One of the most popular weekend trip destinations among exchange students in Paris is London. That one, however, is for the lucky holders of the American, EU and other friendly passports…my Russian passport, as you have probably guessed already, is not included in the list, therefore, I never got a chance to go to London.
Many students use their exchange semester as an opportunity to travel around Europe and try to visit as many countries as possible. Considering that I have lived the majority of my life in a very close proximity to the EU and it was always easy to travel to any of the states I had a rather different view on my semester abroad. I have spend the majority of my time exploring Paris (and, believe me, I will leave with a realization that I have seen only a tiny bit of the city) and the only journey I undertook was during my Spring break (which Sciences Po has in February); I’ve visited Berlin and then Prague. Personal preference out of two? Berlin. And only Berlin. I absolutely fell in love with the city. It is incredibly youthful and the stains of the Cold War history make it incredibly charming. It rather reminded me of Moscow than of any other European capital that I’ve visited. Places to visit? You can’t leave the city without visiting the Jewish Museum, walking along the Wall, climbing the Berlin cathedral and trying the world’s most famous Kebap and Mustafa’s.
If you are looking for some beautiful medieval architecture and to try some of the best (and cheapest) food in your life, then Prague is the place for you. Walk through the city’s charming old town and visit the famous Prazsky hrad, but also take one day out of your trip to visit the nearby Kutna Hora, where you will find a chapel adorned with human skeletons (which is definitely like nothing you have seen before).
