~~ Europa Tour ~~

And so one of my greatest adventures began..

Well as a European exchange student, you hear nothing but praise and love for the big trip know as THE EUROTOUR!! And I must say the buildup for it was spot on. I have never had such a full on, jam packed, more exciting 4 weeks of my life. Ever. I can also say that it has also been one of the most tiring trips. Ever. The need for sleep after this tour was so strong that I slept an entire day after it and took naps everyday for a week. But moving on...


And we're off on the 27th of July - Sunday saw Cat (South Africa) and myself off to Frankfurt on the train. And as you can imagine, we were bouncing in our seats. As we arrived, the excitement hit the roof and we hadn't even left the country yet. We met up with everyone at the hostel. 39 Exchange Students, 4 Rotex and 1 Rotarian. The noise as you're probably guessing was excessive. Seriously, with 60% of the group being Latino and another 20% being Aussie's, its expected.That night we just had our introduction to the tour and walked around Frankfurt. And so it starts.

 

The Köln Dom 

And we are so close to the promise lands (only to be told hours later that there will be no free time allowed in this particular city) 

Amsterdam is beautiful

Few quick giggles

Cheese glorious cheese..

Cheese and Clog factory!!! Thank you Holland

 Lunch in Antwerp (a tiny town with big food)

 And so we enter Belgium

Favourite chocolate. Belgium you beautiful country thank you for the chocolate.

 Manneken Pis, I had to do a presentation on this little guy. 3 guesses as to what he's doing...

 Belgium beer. Cheers Cat!

 The Atomium

A pyramid of idiots... And I love each one.

 And then there was Paris. Eloise (Australia) and Marina (Brazil)

And Marc does the Haka,in the middle of France

 Decklan, my Aussie other half.

 Arc de Triomphe

 The Louvre, home to many beautiful art works.

 Some random Gold Man

 AHHHHHH THE DISNEY SHOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Malte (Germany) posing..

 Chuckie (Zimbabwe) 

 Notre Dame. My favourite place on the tour. It was breathtakingly beautiful, inside and out.

 Traditional Aussie photo

 Yes Mum, I actually did that...

 My darling Laura (Germany)

One of the Angels at the Palace of Versailles

 The gardens at the Palace

 A street performer taking things to a whole new level..literally...

The War Memorial at Verdun

The Vatican in Rome

 When in Rome...

Marcelo (Argentina)  my gorgeous boy with Cat and Laura

 Laura and Samanta (Peru)

The Colosseum 

 Malte glaring at me

 Ever a traditionalist

My beautiful Laura's. 

Marky Marc (Damn Kiwi)

 Emanuel (Brazil) such a sweetie

 The start of the beach day.. YAY THE BEACH

Madison (Australia) getting her tan on.

 What the beach day turned into. Cereal and lollipops

 And a result of said beach day... The ginger life

 The Leaning Tower of Pisa

 One of the many..many churches we visited

 Madi and Marcelo

Looking good Marc

 Venice :D

Pasta. When in Italy it's all about the pizza, the pasta and the ice cream. 

 Austria... No Kangaroos there. Oh and yes that is a castle on the hill

 Decklan cursing the weather

 View of Strassburg

Mozart's Museum and birthhouse

 A random creepy statue

 Marc posing yet again

 Dachstein Mountain in Austria..WHY must it SNOW in SUMMER.

The Illuminati are everywhere.

Vienna,can you get anymore spectacular. 

The Australian Pub, best pub around if you ask me.

Hundertwasserhaus

This (plus 50 odd more) is the result of when you leave your iPod on the table to get dinner.

Hello there Prater,I'm ready for some fun!

Cara (Australian) and her fairyfloss. 

Good luck Marc!

OMNOMNOM!

 Budapest.

Prague by night

Jamila! (Australian)

My future home

 No, this is not Notre Dame

The Castle district in Prague

 Antoni (Germany) Laura (Tasmania, cause it's not really Australia)

 Let's go clubbing!!!

Madison, such a beautiful person.

 Jacki and Lilli (Aussies) Chucki (Zimbabwe)

Lilli my darling

 What a magnificent face you're pulling there Lil

And back in Deutschland!!

The boys and their beautiful dance

And so we arrived back in Germany in Frankfurt on the 23rd of August,chilled for a night and left the next morning officially ending our tour on Sunday the 24th of August 2014. Over the 4 weeks that I was with these amazing people, I have had an incredible time. I honestly never thought that I would enjoy myself so much. I will not say that everyday went smoothly and without confrontation between people cause that would be lying and really I would think it somewhat of a miracle that a bunch of teenage people got along so well. (Dinner time was savage so imagine us the rest of the time..) These people became my family and now 2 weeks after the tour I really do miss them. I will see some again but it was a genuine pleasure to meet, get to know and spend the time together that we did. The crazy nights, the busy days and those mornings where we just didn't want anyone to touch us with always be remembered. My time traveling Europe with that crazy lot has made me realize that exchangers,no matter where, can always relate, can always find a friend and will always have a home with one another. You are a part of my family now, as I am now a part of yours and we will always have one another.