Assignment 2: Travel

Task: Write another travel - related post.

 

I think travelling is the coolest thing ever. Travelling is not only relaxing but it also broadens your mind. For me it was always interesting and important to learn about other countries and cultures. I couldn´t imagine sitting at home every day of the year and not ever leave Austria. I never understood people who don´t like to travel and say that if you watch documentaries about foreign countries and cultures on TV or buy magazines with nice pictures of other countries, you learn as much as if you would spend hundreds of Euros to actually go to that country. Of course money is a big problem, because flights and accommodation can be pretty expensive, but just by looking at pictures you can maybe see what everything looks like, but you definitely can´t experience different cultures first hand.  

 

Thankfully, I have a mother who shares my opinion about travelling and who took me and my younger brother to many different places. She always saved as much money as she could throughout the year, so that we could have one big vacation during the summer holidays and sometimes even a small one during the year. We went to Egypt twice, to Morocco, Tunisia, Greece, Bulgaria, Dominican Republic, Dubai, Abu Dhabi... and my uncle took me to Iceland once. We drove to Denmark, took the ferry and then stayed on the Färör Islands (which are part of Denmark) for one week and the other three weeks we were camping and driving all over Iceland.

 

My mother also gave me the opportunity to live in the US for two years, one year in Colorado, the other one in New York. That was always a big dream of mine and if she wouldn´t have supported me moneywise, I wouldn´t have been able to do that.

When you live with American families, you experience culture first hand. You learn about things that you would never learn about when you are just a tourist in that country. To see how they celebrate big holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas, for example, is pretty cool. (And the food was amazing!!!) ;)

 

In the end of my year as an exchange student in Colorado, I was able to do a big trip with other exchange students. We travelled for like five weeks, all over the US. Starting in Denver, Colorado, we went up to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, then to Los Angeles and San Diego. Next was the South with, Houston, New Orleans, Orlando and then we went north again to Washington DC, New York, Boston... This was an amazing trip, but also throughout the year I was able to travel a lot. One of my host families took me to Cancún, Mexico, which was beautiful. During the winter, I saw most of Colorado, because I was part of the Aspen Valley Ski Team and we had ski races and trainings every week, all over Colorado. One day we even got to train with the US ski team, which was definitely a highlight for me. For somebody who loves skiing and is into ski racing, it is awesome to meet all the World Cup ski racers, who already accomplished so much.

 

During my time in New York, I also travelled a lot. Whenever I had enough money saved, I convinced my friends to go to Boston, Philadelphia, or Washington DC with me for a weekend. Even though I´ve been there before, I always enjoyed spending time there, because there are always new things to experience, that you haven´t seen before.

 

In Philadelphia, two friends and I tried "Couch Surfing". For those who don´t know what that is, you basically stay at a strangers house without having to pay money. I was really scared to do that and would have never done it if I was travelling alone, but my friends finally convinced me and it was a great experience.

 

I´m really happy, that I have seen so much already and I´m definitely gonna keep travelling whenever I can. I have seen so many beautiful places, that I would almost call paradise, and I´m sure there is much more to see!!!