After my weekend in Paris, I took a train with Jess and Bobbi to Maastricht, where they are studying this semester! We got in pretty late on Sunday night so we just unpacked and went to bed when we got there.
On Monday, we headed to the grocery store first thing in the morning to stock up on food for the week (pretty exciting stuff, I know!). After we cooked breakfast, Jess and I headed into town and she gave me a little tour of the city. Maastricht has two main squares surrounded by a ton of cute shops and restaurants. It was so cute and quaint and I could definitely tell why she loves it so much! We stopped into an old church that had been converted into a book store and coffee shop for a little snack before Jess had to head to class.
this bookstore/cafe was so unique!
a sunny day in the city, featuring my tour guide!
The university Jess and Bobbi go to operates on a quarter system so they were starting a whole new set of classes that week. I hung out in one of the school buildings and got some work done while they had their lectures. It just so happened that Villanova course registration for the Spring was going on while I was on my break so it was nice to have some down time to plan out my schedule (and I also edited my video from Paris!). When they got out of class, we headed back into town in pursuit of Halloween costumes! The university was hosting a Day of the Dead party that night so we got big flower crowns and masks for the occasion. And, after much deliberation, we decided on a rocker chick theme for our actual Halloween costumes, after being inspired by Rolling Stones tee shirts we found at H&M. Post-shopping we got delicious Belgian waffles at Pinky's, a waffle chain that you can find on almost every street in Maastricht (or so it seemed).
the food tour of Europe continues...
The next day was pretty much the same, but after class we watched It to get in the Halloween spirit. None of us particularly like scary movies so I'm not sure why we thought that was a great idea!! One of the university housing buildings set up a haunted house that night which was even more terrifying after seeing the movie just a few hours before. Wednesday was spent recovering from our Halloween festivities and exploring the other side of Maastricht, across the canal, where there are some nicer shops and restaurants. We got bagels at Jess' favorite bagel place followed by macarons for dessert.
unfortunately the stores on this side of the river were a bit out of our price range
After Jess and her friend Rachael got out of class on Thursday, we headed straight to the train station and hopped on a train to Amsterdam! Our Airbnb was a cute little family apartment located on the second floor of a building with some killer stairs - I swear they were almost vertical. We settled in and ordered burritos for dinner (I will literally take any chance for Mexican food I can get).
On Friday morning, Ashlee arrived and we headed to the city center for a breakfast of traditional Dutch pancakes. I had an epiphany moment during the meal when I realized that one of my favorite restaurants in London, My Old Dutch, served the same kind of crepe-like pancakes. Kind of makes sense when the word 'Dutch' is in the name but I never put two and two together. Afterwards, we walked around the canals for a while and popped into a few shops. That afternoon we went to the Museumplein, the park where all of the art museums - and the iconic I Amsterdam sign - are located. We had seen an ad for the Moco museum while we were walking around and decided to take a look. They had a super cool Banksy exhibit featuring some original work from the street artist and it was super cool!
I went for the banana nutella
the canals are so pretty!!!
I loved how different Banksy's artwork was from all the traditional art we saw in Paris
some words to live by
Amsterdam sign round one
Afterwards, we tried to go to a famous avocado restaurant that went viral on Facebook over the summer but the wait was way too long so we got dumplings instead - and Ashlee got to learn how to use chopsticks :) Next stop was the tulip market, a huge street full of tulip bulbs and flowers for sale. We thought there wouldn't be any flowers since it's not really tulip season, but surprisingly there were a few! And the entire ceiling was covered in hanging dried flowers which was beautiful - and they smelled amazing.
flowers as far as the eye could see
That evening Jess and I had booked tickets for the Anne Frank House. We were a little early for our time slot so we got to walk around the canals at night for a little bit which was so pretty. The actual tour consisted of an audio guide that read excerpts from Anne's diary and told the story of her life leading up to, during, and after her time living in the annex. We got to see the actual rooms her and her family lived in which was so surreal. The nazis took all the furniture when they raided the annex and the apartment is exactly how they left it. Anne and her sister's heights were marked on the wall and the actual magazine clippings they used to decorate the walls were still there. The mood throughout the whole exhibit was so somber. We talked for a while afterwards about how unbelievable it is that people were just going about their daily lives while this family lived for two years in hiding fearing for their lives. Definitely a heavy experience but I'm glad I got to experience that piece of history.
canals by night
Afterwards, Bobbi arrived from Maastricht and we met back up at the apartment for dinner. That night we took a walk through the Red Light District. It was a bizarre and slightly sad experience that left us feeling a little grimy. When in Amsterdam, I suppose!
The next morning we got a delicious brunch at The Corner Bakery before heading back to the Museumplein. We had planned on going to the Van Gogh museum, but unfortunately did not book tickets ahead of time. The wait was going to be two hours so we decided against it (but now I have a reason to go back!). We walked around the city some more before deciding to take a canal tour. It was really cool to see the city from water level and learn more about its history! That night we had a girls night in and got wine and a ton of snacks and talked about our week together. It was crazy to think that I had only met most of the girls I was with just a few days before. We're already planning a reunion in New York City this summer :)
a little fruit to balance out our all-pastry diet
Amsterdam sign round two - love this crew!!
Bright and early on Sunday morning, I said my sad goodbyes and headed to the airport to catch my flight back to Copenhagen. I couldn't have asked for a better week and I'm so happy I got to explore two new cities with my best friends. I couldn't be luckier.
Click here if you want to watch the video from my adventures in the Netherlands:
Two weeks after my long study tour I had 9 days off to travel anywhere I wanted. I started off my free travel week by reuniting with my best friends in Paris and it was nothing short of magical! If you've been following along since the start of this blog you know that I visited Paris back in 2016 when I was studying abroad in London (click here for a little #tbt action). I loved my trip to Paris the first time around so I was super excited to go back to the city and see and do some things I hadn't done the first time around.
Maddie and I arrived in the city on Friday afternoon and headed straight to our rental apartment to meet our best friend from home, Jess, her friend from school Ashlee, and friend from her study abroad program Bobbi. We hadn't seen Jess since we all left home back in August so it was a happy reunion (and a few tears may or may not have been shed). After getting freshened up we headed straight to the Eiffel Tower! Bobbi and I had both been to Paris before but none of the other girls had, so seeing their reaction to such an iconic monument was so sweet. We took some photos in front of the tower before gathering some picnic supplies and eating dinner on the lawn in front of the tower. We stuck around to see the light show twice and even witnessed a couple get engaged!! I honestly don't think watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle at night could ever get old. After packing up our picnic, we finished the night with some crepes before heading back to the apartment.
the view from our apartment - so Parisian
it doesn't get better than this!!
the weekend crew
dinner of champions
my ideal picnic location
my mom said this belongs in the shanny alumni magazine ;)
We started out the next morning with croissants and a visit to the Arc de Triomphe. I had seen this monument the first time around but this time we actually climbed to the top! This actually ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip - the view was absolutely beautiful and we got up before it got too crowded. The arch is situated in the center of a traffic circle where there's basically no rules, there's no lines in the pavement and everyone just gives each other room to merge in. It was crazy to see the cars and tour buses and even a few brave bikers zipping around without incident. After coming back down, we headed to the Ladurée on Champs-Élysées for macarons. To continue on our French food tour, we followed up dessert with croque-monsieurs for lunch.
the best part about Paris is seeing the Eiffel Tower in the skyline almost everywhere you go
pretty sure they made this traffic median for the perfect photo op...
shoutout to Jess for playing photographer all weekend!!
we may or may not have eaten all of our macarons before the day was over
After lunch, Jess, Ashlee, and Maddie headed to the Louvre (spoiler alert: they thought the Mona Lisa was a let down) and Bobbi and I made our way over to the Musee L'Orangerie. This museum houses Monet's famous water lily paintings. These paintings span across two huge rooms and were so stunning to see in person. They way the museum is set up makes it feel like you're immersed in the paintings. I'm so glad we got to see it! We all met up at the D'Orsay afterwards to see Degas' ballerina paintings and Van Gogh's self portrait along with the iconic D'Orsay clock. The best part about all of this is that we got into the museums for free using our residence cards, since EU citizens under 26 get free admission (#studyabroadperks). After the museums, we walked along the love lock bridge, which had been moved to a new location since the last time I'd been there.
I couldn't get over the sheer size of these paintings
the detail was incredible
one of my favorite museums in Paris!
Next stop was up to Montmartre, a huge hill and the location of Sacré-Cœur, The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris. To get up to the top of the hill we had to climb so many steps (we ended up walking over 23,000 steps that day). We brought another picnic dinner and watched the sun set over the city. Everything was glowing pink and orange and it was so so beautiful. Coming back down the mountain was certainly easier than coming up!
sunset over Paris
The next day, we grabbed breakfast at a cute cafe (croissants, of course) before heading to Angelina for their world famous hot chocolate. We had 'second breakfast' in the Tuileries Garden before heading to do some shopping at Galeries Lafayette. This huge department store was already all decorated for Christmas!! There was a huge Christmas tree set up in the middle of the store which seemed a little pre-mature but we were all super excited to see it. After a little retail therapy which I surprisingly did not purchase anything at :) we went to Palais Royal. This palace houses an outdoor art installation of black and white striped pillars. There were some daredevils attempting some interesting stunts on the taller pillars but we stuck to the ones closer to the ground for a few pictures.
'tis (almost) the season
loved this shot!
We ended the weekend with baguette sandwiches before all parting ways back to our respective host countries (except I headed back to Maastricht with Jess and Bobbi). It was a weekend jam-packed with good food, lots of walking, and too many "I can't believe we're here together" best friend moments. Cheers to a wonderful weekend in the city of love with my loves!
P.S. You can check out the video I made of our trip here:
