Jett's Study Abroad Experience
Spring 2023
Spring 2023
As you can see from the title of this post, I'm going to be jumping right back into the trip I began by traveling to Morocco since I had only been back in London for one day before I was back on another plane traveling to central Europe. This stretch of the trip had me leaving on April 27th, and not arriving back to London until May 31st. This meant that I was traveling for 35 days non-stop, which was honestly freeing, but also exhausting. While I could talk about the single day I spent in London between April 25th and April 27th, the only thing I really did was attend my very last class, so there isn't too much to say. Instead, I think I will get right into talking about my travel on the longest stretch of traveling that I have ever done. Geneva, Switzerland On April 27th, I took a train all the way from Roehampton to Gatwick airport, since I learned that Gatwick airport is actually much easier for traveling around Europe than Heathrow. My flight to Geneva departed at about 6:00 pm from London and landed at roughly 8:30 pm, which was nice because it meant that I did not have to travel around an unfamiliar city after dark, especially when it ended up being about 9:00 pm before I had clear customs and found a train into the city. Before I get to my impressions of the city though, I have to talk about the Swiss Alps, as even before I landed, I was able to see just how majestic those mountains are. I am from Colorado and love the Rocky Mountains with an undying passion, but the Swiss Alps are the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen. My first impression of the city was just as good though, as immediately after coming out of the train station in Geneva, I fell in love with the Swiss architecture, mountains, and French landscape that surrounded us on all sides. The buildings were simple, but you could see just how much money went in to creating this city. I initially came simply to see the United Nations' headquarters, but the reason I want to go back is for so much more. Not only is the future of my career there, but the chocolate amazing, the landscape is beautiful, the city is romantic and clean, and the food is good. The first night on the 27th though, I didn't do too much sight-seeing since it was pretty late, and I was still recovering from the trip I took to Morocco. I ended up just going to my hostel and turning in for the night so I could be rested up for my first day in Geneva. Geneva Day 1: On my first day in Geneva, I had decided to take a bus tour to see the Swiss Alps and La Mer de Glace. In order to get to the place we were going, we crossed the Swiss/French border by car and drove through the French countryside for about an hour before crossing another border back into Switzerland. We then arrived at a small town that's name slips my mind since I forgot to write it down. When we got to the little mountain town, there was some down time just to explore around. During this time, I took a walk with an older woman from Ukraine, which was a very eye-opening experience. She was telling me about how she is a refugee from Ukraine who is staying in Switzerland temporarily and is working as an ambassador. She also talked about how her family is still stuck in Ukraine, and even though the war is scary and unreasonable, she still loves her country and supports Ukraine's war effort. So, while this conversation and woman did not have anything to do with the actual tour, getting to talk to her and hear firsthand how the Russia/Ukraine war affects people was one of the coolest and most important experiences I had during my trip. After the downtime, the tour took us all on a cog railroad that went up the side of the mountain to what I would guess is about 12,000 ft. so we could see La Mer de Glace. The train ride was very cold, but also very worth it as during the whole ride, we all were able to see out across the valley to all the jagged peaks and snow-capped mountains and glaciers. At the top, we were given the option to walk up and down 520 stairs to go see some ice caves carved into the glacier that people are able to walk into the dark blue glacier and see the ice from an inside perspective. While the climb was extremely difficult, seeing the inside of the glacier and taking some cool pictures was also extremely worth it. By the time everyone finished the exhausting climb back up the 520 stairs, it was already time to head back to Geneva. The ride back was roughly 2 hours as we had to cross the same borders once again. When we got back, I pretty much just went back to the hostel since the stairs and tour had really made me tired and it was already about 7 pm. Geneva Day 2: My second day in Geneva was honestly just as amazing as the first, but this time, I actually spent the day in the city. Most of the stuff I did can mostly be covered in a list though, since I did lots of walking and saw lots of cool things. 1: I, of course, visited the United Nations and World Trade Organization. Seeing the UN flags were truly one of the most inspiring moments of my life, and I knew in that moment that someday I would be returning to work there and help change the world. 2: I went to the Red Cross/Red Crescent Museum, which was one of the best museums I have ever visited. Not only does that museum function as part of the Head Quarters for the Red Cross, but it also shows so much of the amazing things that the Red Cross does. The best part was that the museum gave real personal accounts of how the actions of the Red Cross help people around the world. The museum also had Red Cross messages that people wrote to loved ones saying that they are okay and are coming home, that absolutely restored my faith in humanity. 3: Saw the Broken Chair 4: Visited the Museum Ariana, which is essentially a giant Ceramic and China (as in plates, bowls, and other dishes) museum 5: Walked around the Geneva Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. 6: Went and looked for some authentic Swiss Chocolate. I had to get Toblerone (because I had to), and I bought a pistachio chocolate that was actually one of my favorite things I ate during the whole trip. Geneva Day 3: Just like the second day, I did so much that using a list may really be the best way to describe everything I did. 1: I visited St. Pierres Cathedral, which was honestly as thought provoking, beautiful, and majestic as any European cathedral would be expected to be. 2: Walked up Terrasse Agrippa D'aubigné, which while it was technically part of another cathedral, I saw it mostly as a terraced portion of the city that allowed you to look out across the skyline of Geneva and across Lake Geneva. 3: Toured the Tavel House, which is an old traditional Swiss town house that was turned into a museum about daily Swiss life and the history of Geneva. This museum was super small and easy to miss, but it was also one of the most informative and well-maintained city history museums that I saw during my travels. 4: Stopped by Eglise Russe, which is a Russian Eastern Orthodox church with had a bulbous roof, rather than the moral steeples that westerns build on their churches. 5: Walked around the Museum d'Art er d'Histoire, which was a really interesting art museum that blended contemporary, historical, and romantic art in very ingenious ways. 6: While walking back to my hostel, I came across the finish line of a huge bike race that blocked off the whole main boulevard of Geneva. I could not figure out what the name of the race was, or where the bikers were coming from, but there were tons of huge news vans, food trucks, and crowds of people everywhere. While I don't know what I happened to stumble across, it looked like a huge event that I am happy I got to see. The sad thing about this day though was that it was also my last day in Geneva and Switzerland. So, when I returned back to my hostel, I packed up all my stuff and prepared to leave early the next morning. I can't even begin to describe how much I loved Geneva, and I honestly often think about how much I could actually imagine living there. I truly believe in so many of the amazing organizations that have chosen to set up headquarters there, and I can only hope that I will get to be a part of that solution in the near future. Madrid, Spain Day 1 Madrid: As sad as it was to leave Geneva, I quickly became excited once again, when I arrived in Madrid bright and early at 6:50 am the same morning I left Geneva. This flight was very strange for me since I left Geneva at 6:30 am, flew for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, and then arrived in Spain at 6:50 am. While the flight actually makes perfect sense, when you are very tired, and slept for the whole flight, it really shocks your body to have a small blip in time like that. However, I didn't let this early flight put any damper on my day though, since I had until 3 pm before I could check into my hostel. I initially was a little worried about going to Spain especially by myself, since people were telling me to be careful about pickpocketing and such. However, as soon as I arrived in Madrid, I really loved the exciting culture, friendly people, colorful architecture. I ended up filling up the day doing a ton of things including: 1: Visiting the Palace of the region of Madrid (Palacio Real de Madrid) and the garden. This was especially cool, when I found a shaded bench overlooking the palace and garden, that also had a local man playing the accordion nearby. The ambience in the garden, with the huge looming palace and accordion music, was unlike anything I have ever experienced before. 2: Visited the Cathedral of the Almudena (Catedral de la Almudena). The cathedral was beautiful of course, but the best part was paying 3 Euros (with my student discount) to climb the Cathedral's tower. While the stairs were hot and tough, the view from the top was so worth it. Not only could you see the whole Palace, but you could look across the top of the whole city of Madrid and out into the Spanish countryside. 3: Before heading to my hostel for a long-needed nap and eventual dinner, I stopped at a local grocery store. I bought some things like apples, Fanta, and some raspberry cookies that I had never seen before. I know the Fanta seems like a funny and American choice, I want to put huge emphasis on the fact that orange Fanta tastes wildly different in Europe as it is much less sweet and synthetic tasting, and really truly tastes more like orange juice mixed with sprite. By the time I went shopping and looking at the palace and cathedral, it was about 2:30 pm. It may sound lame, but I did end up going to my hostel and sleeping till about 10 pm. I was so tired after my nap though, that I ended up just finishing my cookies and had an apple before going back sleep. Day 2 Madrid: Day two was another bus tour day. Pretty much everyone on my tour spoke poor English, but the draw of the tour was that I was able to get quick and easy transport to two walled cities called Avila and Segovia. While both of the towns actually felt very similar and were not far apart, to get to them from Madrid required going all the way through a mountain range, which would have been difficult to do on my own. In Avila I saw several things including: 1: The Monument of the Valley of the Fallen, which is ultimately a huge (like skyscraper sized) cross, that had a giant monastery underneath 2: The actual town of Avila, which is the hometown of Santa Theresa (Saint Theresa of Avila). We also got to see Santa Therasa's actual bedroom as well which, while I don't personally know a town about her, you could feel the religious significance of the town. 3: The Church and Birthplace of Santa Theresa, which is one of the oldest and most important parts of the town. 4: A small museum that that had some relics of Santa Theresa, as well as one of her actual fingers. The finger was very old and shriveled up, but we had to pay money to see it and were not allowed to take any pictures in order to preserve it. 5: The Basilica of San Vincente, which was a huge basilica that honestly felt almost too big for the size of Avila. The basilica was easily bigger than any of the palaces or churches that were in the town. 6: We also got to try some local egg tapas at a local restaurant, and they were absolutely delicious, especially after waking up early and walking around in the hot sun. In Segovia, which is another walled city that we went to after Avila, we saw: 1: The Alcazar de Segovia, which is a Spanish castle that many people believe to be the inspiration for Snow White's castle. 2: The Cathedral of Segovia. Again, not a ton to say besides that it is another absolutely breathtaking and intricately designed cathedral, that is just as jaw-dropping as the last. 3: Arguably the most impressive thing I saw was the Aqueduct that runs through Segovia from the mountains, all the way to the Alcazar de Segovia. This Aqueduct was the most impressive thing because it really shows just how impressive the engineering was during that period of this time. While our underground water pipes of today are much more convenient and practical, the aqueducts truly show the might of European empires back in the day. Following our time at the Aqueduct, the tour had about a 2-hour ride back to Madrid, where I pretty much dropped by the grocery store again and bought some sandwiches and such, and then headed back to the hostel catch up on some schoolwork for the rest of the day. Day 3 Madrid: One my last day in Madrid, I was not able to see a ton because I had several meetings. One was a meeting with some people back in Hawaii and another was with one of my teachers back in London just to wrap up the semester. While these meetings took a good portion of my afternoon, I decided a good way to spend the morning would be by going to the Spanish Museum of Prado (Museo Nacional del Prado), which I ended up spending close to 5 hours at. While I have been to tons of art museums, this one in particular still stands out as one of the most impressive to me. The art came from all over the entirety of Europe, and the authentic Spanish pieces were absolutely gorgeous. After finishing at the museum, I went back to my hostel and took my meetings, did laundry, and then also went and got some tapas for dinner before going to bed early for my flight to Porto, Portugal. I really did enjoy my time in Madrid more than I thought I would though. I initially hadn't really been planning on going to Spain, but I'm so happy I did because every part of my stay was really nice, really enjoyable, and really beautiful. While this whole blog was filled with exciting parts of my trip, this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the places I went. But these places definitely set a good mood and pace for what was next to come in my trip.
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July 2023
While I attend the University of Hawaii at Manoa, I was born in Littleton Colorado and grew up in a rural area. When I moved out to Hawaii for school, I quickly found my groove in Shidler College of Business as a triple major studying Marketing, International Business, and Quantitative Economics, and I was later chosen to be one of the Shidler Global Leaders. This and several other scholarships, including the Johnson Scholarship, gave me the amazing opportunity to go spend a semester abroad in the United Kingdom.
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