Update and Europe Random and Fun Facts!

Hello Blog Followers! The adventure continues!

I meant to get this blog post out a while ago... But I’ve been having a lot of fun!

A quick update before catching up on what I’ve been up to -

From the traveling I’ve done over the past few weeks, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve been to two new countries that have completely different cultures, I’ve tried new foods and met new people from different places, and I’ve gone out of my comfort zone to have an adventure. That being said, going out of my comfort zone - I’ve decided to come home early from my European Adventure. I’ve gotten a taste of the world, a new perspective 4,000 plus miles away from home, and I can’t wait to get to see and do so much more. But I’ve learned that solo travel at this point in time isn’t really for me. I’d rather travel with the people that I love. Memories are so much better when they’re shared!

When I get home in two weeks (cheapest way to do it) I’m going to regroup with my people, plan some summer trips (I’m open to suggestions!), and have more adventures. So far it’s looking like I’ll be going to Disneyland with my mom and little brother in a few weeks, and then during the summer I’ll hopefully get to do some camping trips with friends! :)

While I’m on the subject of what I’ve learned on this trip, here’s a little list of random things and fun facts that I’ve learned. Enjoy! :)

• European’s don’t really snack. Literally. Everywhere that I’ve gone and stayed at, even where I’m staying with kids in Holland right now, there aren’t many snacking foods in the house. No potato chips, crackers, dried fruit or snack bars, etc. As soon as I get home I’ve got a date with a bag of Goldfish. :P
• Don’t always trust Google maps. In London at least, the streets are kind of weird and maybe it was user error, but there were multiple times where I started going one way and then all of a sudden missed my turn.
• Street signs aren’t nearly as big in Europe when compared to the US!! A lot of street names are on small signs on the sides of buildings and aren’t always easy to see or read. It makes sense that it’s this way, what with the fact that hundreds of years ago we didn’t have street lights. It definitely keeps you on your toes when you’re trying to get somewhere and not miss a turn though. :P
• Some foreign jargon for you from England:
• Boot = car trunk/back of the car
• Chips = French fries (cuz you know, England and France have a history)
• Crisps = potato chips
• Toilet(s) = bathroom
• Loo paper = toilet paper
• Talking on a train that is going a long distance is fine, if you make conversation with the person you’re sitting next to, but nobody talks on any of the London Underground trains. It was always deadly silent.
  
• London is so diverse and a melting pot of different cultures and languages that they’re not really considered British and simply called Londoners by everyone else that lives in England/the UK.
  
• Being in the countryside in a place where you don’t speak the language can be challenging. Especially when one of your main tasks is babysitting kids that only speak Dutch and not a lot of English. Outside of the parents in the host family I’m staying with I haven’t really met anyone in Ursem that speaks English or a lot of English. Which isn’t surprising since, after all, they did used to live in Amsterdam, where a lot more people are bound to know how to speak English.
  
• Being in a country where you don’t speak the language can also make navigating the train station interesting. But some words are similar enough to English on the screen when you go to buy a ticket and there’s pictures. And luckily the platforms are numbered.
  
• Biking in Amsterdam is stressful! There is just so much going on around you that you HAVE TO be aware of what’s going on around you 24/7 because...
  
• The pedestrians walk wherever they want to (in the street and the bike lanes) and don’t really stop for bikes or cars at the smaller intersections and have to be reminded to get out of the way. As a pedestrian myself for most of my weekend in Amsterdam I can confirm this. :P
  
• Other bikers don’t stop or always make an effort to get out of your way as a biker or a pedestrian, and sometimes they want to pass you when you’re biking. As long as you stay to the right of your lane and make sure you are constantly checking your surroundings, you shouldn’t crash!
• Cars are obviously very mindful of bikes and pedestrians because of the reasons above, but it’s really stressful when you’re on a narrow road that doesn’t have a bike lane. I always tried to just quickly go down those roads before a car came up behind me. :P
• Every other store on one street of Amsterdam is selling weed or shrooms. No joke. And sometimes those stores are also souvenir shops.
  
• Both London and Amsterdam are big on food/craft markets! While in London I only wandered through one but I’d imagine there’s more, and in Amsterdam I wandered through four different markets. All of the ones I went to were really cool and had a variety of booths selling clothes/jewelry/bags, cuisines and sweets.
  
• If you’re staying at a hostel for more than just a few nights, try and get to know other people that are staying there! When I was staying at the hostel in Torquay there was a community/dining room area that generally we all hung out in. If you sat there long enough doing your own work or reading or whatever, someone was always bound to come along and maybe even strike up a conversation with you. You never know who you’ll meet or hangout with next and it’s a great way of not spending all your time in your room or having to leave the hostel to do something.
  
• Europeans aren’t big on tissues or napkins, cloth or paper. If you gotta blow your nose, use toilet paper, and if your hands get dirty, wash them. Not a lot of paper towels either.
  
• The Dutch eat sprinkles, and not just on desserts. At the store there’s an entire section on an aisle just for different flavors and brands of sprinkles. So far at the house I’m staying at I’ve seen it put on sandwiches and in porridge.
  
• The signage in London and some of Amsterdam comes in handy and is nice to havewhen your phone has low battery so that you can still get to where you want to go. In London every few blocks in some of the main parts of the city there were little rectangular columns with a little map showing you where different popular things and train stations were and pointing you in the right direction of them.
  
• Roads in the quieter parts of Holland, like Ursem, are just a single car width lane in the middle of two bike lanes. When the bike lanes are clear and cars going in opposite directions need to pass, they drive into the bike lane and then go back to being in the middle of the lane.
• When you go to a restaurant in England and have a sit down meal, don’t expect them to bring you the check. The waiters aren’t trying to earn a tip from you because it’s included in whatever you ordered already, so really they’re just responsible for taking your order and bringing you your food. Usually you just pay at the front when you get up to leave.
• Basic manners when staying in a hostel: do your own dishes! If you have access to a kitchen like I did in Torquay, where you have a space in the fridge and a pantry box for your own foods, and you cook yourself a meal, do all of the dishes once you’re done with said meal. That way if someone else needs to use the pan they can and if the dishes aren’t piled in the sink you’re setting a good example and the next person hopefully won’t do that as well.

Obviously there are LOTS more cultural differences and noteworthy things about Europe and my travels, but those are all the things that come to mind right now.

    
In the next few days I’ll hopefully have posts about weeks 2 and 3 up with the same format as week 1, a little overview and then the experiences more in-depth so that it feels like you’re here with me. Stay tuned! :)