Tag Archives: luggage

Keep Calm and Travel On

“When I was young, I used to have this thing where I wanted to see everything. I used to think, ‘How can I die without seeing every inch of this world?'”– Leonardo DiCaprio

My name is Devon Santoro and I am a junior undergraduate at Penn State University majoring in Cultural Anthropology and History, and minoring in Sexuality and Gender Studies. I like to go to concerts, cook (eating is very much involved in this activity), read, and watch movies like most college students. This Spring, starting January 28th, I will be living and studying in Amsterdam with IES Abroad.

The anxiousness I have not felt, but was certain should have come weeks ago has finally hit me. My friends have departed to return to their respective universities a week ago, and family have long since used up their days off from the holidays. I can tell you that being home for so long has made me too comfortable with late nights watching Netflix, and even later mornings sleeping in and dreaming of Amsterdam. This recognition of my maybe-a-little-too-lax R&R makes me realize I am going to have to kick into high gear when my semester at Universiteit van Amsterdam finally starts. I’ve been packing little by little every night for the past week, but it has made no difference regarding the overwhelming experience of shoving my life into one rolling suitcase and a backpack. For those who will be going through this in the years to come, I will post a list of packing tips in my next entry after I get to Amsterdam so it will be more useful (and make me wish I had done some things different perhaps?). Instead, here are a list of things I am excited to do/see.

1. See the canals frozen over
2. Walk through all of the different markets in the city
3. See how far Dutch Rosetta Stone has gotten me
4. Visit the Keukenhof tulips
5. Have a drink at Brouwerij ‘t IJ, the windmill brewery next to Funenpark
6. Sit for hours at the Dam Square to read a book and enjoy my favorite pastime– people watching
7. Be spontaneous… but SAFE! (that last part is very important to note.)

Notice that nowhere on my list do I say the words “take a tour of”. Some tours were already planned for me by IES, but I don’t want to spend my time doing too many “touristy” things (although I will do my best to visit all the amazing sites the Netherlands has to offer). Therefore, I have not planned a single thing for when I’m over there. A friend who used to live in Europe gave me some great advice, which was not to spend time planning trips to other countries or even to other places in the Netherlands until I get there. She said that the best part of traveling is being accompanied by people who will be fun to travel with. Who wants a ticket to Paris, only to sit alone eating baguette? Not this girl. I am possibly the most excited about making new friends abroad. The only alone time I wish to have alone is when I am sleeping comfortably in my single apartment at Funenpark. Other than that, I want to explore and become as Dutch as I can be in the five months that I will be there. 


Location: Washington, New Jersey (U.S.A.)

Can’t Sleep, Let’s Talk

All I can say is, “WOW, what a flight!!!”

I can’t complain because it was an estimated 22 hours, cut into 16!  It’s only been my 3rd time flying, NEVER for this long though.  My first flight was to Atlanta, second was to Puerto Rico (ranging from 2 – 4 hours respectively).  Now it was to HONG KONG! It still hasn’t hit me yet, or has it?! It is 4 in the morning and I CANNOT sleep, LOL.  I don’t mind though.  It is giving me the chance to jot down my thoughts!

So……. I didn’t really read much on the plane, I thought the movies were much more interesting and made the time go by a little faster.  Economy class sleeping wasn’t so great until I found the perfect position! Ahhh , I laid the open seat’s tray out beside me and put my head right across it! Nice way to think of the idea with only 4 hours left, ey!?  Come to think of not so bad things – The food was pretty all right too.  Not the GREAT breakfast my dear mother cooked me before leaving 5:30 in the morning, but still good!  I enjoyed every moment of it!!

NOW to the hard stuff! J  I know experienced travelers told me to pack light, but hey I am an over packer by nature! I thought I did pretty well with my two suitcases, backpack and large purse.

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DON’T judge me! Haha  I put a lot of things back that I thought I would need……….. okay want.  I did wish I packed less traveling from the airport to the University, but when I think about it I rather have everything I need and not have to worry about buying things right away – then scramble for it when I get there.   But back to my point – if you have patience and strength, the train and bus aren’t impossible; they just require lifting and great steering.  If you don’t have patience and have limited strength take the taxi! Our route was off plane at 230pm HK time (go to immigration, pick up bags, get HK money, then buy bus ticket), bus, then train, then shuttle to guesthouse on campus arriving around 530pm HK.  It was quite a ride, but when you have people to talk to it flies by!  It funny because after all of that, I wouldn’t even call that a journey.  That was the short trip.  I would call the campus we finally arrived to an EVERY DAY journey.  WHY? Because we are up in the mountains with steep hills, water surrounding us, and buildings not so close together.

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This campus and country will change me for the better.  I already envision great things! Talk to you guys soon!

 


Location: Guesthouse clinic road, shatin hong kong

I’m In PRAGUE!!!

I’M IN PRAGUE!!!!!!

Much to my liking, after months of anticipation, over 9 hours on an airplanes, and what felt like miles of dragging luggage through the bumpy streets of the Czech Republic, we have finally arrived and settled down in Prague! Overall, the trip here couldn’t have gone much smoother. In all of our travels, no one in our group encountered any problems with security or customs and our flights both departed and arrived on time!

We left Newark around 9:00pm on Monday night and arrived in Heathrow, England at about 9:00am. Because this was my first time visiting Europe and I was very excited, I found myself unable to sleep much during the flight. I watched a few movies and ate lots of interesting airplane food. I never knew that mango cheesecake came in a liquid form… I must admit I prefer the solid. From my view in the sky over Eastern Europe, the characteristic which surprised me most was the abundance of flat land with very little hills and mountains. I also noticed that almost all of the houses and businesses had brown roofs as opposed to the United States’ traditional grey/black roofing. When we arrived in Heathrow, we were five hours ahead of the time back home and my lack of sleep was beginning to catch up with me. But, I was so excited to be in Europe, and because we had a 6 hour layover, a group of us decided to take a bus out to Windsor!

Windsor, England is home to the Windsor Castle, which is one of the residences of the English Royal Family. On our bus ride over, we were discussing which stops we would need to use when a woman sitting behind us joined our conversation and began to help us with directions. She lived in Windsor and was kind enough to let us know when we needed to get off the bus, give us some advice on what to do while we were there for our brief time, and even recommended a cheap but delicious caf� where we could grab a quick lunch. When we arrived outside the castle, there was a large crowd of people gathered in the street. Within 10 minutes, we were able to see the “changing of the guard” where a group of soldiers marched to the castle to switch guards within the castle. We then took a Top-Bus tour around Windsor and finally ate lunch at the caf�.

After Windsor, we were back to the airport and soon on our second flight from Heathrow to Prague. Before the plane even left the ground I was asleep and I woke up to the plane landing in Prague. After a few hours of gathering the group together, collecting baggage, exchanging currency, and buying cell phones, we were on the bus to our guest house.

The guest house is a small bed and breakfast owned by a woman who is friends with Professor Elavsky. She only recently began to learn English, so our conversation with her is mostly interpreted through Elavsky. After lugging baggage up the stairs and taking a chance to freshen up, we went out for dinner at a restaurant down the street from our house. We were all beyond exhausted and called it an early night to catch some sleep before our travels on Wednesday.

That’s all for now! Can’t wait to travel! Loving life in Prague!