I just got back two weeks ago from London, Berlin, and Paris, and it was the trip of a lifetime. I've wanted to go to Germany for about eight years now, and it was everything I had hoped it would be. My friend is doing grad school in London, so I flew over, stayed with her for a few days, and then she and I went to Berlin together. I told her I wanted to try pastries, and she told me I was in the wrong country, and that we should go to France for that. So that's the story of how I wound up in Paris for twelve hours literally just to eat food. It was more fun than I could have ever dreamed.

London wasn't bad. It was dirty and dreary, but we had a good time. We had a whole bunch of different foods, and we went sight seeing, and we went shopping, and we wandered around stores on high streets that sold stuff we could never afford, and it was a pleasant time. Visually, it was really interesting, because you have these historical landmarks just sort of in the middle of ultra-modern buildings, which I thought was kind of cool.

Berlin was my favorite part, but I think I'm a bit biased. Basically, it was five days of the two of us getting day drunk and eating more food than we needed to and seeing all sorts of historical stuff. We thought it was amusing, as Americans coming from strict drinking laws, how different the mentality is over there when it comes to alcohol. Not only is public intoxication and day drinking not illegal or frowned upon, it's totally fine, if not actually encouraged - they sell beer and wine at almost every train station! Also, I learned while I was there that I love bratwurst. I was worried because I usually hate sausage but I ate so much of it while I was there. One of our favorite bands was there while we were, and we bought meet and greet passes before the show, and it was overall a really good night. The architecture in Berlin was absolutely breathtaking, but the divide between what was East Berlin and West Berlin is still pretty clear, I think.

Paris, what I saw of it, was really cool. We didn't have a lot of time, but what I saw was immaculate. The Eiffel Tower is so surreal in person, and that's coming from someone who has literally never, ever had an inkling to go to France. Also, for all the stories about how Parisians are assholes to tourists, they were some of the nicest people I met on the trip. They definitely appreciate if you try to speak French, though, even if your French isn't the best. The woman who owned a sweets shop we went to had a sign up warning that she didn't give free macarons for people to try, but since she could tell my friend and I were doing our best to order from her in French, she gave us each a free one in addition to the ones we bought from her, and helped teach us how to pronounce the flavor names as well. I didn't have any actual food, but I ate so, so many pastries. My lunch was literally just an entire baguette, and I'm not apologizing for it. Also, what they say about French pastries is absolutely true - I didn't try a single one that I didn't like, and I tried a good number of them.

TL;DR - It'll be a blast, even if you're not necessarily into it. Go into things with an open mind, and you'll have the time of your life.