5 Years Later: Top 5 things I Miss About Europe

Today, on the 5-year anniversary of taking off on a 6-hour flight to Europe for the first time, I am on my way to the airport for a 22-hour flight to Australia.

I feel like it was another life, that I'm in another life now. Miraculously I'm still the girl who constantly reminds you she studied abroad; who wears scarves like they do in France; who will always find a way to bring up Pistachio McFlurries in Italy; who preaches "in Spain they sleep half the day." I'm still annoying, but at least I can say I'm genuine.

It's been 5 years and I can still say that studying abroad was the greatest thing that has happened to me yet. It taught me how to look at and love the world - always rubbing the dust from my Ray-Bans (#ad - one day, right?) to see someplace new and see it through my version of rose-colored glasses; always learning and yearning for something else.

After returning from Thailand in October (have I mentioned I've been to Thailand yet?) by the grace of God I am now inching a little closer to having traveled fully around the globe as I'm off to Australia. I'm a vagabond, and I'm happy with that. Thankfully I keep great company who will join me.

ALAS: my European adventures will forever be one of the most defining periods for me. So in celebration of traveling further and always remembering what made you who you are (DTW4LIFE), I bring my friends and family, new and loyal readers, lucky procrastinators who accidentally stumbled upon this page through scrolling through google:

THE TOP 5 THINGS I MISS ABOUT EUROPE: 5-year remembrance edition
*with a value-add of tips, tricks, and advice for traveling! Thank you for your time; now read. 

5. Blessings
Remember the Frenchman? Surely you do if you read my blog 5 years ago, but in case you forget or you're new here - man, oh man was this an interesting Frenchman. The dear, elderly gentleman, speaking and confusing me in French was simply basking in the spectacle that is Notre Dame.

Advice: go see it for yourself.

Even if you're not religious, think about the people who built these places. They build them to house the greates,t most sacred being in their belief. They poured everything they could into these buildings and it shows. True, magnificent masterpiece, just like the Greek Temples. 

When I die, bury me in Piazza Navona.
Photo Kred: Korrie Bauer

Highlights:
Sacre Couer, Notre Dame, La Sagrada Familia - all incredible works of art.

If you truly can't stomach it, go to Amsterdam, go to Buddha, get a space brownie and visit Old Kirk. It's a church that was gutted to put in art installations and they get trippy. Now you're worshipping!

4. #VIEWS

Living in Bushwick, Brooklyn where the best view is out of my windows into an ally with an aging Strawberita can, I miss looking out our windows onto the courtyard of our Italian monastery. Or screaming across the balconies of our Spanish courtyard. Or catching the Eiffel Tour sparkling from our shuddered French windows.

Advice: Enjoy the view. Seriously.


3. Ryan Air
To tackle this one, I called in a friend, European roommate and other half of 2012's Cutest Couple: Patricia Holliday.

One of the many "weekend" trips we took was to Pompeii. 
2012's cutest couple climbed Mt. Vesuvius in our matching #RayBans. 

Five years after coming back from Europe and I still haven't been to the west coast (well, I'll be in the SF airport tonight, but that hardly counts).

Patricia, like me, craves the opportunity to just get up and get out.

"Going from Italy to Spain was a whole other ball game than going from like, Maryland to Florida."

Advice: When you're there, book a weekend trip somewhere. ANYWHERE you haven't been yet. And Ryan Air is the comprehensive airline for flying between countries very (very) cheaply. 

2. Edibles 
Patricia is going to stick around to tackle this one, too, considering she's the reigning champ of food porn. 

Yes, McDonald's over the pond was better, but overall there was always something to try. 

"Every restaurant felt like a mom and pop place, [whereas] here: fuck you Applebee's" Patty-Ice agrees, but then corrects, "but also I love your half off apps; never change Applebees."

Sure, America has all the options we could every possibly want, but until you taste the sweet flavor of a Spanish kebab or realize you know nothing you thought you did about gnocchi, you just won't know what good food is.

Advice: leave the country; step two: eat anything at all.

1. Do I really need to spell this out for you? 
Being out of your comfort zone has always given me the greatest feeling of being alive. It's a rush that you just can't get really get when you swipe onto the subway every day through muscle-memory.

You're thrown into the lion's den, for sure, but what is more thrilling than that? When you're too comfortable, it's time to shake things up.

Cité? Cit-ay? I'll take my chances. Let's go.
KB cred. 

"You're not in Jim Thorpe anymore," Patricia lovingly sites my hometown. Having firsthand experience in herself in Mineola, Strong Island, she knows the pains of feeling stifled by a small town. "When you're in a town for a long time, or born and raised somewhere, it almost feels like this is how everything is."

But it's not. And thanks to the internet, we know that. Pictures weren't enough - even reliving mine isn't enough - you have to be there. 

"You go to another city or country and experience something entirely different and it rocks your world," Patricia says. "Sometimes good, sometimes bad, and you realize you're not stuck or trapped."

"The constant reminder of being independent and conquering a new metro system," Patricia remembers, "or finding your way when you don't speak the language. Constantly proving yourself to yourself."

Those are the greatest thrills. 

Other than jumping off a bridge. 

I thought Europe was the beginning for me, but now that I'm off to Australia, I know that I am truly just getting started. As for this chapter - it's finally time to close. But there will be more, believe that, there will be more.