Apologies

Sorry guys, I've been so busy with school and trying to not die by slipping on the ice that I haven't been able to post about any trips in a while. I went to Vienna and Berlin last, but since it's been a while I may or may not write an indivudual post on them. I'm sorry! Maybe I'll do it once I get home, but for now I'm too busy! Finals are killing me. They don't call it "hell week" for nothing!

Hope to be back in the swing of things soon. Well, at least be able to think and sleep. That would be nice.

SNOW

Okay, this takes precedence over anything I've done the last 2 weekends (which I will get around to writing about soon hopefully).

It is SNOWING in Prague right now. My friend messaged me and said "It's SNOWING!!" so I obviously ran to the window and saw it and then said "let's go outside!!!" So we went and got 2 other girls from our floor and ran outside. It was snowing pretty good!! We made a snowman (my first!) and named her Marie Freida. We also had a snowball fight, got caught up in another group's snowball fight on accident, and just hung out in the snow. It was AMAZING. I need to live somewhere in the snow in my life. It's a must.

Change of plans

I've decided that I don't want my Auschwitz pictures on Facebook. If you want to see them, let me know and I'll get them to you. I don't think that Facebook is the correct medium for delivering that message. I'm in the process of deleting them now.

Krakow

So, here's the deal.

AIFS took us on an 8 hour bus ride to Krakow, Poland over the weekend. It was brutal ride, but I had my ipod, kindle, and friends to keep me company! We got into Krakow at about 6 pm, and then we went out to the town square, which was HUGE. Like, seriously gigantic. I didn't expect it to be that big and beautiful. That evening, some girls and I went out to a mexican place that was so aptly called, "The Mexican" for dinner and margaritas. However, there was a problem in the kitchen and our food took FOREVER getting out so that sucked. Oh, and the worst part was that the drinks were weak. Oh well. No biggie, I mean, we're still in Europe. Can't complain too much.

The next morning, we got up and went on a little walking tour of Krakow with our genius tour guide who on the first day told us "You won't be able to pronounce my name, so just call me Z". So, Z it is then. Anyway, this man knows everything about everything. So we went on a little tour or Krakow and it was really nice. The square is huge, the market is AWESOME, the streets are cool. It's basically the only city that I like as much as Prague, which was unexpected. After that tour, we went to lunch and got some Pierogi, which are traditional Polish food I guess. I got meat ones, and they were delicious. After lunch, we went on another tour of the Jewish section of town (I won't even try and spell the name because I'll butcher it). The Jewish section is supposed to be there all the artists and stuff life now. It was interesting to me, though, that the Jewish population in Krakow is at about 150 people total, and the feeling there is very anti-Semitic. I couldn't understand that or wrap my head around it. Anyway, that section of town was really cool and I would have loved to stay there longer or go back, but we only really had 1 day in Krakow and there just wasn't time. Damn. So after this, we went back to the hotel for a little rest, then went out and got some street food for dinner. Pizza! So cheap, so easy, and so delicious.

The following morning, we went where we all were dreading. Well, not dreading, but certainly not looking forward to. Auschwitz I and II- Birchenau. These places were incredibly powerful and moving. I thought long and hard about whether or not I wanted to take pictures there. On one hand, it's a place where a lot of horrible things have happened, and I'm not sure I want to be the one to share that with the world. On the other hand, I feel so strongly that everyone should have to see this in their life, and knowing that most people I know won't ever get the chance or the desire, I opted to take pictures. Also, I wanted to remember how it made me feel. This might seem like a very weird thing to say, but because it was so emotional and rough, it made me appreciate my life immensely more. We all run around and have our "bad days" and whine and moan about stupid things, and the struggles in our life aren't even remotely comparable to the things that happened to those people. I wanted to remember to be grateful for my opportunities, and to not take them for granted anymore. So, this is why I took them and posted them on Facebook. I know that not very many people read my blog, so I want people to be able to see them that want to feel the way I felt about it. You'll never understand it until you go there, but at least they're trying. I'm not going to post any pictures of it on here, however. I'm moving them to their own album on Facebook (just haven't done it yet, whoops) and they can be seen there if you want.

Vienna next weekend.

Latest Endeavors

Well, life in Prague is becoming increasingly commonplace for me, so I thought that I needed to add a few things in there to make it feel special again.

I took myself to lunch, all alone. I have never in my life done that before, ever. I went to the Globe to study for a while for some midterms because I was sick all weekend (still kind of am, bummer) and I stayed in my room all weekend. Needless to say, I needed to get the hell out of dodge before I went NUTS. So I went to the Globe to study instead of doing it in my dorm, and I got really hungry. So I just went in, ordered some food, and enjoyed life by myself. It was lovely.

I feel like ever since I got here I've been with people at all times. I know it's not true, but it still feels that way. And really, I'm the type of person who likes to do things alone. Like shopping, for instance. Sometimes I like to take a friend or whatever with me, but most of the time I enjoy going clothes or grocery shopping alone. No pressure to be on somebody else's schedule, no worries, don't have to talk to any one if I don't want to, etc. So, I did just that. I took myself shopping (shoe shopping, my favorite!) all alone. And guess what? I found boots, and I love them. They're a little non-conventional (meaning they're dark blue instead of black haha), but I love them just the same. They are by far the most comfortable pair of boots I own.

I tried to go up to Petrin Hill to take some pictures of the leaves before they all fell, however the funicular was closed and I'm not even ABOUT to climb up that monstrosity. No thanks, I'll just deal with the pictures I have.

I've been sick (as I said before), so I'm trying to fight that off with tons of water, tea, vitamins, emergen-c, and sleep. It seems to be working, and today is the first day in almost a week that I can kind of smell and taste things. KINDA. Hopefully the runny nose and what not will go away soon!

Midterms. I finished them all, and I'm pretty sure I did well on most of them! I had 2 tests and one 2 page paper. Nothing too bad. The first test for Czech and European History was so easy that I don't think I could have made it easier if I tried. 10 short answer questions on the most basic things in the book, and a 1-2 page essay on Charles 4th. If you don't know who Charles 4th is, he is one of the most influential Czech kings EVER. Oh, and he was also the Holy Roman Emperor for a while, so needless to say there was a LOT of things I could say about him. My second test was for globalization. I hate that class. I hate night classes, and I don't know why I punished myself with another this semester. I KNOW I hate them, and I kick myself every time I take them because they suck for me. Other than that, the teacher is monotonous and repeats herself multiple times. The test was easy though. 1-2 pages on how the US affects or is affected by globalization. Well, let's see. They don't call it "Americanization" for nothing!!! The paper I had to write was on this visit we did to a Czech elementary school. Basically I just had to observe them and write a paper on how I felt about the teaching style. Easy peasy.

This weekend, AIFS is taking us all over to Krakow, Poland. We are gonna check out the city, see the sights, go to Auschwitz and Auschwitz II Birchenau, and then head home. I'm really excited for this weekend, I think that Krakow (and Auschwitz specifically) is something you can't miss when you're in Europe. It's such an integral part of European history and it affected almost every country in Europe, how could you miss out?

I'm thinking about getting a tattoo while I'm here in Prague. It's meaningful, symbolic, beautiful, and from the heart. So, we'll see how the progresses. And getting it here just really reinforces one of the aspects of the tattoo, which is essentially saying to seize the day and do what you want, which is what I did with Prague. I'm hoping it works out. If not, I'll save up and get it at home!

CHLOE VISIT!! My friend Chloe will be here visiting me for about a week, the last week I'm here!! I cannot wait for her to be here!! I need a familiar face right about now, because I'm getting homesick. Ugh. But it's going to be SO much fun with her here, and just to be able to share this experience with her will be amazing! It's going to be FREEZING and her little California self will just about die, but that's okay! She'll survive! haha

Some notes on what's going to be going on in my life when I get home:
-Get home to SFO at 5:20 on Dec 18th.
-Move into new place with Chris on Dec 20th (hopefully)
-unpack, decorate, get a tree, etc etc by the 23rd
-Christmas (again, hopefully at my house!)
-Grandma Connie will be coming up for Christmas as well, so it'll be extremely nice to see her!
-Get a job
-Hug and kiss my Toby as often as I can because I miss him soooo much
-TRAIN FOR A 5K (this is in caps because I cannot believe I've committed to this... )

A little note on the 5k--
I haven't actually signed up for a 5k yet, HOWEVER! Me, my mom, my dad, Tiffany (sister-in-law), and hopefully Chris are all going to embark on a healthier lifestyle, including getting in shape, eating healthier (or in most of our cases, just less!), and doing it all together. Tiff will be corresponding via email with us on her progress, because she's still up in Fernley. But I'm so proud of everyone for making this commitment to do it with me, just because I wanted to do it!! The inspiration came for this when I realized that I've lost some weight in Prague. I don't know how much, because I dont' have a scale, but I've had to tighten my belt 2 notches, and all my of clothes (jeans especially), are baggy. I just want to keep this up and stick with it, for the first time in my life. It's going to be hard while at home because I LOVE to cook, and portion control really isn't my biggest strength in life, however I feel that with all this love and support, we can all overcome it! My mom is going to try and do the Wildflower Triathalon in May with Ken, so this is a good starting point for her, and my dad wants to be able to take his dog's running, so again... good starting point!! Stay tunes once I get home for some updates on the progress of that. We'll probably start the first of the year so I have time to settle into a place, have company, and get everything set up before we do it.

Home

I think it's time to be heading that direction, I'm missing it. My friends, my fam, my dog, a HOUSE. I miss it all. Especially with the holidays here now... It's a bummer. Being sick doesn't help much, but that's okay, it'll only make it all that much better for when I go home! A new house with Bear, Christmas at my house, and friends to top it all off!

Florence pictures (mostly)

Apparently my pictures come out moody from the train station...

Reallyyy moody...

Florence at dusk

Gelato cones!

Florence at dusk again

Florence street

Beautiful ivy below Piazza Michelangelo

View from Piazza Michelangelo (that's the Duomo!)

Random bench

Beautiful staircase

Completely smooth water fascinates me

Typical Florence street

St. Laurence's (I think)

Oh the rest of these were some on the fly pictures that I took with my point and shoot while I was up in Petrin Hill with my dad! I went up there today to take pictures of the lovely colors and what do you know... the wind storm last night blew all the leaves off. Just my luck!

Florence

Well, as most of you already know, I went to Florence, Italy last weekend!! I had the most amazing time! The food was wonderful, the gelato was to die for, the city was gorgeous, and the company was awesome!

Day 1!
First off, the train ride was the only crappy part. It was 15 hours total, with a 1 hour layover in Vienna to switch trains. That sucked, I barely slept and I was tired the entire time... Ridiculous. But there was a nice Austrian guy in our compartment that was very pleasant and helped us out with this random old lady who seemed to think she had the right to two seats in the car when really, it was entirely full and she only had one. Plus, she smelled. He even made jokes about her smelling and how Obama was on the front page of the Austrian newspaper! It was a gigantic picture. Anyway, we FINALLY got to Florence at 6:20am. And guess what? We can't find the street we need to walk down... of COURSE. In all fairness, we found out later that it was just the street after the one that we walked down so we didn't go very far out of the way, but still. Anyway, we went to the hostel and set our stuff down, changed, brushed our teeth, and headed out the door the 3 blocks or so that it was to the Duomo to meet Allison's friend Melanie. Melanie is studying abroad in Florence for the semester and was nice enough to show us tourists around all weekend! THANK YOU!!

So we grab some coffee, meet up with Melanie, and then we start doing the touristy stuff. Mind you, this is while we're waiting patiently for the sun to come up because it is FREEZING cold outside. We saw the Duomo, City Hall, Ponte Vecchio, some statues, the David replica, Santa Maria Novella, St. Croce (I really hope I'm getting at least most of these names correct...), etc etc etc. Basically, we saw all the stuff you "have" to see when in Florence. Oh! And we got lunch at this great little pizza place which the study abroaders there say is "the best pizza in Florence", and believe you me... it was AMAZING. I mean, damn near the best pizza I've ever had, and that's saying something because I highly dislike thin crust pizza. In my world, it's all about thick crusted pizza. That's my favorite part! But this pizza was so delish that it made me a firm believer in thin crust.... but only in Italy. Don't be getting your hopes up, Chris. (He likes thin crust and I like thick crust. It's a constant battle, but since I always am the one who gets picked to call, I get what I want!) Anyway, after lunch we naturally want gelato. However, we haven't EARNED the gelato yet, so naturally we hike up this big ass hill to this church (which was amazing) only to be told that's not the actual view point! So, we're off on a hunt to find Piazza Michelangelo. We literally went down every road in the area and asked about 100 people (who were all looking for it as well). By the end we finally found it, so that was good. The view was amaaazing and I'm really happy we found it. Afterwards, we headed over the Grom for some gelato (I got lemon!), which was epic. I loved it. Then we went back to the hostel to take a nap since we were all so tired from the train ride.

After the nap... We got up and met up with Melanie again so we could go wander for a bit more, then we went off to find some dinner. We went to this awesome little hole in the wall place that Melanie's friend had suggested. The food was GREAT!! I got tortellini in a creamy tomato sauce and we all split a bottle of wine. It was a decent bottle, I liked it. After we walked around Florence for a while and saw what it looks like at night. All in all, it was a good night!! We went back a bit early because we were soooo tired though.

Day 2!
We slept in a bit (until about 9-9:30ish) and then we all got up and showered and we met Melanie at 11am, we grabbed some brunch at this really awesome little place that is so aptly called "The Diner" because it is the only American diner in Florence (or so they state). I got a delicious omelette and everyone else's breakfast looked amazing too! However, Michaela ordered strawberry pancakes... Never in my life have I ever thought to put strawberries IN the pancakes! I mean, come onnnn!! My dad is THE strawberry guy and I make pancakes on the regular and put them on the top, but why did I never have this stroke of genius?!?! They were the best pancakes I've ever had, hands down. And that's saying something because I think my pancakes are pretty epic. WRONG. These were better. I will be doing this from now on.

Anyway, so after breakfast we head over to the big market place thing (which is awesome, and I wish there was one in Prague for me to go to!) and I'm on the hunt for a few specific items for the family for Christmas. I end up finding what I'm looking for and more, obviously. I'm not going to post what I bought (other than the Limoncello for me!!!) because the people who they were purchased for will be reading this (or at least they better be...) and I don't want to ruin the surprise!! I'm SO excited to give these gifts!! So afterward we walk around Florence for a while more and saw this little shop called "Italian Loves"... and what does the sign over the door say? "Italian Loves... Wine and Oil". MY PEOPLE!!! Naturally we went in, and what do you know? They're having a free olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting. WHOAA. All of them were amazing. I can't even go into detail because it will make me hungry and I just ate so that's not acceptable. Maybe on another post =]

OH! I also got crapped on by a fricking pigeon. Stupid thing... directly on my head too. ALL in my hair, my friend Allison had to clean it out and everything. Eww. Apparently it's good luck though... We wandered into a few more shops and I didn't get much of anything interesting until we went into this random little store that had like maps and journals and wax seal stamps and QUILLS!!! Yup, I did it. I bought myself a quill and emerald green ink in Italy. If you want a letter from me, I will be writing my Christmas thank-you notes with this hopefully, as long as I can figure it out. I don't want to break the wax seal on the ink until I get home, I would not like green clothes in my bag.

Soooo then we went to go see the David in the Accademie (which was amazing, go see it if you're ever in Florence. It's a must!), went to Melanie's apartment to open the bottle of wine we bought for the train (yes, we went there...) and got some plastic cups (again....) and headed back to the hostel to pack up and go to the train station! The ride home was fun, there was a Czech guy in our compartment that was funny so we hung out with him until we all crashed out. It was the first time I've slept more than an hour on a train. It was heavenly.

I'll put pictures in their own post =]

Just a little something to think about...

I dwelt in a city enchanted,
And lonely indeed was my lot;
Though the latitude’s rather uncertain,
And the longitude also is vague,
The persons I pity who know not the City
The beautiful City of Prague.
- William Jeffery Prowse

Madame Bovary

So, I've been reading the classic novel, "Madame Bovary". It's been really good so far! I haven't had a whole ton of time to read because of school and traveling and such so typically in my spare time I'm reading for class and such. However, whenever I choose to not study and be a nerd, I read it on my kindle. It's really nice that it just sits there waiting for me haha. I mean, I know a regular book does that too, but I think I've started like 5+ books or so and they're all just chilling on my Kindle waiting. Anyway, it'll be fun and what not.

On a little side note, I'm going to Florence tomorrow!!! SOOO excited. The gelato, the Duomo, the museums, everything. I cannot wait. Pictures to come!!

Whoops! Forgot to add pictures...

The actual Temple Bar, in the area of Dublin called Temple Bar haha.

Half Penny Bridge at night.

View from Half Penny Bridge at Dusk

Kilmainham Gaol, this is where the political prisoners were executed by firing squad.

The "new" area of the gaol.

Guinness Storehouse!

Flower Market in Dublin on Grafton St.

First Picture of Dad in Dublin!!

The leaves are turning all around the CR, this is in Moravia though.

That 2kc piece there is mine, and it means that I'll be going back to that wine cellar in my lifetime =]

Attempting to get the water all the way to the top. Oh and the bucket of water was on the ground, so that's how far it has to travel too.

The entrance to our wine cellar dinner/wine tasting!

Beautiful doorway to a church.

This was in the caves. It used to be one huge cave, but the ceiling collapsed a loooong time ago and made it this beautiful area that it is now!

Some of the columns formed by stalagmites and stalactites.

Dad in his favorite place in Prague... Petrín Hill!

Moravia

I dropped my dad off at the airport Friday morning at like 4 am, came back to my dorm and slept until 930. Why didn't I sleep longer? Because I had to get up and pack for Brno!! Brno is the capital of the Moravia region of the eastern Czech Republic. We met in the lobby at 1030 am, then we jumped on a bus and went off to Tišnov to see a cloister. It is one of the oldest buildings of it's type in the CR. The church gate was absolutely AMAZING and decorated so intricately that it seems weird to know it was built over 500 years before USA was a country haha. The gate is called Porta Coeli or "Gate to Heaven". After we saw that, we headed into Brno to check into our hotel. We literally had about an hour there before we had to jump back on the bus to drive to dinner. We all assumed it wasn't too far to dinner, we were all wrong. It was over an hour to dinner and we were all STARVING. However, when we learned that there would be wine tasting involved, our tunes changed. They didn't give us a lot of food, but we definitely made up for the lack of food in how much bread we ate and wine we drank. There was about 20 or so of us, and we drank a SOLID 10-15 bottles of wine. The wine was made by the mayor of this little town, and we were in his private cellars. It is all traditional Czech wine and is all grown and made in this town. Out of the 10-15 types we tried, there was only 1 I didn't like, and that's because it smelled fricking rotten. Yuck. Anyway, other than that one they were all good and amazing and delicious. Then we went upstairs and there was a little competition waiting for us up there. We had to see who could pull the most water out of a bucket with one of those glass wine barrel taster things with the breath in their mouth. You had to suck the water up this LONG tube and then fill up the center part (which was about the size of an old school round canteen) and take it all the way to the top. Whoever could do that would win a bottle of wine. Well, since no one could get it all the way to the top, the guy and girl that got the closest got it. Anywayyy, after that we went down into the wine cellar where he stores his wine, and he told us some more history and we got more wine and then he said that if you stick a coin on the wall and it sticks, then you'll be destined to come back. Naturally, I did it. IT STUCK. It's happening, I'm going back. I have photographic proof that it stuck. Anyway, after all of this, we got to buy bottles of wine. Take a guess how much they were. $10? $20? WRONG. 70 krowns each... that's less then $4 a bottle, for AMAZING wine. I can't even explain how happy this made me... so I bought 4 bottles, and drank one with my friend Allison that night haha.

The next day we got up and did a bunch of touring and what not. We did Gregor Mendel's garden (you know, the wrinkly yellow pea guy? father of genetics? Ya, him), the Slavkov hill where the Battle of Austerlitz was fought by Napoleon against the Austria and Russia and just annihialated them. Take THAT, guys. Anyway, after that we went up to the Memorial of Peace on Prace Hill, which is the war memorial commemorating the loss of lives in the Battle of Austerlitz. After we did that, we went back to Brno and did a little walking tour of the city. We saw city hall, St Peter and Paul's Cathedral, St. James Church, main town square, etc etc. I also got to try burčak (which is "young wine" that is highly potent in alcohol content and tastes like lemonade for the white and grape juice for the red. Amazing stuff. THEN, we headed back to the hotel for the evening. Allison and I were going to go down to the bowling alley, but we decided to finish our bottle of wine from the night before, and Andrew and Michaela joined us and we stayed up til somewhere around 2 am just talking, telling real life ghost stories, talking about movies and things of that nature. It was a really awesome night.

The next day, we had to be checked out of the hotel at 930 am and when we got to the bus, we headed over to like 5 other towns to see churches and things like that. The first one we saw was the "Pearl of Moravia" church in Křtiny, which is considered one of the most beautiful baroque churches in Europe. After that we went on over to the town called Adamov to see the altar at their church there and it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. EVER. So amazing. I didn't get a picture because we weren't supposed to take any, but google "St Barbara's Church, Brno altar" and you should get a picture of it. After that, we went to the Moravian Karst cave complex, and into the Punkva section of them. We walked through them for about 40 minutes, and then we took a little boat through for the rest. It was sooooo amazingly beautiful to see the stalagmites and stalactites and then the stalemates which is the meeting of the 2. Check out my facebook to see more pictures of those, because I won't be able to post too many.

All in all, the trip to Moravia was a really awesome one that had it's up and downs, like any other, but overall it was awesome!

Next weekend, Florence! Absolutely CANNOT wait for that!! ITALY!!!!!

Dublin

AKA The Emerald Isle. Well. I didn't see ANY green while I was there. The city itself is really nice, the people are friendly, they speak ENGLISH (which was a huge relief for me), and all in all it was a really great time. Especially since I met my Dad there!!! That was sooo much fun!! I missed him so much and it was amazing to be able to have this experience with him! He met me at the airport at midnight when my flight came in (such a good Dad), then we went back to the hotel and went downstairs to the bar for a few beers. After that, we crash out.

Day 1: We got up at liiiiike 10 am because I was tired and apparently Dad was jetlagged, since typically he's up at 630 or so at the latest. So that was nice. But then we went down to Grafton St to have some breakfast since we slept through the free breakfast our hotel offers and had an amaaaazing bacon egg and cheese sandwich at this cool cafe. After that, we wandered around Grafton St for a while (which is the big shopping area). Once we were done just meandering, we went back to the hotel so I could grab my camera, and then set off to find a bus stop for the red bus "hop on hop off" tours. The tour was really fun, we took the whole thing around without getting off just so we could get a feel for the city. We saw Trinity College, St Stephen's Green (a big park), the zoo, Guinness, Jameson, Kilmainham Gaol, and a TON of other stuff. Once we were done with that, we were both pretty tired but we grabbed a hotdog and then headed back to the hotel for a nap. Once we woke up from the nap, I was STARVING as always when I get up from anything. So we set off into Temple Bar to find somewhere to eat. Let me tell you a little bit about Temple Bar... It's about a 8-10 square block area just FILLED with bars and restaurants. We walked around for a bit before we picked a place. We had our dinner and a few drinks there, and then we just meandered around Temple Bar watching the street performers and the drunk people dancing jigs and such. It was a really fun time and the people were very interesting, but in a good way! We headed back to the hotel at about 12:30 or so and crashed out.

Day 2: We got up pretty early this morning (thanks to Dad adjusting quickly I guess...) and it was so early that breakfast wasn't even open yet!! So we headed down to Grafton St to have some breakfast. We ended up at BK. Quick, cheap, easy, done. So then we went back to the hotel so we could grab all of our stuff, and headed out to the bus stop again (our tickets were valid for 48 hours).

This time we got off at the Guinness Storehouse stop first. Guinness was So awesome! Their tour was a self-guided tour but it was totallyyyy worth it. The info was good, the visuals and stuff were really good, and there wasn't really ever a dull moment. Once you finished the making of the beer process, they give you a little taste of Guinness Draught, their original. We thought that was the "free beer" that comes with the tour, which would have been lame because it was like 2 sips worth. After that, you walk through another hallway and you realize that you're only on floor 3 out of 6. So there are floors about advertising and marketing, transportation of Guinness, barrel making, and the exportation to other countries. This part wasn't as interactive as the beer making part, but that's okay because it was still really interesting. Especially when it said that in 2003 (I think!) Guinness had launched a rally trying to get March 17th to be a national holiday in USA haha. It failed, but I'm sure they'll try again! After all of that, we went up to the very tippy top of the Guinness Factory to the Gravity bar, which is the highest pub in Dublin, and we collected our free Guinness pints. Dad couldn't finish his (he actually highly dislikes Guinness), and I only finished mine because I really felt like I had to haha. I like Guinness, but I don't love it. I would NEVER order it of my own accord and drinking an entire pint was hard for me.

Next stop, Kilmainham Gaol! This gaol (the Irish way of spelling "jail") was really awesome. It was built in 1796 as the "New Gaol". It functioned as a gaol for 128 years, and ended up closing it's doors for good in 1926, after being reopened in the early 1900s to serve as a jail for political prisoners, including the people for the Easter Rising in 1916. The youngest prisoner said to have ever served there was a 7 year old buy for 3 months because during the potato famine he stole a loaf of bread. The jail was really interesting, but I guess I thought there was going to be more ghost stories or something. I liked it, but since everyone said it was the "best tour in Dublin" and we "have to take it"... I expected more. It made for some nice pictures though.

And finally, Jameson Distillery! This place was really cool! The building was a lot smaller than I expected though, I expected something HUGE like how Guinness was (it was like 42 acres or something) and it's just not as big. Which is fine, it does the job juuuuust fine. Their tour was wayyy more high tech. They had all kinds of videos and presentations, and stuff lit up and then other stuff lit up to accentuate facts etc etc etc. I mean, either way it was really cool. We got to hear how it was made, distilled, how they don't use new oak barrels, but they buy barrels from other types of liquor making places and then reuse their barrels after being brought up to Jameson standards. It was really interesting. Not to mention, we got free Jameson at the end. They gave it to you a few different ways. Either with cranberry juice, ginger ale, coke, or straight up orrrr on the rocks. This OLD guy was in front of me (we're talking like at least 80+) and he took his straight up and was hoarding it like someone was going to try and take it from him haha. So funny!!

After that, we went back to the hotel and napped again because getting up at 630 am just isn't my thing. So we after we went to dinner, took some pictures of cool stuff around Dublin at night, hung out in Temple Bar again, and just went to bed. But the place we went to dinner was sooo amazing. It was called "Mexico to Rome" and it was a mexican/italian food place. I got a starter of cheesy garlic bread, then a beef burrito, and some dessert that I can't spell. Dad got tomato and mozzarella with basil things for a starter, chicken something or other for dinner, and then tiramisu for dessert. I'm not typically a huge fan of tiramisu, but this was AMAZING. Anyway, we obviously did one of those "3 courses for 1 low price!" things. So that was awesome. I was very very happy.

All in all, Dublin was a great time, it was lovely to see my Dad but would I ever go back? No. I would go somewhere else in Ireland to see all of the rolling hills and beautiful countryside and stuff, but just for Dublin? Hell no.

BUT! The next day we went and got souvenirs and all of that, and then we boarded our flight to Prague and headed on over here! It was soooo nice to have my dad in Prague! It was really nice to be able to show him "my city" and have him see what I do on a day to day basis, plus he got a really good tour guide since I have been living here for about 2 months now. We did all the touristy stuff, but then we also went and did the non-touristy stuff. The stuff that I like to do and see and where I like to eat and what not. It was a ton of fun, all in all. It was really nice to see my dad getting out of Salinas and exploring the world. He keeps telling me how now he wants to go to Costa Rica and all these other places and all I have to say is "Do it Dad!! You deserve it!!" So I really hope he sticks with that =]

So busy.

The last 10-15 days have been insane. I have been so busy that I haven't even had a moment to tell you all what I've been up to! I'm going to post 2 separate posts on the adventures I've been having, so basically this is just to say I'm sorry for slacking and I will be attempting to keep up better from now on!

Budget

I just made a budget. I'm so proud of myself. I sat down with all of my money and figured out what the rest of my trips are going to cost, what food is going to be, going out money, Christmas money, hostel money, etc etc etc. Now, let's hope I can stick to it! I have a little bit of lenience in there, but I also pretty much overbudgeted for everything just in case. I need to make sure I come home with enough money to move into an apartment, otherwise I'll have to live with my dad again. No offense, Dad, love you to death... but I need a place of my own and we BOTH know this haha. Anyway, so if I can stick to this, I should be set for 2 months of living on my own just in case I can't find a job right away or something comes up. Hopefully nothing does and I get a job right away because then I'll have a little play money! Or I'll save it... that would be the smart thing to do I suppose. Damn. Oh well.

Say a little prayer (if you're into that sort of thing, if not just wish!!) for me and my budget, I'm probably going to need it!!!

Zurich update....

Well, Zurich would have been fun... If i hadn't read the ticket wrong and made us miss the train, resulting in not going to Zurich. Whoops.

This is literally the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life, and I messed up all of our travel plans. The girls were very nice about it, saying it couldh ave happened to anyone (which in my defense, it could have). The ticket read 19:30 and I read (in my silly American head) 9:30. Shit. Well.

Basically what happened is I paid them all back for the train booking fee ($25 to each person), and the $40 deposit fee for the hostel. The woman there was SUPER nice and didn't charge me for the first night like she was supposed to because 2 of the girls made a reservation for next weekend. So, thank god. I'm happy about how it all turned out. I ate $115, but it's better than the $400 I thought I was going to.

What it all means is that I have another weekend in Prague to go out here, and I don't get my boots that I wanted. I'm really bummed about the boots, but maybe someone will get them for me for Christmas. That's what I want! Bummer that I want the brown and black though haha.

Budapest!

So, this past weekend I took a little weekend trip to Budapest, Hungary with 3 other girls from my study abroad group. We had a really great time!

Some highlights:

FREE (yes, I said free) walking tour of the city
Getting lost, only to find some really great buildings!
The indoor market
Wine tasting
Train ride (my first!)
Night cruise on the Danube
Big Fish Hostel

Okay, soooo. From the top! The walking tour was sooo amazing!! Our tour guide, Agnes, was hilarious, very informative, educated, friendly, and all around great! On the tour we saw all of the major sights in Budapest (pronounced Budapesht). It was very nice because the day before we had gone on a hunt for this market thing we'd heard about, and we saw all of the same buildings but we didn't know what they were! Putting a name to the building and it's purpose was helpful.

The market. WOW. It was an indoor market in (what we think was) an old synagogue. Not 100% though. It was really great!! There was 100s of food vendors selling fruits, meats, strudels (which I of course took part in), clothes, lace doilies, souvenirs, etc etc. It was HUGE. Oh, and of course they had the traditional Hungarian paprika. Of course I bought some.

Wine tasting! One of my favorite hobbies!! Well, Hungary is known for it's wine and Palinka (I'll explain what that is in a minute). We went wine tasting and we tried a red, a white, and something called Tokoj. Tokoj is a sweet dessert wine that is only made in Hungary. It was AMAZING. It smelled like apples and pears and all of the good things in life. Naturally, I bought a bottle of that as well. YUM. Plus, no one in my family likes sweet wine! ALL MINE! =]
We had a little coupon saying that we got a free gift with the wine tasting. So we got to choose if we wanted another glass of wine or some Palinka. let me explain Palinka... It's a Hungarian brandy type liquor, but it's only made in Hungary with Hungarian fruit and it's very strictly regulated. There are laws protecting how Palinka is made... crazy. Anyway, so we opted for Palinka. I got plum, Amy got black currant, Michaela got pear, and Allison got strawberry. Out reaction when we all tried a sip?
HOLY SHIT!! IT BURNS!!
No joke... it was that bad. The aftertaste was fine, but MAN was it hard to drink. A good brandy is easy to drink, very smoother etc. This was just plain fire in the throat. Then we looked at the alcohol content... 46%. No wonder. So we finished off our glasses, and wandered back to the metro station, all slightly tipsy.

Oh! The train ride there!! It was my first train ride EVER and it was pretty fun. Nothing too spectacular happened, but that's okay. It was enough just to be on a train!

Night cruise on the Danube. It was sooo beautiful!! We went up and down the river between what used to be the two cities of Buda and Pest (before they became one) and saw all the lit up sights, buildings, bridges, etc. It was amazing! Freezing cold, but still really fun! I loved it.

Big Fish Hostel is the best hostel in the world. It was homey, comfy, clean, the staff was nice, they had food for us, homemade baklava (one of my favs!!), nice bathrooms, HUGE rooms, and it was amazing basically. The 4 of us had our own private room with 4 twin beds and a locked door, so we could leave our stuff in there if need be. The supplied us with sheets, blankets, pillows, EVERYTHING. Most hostels make you pay extra for all of that! Not to mention free wifi, they offered us TONS of food, baklava, wine, Palinka, and just great hospitality. It was a great stay in Budapest!

However, I am happy to be back in Prague and planning my next trip to......



ZURICH!!

We leave on Thursday, so I better go book us a hostel!

Fall Season

It is finally fall now... you can tell just by listening to how many people in our dorm are coughing, sneezing, stuffed-up, or otherwise coming down with some sort of the plague (which is how it sounds...). Unfortunately, I have also started coming down with those symptoms which I hate so much... stuffed up nose, headaches, coughing, etc etc. Eww. Tea, zyrtec, dayquil, aspirin, emergen-c, and mondo mega multi-vitamins (of the Trader Joe variety) have been my best friends lately. I'm hoping I can kick it before it becomes a full blown cold. I can't afford that! I'm going to Budapest on Thursday!!! Cannot WAIT to go to Budapest! It's going to be fun, and I hope it not raining there like it is here! I need my vitamin D!!

Right about now...

I'm wishing I had some amazon gift cards. I'd like to buy a few books on my kindle but I just don't have it in me to spend the money when I'm in Europe and will need it for traveling! Ughhh. Can't one just appear out of thin air???

In case you're wondering where this all stemmed from, today a few friends and I ventured over to The Globe Bookstore in Prague. It's an all English bookstore, which was so refreshing I can't even tell you... Getting to go somewhere that ALL the people in there speak English, all the books are English, they even have American breakfast, was the nicest thing ever. Not to mention, this bookstore is pretty amazing. It has a cafe in it as well, and they are always having different art exhibits and such. It's really nice. The pictures below is of the cafe area. We, obviously, sat up on the balcony =]
This is the book store area! You have to walk past the bookstore to get to the cafe, so it's not too bad. Amazing books here though, there are a few Czech books (either Czech authors or about Prague) that I'd really like to pick up in book form, not on the Kindle. There are just some books you have to have the real thing of... I mean if I'm going to read Kafka or Kundera, I want the book. It's just a weird thing I have.

Anyway, after that we had planned to go to the zoo, but it started raining so I'm back at my dorm now, about to go make tea, lay in bed, and read a book on my Kindle. It's a stereotypical rainy day, and I couldn't be happier about it.

Prague update!

Sorry it's been so long since I made a blog post, I've been SUPER busy the last few weeks. However, I have some time now to sit down and write a long post and explain all that I've been doing!

My last post was the first night I got to Prague, and a lot has happened since then. I've gone to Plzen, Cesky Krumlov, all around Prague, I've planned out my European trips, and I've taken over 600 pictures.

Let's start from the beginning.

The program I'm in at Charles University is called Eastern and Central European Studies (ECES). The first week we were here, they required us to go on two cultural activity trips to different places in the Czech Republic. I chose to go on the "Castle Tour" and the "Plzen Tour".

Castle Tour: We went to two different castles, but they are owned by the same family. Different branches that don't speak and haven't spoken since somewhere around the 1600s, but still the same family... The Lobkiewicz Family. They weren't what I was expecting... they are more like Chateaus. Which are fine and all, but I wanted to see the HUGE Gothic towers and the great architecture and what not. Basically I just saw a lot of people's stuff from back in the day and how they lived and what not. The typical museum tour, you could say. That day was fun, but not what I wanted.

Plzen Tour: This tour was AMAZING. We went to this little town called Plzen which is about an hour and a half from Prague. It's where the Pilsner Beer was invented. We heard a lot of great stories about the town (like how one general was trying to siege the town but he didn't realize they had tunnels underground so they could go out and get food and water during the night, so he brought in a camel to frighten them into thinking it was a devil. Well, the town is known for beer so they sent him and his troops a few barrels of beer, waited until they got drunk and went to sleep, went out and stole the camel. They then put it on their side of their defense wall, in plain sight of the general. He called off the siege and asked for his camel back so he could return it to the Sheik he had borrowed it from. The Plzen people said no, they were keeping it... so their town crest has a camel in it now!) Anyway, we went up into this awesome church tower and got fantastic views of the entire city! I got some great pictures from that one!! Then we went on a brewery tour, which was also amazing. They have been brewing the same beer since 1838ish, and apparently they found original documents recently that gave ratings to their beer in a ton of categories and the actual chemical readings and such, and from then until now the changes only start to happen at the 0.0001 level. So basically, it's the same beer as in 1838. WOW! That was pretty impressive to me. Oh! And we got to go down into their cellars and get the freshest Pilsner Urquell in the world, it has absolutely zero preservatives in it because it is only for tours and employees to drink in the cellars. That's the only place in the WORLD you can drink it like that. And we got free mugs =]

Cesky Krumlov: If you ever get a chance to go anywhere in the world, ever, go to Cesky Krumlov. It is considered the most beautiful place in the Czech Republic, but I think it's the most beautiful place in the world. I want to move there. I want to retire there, seriously. It is so amazingly fabulous/gorgeous/quaint/perfect/hospitable, etc etc etc. It's the perfect clash of old and new. The people that live there basically thrive on tourism, but that's okay because they NEVER run out. It is amazing. I'll post a few pics of it, but it can't even be explained in those. You have to see it for yourself. WOW. We saw the Cesky Krumlov Castle, which was definitely the type of castle that I can pictured in my mind. It was built in 1251 and has been standing ever since. We sat in a chapel that was literally built 750 years ago.. I'm amazed. They have one of the 2 Baroque Theaters in the world that are restored. There are only 5 left, but only the ones in Cesky Krumlov and Vienna are restored and used for tourism and shows. I also had something called trdelnik here. It's sweet bread dough, wrapped around a steel pin that rotates over a fire and cooks it like that. Then, while it's still piping hot, they roll it in cinnamon sugar with roasted almonds in it (or you can get it with walnuts, without nuts or with chocolate on the inside). I'm addicted... I can't stop eating trdelnik. I have had somewhere around 5 since I got back to Prague, and I had to use some SERIOUS will power to not buy another today when I walked past the stand. My mouth is watering just thinking of it.

Prague: Now, onto my new home! So far I've been to school, Old Town Square, Wenceslas Square, Petrin Hill, Prague Castle, the John Lennon Wall, the Rudolfinum, Charles Bridge, and more. I'll describe my touristy days (the ones where I actually went to do things, other than just school and sleeping! I'm trying to fight off a cold).

Day 1: I got up that morning (Sunday) and decided that I wanted to go up to Petrin Hill that day. So I got some friends together and we went to Bohemia Bagel for breakfast (which is this amazing little American-owned bagel place with American breakfast foods!! I got a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich on a supreme bagel, in case you were wondering!) Then after that, we walked down to the Charles Bridge. That bridge is beautiful. It crosses over the Vltava River and goes from one side of town over to the Castle side of town. Amazing views, tons of tourist trap little carts (which I haven't fallen into yet, but I also haven't done any Christmas shopping yet!!), and a sense that what you do is really very insignificant in the world. Not in a bad way, but in a good way. Things will go on whether you make bad or good decisions, so don't dawdle too much on the bad ones because they'll go away eventually. That's my best way of explaining it I guess. Anyway, up to Petrin Hill. There is a funicular (tram) that goes up this gigantic hill next to Prague Castle in this enormous park. When you get to the top, there is a HUGE rose garden. I swear, it goes on for miles. I know I keep saying everything is beautiful, but this entire COUNTRY is amazingly beautiful. You'll never really understand it until you come here, I know I didn't. Anyway, at the top there is also a 1/3 scale sized model of the Eiffel Tower that you can climb up on and get panoramic views of the city. My legs were still sore from the LAST huge tower I had to climb, so I'll do that another time. There were still amazing views though! We opted to walk back down instead of taking the tram so we could see the rest of the park. When you're in the trees, you feel like you're in a forest. I loved it! There are little abandoned buildings that have perfect views of the city and a small cafe that, again, overlooks the city. I'm going to go do homework there tomorrow I think! Or just take my Kindle and read up there! =]

Day 2: After class on Monday (I get out at 2), me and a bunch of girls decide we're going to go up to the Castle since none of us had seen it yet. On the way, we stopped at the John Lennon Wall. This is really just a wall that, during Communism, the young people would go there and spray paint Beatles lyrics and pictures and peace signs, etc. It was a way for them to express themselves against the current political situation. The government would paint over it, and basically overnight there would be more drawings put up. This went on until maybe 5 years ago. The people that own it now have just come to terms with the fact that their wall will never be clean, and it's a landmark in Prague. It started out and a symbol for peace and faith that something better will come along, and it's still inspiring that message to the youth. I thought it was a great thing. Anyway, then we continued on up this HUGE hill to Prague Castle. I have never felt so out of shape in my life as I have on this trip, but this one topped the cake. It's STEEP and LONG. Oh well. I made it, without too much huffing and puffing (the whole time I was cursing myself for not going to the gym like I always said I would... which I will be doing when I get home). So we got to the top, took about a MILLION pictures, and then walked back to the metro station. On the way there though, we found this place that was literally called "The Secret Garden". It was behind these big wooden doors, and it was where the Senate House was! Amazing. There was also this really creepy/weird thing called a dripstone wall, but it had like animals and faces and stuff in it... strange.

Today after class, my teacher took us over to the Astronomical Clock Tower and paid for us to go up into the tower! It was great!! The views of Old Town Square were awesome, you could see all of Prague from up there!! Totally worth the climb. I could have taken the elevator, but I want to attempt to work off all the fried cheese sandwiches and trdelnik I've been eating... haha. Well, I've only had 2 fried cheese sandwiches, and if you knew how good they are you would be impressed. They're like a mozzarella stick in patty shape, smushed between 2 buns... and I like to put ketchup on mine =] SO good. Oh! The food!! The goulash is delicious, dumplings are good but I feel like I can't eat very much of them... traditional Czech food is very heavy. They have TONS of Italian food here though, so I like that. Also oodles and oodles of bakeries, which is awesome and crappy at the same time. Awesome for my tastebuds, crappy for my health haha. So, I work on willpower and self control!

Czech people have this very big coffeehouse tradition. There are cute little quaint coffeehouses and what not all over the place. They are all amazing, mostly all are cheap, and they also have pastries. I know, again with the pastries. But it's their tradition!! Who am I to mess with that?? They do coffee and cake basically everyday. Which is actually what I was out doing before I got home. Our program advisor takes us out to coffee and cakes at different types of cafes and what not, pays for it, tells us some history, answers any and every question we have, and we generally just hang out! It's pretty awesome.

Let's get down to the good stuff now... PICTURES!! I'm not going to post a whole ton of them on here, just my favorites. These are the ones that I'm going to get blown up, framed, and hang up when I get home.

This was just a mirror in the Castle plaza that used to be used for backing up, but I don't think it serves that purpose anymore haha.

John Lennon Wall

John Lennon Wall

John Lennon Wall

Rose Garden on Petrin Hill

Prague and Prague Castle

Astronomical Clock

Horse! They do horse and buggy rides around Prague for tourists. I'm going to do it in the winter time, around Christmas. So basically right before I leave =]

Cesky Krumlov

Cesky Krumlov

Cesky Krumlov

Flags? I don't know, I just liked it.

Cesky Krumlov (See?? How could I NOT want to retire here??)

Chairs at a cafe in Cesky Krumlov

Cappuccino in Plzen.

Tomorrow I have my final in my "Intensive Czech Language" class, which is a really hard language to learn, by the way. Not easy, and I pick up languages quickly. Oh well!

OH! My European adventures!!

With 3 other girls I'm going to:
Paris
Florence
Budapest
Copenhagen
Croatia

With my Dad (I'm meeting him there):
Dublin

With AIFS (my program):
Krakow
Vienna
Brno (Czech wine country)
Berlin

So basically, starting October 1st I will be gone every weekend for 10 weeks. I can't wait!! It'll make the semester go by faster, but I'm okay with that! I love Prague, but I miss my family, friends, boyfriend, dog, and tub shower. The shower here is tiny and I hate it. But I'll deal with it to live in this beautiful place for 4 months!!!!