Tag: airbnb

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This podcast talks about my favorite trip that I went on while studying abroad, which was Switzerland. On the fist weekend of December, me and 14 of my friends who I met abroad all staying in an airbnb in Interlaken, Switzerland for the weekend. Our airbnb was in the heart of Interlaken so we had easy access to walk to everything. We could even see paraglider’s from outside our window.

View from our airbnb

We started the trip by flying into Zurich, and taking a train to Interlaken. When we got there, it was kind of a ghost town. There wasn’t many people there, since the winter season was just starting. On the first day, some of us went kayaking in Lake Thun, and some of us went hiking around Lake Brienz.

Lake Brienz

That night, we all cooked a pasta dinner in our airbnb and went out to Balmers, which is a hostel with a club attached to it. We saw some friends from Barcelona there too, as well as friends from my college at home that happened to be in Switzerland at the same time as us. The next day, some of the group went skiing in the Swiss alps, while the rest of us went paragliding. I was pretty nervous to go paragliding since I had never done it before. We took a bus all the way to the top of the mountain and then had to run off the mountain at the beginning of paragliding. Once in the air it was super relaxing, and so cool to see the city of Interlaken. The paragliding instructor was able to point out both Lake Thun and Lake Brienz while we where in the air, and we even got to do flips! It all lasted about 10 minutes, but it is an experience I will never forget.

My friends skiing in the Swiss alps

Photo of me paragliding 

View paragliding

After paragliding, we went to lunch and got famous cheese fondue. It was so good! We ate it with bread, cheese, and pickles. This was my first time trying cheese fondue, I normally would get chocolate fondue but the cheese was better than I expected.

Example of cheese fondue

That night, we walked to Lake Thun to watch the sunset and even drank the lake water! The walk to lake Thun consisted of us seeing amazing landscape views.  I had heard my friends who kayaked saying that they where drinking the lake water and had to try it for myself. It defiantly tasked as if I was drinking straight from a water bottle.

Views on our walk

Lake Thun sunset

My friend Madison and I at Lake Thun

The next day, we had to head back to Zurich for our flight. But before that we had to get some Swiss hot chocolate. We went to a place called Funky Chocolate Club, which is a popular tourist spot in Interlaken.

My hot chocolate

Finally, we took a train back to Zurich and got to see the christmas market before we headed to the airport.

Christmas market

Overall, this was my favorite trip because of how beautiful Switzerland was, the people I was with, and all of the fun activities that we all got to do.

 

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Thought this video, I interview my roommate Rachel on her experience studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain. I asked her 10 questions to hopefully help people get a better idea on what its like to go abroad. Coming from Baltimore, Maryland Rachel explains that she always knew she wanted to study abroad. Her brother had previously studied abroad in Barcelona, and she had gotten the chance to visit him while he was abroad and she absolutely loved it. She explains how when she visited she got the chance to experience Barcelona nightlife and had the time of her life. Having the advantage of her brother already studying here, he was able to give her tips and information on Barcelona life to help better prepare her for her time abroad. The next question asked had to do about the actual school par of being abroad and that is what her favorite class she is taking is. Rachel said her favorite class was Fashion and Society with her professor Fred. Fred is Rachels favorite teacher and they have become very close over the semester. The next thing talked about was food. Rachel explains her love for tapas and how that there are many different options to choose from when it comes to food, like Italian and sushi. The next thing Rachel explains is her favorite day. She talks about when she first got here, her and her friends went up to a place called the bunkers, which looks over the entire city of Barcelona. She explained how cool it was to see the entire city and that she got super close with her roommates and will always remember that day.

Rachel and I at the Bunkers

View of Barcelona from the Bunkers

Next, Rachel was asked her favorite travel experience. She said that her recent trip to Switzerland was her favorite. She said that it was her favorite because she went with a huge group of all her study abroad friends and that they all stayed in a big airbnb together and did so many fun activities. She explained how beautiful Switzerland was and that the activities they did included skiing in the Swiss alps, hiking, and paragliding.

Rachel and I in Switzerland

 

View of the sunset over Lake Thun

 

Next, she talks about money. Before coming to Barcelona, Rachel worked all summer to save up money for study abroad. With even doing that, she said she spent a lot more than she expected. This is because she wanted to be able to experience everything she could while abroad, and that traveling expenses really added up. The harder adjustment she had to make was the language barrier. Before coming to Barcelona Rachel did not know much Spanish, but after being here for four months she says she has defiantly picked up on it. She then explains how she defiantly wants to come back to Barcelona in the future and have a reunion with all of her friends she made here. Lastly Rachel says that she would defiantly recommend studying abroad to people and they is was a life changing experience that defiantly matured her while participating in the CEA study abroad program fall 2018.