both tragic and beautiful all at the same time.

Berlin.

We did not have anything scheduled for our course during our time in Berlin and only had one day to get everything done that we wanted to do, so as soon as we got there, we began looking up tours and such and came across a free walking tour. About half of our group went at 10 AM and the other half of us decided to sleep in a little bit and went at 11 AM. This tour was amazing. On this tour, we saw most of East Berlin, including the Brandenberg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, the Book Burning Site, the Berlin Wall, stood on top of where Hitler committed suicide, and much more. I learned more history in three hours than I did in a lot of years of history. One funny anecdote our tour guide told us was of a family that ziplined over the Berlin Wall to get to the western side. The guard on duty saw it and thought it was a government spy mission to get super secret and valuable information from the west. He was wrong, so that’s hilarious and very clever if you ask me.

Once the tour was over, a bunch of us grabbed pretzels from the train station and headed to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. It was very sobering and it still blows my mind that humans can treat other humans in such an inhumane manner. As we walked through the prison the camp, I read harrowing stories about what could be and what was done to the inmates. I still cannot wrap my head around all of this and when I think about it, it seems like just a bad dream that did not really happen, but it is real, and millions of innocent people lived this nightmare. It is something that must never be forgotten.

Once everyone got back from the adventures of the day, we reconvened, ate dinner, and went out to have a little fun to celebrate Cat’s 21^st birthday and my 20^th. It was a special birthday celebration that I will never forget.

Frankfurt/Wiesbaden.

We stayed in Frankfurt, but went and visited and toured Wiesbaden schools on the American Army base. This was extra special for me because I went to Ramstein Middle School and High School, another military base in Germany and actually played Wiesbaden High School when I played sports over there in 9^th grade. It was such a throwback and something I will cherish forever. The most exciting part of our visit was talking to Wiesbaden High School students and their parents about college. We even met a girl who will be joining the TCU class of 2019 in the Fall…GO FROGS! It was amazing getting to share our college experiences and a giving advice to both the eager students and their parents. I just love being an ambassador for TCU and feel that we represented our wonderful university well.

Geneva, Switzerland.

Our first day in Geneva was spent at the United Nations. We even got to take a tour through some of the rooms. It was very interesting to see the chambers in which all the debates took place. The most intriguing thing I learned was about languages and how everything is interpreted. It kind of makes me sad that the overwhelming majority of Americans only fluently speak English, while most people of many countries speak at least two languages fluently. I personally think we should work on that as a country.

The second day in Geneva, we spent the afternoon in the Swiss Alps. We took the gondola up, and then hiked even higher. The views were breathtaking and it made me reflect on just how great God is. He created all of that. Being in the mountains allowed me to clear my mind, get some much-needed clean, fresh air, and prepared me for the rest of our incredible trip. Switzerland is definitely beautiful.

Paris.

The two days we spent in Paris were glorious. We were free to do whatever we wanted for the weekend in Paris. On the first day, three friends and I got up early, ate breakfast, and headed to the Louvre where we dodged elbows and wiggled our way up to see the Mona Lisa. We did not spend a ton of time there, but enjoyed the artwork that we did see. Once finished, we explored the mall for a bit (this mall was incredible, with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and lines just to get into the designer stores) before heading to the supermarket to get food for our Eiffel Tower picnic. The weather was remarkable and we just sat on the grass, ate our food, talked, laughed, and marveled at the beauty that is the Eiffel Tower. We even went back and saw it sparkle at night. I have to pinch myself every time I think about it to make sure it really happened.

On day two of Paris, I went with the majority of our group to mass at the Notre Dame. I am not Catholic and I do not understand French, but it was still an amazing experience. The church is breathtakingly beautiful, and really, how many people can say, “I went to mass at the Notre Dame?” Once mass was over, we headed out to find Crepe’s at a cute little stand Allie’s friend recommended to us. They were TO DIE FOR. I ate two of them, one sweet (nutella) and one savory (ham and cheese)…NO SHAME. Once our tummies and taste buds were satisfied, we walked around the outside of the Louvre, took really touristy pictures, and walked across the lock bridge. Bernie even engraved “TCU COE” on one of the panels to make our mark since we’re not supposed to put locks on the bridge anymore. Before we left the lock bridge, we got to see a couple from North Carolina throw their lock into the river. It was so precious and they told us they were on their honeymoon…I think my heart skipped a beat. I just LOVE love. The last thing we hit on day two was the Muse’e d’Orsay. The artwork in there is magnificent and we got to see more of Van Gogh’s work. He was truly a wonderful artist. Then, of course we went back to the Eiffel Tower after dinner to see it sparkle again because that will never get old. Every time we went I thought I was in the middle of a fairytale. It was a wonderful two days in Paris, and in the words of Audrey Hepburn, “Paris is always a good idea.”

Normandy.

This Memorial Day was not like every other memorial day. I had the privilege this year to be in Normandy. We went to the museum first to learn a little bit about the background. I had been there before, but I was only 13, so I couldn’t really comprehend everything. It was sobering and powerful to read a bunch of accounts about the concentration camps, D-Day, and World War II in general. Two things that really stood out to me were the number of children that were murdered and how young the American and British solders who were on the beaches of Normandy were. The first stop after lunch was at the beach of Pointe du Hoc. While there, MCG and I explored the bunkers and took pictures by the beach. We were only there for 40 minutes, which was a bummer because we would have liked to walk around a little more, but it was still pretty incredible. The big question we still have is how did all of the bunkers and places to put weapons get there before D-Day? I will need to do some research on that. We did quick stops at both Omaha and Utah Beach for pictures, but actually got to walk around the cemetery. I think the most poignant part of the entire Normandy trip was seeing all of the “here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God” crosses and all of the names on the wall of the missing soldier. This really gets me because their families never really got closure and that is heartbreaking. Being at Normandy on Memorial Day was extra special for me and was a great way to spend this holiday as I was able to think about and reflect on the sacrifices those young men made not just for their own country, but for the freedom of Western Europe. Their courage and bravery is something that needs to be remembered and celebrated forever.

London.

Our last pit stop before heading home was in London. I just love London so much. The people are friendly, they speak English, and have charming accents. The first day we were there, we went to a Forest Preschool. It was a really interesting experience and it was really cool to see four year olds really play in the outdoors. They were allowed to climb trees, run around, roll down hills, paint mud on posts all without an adult hovering over them, These children also showed a great deal of responsibility. As I’ve been abroad, I’ve compared and contrasted in my mind the similarities and differences between children in the US and in Europe, and the education philosophies. I keep coming back to the idea that children in Europe are given much more freedom than kids in the US and I think we should fix that. Right now we are a little too worried about children getting hurt and in turn hinder their desire to explore the world around them.

In our free time in London, a bunch of us rode the London Eye at Sunset, which was an incredible experience…I felt like I was on top of the world, attempted to watch the changing of the guards (we were too short to see anything), ate at a pub, and walked around the Westminster Abbey. That church is so beautiful and there were points in time where I was just standing in awe of everything. It is definitely a place I will not soon forget. Everything was just so intricately designed and carefully crafted. I need to go back to London and spend at least a week because there is just so much that we did not have time to do.

Mealtime.

Something that is often forgotten during whirlwind trips like this one and even our daily lives is the meals we share with one another. Meals were incredibly important on this trip not only because it allowed us to sit down, eat, and refuel, but it also allowed us to get to know each other and sit in community with one another. When we first arrived in Amsterdam, most of us did not know each other, but that first night, the majority of us went out to dinner together, ate really good food, and just started chatting and getting to know one another. From then on, friendships began and just continued to grow. That very first day, we were all so new and awkward, and the first dinner eased the awkwardness and the meals to follow just continued to bond us. Soon enough, we were sharing food, drinks, dessert, and even forks. The food didn’t have to be good for us to have a good time. We now have some stories about bad bar burgers, gross rum-filled dessert, and plenty of sandwich jokes. I truly believe that the meals we shared helped make this trip so great.

Of course, there is way more that happened during this amazing race-like trip that I just could not fit into this post, so if you have any questions or want to hear any stories, just let me know. If you are considering studying abroad, I would highly recommend it. I grew so much as a person, gained so much more cultural understanding, and have a much greater appreciation for the world we live in.

“Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport.” - Unknown

I also created a fun little video of pictures (with music of course) from the adventure. Click the link below to watch!
https://youtu.be/OOkJIiHHQPU

Yours Truly,

Steph