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 =]