A group of f us spent the weekend in Brussels, Belgium and Amsterdam, Netherlands. Airline flights are cheap, so I would suggest to future study abroad students to take full of traveling to other countries by plane.
We arrived in Belgium late on Thursday night. After the stress of getting on the right train and
asking multiple people with awful directions, we finally found our hostel.The five of us were starving and all the restaurants were closed except one place called Publico. Our waiters/bar tenders were super friendly and after talking to them for awhile we found out that one of the bartenders,Fancois lived in Lincoln Nebraska for awhile and loved the huskers! What a small world. He told us about the places to checkout in Belgium and met up with us later that night at one the bars. They both were extremely nice and we had a blast!
We arrived in Belgium late on Thursday night. After the stress of getting on the right train and
asking multiple people with awful directions, we finally found our hostel.The five of us were starving and all the restaurants were closed except one place called Publico. Our waiters/bar tenders were super friendly and after talking to them for awhile we found out that one of the bartenders,Fancois lived in Lincoln Nebraska for awhile and loved the huskers! What a small world. He told us about the places to checkout in Belgium and met up with us later that night at one the bars. They both were extremely nice and we had a blast!
The next day we walked around Belgium taking pictures, eating Belgium chocolate and tea. We had to find our way to the bus station to get on a bus to go to Amsterdam. We had to ask several people for directions to get us to the bus station and after walking for miles and miles we finally found it. Before the bus even left for Amsterdam, a guy from London was throwing up all over the bathroom in the bus and it was starting to smell. After a 4 hour bus ride to Amsterdam, we were exhausted and then still had to find transportation to our hostel. This is when we were all getting tired of constantly being lost. We hung out at the hostel bar for the night because we were afraid if we left the hostel we would get lost.The next day we traveled to the Anne Frank house and Torture museum as well as explored the city. I was surprised that bikes were such a big thing. They were the main form of transportation in Amsterdam and I was constantly dodging them, trying not to get hit!
That night we had to find directions and transportation to get back to the bus that was taking us back to Belgium. When we finally made it back to our hostel in Belgium late. The five of us were so drained that we all went to bed.Sunday me and Billy explored the city a little but but then had to find a ride to the airport. Our flight departed at 9 o'clock and we arrived in Dublin at 10 o'clock. We took a bus from Dublin to Galway and a taxi from Glaway to Spiddle. We arrived at the Park Lodge Hotel at 2 am.
It was a great adventure and these were the best group to travel with. I learned a lot and I wouldn't take it back at all!
Even though I had a fantastic weekend in Belgium and Amsterdam, there were some bumps in the road that could have been avoided. Here are a few tips/incidents that could have been avoided.
Difficulties with the trip
- The first stressful incident happened before we even left for the weekend trip. The night before, me and my brother realized that our flight from Dublin to Belgium was scheduled for the wrong day. Double check that you are booking the right dates or else you will be charged a fee to change your flight to the correct date.
-Traveling is exhausting and too much in one weekend. It may look good on paper but after traveling on a bus for 4 hours from Belgium to Amsterdam to not spend spent 24 hours before your back on the bus to Belgium is exhausting.
The language barrier was more difficult than I thought it would be as well. Constantly asking for directions in a city that you don't know at all with a language you don't know can me physically mentally and emotionally draining after being lost for 3 days.
-Hostels area little strange, especially when you have interesting roommates. Also, after constantly being on the move all day and not having a home base made me feel homeless after awhile.
-Bring more money than you think you will use because transportation can be expensive and adds up!
-My advice to future students would be don't try to do too much in one weekend or else you will just be stressed the whole time and you won't be able to enjoy the beautiful countries because you will have to be thinking about catching this bus and that tram and this plane and that bus.
it was a adventure to say the least! I had a great time and don't regret it at all but would do it differently next time.
It was a great adventure and these were the best group to travel with. I learned a lot and I wouldn't take it back at all!
Even though I had a fantastic weekend in Belgium and Amsterdam, there were some bumps in the road that could have been avoided. Here are a few tips/incidents that could have been avoided.
Difficulties with the trip
- The first stressful incident happened before we even left for the weekend trip. The night before, me and my brother realized that our flight from Dublin to Belgium was scheduled for the wrong day. Double check that you are booking the right dates or else you will be charged a fee to change your flight to the correct date.
-Traveling is exhausting and too much in one weekend. It may look good on paper but after traveling on a bus for 4 hours from Belgium to Amsterdam to not spend spent 24 hours before your back on the bus to Belgium is exhausting.
The language barrier was more difficult than I thought it would be as well. Constantly asking for directions in a city that you don't know at all with a language you don't know can me physically mentally and emotionally draining after being lost for 3 days.
-Hostels area little strange, especially when you have interesting roommates. Also, after constantly being on the move all day and not having a home base made me feel homeless after awhile.
-Bring more money than you think you will use because transportation can be expensive and adds up!
-My advice to future students would be don't try to do too much in one weekend or else you will just be stressed the whole time and you won't be able to enjoy the beautiful countries because you will have to be thinking about catching this bus and that tram and this plane and that bus.
it was a adventure to say the least! I had a great time and don't regret it at all but would do it differently next time.