So the last 4 college winter breaks have been consistently the same—I do absolutely nothing, and I’m almost positive other college students can attest to doing the exact same. You are sleep deprived from finals week and have no desire to do anything but sleep or binge watch netflix. If you’re not like that …than man I am really making myself look like the laziest person on earth. I debated going back to the United States for the holidays but decided that it was one, too expensive, and two, I’ve only been away for 3 months and wasn’t missing home yet. Lucky for me, my dad’s sister and her husband live in Milan so I thought spending Christmas with them would make me feel like I was at home. I’m warning you on the long post ahead—I have 3 awesome cities to cover!
MILAN, ITALY
I am not going to go into the city itself as I spent most of my time there helping prepare the Christmas meal, wrapping gifts, eating, etc. This was my very first Christmas away from home so I obviously felt a little homesick. I was happy to know that I would be spending Christmas with relatives so that made me feel better. I have never experienced Christmas in another household and was interested to see how things would go. I’ll tell ya—Christmas with my Italian fam and Christmas with my Filipino fam are two totally different experiences. First off, the size-- their Christmas is a lot more intimate with about 8 people while ours is loud and obnoxious with 25+ people. They all eat at the table and change the plate and utensils every course while in my house, it is serve yourself buffet style. It’s a lot quieter with my Italian fam as opposed to the shouting and screaming we do playing games in the states. I can’t say that one is better than the other; they are just different. I really enjoyed my time with my Italian cousins, and they always made sure to translate for me when their uncle or grandpa would speak Italian. I had fun spending Christmas with them, and it was fun seeing how it is celebrated elsewhere.
BERLIN, GERMANY
Berlin is awesome. A lot of people say it’s really ugly, and to be honest, compared to other European cities, it is. It might be because it’s constantly under construction and all the street art changes every now and then. I think what draw tourists in are the history, art, and nightlife. Neighborhoods throughout Berlin are covered from head to toe in street art. Artists like Boccho like to portray cats dying while another old famous guy paints sixes and smiley faces across the city (they also believe he may have mental issues). They also have the east side gallery that contains part of the Berlin wall. It is now covered in murals by painters from all over the world to represent freedom. They also have a lot of cool museums on Museum’s Island. If you are in high school, you must have taken history and learned about the World Wars, Hitler’s dictatorship, Charlie checkpoint, the Berlin Wall, etc.--all things I was reminded of during my walking tour. Everyday we explored the city and saw things like the Reichstag, Bradenburg Gate, Pariser Platz, holocaust memorial, TV tower in Alexanderplatz, Gerndarmenmarkt with the German and French cathedral and concert house, Berlin cathedral, St. Hedwigs, the university, Postdamer Platz, and several Christmas markets. The Christmas markets in Berlin were really fun. We went to three different ones, and they all had similar vibes. Each one contained miniature huts selling different items from bratswurst to candles to gluvine (hot wine) and winter hats. The streets filled with people and families lined up at the huts to purchase things. As for food and beverages, currywurst, bratswurst, gluvine, hot white chocolate milk, and burgermeister’s are a must! The nightlife was really fun—EDM is huge in Berlin so we went to an EDM club one night called Watergate. Another night we went to a secret bar underneath a train station that was really cool called Bar Tausend. And the last night we went to Matrix, a 4+ room hip hop/EDM club. My favorite night might have been the one where we found a local bar and met Germans who taught us a bunch of phrases. I asked one of them to teach me 5 phrases to survive the streets of Berlin and of course they shared with me curse words, sexual phrases, and nothing that would actually be of help. We stayed at PLUSberlin hostel which was huge and very close to the train to get around the city. BTW You honestly can get away without purchasing a single train ticket because they rarely check. Our hostel was really social, and we met people from Mexico, France, Australia, and the U.S! It’s always fun meeting people at the hostel and exploring the city together, having dinner, or going out.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
Budapest, which I have come to learn is actually two cities, Buda and Pest, connected by the Chain bridge over the Danube River. Buda is supposed to be the richer area while pest is where the young people live. Budapest is incredibly beautiful—it has architecture like I had never seen before, and it was really cheap! I stayed at Bazar hostel which was near the center of the city but not the most social. Unfortunately half of the trip was pretty gloomy weather-wise, but the city and all the intricate buildings still stood beautiful amidst it all. Like every other city, I did a walking tour to hit all the big spots and hear about it’s history. We had an awesome tour guide who told us that if you wanted to become a tour guide, you have to go to school for a year or two to get your license-- It’s legit! On the tour we learned a lot about the history of Hungary which I honestly wasn’t too familiar with. We started the tour at the Basilica and made our way through the city. We walked on the chain bridge to get to the Buda side and made our way up to the historic castle hill. The overlook was gorgeous. Another night we went to Gellert hill to get another view of the city, and it was even better in my opinion. We also explored Andrassy Ave. and made our way to Octagon square where we had awesome Hungarian food at Octagon bistro and hero’s square with the Vajdahunyad castle. Something that’s a really big part of Budapest that our tour guide told us about is the 80% hot springs underneath Budapest. For this reason, there are thermal baths throughout the city that apparently have a lot of health benefits. We went to a party one night at the most famous baths, Szechenyi baths. We spent NYE at a local Hungarian bar--I was with good people so it ended up being a lot of fun! Budapest is also known for its ruin bars, abandoned buildings and unused outdoor spaces that became bars. Szimpla is a really fun ruin bar that has so much character. In terms of food, the central market hall has a variet! I tried langos, and it was delicious. Overall Budapest was an amazing city, and I’ll definitely be going back in the summer!
After two weeks of traveling, I am finally back at home. I think my body hates me and is now shutting down and punishing me with a cold. But, it was all worth it because I had an incredible winter break traveling outside of Spain, meeting people from all over the world, and learning about different cultures!
Yours truly,
TLT
MILAN, ITALY
I am not going to go into the city itself as I spent most of my time there helping prepare the Christmas meal, wrapping gifts, eating, etc. This was my very first Christmas away from home so I obviously felt a little homesick. I was happy to know that I would be spending Christmas with relatives so that made me feel better. I have never experienced Christmas in another household and was interested to see how things would go. I’ll tell ya—Christmas with my Italian fam and Christmas with my Filipino fam are two totally different experiences. First off, the size-- their Christmas is a lot more intimate with about 8 people while ours is loud and obnoxious with 25+ people. They all eat at the table and change the plate and utensils every course while in my house, it is serve yourself buffet style. It’s a lot quieter with my Italian fam as opposed to the shouting and screaming we do playing games in the states. I can’t say that one is better than the other; they are just different. I really enjoyed my time with my Italian cousins, and they always made sure to translate for me when their uncle or grandpa would speak Italian. I had fun spending Christmas with them, and it was fun seeing how it is celebrated elsewhere.
BERLIN, GERMANY
Berlin is awesome. A lot of people say it’s really ugly, and to be honest, compared to other European cities, it is. It might be because it’s constantly under construction and all the street art changes every now and then. I think what draw tourists in are the history, art, and nightlife. Neighborhoods throughout Berlin are covered from head to toe in street art. Artists like Boccho like to portray cats dying while another old famous guy paints sixes and smiley faces across the city (they also believe he may have mental issues). They also have the east side gallery that contains part of the Berlin wall. It is now covered in murals by painters from all over the world to represent freedom. They also have a lot of cool museums on Museum’s Island. If you are in high school, you must have taken history and learned about the World Wars, Hitler’s dictatorship, Charlie checkpoint, the Berlin Wall, etc.--all things I was reminded of during my walking tour. Everyday we explored the city and saw things like the Reichstag, Bradenburg Gate, Pariser Platz, holocaust memorial, TV tower in Alexanderplatz, Gerndarmenmarkt with the German and French cathedral and concert house, Berlin cathedral, St. Hedwigs, the university, Postdamer Platz, and several Christmas markets. The Christmas markets in Berlin were really fun. We went to three different ones, and they all had similar vibes. Each one contained miniature huts selling different items from bratswurst to candles to gluvine (hot wine) and winter hats. The streets filled with people and families lined up at the huts to purchase things. As for food and beverages, currywurst, bratswurst, gluvine, hot white chocolate milk, and burgermeister’s are a must! The nightlife was really fun—EDM is huge in Berlin so we went to an EDM club one night called Watergate. Another night we went to a secret bar underneath a train station that was really cool called Bar Tausend. And the last night we went to Matrix, a 4+ room hip hop/EDM club. My favorite night might have been the one where we found a local bar and met Germans who taught us a bunch of phrases. I asked one of them to teach me 5 phrases to survive the streets of Berlin and of course they shared with me curse words, sexual phrases, and nothing that would actually be of help. We stayed at PLUSberlin hostel which was huge and very close to the train to get around the city. BTW You honestly can get away without purchasing a single train ticket because they rarely check. Our hostel was really social, and we met people from Mexico, France, Australia, and the U.S! It’s always fun meeting people at the hostel and exploring the city together, having dinner, or going out.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
Budapest, which I have come to learn is actually two cities, Buda and Pest, connected by the Chain bridge over the Danube River. Buda is supposed to be the richer area while pest is where the young people live. Budapest is incredibly beautiful—it has architecture like I had never seen before, and it was really cheap! I stayed at Bazar hostel which was near the center of the city but not the most social. Unfortunately half of the trip was pretty gloomy weather-wise, but the city and all the intricate buildings still stood beautiful amidst it all. Like every other city, I did a walking tour to hit all the big spots and hear about it’s history. We had an awesome tour guide who told us that if you wanted to become a tour guide, you have to go to school for a year or two to get your license-- It’s legit! On the tour we learned a lot about the history of Hungary which I honestly wasn’t too familiar with. We started the tour at the Basilica and made our way through the city. We walked on the chain bridge to get to the Buda side and made our way up to the historic castle hill. The overlook was gorgeous. Another night we went to Gellert hill to get another view of the city, and it was even better in my opinion. We also explored Andrassy Ave. and made our way to Octagon square where we had awesome Hungarian food at Octagon bistro and hero’s square with the Vajdahunyad castle. Something that’s a really big part of Budapest that our tour guide told us about is the 80% hot springs underneath Budapest. For this reason, there are thermal baths throughout the city that apparently have a lot of health benefits. We went to a party one night at the most famous baths, Szechenyi baths. We spent NYE at a local Hungarian bar--I was with good people so it ended up being a lot of fun! Budapest is also known for its ruin bars, abandoned buildings and unused outdoor spaces that became bars. Szimpla is a really fun ruin bar that has so much character. In terms of food, the central market hall has a variet! I tried langos, and it was delicious. Overall Budapest was an amazing city, and I’ll definitely be going back in the summer!
After two weeks of traveling, I am finally back at home. I think my body hates me and is now shutting down and punishing me with a cold. But, it was all worth it because I had an incredible winter break traveling outside of Spain, meeting people from all over the world, and learning about different cultures!
Yours truly,
TLT