Home away from Homesick

Hello all! I hope everyone doesn’t mind that my posts are going to be less frequent now, simply due to the fact that I am no longer traveling. In fact, I’m working again, which leaves me stranded in one place for the time being. However, I still hope to bring you weekly tips and musings on travel and life after spending three months living in Europe.

Now one thing I was told to expect after arriving home to America was reverse culture shock. This is sort of like culture shock, but in reverse; you find yourself shocked by things being different from the place you just visited.

I’m not here to tell you that reverse culture shock is a myth. But I will say that I am very skeptical of its existence, mainly because I barely experienced it at all. The biggest thing for me was I kept forgetting that my phone would actually work when I left the house. Other than that, I found that it’s easy to come home because honestly, this is what I’m used to having in my life.

What I have been experiencing is homesickness, or perhaps more correctly, home away from home sickness. Before we left, the castle administration told us that the castle would always be our home away from home. And the truth is, I’m missing it like crazy. One thing I will say is that it’s a large adjustment to go from country hopping in Europe to living back at home and working a retail job part time. (Not that I don’t love it, but come on, what compares to Europe?)

So I’ve been trying to find remedies to nurse my overwhelming urge to collect my friends and hop on a plane right back to the good, old Netherlands. Here are a few that have been easing my withdrawal pain.

• Watching movies filmed in Europe (or anywhere else that you’re missing). Last night I popped on Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette while doing some internship work. It’s the only movie they’ve ever allowed to be filmed in Versailles and seeing it brought back all the good memories I had of touring there with my friends. It allowed me to take a little vacation, if only in my mind.
• Indulging in some native cuisine. Namely, in my case, stroopwaffel. I started carrying around a pack in my purse for a snack during my breaks at work. It always brings me back to mornings in the tower where I’d have it every day for breakfast (even if its status as a breakfast food is questionable).
• Talking about your experience. I recently volunteered to go back to my old middle school to talk about my experiences studying abroad. It gave me a chance to spread my enthusiasm for the experience, while teaching kids a bit about Europe. It was nice being able to relive my experience, even if I was probably more excited about it than the kids!
•  Visiting your travel companions. I’m meeting up with a friend who lives nearby on Thursday and hoping to plan a trip to New York City to visit some others later in the summer. It’s been hard not seeing them after spending three months together and I hope by meeting up, we can get a chance to relive our adventures while swapping stories about readjusting to life in America.
• Reading. Similar to watching a movie, reading a book that’s set in a place you’ve visited can be oddly comforting. I hope to start The Diary of Anne Frank soon as well, since I bought it while in Amsterdam. I’m actually glad now that I brought so many books while abroad, because each now holds a unique memory of the place where I bought it!

What are some things you do to relieve the post-travel blues?

Hostel-tality?

Since my arrival in Europe, I’ve stayed in several different hostels. Each one was a new and different experience. I’ve stayed in nice chain hostels and in privately owned ones that are like someone’s house. I’ve stayed in a room with just friends and in a room of sixteen people, most of whom are strangers. I may not be the most experienced hostel guest, but I’d like to think that I’ve sampled a few.

Most of my hostel stays went without incident. However, this past weekend in Zurich, we had a few weird incidents with our roommates. In the past, when returning to the room when our roommates were still asleep, we would never turn on the light (or even think to do so!). When we returned in Zurich, one girl turned on the light, despite our sleeping roommates. Then, in the morning, she turned it on again, while everyone else was still asleep. Even stranger, the next night when staying in a hostel in Basel, someone woke us up at 2 AM with the sound of a blow-dryer. This girl was doing her hair in the hall! At 2 AM!

I thought hostel etiquette was one of those things that came naturally, but this weekend proved that not everyone might have the same ideas on what is and isn’t okay to do when sharing a space with strangers. Based on my very limited experience, I thought I’d share some things I’ve learned about how to respectfully share a hostel room.

• Don’t turn on the lights! Unless, of course, your roommates are awake.  I’ve found that the way my travel goes, I’m often arriving at hostels in the middle of the night. Realize that if this is the case, you are most likely entering a room of sleeping people. Keep the things you’ll need to settle in at the top of your bag so you don’t have to worry about rummaging around and use your phone for light. Many phones now have flashlights. If not, there are plenty of apps to download to use as a flashlight. But don’t be that person that comes in at 2 AM and turns on the light. A little consideration will get you a long way with your roommates.
• Be friendly. Again, a little consideration goes away. You certainly don’t have to strike up talk to every person in the room, but a smile and greeting are always nice. Who knows, you might make great friends for exploring the city!
• Be realistic. You are sharing a room with other people. Sure, they should be respecting you as well, but don’t be that person that shushes people for talking in hushed tones at 8:30 in the morning. (Actually happened in the sixteen person room we stayed in in Venice.) Realize that your roommates’ travel plans may have them coming in late and leaving early, so they might accidentally wake you in the middle of the night or early in the morning. If you think it’ll bother you, bring ear plugs and eye blinds.
• Don’t hog the outlets/shower/any other shared accommodations. You’re not the only one who wants to charge your cell phone. Nothing is more frustrating than not being able to get ready in the morning because someone won’t get out of the shower or give up the only outlet in the room in favor of their blow dryer. I cannot stress enough how far a little consideration for other people will go!
• Don’t make a lot of noise at night. Like blow drying your hair in the hall at 2 AM…just no.

Have any crazy hostel stories or tips? Feel free to share!

On the road

When my friends and I began planning this weekend, the weekend after travel break, we hit a bit of a rut. Berlin was too long a bus ride, Dublin was too expensive, and even the most random destinations plugged into Ryanair and Easyjet yielded no viable flights. We were stumped. Then it hit one us: why don’t we rent a car and road trip? I did this last month with my family and it ended up being a great way to do a couple day trips in a weekend.

So we burned some CDs, packed some snacks, and hit the road! We ended up renting a car from an airport across the German border, because none of us meet the age requirement to rent a car in the Netherlands. We took a cab to the airport and from there, drove an hour to Dusseldorf with the intent of going to the Aquazoo there (a much more fun way to say aquarium, if you ask me).

Off we go! Photo credits to Gavin Gronenthal, who was also our very patient driver.

We arrived at Dusseldorf around lunchtime and ended up going to a German Greek restaurant where they spoke little to no English and ordering was a fun surprise. (I ended up with calamari in a salad. Not too shabby.) However, when we finished and headed to the Aquazoo, some very nice German men informed us it was closed…until fall 2015. However, if there’s one thing we’ve learned how to do during these past two months, it’s how to handle a wrench in our plans. We began walking the park surrounding the aquazoo and were not even five minutes in when my friend suggested we go to the Burger’s Zoo, a well-known Dutch zoo about an hour away from Well. So into the car we went again and drove another few hours to the zoo.

Entrance to the aquazoo. For some reason, the deserted parking lot didn’t tip us off. It’s disappointing, because it looked super cool! I guess I’ll just have to try again if I’m ever in Germany after fall 2015.

The zoo was well worth it. We got there a little late and only had about 45 minutes before the outdoor animals were put inside, but we still saw quite a few animals. I grew up not too far from what I would say are some pretty decent zoos, and the Burgers’ Zoo definitely impressed me. There were tons of adorable baby animals, cool, very realistic indoor habitats and even an ocean section where we got our fix of marine life that we missed out on from the aquazoo.

Moms and baby gorillas! Insert Tarzan reference here

Otters in the rainforest. Accurate? Maybe? Adorable? Definitely.

I was highly impressed by the ocean section, even if it did bring flashbacks from the cinematic masterpiece, “Jaws 3”.

So how does one follow up an awesome trip to the zoo? By a trip to Luxembourg, obviously. Originally, we planned on going to Luxembourg City, the capital, but it was a three and a half hour drive. Instead, we opted to go to Clerveaux, a mountain town that’s about two and a half hours away in comparison.

I took advantage of the long drive and caught up on some reading. Check out my Goodreads for my favorite traveling picks!

It’s funny how even in the middle of Europe, there are moments where I feel like I’ve never left America. As we drove through Belgium and up the winding mountains of Luxembourg, I felt like I was driving through upstate New York again, looking at colleges, or up to New Hampshire for a family vacation. When we arrived in Clerveaux though, there was no mistaking that we were in Europe.

Note the tall stone church, the cottage like houses, and the surrounding forests. I felt like I could’ve been in a fairy tale (minus the cars).

First stop was lunch and this time, we ended up in a Portuguese place. Luckily, they spoke French so I was able to get by. From there, we visited Clerveaux Castle. It was built in the 12th century and bombed during World War II. It’s since been restored and turned into a museum, featuring models of other castles. We also visited a photo exhibit which was incredible, as well as an exhibit dedicated to World War II. Apparently, America liberated Luxembourg and a lot of the pieces were from American soldiers. It was a very strange, yet interesting experience seeing an exhibit based around Americans in a foreign country.

This was an interesting sight to see. A little piece of US history abroad.

We finished up the day by visiting a church, walking around a bit, and grabbing snacks before heading back to Well. I was reunited with crepes and bought a Luxembourg baseball hat, because why not buy a random souvenir on a random trip?

If you are ever lucky enough to travel Europe, I would recommend getting a car. I forgot how much I loved driving around with friends, playing music, and singing along. I did not forget how nice it is to travel on your own schedule! It was amazing to also be able to visit a place we wouldn’t have normally. I’m glad I got in one weekend of visiting little, kind of obscure places. It was a nice break from big cities and I’m so pleased I had this experience. I think this weekend will be one of my favorite memories from this trip.

Speaking of this trip, today marks two months since I’ve arrived and one month until I go home. Talk about a lot of mixed emotions. If you want to follow my journey more, be sure to check out my Twitter and Instagram at erin_kayata!