My Last Entry

Well, it looks like the semester has come to an end. I am happy to report that I passed all of my classes and am a college graduate! After I take the summer off, I will begin my next adventure as I move to LA and start work for Raytheon, my new employer. I will be doing RF design work (like honing devices for missiles, or maybe something a little less flashy), and loving it.

All in all, I have to say that studying abroad had its ups and downs. I learned a lot about myself and will always treasure that. I did get homesick and grow to greatly appreciate America, but also love the variety that is Europe. I think one of the main things that studying abroad gave me was an interest in actually being aware. Before this semester, my best friend Ashley Kraus always made a joke that I’m not hidden under 1 rock, I’m hidden under 10 rocks, completely unaware of anything that is going on in the world and ok with it. In Spain though, talking about religion and politics is a very common conversation starter. I felt foolish having nothing to add, and quickly realized maybe I should dig my way out of those rocks and listen to some of the news. Now, don’t expect me to be turning on the actual news any time soon, but I am working my way in that direction.

If anyone is ever considering studying abroad or taking some time off to travel a bit, I highly recommend it. I think you learn so much during the experience and grow so much as an individual it is unbelievable. Looks like that is all I have for you. Hasta luego Europa. We’ll see how soon I can make it back.  

Gyros and Greek Letters

After Rome, I only had 1 week left of backpacking and studying abroad. Can you believe it? Just 1 week later, I would be on a plane back to the states. For my last week in Europe, I spent it on the beaches of one of the most beautiful Greek islands: Santorini. For those of you who don’t know about Santorini, here is a little introduction.

Santorini is known for having some of the most beautiful sunsets in the entire world. Part of this is because of the volcanic eruption that occurred hundreds of years ago. You see, Santorini used to be a circular island, but after the eruption, the volcano blew away the land surrounding the volcano, and now it is crescent shaped, with the volcano as its own island in the middle. That way, when you watch the sunset, you see the sun set into the water, and it is surrounded by a volcano and the beautiful landscape of Santorini. This is all wonderful, but my favorite part of the island isn’t the volcano or the sunset, it is the buildings. They are covered in classically white buildings that have blue accents and blue domes randomly placed about. If you have seen Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, you have seen Santorini. I am aware other films have been shot there as well, but I only know the chick flick. Sorry guys.

While I was on the island, I spent a fair amount of my time on the black sand beach that was right outside my hostel. The sand is really more like little pebbles, making the beach so much more pleasant! I didn’t end up with sand in every little crevice of everything I brought there. I did discover the downside to black sand though, while the light doesn’t reflect off of the sand, making sunglasses optional, it does make the sand scalding hot, so bring a towel and some flip flops, because you won’t be walking anywhere without them.

When I wasn’t lying around at the beach, I was driving the ATV 4 wheeler that I rented around the island. Since I hadn’t driven anything in 5 months, it was so refreshing. Plus, you get to feel the sea air blowing past you as you drive down the highway at a mindboggling 30 miles per hour! I know, I’m a speed demon.( It does feel faster than you’d think though, in my defense.)

After spending part of a day outside in the sun, I quickly realized that was not going to be an option for the ENTIRE day, I don’t have the Mediterranean skin for it. I spent some time getting to know the staff at the hostel, who were very nice, and tried Greek coffee. It was surprisingly strong but sweet, and still has the grounds in the bottom of the mug. Apparently you can have your fortune read at the end. Who knew?! Also, the hostel had a cat, Charlie, who hung around. For the first time in 5 months I was actually able to pet an animal that was hanging around! The cat was named after Charlie Chaplin, due to her resemblance, and would sit by me for hours as I went online at night. It made me miss my cat back at home that much more.

After enjoying my vacation time in Santorini for 4 days, it was time to return to the backpacking life and go to Athens for my very last stop in Europe. While in Athens, I was incredibly unmotivated. I think it was because I was drained from traveling and getting antsy about returning to the States. I ended up seeing the acropolis, Olympic stadium from the first modern Olympics, as well as Zeus’ temple. It was really interesting, but a bit wasted on me by the end. The Parthenon was starting to look like any other ruin. That is never a good sign. It seems like it was time for me to be a bit less cultured lol. Luckily it couldn’t have come at a better time. The next morning I woke up, got on a flight to Madrid, spent the day cleaning my apartment and packing up my things, and then flew home to the USA.

My anniversary and birthday in Rome with Brian!

So I know most of you already know from facebook, but those of you who do not and still have your fingers crossed: Good news! Brian made it to Rome on Tuesday June 7^th!!! We made a plan to meet in front of the McDonalds the Termini train station around 10:30 am and what Brian said to me when we were planning always brings a smile to my face. He told me he’s never been more excited to go to a McDonalds before. Even now, I’m smiling.

As soon as Brian got there, it was the start of a great week. He was going to try to fly out on Monday June 13^th, the day after my birthday, and did with no problems. That same day, I would fly to Santorini, Greece to finish off my last week in Europe. That meant that we had 6 days in Rome, and interestingly enough, we were not actually staying in the city center of Rome. Due to how expensive Rome can be, we actually ended up booked a campsite that was 45 minute outside of the city. We got a ‘bungalow’ which was really a trailer. It was perfect. The campsite had mini-golf and a swimming pool, and a gelato bar, and a restaurant. Pretty much, it was better than any hostel I’ve been at, and I got to unpack all of my things and put them on shelves and shower without flip flops on. Now that’s the life!

Since I am now a veteran to Rome, this was my third visit, and Brian had never been, I got to be the tour guide. We saw all of the major sights and I got a new experience with each one surprisingly. I had never really appreciated the inside of the Colosseum before Brian’s visit. I knew it is was impressive and great engineering, but it just didn’t ‘wow’ me. But when Brian and I were standing in there and I was explaining how tigers would run out of trap doors (like in Gladiator), or how people ate in the stands, I don’t know, maybe I was working harder to explain it cause I wanted him to love everything about Rome and his trip, but I just started to get really into it. For the first time, I was really excited to be inside the Colosseum, looking at these ruins that were built in 72 AD.

After we went to Palatine Hill, and it was a different experience. When I went back in February, my friends and I had to fit in Rome and Venice in just 3 days. Now that is a lot. So, we rushed through it and saw everything, but didn’t just hang out there. So when Brian and I went, we had 6 days! That’s a long time. We just sat on Palatine Hill and ate lunch. The view was amazing, and I had never taken so much time in Rome before. I loved it.

Another of my favorite moments/hours was when we went to Trevi Fountain. We got gelato and shared it and sat there for at least an hour. Trevi Fountain is quite possibly my favorite thing in Rome. I love it and have always said I could sit there for hours; well Brian and I did.

Each thing we did during the week was slow and not rushed, except for when it was time to go back to the campsite. The only drawback to staying there was that the last bus left at midnight. That meant that a couple of nights we ended up running across town to make it back in time. Completely worth it in my opinion though.

Brian and I also spent one or two days just on the campsite. We went to the pool and he taught me how to actually do a handstand underwater, because I was actually not able to do one, I did a nice little banana curve instead lol. We also enjoyed and doctored up the campsite’s wine and enjoyed it with cherries and cheese. Fantastic snack, I highly recommend fruit and cheese and wine. Not at all low in calories, but I’m just ignoring that.

Finally on our last day in Rome, it was my birthday. We woke up and went to the hot tub and had wine and watched arrested development (the new TV show we got hooked on for the week), I skyped with my family (thanks Jeff and Mom that was great!) and then we went into Rome and got dinner and gelato. We went to my favorite gelato place: Giolittis. If you are ever in Rome, go there and get the cream on your gelato. It is free and it is amazing. I personally love Bacio, peach, pistachio, and hazelnut, but honestly you can’t go wrong. Then we went to a restaurant that our campsite recommended: L’archetto, and I had one of the best dinners of my life. I’m not kidding; it was amazing and not expensive. Absolutely go there; I know I will be returning. We each got bruschetta (Brian got his with salmon) and we got pasta (I had a lobster tomato pasta), and then we finished it off with tiramisu. I would not have changed a thing. Seriously, I want to go back just for another meal. It’s a shame we found that place on the last night.

 I don’t know what I can say about that week In Rome other than that it came at the perfect time and I loved it. I was starting to get really tired of backpacking alone; after seeing Anna I didn’t want to do the travel by myself thing anymore. Plus, the Sunday before Brian flew out it was our 1 year anniversary, and the Sunday he was here it was my birthday. Things don’t really get better than that. Thanks for coming out again Bri! I had a fantastic time! Now off to Greece to round off my last week 

Under the Tuscan Sun, scratch that... Rain.

Once Anna and I arrived in Pisa, we spent the day in our hostel avoiding sunlight. I was pretty burned on my legs and back, and Anna was fried. Once it was save to go outside (overcast and afternoon) we made our way over to the leaning tower of Pisa. I must say, I know I've seen it in photos and am aware that this building leans, but man! It really leans! It is a lot smaller than you would expect, only 8 stories, but that building is just falling to the side. Anna and I took our goofy photos pretending to hold it up and then enjoyed a nice dinner together. We also enjoyed some frozen strawberry daiquiris to help soothe our sunburns. They were amazing and came with a free buffet of Italian food, what more could you want?

Along with the leaning tower, there are actually other build piazza: the cathedral, baptistry, and cemetery. Honestly, I had no idea about this buildings before going, but apparently they are all part of the world heritage site. Who knew?

The next day Anna went back to Madrid and I went to Florence. The plan was to check out the Duomo, obviously, and buy some Italian leather boots! Florence is known for its leather and I wanted in. I went to Florence 4 years ago when I visited Brian while he was studying abroad, so I wasn't as concerned with the sites. I immediately went out to see the leather market, once again in the rain, and was disappointed with what I found. There is plenty of leather: jackets, belts, wallets, purses, gloves, you name it. Just don't name boots. They don't have those... I'm assuming it's because of the season (I mean it is June) and the difficulty in sizing, but they just weren't to be found. At least not the cute boots I was looking for, they had plenty of worker boots and such. Oh well, I gave up and went to the Duomo and saw Michelangelo's David and went to Piazza Vecchio and Ponte Vecchio. They were all beautiful. My favorite, as always, was the Duomo. The green marble and simplicity inside the building are so refreshing and different. I just sat inside and relaxed for an hour or so. It was wonderful!

After exploring the city, I was becoming overly eager and needed to go back to check the internet to see how my Brian's attempt at flying standby was going. You see, his mom is a flight attendant for United, and that makes him able to fly standby for free! So, the plan was that he would meet me in Rome on Tuesday morning (the next morning!) and we'd stay in Rome until Monday when he would fly back and I'd fly to Greece. To do that, he needed to make a flight to DC, and then catch a flight to Rome. There are flights to DC ever 2 hours, but only 1 a day to Rome, so cross your fingers!!!

One of the Most Beautiful Train Routes

After being in Munich for 4 days, it was time to head off to my next city. Honestly, I wasn't that sure I wanted to spend that much time in Switzerland, seeing as it is so expensive, but I have heard time and time again how beautiful it is. So, per my mom's suggestion, I decided to prioritize the train ride. The train ride from Munich to Bern was gorgeous. Riding through the Alps is an amazing experience. I know that just the day before I had been hiking through the Alps, but being able to lazily sit there while you get such a great view was a completely different experience. 

Unfortunately, once I was in Bern, it was raining. Since I only had the 1 day, I decided to tough it out and explore the city anyway. I brought my bag with me and saw the rose garden, the market street that is filled with fountains (one of my favorite things), and also the bear pit. See I don't know if you are aware (I was not) but Bern is famous for their bears! They have brown bears that are Bernese bears and that is the symbol of Bern. For that reason, they have a pit that is open to the public and on the side of the main river and you can go and see these bears for free! Finally, one thing in Switzerland that isn't expensive lol. 

The next day I took the train down to Cinque Terra, Italy. This train ride wasn't as simple as yesterday's, as this time I had 3 changes. Each one went smoothly until the last, so I'd say it was a successful day. The thing I realized was that I spend about 1/4 of the time in tunnels. I never really had thought about it, being from the great plains, but we kept going through tunnels cause they were taking us through the Alps, not over them! It was really cool. Not only that, but the ride was great when we were outside the tunnels! It started with the Alps, then changed to more of tropical-looking mountains filled with flowers and colorful houses. Welcome to Italy!

Once in Cinque Terra, I was getting really excited. After 2 weeks of traveling alone I was finally going to see a familiar face. I met up with my friend Anna for 5 days in Italy. We would go to Cinque Terra and Pisa. Cinque Terra was gorgeous. It is a string of 5 fishermen villages and there is a hiking trail that connects them all. For the first night we were staying in the middle city: Corniglia. (For your reference, the order is: Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore). Anna was delayed, so I went down to this 'secret' beach with 2 other girls in my hostel. Getting to the beach was about a 45 minute hike across and then straight down this mountain, but well worth it. It took us to my very first black sand beach! It was beautiful and very secluded. Lauren, Brooke, and I just hung out and enjoyed the serenity of it. After a surprisingly big wave that got us soaked, it was time to go back. The hike back was much less successful... We didn't realize how many forks we passed while hiking down the mountain. When going up, we constantly chose the wrong way and were lost for almost an hour. This beach was quickly not becoming worth the hike. After an hour and a half we finally made our way back to civilization and it was such a relief. I met up with Anna and we all went to dinner to enjoy gnocchi and wine - clearly a successful Italian night. 

Anna and I didn't fully understand Cinque Terra before we went, so we booked different nights in different villages, thinking that they were very far apart. It turns out we could have stayed in the first hostel the entire time, but you live and you learn. The next night we stayed in Riomaggiore (the last city). Anna and I grabbed our packs and got ready to hike over to Riomaggiore. Normally, it would be a 2km hike on the easy blue trail, however due to a rockslide, the first half of the trail was closed. Anna and I decided to hike the red trail for the first half instead. The red trail however is much harder and weaves around the cliff taking 6 km, instead of 1. After we reached Manarola (the city between our start and final destination) we were exhausted. I have never sweat that much in my life, or been so proud of physical activity. When we had been 7 minutes into the hike, I needed a break, and Anna and I agreed to breaks every 10 minutes or so. Being the one with the watch, I was just staring at my watch while we hiked waiting for the next 10 minutes. At minute 7, Anna asked if we could break. I of course agreed and threw down my 40 pound pack. While we were catching our breath, Anna mentioned how at least we were 30 minutes in, I broke the news to her that it had in fact only been 17 minutes... It took a lot for us to finish, but we did and it was amazing! Best views, great workout, and hours of fresh air. I had not expected our 'vacation' to be so exhilarating, but I loved it. I highly recommend going on more hikes! 

Which is what we did! We then agreed to hike the next day and hike the entire length of the path, from city 5 to city 1. We hiked from 5 to 4, and then due to the rockslide were going to take the train to city 3 and continue. We had forgotten about the train strike and ended up taking a water boat over instead. Then we spent the rest of the day hiking. It was beautiful and infinitely better without the bags, we left them at the hostel this time. 

On our final day in Cinque Terra we finally embraced the vacation aspect. We went kayaking in the morning in the Mediterranean sea. I loved it and enjoyed giving the break to my legs. After that, we went to the beach and just laid out. It was hot and so we kept taking breaks and going into the sea. After a full day of sun, we realized we had succeeded in burning ourselves and were grateful we were leaving Cinque Terra so the beach couldn't tempt us tomorrow. 

Finally, we caught the train to Pisa! I would spend a few days there before hopefully meeting Brian in Rome. Cross your fingers that he makes standby on the flight to Rome!

Disney's Castle with a Side of Beer

After seeing Berlin, Prague, Vienna, and Salzburg in just 8 days, I decided to make my stay in Munich be solely for relaxation and no tourism or museums or anything of the sort.

On my first day in Munich, my plan was to wake up late, enjoy the free breakfast, and make my way over to the 1 pm free tour. I was ready early so I left, not realizing I forgot my umbrella. After about 20 minutes it started to pour. I knew I had a 4 hour walking tour ahead of me, so I ran back to the hostel. I made it back to the meeting point about 5 minutes late and just joined the first group I saw. As the tour guide was doing his introduction, someone called out my name! And I mean my name, the full Kelly Boger. Turns out a friend of mine from high school was on the same tour! What are the odds?!

We ended up bailing on the tour and spending the rest of the day with his 2 travel buddies, one of whom we knew from high school as well. It was a great day, exactly what I wanted. No tourism, just bratwurst, big pretzels, and beer. A successful capture of Munich. I even managed to get 2 one liter hofbrauhaus mugs! I should probably explain.

Hofbrauhaus is the oldest and easily most famous beer hall in Munich, maybe in the world. It is from the 1500's and the smallest size beer that they sell is one liter. They make their own 1-liter mugs with their emblem on them. My brother Brian got one when he studied abroad and I remember thinking how cool and amazing it was. I could've also sworn he said his broke, which is why I got 2 mugs, but we're still sorting that out.

The next day my friends were leaving so turns out I caught them just in time. With my second day in Munich I went to Dachau, the very first concentration camp. It was important to me to see one, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

At Dachau there was a documentary which showed photos and gave so much information. There also was an exhibit with hundreds of poster-sized signs for you to read about any detail you wanted: punishment, health,
religion, race, homosexuals, Nazi propaganda, how they were saved, who was in charge, etc. Although it was clearly my most depressing day, and I realized a lot more depressing by going alone (it makes for a long sad day when you aren't even talking), I would highly recommend that everyone see one if you are ever given the opportunity. It is important that we honor and show our respect for the people that lived it.

On a much more cheerful note, I spent my last day going to the Neuschwanstein castle. This is the castle that the sleeping beauty castle is designed after! I took a tour to the castle which was much more hassle free and ended up being one of my favorite days. I met a mother daughter duo and the mother's friend who were all traveling
together, and ended up spending the day with the daughter who was 2 years older than me. We all talked and laughed as the tour took us out to the Alps on a gorgeous day. We went to a lake where they told us about the childhood of Ludwig II, the king who would later design the castle along with 3 others. Later we hiked up the Alps to St. mary's bridge and got a postcard quality photo of the castle. It was amazing! The perfect pick me up after Dachau. Finally we got to go inside the castle where I learned it was never actually finished. The second floor was never even started! Ludwig died before the completion and after his death no one wanted to keep pouring in the money to finish it.

I could talk about this castle, and the scenery around it for hours, so I'll try not to bore you. In the end of Ludwig's life though, we was becoming increasingly eccentric (inviting horses to eat dinner in the dining room) and was found to be crazy. How was he found to be crazy you ask? I'll tell you! The doctor never spoke with him, or even met him, instead he talked with servants and friends to make his own guess. Once found insane, and forced to renounce his thrown, the doctor and Ludwig met. They went for a walk and never returned. Both were found dead in the lake near his palace, Ludwig had removed his jacket and shoes, but the doctor's watch read 30 minutes later than Ludwig's. No one knows what happened, and I suppose that is just more mystery and intrigue for the castle.

The next day I'm off to Bern, Switzerland. If you are ever in the area though, I 100% recommend you go to munich and drink a beer and also hit up the castle. It is worth every penny.

See you in Switzerland!

The Hills are Alive...

After leaving Prague, I was off to Austria! My trip would only be for 3 days unfortunately, but I would get to see Vienna: home of the Viennese Waltz, and Salzburg: where the Sound of Music was filmed!!

In Vienna, I went to the Schonbrunn Palace. It was gorgeous! If you have seen Marie Antoinette, I parallel it to Versailles. Of course, I haven't actually seen Versailles so I can't be sure. The palace is extremely long and very regimented. The palace is rectangular and U shaped. It was a pale yellow and beautiful. Then it has acres and acres of gardens behind it, open to be walked through and explored. There is also the oldest zoo in the world (which I ran out of time to see) right on the property. half way up the hill behind the palace, there is a fountain that resembles the Trevi fountain. It is not as tall, but it is wide and shows Neptune, and I loved it. Finally, the Glorietta is at the top of the hill behind the palace. This is the same kind of architecture as the palace in my opinion, it is much smaller though and has a cafe inside where you can eat. The best part is the view! You can see the entire city of Vienna from that spot. 

I also went to the Spanish Riding School where they train the horses that do tricks. They literally skip and bounce on all 4s and balance on their hind legs, and do a bunch of moves to Mozart (who was from Vienna). In the morning you can go to their morning practice. I was extremely excited about this! It is only around 8 euro for a student (12 for an adult) when a performance would cost upwards of 80 euro. I went to the practice and was entertained a bit, but more so disappointed. There is no performance quality. They take the horses that aren't ready to perform and teach them the tricks from square one individually. Every 30 minutes, a new rotation of horses come out. The sad part is that this means you never see a horse actually learn the trick and do it. All you see is horses trying and failing to skip, bounce, and balance. Not as thrilling and I had hoped. I decided to just YouTube a performance when I got home. 

Also, while I was in Vienna, I checked out the cathedral, which oddly had its windows covered in colored saran wrap... and the Burg Garden which had a nice memorial to Mozart. Other than that though, I really didn't know what else to see in Vienna. I must say, it was my least favorite place I've visited so far...

After Vienna, I went to Salzburg. In order to prepare, I watched the Sound of Music and googled film locations. In the morning, I hiked up to the 11th century fortress that overlooks the city. It is beautiful and very picturesque, not so exciting from the inside though. If you run out of time, I'd say you can skip it. Then I hiked over to the other end of the Monchsberg mountain to go to the exact spot where they filmed the start of Do Re Mi. It was beautiful, except for the drizzle, but well worth it! 

Then I went down to the main part of town and checked out the cathedral and the cemetery which inspired the Abbey cemetery in the movie. It was beautiful! There were flowers everywhere. Definitely the least creepy cemetery I've been in yet. The very last thing to see was the Gazebo from the movie. I took the bus out to Hellbrunn Palace and got to see the gazebo from "Sixteen going on Seventeen". I was so cool! Surprisingly, the gazebo was actually built by Hollywood and donated to the city after the film. I had no idea.

After a thoroughly successful day in one of the most beautiful cities I've seen, I took the train to Munich. Time to return to Germany and just enjoy beer and the castle that inspired Sleeping Beauty's castle. No more sightseeing or being a tourist. I just wanted to relax. 

Bohemia!

Ahoy! (that's hello in Czech. Anyone else feel like a pirate? Or some chips ahoy cookies?!)

After visiting Berlin, I took a bus to Prague. Let me just say that the ride over made me excited for all of my future train/bus rides. Germany's countryside is beautiful! They grow mustard so there are bright yellow areas all over the hills which contrasts wonderfully with the vibrant green grass. I can't wait until I get to the alps and see those views!


The Czech Republic has a very different and constantly changing history. In the past century, someone that lived here and didn't move once would have lived in 8 different countries! That's because Czech republic is constantly being overthrown and then finding its independence. I semi knew about this before coming here, well I know Czech Republic used to be Czechoslovakia. So for those of you that knew that as well, way to go!


Czech Republic, way back when, was referred to as Bohemia. So whenever you eat bohemian food, that's what you're eating. It's probably rye bread, sausages, duck, etc. and is very heavy and meaty. When I was growing up, this is exactly what my grandmother would cook. I thought this is what "old people food" was. Turns out it's just Bohemian! I have to say, going to the Czech republic, which is where my Grandpa's parents are from, was so much fun! Mostly, I loved it because walking around Prague made everything about my grandparents make sense. Every store was crammed full of souvenirs and this gaudy crystal and chachkis (what most people call nick nacs), exactly like my grandparents home. Now that place was FULL. Also, I got some kielbasa (Czech Sausage) and it was fantastic. A little bit spicier than Polish sausage, and it was served with rye bread. I hadn't had rye bread in years, since my grandma was making holiday dinners, and it took me way back. 


The best part though was this old man in the main square. He set up shop and would play his saxophone and sing to his tape player. He was dancing around and having the time of his life. For those of you that have met my grandfather, Sarah Leibach in particular, you know he loves the harmonica. He chased us around the house playing "You are my sunshine" when Sarah and I were kids, but not before taking out his teeth. Scary experience when you're a kid and don't know teeth just come out like that. I have a video of the old man in the square (not my grandfather, sorry) up on facebook. Feel free to check out the Czech musical stylings. 


While I was in the Czech Republic, I was obviously still there alone, as I will be until June 1st when I meet up with my friend Anna. The advantage to traveling alone is that you can do whatever you want! Never needing to compromise or do something you don't care for. Also, you are never late. On my last morning in Prague, I was going to wake up early and go to the Karlstejn castle. It was refurbished in the 1800s and now is a bit more Eastern German style. It is much like Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle and is gorgeous from the outside. However, in the morning before leaving to catch the hour train ride, I was moving slowly and ended up taking around 3 hours to slowly get ready and make a plan. You know what's great?! When you travel alone, it doesn't matter. Take all the time you need :)


Once I made it to the Karlstejn castle, everything is amazing! The view is gorgeous. It is on top of a hill about .5 km up and while it is a tiring walk, it is well worth it. The inside of the castle isn't as glamorous. There are a few different tours you can take, one includes the Holy Rood Chapel, a chapel that has precious gems in the walls and is gilded in gold. Now, I don't know what you are picturing, but I am picturing a church with old stone walls and small, shiny jewels in the wall, and flecks of gold, almost like pirates gold, in the wall. Beautiful! Well, turns out that what actually is there are large 4"x3" squares of Jasper placed in a repetitive cross-like pattern all over the walls. Also, it is only a room of around 20'x20' with half of it blocked off. While it was really cool to see, and I don't want to say it was bad, it wasn't what I imagined. The really cool part though was that the ceiling was covered in gold and had green Venician glass stars.


After seeing Karlstejn castle, I walked back down the hill and stopped in the 100 souvenir shops or so along the way. For it only being a 30 minute walk to the castle and being in a town of only a few thousand, they have more souvenir shops than they know what to do with. Bohemia is famous for their glass however. 


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_glass


Often times it looks just like Venician glass, so of course I spent some time wandering through shops and checking it all out. 


The main sights in Prague are St. Nicholas' Cathedral, the Prague Castle, and Charles' Bridge. The Cathedral was of baroque nature and was great to see. The best part was that they let you up onto the second level to overlook the entire cathedral. It was a whole new perspective from up there! The Prague Castle is on top of a hill and overlooks the entire city. It is something else and is filled with cathedrals, and royal palaces. Personally, I round it to be a bit disappointing, but that may be because I had already been touring Prague for 7 hours by the time I got there and I just wanted to be done... Finally there is Charles' Bridge. It runs over the Vltava River and connects Old town and Lesser town. (Great name right?) The Bridge was built in the 14th century by King Charles' IV and has a beautiful view of the city. This was something I really enjoyed, but of course it was covered in people selling chachkis. 


While in Prague, I went on the free walking tour. It was great! They gave out so much information, as always. I normally take notes on my phone because over a 4 hour tour I always forget names and dates. This time I did my usual thing and took notes, but there is so much history and everything has such odd names I missed a lot. Not to mention, I did get a bit confused at times with all of the conquering. What also didn't help was that I met some really great people, and talked during a lot of the tour lol. I met a girl from Ireland and her friends that live in Cali. Two of the guys I met are going to be in Munich while I'm there, so we might meet up and go to a beer garden together. Sounds like a success to me. 


Finally, I was going to go on this beer challenge. It is run by the same company as the free tour. The beer challenge starts at 6 and goes to around 4 different pubs and you get to try 3 really good beers while on the way. They tell you about the history of Czech beer and what it is all about. What I learned before going on the tour is that Czech makes Pilsner and that Budweiser was actually first made in Czech Republic in a city named Buswein or something of that sort. The Budweiser here is a bit different however and definitely tastes better: It isn't Bud Heavy or Diesel. However, when I went to go buy my tickets, I bought it for the challenge, and then was informed it wouldn't be going on. It was only Thurs-Saturday, and I leave on Wednesday... So I sold my ticket back. Then someone said that it is tonight, just it is only in Spanish. Well lucky me! I studied in Spain and speak Spanish!! So I bought my ticket back. 


Then I went to the meeting place at 6 and there were 5 other people there. None of us spoke Spanish as a first language lol. Everyone was like me, cooperating with the Spanish aspect since English wasn't offered. Well the tour guide spoke Spanish, but wasn't certified to give tours in English. To do that, he would need to go to Berlin and be tested. So, he said he would have to do it in Spanish. That's ok, I can practice and use my language. The guy asked everyone if it was ok, and 4 of us said Yes, and the last couple left. Only one of them spoke Spanish. Once they left, the guide said we need 5 people to do the tour and it wouldn't happen. He tried to be nice about it and showed us where the pubs were so we could go on our own, but the whole point for me was to hear about the history and have a group to go with. Solution: I would go on the next night, my last night in town. 


So I did, I went again on Tuesday. And guess how many people showed up? Guess. Yup. 4... Oh well, I guess it wasn't in the cards. Luckily I got my money back after some arguing and then went to a beer garden with people from the hostel. All in all, it was a great night and an excellent stay in Prague. I would highly recommend it to anyone, and definitely suggest you go to the Karlstejn castle over the Prague castle. 


Off to Vienna! Can't wait to once again be back to using the Euro. 

The Wall that Divided a City

Halo! (that's hello in German)

I have officially begun my month of backpacking through Europe. After all of the worrying over what to pack and where to go, I'm finally here! No turning back!

I arrived in Berlin on Friday afternoon and after settling in, I went around town and saw the Jewish historical museum and checkpoint Charlie. They both were great. The museum talked about the lives of Jews and the prejudices they have been living with since the middle ages. All those stereotypes of Jews not being as athletic and favoring being doctors and saving/managing money make sense now! Jews used to not be allowed to be craftsmen or athletes. Since the middle ages they've been restricted. Plus, it was illegal for Christians to lend money, but not for Jews, so they would become bankers quite often. Just the beginning of being bankers, doctors, and lawyers. Additionally, Jews had higher taxes, and were sometimes even given a body tax, normally only used on cattle. This encouraged Jews to hide their money. See, it all makes sense now!

Checkpoint Charlie is the last 'remaining' checkpoint from the Berlin wall. Since it is entirely a reconstruction, I gave it air-quotes. Even though the history of the Berlin wall is very recent, even in my lifetime (only by a few months), I knew very little about it. I thought it was a wall the simply went north-south to separate the 2 sides of town. Little did I know, it was actually a wall that encircled west Berlin. It did this because west Berlin was an island completely surrounded by the eastern powers. The east built the wall because people were trying to escape from the east and to do that they either needed to flee all the way to west Germany and cross the iron curtain, or just walk into west Berlin. I'm sure you guessed the latter was easier. So, the soviets decided to construct a wall to encircle west Berlin to stop this. On August 13, 1961 at 1 am soldiers surrounded west Berlin and did not allow anyone to leave or enter the city. People worked and went to school and dated people on the other side of the city, but after 1 am on August 13, 1961, they would not be allowed to see one another for 28 years...

Also, checkpoint Charlie was very important because the Americans ran the west side of the checkpoint and the soviets the east. This meant that during the cold war, the 2 opposing powers would be within yards of one another. One day, tension was especially high and the 2 powers brought out tanks and all the firepower imaginable. There was a standoff for 17 hours, as each side was ordered to not open fire until the other side did. After 17 hours, a negotiation was reached. Not a single shot was fired, but I'm sure if one had been, WW3 would have ensued.

My other favorite part of Berlin was the Reichstag or parliament building. This building was completely ruined in WW2, as many buildings were. Some were lucky and only have bullet holes, while the Reichstag needed to be completely reconstructed. The amazing part is how environmentally friendly it is now! The concept of the building is the same as before: old stone exterior with a glass dome ceiling, BUT the dome now is used to help power the building. There are over 300 solar panels and the dome has 1000 mirrors which reflect the sunlight into the parliament chambers. To reduce glare, they have a huge steel blind that circles the dome, parallel to the sun. Plus, at the top of the dome, there is an oculus which is completely open so there isn't stale air in the dome. How cool is that?! Over 1,200 tons of steel comprise this dome! Oh and best part: it's free. Yup, excellent start to my second day backpacking.

Also while on my trip, I went on a guided tour. It was fantastic and taught me so much about Berlin and germany's history. If you wanna know more, just flip through my facebook photos, I tend to include all of the historical info for each photo.

Now I know in the past I have tried new food on each trip. This time I did not, I just made my own meals, but I am going to Munich in a week and am going to have bratwurst and goulash and plenty of beer. Beer gardens here I come!

Next I am off to Prague. My grandpa on my mom's side is from Czechoslovakia, so it will be interesting to see some of his history. Wish me good luck!

Accents Galore!

Since spring break at my university is 1 week plus the Monday after Easter, and I have no class on Wednesday, Anna and I decided to elongate our break through Wednesday. It's my senior year spring break - go big or go home.

We wanted to hit up the British isles and decided it makes more sense to go to Ireland and the UK on the same trip, so we made that our spring break. Anna and I met up in London, as I was flying directly
from Lisbon, Portugal. We also met up with a friend of mine from my dance team back at school, Sarah. The three of us had a fantastic time in London and saw pretty much everything. We hit up all the major
sites and went on 2 guided tours. The first tour was themed around the monarchy and spoke about the royal wedding which would be 1 week later. The second tour was a Grimm reaper tour and spoke about jack
the ripper and the east end (dodgy end) of London. Both were amazing and I highly recommend going on tours with NewEurope when you travel. They do a great tour and each city offers a free 3 hour tour.

My favorite parts of London were st. Pauls cathedral and Big Ben. The cathedral is gorgeous and has beautiful glass mosaics on the ceilings. I fell in love with them when I saw them. I know I told you I loved
norte dame and that was my favorite, which it still is, but Sagrada Familia and st Pauls are so much more contemporary and crisp. I need   to stop seeing cathedrals, they are all too beautiful! Lol.

Big Ben isn't interactive like the cathedral. We didn't go inside or anything, but when I think of London, 1) I think of the parent trap, and 2) I think of Big Ben. The clock tower of parliament is so Gothic 
and regal. At night they light it up and it beams. Anna and Sarah quickly realized how much I loved it and would try to placate me and make sure we could see it nearby when we sat and hung out. Thanks guys!

Also, Sarah is incredibly passionate about music, especially the Beatles, so we took a photo of us crossing abbey road and Sarah even took her shoes off! It was hilarious and so different than typical tourist activities.

Some other things we did were take photos with the British guards, watch the changing of the guards (super crowded!), went to Westminster abbey, saw Les Miserables, and ate proper burgers with a pint. I'm
sure that last one may seem out of place and not exciting, but all of Europe has no idea how to make a proper burger, except the UK and Ireland! We quickly picked up on this and had burgers all the time.

After London, Sarah had to go back to Paris to resume her grad classes. Anna and I continued on to Scotland. We went to the capital of Scotland: Edinburgh, for 3 days. The most noticeable change was the
weather. In London it was sunny and around 75-80 each day, warmer in the sun. The sky was clear and blue. In Scotland, we got off the train and asked for directions towards the castle. This castle, which was a
half a mile away and on top of a mountain, was invisible due to the haze. The sky was grey and you couldn't see very far at all. Complete 180 from London.

We first went back to the hostel and checked in. That is when we noticed the second and third difference: one good, one bad. The second was the smell. Our hostel, and other buildings in the city, smelled
like horse manure and body odor. Lovely. It was quite overwhelming. The third difference was the sinks. In London, their sinks are TINY! Maybe 8 inches across and 5 inches in length. When I used them and
washed my face I got water everywhere. Here in Scotland, they went back to sinks for normal people, not my Barbie lol.

Even though the city didn't have the beat first impression, I loved it. (surprise surprise.) the people were great and had entertaining accents. We drank a bunch of cider and saw people wearing kilts! I love plaid, so we spent an hour or so looking at tartans and trying to find different patterns and asking about weddings.

For those of you that have seen Made of Honor, men do in fact wear kilts for their wedding. However, women typically won't wear an entire shawl of tartan (plaid), but instead a small bow or pin, if anything.

The best part of Scotland was st Andrews! We went there with really no idea what we were going to do, and ended up having a great time. We even were able to play 18 holes at the old course!

Ok well that's stretching the truth... We got to play 18 holes on the practice green. See, the old course has a system that is a lot like miniature golf, only difference is there are no statues or moats. Anna and I did that and it was a blast! We were goofing around and I almost got a hole-in-one! I know it's only putting, but who cares lol.

After we were in Edinburgh for 3 days it was time to pack up and spend the rest of our pounds. Ireland uses euros, thank goodness! Going from a 2.0 to 1.5 exchange rate always feels great.

Once we were in Dublin, we were so excited. We decided this was the frivolous end of the trip. Scotland and England were historical and educational and we loved them, Ireland was going to be pubs and
Guinness. We did tough it out and go on 1 tour in Dublin. Our tour guide said if all we take from the 3 hour tour is that there is more to Dublin than leprechauns and Guinness, then it was a success. Well congrats! I know there is also Jameson in Dublin lol.

We did do a few historical things. We saw some cathedrals, one where they found a mummified cat and mouse in the organ's pipes: Tom and Jerry. Also, we went to trinity college and saw the book of Kells and
the long room. The book of kells is a 1,000 year old book that is a rendition of the bible by Matthew, mark, Luke, and John. It had great colors and was standing the face of time quite well. We also saw the
long room. For those of you who have seen episode 2 of starwars, the Jedi library is a CGI version of the long room at trinity college. It was grand and filled with oak walls and medical books. The best part
in my opinion was the baru harp. Now, I didn't know I knew what this was, but we all know it: it's the trademark of Guinness! This harp is from the middle ages and looks amazing. I managed to snap a photo,
even though they are prohibited. The guard enforcing said rule took his job very seriously. Anna and I joked that he was a leprechaun due to how small he was and that he was EVERYWHERE!

Also, we went to the Jameson distillery and Guinness brewery. So much fun! Both had great tours. Guinness' was better in that they let you go at your own pace and even had a section on their previous
advertising. Jameson did give more booze at the end tho. At the Jameson one, I volunteered and got the opportunity to compare an Irish whiskey, a scotch, and a bourbon. It was pretty cool. At Guinness, Anna
and I got to pour our own pints! I attempted and only semifailed at drawing a clover in the head. I thin someone can nail it after a dozen tries or so. If only they would've let me keep trying. At least they gave me the best and smoothest beer ever! That'll have to do.

All in all, it was an amazing trip. A huge success in terms of senior year spring break. No drama or tension and a lot of fun. I must admit though, by the end of the trip, I was ready to go back to Madrid and
be in my apartment and be 'home'. I won't be traveling this weekend, and I plan on just hanging out and shopping. Sounds like a success to me!

Home is Where the Heart is

The month span from mid-March thru April has been the highlight of my semester so far! Brian visited me earlier, and my parents and brothers just visited me last week! Not to mention that I am now on spring break up in the UK and Ireland, definitely an exciting month.

When my family came and visited we met in Barcelona. Unfortunately they ran into many complications with flights and ended up being delayed, but everything worked out and we found each other after an hour or two. Once we were in Barcelona it was amazing! Honestly, we could have been in Kansas City and it would have been great; I just wanted to see them. We had a great time catching up and telling jokes. It felt like no time had passed at all. Since I only flew for 1 hour and didn’t change time zones, whereas they flew over 4,000 miles, everyone else was a bit tired. So we had a slower start than my typical trips, but people rotated staying awake and catching up with me. Later that night we saw a flamenco performance. It was very impressive and unique. Plus I was so glad I got to see it because, as you know, my attempt to see a performance in Cordoba failed.

Also while we were there, we went on a Gaudi walking tour. Gaudi is the most famous architect from Barcelona. He is from the late 1800s but did some wild stuff, even in the context of today. My dad describes his buildings as melting gingerbread houses. Gaudi loved nature and modeled his buildings after it by avoiding straight lines and using bold colors. The tour ended at Sagrada Familia, the church that Gaudi designed. It was like nothing I have seen before. It started being built over 100 years ago and is still not completed unfortunately. They are aiming to have it finished in 2026 for the 100^th anniversary of Gaudi’s death; I don’t really see that happening though because Spain works at a glacial pace and really enjoys their siesta.

Sagrada Familia was an incredibly ornate building from the outside and has 3 facades: the first for Jesus’s birth, the second for his death, and the third for the creation and eventual end to human life. The third façade hasn’t been completed yet, so I can’t tell you anything about how we will all perish lol. Entertainingly enough, the façade for his birth has a Cyprus tree at the top of it. Say what they will, it looks like a Christmas tree. Yes, that’s right: They put a Christmas tree front and center on a cathedral. The outside I found to be a bit over the top and much like other cathedrals, except for the tree part. The inside is what made me fall in love with Sagrada Familia. The inside looks brand new, mostly because it is, and has towering columns that reach the ceiling with choral seating all along the top. My favorite part was the stained glass. Look at my facebook, I can’t do it justice. But the windows create a sunrise and sunset, and once all of the windows are put into the entire cathedral, I definitely want to go back and see it. My brother Brian saw it 4 years ago, and back then it wasn’t completed on the inside. He said the changes from then to now are remarkable. I can’t imagine how it will look finished. I guess I just have to return to Europe. What a rough life…

One night Brian, Jeff, and I also went around to a few bars and ended in an Irish pub. I ended the night with a Guinness, and let me tell you, it was great!! I have been so excited to travel to Dublin and try the Guinness there. I hear that this beer doesn’t travel well, and is completely different, and infinitely superior in Dublin. For that reason, I have been telling people about my excitement and pumping it up in my mind. Well, while we were out I tried it in Barcelona. Even there it is so smooth! It is like a milkshake! By the end, it starts to be less smooth, but I really don’t care, it is like no beer I’ve had before. It has become my mission to drink Guinness whenever possible in Europe. I need to get my fill, obviously. Brian, Jeff, and I had a great night out and it was an excellent end to the weekend.

After we were in Barcelona, we went back to Madrid. I finally got to show off my city! When we were in Madrid, I got to show off my favorite aspects: the buildings, parks, and food. My favorite building in all of Madrid is Banco de España. It is gorgeous, and completely unnecessary. I took my family there during the night and day and both times they were blown away. Also, we walked along the main street: Gran Via, literally meaning the Great Way. At night it is a beautiful street that is lit up and filled with shopping and uniform wrought iron balconies. I have to say, I love those balconies. Since I do live in Madrid, I knew a bunch of things to see and dragged them around town. We were constantly busy, trying to fit in all of the culture, architecture, and food possible. To relax, we did a bus tour where I got to see the modern part of Madrid for the first time, and we spent our last day in Parque del Retiro. I have to say that was one of my favorite parts. It was slow paced and we just lied in the park and drank wine – sounds like a successful day to me.

Our last leg of the week and a half together was going to Lisbon, Portugal. This was the least glamorous part of the trip, but just as much fun because, let’s face it: I missed my family. As my family quickly decided, Lisbon is the well fed, well dressed city that lives in shacks. They rent control their housing, so everything is falling to shambles. Also, they are asking to get bailed out of their debt, so clearly their country isn’t doing that well.

While in Lisbon, we did a variety of things, and they were all new to me, even though I was in Lisbon back in February! My mom brought a Rick Steev’s book and we went on 3 guided walks and with them I was able to see an entirely new part of town. Also, the last time I was there, it rained almost the entire time and was quite chilly. This time, it was sunny as can be and around 85 degrees! I actually got a bit sunburned. To take a break from the sun, we stopped in for a wine tasting. We got to taste 4 wines a piece. My brothers chose the licorice wine for their 4^th wine, and both didn’t really like it, but enjoyed the tasting experience. My mom and I focused more on the whites and roses. I enjoyed mine, but when it came to the evaluation sheet, I was completely lost. See, I had never been to a wine tasting before. I have no idea what the jargon is and didn’t want to make a fool of myself or be completely useless. It turned out that my Dad and my brother Brian ended up tasting most of Jeff’s, my mom’s, and my wines and confirming or assisting us in our vocabulary and insights. There were times when they basically wrote the evaluations (slightly oaky with a lot of body), and there were times when I creatively thought of it myself (It is like licking a wooden box). By the end of the tasting, we were all very entertained and a bit goofy. I asked my dad to take a picture of the table (aka Brian, my mom, and I) and he literally took a picture of the table, legs and all. Thanks Dad. I also was able to get my mom to remake her puckered lips face after trying my wine so I could snap the photo and save that memory for a lifetime. If you’d like to see it, go to the Lisbon album on facebook, you can’t miss it.

As you all know, Japan had their gigantic earthquake a few weeks back. The earthquake was so large, it brought on a tidal wave and then a nuclear plant exploded or some such thing. Well, back in the 1700’s Lisbon experienced the same thing. They had a huge earthquake, brought on a tidal wave, and then the city went up in flames. This destroyed much of their architecture. Interestingly enough, the monastery from before then still stands today, however the entire ceiling has collapsed. This means that all of the archways in the cathedral are holding up nothing more than the sky. It is a beautifully delicate and different sight. You can check out my pictures on facebook if you’re interested. Oh and sorry for the abundance of photos. I do get a little photo crazy at times, but I figure they’re really for me!

Also while in Lisbon, we went through Castel de San Jorge. I walked through it last time, so nothing was too new for me, but I did enjoy showing it off to my family. It’s weird how even though I have absolutely no claim on this castle, I have staked a bit of my claim in it and was showing it off to the family. Well, if that is the case, then I did a great job because they loved it! They enjoyed seeing a castle that is completely accessible and still in great form. It was very interesting and probably the highlight of Lisbon for them. I know it was for me!

Finally, we took a day trip to Belem. There are 2 day trips you can take: Belem and Sintra. Since I went to Sintra the last time I was there and saw the castle and palace, we decided they could go on Sunday, after I left since they were staying a day longer than I was. Belem was a pretty city outside of town. It has a beautifully done monument dedicated to Portugal’s discovery of a quick route to India. Due to their discovery, they were the power house to spices for quite some time back in Europe. Also, there is a lovely monastery (which all starts to look pretty much alike at this point in the semester), and a tower and military museum. I would say if you only have time for one day trip, go to Sintra, but if you are spending 3-4 days in Lisbon, take the 2 day trips. The city itself is surprisingly quick and easy to navigate and it isn’t at all stressful or absurd to fit everything in.

On Sunday morning, I left at 7:00 am for my flight to London to start my spring break. My entire family was a gem and woke up to say goodbye to me. And when I say woke up, there is a wide variety: some ate breakfast with me, some walked me to the bus, and others sat up in bed and gave me a lovely hug and kiss on the cheek. Although they sound like a wide variety of commitment and effort, I have to tell you that each one meant the world to me. It seems silly to want such a meaningful goodbye when I will be back at home in Illinois in just 2.5 months, but I do! I know I will be missing my family for the rest of the semester, but don’t worry; I will still be having the time of my life and enjoying every minute! I’m a multi-tasker, I can do both.

Tune in next to hear all about England, Scotland, and Ireland! All filled with fun accents and English!

Córdoba, Spain

I know I told you all that I might be going to Burgos; that however did not happen. I won’t bore you with the details, except to say that Mel and Anna were meeting up with a friend and it just wasn’t going to work. So, instead, I went to Córdoba!

Córdoba is a city 5 hours south of Madrid by bus, and is in Andalucia. Andalucia is famous for its flamenco dancing and beautiful weather. I went for Friday and Saturday, and enjoyed 85 degree days. It was gorgeous. I didn’t wear a jacket the entire time I was there! Once I got off the bus, I walked to the hostel and dropped off my things. While I was there, I met another girl staying in my room, Tovah, and we ended up traveling around for both days. She is from Canada – Edmonton in fact – and is traveling by herself around Spain and Portugal for 3 months. We first went to Alcazar, the castle and beautiful gardens of Cordoba. The gardens were gorgeous, and had so many flowers! The castle gave you a scenic view of the city, and got us excited about all the places we were going to go afterwards.

After Alcazar, we went to the city wall, and walked across the Roman Bridge. From the far end of the bridge, you could enjoy a wonderful view of La Mezquita, the mosque-turned-cathedral of Cordoba. Before going to Cordoba, I looked up everything on wikitravel (very helpful website, I highly recommend it) and found that there are 14 old churches throughout Cordoba. Tovah and I decided to visit the 3 most recommended: Iglesia de San Miguel, Nicolas, y Trinidad. When we reached the first church, we went inside to get a nice look around. Turns out that church was still in use and there were a dozen older people (probably in their 70's) praying in the pews. So we got a quick look around and went on to the next church. Turns out the next church was exactly the same! By the time we reached the third church, we just got a nice look of the architecture on the outside and decided not to disturb the parishioners. All of the churches were of similar style: large, yellow stone bricks, rectangularly shaped, 1 bell tower about 4 stories tall. And even though each church looked similar, they each had their own bit of character and beauty. It was definitely a different feel than going to the touristy churches across Europe. 

We also tried to find the Street of Flowers (Calleja y Plaza de Flores). We failed miserably. All we found was a road filled with construction...

By the end of the day, Tovah and I were both quite hungry and we decided to go for some tapas. We found a restaurant called 101 Tapas and figured that was a good place. We were wrong, it was a GREAT place! They had the best sangria I have ever had. It was so smooth and quite strong, and had grapes and other interesting fruit inside. Plus, they had morcilla and croquettas for tapas. My favorite of the tapas was the apple pie though. It was really a flaky pastry filled with apple wine, but it was superb. Apple pie is one of my favorite desserts, and it isn't very big in Spain. I was so happy to get some. Plus, the waiter brought us out some apple wine to go along with it. I had never had any before, but it was very sweet, and delicious. I definitely couldn't have drunken another glass of it though. It was very sweet.

Later that night we met up with a native we had met. He said that he could take us to a flamenco show, which is really all I wanted to see, however turns out the place he normally goes to was closed. By the time we wanted to go somewhere else, it was too late. So unfortunately I didn't see any flamenco, but there's always next time!

The next day Tovah and I went to La Mezquita. Since it is free admission from 8:30 am to 10 am, you can guess where our entire hostel was at 9:45 am lol. La Mezquita is a gorgeous building. Back when the moors ruled Spain, they built this large mosque in Cordoba. However, when the Christians took over the expelled the Moors, and the Jews in 1492 [When Christopher sailed the ocean blue] they took over the mosque. Surprisingly, they didn't destroy the mosque. I'd like to believe it's because they recognized the beauty of the building, but who knows. Maybe there was some politics involved. Either way, the Christians kept the building, but decided to stake their claim on it by building a cathedral inside the mosque. If you look at my pictures on facebook, you can see what I mean. This mosque is huge though! It can house 20,000 people and comfortably. When you first walk in there is a large courtyard with trees and flowers and then you pass through there to enter the mosque. It was beautiful, a lot more beautiful than the cathedral in my opinion. The cathedral was, of course, gorgeous. It was traditional and had high, ornate ceilings. However, the mosque had a very ancient feel and built the same archway over and over and over. The archways were laid out in a grid system, and the geometry of the building was perfect. I loved being able to look down a row of arches and see the hallway that was formed.

Once we left La Mezquita, we went to the synagogue. It turns out there are only 3 synagogues left in all of Spain! Two are in Toledo and the third is in Cordoba. It's also because of the 1492 expulsion of the Jews. The Christians felt the need to tear everything down apparently. The synagogue is so quaint and old. It has white plaster walls that have been sculpted and is only 2 rooms. It is tiny! Probably smaller than my apartment... It was interesting to think about the difference in how ornate cathedrals are and how quaint the synagogues are. It was a completely different experience, and very simple but serine.

Finally we succeeded in finding the Calleja y Plaza de los Flores. It was beautiful! There were so many flowers and plants in there. I loved it. Also, while we were walking around town, we found some courtyards of people's homes that were filled with flowers! It was so nice to see plenty of greenery and enjoy warm weather even though it was only April 1st! I love the south of Spain.

Overall, it was a beautiful trip and exactly what I needed. To get away from Madrid and enjoy the warm weather of Spain was really refreshing. If anyone is ever in the South of Spain, I highly suggest you take a day trip to Cordoba and look at La Mezquita. It is a beautiful building that is one of a kind!

Hasta luego! My family comes on Friday and we are meeting in Barcelona! I can't wait to see them and take a million pictures!

My Week with Brian

U of I just had their spring break, and so Brian, my boyfriend – not my brother, came out to visit for the week. I couldn’t be happier. I was actually just starting to really miss people from home and greatly appreciated seeing a familiar face and getting to show off my new city.

Brian got into Madrid on Sunday morning at 5:45 am, and since the metro doesn’t open until 6:00 am and it takes just under an hour to make it all the way to the airport, I realized I couldn’t take the metro first thing in the morning and get there in time to pick him up. So, since a cab is some 30 euro (44 dollars!) one way, I decided to take the last metro at night and get there around 2:00 am and just sleep at the airport. I’ve done it twice before for when I myself and traveling, and this time was the best. I figured since I’m going to do this, I might as well do it right. I brought a blanket and used my coat as a pillow. I actually slept pretty well for 4 hours and then picked up my first visitor and took him home!!

While he was here in Madrid, my life was completely different. First of all, I myself don’t prioritize food, so I tend to eat pasta with marinara sauce or sandwiches every day. I’m quite lazy and don’t want to put in any more effort. BUT, Brian actually really likes cooking, especially for me, so we had some great meals while he was here. And don’t worry, he didn’t cook them all by himself, I helped and learned a lot! I am still so proud of what we made, so I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to tell you about it (cause I honestly never cook.)

1)     
1) I learned how to neatly make an omelet. I knew the concept, its scrambled eggs with veggies inside. But, I never knew how people make it so neatly! When I make scrambled eggs, they are a million pieces and that’s not because I cut them up after cooking. So I learned the trick of how to make it just fold in half (apparently I was flipping too early and just poking around the stove too much). I also learned the beauty of ketchup on omelets. I never got it before, but it’s actually quite good! 

2) We made egg sandwiches. Those are my favorite. Toasted bread (we don’t have a toaster so we made it on the stove with olive oil – I highly recommend), eggs, cheese, and grilled onions. So yummy.

3) Seafood pasta. The seafood here is so cheap; it’s great. We got shrimp and mussels and made it with marinara sauce and pasta. It was excellent and there was so much there was enough for my roommate and still we had leftovers. We want to try to learn how to cook it with a white cream sauce, but that’ll come later. Probably when we’re out in LA.

4) We made morcilla and rice, my favorite! All of the translations say that morcilla is black pudding, but since I don’t actually know what black pudding is, I’m not sure of its right. But it is amazing! One of my friends has described it as a burrito, without the veggies and wrap lol. It is a sausage stuffed with meat and rice! It is from Burgos, (a city I visited back in February), and soo good. I want to find it back in America, because I am going to miss it greatly.

5) Meatball subs and steak fries! This is my pride and joy. We made meatballs from scratch. Neither of us had any idea how to do it, but thanks to Rachael Ray, we rocked it. It was messy with the eggs and breadcrumbs. You got to mix it all up by hand, very fun when all you have is time and no need to rush through cooking and eating. The steak fries were also awesome! We just bought potatoes and cut them up with some salt and pepper. The hardest part was that my kitchen at school doesn’t have an oven, but we just cooked both things on the stove on low and covered them and it worked surprisingly well. And then when it was time to eat, we put the meatballs and sauce and cheese on a fresh sourdough bread baguette. Let me tell you, best meal (partially because I made it) that I’ve had in a while.

Also while Brian was here, I showed him around to all the sights. He theoretically knew everything from my blog and my pictures, but seeing it himself was completely different. And of course, I made him take a picture with me everywhere we went. He quickly jumped on board and sometimes was more excited about it than I was! The best part was also that he doesn’t mind asking strangers to take our pictures. I hate doing that, mostly because my dad and brothers despise pictures and I just figure that everyone must… But my Brian is happy to ask strangers so we got plenty of good and bad pictures. It’s always funniest when you ask someone to get a picture of you with the building behind you and they decide that the foundation of the building must be what you meant, not the tower of the beautiful cathedral behind you. Oh well, there are plenty more strangers to ask for a second photo!

We also went to Segovia. I hadn’t been before, so it was new for the both of us. Segovia is a town about an hour and a half Northwest of Madrid by bus. It is home to the Roman aqueduct, a 2,000 year old piece of architecture! It is so impressive and takes the water from 17 km away and filters it and transports it at a 1 percent grade to the city. Let me tell you, Madrid loves it. Whenever you talk to them about traveling they mention the cathedral of Toledo, and the aqueduct of Segovia. They are very proud of their neighboring cities, as they should be!

Segovia also has a castle (alcazar) that is the highest point in the city. When at the top, you can see everything, including a picturesque view of the cathedral. We stood up there for a while, just hanging out and enjoying the scenery. It was truly beautiful.

Segovia is very much like Toledo, in that it has many small winding roads that aren’t meant for cars. It has a city wall, just like Toledo, and is not a large city. We walked around it and saw the many small, old churches, as well as the main square. Everything was quaint and a bit less touristy than Toledo. After seeing Segovia, am in quite the quandary trying to decide if I should take my family to Toledo or Segovia when they visit. We were going to do one daytrip, and now I love them both!

Also, while Brian was here, my school organized a ‘bull fighting’ trip. It is called Capea, and was a day of open-bar, BBQ, and the opportunity for each of us to fight a steer. Let me first explain, before going, I had seen a friend of mine did this last year when he studied here. He had a photo of him with the minibull and it looked great! Almost posed it was so perfect! So I figured that this would be quite tame, and I could go in, get my picture, and get out.

I was wrong. The first guy went in, and the bull charged, and the bull charged hard. He had horns, also something I wasn’t expecting, and the strategy at first was to outrun the bull. This was a bad strategy. One of the first guys to go, who was quite cocky mind you, outran the bull the first 2 times, but the 3^rd wasn’t so lucky. He was knocked to the ground. I will try to find the video online, because I know my description doesn’t do it justice. Check back in a day or two for the link.

 Of all the things we did while Brian was here, my favorite was the wine nights. We would get a bottle of wine, a fresh baguette, and a wedge of cheese – usually brie – and eat and drink while watching a movie or hanging with my friends. It was so much fun and so relaxing, the perfect way to end a night. I loved introducing all of the different wines to Brian, and showing him that if you buy a crappy wine, you can make it taste better by mixing it with carbonated water.

Overall, it was an amazing week, my favorite here by far. I got to enjoy my city and have never felt more proud of it, while getting to spend an entire week with Brian. Taking him to the airport on Monday morning was not ideal, but knowing that we had such a great week definitely helped. Not to mention, my family is coming 2 weeks later, so now I just have something else to look forward to and plan!

I might be going to Burgos next weekend with Anna and Mel, so we’ll see what stories I have to share with you then!

Hasta luego!

Things I miss/don't miss about home

Things that I miss about home:

American food: There are no corndogs, mac n cheese, wheat thins, good steak, or normal meats (behind the deli counter) sold here...
Having nice things: We have no carpet, spring mattress, couch, TV, ice, or oven. Going home is going to be amazing!
Dryers: I have to plan when I want to do laundry with the weather. Plus our washer takes an hour and a half...
Final schedules: I still don't know my finals schedule, and it spans over 4 weeks... Really hard to plan trips.
Cell phone: Here we have prepaid phones so everyone talks through facebook. No one ever really uses their phone, so when you do call them/me, we normally don't pick up...
No exchange rate: Not needing to worry if pulling out 150 euros today is more or less expensive than tomorrow
Getting to carry on 2 bags: Here you don't get a personal item when you fly, so you have to cram everything in 1 carry on for the weekend/the 2 weeks I'm gone come April 15th... We'll see how that goes.
My family and friends: I miss you guys! Thank goodness for gchat/skype, I don't know how people did this before...


Things that I don't miss about home:

Cell phone: Its really nice to not need to worry about picking up your phone all the time when you're out.
Being in Champaign: I love being in Europe! There is so much to see here!
Having actual work to do: Here, none of my classes really have work. I have to do maybe 5 hours of work a week, and that's pushing it.
Buying in bulk: I go shopping once a week and get fresh bread, inexpensive seafood, and amazing milk. Great stuff, and I don't have to store so much
Waking up at a reasonable hour: I get up here most days without an alarm clock. I have one class at 10:30 on Tuesdays, and other than that my first class is at 1:15 pm.
Always speaking in English: I love getting to speak in Spanish and practice other languages. Its so cool!
Being in the suburbs: Here in a metropolitan city, there are always things to do and places to see!
Driving everywhere: I love the public transit! I can fly, take a bus, or use the metro all the time. I never need a car! So convenient. And I don't have to worry about how I'll get home after a night out.
American desserts: The pastries in Europe are to die for! So fluffy and such a variety. Not to mention there is a pastelería every few blocks. I swear I salivate every time I pass one.
Policed internet: Here, downloading movies is not a problem. I have watched so many movies, its great!

Las Fallas

March 17-19 a group of friends went to a town 4 hours East of Madrid called Valencia. It is on the Mediterranean coast and has a large festival the week leading up to March 19th called Las Fallas. The festival has 3 main components:

1) The presentation of the flowers to the virgin
2) The Fallas, or sculptures, are made out of paper mache and are on display the week leading up to Saturday. On Saturday night at midnight and 1 am, they burn all of the Fallas to the ground.
3) The firecrackers and fireworks

So my group got there on Thursday night and we took the metro and walked up the coast to our hostel/apartment that we rented for the weekend. On the way we stopped for dinner and got calamari. The food was superb! Since we were on the coast, everything was so fresh and cooked to perfection. So much better than seafood in Chicago lol. Then, since our apartment was directly on the sea, we went for a walk along the Mediterranean under the stars. It was so relaxing and serene to hear the crashing of the waves. It made me so excited to move to LA and get to live near the beach all the time!

The next day we went into town to experience Las Fallas! We had heard about the general 3 components I pointed out to you, but had no idea when and where they occur. Sooo getting on a bus to go to the city center was step 1. While on the bus, we met some natives, who were extremely helpful and told us about the Big Bang which goes on at 2 in Plaza de Ayuntamiento, so obviously we went there. It was 75 degrees and sunny. Put that together with it being packed with people, and it was warm! I actually got a little sun even, very exciting since Madrid seems to like to rain a fair amount... (Its like I'm back in Champaign sometimes). The Big Bang is when they set off fireworks, directly in the square (They aren't big on safety) and it is a 20 minute firework show in broad daylight. Its an odd concept, but really they just want the noise, which we later learned is a huge component. During the finale, the windows of the buildings in the square were rattling and you could feel the noise in your chest! It was incredible, and if you look at my facebook, you can see pictures of the before and after. Before, it was sunny and clear skies; after, it was filled with smoke and ash. You couldn't see 20 feet in front of you.

The presentation of the flowers we heard started at 4 so we went there. The concept is that there is the skeleton of a 30 foot tall virgin and she is wearing a gown or cape basically. Then, everyone in the parade has a bouquet of flowers and presents them, which are used to make the gown/cape of the virgin. We asked around and people don't go through the parade twice and make loops, they have enough people involved to present the thousands of flowers and each person only does it once! The parade goes on for hours. We stayed and watched for probably 1 hours. It was really cool. All the women wear the same traditional gown and do their hair in the exact same way (it kinda looks like princess Leia). The men wear old fashioned suits, and everything is in bright colors. Not to mention people of all ages participate. There were babies in strollers and older couples with canes. Seeing everyone in the community get involved for this honor was exciting. Also, for those of you that feel this would get boring quite quickly, they have bands come through and play every 10 minutes or so. It really makes a different keeping the bystanders interested, trust me.

On Saturday morning, a friend and I woke up early and watched the sunrise over the Mediterranean. It was beautiful! I highly recommend getting up to watch something like that. There were 8 of us, and only Anna and I woke up for it (at 7 am). Clearly we're a bunch of college students on break, because 7 am really isn't early in the grand scheme of things lol.

Later we went and looked at last Fallas. They were really cool. Each was themed to represent something that had happened in the past year, and they are often satires. My favorite was about television. It had this old man watching TV holding out his remote with drool dripping from his mouth and his eyes were red and dry. Then on the back, there was another television showing "children's shows". It had 2 babies watching the TV, and on TV there were breasts, blood, alcohol, and I think someone was choking another person. Either way, they clearly got their point across.

During the entire weekend, there were also people with firecrackers. Like I mentioned before, Europe isn't as big on safety as America is. They hand out firecrackers like candy. You can literally hear a firecracker every 5 seconds when you are in the city center. And some of them are really loud! It really makes you feel a part of the environment and reminds you where you are. It was definitely a part of their culture.

Unfortunately for those of you that are waiting to hear about the burning of the Fallas, you won't hear about it from me. I returned to Madrid on Saturday night at 9pm so I could go pick up Brian from the airport on Sunday morning!!! Completely worth it in my opinion.

I had a wonderful time. Valencia is a beautiful city right on the sea, they are famous for their paella, which of course I tried and loved. They also are famous for their orxata (pronounced or-cha-ta). It is like a milkshake, but is the consistency of milk. I loved it and had it multiple times while I was there! So good!

Well, soon I'll write again to tell you about my week with Brian! Hasta luego!

The next week...

On the last night in Venice, Nora started to feel sick. She got a fever once we were back. On Wednesday morning, I ended up having the flu and didn't recover until Sunday. Anna ended up getting sick as well, and since Mel lives with me, she was unfortunately a victim as well. We didn't go anywhere, and it rained. Not a great week in Spain. I did watch some great movies in bed and ended up not spending any of my budget, so good news for Italy! 

But now I'm healthy, and we're leaving for Valencia on Thursday for Las Fallas! So get ready!

Rome and Venice

After staying in Madrid for the first weekend since I got here, I couldn't resist the urge to travel once again. I went to Rome and Venice with 2 other girls in my program, Anna and Nora. Let me just start off by saying, BEST TRIP SO FAR! Super expensive, definitely went over what I budget for a week, but who cares? Its Rome and Venice! Luckily, my brother Brian also gave me some money so we're gonna say he paid for all the fun. Thanks Brian!

I visited Brian when he studied abroad in Italy 4 years ago, and he took Ashley and I to Rome, Florence, and Venice while we were there. I loved it, and have been itching to go back. In Rome, I ate gnocchi and had some wonderful house wine. We had pizza by the slice, and by the pie. We ate gelato like it was our job. I loved everything I ate there, and normally don't care that much about food. But in Italy, it was all so good! Plus, you know me, I'm the "bread queen" so I was quite happy being in Italy where they have great carbs all the time.

I think my favorite part about going back to Italy, was the familiarity of it. Brian had already given me a tour of St. Peter's, the Vatican, the Colosseum, the forum, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain. Already having an introduction, I didn't feel overwhelmed like last time, and was able to finally understand some things that Brian had explained years before. I finally picked up on St. Peter being buried in the basilica and that he was the first Pope. I understood the general layout of the Vatican and St. Peter's square. Before I was moreso blindly following Brian (or as we called him Tour Guide Barbie).

The only thing that threw me off was the Colosseum. For the first 20 minutes of our visit, I confused it with the Arena in Verona and I thought we could climb it and sit around and hang out, so I was a little disappointed when we couldn't do that this time. Also, much like last time, I actually was not impressed by the interior of the Colosseum. I know it was built in 72 AD, held 70,000 people, and was home to exciting 'life and death' shows, but it just never grabs my interest. The outside however, is beautiful. And at night? It's even better! Our last night in Rome, we went there and enjoyed a glass of wine (in plastic cups of course, and not really a glass, but a carton of wine lol) while sitting on some ruins and watching the Colosseum shine! Now that was enjoyable.

My favorite part of Italy, surprise surprise, isn't the Colosseum, but is the Trevi Fountain. I could sit there for hours and just watch it and people watch. And next time I go to Rome, that is exactly my plan. I love the story of the fountain (which can be found in my facebook picture captions) and I love the beauty of the white stone contrasted with the soft blue water. It's perfect.

After Rome, we took an overnight train to Venice to save on getting a hostel. Word of advice: DON'T DO THIS! The train is freezing, is not comfortable, and when you get into Venice at 5:30 am, you are homeless... Once you get over that, you realize, you're in Venice and its Carnevale! As if a fantastic weekend in Rome isn't enough, I now got to dress up in a mask all day and see gorgeous costumes (also on facebook) and drink champagne. Great day! The best part was when we were eating lunch on the canal, and a tourist actually interrupted our lunch to ask if he could get a picture of us! People are wearing luxurious gowns and wigs and masks, and here we are three American girls in masks, one also with a wig, but no costumes, and he wanted our picture. We were so flattered and excited. The only thing I could want more, is someone getting a picture of him getting a picture of us!

Venice was beautiful and so much fun, but I definitely want to squeeze in another trip this semester. Going during carnevale is 100% different than going normally. Carnevale is crowded, loud, crazy, and did I mention crowded? Normally, it is calm and peaceful. I have done both and loved both, but there is one thing I have been wanting to do for at least a year, that I couldn't do with the crowds. Therefore I want to go back. When I went to Venice 4 years ago, we went to St. Marcos square and fed the pigeons and I got a picture. While I love this picture and the moment, I don't look that great. No blow dryer makes for a bad hair day. I want to go back, completely enjoy the moment like I did those 4 years ago, and get a marvelous picture of my perfect moment. I am going to enjoy it, and I will probably buy some Venetian glass while I'm out there. (There wasn't time or space in my carry on this time).

Also, this weekend was UnOFficIal!!! For Friday, we had an honorary Harp Beer at an Irish Pub before hitting up the ice bar. While at the ice bar, some of my friends decided to dispose of their glasses (which were made of ice, as was everything else) by throwing them on the ground - when no one was nearby. We were chastised and asked if "we thought it was normal". We responded by saying that no part of being in a bar made of ice is normal, so we had no idea what is ok. He didn't appreciate that, but we all got a nice laugh.

While in Illinois, the holiday was 2 days earlier, I decided that my UnOFficIal was on Sunday! I wore green, bought a green carnevale mask, and we drank all day in the streets. That's UnOFficIal if you ask me. And it was wonderful! I'll just have to do it again when I go to Ireland. (And I'll be wearing the lovely UnOFficIal shirt that my Brian (Cerier this time) designed).

This trip was perfect. Rome fulfilled my beauty and educational fix. It had old ruins and wonderful people, and even an ice bar! And Venice had fun and crazy college entertainment. I couldn't be happier with a trip! It was magnificent! I will definitely be going back before June 20th, you can count on it.