Immediately after our group trip to Vienna and Venice, we were given 10 free days to travel wherever we’d like! Mary, Tiff, Ria, and I chose to do Sicily, Italy, Bern, Switzerland, and Amsterdam, Netherlands.

We left the Venice airport early and arrived in Sicily with the whole day ahead of us. We checked in to our hostel, Eco-hostel, which I highly recommend! After we went out for some lunch where we quickly realized a few things about Sicily in comparison to Venice. First, things were way more affordable! Second, many of the people we came in to contact with did not speak English. However, it does not matter to me how well individuals speak English as long as they are kind, and everyone we met in Sicily went above and beyond for us.

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We spent nearly an hour talking with our hostel receptionist about the amazing things we could do during our short stay. That evening, we walked around Catania and got a general feel for the town. Ria and Mary stumbles upon mass for Palm Sunday while Tiff and I gave the local delicacy, Arenchinos, a try.

The group reconvened for a dinner at a local spot. Our server was amazing and was able to convey so much without speaking and English words. Somehow through gestures and facial expressions, we ordered our meals and met his wife and baby. When we ordered a second bottle of wine for the table, he said that was alright but we needed to stay alert and get ourselves home safely.

Mary and Tiffany unintentionally ordered another common Sicilian meal, horse meat. Though I did not realize it was what I was trying at the time, it was actually really tasty!

The next day was one of my favorites from all of spring break! We hiked the active volcano Mt. Etna, on a tour provided by our hostel. We didn’t really know what to expect, but were thrilled to find a challenging 2.5 hour hike up. Unfortunately, it was a foggy day which limited the views, but it was still incredible. Once we had reached the top, our guide shocked us all by telling us to dig our heels in and run down. He took off, and we hesitantly followed. It was possible to run down because the ashy sand held our feet in place. We felt alive and were laughing hysterically the whole 10 minutes down. 

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For our last day in Sicily, we decided to take the advice of an Italian Erasmus friend of ours and take a train to Taormina to see Isola Bella. Our taxi driver from the train station into town was kind enough to take us to a beautiful view point to see the small island. Then we ate lunch near the island and met some older Irish women sitting near us. We ended up talking throughout most of our meal, and the wine afterwards. They were kind and funny and full of life advice. Most notably, they told us to never lose your girlfriends, regardless of relationships with men. The fact that both of them were separated might have had something to do with this advice, but either way I still think they’re words to live by.

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We then walked through the water over to the island. The whole area was stunning, and we got the relaxing day we were hoping for after the hectic volcano hike. The island was basically one large garden with beautiful rocky arches.

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We loved Sicily because everyone we came in to contact with was extremely friendly and kind to us: servers, taxi drivers, restaurant goers. On our last night we decided to do our laundry at a local laundromat. While the clothes were washing we walked to a nearby restaurant for wine, which quickly turned in to dinner. We were the only people in the restaurant not there to celebrate a 50th wedding anniversary. The photographers and some of the guests ended up joining our table and spending a few hours with us. After a lot of laughs and bottles of wine we called it a night, but it was the perfect ending to our Sicilian adventure.

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The next day was primarily a travel day from Sicily to Bern, Switzerland. My sister and her husband recommended Bern instead of Zurich because it is smaller and more walkable. Throughout my travels, I have heard over and over again about expensive places. Most popular European tourist cities are said to be expensive. I assumed that Switzerland would be in the ball park of prices that I’m used to, and boy was I wrong. On our first night I spent 11 euros on a McDonalds cheeseburger and fries! We were able to avoid eating out for the rest of the trip, which saved us a lot of money. The hostel provided free breakfast was also a life saver.

We spent our first full day in Switzerland exploring our new city. We checked out a market, clock face, cathedral, and bought some Swiss chocolate. To our surprise, we also found bears! Bern literally means Bear, and there are 3 bears in an enclosure in the city. We spent a while enjoying the bears and the gorgeous view of the clear blue Aare river. I would love to go back in the heat of summer and float down that river.

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We climbed up to the city’s Rose Garden for a picnic. Though the roses weren’t quite in bloom yet, we still enjoyed our sunny day in the park! We spent the rest of the day talking and playing games, I really do love these girls I get to travel with. Getting in arguments while traveling together for 2 weeks straight would be understandable, but we never ran in to any trouble other than small annoyances.

Day 2 in Bern consisted of a hike up Gürten Hill. While the view at the top was nice, it was really all about the climb. We walked pass rolling hills spotted with Dandelions, buffalo, cows, and small picturesque houses, all with a view of the Alps in the distance. For dinner we prepared pasta and meatballs!

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Before leaving Switzerland we went back to see the bears one last time and walk the trail along the river near their enclosure. For us, Switzerland was a trip of finding parks to nap in. The weather couldn’t have been better. In the evening we left for Amsterdam, and were thrilled to be able to afford food again. We spent our first night in Amsterdam drinking coffee, making new friends, and eating Calzones.

The next day in Amsterdam was jam packed! We started with a walking tour around the city. Then we took advantage of being in Amsterdam in April and went to see the superbloom of tulips. Kuekenhof is a garden full of beautiful tulip arrangements, and is surrounded by fields of the flowers. That night we splurged on a 25 euro dinner, steak, fries, salad, and wine, that would have cost over 100 euros in Switzerland. Yup I’m still not over how expensive that place was.

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Our last day of spring break was Earth Day! We celebrated by spending the whole day outside at the largest park I’ve ever been in, Vondelpark. The 120 acres are full of beauty: trees, wildlife, people, and dogs! It was the perfect ending to an awesome spring break!

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Wow. I just got back to Olomouc from a whirlwind 2 week long adventure! The journey started with the whole group of 21 students traveling together to Vienna, Austria and Venice, Italy, accompanied by our Professors Matt and Martin.

On the first day, we took a bus from our dorms to Vienna, and walked around the city. We had planned to visit the treasury followed by a museum, but everything was closed! Sometimes plans just don’t quite work out the way you thought they would, but that didn’t really matter to us! We moved the planned activities to the next day. Instead, Julian, Mary, Tiff, Ria, and I went to Haus des Meeres Aqua Terra Zoo, an aquarium (liquid zoo!)

The more I travel, the more I have learned the way I like to travel. Before this trip I didn’t think I liked museums, and while history museums are still usually not my favorite, I have fallen in love with art museums! I’ve always known I like zoos and aquariums, Henry Doorly Zoo all the way amirite? I’ve now visited aquariums in Omaha, Boston, Lisbon, and Vienna.

This aquarium really blew us away because it had over 10 floors! The top floor was a panoramic view of the city, which revealed how beautiful Vienna truly is. We worked out way down seeing fish, sharks, Gila Monsters, and even Anacondas. On the ground floor there were koi fish that would suck on your hand if you put it in the water. My favorite part was a jungle walk where monkeys, bats, and various birds were uncaged and hopping around. A monkey even jumped on me as I bent down to take a photo of it!

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That night the whole crew decided to have a few drinks at the hostel bar together. I will never stop being thankful for this group of people! With 21 college students living together 24/7 you would expect there to be a fair share of drama, but it truly has not been an issue! Love you guys if you’re reading this!

The next day, we finally made it to the Treasury and to the Natural History Museum. The treasury was full of interesting things to look at including crowns, textiles, a crib gifted to Napoleon, and the nail that was said to pierce one of the hands of Jesus Christ at his crucifixion. The coolest thing about the Natural History Museum was probably the building itself. The building was huge, a beautiful piece of architecture adorned with large paintings and frescos. Walking through the animal section was my favorite, seeing the immense biodiversity on this planet, and all the animals I hope to see out in the world someday. That we played card games in our room and talked and bonded.

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Bright and early the next morning we ate breakfast and set out on our 7 hour bus ride to Venice. Venice is a place I have only dreamed of, and it was so breathtaking to see it. The whole city is full of canals, there are no cars on the island, and boats serve as taxis, buses, police cars, and ambulances. Martin walked us through the Jewish ghetto and taught us some of the Jewish history in Venice. It is insane how widespread persecution against the Jewish people was in Europe. In our lecture yesterday, Martin talked to us about how Hitler gained power by playing on stereotypes that had existed for centuries. Many people connected Judas, the betrayer of Jesus Christ, with Judaism. Hitler used ancient stereotypes disguised as science. He convinced people that Jewish people were actually less advanced humans, and the cause of all the problems in Germany. We didn’t do much that evening because we were exhausted from the bus!

Day 2 in Venice started by walking to St. Mark’s Square. We walked through St. Mark’s Basilica, one the most beautiful churches I have ever had the pleasure of stepping foot in (the Cathedral in Prague Castle might have it beat just because of those stained glass windows, and yes I’m still not over it.) We were not supposed to take pictures inside, so I only have one from the entry way. I think it is okay to not have pictures, it is something everyone should go see in person.

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Next, we toured Doge’s Palace, and may I just say, woah. It was honestly overwhelming how incredible the place was. Every ceiling in every room was ornately decorated with paintings encompassed in decorative frames. I could have spent hours looking at any one of the 20+ rooms we walked through. The wealth that Venice has experienced in the past is impossible to ignore.

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Following Doge’s Palace, the group split up and a few of us went and climbed the tower in the square to get a overhead view of the city. The panoramic view showed the ocean, St. Mark’s square, the top of the Basilica, and so much more. Next, we toured the Guggenheim, an inclusive modern art collection including masterpieces by Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock.

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That night the group scoped out the Venice night life scene and we all had a really good time! The next morning, our group split up and spring break officially began. My spring break group decided to spend one more night in Venice, and I’m so glad we did! I started the day with another Modern art museum, which had a huge oriental art collection. After, a group of us ventured to the island Burano. Burnao is one of my favorite places that I’ve ever been in my entire life because every house is painted a vibrant color. It is impossible not to feel happy surrounded by all those colors!

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For our first class field trip, we went to Prague, Czech Republic and took a day trip to Dresden, Germany! The first day in Prague also happened to be Tiffany’s 21st birthday, and it was our first day of sunshine and warmth since we’ve been in Europe.

The classes that we take over here are (almost always) incredibly interesting, because we are learning about history from individuals that lived it. Also, our field trips and classes have been designed to supplement each other. The night before we left for Prague we learned of operation Anthropoid and watched the movie (I highly recommend it!) Anthropoid is the name of the mission of Czechoslovak soldiers coming to Prague from London in order to assassinate Hitler’s 3rd in command Reinhard Heydrich. The operation was ultimately successful, however, all of the individuals involved were killed in a final gun fight in a church in Prague. Our first destination in Prague was to visit that church, and it was a really powerful experience since we knew the background.

After, we went to the old town square for some lunch and we were approached by some individuals trying to sell us on a pub crawl. We didn’t end up going on that one, but they told us we needed to check out Letna park! It was definitely worth climbing up the several sets of stairs because the result was a beautiful view of the city. We hung up there and basked in the sun, and then spent the rest of the day wondering around and falling in love with the city.

The next day, we started off with a few hours wondering around Prague Castle. Checking out churches is not normally my ideal choice, however, St. Vitus Cathedral was truly breathtaking. That is one thing I love about this trip, it is giving me amazing experiences that I might have never done on my own! I could’ve spent hours watching the sun seep through the stunning stained glass windows. Thankfully, we really took our time walking through the Cathedral and we had our professors, Yan and Martin, to provide us with further information.

Next, we went to St. Charle’s (not St. Peter’s @ Griff) Bridge. The bridge was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before as it has grand statues on both sides ever few feet. This was another time that I enjoyed having Yan and Martin there to tell us the stories behind a few of the statues. From there we went to the Lennon wall that is covered in street art inspired by John Lennon and Beatles’ songs like All you need is love.

The next day was our day-trip to Dresden, Germany! It’s insane that countries in Europe are so small and close together that going to another country often takes less time than traveling between U.S. states. Dresden is a city that was heavily bombed and basically destroyed by the Allies in WWII. According to Yan, the bombing was so large scale that the light could be seen from Prague. As a group, we went to Frauenkirche, a completely reconstructed Protestant church that was destroyed. I found it really powerful that they had the original cross from the destroyed church on display. Parts of the church are reconstructed with the original stones as well.

After climbing to the top of the church and soaking in a lovely view of the city, we were each given the option to go to a history museum or an art gallery. I chose the *Drum roll please…* art gallery! Old Masters Picture gallery has one of the most comprehensive collection of paintings from the 15th-18th centuries. The paintings were incredible by themselves, but certain paintings had audio attached with them that would tell you more behind the story it was depicting or the artists motivations. My favorite paintings were the one depicting Greek myths.

And just like that, after a quick beer and banana split we were on the bus headed back to Prague. That night a group of us found a bowling alley and discovered that being in another country did not make us better bowlers!

For our final day of the trip, we went to the Jewish Quarter of Prague. This was by far the most somber part of our journey. Unlike most of Nazi occupied Europe, the Jewish synagogue and cemetery in Prague were not destroyed. While it is amazing that the area was left in tact, the sickening part is that the Nazi’s decided not to destroy that particular area so that they could turn it in to a museum of the exterminated race.

We started by walking through a monument to all the Jewish people from the Czech Republic that were murdered in the Holocaust. The walls were covered in the names of the victims, and the names were also being read aloud on a recording. Next, we walked through the graveyard, where each grave site had 5-6 people buried below. After, we visited a museum and a few synagogues.

After our tour of the Jewish Quarter we were set free for lunch and then took the 2.5 hour train ride home. It is crazy how in just 3 weeks so many of us are calling Olomouc home!

On our first free weekend studying here in Olomouc, Czech Republic, my friends and I didn’t know where we wanted to go! Since we truly were open to anything, we started plugging in random cities to see where flights would be the cheapest. That’s how we decided on going to Brussels, Belgium!

The hardest part of our journey was getting there. We thought we had allotted enough time to train to Prague and travel from the train station to the airport and everything would be fine. Narrator voice, *Everything would not be fine.* Our initial issue stemmed from thinking the train to Prague was 2 hours, not a solid 2 and a half. With this already setting us back, we realized we were not on track to get to the airport with any more than an hour to spare before our flight. Our second issue I discovered on the Uber in between the train station and the airport (we did NOT have time to bus). As we are sitting in the car I take out my ticket, and to my dismay the ticket said boarding closes at 6:55 p.m. I pull out my phone and low and behold it is 6:56 p.m. Somehow we got the idea in our heads that the flight time was a half hour later than it actually was. With a heavy heart I informed the gals and we decided we had to at least try!

We SPRINTED through the airport and through security, which thankfully had no queue. We glanced at a board to see which gate we were leaving from without even stopping, and ran to the opposite side of the airport. We made it to the gate in the knick of time!! Worst case scenario if we had missed the flight would be to stay in Prague for the weekend, which would have been a major bummer because we would lose out on what we paid for our hostel and flight. I’m lucky to travel with such amazing gals that keep a positive attitude and go with the flow!

By the time we made it to our hostel and got checked in it was around 11:30 p.m. We decided to stay and attend our hostel’s jam session and try some Belgian beers! The music was really entertaining as different groups took turns going up to sing, rap, play instruments, and there was even a vocal percussionist.

The next morning, we had plans to try Belgian Waffles and tour the chocolate factory. But since this is travel and things often don’t go as planned, we decided to do the chocolate factory the next day and walk to the city center for Belgian Waffles. We chose to walk instead of taking the subway so that we could see more of the city in our limited time frame. Mary and Tiffany both got sweet waffles with chocolate, Nutella, strawberries, and cookie butter. I stayed true to character and got a savory waffle sandwich with chicken, bacon, cheddar, ranch, and barbecue!

After waffles, we still had a few hours to kill before our walking tour so we decided to go Delirium! Delirium is a 3 story bar that holds the world record for the most beers available. In 2004, they had 2004 beers. Each floor has a different selection available, it’s a beer drinkers paradise! While switching floors, we walked passed a man drinking lime green beer out of a giant boot glass. I couldn’t help myself so I had to ask what it was, and he even let me try it! Apparently, it was called cactus beer and we all wanted one of our own!

I was almost certain that the walking tour started at 4:30. Mary thought that it maybe said 4:00, but she wasn’t sure at all so for some reason we went with what I thought. At 4:30 we showed up to the square we were supposed to meet in and our tour group was no where to be found! We found the Spanish speaking tour group and asked him where we might be able to catch up to them and luckily we did! Our tour guide Peter was lively and animated and we walked around and he told us the story of Brussels’ history!

For our final day in Brussels, we decided to tour the chocolate factory near our hostel. We didn’t really know what to expect, but it was a really awesome experience! There were giant chocolate sculptures and old poster advertisements. My favorite part was this cool screen that displayed old chocolate commercials. We also got to watch a demonstration on how chocolate is made and try some! Yum!

After the chocolate factory we killed some time in a cafe before taking the shuttle bus to the airport and flying back to Prague. We stayed the night in Prague with our professor and Griffin and went out to celebrate St. Patrick’s day. We found an Irish pub that we could dance in and had a great time. All in all I would say our trip to Brussels was a success. For us, it was mostly a city for eating and drinking. We definitely learned a lot about time management and being sure to double check the times of things. I think that as a whole this trip made us better travelers for future situations.

To start this 3 month long European journey we decided to fly into London, England! Visiting England has never been super high up on my list, but the flights were cheap so we hopped on the opportunity, and I’m glad! For my home girls, Mary and Tiffany, England was their first foreign country. I think going to a place that speaks English was a nice way to ease ourselves back into the travel grind. It wasn’t just the 3 of us on this trip, we met up with another girl that we will be studying with, Ria!

After our direct 8 hour flight from Denver, we took the London underground to our hostel, St. Christopher’s Village. We arrived a bit too early to check in to we went to the attached bar, Belushi’s, for some drinks. We had to celebrate Tiffany’s unofficial “European 21st birthday.” The bartender even gave us all free Jäger bombs! After a few, we were able to go up to our room and take a much needed nap. Some travelers will swear that you need to push through the jet lag and stay awake all day, but we knew we would want to go out in the evening. Also, I believe you should sleep if you’re tired, it will put you in brighter spirits for the entire trip. We ate dinner at a Sherlock-ian themed restaurant where I had a fantastic vegan curry! Then, we went back to Belushi’s to an empty dance floor, but that didn’t stop us, and we ended up moving and grooving until 3:00 a.m! (don’t worry eventually people joined us)

The next morning, we went on a free walking tour. Free walking tours are an excellent way to start a trip in a new city that only cost a tip to your tour guide. The tour was excellent! Our guides name was Ivos and we took us to see 3 palaces, including Buckinghams, Trafalgar square, Westminster Abbey, Covent Garden, and St. James Park. Unfortunately, we could not see Big Ben because it is under construction and covered in scaffolding until 2021. St. James Park used to be a private zoo for the English royalty, but thankfully they have turned it into a public green space that still has a zoo vibe.

One of my favorite parts of the tour was Trafalgar square, where we learned that London has a Muslim mayor who changed the cross walk lights to gender neutral all inclusive symbols for pride in 2016. He’s stated that as long as he’s mayor they will stay that way. There’s a running joke in London that no one that lives in the city is actually from there. It’d be impossible not to notice the diversity in the city, which is awesome because it has really turned London into an accepting forward thinking location. I ended the tour with a steak and red wine pie with a Camden pale ale and truly couldn’t have been more content with my decision. We went back to the hostel and took another nap as we continued adjusting to our new time zone, then had Italian for dinner. Then we indulged in another night out dancing at Belushi’s!

For our last day in London, we had soup and sandwiches at Pret a Manger and booked ourselves a Street Art tour. London is made up of several smaller city segments. The free walking tour took place in the City of Westminster, and the street art tour was in the City of London. Our guide, Patrick, told us that most tourists don’t visit the City of London because there are not any major attractions in the area. There was, however, plenty of what we were looking for, street art. Each piece was beautiful and thought-provoking. We were glad we chose to go on the tour, because it was nice having someone there able to tell you about the artists and the inspirations behind their works.

We ended the trip in the best way possible! Three friends of mine that I met in Portugal, Martin, Jakub, and Chris took the day off work and traveled from Nottingham to go out with us! It was really special for me to have Mary, Tiffany, and Ria meet them! We all got super close when we met in Lagos, Portugal and accidentally embarked on a 40 mile bike ride. One thing people don’t like about traveling alone is not having someone to reminisce with about their adventures, however, this is already the 3rd time that I have been able to meet up with friends I met traveling. The whole group seemed to hit it off really well and we even found a speak easy (hidden bar) to start the night at.

Welcome to Traveling Rays! The name of my blog was inspired by a fellow world traveler and close friend of mine, Sierra Rhea. You’d have to meet her in person to understand, but she really is a ray of sunshine! She is one of the people in my life that has inspired me to smile, laugh, and dance every day.

I am from small town Columbus, Nebraska! I found my passion for travel through a series of trips. First, I went on a cruise to Cozumel, Mexico and the Cayman Island with my mom when I was in 7th grade. Honestly, it was like living ‘Suite Life on Deck’, any 12 year olds dream! Next, I followed in my older sister’s footsteps and embarked on a Spanish class trip to Costa Rica. That is when I really came alive and fell in love with seeing new places, particularly in the natural world. The third and final staple trip that shaped how I travel is all thanks to my older sister, Dani. As a senior in college, she could have spent her spring break going anywhere with friends. Instead, she decided to go on a spur of the moment trip to Puerto Rico with me, a senior in high school at the time! This trip particularly inspired me because even though we put in so little preparation, it was an absolute blast. Figuring things out along the way made it all the more joyful.

Since starting university, I feel so lucky to have had so many opportunities to travel during the summers. The summer after my freshman year I planned a 2.5 week long trip to Bali, Indonesia with some of my friends from high school. Shortly after that trip was planned, my sister and her fiancé invited me to go to Australia with them for 2.5 weeks at the end of the summer. My sister’s now husband Josh asked me why I wouldn’t just stay over in that part of the world and travel on my own in-between the two trips. My response was, “I could do that!?” He talked me through the possibilities and made me believe in myself and that is how I ended up spending 3 weeks in Vietnam and Thailand on my first solo adventure!

As most solo travelers can attest to, it’s addicting, so the following summer I booked a round trip ticket to Madrid for 2 months. I didn’t plan much other than the plane ticket but the wind blew me to Portugal, where I worked in a hostel for 3 weeks, a surf camp in Northern Spain, and 2 weeks in Greece where some of my high school friends came along for the journey!

You would think with all of these trips under my belt I would know what I’m doing by now, but the truth is I’m still figuring it out like everyone else! I am currently at the beginning of a 3 month long study abroad program in Olomouc, Czech Republic with a few of my best friends, Tiffany and Mary! I have created this blog to help me document the journey, thanks for following along!