Four years ago, I fell in love with Europe. I fell in love with cobblestone roads. I fell in love with the aesthetically pleasing attributes of a small European town. I fell in love with medieval architecture like that of Strasbourg, France and Heidelberg, Germany.

Altstadt or “Old-Town” in Heidelberg, Germany

I kid you not, I was on cloud nine the entire weekend. Every five meters I would stop and say to my friend “this is so beautiful, I NEED to take a picture.” I’m sure he got sick of it, but how can one not capture this beautiful scenery.

Views of Heidelberg from Heiliggeistkirche – aka a church

Here’s a short background about my love for Heidelberg:

During the summer of 2014, I traveled to Europe for the first time. I studied American literature in Paris, France, French history and Strasbourg, France, and German history in Berlin, Germany. If you’d like to read about my time studying abroad, click here

I fell for hard for Europe. I had a fire burning inside of me that told me I had to get back to Europe after graduation – so, I did just that. After returning to Minnesota, I applied to master’s programs throughout Germany and got accepted to one in Heidelberg, Germany. The excitement was REAL and I was set on going. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out in my favor and I couldn’t go anymore. Everything ended up working out because I’ve now been living in Berlin for over a year, but this is why I’ve had such a strong desire to go to Heidelberg since ’14.

Check out this gorgeous photo my friend took at Schloss Heidelberg.

This is what I dreamed about. This was my motivation to save money and move abroad. Breathtaking views and amazing experiences like I had in Heidelberg.

Does anyone else feel like relaxing the first day of vacation? 🙂 Well, my friend and I did just that. We arrived around 15 Uhr (aka 3pm for my American readers), and just relaxed for a couple hours before heading out to dinner. After dinner, we went out for drinks and MET AMERICANS!! I have been very homesick lately, so being able to connect with likeminded Americans was an amazing opportunity. I think we went to bed around 21 Uhr (9pm) because we were both so exhausted.

Samstag (Saturday) was an unforgettable day. Our morning started at 8am for our continental breakfast. Not only do I love eating, but breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, so my day was already off to a great start.

bdea8d12-a188-4749-a222-2fa3124d47c9 — Can you tell which plate is the Americans (mine) and which is the Germans? Ha!

Breakfast was outstanding, but we had to quickly get ready and check out of our hotel by 12. We were leaving that night at 20 Uhr to head back to Hamburg, which is why our checkout was on Saturday morning instead of Sunday.

PSA: The following photos are absolutely breathtaking. They will take your breath away, so if you have asthma, this would be a good time to grab your inhaler.

Lastly, if you guys didn’t know, I was meant to be a princess. Bae might call me his princess, but I’m talking real-life princess. I love castles from the bottom of my heart and I definitely belong in one, so I was beyond geeked at the opportunity to see the infamous Schloss Heidelberg. (I’ve been to three castles in Germany thus far, just in case you were wondering.) Also, the castle that’s used at the beginning of Disney movies is based on Schloss Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, which is the next castle on my bucket list!