writtten from june 2024 - march 2025

the leadup

i didn't actually intend to take AP euro. i went to the meeting for the giggles but was going to be way too busy that summer to do the homework. to my surprise however my amazing teacher wanted me to take the class so bad she let me do it without the summer homework and reduced work as well. what a blessing. anywho i loved the class and on the final exam i got a 4/5. in the winter of 2022 she brought up taking a trip to europe as a class but that it would cost 4,500$. no way i'm never going to be able to afford that but i still went to the meeting....
and then one day after school my mom was like guess what someone paid for your trip. and i was all no way ma'am im not taking someones money especially not sooo much of it just so silly little me can go on a trip. but it turns out it was an anonymous rich person and i wasnt the only one so yay. i'm so unbelevibly grateful for it i can get really lucky sometimes.

march 18 2024 (netherlands day 1)

nervous AF because ive never travelled all that far.this would be my second time taking a plane, and first going to another country. i brought 1 duffel bag and 1 backpack leaving lots of space for souveneirs. my mom drove to colorado that weekend to visit my big sister and her husband and guinea pigs. i got all nervous and clammy at the airport and my shoes were too tight so i had to sit down in the tsa line blocking traffic and everything. i did get fondled in front of everybody which was dope! afterward, we all sat in the lounge for a few hours as you do. i read the grapes of wrath.
we boarded the plane (bougie delta :0) and i sat on the left row near the back. to my left the mom of one of the kids in my class to my right my best friend from when i was a toddler. tough crowd, they both fell asleep. there was a lady in front of me watching fox news the whole flight. i listened to adventures in modern recording by the buggles because it is very comforting and then i listened to skylarking by xtc for the first time and then i listened to my favorite album dinosaurchestra and by then we had already landed in atlanta.
i've never been to atlanta or that far east ever actually. obviously all i got to see was the airport but brother What an Airport. if youve never been to the atlanta airport its very big and shiny and white. i saw a girl rollerskating around. the group split in half. some chose to walk to the terminal but i went with the group that took the 'plane train' because i did not have a rolling suitcase and i loved the idea of riding on some kind of public transport. people were psyched that there was a chick fil a which i did not comment on.
for dinner i had a protein bar. it was fine. we got onto the KLM royal dutch airlines plane which was extremely bougie. even the ticket was made out of nicer paper LOL. one very kind and stylish person liked my outfit:) by then i was soooooooo sleepy but there was no sleeping. my seat was in the center row(!!!) on the right side. luckily there was an empty seat between me and the guy on the other side who did not want to wear shoes or socks on this aeroplane.
KLM is so bougie they even feed you real food like : pasta with red sauce and cheese :3 very good ; veggies that i did not eat ; a little piece of gouda (how dutch) which was very good ; a little piece of bread that was too sweet tbh ; a little cheesecake which i quite enjoyed. and after i agonizingly tried to fall asleep for a few hours they fed us this dreadful little cheese pastry.
what the helllllllll we land in amsterdam and i'm clamboring to look out the window. first thng i see is a tree without any leaves. it looks just like home :). the amsterdam airport is really pleasant. the toilet stall doors go all the way down. this is the dumbest american thing i will ever say: it all reminded me of ikea :3. after walking around a little we met up with the tour guide who i love he was great. we boarded our bus and drove further into the city.
i was so amazed by the architecture, the infastucture, the BICYCLES. amsterdam bikers are so ruthless. the cars are small. the buildings are big. it was too early for tulips but there was still abundant plant life. everything seemed more alive (although back home we were still in the thick of winter LOL). we drove to this little spot next to a body of water and took off on foot into the historic tourist part of the city. we walked under this tunnel and saw a dead rat. everyone kept pointing at it so insufferable. anyway i really like how every surface was covered in stickers and art. you just dont see that everyday. old amsterdam is so beautiful. we broke off into our color groups (i was purple) to walk around and absorb the atmosphere.
we saw the palace and the statues. pretty neat stuff. walked around and checked out the little stores. someone bought stroopwaffels and french fries in a paper cone that were drenched in ranch. pretty good stuff. that was a lot of walking. i took a lot of photographs and made myself look like an idiot and also said hi to all the piegons.
dinner was asian food. real asian food i think i had noodles in a bowl but i was not hungry. dessert was a little bit of ice cream. it was fine. after dinner we just drove to the hotel (ibis) which was quite a ways out of town. our room was very small and i slept on the cot which ws very uncomfortable. i didn't realize it had blankets so i slept very poorly and very cold.

march 19 (netherlands day 2)

We woke up very early. my legs hurt; i thought i would be prepared for this but i was not. i got dressed but took too long to put my shoes on so there i was walking around the hotel in my socks carrying my shoes. this hotel had a confusing layout but the fact that there were escalators up to breakfasting area on the actual fourth floor was so novel i could not be mad. i just had a chocolate croissant which was quite good.
The first item on our list was to go to anne frank's house. this was something that i don't know how to even feel that i was going to actually be there. The walk was very long but eventually we got there. it's a really beautiful building on the side, with a little plaque that mentions what it actually was. we waited outside the museum part for like 15 minutes. it was a beatiful day, if a bit rainy. i couldnt help but try to absorb the atmosphere. eventually we got in. the staff gave us these fancy little audio guides.
So we went through all the rooms. it was remarkably emotional. id prefer not to spoil anything. i think the holocaust was bad.
after crying for 30 minutes and seeing everything naturally i mosyed on into the gift shop. eventuallly settled on a postcard of anne's bedroom because it made me cry the most and i have a huge obsession with interiors. sorry for making this all about me its so embarassing.
my heart became very full when my roomate from the hotel and longtime aquaintence gave me a replica of anne's journal for me to draw in. she said someone else bought it so thanks whoever bought it i'll cherish it forever :D. After this whole ordeal we went back to the bus and drove out of the city to experience the two most vital aspects of Dutch culture: gouda and clogs.
Everything in the netherlands is cute - this farm especially. there was this 17th century windmill in the distance and a barn filled with black and white cows. The guy who lived there gave us a tour of his shop. it was very cozy and smelled like cheese, somehow. he was very funny. he called my teacher 'happy teacher lady' and talked about tourists. the cheese room which was lined with aging wheels of cheese led into the clog room which was actually a little bit freaky because there were many hundreds of pairs of clogs hanging down from the ceiling. he showed us how he makes them in a very funny entertaining way.
after that experience, another gift shop. i resisted any temptations here. many people bought wheels of cheese.
Again, the bus. we drove to the museumplein. For lunch purple and pink group went to this little hippy resturaunt connected to the van gogh museum. i ordered a berry lemonade which was unlike ny other lemonade i've had. needless to say american lemonade is not usually presented like a cocktail. it was fine though i drank all of it. my teacher (different one) shared her french fries with me as well.
Our final event of the day was he rijksmuseum. its a long walk from the road to the museum . at this point my legs were asking me to kill myself.
tangent: do not walk around europe in horrible little vans.
again with the waiting in line. i wasn't yet accustomed to museums going through your bags but its ok i only open carry my soup cans. the rijksmuseum is extremely beautiful i would absolutley reccomend it. not sponsored but they do have an app where you can look at all the artwork.
paintings i saw with mine own two eyes: the one with the swan; the milkmaid; the vermeer one with all the buildings; the nightwatch; one vangogh self portrait; waterloo (bigger then you could ever even imagine actually...) hundreds of other artworks. i really regret not being able to see any of the medieval art or petronella oortman dollhouse but oh well whatever.
i hung around the atrium and people watched for a few minutes. im telling you my legs were actually killing me in real life. everyone got done with their tours so the group skedaddled out of the museum into the park area. some of the boys played basketball with strangers which was really sweet to watch actually we're all the same etc. im still trying to get over anne frank. the bus took its sweet time to get here. i keep saying "the bus" when i should be saying fillip our incredibly taleted bus driver. love you fillip. in the meantime we had "bros" chocolate which is very good.
finally at long last fillip arrived to sweep us off to dinner which was cheesebunger and fries of course. mine was vegitarian and the cook was kind of nice about it and i gave him a huge thumbs up and he thumbsed up at me in return. i was last though so no cheese. for dessert it was these extrordinary little portugese pastries filled with cream.
that was a long and arduous and roller coastery day but i had a lot of fun. i figured out that my cot had a blanket.

march 20 (belgium)

ok i thought my legs hurt yesterday? this was new - i couldnt walk anymore. i swear im not usually this wimpy! i could stand, lean on the wall. but for me there is no more walking. so i sat in the hotel room worrying instead of getting breakfast. eventually i got myself together and hobbled out to the bus with my duffle bag. one of the moms noticed that i looked like i was in pain and gave me a tylenol. she saved me fr im eternally grateful and indebted.
it was a decently long bus ride to brussels. someone bought cheeseburger flavored chips at a gas station. they were bad. we passed through antwerp. the first thing we did in brussels was to take a huge group photo in front of atomnium. then we went to this really beautiful chapel. one thing abut europe is they know how to make a chapel. we walked onto this street and had split off to get lunch. my amazing teacher bought me waffles with strawberries and whipped cream which was quite good but i was still carsick AF
more walking..... to the chocolate factory. it was really cool we got to pour chocolate onto wax paper and sprinkle nuts in it. and they gave us hot chocolate which was really really good. everyone tried to make a skull out of chocolate.
once we were done with this we walked some ways and did not know where we were going. i look up suddenly and its him.... mannekin pis. phenomenal little man. it was at this point that noticed his image everywhere like rapunzel from tangled. every little tourist store.
we meet in the shiny sparkly center part where the beer museum is. me and two girls from my class split off to explore the city and buy keychains and stuff. it was a lot of fun actually it was nice getting to know them better. i liked laughing at all the mannekin pis statuettes and huggy wuggy toys. i even bought a scarf for my mommy. one of the men operating a souveneir shop tried to take creepy pictures which may become a theme of today :D. any which way the group congregated back together. some kids bought matching capes.
dinner was a sweet potato covered in lentils which was decently good but i still don't like sweet potatos sorry. dessert was ice cream again. someone bought fancy belgian chocolate which was fabulous.
in the hotel lobby there were these middle aged men that were laughing and speaking french i think who i didnt care about until one person* told me these men asked if they could take a picture of me. so i looked back and theyve got their phones out which scared the bejeesus out of me people are not usually this overt about it. it was probably because i was wearing my froggy hat. so we were all in that lobby for like 20 minutes while the tour guide figured out room keys and it was awkward .
i shared a room with the same girls. it was pretty sweet but i was still on the cot. i think that was probably pound for pound the worst day of the trip but its fine i just have a problem with the country of belgium. not the only one

march 21 (france day 1)

Belgian hotel continental breakfast was bougie as well i had another gorgeous chocolate croissant wth milk. Thank god my dealer kept me on a contant stream of advil yum yum.this day we were going to france, we drove past a couple ikeas thats all i remember of the bus ride lol. Also in france the trees all have weird balls of plants i dont know whats up with that. Its a beatiful country, lush etc. Someone i think the same person brought ketchup chips.
We stopped for lunch after a few hours at a little buisiness park or whatever. Ironically KFC but the menu is in french and they have nutella ice cream. So yeah thats what i had that and round cheese things. It was pretty good but i was awkward af with the cashier beacuse i speak no french at all and the french don't seem to like that
We arrived in paris not to long after lunch. Its gorgeous like the cities before. i love being in cities it just tickles me. It was so cool to see the landmarks obviously but also the people going about their buisiness and the ugly buildings with grafitti and the napoleonic buildings downtown its just eug yum. First passed the arc du triumphe which we just went around and then we went down champs and made our first real stop at the museee de invalides or whatever. some kids chose to go to the military museum part but brother im here to see napolons rotting corpse so thats where i went . the chapel is gorgeous and the dome where napoleon and hs friends are buried is gorgeous. Nobody has said it before but paris is a beautiful city.
ALSO i should tell you about the way i embarassed myself to the guy who was checking our tickets basically he said bonjour and i literally forgot what bonjour meant so we did awkward eye contact and he was like .....hi and then i died into 1000000 pieces its true.
Then we drove past the egyptian prism object and the national assembly etc. The last museum visit was cut very short but we got lots of time at the musee d orsay which by the way is goregous. Its funny that they have airport security there. We also met up there with one of our old foreign exchange students from paris which was really sweet.
also a really nice girl from portugal/brazil came up to me and said she liked my hat so IF YOUER OUT THERE I think about you everyday. both x
And we looked at paintings. I liked the room with cat and sex paintings what a mix amirite. we also stopped at the cafe to get snacky treats. Mueum buddy got a pistacio dessert and i got water it was exquisite. They also bought me a postcard of that painting of a lady sitting alone day drinking which apparently reminded them of me .
Exchange student showed us a thrift store and everything was cute but so overpriced omll. And we went past a bombed out church and notre dame LOVE. Dinner was obviously crepes but i'm allergic to not showing my ass so its ham egg and cheese crepes and i just get cheese on mine. it was pretty bad haha but dessert was a chocolatey nutella crepe , which was decadant of course. it was one girls 18th birthday so they let her drink LOL.
and of course because of course i was put in a room with museum buddy and one other girl it was great. at the ACE hotel.

march 21 (france day 2)

lalala wake up eat a chocolate croissant get on the bus. we pick up our very nice tour guide who directs us toward versailles. It is so beautifful and lush on the way there and we arrive at the palace's great big parking lot (louis would be proud.)
we split off into groups yet again, half of them go inside the palace while the rest of us may enjoy the pleasure of exploring the grounds. It may have been the windiest day in the palace's history, and a smidge rainy. Apparently it cost more to do the lawns and fountains than the opulent gold and velvet trim of the inside , which is hard to believe until you see just how endless it is. By the way, the fountains were not on when we were there.
eventually we switched and got to go inside, and Jeez... i am not actually pro monarchy but the 17th century baroque stylings come very close to changing this... the tour through the few open rooms in the palace was obviously decadant and i'm very luck to have the privelege to have experienced such beauty etc.
after a quick foray thro the gift shop, in which i never bought anything, we were granted some time to wander. i wound up latching onto my teacher and her grandson to a cafe where i got a hot chocolate and a little chocolate moussse treat for lunch , it was really nice and happy!
our next stop was the louvre back in paris. the original plan had been to go to the louvre instead of orsay but the ticket sitch just didn't work out. nonetheless, many had an interest in seeing the louvre from its front lawn, so we parked up into the underground parking garage, the entrance area with children's art, and the lawn with the pyramids obviously. i entertained the idea of buying a crepe from a little vendor but obviously i didn't
after that little adventure we went out for supper. it was in a hotel, i believe, and consisted of fish, vegatables, bread, and a little cup of yogurt with m and m's for dessert . i traded my fish for more bread just like minecraft. we also said bye bye to fillip here. At some point this day our bus drove through the tunnel that princess diana died in but its a jumble.
It was at this point that we were basically on our own, bus driverless, tour guideless, we just had oscar. This got to be my first time taking actual real public transit, an experience that will shape my perspective on transportation for eons to come (the paris metro is really epic). eventually we wound up in front of the huge staircases uphill going towards the sacre-coeur cathedral. it was arduous work that took too long becauuse im fat but we eventually made it up, and the view was stunning! we went into the church, and it was marvellous. my favorite thing was a gorgeous sparkly jesus statue.
behind the cathedral is a pretty extensive shopping area. these sketchy little tourist stores just glimmer in the night (it was night now), cool white lights illuminating a thousand plastic eiffel towers. i bought a bag with the tournee du chat noir painting on it, very handy for all my brochures etc. this may have been the best day of my life, i realized as i got nto our new bus that really just reeked of cigarettes. i think thats how most people feel, just being able to talk and sing and laugh together in the rain, free. its remarkable.
the cig bus took us back to the hotel, it was deeply late but i enjoyed a shower and deep deep sleep.

march 22 (england day 1)

Awoke early and packed quick - today was the day we go underground. for breakfast i had another chocolate croissant because they are good. another bus takes us off to the train station. i embarass myself at customs (damn you, boris johnson!) and wait on the platform. I LOVE TRAINS!!! we board, i sit next to one of the dads and enjoy the smooth ride of the eurostar. for the longest time we were at ground level, and i spent much time craning my neck to see the last of france. Then it was all gentle darkness out the window as we ventured underground, beneath the english channel (!), and i went for a well needed rest. A few hours later, the glory of the english countryside made itself apparent. i am a huge admirer of england and its culture. so when we landed in london, i was overjoyed.
our first order of buisiness was to meet up with our new loyal bus driver phil. I've never gawked quite like i did out of those bus windows. there is something about london that just begs me to drink it up (it's probably all of the 80s music i listened to). around picadilly circus, we stopped to get off the bus. somewhere around the thames. we were let loose to explore, watch weird performance art, feed, and my group went into a very trendy little shiplap fish and chips place. i am lucky enough to know the local language, so i was pretty confident in my ability to order a thing of chips and a lemonade. i paid for my whole group to eat. it wasss expensive. the lemonade was fermented which i found pretty gross but it was honestly the only thing i had to drink the whole day. for dessert we went to a churro place, i only had a little bit but it was the best churro ive ever had. we went to this awful little harry potter store that kept blasting this dubstep remix of the harry potter theme. not my choice, it was one girl who i barely had restraint to beat and attack(we spent half an hour there waiting for her to pick out her trinkets). we also went to the national gallery and i picked out a couple pins (which can be found elsewhere on this website). eventually we regrouped and got in the queue to ride the london eye. it was very pretty and my first time on a ferris wheel so yay.
we walked aroud some more afterward. i remember mostly going to build a bear, going in front of an aquarium situation. etc. dinner was at a place that seemed a lot like a gay bar, the menu was polish sausage but i had mashed potatoes with vegetables which was Not Good with chocolate ice cream for dessert which was fine also.
that night we stayed at the moxy hotel, which is extremely trendy. they were playing groove is in the heart in the lobby. i got my belgium roomates again and for some reason we got a wheelchair accesible room, much more like a suite tbh i don't know why because none of us are especially physically disabled but it did feel really bougie! we watched adams family values on the hotel tv and i went to sleep in the great big pullout couch bed.

march 23 (england day 2)

I had something diferent for breakfast for this day, a bright pink donut filled with jelly. i am not immune to branding! eventually we took off to pick up our tour guide Stuart who was very cutesie. the first thing that day was to go to windsor castle. the queue was very long but obviously there was plenty to look at. the palace is really amzing. i liked the chutes for pouring hot oil on your enemies. i was most pleased so see queen mary's doll house - it was probably the biggest reason i went on the trip at all, to fufill this childhood dream. i've had a crush on the doll house since i was very young and it was even more dazzling to see in real life. unfortunatley we were moved through the room pretty quick (a quite small room, too) but still really truly magic. i did buy a book about the dollhouse for 5 pounds which i will cherish forever.
i did a fair amount of wandering around the castle grounds and eventually i went down to the village. some people had gotten lunch there, one shared a red velvet cake slice and also a resturaunt was playing video killed the radio star by the buggles (AN: if you dont know they are, get the hell out of here!)
We went back to london town to see the highlights: prince alberts hall/monument suckingham phallus, westminister abbey, st paul's, etc. all wonderous. after all this adventuring (mostly driving,) we went to a cute old resturaunt and i had a veggie burger with fries. it came with barbecue sauce but i still ate it and it was great. everyone else had like meat pies or something, with buttered bread. dessert was an exquisite brownie :D. all lovely and wonderful, there was much joy at that meal, and a bittersweetness. after supper we had another chance to use public transportation, the chube. it was almost goig to be a double decker bus but not enough people had a tap payment set up. anyway we arrived at a really nice view of tower bridge, and obviously the tower of london (which put a certain xtc song in my head...). we took the chube back, down to picadilly circus where we were once again set loose. we went into boots for anthropological reasons, and mcdonalds for a toilet. it was another nice night of shopping, getting a little lost etc. we took the bus back to the moxy for our last night in europe.

march 24 (england day 3)

i felt terrible for not exploiting the moxy's waffle collection earlier, it was quite satisfactory as a breakfast. the only item on today's docket was getting home, which would take a dreadfully long time (not as long as it would take by clipper though). we left oscar, and my teacher, left completely alone with the chaperones. the checking in system was very confusing but thankfully none were left behind. tsa was annoying and slow . we scuttled trhough the halls of heathrow airport anxious to make it on time. i considered snagging some authentic mars bars from a vending machine but decided against it. after only about half an hour we were set to board.
i sat by one of my classmates. we both took some lovely pictures out the window. there is a profound hugeness about london when seen from above. i would have loved to see amsterdam from that angle. its hard to imagine 10 million or so people living there, but there they are. etc. any which way, eventually i settled quite in and listened to music keeping a close eye on the map. lunch ended up being a mushroom thing and a chocolate bar, which you can probably guess which one i neglected. it took probably 10 hours to get to salt lake city, which itself was complete with a 6 hour layover . Thankfully, the process to become an american citizen again went pretty smoothly , no fondling or anything. by the time we were all done "logging in" i thought it would be really corny to pull up a photo of the american flag and sing the star spangled banner, so obviously i did it. thankfully some other people joined so we could all be equally dumb losers.
gazing out the widow i became darkly reminded how hideously ugly the us is. not that utah doesn't have natural beauty, but the infrastructure is so uninviting. whatever. for supper we had panara (it was right next to our lounge), i got mac n cheese with baguette and chocolate milk. someone bought a magazine with cillian murphy to drool over. this was ample time to check on tumblr and talk to my mom etc. really lovely.
at a remarkably late time we boarded the plane home, which i hardly remember at all , but i did sit on the right for the first time and next to one of my teachers, and slept over the flight. we made it safely home and i really kind of ran to my mom because i like her. i gave her the scarf i bought her and told her some of the things ive told you. the drive home was 2 hours in the snow, further extending my state of conciousness. i lay in my bed and slept as never before.

the aftermath

all in all, i'm endlessly grateful for my oppourtunity. im grateful for all of the wonderful people who helped me, comforted me, fed me, treated me. i can use my trip to extend my framework of the world, in a way that photos just can't. do i want to go back? of course! coming back to america was so depressing, that week was a break from my lonely and often gloomy life. im a better person now methinks. i really came out of my shell i think on the trip (and then quickly re entered it) but its good to know im capable of that
what was my favorite - i love amsterdam, the netherlands has a comforting air about it. i also loved london, if i'm ever able to go back, (extremely unlikely) i'd like to explore england more.
why so much talk of food - it helps me remember things (im a fat american)
thank you for reading my SLOG! it only took me a year to write this