Week 26: Home Again

Hey everyone!

Guess who forgot to post the LAST BLOG POST!!! (Hint: it's me!)

I got home on Wednesday (much to my Mom's surprise, because I told her I was coming home Sunday). I've had a few great days hanging out at home, but it's time to wrap up this semester.

First, Prague. We were there for two days and it was one of my favorite places I visited. For one, it's so OLD. We watched animatronics on the 600-year-old astronomical clock and crossed a 600-year-old bridge. We toured the largest ancient castle in the world as well as the Old Town of Prague. It was a fabulous way to end the trip.

Here's a picture of the castle!

This is the biggest castle complex in the world! #Prague is amazing! #travels #castle #czechrepublic #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on Aug 15, 2017 at 11:06am PDT

Now for the reflections. It's been 6 months since I first left for Australia. I've been to a new school, visited more than 15 countries, and circled the entire globe. I snorkeled with a sea turtle, made Thai food in Thailand, nearly melted in Petra, lost my phone for a few hours, and took at least 5 free walking tours. I went out of my comfort zone, tried some new things, and made new friends from all over. This has been an incredible experience for me and I'm so glad I took the leap.

I'm about to go back to school. I wonder how strange the familiar will feel after so much time away. The study abroad office keeps warning us of "reverse culture shock." Maybe I'll feel it, but regardless, I'm excited to see my friends again and start my last year of college. It's just another adventure in a long list.

Thank you so much for following my blog this semester. I hope I've been remotely interesting.

Over and out.

Week 23: Layover

Hey everyone!

It's been a busy week. I saw family and friends, visited a few more cities in Israel, and saw another movie.

I'm just going to talk about today. Elana and I woke up before 7 in Tel Aviv. After getting a little bit lost, we took a bus to the train to the airport. I slept through the whole flight.

The plane touched down in Istanbul at half past noon. We made it through customs quickly, double checked that our bags were checked through to our next destination, and got a taxi to our hotel.

After checking in and putting our stuff down, we took a bus to a train to another train so we could see the Hagia Sophia. (Elana would say that we crossed between continents, but everyone knows there's no reason to consider Europe and Asia to be 2 continents.)

I've seen some pretty buildings in my life. Very few of them compare to the awe-inspiring structure that is the Hagia Sophia. The outside of the building is formidable, with an enormous dome and minarets at each corner. The inside gave me chills. It's decorated in mosaics depicting Jesus as well as Islamic art, all old and all beautiful. I'm so lucky to have been able to see it. Here are some pictures (scroll through to see all 3):

@elanajoyisrael and I had a long layover in Istanbul today. We got to see the Hagia Sophia! #turkey #israelinistanbul #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on Jul 30, 2017 at 11:33am PDT

Other than that, we did a little shopping, tried Turkish falafel, and did the same complicated journey in reverse to get back to our hotel. We leave tomorrow morning for our next flight. 

I've never had such a long layover before, but I'm glad we ended up with this one. Turkey is not a country I would have thought to go to and part of me wishes I could see more of it. The rest of me is excited to see the next cities on our list!

See you next week for countries that are entirely within Europe!

Week 21: In Transit

Hello from yet another plane!

This week has been another wild one. I visited Bangkok and saw the new Spider-Man movie (yes, that is what I did with my day in Bangkok). Then, I went to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

I’ve never been to a country like Cambodia. It has a recent history of conflict and it lacks a lot of basic infrastructure that I’m used to. The drive from the airport was on mostly unpaved roads, past tiny houses (not the trendy minimalist kind). My hotel, which was on a dirt road, was pretty upscale. I got to enjoy air conditioning, a huge bed, and a good shower.

I also got a private tour of the temples. My tour guide, Bunny, told me all of the expected history about how the temples were built and the monarchs who financed them. I also learned about the soldiers who hid and fought in the temples during the Vietnam War. He pointed out the places they’d carved their names into the wall, presumably so people would know they’d been there should they not return.

Angor Archaeological Park is a World Heritage Site. There are over 250 temples in the complex, as well as palace ruins. The main attraction is Angkor Wat, which is the largest place of worship in the world. I went to see the sun rise over the temple and then climbed a terrifyingly steep wooden staircase to the top. It is the tallest building in the city, so I could see everything from up there.

Bunny also taught me about Hinduism and Buddhism. Many of the temples predate Buddhism and are dedicated to various Hindu gods. Some of them were designed for both Hindu and Buddhist worship, or were divided to accommodate differing practices. The walls were covered in carvings of gods and sacred stories, as well as stories of Khmer life at the times the temples were built. I did not know much about Buddhism before my trip to Southeast Asia, and there are definitely huge gaps in my knowledge, but I feel like I’ve got a much better understanding of one of the world’s major religions.

I’m on my way to Israel now (and I’ll be there by the time this gets posted). This part of the trip will be a sort of break for me – time to relax and visit with friends and family in a familiar place. I’ll tell you about it next week.

Thanks again for reading this blog. It means a lot to me that there are people following my trip, either here or on Instagram. Speaking of, here are a few pictures from the last week:

We took a bike ride around the historical park. #worldheritagesite #sukhothai #itsboilingoutside #bicycle #thailand #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on Jul 9, 2017 at 10:58pm PDT

I don't know if I've ever mentioned how much I love public transit in foreign cities. #navigating #notlostyet #bangkok #thailand #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on Jul 12, 2017 at 12:28am PDT

Today I saw some temples (and a palace!) Scroll to see more photos #siemreap #cambodia #archaeologicalsite #worldheritagesite #travel

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on Jul 14, 2017 at 8:35am PDT

Angkor Wat is the largest place of worship in the world. I got to see it at dawn (and climb it and visit some other temples) #cambodia #archaeologicalsite #worldheritagesite #travel #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on Jul 15, 2017 at 6:27am PDT

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Update: I've arrived at my destination. See you soon!

Week 9: Flying Solo

Okay, so I promised you last week that I'd talk about New Zealand. Now it's time.

Last Friday, I woke up early and took some trains to the airport. I boarded an airplane (depicted below) and sat down for a few hours. When I stood up again, I was in New Zealand.

Midsem break! #nzbound #airport #travel #brandeisabroad #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on Apr 14, 2017 at 5:44pm PDT

That's the level of detail you want, right?

Just kidding. I'm not going to give you a play-by-play. What I will do is follow a time-honored blog tradition. Unsolicited advice! I traveled alone, so here are a few tips on how to do a vacation all by yourself.

1) Find the free walking tour. Go on your first day.
Lots of cities have "free" walking tours, which are the best introductions I've ever gotten to the more touristy areas of any city. I have done these in a few cities and they're always super interesting and the guides are always really cool. They'll point out good places to eat and attractions you should go back to. If you go on your first day, you'll have some sense of direction for the rest of your trip and a to-do list for later!

2) Hostels are actually a pretty great option.
I've heard a lot of friends say that they find hostels to be weird. And I get that. Staying in a room with strangers is definitely different. And the hostel didn't provide a towel. It was super cheap, though, and in a central location. The atmosphere was social, so even though I was traveling alone, there were people for me to hang out with. And people who had been there longer than I had gave me some ideas for things to do, like climb a volcano to watch the sunset.

3) Try something new.
On Wednesday, I walked about 16 km (that's roughly 10 miles) across Auckland. I've done long hikes before, but never by myself. This one started at the harbor near my hostel and went out into the suburbs, which I hadn't visited yet. I walked through some parks, climbed a few volcanoes, ran out of water for a little while (make sure you don't do that. It was bad), and took lots of pictures. I almost gave up about six separate times, but I made it all the way to the end in about 6 hours. Between the views and the sense of accomplishment, I think that this was my favorite activity of the whole trip.

I hope you like my little foray into the ancient art of listicles (or whatever they're called). In case you couldn't tell, this is really just a way for me to tell you about what I did while making it sound like I have something profound to say. (I don't.) Anyway, here are some pictures I took.

It's a little rainy, but I can't skip the harbor pic! #auckland #newzealand🇳🇿 #travels #midsembreak #brandeisabroad #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on Apr 15, 2017 at 7:05pm PDT

Enjoying an informative morning walk with @aklfreewalking #auckland #newzealand🇳🇿 #travels #midsembreak #brandeisabroad #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on Apr 16, 2017 at 4:20pm PDT

Watching the sunset over #auckland from a volcano #newzealand🇳🇿 #travels #midsembreak #brandeisabroad #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on Apr 16, 2017 at 10:49pm PDT

Another beautiful Auckland sunset. This time from a different angle #newzealand🇳🇿 #travels #midsembreak #brandeisabroad #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on Apr 17, 2017 at 10:29pm PDT

I did a 16 km walk today! Here are a few pictures. #mylegshurt #coasttocoasttrail #aucklandcoasttocoast #outdooradventurephotos # hiking #newzealand🇳🇿 #midsembreak #brandeisabroad #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on Apr 19, 2017 at 4:09am PDT

School starts up again tomorrow, so I should get some sleep. I'll see you next week for another installment of me telling you about all the stuff that I'm doing while living in a cool place!

Week 0: Come Fly With Me

Hi everyone, and welcome back to my blog! It’s been quite the week for me. Packing is always a massive ordeal, but packing for 6 months is a whole other ballgame. I have to be prepared for summer, winter, another summer, school, travel… I think you get it by now.

I'm actually doing this. I still can't believe it's finally time. #airport #leg1 #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on Feb 19, 2017 at 10:29am PST

Right now (well, not right now when you’re reading this, or even when I post it), I’m at 34,000 feet flying over Kansas. I’m about 3 hours into my flight from JFK to Los Angeles. I’ve watched 3 episodes of Criminal Minds, charged my phone some using the conveniently located outlets on this lovely Airbus plane, tracked the flight’s progress on the little touchscreen and worried about my connecting flight.

Mostly, though, I’m sitting in an airplane seat, where I have a lot of time to think, which I’m trying very hard not to do. Thinking is one of my special skills and I’ve been known to think things into larger-than-life creatures. And this semester doesn’t need me to transform it into a formidable beast.

I don’t know what’s waiting for me in Australia. I mean, I know that first is my program’s orientation in Melbourne, then a morning flight to Sydney, and so on. But I don’t know anyone on my program and the one person I know at the university where I’ll be studying is a friend of a friend. This feels like a total leap, and I’m not one to take blind jumps like this.

Somehow, though, I’ve made it past the point where it’s easy to turn back. I’m already on my way to Australia, and to whatever is waiting there.

Thanks for joining me on this journey, even if you’re only coming with me via the internet. It’s going to be an awfully big adventure.

Emily