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.