Jett's Study Abroad Experience
Spring 2023
Spring 2023
During the span of about 2 weeks, my trip took me to 4 cities across Italy and Germany. While I would love to give a breakdown of all four cities, there is just not enough hours in the day to write all of the feelings and fun experiences that I had. Instead, I'm going to talk about all the highlights of my time in each of the cities including Rome, Florence, Munich, and Berlin. Rome, Italy Rome was a beautiful city where I was able to see modern skyscrapers and ancient ruins of equal of might in city skyline. While this city had more tourists than I have ever seen in my life, it also had incredible monuments and ruins that you can only imagine when you read or watch anything about Roman mythology. The food including pizzas, pastas, lasagnas, and especially gelato, were honestly some of the best foods I've ever had, and the atmosphere of the restaurants are some of the most romantic I have ever encountered. There is absolutely a ton of very special things to see when you are in Rome, and I did go to as many as I could, but to be completely honest, I think I would have been just as satisfied if I just wandered around the city with no plan for the whole 3 days I was there. However, here is a list of things I saw while I was there: 1. The Colosseum 2. Chiesa di San Sebastiano al Palatino 3. Alter of the Fatherland 4. The Roman Forum 5. Palatine Hill 6. Trevi Fountain 7. The Pantheon 8. Catacombs of St. Callixtus (The biggest catacombs in Rome) I want to reiterate that while this is the majority of the big touristy things that I saw, I had so much fun just walking around the city. Many of the buildings in Rome are combined with ruins or have beautiful antique Italian architecture, and just being immersed in the culture and ambience of the city was a special experience in and of itself. Florence, Italy Florence was my favorite of the two cities that I visited in Italy for several reasons. The best part of being in Florence was that I was able to meet up with a couple friends who are other Shidler students and were studying abroad. We got to go out to eat several times and had the best lasagna and pasta in the entire world. They also showed me around the city since they were getting ready to come back to the US and had just spent an entire semester exploring Florence. Another reason that I preferred Florence was because there were way less people there and I did not have to push my way through any crowds or worry about people trying to get money by selling things like bracelets. Florence was just a much better place to take a stroll through the city and enjoy the cathedrals, eat good food, and take tons of amazing pictures. On a much more minor note, the weather in Florence was also much better than Rome. Not only is the climate just a bit cooler, but Florence is located in a more mountainous region where things feel a little less dry and muggy than in the big city of Rome. The ambience of Florence was also much different than Rome. It wasn't better or worse at all, as it was truly just very different. The streets were full of hustle and bustle still, but it was people shopping and walking around with their families and getting gelato/ice cream. There were also many more authentic family-owned restaurants that were just so delicious. Just to name a few of the things I did in Florence, I saw: 1. A huge Rose Garden 2. Piazzale Michelangelo 3. Stefano Bardini Museum (a totally underrated art museum that I had to myself since there is not much foot traffic by where it is located) 4. Piazza del Duomo 5. Basilica di Santa Trinita 6. The Central Market 7. A University Park and fortress I also was to list a couple of the things I ate while I was in Florence that were absolutely amazing! 1. Coffeemisu (Tiramisu Coffee at a local cafe) 2. Homemade Yogurt turned in Parfaits 3. Black Truffle Tortellini 4. The best brick oven pizza that I have ever had at La Borsa 5. Lasagna at a family-owned restaurant called Trattoria Katti I also want to include a whole bunch of pictures that I took while I was in Italy, so here is a bunch of pictures from both Rome and Florence. Munich, Germany As far as places that I could see myself living, Munich is at the top of the list. Everything about this city from the culture to the food to the general feel of day-to-day life, I could see this being a place that I could lead a very pleasant life. Another thing that made me instantly fall in love with Germany was that a large part of my ancestry comes from Germany, so getting a little view of where my family came from a long time ago was a very cool experience. Right off the bat, some of the things I loved most about this city was the architecture that consisted of very simple buildings that were different shades of pastel colors, food that ranged from huge pretzels to Weiner Schnitzel, and, of course, a very rich Bavarian history. I also really appreciated the cleanliness of this city despite the very busy streets and dense population. It was hilarious trying to decide which rubbish bin to throw my trash away in where there are 5 bins that are all meant for different types of trash. I can't say that I expected to love this city so much, and I was so disappointed that I only booked 2 days here. I had heard that people generally enjoy Berlin more, but I actually felt that, like Italy, I preferred the slightly smaller city with a lightly different culture. Nevertheless, here are some of the things I saw during my time in Munich. 1. Alte Pinakothek (An absolutely massive art museum) 2. The Munich Residenz (A castle in the middle of the city) 3. Frauenkirche (A cathedral) 4. St. Michael München (A cathedral) 5. Nymphenburg Palace and the huge botanical park surrounding it 6. Marienplatz 7. The tower of St. Peter (Skyline View of Munich) Unfortunately, this was about all I had time for since I only had 2 days and Nymphenburg palace was quite far from where I was staying. After the two cities in Poland, Munich is by far my 3rd favorite city that I visited in Europe, so here are some pictures of Munich. Berlin, Germany Last but certainly not least is the city of Berlin. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Berlin even though I was just talking about how I enjoyed Munich more. Berlin had no shortage of picturesque buildings, museums, restaurants, and parks. The people in Berlin were super kind and helpful, the museums explained the amazing history of Germany pre and post WWII, and the food was wonderful but different from what I had in Munich. The big distinction that I saw between Berlin and Munich, is that Berlin identifies as German, while Munich (which is in Germany), identifies specifically more as Bavarian. While the cultures are similar, it took me forever to figure out what the Bavarian flag was since I actually saw it being flown more than the German flag in Munich. Berlin also felt more disconnected from the European history we know of that is filled with things like castles, knights, and kings, and instead pretty much everything at every museum talked about WWII. This is not an issue as visiting places like memorials and the Berlin was extremely fascinating, but this is simply a difference that I noticed between Berlin and Munich. Another big difference that I noticed about Berlin, was that there are a lot more "hip" and "trendy" people. For example, there were lots more young people going to clubs and bars, and there were lots of parties in the hostels and restaurants. In Munich, it felt like things were much more centered around traditional and family events. So, needless to say, Berlin felt a lot busier and was full of a different kind of lifestyle than Munich. In Berlin, I mostly went to lots of museums and memorials since this was the start of the WWII heavy part of my trip, especially with me going to Poland next. The places I went to were: 1. The Jewish Museum (The tower of the Holocaust, the Garden of Exiles, and the Memory Void) 2. The Carl Marx Statue 3. The Space Needle 4. Neptunbrunnen 5. St. Mary's Church 6. Dussmann das Kulturkaufhaus (a really nice bookstore) 7. The Gemäldegalerie (A huge art museum) 8. Memorial to the Murdered Jews 9. Brandenburg Gate 10. The Berlin Wall Memorial (Plus the museum that is dotted along the wall) 11. A really cool Samurai Museum (Not sure why it was in Berlin, but I went in and was not disappointed, plus I had the place to myself basically) I spent 3 whole days in Berlin, so while this list does not seem super long for that amount of time, that would be because I also met some really cool people at my hostel that I spent some time with while I was there. We ate out a couple times together and then walked around some and had a good time overall. To finish off this blog though, here are some pictures of Berlin!
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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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