Oh Europe. . .Part 2 (P.S. I'm DONE!)

IM DONE! Which is good news for all of you because that means you get more reading material. And I know many of you have been looking forward to it because I’ve had several comments over the last few days, but hey I had exams! But here ya go. Part 2 of the European backpacking adventure.

Saturday March 29^th Day 9- Vienna, Austria

After a 12+ hour train ride, we arrived in Vienna at about 8:30 a.m. and bought our tickets for the next leg of our trip: Prague. Then we went to the hostel and checked in. After we went exploring for a bit, but honestly I felt as though I was going to fall asleep standing up. And while as backpackers, we learned to sleep just about anywhere, this was not fun in the slightest. I was exhausted. 9 days in and all I wanted to do was sleep. But we saw Parliament and went to the Opera House to see if we could manage to get some tickets but unfortunately we weren’t able to snag any. After a nice lunch of Subway, I swear I’ve had so much Subway in Europe, which is funny because I never eat it back home, and don’t plan to when I return. . .I’m a Togo’s girl at heart. But anyway, back to the story. . . We headed back to the hostel to wait for our friend Adrienne who was on her way from Barcelona. But on the way, we had to get some necessities. Sarah’s shoes were dying and I had already run out of socks . . . so we took care of those issues and awaited the return on our dear Adrienne. Once she was in we tried to buy our train tickets to Switzerland, which was difficult because three of us had a Eurorail 3 country pass. No one knew how to book it so we had to wait til Prague.

Once we sorted ourselves, we went exploring a bit more. We went to Karlsplatz Church Place which was really nice. There was a man made pond/fountain-ish thing in front of the Church in which the image of the church was reflected. Gorgeous. We then decided to head to the palace (Schonbrunn) for our night exploration. After that we went to the Hundertwasserhaus. That was pretty cool too. Except for the walk there. First of all it was very long. . .and second. . .well I should warn you that the next bit is a bit sad. . .

. . . have you decided to continue?

Well you remember what happened to me my first day at Royal Holloway? Yes that right my ankle. . .Well I sprained it again in Vienna on the way to Hundertwasserhaus. Yea I’m a genius. No I’m a klutz.

Anyway we continued on as I limped and made it to the Hundertwasserhaus. It was really cool. It was constructed with no straight lines. And since it was night I didn’t get a great shot of it, but it was the idea behind it that impressed me most. After we headed back to the area by our hostel and got some bratwursts from a street vendor. They were yummy. And for dessert I tried the chocolate torte, a speciality of Vienna according to Adrienne’s guide book. Yea it wasn’t heavenly but it was good. Pretty satisfied, we headed back to the hostel and claimed our free glasses of wine and then went to sleep. Only 9 days down and we were feeling it.

Sunday March 30^th-Day 10- Vienna

We tried to pack in the activities on our second day. We woke up early just to see Vienna’s Boys Choir perform. We were supposed to be there by 8 for a 9:30 performance at mass. We were running late and couldn’t find the exact location. We ran into a man looking for the same place. It was about 8:25 at this point, or so we thought. As we were trying to figure out the location, the man mentioned how late he was and how little time he had. So we gave him a funny look. Then he told us “Well it’s 9:25”. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME! We had completely forgotten. We rushed and finally found the place and caught part of the performance . . . on a TV. because the church was so crowded and the boys choir was in some random place.

We then decided to get breakfast. We went to a cafe and had a pastry and a Wiener Melange (Vienna’s famous coffee) and planned the rest of the day.

We went back to the area we had been to the day before and explored a bit more. Then we went to find the famous clock that uses figures for each hour and cycled through them all at noon. But we arrived too early so we decided to find the Stadttemple which is the only synagogue in Vienna to have survived Kristalnacht. It was a bit tricky to find. And we had quite a good time trying to explain what we were looking for to a person who was cleaning up the plaza we were in. He spoke English but really had no idea what we were referring to. When he finally got it he directed us in the right direction. I really enjoyed seeing something that withstood all the trials and tribulations that Europe and the Jewish people were put through. But it was nearing noon so we headed back to the clock. Let me say: best clock ever! Each figure had a different song as it passed. It took a while but was kind of cool.

We continued our cultural day by having wienerschnitzel at a local restaurant. It was pretty good. But I learned yet another lesson: Never use those nice colored paper napkins to clean a stain. I spilled ketchup on my jeans. So I grabbed my napkin and some water and luckily got the stain before it set. It wasn’t until about 45 minutes later that I realized I still had a stain on my jeans. Not from the ketchup but from that festive yellow napkin I had used to clean myself up. Oh no! And this one wouldn’t come out either. . .yea it’s official. I was pretty much a mess this entire trip.

But after lunch we headed to Stephanplatz and climbed one of its towers. We didn’t go as high as we thought we were going to, but it was a very claustrophobic experience. It got narrower as we ascended its spiral steps and it wasn’t just in my head. But we climbed over 300 steps to get a view of Vienna. Back on the ground, we encountered a B-Boy group who performed. They were really good and hilarious. It was kind of like a boy band gone wrong.

Then we went back to the Schonbrunn and explored the grounds. We wanted to find the hedge maze (or labyrinth) but had a bit of difficulty. So we asked a man who was walking his dog. He didn’t speak much English so I went over to help as much as I could, but of course, my German flew out of my head and I tried to explain to him that we were looking for a game of some sort. On the way into the grounds he spoke to me a bit in German and I responded with a few laughs and very little German. When we got inside we pointed to what we had been looking for on a map and laughed. Had we just said labyrinth he would have known what we wanted. But the labyrinth was actually pretty lame so we just explored and enjoyed our afternoon.

We had another sausage for dinner and went back to the hostel. Since we assumed our train would be an overnight one, we didn’t book the hostel for the night. Our train was leaving first thing in the morning, so we decided to spend the night out. We went to the hostel and hung out for a bit and then went to an area they had recommended. Turns out it was Vienna’s red light district. So we left and proceeded elsewhere. We found a club that was highly recommended but got a little lost along the way. Eventually we found it, and hung out there. It was a Sunday night so no one was around. We sat on the couches and waited it out. I actually fell asleep about 10 minutes before we left and the girls had to wake me up to leave. By that time my ankle was throbbing and I could barely walk. We went to catch the bus back to the hostel and then grab our bags and head to the train station. Which is technically part of . . .

Monday March 31^st- Day 11- Prague, Czech Republic

Well I limped through the train station and seriously began to consider cutting my trip short. I could barely walk, how was I going to backpack around Europe? We took the 4 hour long train to Prague and I sat with my leg elevated the entire way. We got to Prague at about 10 am and had to withdraw money, since they use “crowns”. But the money only came out in 2000 crown bills. And no one wanted to break it for us. So we bought our train tickets for Switzerland to break our bills (The people in Prague knew how to book our tickets since our passes covered Germany, which we had to travel across to get to Switzerland) We bought our metro tickets and headed to the hostel. Once we arrived at the hostel we took a nice nap before adventuring out. We had a late lunch at a local cafe/restaurant, which went a bit awry since the woman gave and charged us for bread we asked not to have. But we walked around Prague, found me an ankle brace, and ran into a few people from Royal Holloway while we walked across the bridge towards the castle. Of course we did as we always did. . .budgeted it by walking around and exploring on our own. We even found another “cool” clock that represented life and death. . .but it was actually incredibly lame. It did not impress us in the least after Vienna’s. We ended up finding a place for dinner that had a good deal on a set menu. It was soooo good. I was incredibly full by the end of it that I actually waddled out of there. And it only cost about 10 euro. For once the exchange rate was somewhat in our favor. We head soup, dumplings and beef sirloin with a cream sauce and cranberries (yummmm) and apple strudel. . soooooo good! After we headed back to the hostel to wash up a bit before going on a pub crawl. We were the only people who turned up so we ended up just hanging out with the person running it who was from England. We chatted and had a good time hanging out before we left to have a nice sleep.

Tuesday April 1^st (APRIL FOOLS!)- Day 12- Prague

We woke up pretty early and went to see another “cool” clock that represented life and death at 11 a.m. ( I think. . .). . .but it was actually incredibly lame. It did not impress us in the least after Vienna’s. We walked along the river and saw the “dancing building”. We were all completely exhausted by this time. We found a park and enjoyed the sunshine. We then went for lunch and found a grocery store to find food for our incredibly long train ride to Switzerland. It was amazing how much food we got for only 4 euro. Prague can actually be really cheap! Just don’t go near a Starbucks or touristy area. We explored and headed back the hostel to hang out before catching our train.

I think this upcoming bit was the scariest part of my backpacking trip. As we were waiting for the train to arrive, 3 girls came up to us asking if we were to going to Frankfurt. We told them that we were going on to Switzerland. And they then proceeded to warn us to be careful and told us how they has been gassed and robbed when on a train into Germany. So of course, this scared us all. The train arrived and we got into our cabin. It was kind of like a summer camp experience. Bunk beds with very little space. We got all of our important stuff locked away or in money belts or somewhere on our persons. But there was a lock on our door and only one other person was to join us in our cabin. For the first few hours the other girls were making a lot of noise. They were trying to open their window and were freaking out. But who could blame them. We are pretty sure they didn’t sleep that night. But since the door had a chain lock (like in a hotel room) and the other woman in our cabin just slept, we were safe. We concluded that they must have had seats and not couchettes and therefore would have not had a lock on their cabin. This trip in total took us 17 hours. We ate our dinner and gulped down water and multi-vitamin juice (We were not going to get sick). But of course, we accidentally bought fizzy water, because we can’t read Czech and even after shaking it in the store we thought it was flat. . .yuck.But the sleep was good, oh man so good. We definitely needed that. We had one transfer on our trip and it was within Switzerland. Although there were two stops with the name Basel one in Germany and one in Switzerland, so that caused a great deal of confusion as you might imagine. Overall, it was a pretty uncomplicated train ride, outside of the scary story part and the 2 Basels.

Wednesday April 2^nd- Day 13- Interlaken, Switzerland

Welcome to Interlaken, Switzerland where you can do pretty much an extreme sport you have ever wanted to do and enjoy beautiful scenery and the cleanest, freshest water you will ever set your eyes on or drink. If I were to live in another country, it would be Switzerland. It’s really expensive. The Swiss Franc is basically the dollar’s equivalent but the numerical value assigned to things there just blows your mind. But I think Interlaken is where we had the best time even though things didn’t work out as planned. We originally planned to go paragliding, which is a little like hang gliding except with a parachute. You basically run down a hill and get lifted up and sail over the scenery. This of course scares those who are afraid of heights like me. I was so unsure about it. I’d much prefer to go white water rafting . . . and still would. However, we booked our trip for a time just prior to the actual ‘season’ so we were a bit limited in our options.

Once we arrived in Interlaken, we bought our tickets to Milan which is when Adrienne would be leaving us . . . but fear not she rejoins us later in the trip. We found our hostel, but I really enjoyed the walk to the hostel. We walked along side a stream. The water was so incredibly clear that you could see every rock on the bottom, and even a few CDs. There were snow-capped mountains everywhere we looked and we found ourselves constantly saying “Oh! Look at that one!” AMAZING. We checked in and found we had a room to ourselves. SWEET! We had amazing views out our windows. Basically this was just what we needed: a gorgeous place to relax a bit. Just because we wanted to relax didn’t mean that we had nothing urgent to do. Laundry topped our list. Laundry throughout Europe is so expensive and hard to find. We went to an information point to get info on parasailing and looked at swiss army knives.

Once we found an acceptable laundry place, aka the only one we could find, we went back to the hostel to change into our laundry clothes. Which actually wasn’t too bad for me, I found a shirt at the bottom of my bag which was perfectly clean and I had my gauchos which I had packed for Greece. It ended up costing us 11 Euros for laundry because the dryers just would not dry our clothes. But during the laundry time we got ourselves some cheese and bread. Yes that was a main staple. And guess what came in handy in cutting/spreading our cheese? That’s right ladies and gentlemen: the trusty backpacker’s spoon. Speaking of, I got my spoon in Switzerland. . that’s another story for another time though. After our “snack” which actually was more like a meal, we went to collect our laundry. . and of course it wasn’t dry. We spent so much time and money in that laundry place. And we realized that it was getting awfully close to Happy Hour. So we rushed and ran back to the hostel (the laundry place’s owner was just outside and must have thought we were crazy). We put our stuff in our room and grabbed a half pint of the local beer (yuck) and played some cards. Yes cards. . .see how handy they are?

We then began to debate what to do. We ended up hanging out with some of the people who worked at the hostel or had worked at the hostel. They took us to a kebab place. That was one expensive kebab. . .and that’s when you know it’s expensive to live in a place- when even their ‘cheap’ food is pricey. We ended up in the attic portion of the hostel, which had been transformed into a bouldering room. Basically you could ‘rock climb’ on the walls and ceiling. It was really cool. We just hung out and listened to one of the guys play this really cool instrument that is kind of drum like. I’ll have to ask someone the name of it. It was nice to just hang out.

Thursday April 3^rd- Day 14- Interlaken

We woke up just in time for breakfast, which was pretty much gone by the time we got there. . . just one of the many reasons to get out of bed a bit earlier. But we had clean clothes to wear so I was content. We called the paragliding place to check on the status of our ‘flights’ only to learn that due to the weather, we wouldn’t be able to go. So we decided to have a laid back day. We got our souvenirs. We had fun shopping for swiss army knives, which are actually decently priced. We got all of them engraved and between 4 girls we walked out of the store with about 15 knives. Later in the day we went to the post office and I shipped a package home with souvenirs for my family and my Venetian mask. A few weeks later it arrives in San Jose. . .oh sunny California how I miss thee. My mom described the condition of the box to me in these words: “It looks like it has been attacked by a pack of wild animals”. Thanks Swisspost/US Postal Service. Some things fell out of the box, but the majority of it made it home. That still frustrates me. . .

We then decided to explore. We walked across Interlaken and saw some people paragliding. What?! It was a bit frustrating to see, but we still ended up having a good time on our trip.

That night we decided to hang out with everyone from the night before. But first we decided to have a good dinner. We ate at a recommended place, and while a bit expensive, it was completely worth it. The waitress placed bread on the table and gave us water. We asked her how much the bread was because you never knew in Europe. She told us it was free. Let’s just say that the restaurant made some Americans very happy. We filled ourselves on free bread and unlimited water-the best tasting I’ve ever had. Switzerland- free water AND bread! That is so hard to find in Europe. Usually you ask for water and they charge you 3 euro for a little bottle that lasts all of 15 seconds. We had a nice 3 course meal with coffee ice cream to end it. Yum! I must say we ate a lot of good food on our trip. And for 3 courses the price wasn’t so bad since the franc = the dollar.

After we ate our yummy dinner we went back to the hostel and met with the group. We ended our night early though and like most other nights: slept.

So this is where part 2 ends. I am just under half way through my trip. But it is getting late here in England and I have a lot of sleep to catch up on. I’m just glad to be done with exams. One more year of school left. Just over 3 weeks left in England. I will be back soon enough.

Keep watch for part 3 coming soon!

Europe. . .how you tire me out.

I have returned. After 31 days of backpacking across Europe. Ive learned a lot in my travelling. One of the top things I learned was: Always carry a spoon. You laugh but they are useful utensils. You can spread, cut, and scoop.

I planned to visit 8 countries during my month long travels, but actually went to 9 (more on that later).

Internet was hard to come by and usually very expensive so I did not get to use it very often (especially during my week in Greece).

This is going to be a long one ladies and gents. And there will probably be more than one. And the beginning is much more detailed, because lets face it. . after backpacking for so long, your brain shuts down and you cant remember exactly what you saw and you stop writing things down.

So to begin where I left off.

Saturday March 23^rd- Day 2- Rome, Italy

After touring the Vatican we headed towards St. Peter’s Basilica. But unfortunately, because it was the day before Easter it was closed to visitors. I really wanted to go in, and have been told several times that I should have found a way (whatever that means), but alas. . .it becomes a reason to go back to Rome.

That night we had a lovely meal of pizza and salad with the questionable bread basket. . .which led us to a bit of trouble and joy later on in the trip. But we were careful as usual and just assumed it was not free. Dinner was amazing anyway. We even got a bit of gelato at the end. Oh Gelato how I love thee. . .I could see myself working at the gelato place on Berkeley’s campus. . .but that might be a bad idea.

We decided to do some night sight seeing so we headed to the Trevi Fountain. We got some gelato on our way there. . .yum. . .but actually headed in the wrong direction so we finished our gelato by the time we got there. Oh well . . . We threw in our coins and took lots of pictures and just admired it. I highly recommend it at night. Gorgeous.

We took the bus back, since the metro closed, and went to bed since we planed on getting up early to go to the Vatican like the rest of Italy.

Sunday March 24^th- Day 3 (Easter)

We woke up super early to head to the Vatican. Confused at what attire was appropriate, but lacking nice clothes we went in our jeans, which felt a bit weird to me, but it turns out a lot of Italians do it. . We got there before it started so we went back to our hostel and grabbed our bags and checked in at our new one, where our friend Adrienne, could finally join us. That was one crazy metro journey. Luggage, crowded, crazy, yelling Italians=lots of pushing when there is nowhere to go.

We then headed back to the Vatican but the intense rain, umbrellas, etc prevented us from seeing much so we left and headed to the Colosseum where the rain was even more intense and the metro was even crazier with the pushing. We got DRENCHED! There were puddles everywhere and all in all it was a very uncomfortable experience. You know it was raining hard when it turns up looking like snow in your pictures. We decided to just head back to the hostel and call it a short day. . .but of course after lunch the rain let up a bit. I got in touch with my friend Nicole from Berkeley who was with her group of Californians studying in Brighton and we planned on meeting for Easter dinner. Then we ventured out for further exploration. But not before putting to use another valuable lesson: Always bring at least 2 extra groceries bags. Why you ask? For your feet. Because lets face it tennis shoes don’t dry quickly and nothing is more uncomfortable than wet feet. Luckily I had a pair of dry thick wool socks so I did not need to use this tactic, but for others, it proved quite useful and quite entertaining for all.

1^st stop- Republica where we used expired coupons provided by the hostel to share some Big Macs and of course use their free toilets. . .which leads me to lesson 3: McDonalds and Starbucks are the only places who do not (usually) charge to use their toilets therefore always be aware of where one is located.

2^nd stop-Spanish Steps where we climbed to the top to get a beautiful view of the city. Of course the area around them was occupied by high end stores like Dior, so we left and headed to our

3^rd stop- Piazza del Popolo where we saw the Santa Maria del Popolo (the church) and wandered about the square for a bit, window shopping at shops we could never afford and eventually being led back to the Spanish steps, where we were to meet with the other California girls later in the night.

When we met the girls, we had no idea of where to eat, but had seen a place where the prices weren’t too bad in the area so we headed there. We managed to get a table together thanks to some kind American tourists who moved for us and we all had a great meal.

Then after heading our separate ways, my group headed back to the Colosseum to give it a second chance. But of course we had to have gelato. I mean it was Easter after all. The Colosseum was much kinder to us that night, perhaps it took pity on us.

Monday March 24^th-Day 4

Colosseum take 3. We got up and headed to the Colosseum where we stood in line for entry and were amused by the gladiators with cell phones and cigarettes. . yes you are back in ancient times my friend. .

But we got in and it was sunny unlike the day before (seems the Colosseum had warmed up to us over time). I really enjoyed walking around it. It was pretty much what I expected. . . I was glad not to be let down. And amazingly I got the EU citizen entry price by just flashing my visa, although that didn’t work for all of us. . .

We left and I bought a memory card for my camera, since 1 G was definitely not going to last me. After seeing other prices around Europe I actually don’t feel ripped off, believe it or not. So we went to the Roman Forum and walked through a gorgeous garden among the ruins. And just like a lot of places we went, there were great views.

We left and walked toward the Pantheon which I was excited for because I had studied it in art history. We stopped to take a few photos at the Piazza Venezia which had amazing sculptures out front. And finally arrived at the Pantheon, which had closed early because it was Easter Monday. Although they left the door open a bit so of course there was a queue (a line. . .I don’t know I get weird looks from people when I say queue) to peek inside. So we stood in it and took a peak and then headed for the Piazza Navano where we relaxed a bit with a late lunch.

Then we went on a search for cannolis and found the perfect miniature ones. I swear cannolis are now one of my favourite desserts. But sadly we found none that compared to the first ever again.

We continued our wandering and ended up in front of the Castel S. Angelo. And frankly, sick of castles, we kept walking and stumbled upon a building that from afar looked strangely like St. Peters Basilica. But no, how could we have walked THAT far? But we did. We were once again heading towards the Vatican for Vatican take 4. Which leads to the next lesson: Always walk a distance in a city before deciding that the city is too large to walk.

We went back to the hostel, by metro, because that really was too far to walk and relaxed before heading back to the area by the castle for dinner. By the time we were done with dinner we were all craving gelato and decided we needed to see a sight by night yet again. So we headed back to the metro and went to the central bus station and began to wander around in search of gelato. And BAM we stumbled upon the Republica yet again and as we walked we realized we were about to reach the Colosseum. So we got our gelato and hopped on a bus that would take us to our hostel and away from central Rome AKA the twilight zone.

Tuesday March 25^th-Day 5 Florence, Italy

We said our goodbyes to Rome and boarded a train to hell. . .well not really but it was the train from hell. We stood the entire way because the train was way too crowded and pretty much everyone had large bags. We got to our B&B and were told we had been placed in an apartment because they didn’t have the room we had requested. We got excited because that meant our own kitchen and everything. But wait. . .we get there and the place is really dirty, smells of smoke, and trust me no one would want to do any cooking there. With 2 beds, Sarah and I shared for the next two nights.

We left the flat and headed out. Florence was absolutely beautiful. The sun was shining, there wasn’t a rushed feeling in the air. It was paradise to us at that point. We walked along the river and just enjoyed the weather before we had to be at the Uffizi which we had booked tickets for. We got to see the Birth of Venus, among other Botticelli and DaVinci, etc. works. Then we walked and window shopped picking up souvenirs and looking at handbags along the way. We arrived at the Duomo, a cathedral, which we would later run into by accident (pretty much the theme of our travels). Since it was late we could not go inside, but just the outside was great. It had such an ornate pattern.

After we continues walking and found a merry go round and a Italian band serenading a large group. We sat in the area for a bit and just enjoyed. Then we grabbed a quick dinner of kebabs the food of champions backpackers. After we headed to the grocery store to save a bit of money and ended up buying the dessert of the region: almond biscuits with a dessert wine. We had a bit of trouble getting the bottle open as the corkscrew we had was not very good. But overall, the dessert was good. The almond biscuits were the best part, could have just had those and been completely happy.

We then went to purchase our train tickets for the next few days so our adventures could continue.

Wednesday March 26^th-Day 6- Florence/Pisa

We woke up bright and early to make our reservation at the Galleria dell’ Accademia to see Michelangelo’s David. Okay that was amazing to me. So much larger and so much more detailed than I ever expected. It was a small gallery so there was not a ton else to see. But going just for that was worth it.

We then headed to the train station to get our train to Pisa. Once we got to the Leaning Tower of Pisa we took some of the usual photos with it (holding it up and all) and wandered the area for a bit before heading back to Florence where we met Jen’s Italian friends and bargained for a backpack for me since my duffel was already failing me. (Turns out that it probably would have been fine because Jen used it the rest of the trip to store everything she bought) But the backpack was worth it. It was so much easier to lug around.

We just looked wandered around the outdoor market before grabbing some quick food , heading in and playing cards. Another lesson: Always have a deck of cards. There are some nights when you are too tired to do anything else and they prove quite valuable when you are on a train or in need of a way to waste time in an airport.

Thursday March 27^th- Day 7- Venice

After catching our train from Florence to Venice, we arrived in a cold, wet Venice. Next lesson: Always have a map, especially a good one of Venice and if you get lost don’t be afraid to ask for help, but beware the nice tourist who thinks he is being helpful but in all actuality knows less than you.

After wandering around Venice, we finally found our B&B and grabbed some lunch. A calzone. . yum. Then I retraced our steps and got us back to the train station where we met some of Sarah’s friends from home, one of whom would be joining us for our Greece cruise. We went shopping for masks, went to Doge’s Palace, something I was excited for thanks to art history, and had some coffee/tea and a pastry before walking them back to the train station.

We then went in search of dinner and decided to go for a place with a set menu, which was actually very worthwhile. The owner seemed very nice and we asked him at the end where we could store our bags in the city and if he knew how much it would cost to do so at the train station for a few hours. He looked at us and told us he would store them in his back room for us for free and we could just drop them off in the morning. Umm . . sure?! Basically we took a poll and decided Venice was one of the friendliest cities.

Friday March 28^th- Day 8- Venice

We woke up and checked out of our hostel and dropped our bags off at the restaurant and spent the day wandering, picking up souvenirs, masks, postcards, and calling home. We had pizza at the same restaurant as a way to thank the owner and headed toward the train station to catch our over night train. Sadly the man had given us the wrong tickets, perhaps without knowing and instead of the couchettes we had requested, we were stuck in regular seats in a cabin for our long ride to Vienna. It was a long night, with very little sleep on my behalf.

Okay I’ve made it through the first week or so. . . Will continue with more shortly. Still ahead: Austria, Cezech Republic, more Italy, Greece, Germany, mystery country, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

P.S If you made it through this, you've read about half of the amount I had to write for my paper. . .which I should work on some more . . .

Roma

So with some spare time waiting for the girls to finish up in an internet cafe I decided to give you all an update. By the way, why isn't coffee served in an internet CAFE. . .why use the word cafe. . .

I moved out of my room Friday morning and spent the day with Sarah before we left for the airport. We go to the airport around midnight and slept there. ..or tried to. . .let's just say it was interesting. But at 430 a.m. we could check in so we did and our flight departed just after 6.

Upon our arrival, we were motioned through passport checks, which means no stamp for me. Strange. . . We then caught a bus to a metro stop and hoped on to the stop which would lead us to our first hostel. It was basically the spare rooms of a woman's apartment but was still cute.

Our first stop was the Vatican where we stood in line for about 3 hours to get inside because we wanted to see the Sistine Chapel. We made it just in time for the last entry: 4 p.m. So worth it! My highlights were: the Sistine Chapel (Adam and Eve and Giving the Keys to St. Peter), School of Athens, and these paintings that appeared to be 3 dimensional but weren't which were on the walls leading around the museum. . .

Time's up. . . Ill try to update again!

Finishing up February and what it coming up. .

Okay my apologies but this will be a quick run down of the last few weekends.


Feb 23rd-24th

I went to Wales with a tour group. It was an overnight trip and we got to stay in a hotel, which we took advantage of since we spent the night in watching TV instead of treking into town in the rain to go out. We saw lots of Wales since we drove around a ton. Got to see the Wales Museum of Welsh Life (yes thats the name) saw some more Abbey ruins and even had an opportunity to see Anthony Hopkins since he had just unveiled a statue that morning and was having lunch in the cafe of one of the castles (Caerphilly Castle). But we decided it wasn't worth waiting around for. . .
Overall it was a good weekend, but I officially burnt out on picture taking so there are not too many to job my memory.

My highlight of the weekend was going into a coalmine. We got all geared up and had a tour of the coal mine and got to hear some stories about it. It was really fun and something I never would have thought I would do.

On the way back we had a trivia game, but since most of us couldnt answer questions we kept getting prizes for getting it half right. I got 2 postcards and a key chain. SCORE!

The next weekend (Friday Feb 29-Monday March 3rd. . aka goodbye Feb. . ) I was headed to Brighton, but had a paper due on the day I got back so I worked hard all week and completed it! Just in time too because I was helping with a fundraising party for the swim team on Thursday night. We all put on our beach gear and put lots of fish and waves on the walls and raised a bit of money for our championships. But I woke up bright and early on Friday morning and caught the train to Brighton to be reunited with Nicole, my friend and ex-coworker from Berkeley who is studying at the University of Sussex- Brighton. She spoiled me by cooking me a lot of good meals and we had a nice relaxing weekend. We had a nice dinner on Friday night. Then on Saturday and Sunday two more girls who are studying at Warwick came down. So on Saturday we all went to this Italian place our director had taken the Brighton kids for lunch and then shopping and finally hit up the bowling alley (where we got IDed. . .to bowl?). I actually won. . imagine that. . although my score was still quite bad. Then the next day we went to the pier, ate some Chinese food (so good) and did a bit of shopping before heading home where we relaxed for a bit and then made dinner. Burrito night! California style! So much good food. The girls left early Monday morning but I stuck around until about 11 and then caught my train home and did some work before lecture.

Yay for a good weekend with a good friend!

The next week I had a lot to get done since it was the 3rd to last week of term. I caught up on some reading and started to organize my media paper. . .which is once again 4000-5000 words and worth 100% of my grade. But I organized a team social on Thursday night so took a break to have a bit of fun with my teammates. But then that weekend was dedicated to do reading for class and my paper.

Which brings us up to last week!
Let's see. . paper. . .paper. . .yep worked on my paper all week.
We had a friendly gala against another swim team on Tuesday night so that was fun but really it was all about getting ready for my swim competition. We left on Friday for Sheffield for the British University Championships. We stayed in some nice apartments since we booked our accommodation late. I shared a room with Lauren who is from Colorado but we shared the apartment with two of the guys since the girls couldnt all fit in one apartment. We went out as a team on Friday night and competed on Saturday afternoon for our division (3 since this is the first year we were a recognized team by the university). I swam in both the medley (of which I swam breaststroke) and freestyle relays, 100 meter free and 50 breast. Yes why breast? Im so horrible at it but I wasn't really given a choice. My times weren't too horrible considering I train for 2 hours a week. We then competed in the finals for our division on Sunday where I DQed the relay. Oops. . .and did worse than the day before but not by too much. We headed back Sunday night and ran into a bit of trouble with the trains since the doors closed on one of the girl's bag but we all got home and all had our stuff with us.

Basically this week has been stressful since I head off for my travels on Friday. I just got my first draft of my media paper out and still have to edit it a bit. I have reading to do for my bio psych class and am in the process of packing up my room and packing for the 4 weeks I will be traveling and all I have is one carry-on size duffel back. . . this should be interesting. I just got my final exam schedule and will be done on May 21st which gives me some time to go to the places I really wanted to go to but didnt fit in like Ireland and Madrid.

I also got my registration appointment for Berkeley but unfortunately the only 2 psych courses I know I need to take are at the same time. And since I dont know exactly how my courses here will factor in I might end up having to repeat a course. . .oy vey but Im hoping for the best and even though I got a bad appointment time at least it is once I am back in England so I don't need to stress about it while I travel.

So here is my schedule for the break:


Friday March 21st-leave for Airport
Saturday March 22nd- Depart for Rome @ 6 a.m.
Sunday March 23rd- Rome
Monday March 24th- Rome
Tuesday March 25th- AM Depart Rome for Florence
Wednesday March 26th- Florence
Thursday March 27th- AM Depart Florence for Venice
Friday March 28th- Venice PM Depart- take overnight train to Vienna
Saturday March 29th- Vienna
Sunday March 30th-Vienna
Monday March 31st-Prague
Tuesday April 1st- Prague
Wednesday April 2nd- Interlaken, Switzerland
Thursday April 3rd- Interlaken, Switzerland
Friday April 4th- Milan
Saturday April 5th- Milan Depart @ 6 p.m. to Athens, Greece
Sunday April 6th-Sunday April 13th- Greece cruise through easy cruise
Sunday April 13th- Depart Athens @ 6 pm to Munich
Monday April 14th- Munich
Tuesday April 15th- Munich to Berlin
Wednesday April 16- Berlin (celebrate my 21st birthday at midnight with a group of my friends!)
Thursday April 17- AM Depart from Berlin to Amsterdam
Friday April 18th-AM Depart from Amsterdam for Paris
Saturday April 19th- Paris
Sunday April 20th- Paris depart afternoon and take the Eurostar back to London



Monday April 21st-Sunday April 27th: Last minute editing of my paper and studying for final exams

Also my exam schedule

Thursday May 8th- Bio Psych exam
Friday May 9th- History- Politics of Postwar Europe Exam
Friday May 16th- Cognitive Psych Exam
Monday May 19th- Social Psych Exam
Wednesday May 21st- Personality Psych Exam

And then Im done! YAY!


I will try to keep you all updated as much as possible as I travel.

February may be a short month but it can fit in a lot Part 2

Okay here goes part 2. Unfortunately the internet is too shaky to load pictures, even takes ages to load them onto the internet in general, so at some point (cross your fingers) I can get some up in some form.

So I finished up Edinburgh (sadness. . .those were some good days) and now am moving onto the weekend of February 16th and 17th. I went on two separate day trips. Leeds Castle and Canterbury on Saturday and Oxford and the Cotswolds on Sunday.

So we left pretty early on Saturday and spent a few hours on the tour bus before arriving at Leeds Castle, which might I say is simply gorgeous. It is still used for celebrities and such to stay when there is an event. We had about 2 hours there. We walked through the grounds and saw hundreds of swans, ducks, and GREEN! Yes green in February. Once we arrived outside the castle (p.s. there's a golf course there; how cool would that be?!), a few of us (aka me and the other Californians who went) decided to hit the hedge maze first since we didnt know how long it would take us. After reading the info sheet, we saw that on average it takes 20 minutes for people to complete. Once inside, we decided to race, which scared me because let's face it, being trapped in a maze, not cool. . . Somehow though I managed to win and made it to the stone grotto in the center first (in about 10 minutes might I add) and watched the rest scurry around from my post (ah sweet victory. . .) After everyone completed the maze we headed into the groto which was really cool. There were mosaics, fountains, and a cool pathway which led us back out of the maze. We then headed to the castle. It was ridiculously large and it took us a good deal of time to wander through. What's nice about this castle is that it once belonged to a private family, but now belongs to Britain . It is surrounded by water, a man made moat, and since it was a nice sunny day the water spaw-kled (its better if you imagine a little british boy saying it). We could see the golfers as we approached the entrance. Once in, I was just in amazement. A lot of people liked the maze best, but just the immensity of this place and how it was furnished got me. I'm a sucker for interior design and some of the more modern rooms were just perfect. . .somehow. . .About half the castle was restored to look like it did back in the day and the other half modernized when it was purchased by a private family in the late 1920s.
One of the conference rooms was actually the site of a meeting between the Egyptian President and Israeli Foreign Minister for the preparation for Camp David Accords.
This place was amazing. There was a hot air balloon to get views of the grounds, a little train to take you up to the castle and peacocks!! Somehow that was really exciting to us.

So we got back into the bus and headed to Canterbury to see Canterbury Cathedral and spend some time in the town, after a lunch break, our tour guide led us to the Cathedral and we were able to look around for a bit before it closed. Now in all honesty I do love Cathedrals and Abbeys and all that, but they do start to look alike after a while. While Canterbury Cathedral reminded me of the one in York, it had its own personality that I really liked. We walked around the crypt portion, which is more like some seculded prayer areas and around the nave. And of course, the stained glass was one of my favorite parts, especially because the sun was out and when I rounded a corner I could actually see the colors of the glass reflecting on the wall. But it was a pretty quick visit that left us some time to look around the main street in town before heading home. We got home pretty early, which I'm not used to considering evry other tour I went on we have returned super late, but all in all it was a good day. I got some work done and rested up for the next day.

SUNDAY: We headed to one of the small towns in the Cotswolds, a popular vacation area for Englanders. It was a very sweet little town but there wasn't a lot to do. We walked around a bit, sat and watched the ducks, fed them a bit of muffin that my friend had brought along and hit up a candy shop before boarding the bus on the way to Oxford. Oxford was fun. We explored some of the buildings associated with the University including Radcliffe Camera, part of the Oxford Library, which was closed off and I didn't realize people could actually study in there until my friend Megan who studied there last fall filled me in. We saw St Marys Church but didn't get a chance to go to the top as recommeded by Megan. Our tour guide was a bit unorganized that day. He sent us off for our free time before we even got the opportunity to see what was around. But we did get to go into Christ Church, aka Harry Potter mania. Now I don't read or watch Harry Potter so I wasn't super excited, but what amazed me is that people actually eat in that dining hall. And that they have to wear appropriate attire if they go to dinner at a certain time. WOW! But most of Oxford was just a walking tour and a chance to grab some lunch. Then it was back on the bus for another early night home, which was good because I had a very long week, with Scotland and 2 tours and was in desperate need of some down time.

That week was a good week as well. One of the girls on my floor turned 19 so we had a little floor party to celebrate and all had to dress as our favorite things. I decided to dress as California/warm weather and threw on a pair of shorts and tanks top and began missing the warmness of California and the fact that I could wear that to work. We went to the Student Union all dressed as our favorite things and just had a good time hanging out and dancing. It was nice to bond with my floor mates.

I had a lot of work to get done during the week though because the very next weekend I was heading to Wales for the entire weekend!

More to come . . . stay tuned! (And once again I tried photos. . .sorry!)

February may be a short month but it can fit in a lot

Okay. . .once again I'm lagging so I will try to give a partial update at the very least. I've got lots of reading to do and need to start brainstorming for a paper but I will try to get you all as up-to-date as possible.

So on Sunday the 10th, I went to Scotland with several of the Californians. . .Edinburgh to be exact. The coach ride up there was interesting to say the least. There was confusion because there were two coaches and they were sending people every which way so by the time we got onto the right coach we were seated all the was in the back in the seats that don't recline. I was seated in the middle of the aisle next to some skinny guy who surprisingly took up a ton of space. So overall very uncomfortable. It was an overnight coach and I have no idea how I survived. But approximately 8.5 hours later we were in Edinburgh where the fog was ridiculous and it was freezing. We made out way to the hostel which was literally just next to Edinburgh Castle. We sat on the big comfy leather couches and I slept a little bit. We then went out to explore a bit before the others who were coming from Liverpool met us. Spent some time in the National Gallery and wandering through the old and new town.
Edinburgh is divided into Old Town and New Town. Basically Old Town is about a mile long and has the Royal Mile running through it and less than a mile wide, so they expanded Edinburgh to include new town which is more modern and has all the shops and such you would expect any town to have.
So after meeting the others, we checked into our room, which was Happy Days themed. My bed was Potsy. . .who I could not remember for the life of me. I guess Potsy was kind of a dork who wore glasses? It was actually a nice place. We had the room to ourselves everynight but the 1st.

(okay I wrote a huge amount. . .and then my computer froze and as a result I lost it all. I will try my hardest to remember what I wrote)
After, we ventured out once again. We walked down the Royal Mile popping into shops and small museums along the way including a ridiculously good fudge shop that offered free samples. The Royal Mile ends at a palace, which was under construction, so we went to the nearby park area and hung out for a bit before trekking back to our room. We grabbed some dinner at a nearby pub and then headed out to Grassmarket (one of the main streets which houses a ton of restaurants and pubs and was known for the murders that 2 men, who sadly I cannot remember the names of, which shouldn't be this hard, back in the day). We did a mini-pub crawl to get acquainted with the area. But overall called it an early night.

Day 2. Tuesday Feb 12-
We woke up and got some food in our systems before heading out for our free walking tour. We went all along the Royal Mile and the streets surrounding it. Our tour guide was really good so of course we tipped her. Even though we had been on our feet for close to 4 hours, we decided to hike up to King Arthurs Seat, the highest point which offers absolutely gorgeous views of the city. We spent about 45 minutes at the top and then as the sun set we decided to take a shortcut which looked like a path but wasn't. It was just rocks and dirt, which would have been easier to climb up. So at then end of it my jeans and shoes were covered in dirt from a few falls, but it was fun. We then trekked back up the Royal Mile to our hostel to quickly wash up a bit. Then we headed to dinner. I was craving Indian so we went to this nice Indian place on Grassmarket and ate everything they put in front of us. I think the cook saw us devour the food, because he came out and asked how we liked it. It was definitely worth the money.

Then while some others went exploring, Sarah and I called it a night and just relaxed in the hostel for a bit.

Day 3. Wed Feb 13

We wanted to go see the castle, but it was too expensive (no student prices!) so we went for a walk around new town instead. We ate lunch in Princes Gardens and waited for a shot that is fired everyday from the castle at 1 p.m. Since we couldnt see the procession, we decided to sit below the castle and wait for the shot. And just when we thought we must have missed it, it went off unexpectedly and made me jump a bit. We spent the rest of the day wandering around new town and going to museums. And then we went to the Elephant House, the cafe where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter and had some tea and chatted for about an hour. We then went back to the hostel and rested a bit before we went to a comedy club to see some stand-up. The first act was really funny, and we understood most of his jokes. The second act had a much heavier accent and tended to mumble so most of what he said flew right over our heads but it was a nice outing. We then found a place to grab a bite to eat since we had been rushed before and headed back to the hostel

Day 4 Thur Feb 14 . . . good bye Edinburgh.

This was pretty much an independent exploration and shopping day. We all got some souvenirs and then ate a late lunch. I went with one of the girls exploring the little known streets of Edinburgh. We went to the grocery store and got a box of chocolates for everyone for Valentines Day and then headed the the hostel to collect our things. We grabbed some sandwichs to eat on the train and headed for the station. The train > the coach. BY FAR!

The train ride was long but I spent most of it talking to Rebekah who was my seat mate. About half way through we went to find the others to give them their chocolate. Once back to London we grabbed our train home and I slept for a long time. . .

Okay. . I tried to upload some of my pictures but my internet couldn't stay on for long enough for them to load. . .so I will have to find some other way. . .

I will write more later as this took way longer than expected thanks to the internet and my freezing computer.

Up next: Leeds and Canterbury Castle, Oxford and the Cotswolds as well as my weekend in Wales.

Massive Update Time

Hello all,

Ive gotten a few requests for an update. . .and Im sorry I didn't do it sooner. It just seems so daunting. I once again do not have many pictures because I have not loaded them all onto my computer or have not had my camera with me and therefore depend on others for pictures. . .but let's get started, shall we?

So to continue with the Wednesday "let's do tourist-y things" theme: I went to Windsor Castle on Jan 23rd. It was really nice. I saw the State Apartment, went into the abbey, basically just had a good time. It was really windy and would sprinkle every so often so it was nice when we were indoors. I think the biggest shocker was the Dollhouse. Sarah and I almost didn't go in because let's face it. . .dollhouses don't really make me jump for joy. But this one was ridiculous. It was massive with every single detail just right. Really really overwhelming. . .just that people have that much money to spare and say "hey let's build a massive dollhouse. . .with real marble floors. . .". But the size of the housekeeper and servants' rooms was really depressing. The Queen's closet was 10 times the size of their entire room, heck so was her bathroom. But all in all a good day was had. We went shopping for a bit after and picked up a few good deals. I got some waist belts so that I can make my black dress a little more versatile considering I've worn in about 4 or 5 times already.

That night I had a swim social, which was fun. Its always nice to hang out with a group like that.

Okay. . .sidenote: I tried uploading some pictures but the internet here isn't good enough to get them up. . .my apologies. .
Here's the one I managed to get:

Just part of Windsor Castle.

So that weekend I wrote my personality psychology paper. . .too bad after I submitted it on Tuesday the 29th since it was due this past Monday. . .I got an email slightly changing it and then an email extending the deadline two weeks to Feb 18th because they couldnt manage to get everyone who lead tutorials on the same page and kept telling us to get articles that no one could actually access. . . oh England. . .how organized you are. So yea now I have to do some more work on that this weekend. . .because I'm going to be very busy . . .And I thought I was doing well by getting ahead of the game.

Anyway, the Saturday after Windsor I went with some of the girls on my floor to one of the campus pubs because they play dance music on Saturdays and have a dance floor, which is fun. I ended up entering a raffle for a snowboard and actually won it. I wasn't sure about that for awhile but found out for sure on Tuesday of this week. Its actually pretty sweet. But it is just the board and no bindings. I could sell it or keep it as a giant souvenir but it would be a pain to get back home. For now, it sits in the box in my room. (I have some pictures but they are still on my camera . . .I know, I'm slow.)

Last week, the 28th- Feb 3rd was pretty busy. I had to get a lot of work done because I was going to be away for the weekend. I succeeded and was even able to spend my Wednesday out, except not doing touristy things. We decided we needed to shop so Sarah, Jennifer and I went to Staines, the next town over and did some serious shopping. I got pretty much everything on my list and spent about 50 pounds in total, which included lunch out, my bus ticket, and a nice dinner to eat when I came home. I got a snowboarding jacket, aka waterproof and warm, for 10 pounds from T.K. Max (yes it is the same as T.J. Max). It was originally 70 pounds there and over 100 in a retail store, so SCORE! I also got a pair of red wine colored boots that were originally 45 pounds for just 13 pounds that will come in handy because they are waterproof, unlike my faux suede ones from Target. Those were my too major finds of the day. Other than that it was a lot of. . ."Oh yea. . .I ran out of this. . "

Once I was home, I enjoyed my chicken and mushroom risotto and sundae I purchased in Staines and hung out with some of my floormates.

So now Im up to my travels. This past weekend, I went with a tour group to York and N. England. We went to York Minster and Little Betty's, a bakery known for their Fat Rascals, a type of scone, which is actually very good. That night we went to a pub to grab a cheap dinner before we went on a ghost walk. It was kind of lame, but I don't believe in that stuff anyway. Our "guide" was really nice, and it was some cheap entertainment so I really can't complain. We then headed back to our hostel and played some card games before heading to bed. We woke up bright and early on Sunday and headed to Fountain Abbey, which was gorgeous. Its all ruins, but the grounds were really nice. There was a garden, can't remember the name of it now, that I really wanted to go to while there, but we weren't really given enough time to do so. So a few of us just attempted to take jumping pictures. . .I failed miserably, mostly because I knew I would fall. We then headed to Haworth to see the home of the Bronte sisters, which was really interesting. I felt bad though, our tour guide the whole way there was telling us about their brother who was an opium addict and an alcoholic. Wow. . .your sisters are known for being great writers and you are known for your drug habit. . . that would be depressing. Once again we were short on time, so we didn't go to the Moors. Instead we hit a pub, one of the brother's favorites supposedly, and had a late lunch before we headed back. Oy sooooo much time in that tour bus. I was sore by the time we got back but really wanted to head to the campus pub to watch the Super Bowl, until I found out they wanted to charge 4 pounds. . . geez. . . so I opened up some Peanut Butter M&Ms and showed my American pride that way.

So that brings us to this very week.
Tuesday was a great day, especially after my depressing Superbowl Sunday night. I had a presentation in the morning for my film class, so I went an hour late (aka an hour more sleep) because I just watched the film and it was really strange and gory. Then during the seminar I gave my presentation with a friend. We did "excellent" according to our tutor. Yay! Then I grabbed some lunch, but it was Pancake Tuesday (aka Crepe Tuesday), so I grabbed a crepe. . .not as good as Crepes a Go Go in Berkeley, but still satisfying. I then went to claim my snowboard, which Millie actually did for me because the contest was only open to UK residents, but they didnt actually check. They went in the back to verify the ticket number and then came out with a box containing my snowboard! So exciting! Later I got an email saying my documentary film paper was ready to be picked up. I was a little concerned, because I was having a good day and didn't want to ruin it, but I went down to the office anyway. I got just shy of the highest group of marks, but it is still an A back home, and since the paper was 100% of my grade I should get an A in the class as long as the second grader agrees with my score and my presentation for that class was okay. Which reminds me, I did well on my psychology papers from last term as well, 2 As . . .but those are worth 25% of my total grade. So overall Tuesday was a good day.

On Wednesday, aka yesterday, I did some reading before heading to Camden Markets with Sarah and Jennifer. We did a little window shopping for about an hour and a half before we headed to meet with our director for our registration meetings. After our meetings we hung out for a bit with some of the other girls on the couches in the basement of California house, where our meetings were held. We talked about Super Tuesday and politics and if we would come back to Europe for grad school or a career. Just enjoying the company. We then headed to a Turkish restaurant and had a lot of appetizers and some good food. Mine was only okay. I got a chicken dish that wasn't very flavorful, but it smelled good. Since we didn't get dessert there, we went to Baskin Robbins and each got a scoop before heading back to school. Once back at school I quickly got ready to meet some of the swim team at the Student Union for an athlete-type night. We had a lot of fun just listening to cheesy music that the Brits love so much, until my friend Emily got hurt. I saw her dancing and then on the floor so I ran over. She had knocked her knee somehow, so with the help of security and our friend Craig we got her up to her room. I stayed up with her until about 5:30 this morning. We decided not to go the hospital because we knew nothing was broken and there was no fluid building up in her knee. So she knocked on my door this morning at about 10. . .about 3-3.5 hours of sleep for me last night. . and I helped her down to the health centre. But since they couldn't get her in to see a doctor until 3 p.m., they called a taxi to come get us and take her to the ER (what the Brits call the A&E for Accidents and Emergencies). I ran up to my room to grab my book I needed to read as a friend helped her down the the reception area and then we were on our way. It was actually pretty empty so we weren't there for long. The doctor determined that nothing was broken or majorly injured, just soft tissue. She recommended that she try to walk on it to help it heal faster since we have a competition in a week and a half. We got back to campus around noon and then things calmed down a bit. My day became my usual Thursday with my 4-6 p.m. Biological Psychology lecture with the teacher who hates everyone. . . hes always such a grump. But tonight they had Chinese for Chinese New Year and it actually wasn't that bad.

On Sunday I head to Scotland. I'll return Thursday night. And then I am off to Leeds and Canterbury on Saturday the 16th and Oxford and the Cotswolds the next day.

So I better get my reading done and work on that paper some more.


Hope you all are doing well. I miss everyone a ton!

Now if only my internet would reconnect so I can post this. . .