Bratislava, Prague, Vienna, and Budapest are all day trips from Brno, with Budapest being the furthest and still only a 3-and-a-half-hour drive away. Growing up my family would take road trips to Florida, so from El Paso to the east end of Texas was a 12-hour drive, and California was closer to us than Dallas. Even driving up to Denver from El Paso is about 10 hours. The drive from Brno, Czech Republic to Amsterdam, Netherlands is just over 10 hours. Taking advantage of the easy transportation system and time between countries and iconic cities is a must. Visiting other friends in different countries is also a huge perk of studying abroad, especially when you’re in Central Europe.
I am fortunate to have a high school friend living outside of Eindhoven, Netherlands. I took a two-hour bus from Brno to the Vienna Airport and a two-hour flight from Vienna to Amsterdam. Fleur, my native-to-Holland friend, met up with me at the Airport and we got to catching up quickly. After an afternoon spent exploring pieces of Amsterdam, we caught a train to Eindhoven that was about an hour long, followed by a 15-minute drive to Aarle-Rixtel, her hometown. I think at this point of my study abroad experience I might have been starting to have some homesickness, but being able to spend time with someone from high school truly cured it. It was also insane to see the house and town she grew up in when I had only known the “US version” of Fleur and her home.
While we were in Amsterdam, we took a boat ride through the canals while eating cheese and drinking wine. The boat guides explained some of the history of Amsterdam and went through their silly but true anecdotes. One thing that stuck out was the fishing hooks that extended from most building’s roofs. The buildings along the city’s canal system were all built to be commercial buildings and factories. They were also built at an angle leaning forward, with large hooks that could drop down to the canal to pick up cargo to take up to the top floor through the window. Most of these buildings now house people as flats, and oddly enough some now lean to the sides due to structural decline. A quarter of the country is below sea level, and the water flowing throughout the country is beautiful. The man-made and maintained spots still complement its surroundings visually. Throughout the entirety of the weekend it was on and off rain, which Fleur remarked as being the norm in the weather and sometimes annoying as she bikes most places.
During my time in the Netherlands, I was able to visit the Cat Museum (Museum of Cat-based Art) and Modern Contemporary Art Museum, which is home to creations by artists like Bansky, Keith Haring, Basquiat, and Warhol. I was able to eat my first “fancy” meal that was served in courses and each was a curated meal the chef came out with seasonally. I got to experience a Dutch night out in Eindhoven, check out what grocery store snacks are available in the Netherlands, and see the most bicycles (+electric bikes and cars) I’ve ever seen in my life. Even though it was only 3 days, it was a “gezellig” visiting the Netherlands and reuniting with a friend to explore her little part of the world.
(Gezellig is a Dutch adjective, similar to cozy/fun/pleasant/sociable)
After I leave Masaryk I really hope to keep in contact with the other exchange students so I can have places to stay throughout most of Europe and other parts of the world. Being in someone’s hometown is so helpful in understanding them and getting to enjoy how they live in their own spaces. The ability to travel to different countries at a decent price and get to new destinations quickly has been a huge bonus to studying in Europe, and it can help you make friends that can house you in new places all over. I also really really hope to have more creative curated culinary dishes in different countries now because of how delicious of an experience it was.
DU Abroad 