10 Day Break-- Barcelona, Ireland, and a lot in between

10-22

Day #1 of 10 DAY!!!

Where are we? Munich

LJ and I are sitting in the hotel bed in Munich with Abbie and her parents.We just came back from a delicious dinner her parents, Jesse and Debbie, treated us to. It is so nice being taken care of! They are gracious enough to let us stay with them in their hotel room for the night before we board our flight to Barcelona at four tomorrow out of Memmingen, Germany.

Last night we went to the weirdest concert ever! It was held in a church with no heating system (which was really neat) and the group that sang/played was very random and very big. There was a boys choral group along with a pretty big string ensemble and then improves dressed up in weird costumes. We sat up on this balcony and our view wasn’t that great. Needless to say we kept eachother occupied and being a respectful audience wasn’t quite one of them.

“When all else fails just try something else.” –Holly

“When all else fails, take the metro!” –LJ

“When you’re worried about spending too much money on fall break, just travel with your parents.” –Abbie

“We almost have everything figured out, all we have to do is find that train to Iceland.” –me

Holly just planned out our lives, aka a tentative idea of our next 10 days…

FRIDAYà 7pm arrival into Barcelona

SAT/SUNà Barca

MONà 9pm train from Barca to Paris, get into tues 9am

TUESà day in Paris before boarding train to Cherbourg, France @ 3pm –board boat to Rosslare, Ireland

WEDNSà arrive to Rosslare; bus to Dublin!

WEDNS-SUN à IRELAND!!!!!

Sending my prayers to Kristy & her family & boys (virtually my other brothers) You are all in my thoughts♥

10-24 Day #3

Where are we? BARCELONA!!

Sitting down for the first time today, our first full day in suny, gorgeous Spain!! Well, I should probably back track to last night. After a longer day of traveling than anticipated, we finally made it to Lizzie and Gillians apartment, where we were greeted by Hilary, Nickie, and Julia’s smiling faces! The three of us were so sweaty, tired, and sticky… seeing them all adorable and put together was maddening, haha! Not to worry, LJ, Holly and I are basically the queens of rallying. Two trains, a flight, one taxi, two buses, and the Barcelona metro? We were in the bathrooms shaving our legs and slipping into dresses three minutes later. Once out the door we dined at this yummy Chinese food restaurant and made our way to Starz bar.

Some odd drinks later we headed over to Port Olympic for some infamous barca club scenes. We went to two clubs, ShoKo and Catwalk… good music, dancing with girls I’ve missed too much, my head hit the pillow at 4:35am. That’s how they do it in Barcelona.

Needless to say, we got all of us out of the apartment by noon today.

Starbucks, sunglasses, & tapas—the cure to any late night (or early morning, ha) But today was so fun, we got our second wind and saw so much! Walked around Las Ramblas to this really cool open market where we got these amazing stuffed eggplants from this stand that read “organic is orgasmic” and tried some delicious juices!

We walked down by the water and took pictures, wandered around this huge mall on the pier, got BEN&JERRY’S! (a little taste of home) and walked along the beach where we found this super cute café and had sangria. YUM!

I could definitely live the life here! Tonight we are getting some much missed Mexican food and then going to some bars! Round two. Expecting another early morning?

10-25 Day #4

Where are we? Barcelona

We are just getting ready to do some more sightseeing. Liz has some ideas of some cool touristy things, one of them involving walking up to Park Guell, the view is apparently the best in the city.

We woke up and went to the train station to figure out our next few days. 45 mintues and a few speed bumps later and we have a Eurail route to Cherbourg (where we are boarding our boat to take us to Rosslare, IRELAND)

Presents was last night, congrats to the 11 dirty secrets!!!

Off to explore!

10-27 Day #6

Where are we? Train from Paris to Cherbourg

Looking out the window, listening to Jason Mraz—we are on our final leg en route to Cherbourg. Let me tell you we are just lucky to be sitting here. We knew our travels from Spain to Northern France were going to be a little hectic, but OMG, I’ll quote Holly and just describe it as a real life video game.

FIRST LEVEL: GETTING OUT OF SPAIN

*the first language in my head in English. I feel like I don’t need to say that but it helps to get to my point. Next comes approximately 300 or so German vocab words, let’s say 50ish verbs, and 3 very hit-or-miss tenses. After all that, there is Spanish. After 4 years of high school and 1 year of college Spanish I have something to work with. However, it is now the third language that comes to mind. Now here’s something they forget tell you before going to Spain—no one in the train station speaks English. That’s fun.

*we get to the train station a good hour before our train just to make sure we leave room for inevitable confusion. We finally get our platform number and are told to go down the elevator. Platform numbers are given no more than 10-15 minutes in advance because they don’t give them until the train actually arrives at the station. I don’t understand this because it basically BREEDS MAYHEM because everyone rushes to the platform at the same time, duh.

Our train was set to leave at 5:16pm, we get our assigned platform number at 5:05. We are cool, calm and collected as we follow arrows for platform 7. Just before the escalator that leads us down to our stop we see “metro-looking” gates ? Oh hey, we don’t have “metro-looking” tickets to swipe to get to our platform. In our video game senario, this is like the mote of hot lava.

5:10 The three of us separate in efforts to find/buy these ridiculous tickets to cross over the godforsaken lava.

5:12 I’m sweating.

5:13 Contemplating possible Spanish citizenship.

5:14 The line LJ and I were in parts like the red sea, the lady sees our panicked expressions, Eurails in hand, and three beautiful purple tickets popped out. GAME ON.

Backpacks, purses, souvenir bags, water bottles; WE SPRINTED, crammed those tickets into the horrible machines and bolted down the escalator.

5:15 and 40 seconds. Our train was making noise, showing early signs of movement, we hit the green open button on the side and colasped into a pile of hysterical shocked girls.

~2+ hours to Cerbere

LEVEL 2: GETTING ON OUR OVERNIGHT TRAIN TO PARIS SANS RESERVATIONS

*At the Barcelona train station where they spoke really good English, they told us a lot of really useful information. One being that to make a reservation for the overnight train we HAD to be on to get to Cherbourg by Tuesday we needed to each pay 100E. Well that didn’t go over well. In other words we said, screw that, we have our Eurails, we’ll just “get on” and improvise. Our thinking being that if worse came to worse, the conductor would come around a good hour into our ride, see we didn’t have a reservation, (and if tears didn’t work) we would get kicked off at the next stop and be that much closer to Cherbourg.

We get to Cerbere and it’s a lot smalled than we expected. A LOT smaller. Like more closely resembling a bus stop with a small building that had one a-sexual bathroom, a ticket counter, a wooden box/stand that they pretended to call a “bar” and a pinball machine. Aka, not somewhere we wanted to be strained.

We’re not panicked yet, stick to the game plan, get on the train and pray it starts moving before Mr. Scary Frenchman kicks us off and we’re abandoned in super sketchy Cerbere.

It’s fine though. Holly seems confident. I need to relax. There could be worse things in life. Well, I mean I can’t think of anything worse at the moment but I’m sure there are. Ok, breathe.

We have about an hour layover in Cerbere before we head to our platform. We have dinner—honey roasted peanuts, crackers, chewy bar, peanut butter, and apples. We take turns enjoying a free bathroom and gear up for the train (what I considered most closely resembled the three-headed monster at the end of the hardest level of Mario.

LJ: “Hey guys, not to freak you out or anything, but look.”

Me: “What?”

(Holly and I turn and look across the platforms and see it.)

Holly: “Shhhhiiittttttttt.”

*right outside the only entrance to our train is a fold out table, three French guard men, a Walkie talkie, and a typed out list. Reservations anyone?

*no turning back now, game face. I have my pre-rehearsed speech, ideally wanting to make it from the comfort of a train in motion, but if I’ve learned anything it’s to expect to be surprised. I also learned from my very wise mother that you get more bees with honey.

Utilizing all of my tools, the fact that they were men and we are women, (that’s like 500+ point in video game terms) God was on our side. They had us pay 30E for reclineable seats and gave us tickets. (this isn’t without intense bargaining/flirting/discussion which included a fourth guard being called over.)

But we made it! Seated on the train, we were in awe and had never been happier for an 11+ hour train ride.

LEVEL 3: TRANSFERRING TRAIN STAITIONS IN PARIS—of course it would be too easy to arrive and depart in the same one.

*this level was not too hard. 2 metro lines and 8 stops later and we were there. We even had time for some breakfast. And here we are! 2ish hours until Cherbourg and there we only have a few hours until we board our Irish Ferry! J

10-28 Day #7

Where are we? Coast of Rosslare, Ireland!

The three of us are currently sitting on the coast of Ireland and I had to grab my journal to make sure I remembered this moment. We’ve only been here an hour and already I am at peace. As we were walking off the boat we could instantly hear the sound of the waves crashing and Holly spazzed. We are waiting for our train to take us to Dublin, eating apples and sharing a jar of Peter Pan peanut butter. I felt so inspired I had to forgo Peter Pan to make sure I did this moment justice. I’ll write about the boat later, I can’t bring myself to taint this.

Holly is walking around with her massive camera taking pictures of the scenery. It’s weird how similar we are—we just have different outlets. Through a lens she can see things more clearly, each picture a page in her book. With a pen I feel like, word by word, I am filling in the blanks to my own life. It is on paper where, whatever is out there, things seem brighter and more meaningful.

But picture or paper, somewhere deep inside I know we are searching for the same thing.

10-29 Day #8

Where are we? Galway, Ireland

Laying in my bunk bed in our hostel, SleepZone. 24+ hours in and I can already tell Ireland is my favorite place I’ve visited yet.

We stayed in Dublin last night and went to a nearby bar for a drink. I had my first White Russian and it was delicious. Jordan recommended it and I was not disappointed. Jordan picked us up from the train station and got out whole hostel situation figured out. He has been here since the beginning of our 10 day and it is so nice having someone who can navigate a city lead us places.

We took a bus today to get here, 2+ hr west of Dublin to Galway (where PS: I love you was filmed!!!) It’s a small college town that we heard had a great vibe to it. We have a really nice hostel for 12E a night and its in the middle of town.

We walked around town earlier, took some pictures, and people watched.

**I guess this is where I became ADD, because the entry just stops…. Haha. But yes, Galway was a blast! Very decked out for Halloween FOR SURE. Super intense (understatment.)

11-1 Day #10

Where are we? Train from Memmingen to Munich

Well I wish I would have journaled in Dublin but I think the fact that I didn’t speaks volumes. I have never been happier in a place in my life. Gosh, I visit these places, feel as though we are always on the move & never get a minute to just sit and realize/appreciate where I am. Ireland was as different from Spain and two places can get. Literally.

I couldn’t find one thing I didn’t like about this place. The people are amazing. I actually think this is a huge factor in why I liked it so much. Well that plus the fact that there was no language barrier, very refreshing.

Yesterday was Halloween and we wanted to rent bikes and ride them through this place called Phoenix Park. (which some guy told us is 4 times the size of Central Park….yeah, HUGE!) The scene was literally out of a movie. I tried to take it all in. We walked 25-30 minutes from the center of Dublin to a partial outskirt. It was a pretty crisp day, the leaves were changing and it was gorgeous. We found a little shack that was the bike rental shop, but it was more like this nice man and his dog with a bunch of bikes you could take for the whole day for 10E. He was so laid back and content, you could just tell he was so happy.

We biked along these adorable roads, through changing trees and piles of leaves. Autumn in my favorite season and biking through the Irish countryside—well as much as I love Washington in October this doesn’t even compare.

So there we were, the four of us. Biking, laughing, admiring, and worry-free. We biked all day; miles across to the other end of the park, it didn’t feel much like a park, more like biking through private, intimate hills of Dublin. We maybe saw two people the entire day.

Close to the end of the route we came upon a herd of wild deer. Of course we were not just going to look and bike by! So we did a little off-roading, ditched our bikes and ventured closer to the herd. I couldn’t take enough pictures, I felt like the whole thing was a dream.

We went out that night, in Halloween spirit dressed up in black trash bags (can you tell were on a budget??) and fashioned cute dresses. It was a good day. The happiest I’ve been in a while.

In Ireland I…

- met the nicest people in the entire world

- drank my first (& second!) Guiness!

- ate amazing soup!

- had the best Halloween of MY ENTIRE LIFE

- gained a new respect for the simple things

- fell in love with pubs and live music

- learned that there IS something as too nice, and that can sometimes lead to getting stalked in bars

- made some memories that can never be replaced

- learned that you just have to let life happen, as scary as that sounds

my host in barcelona! /bff till the end of time♥

my other lover in Spain... words cannot describe my intense separation anxiety... 3 weeks!!!!

loves of my LIFE!!! I had so much fun with you all and miss you to the moon and back♥

thank you Jesse and Debbie for the amazing dinner and hospitality! Oh and for the cool playing cards!! Definitely on my list of things to buy....haha :)

I wouldn't have wanted to do 10 days adventuring through Europe with any other two people/pledge sisters/bestiessss

Dublin!!!

pictures really can't do it justice

just our own little secret garden

PARIS!!

Well I didn’t journal in Paris for one of two reasons. One—because we didn’t have a spare minute with everything we wanted to see and do. And two—because when we did maybe have an hour LJ and I were SO exhausted (honestly we felt like we were in coma for most of the weekend) that actually forming words on paper seemed like a funny/cruel joke.
So I’m going to give a very entertaining play-by-play of the weekend and I hope not to sound too monotone J
LJ and I took off just the two of us to visit my friend Aidan in Paris Thursday night! I had been looking for a weekend to do this all semester and this was the perfect one. Aidan has been living in Paris since the beginning of September working at this internship and soaking up the Parisian culture. He lives in an apartment with his family friend, Clem and they were so amazing to let us stay with them for the weekend. We were very spoiled, had our own room and beds, and didn’t have to worry about showers in a hostel. Really nice!

Thursday our night train left Salzburg a little before 8pm and arrived in Munich only less than an hour later. There we had about 45 minutes before boarding our train to Paris (which was scheduled to get in around 930am Friday morning.) We booked a 6 person sleeper car but only three other people ended up being in the room so it was a little better. But we thought the rooms on the Superfast were tiny… Um yeah. We were greeted with two triple bunk beds, enough floor space to climb a ladder up to our beds. Beds where lying down was the only viable option. SO after surveying the situations, nervous laughter ensued, I took out my contacts, grabbed my sweatshirts, dolled out LJ and I’s dosage of TylenolPM (thanks mom) and passed out. Next thing we knew we opened our eyes and awoke in Paris! HAHA. JUST KIDDING. The night didn’t really go like that. Actually, we woke up around four times throughout the middle of the night to (what reminded us of the noises the Dementors make in Harry Potter) our window FLYING open. Not just jiggling, or coming loose. Not just rattling, or some annoying sound. We legit had the only window in our room, (conveniently next to both of our heads) completely freak out and roll up FOUR DIFFERENT times throughout the night. And each time we would freak out and wake up, and then in our sleepy haze, have to jostle the window BACK DOWN and lock it. It makes for a good story but on the other hand, having to relive it almost gives me hives.

We arrived in Paris on time and got off the train in a coma. I was alarmed to see that Aidan

hadn’t emailed me back UNTIL I looked up and saw him waiting perfectly at our platform! IT WAS SO GOOD TO SEE HIM!!! Omg I freaked out and the sleeper car turned into a distant memory as we headed for the metro to his work. Aidan tried to give us the run down on the Parisian metro, trying to convince us that it “is not that confusing.” That was funny. He showed us his metro stop for work, took our bag, and set us loose out into the city until we were supposed to meet back up with him at six. Immediately butterflies of a new city flooded but it was more exciting than anything. I called Nickie and we decided to meet in front of the Louvre (easy enough?) and LJ and I could barely contain our excitement to see their pretty faces!!!!!

The reunion was amazing, it was so great to get one of my favorites back in my life (even if only for the weekend!) They totally ambushed us and came at us from behind and I couldn’t stop hugging them both! We made our way to the entrance, got free admission for being students, and toured around really neat exhibits. We got hungry and took advantage of our surroundings and set out to find a cute café to eat at. We ended up at this very Parisian restaurant, I ate the most delicious hamlet EVER and we were looked at funny for not speaking French. What’s new.
We went back to the Louve, (I could live in there!) and then followed the tip of the Eiffel tower like the sun and made our way across the entire city to see the incredible thing. OMG I couldn’t stop taking pictures of it! I told the girls this when I saw it and I know it makes me sound like such a, well I don’t even know, but the first thing that popped into my head was Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City. Haha. We were all so happy to be together, it was sunny, we were in Paris, and I honestly didn’t have anything in the world to complain about. It really doesn’t get much better.

We were late meeting Aidan at the metro stop. Of course we were late. The Eiffel tower was so freaking amazing we couldn’t tear ourselves away! Once we met up with him we made our way to his apartment and got to take showers (amazing) and get ready for dinner. We met up with Hil and Nickie and went to this really yummy place on the cutest street ever. We caught up, enjoying wine, told stories, and had a great night. It was capped by wandering over to the Eiffel tower (of course we needed night pictures J) buying some wine and finding a bench to sit at and just stare. At midnight it lit up all pretty and sparkled. It was then that I fell in love.
We didn’t waste any time the next day. We conquered Norte Dame, this really well done Holocaust memorial, saw the Bastilles, went souvenir shopping, CLIMBED UP TO THE TOP OF THE EIFFEL TOWER, ate delicious crepes, saw many beautiful churches and took pictures of scenery I thought was fake my entire life up until now!

Sunday we were supposed to board a train to Munich and then head home to Salzburg but all that is EURORAIL traveling, you can count on plans changing! We thought the sleeper car was a story. Hmmmm. Well we basically had the day from hell, but when you put LJ and I in any situation were bound to make it as sarcastic/funny/lighthearted as possible. We changed trains four times. Four times. Our last leg was from Strasbourgh to Salzburg (8:45pm-4:15am) and we did not get a sleeper car. I REPEAT: WE DID NOT GET A SLEEPER CAR. I’m not even going to try and describe this in any better detail because I wouldn’t be able to do it justice. But for comedic relief I will just throw some things our there:
- LJ and I (picturing that is funny enough, yea?)
- + 2 guys (around our age) –They spoke 3 languages each and when we said we were studying German the switched to that language and then looked at us like, WTF? And then nervous laughter ensued.
- AKAà language barriers
- seats that slide out (but do not recline)
- 8 (ish) hours in this room
- German quiz that morning… aka at 9am THAT morning. SO… German studying!
- new facebook friends
- rolling into our room at 4:45am… setting our alarm for 7am…sitting through 3 classes the next day in disbelief that only 6 hours prior we were in hell.


Paris was…
INCREDIBLE
Amazing
scenic
entrancing
BEAUTIFUL
foreign
& classy.

I bought a shot glass that says Paris in cursive on it with gold stars and every time I put it to good use I’ll think of the city that stole my heart♥

Next stop: OUR 10 FALL BREAK!!!! We leave tomorrow.
On the agenda: train into Munich tomorrow, staying there for a night with Abbie and her amazing parents! Friday, flight out at 4pm to BARCELONA, SPAIN!!!! Staying with Liz and Gillian for 4 nights!!! and then a little place called Dublin, Ireland….
I know what you’re thinking, do you go to that thing called school?

“No, I’m just here to take pictures and drink.”

**totally kidding, but that’s kinda priceless, huh? : )

What happens in Greece stays in Greece???

10-4 GREECE!!

"We left for Greece Thursday morning at 5am and it is Sunday night when the first opportunity arose to journal. That is HOW INCREDIBLE everything has been. I will try and briefly backtrack and hit all the high points.

Thursday was a wash, with an 11hr bus ride, not enough bathroom stops, and seats that could have been more comfortable. We drove along the coast of Italy and it was weird to take stops and see Italian everywhere!

At 6pm we finally made it to our cruise takeoff point, Ancona to board our cruise ship, the Superfast. My first time on a ship overnight J It was only one night, literally less than 24hrs… boarded at 6pm, arrived the next day at 4pm. It was a blast! The four of us had a room together, probably the size of, well let me try and do it in feet, 12x8???? MAYBE. Two beds folded out from the walls and when we got there I just started laughing… it’s all about the experience, yeah? Haha.

The girls and I did our best to shower and look half way decent before going up on deck to the discoteca, but a full day of traveling can wear a girl out. Regardlesss, we rallied and danced the night away, it was soooo much fun J I swear cabin fever hit when the drinking started…

We got off the ship and all of the craziness that went with it and headed for Olympia. We only spent one night in this (tiny!) town, and that night in the hotel is where we had our “Welcome to Greece” dinner. This little Greek lady served us the biggest feast I’ve ever had, meats and cheeses, spagetti, pork & potatoes, greek salad, we literally rolled out of there.

We didn’t stay in Olympia for long, we walked around the Ruins the next day and toured a really interesting sculpture museum. We were on our way to see where they held the Olympic races when it started pouring. It was sprinkling all day so people had jackets but I don’t mean “raining” I mean, there was our group standing in an open field full of ruins and there was a waterfall directly above us about ready to TAKE US OUT. It was a Monsoon (and I feel entitled to this word since I live in Washington, not Southern California, and have actually seen rain before.) In less than ten minutes we were all soaked. Drenched. To the point where when our bus driver saw us he wouldn’t let us back on so we had to get all of our luggage back out from under the bus and change. I was wearing leggings and they went from “kinda tight and comfy” to “skin tight, I need help pulling these off me.” If going abroad isn’t for stories like these I don’t know what is…

Next stop was Nafplion, where I am now. This is the beachy town we’re visiting, and its reputation has definitely not disappointed! Oh my. Last night was our first night here, (first of three) and it was C R A Z Y. That night we were hanging out in the hotel before going out, waiting patiently by our phones to find out we took into our sisterhood this semester…

11 NEW BEAUTIFUL AMAZING BABIES!!!!!! To say we were excited… ahhhhh we were bouncing off walls so happy and freaking out and trying to call people. Any of our sisters reading this… we miss you from thousands of miles away and are thinking of you always

♥ and to my big, who I am so proud of. I only wish I was there to watch you absolutely glow. I love you.

After our celebration we hit the bar scene. Literally. We danced and sang and declared our love for Greece… and it was then that I realized how much you can miss if you anything but blink. Keeping my eyes open, breathing deep, and enjoying it; no one can ask me to do more."

10-5 Third night in Nafplion

"We definitely left a mark on this city. Last night we took to conquering not only land but sea, and went skinny dipping!!!! The water was amazing, I would usually be skeptical of swimming in the dark water past midnight but we were feeling good (ha) so not a problem.

Today we went and saw the Greek Amphitheatre. So peaceful, serene, and humbling. Just like Eva said, it was very theraputic and reflective. You could just sit and hear nothing but the nature around you. In this chaotic world we live in, I think we forget to realize how powerful silence is. It does something that no other feeling can. We toured some ruins after that and then bused up to the amazing fortress on the hill for a view that is unlike anything I’d ever seen & took way too many pictures!

I think I’m doing better on getting a handle on this whole homesick thing. The idea more so that anything is what gets me all worked up. It’s October, one month officially under our belts. The month feels like a year with how much we’ve already done, seen, learned. One month here and we’ve already visited four countries, been on a cruise, and can slightly get by with our ever expanding German vocabulary. Alyssa told me the most important thing anyone ever told her while abroad was not to miss home too much, because when you’re home you’ll miss Salzburg. I understand and appreciate that but it is easier said than done.

Last night LJ, Holly, and I had an amazing dinner date right on the water. It was seriously out of a movie. We were close to the only people in the restaurant and loved it. It is so nice to be able to order wine at dinner, something I will definitely miss when I get home and have four months to wait till my 21^st. We order 2 ½ liters of wine and ate delicious salads and chicken and had the BEST time. It was so relaxing, the three of us had the such a fun time, talked about boys, moms, missed ones, school, delta. (I’m getting more and more excited about the idea of taking a little in the spring… I’m such a mommy with no baby L)"

10-8 ATHENS

"Well Athens was an adventure, and unlike Nafplion, two nights and three days was plenty!! I didn’t know if I would love Athens because it is a huge city and further inland than the gorgeous beach town we just left days ago. But I really, really liked it! We stayed at a very nice hotel, went to restaurant for dinner where we got wine and dessert on the house (pays to be cute American girls, yeah??) haha… and we did enough sightseeing to write a book about. The tour of the Acropolis was unlike anything I’ve ever done. Its literally a city in the center of Athens, raised hundreds of meters high so you can see it even if you’re a mile outside the city. The tours are long, yes, but when I catch myself thinking about how I would rather have slept an extra hour, I try and remember why we are all here. There is so much to learn here, and of course I might rather be souvenir shopping around the streets than listen to Jim babble about Socrates, but I wouldn’t want to do Greece any other way.

Since the city is SO intense, when it comes to night life, 30 college students + a dirty, unfamiliar city, + too many people = hard to plan/get anything done. But I guess this equation just adds to the priceless stories that make a trip all the more worth it...♥"

10-10 Superfast Round 2 (utoh…)

"On the Superfast headed back to Italy where our charter bus is waiting to take us back home. I miss Salzburg!!!! Our cute, clean, little town that we have been away from for too long. Delphi was really fun, very small similar to our first stop in Olympia.

We ended up getting the majority of our group rallied and to a nearby discoteca. It was literally like 100 meters from our hotel. We were all SO exhausted (this being our 8^th on the road) and I was tempted to call it a night and boycott going out all together but you cant really sit in a hotel room IN GREECE while your friends are at a discotec. So we all danced the night away… once again. When in Greece, right???

We rallied on the Superfast too, you have to go out hard when its your last night in Greece. It was more mellow then Superfast Round 1 but still a little crazy."

~~~~~~~~

"Greece was way crazier than I ever could imagine. Too many funny stories, inside jokes, hilarious “I can’t believe this is happening” moments. I am so happy to be heading back but at the same time Greece was just too amazing to let go of. Our group got tons closer, I consider even some of the beta’s and theta’s friends now.

♥We drank too much, always forgot our maps, indulged in the food, and let loose.

♥We forgot our hotel room numbers, ate meals that consisted of pecans, gummy bears, and Sour Cream and Onion Pringles out of our backpacks, and every morning woke up with a new bruise we couldn’t explain.

♥We went sovenir shopping crazy, were 9 times out of 10 hung over on every morning tour, and got countless noise complaints from other hotels guests.

♥We saw so much, took pictures I will look at forever, and without a doubt had the time of our lives."

~Cheers to Greece… I couldn’t have asked for more.

One month and this is what I know...

- “Ich komme aus Kalifornian” gets you more attention than you want

- curbs just jump out at you, thus always watch where you’re walking

- I have a new found love for soups

- Cobble stone is all too common, ergo heels just don’t work. I live in my black flats!

- an unhealthy amount of German vocab words. We keep on getting new lists, we keep on memorizing new words, and I am still in awe that there is room in my brain for more. Sometimes (well, often) German words just come out subconsciously and 9 out of 10 times used in the wrong context

- German grocery stores are stressful and you have to buy your own plastic bags to carry everything in it and the cashiers look at you funny

- the men who hang out in Irish pub Murphy’s Law are sehr gut! I am never disappointed J

- Chocolate here is amazing. Well treats in general are really. Mozart balls. Milka. Swiss. Chocolate dipped fruit on sticks. Ice cream. Pretzels. Can I take all of you home with me??

- Edelweiss beer is amazing (and it is the first beer I actually have ever craved in my life!!)

- Ab workouts are vital

- There is a reason why no one wears flip flops here

- I believe in the buddy system

- EU class topics (I actually am interested in and understand!): Immigration is still a pressing issue for Europe, fertility rates are at an all time low, and the Treaty of Lisbon is trying to get passed in October; a clause that will help unify the 27 countries and create a President that would work better to create a stronger voice internationally

- I have so far won the clutz award. Hands down.

- Holly and LJ get more attention because their blonde

- Not having TV or accessible internet is good for the soul

- PUREL IS A MUST (this one’s for you, Jenna) / Bye Bye Germ spray (thanks, mom)

- Always have your student ID card wherever you go. Otherwise you can’t close.

- I have a postcard problem.

- The Monchsberg is a WORKOUT. Oh let me tell you! And 4 weeks later and it hasn’t gotten any easier

- Holly can scream

- Mom, I’m running low on Luna’s, a new shipment soon?

- Pizza at Il Sole. That’s what God created on the seventh day.

- Here, it really is about quality of life over what you can buy. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist (or a long stay) to see how genuinely happy and content people are with their lives. They live for the small things. I hope I can carry that with me.

**** so I was sitting here, about to wrap up my post when I realized I have three amazing girls who are living this exact experience right along side me. This was actually a great idea because we had the funniest conversation of my LIFE. I love these three!

LJ’s LIST:

- Don’t go to chain & whip themed clubs, eat chocolate everyday, try everything, wear a drendal to Oktoberfest! And no seat at Oktoberfest = no beer = no fun, you really do walk everywhere, SS is nicht sehr gut, Remember when?, don’t sleep with your windows open, meal stipends only make it one night, run from men who pull your hair, hide your Werther’s, don’t steal full-length mirrors, Wasser is hard to come by, buy a watch!, the Oktoberfest cookies are for decoration only, “you know you’re drunk when you said you’ve been to the moon.”

ABBIE’S LIST:

- Make friends with the bar tenders, you can get internet and beer at McDonalds, don’t be late for ANYTHING, don’t speak German in Irish pubs, always lock your door, be the first one in line for eggs, ALL AMERICAN BEER SUCK!, laziness and obesity is only a problem in the US, always put the cat in the boys room, only take as much as you can eat, happy hour is the best hour of the day, beware of WODKA & men that growl, Austrians don’t care about the Sound of Music, Sweaty Jim = early class dismissal, you have to pay for everything! even the bathroom!, Drunken durams = delish, and fires can start when converters smoke.

HOLLY’s LIST:

- don’t buy an elevator pass, eat pancakes on steroids at that one restaurant, coming home before midnight is unacceptable, go Cannoning in Switzerland, a flask could be a good investment: take this to art gallery’s, soccer games, bars, concerts, tell people you are in “movies” in Hollywood, don’t listen to anyone who said don’t bring a lot of stuff… I have one pair of shorts, bring your small camera or you will never take pictures, the washing machines are not my friends, 6E Wodka haunts you in morning (LJ knows) eat Eva’s soup, study German in the morning before class, put Eva on your ipod so you can listen to her everywhere; like the train station and at bars, don’t loose your sunglasses at McD trying to sneak under the child line to avoid the 50cent bathroom fee, wear your drendal out of the store, puke in Switzerland, and have people tell stories about it, beware of exchange rates, bring flats!

♥

Countdown to Greece: 2 days.

Vienna!!!

9-24 Hotel Post in Vienna

"Vienna!! After a full day of traveling we are (finally) cozied in our hotel room in our pj’s. We left Salz at nine this morning, drove until noon where we stopped off at this monastery—Melk. At this point I was so done with being on the bus and wasn’t properly informed that we weren’t getting lunch until 2pm, I wasn’t in the best of moods. So instead of carrying around my sweater, camera, and bag I left it all on the bus—my personal form of boycott. While everyone was wide-eyed and taking pictures on the tour I was hungry, CRANKY, tired, and all the above.

Anyways, Melk was very pretty. The outside was all painted yellow, for some reason having to do with a King’s favorite color, and the murals on the inside were stunning. The world’s oldest book (dated back to the 9^th Century) was in the library there and we got to see it, very cool!

With food finally in our stomachs we were ready to board the bus and continue the two more hours to Vienna. But oh wait… engine issues. Neat. Our driver said in broken English that “sometimes this happens.” Sometimes this happens??? What does that even mean? Sometime the bus doesn’t turn on? Holy moly, let’s just say that Mario the bus driver was not on my list of favorite people. We ended up getting to the city close to 5pm, got to our Hotel Post (Abbie and I shared a very spacious double with a shower head that had amazing pressure J) and we were let loose to explore for the rest of the night.

We unpacked a little and then headed out to do a little sightseeing. Now I can sympathize with Hilary and Liz, being put in an unfamiliar city and just told to “go” see things is easier said than done! We walked along the Danube River for a little while and bought a few postcards, then made out way to this really cool Gothic Church, which actually had a mass going on. Lots of candles were lit with prayers and you could heard the pastor giving his sermon. Outside the church we ran into a group of break dancers who were performing in the middle of the main square, it was a great opportunity to people watch J

We stumbled upon this yummy Asian place for dinner. Then we went a got ice cream at this very big, very crowded (always a good sign!) homemade icecream place. OMG so good!!! I got mint chocolate chip (which they call pefermintz here) and coffee (Kaffee). Totally hit the spot. We are back in the hotel now, a lot of people went out looking for a fun discoteca, but with an 8am wakeup call tomorrow morning I’m thinking sleep over booze might be the best idea."

9-27 Back in Salzburg!

Didn’t have time to journal the days in their entirety because unlike trains, buses make me nauseas! SO I’m going to fashion a list of all the things that stuck out.

- the opera, Die Fleirermaus!

- Underground bar called Flek… very yummy drinks J

- The Art History museum… I walked around by myself, very peaceful, got 1 ½ to just roam around, found the portrait of Jane Seymour… from The Other Bolyen Girl! Wanted to take a picture but the stupid security lady was watching me like a hawk

- The open flee market… I got this super cool elephant bag and a stud for my ear piercing! Oh and some presents, very neat. Reminded me a little of Pick Place, substituting German confusion for anything as simple as buying a bracelet.

- The beautiful weather! Jim says he hasn’t been to Vienna with any group that had better weather than we had!

- Oh… minor bummer. I am SUCH a clutz. In Munich I fell down stairs in a Starbucks and hurt my knee. In Vienna I decided to fall flat on my face off a curb I did not properly acknowledge and bloody up my other knee… a chunk of skin is definitely missing (cute, huh?) These injuries on top of my stress fracture makes me a walking emergency case.

"For the first time since I’ve been here, when the bus pulled into our little nook I got off the bus and it felt like home. Next Friday will be the ONE MONTH marker for my stay so far in Europe. It has really flown. In a way, I want to push back the clock and make time pause since everything here is so different, exotic, and intoxicating. We have really taken to the Austrian way of life and tried our hardest to understand and appreciate everything that goes along with that responsibility. I love it here, I do, but on the other hand, thoughts of home come so often its becoming tiring to constantly have to keep them at a healthy distance. It has only been a month. September. I can’t even get up enough courage to look at a calendar and physically see all of the days that are between me and December 19^th. Too many. To say I missed home would be accurate. But more than that I miss faces, voices, and the people that make me, me."

Salzburger SchloBkonzert

Concert Review: Salzburger SchloBkonzert

After every concert we have to write a Concert Review to talk about what we liked or didn't like and basically what we found interesting during the performance. I thought I'd post it instead of reiterating what I already wrote. On Friday in Vienna we're seeing an opera!

"I wasn’t sure what to expect going into our first concert. I do not have a huge Classical music background but I knew that hopefully after this semester I would feel more confident in identifying it and having a more in-depth grasp on the culture that surrounds it.

I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the Salzburger SchloBkonzert. It was nothing what I expected but in a good way. One of the things we were told to focus on was how we felt during the performance and what details we noticed or picked up on. One of my most overriding feelings had to be alertness. I didn’t want to miss anything. I didn’t want to turn my head and not hear the piano come softly into the piece or hear the plucking of the viola. When the music started I was surprised by how pretty it sounded; like a light, it literally lit up the whole room. I think the room itself helped. The intimate setting really made the audience feel more connected to the musicians and feel as if they too were apart of the performance. The first movement really set the tone for the rest of the concert. It was upbeat, but not in an obvious way. Both musicians were focused and serious, but at the same time you could instantly see how much passion they had for their respect art forms. The woman on the viola often looked extremely concentrated, but I caught her a few times looking at the music like it was her world. They may come off of as dramatic, but being apart of the audience in a setting when we were in such close proximity to the performers, it felt that much more personal.

I know this “personal” feeling will not be the same for all of the concerts we see because some of them will be in huge halls or auditoriums, but I think this setting for my first Classical concert was ideal. Along with this feeling, I felt oddly included in the music. Instead of a situation where you are watching a movie or watching a performance from afar, I didn’t feel excluded or out of place for not knowing a lot about the art. I feel as though I could appreciate it even without an extensive musical background and I think that is essentially what it is all about. I will never be a musician but at the same time never want to feel as though I cannot appreciate someone else’s talent. We live in a world, where, with all the differences people exude, we strive to find a small place in us for it all. I hope to find a small place for this culture in myself and at the same time take the effort to absorb the history that goes with it."

OkToBeRFesT, MUNICH

9-17 On the train to Munich.

"Officially our first travel weekend! I have only been on a train one other time in my life and that was in Oregon, Europe is quite different, ha! I almost don’t want to be writing right now because of how pretty the countryside is. Sometimes we will go for ten minutes without seeing one house or road and then we’ll come across the coziest looking home tucked in a hill with cows in their yard. There are 12 of us girls traveling to Munich this weekend. 12 girls and 2 hotel rooms. Hmmmm the adventures of college traveling! There will definitely be plenty of stories.

Tonight is going to be low key I think, maybe a little walking around and then bed. We all went out last night and are exhausted, most of them are sleeping as I’m writing this (power naps are really vital to successful traveling I have quickly found.) Tomorrow is dedicated to a full day of sightseeing, out on the town tomorrow night, and then OKTOBERFEST all day Saturday!!

Love the girls I am traveling with. Such a diverse, fun, LOUD, adventurous group. Ready for some German hotties!!"

9-18 In the hotel in Munich.

"First day in Munich and I can honestly say it was one of the best days I’ve had in a while. With no set plan we headed out of our hotel, grabbed a quick 2E breakfast and were immediately dragged (by Holly of course) to a used drendel (traditional German dresses) store because she was determined to buy one to wear for Oktoberfest. To make a long story short, six out seven of us girls walked out with 40E or less drendels. (myself included). Omg, it was hilarious. I don’t really know how I ended up in a dressing room trying to zip the zipper that runs from your bikini line to your bust, but it happened nonetheless. Mine is peach/coral with a light blue apron & white sleeves. We plan on wearing them tomorrow, to German class on Monday, and pretty much to every costume party I attend from now on. Ha!!

After that glorious purchase we boarded the S-bahn to the heart♥ of Munich where I was instantly overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of everything. Since opening day of the festival is tomorrow, the city was swarming with thousands more people than normal any other time of year.

I don’t know how it happened, but one second we were stepping off the S-bahn, the next we were on the sidewalk taking pictures of this huge old church/town hall place across the street, and the next we were following these two (slightly older than college aged) tour guides who give free tours around the city. They rely completely on tips and our guy, Ricky, was amazing! He took us on a two-hour tour of all the little historical spots in Munich; the city Senegal, St.Peter’s Church, the Mirabelle Gardens, and so many things we would have just breezed by. He told us his whole life story, how he’s from Canada and was planning on just visiting the city for a month, and the month quickly turned into two years and counting. How cool?! After the tour he took us to get a beer and then, finding out that we were planning on conquering the chaos of opening day, he took us on the S-bahn and showed us the 3k walk all the locals take to the festival grounds (in order to avoid the thousands of people who will take buses and trains.) He took us through the actual grounds and showed us all the tents, the good ones to go to, and where certain things were. He was literally God sent!

Doing a Pub-Crawl tonight… (10E for drinks all night) thanks to Ricky and our amazingly random, lucky, productive day in Germany!!!"

9-20 In the hotel.

"Just finished breakfast. It feels SO nice to have a good 8-9 hours of sleep under our belts. Finally. These past three days have been so busy, crazy, exhausting; A BLAST. We had the best first day of sightseeing, found our A+ tour guide, Ricky, totally stumbled upon an all inclusive 10E Pub Crawl, Abbie and I met these two German guys, Christian and Daniel, at this hostel/bar called the Wombat, who chatted us up for two hours, bought us drinks, and told us all about the culture in Munich.

With two hours of sleep to go on, Abbie and I were quite the troopers waking up with everyone else at 5:30am to get our drendels on and for the biggest, most intense, beer festival in the world.

But before the fun could start we had to stand in a crowd of very loud Europeans from 6:30am-9am. I don’t really know how to properly describe these 2 ½ hours. At one point I wanted to reach up and clear hair from my face, but I could not move either one of my arms to do so. LJ, Kelsey, and I were to the point of tears. Everyone was taller than us, smoking cigarettes (at 7am) and blowing it directly into our bubbles of allotted oxygen. For a solid 5+ minutes (I would have timed it but I couldn’t move my arm to look at my watch) I had a very tall man’s elbow firmly lodged in my sternum. Towards the end I got so panicky that I was going to trip (from the intense shoving) and literally get trampled to death, I started laughing (gotta love those teetering emotions.) And could NOT stop. People were staring at me and if I was able to communicate with my two-weeks of German I would have told them to go to hell. But of course Ava and her sweet spirit didn’t teach us the word for ‘hell’. Special. I have never been so uncomfortable (and so unable to do anything about it) in my entire life. IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.

They started serving beer at noon and luckily one of the guys in our groups mom reserved three tables outside so we could sit down. Once the beer started coming everyone got happy. The afternoon was wonderful after an exhausting morning, two liters did me well J All in all it was an amazing weekend, everything and more I wanted from Munich and our first official weekend trip. Next stop, Vienna!"

Some words to keep it interesting... Kebaps, vodka-redbull shots in alleys, laugh-crying, Ricky, STARBUCKS!, kiwi’s, Milka club…, Mein Name ist Gafar.