Eastern Europe

Sorry for the long delay... this semester is almost half way through!! It's crazy how fast these past months have flown by. 

The semester started out wonderful. Moved into a new apartment right by the Ponte Vecchio. We had some fun roomie bonding the first weekend back. 

The following weekend my roommate Anna and I decided to go on a spur of the moment trip to Prague. Really cool place and amazing night life. The first day there we did a walking tour of the city and then had some time to explore on our own. We ended up going to this little restaurant and ordered a platter called a pork\ knuckle and this is literally how it came out...

It was delicious!! That night we ended up going on a pub crawl with some people we met in our hostel. The next day we ended up going on another walking tour up to the castle district where we saw a really pretty cathedral and amazing views. We also hit up the John Lennon Wall and Charles Bridge.That night we decided to go on a beer tasting around the city and tasted the first Pilsner made. An interesting fact about beer, you are supposed to have a two finger head on the beer, that means it is a good quality and people get irritated if there isn't. Strange to think that in the states it is the exact opposite. One really cool thing about Prague was that a lot of the bars we went to were underground and when they were excavating them they found skulls because it was a burial place for the people who had the black plague. Traveling, learning, and having fun all at the same time!

A few weekends later, Anna and I decided to go to Budapest. Again, we ended up doing a walking tour of the city and snapped some pictures of the foggy views.

An interesting fact about Budapest is that it was originally two cities. On one side of the river it was called Buda and on the other side of the river it was called Pest. After a long exhausting walking tour, we headed over to the baths where we got to relax. The baths is a huge complex.The center is all open and has two big pools the temperature of hot tubs. Inside, there are many different small baths. Some were mineral baths, some cold, even one for aerobics. There were also different types of saunas. The first one that we decided to go into last about 5 seconds. Come to realize the temperature was 30-40 degrees Celsius that is around 105 degrees in Fahrenheit! We did come to enjoy some other saunas though, a mint one and a UV one. After a few hours in the baths we decided we deserved a treat and got full body messages. That night we ended up going out to this kick ass bar/club/shisha/restaurant called Simpla. If you ever go to Budapest go here... you will never find another place like it. We ended up hanging out with our friend Tom who we had met in Prague. That is one thing I love about staying in hostels. You meet people from all over and most of them with the same mindset, chill, down-to-earth people who are just enjoying life as it comes along. It's how I've come to meet some amazing people.

After our two trips, I decided to lay low for a bit and enjoy Florence. This coming up week my friend Ryen is coming to stay with me and we are going to head down to Rome for the weekend. Then I am off to Greece for Spring Break!! 

London Love

Before heading back to Florence for my second semester, I decided to go on a small adventure to the oh so beautiful London.

Soaring before dawn. Glimmers of orange twinkling through the mist of clouds. A picturesque image appearing like the northern lights. A sense of home settled within me. I fell in love, and that was just the beginning.

Day 1: Finally the day has arrived, my dream has come true, I am now in London!
Day 2: Esther, her daughter, Aaron, and I decided to start off the day right and go out to a pub. We went to the Wellington where I had my first London brewed beer. We continued our journey to see the London Eye and London Aquarium.

 

Day 3: The official start to my sight seeing. Esther and I started off with a 45 minute journey to Nottinghill. Such a pretty area! We walked down Portobello Road checking out all the markets and ended up talking to an owner of an antique shop who had been around since the film Nottinghill was shot and gave us the DL on the movie. Of course being a tourist, we had to go check out all the spots. We ended up going to the bookstore where part of the film was shot, which is actually a shoe store now. We then went to the bookstore in which the store from the movie was based off of. And across from there was the blue door, which in fact isn't the original blue door. The original one is now somewhere in the middle east. After Portobello Road, Esther left me to my travels and on I went. Now, side note, I am used to Florence where, on a map, everything looks far away yet in reality it is all extremely close. London however is not like that, and this girl did not take the tube once during the day. From Portobello Road, I headed out to Kensington Palace and garden area where I had a little picnic by the lake. I came across Royal Albert Hall and after snapping a few shots, carried on to the Victoria and Albert Museum. By far my favorite museum out of all the ones I went to, and trust me, I would know considering I meandered around six of them! I went at the perfect time because they had a temporary exhibition on the decades of fashion. They also had a amazing jewelry collection. After the museum, I headed down Brompton Road. I decided to take a "short cut" in order to get to Buckingham Palace and failed miserably. Coming to realize I was at the backside and had to walk around the entire palace area. As much as the palace is a hot spot for tourists, the architecture is, no offense, lame. The best part is the gold fencing on the front part. It is though a cool view from the large fountain in front of it. From Buckingham Palace, I walked through Saint James Park. I ended my days taking some great pictures of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey during the evening skies.

 

 

Day 4: As you can probably tell from Day 3, I was a tad bit exhausted from walking everywhere but that did not stop me from walking everywhere yet again. Honestly though, it is the best way to get to know a city. You happen upon so many un-expecting sights and getting lost is the fun of it. I started my day where they change the guards although, I did not get a chance to see it. From there I walked up to Trafalgar Square, which is a cool area with a fountain and arch. One of my favorite things about London is how they built the new buildings around the old architecture and really adapted to the surroundings of history. The National Galley is also in that area and is where I headed to next. There, I saw some paintings by Monet as well as other impressionists. I also ate lunch there and had delicious pumpkin soup and quiche, of course with a cup of English tea. After my lunch date for one, I headed back out to Trafalgar Square and checked out a church called St. Martins in the Field, turns out though they were having a service while I was trying to sight see. At this point, I decided to head to the south side of the river. I walked across the Waterloo Bridge where I snap a kick ass selfie of me and the London Eye. It was a really pretty view from there, I could also see Big Ben. I took a little stroll down the river and ended up at the Tate Modern Museum. After the museum I journeyed across the Millennium bridge which gave me another gorgeous view of the London Tower Bridge as well as St. Paul's Cathedral.

 

 

Day 5: Esther re-joined me today for my first true English Breakfast at Fox & Anchor. I highly recommend this. It was a chill little hide away pub. The breakfast was strange, beans & toast, eggs, black pudding, sausage, tomato, mushroom, and ham. As strange as it sounds it was delightful! Due to cold weather, we came to the conclusion that we would warm ourselves up with a shot of Rum. Today was my day of museums; I needed about three more of those shots. I started at the British Museum. Don't go. For all my Kansas people out there, it is exactly like the Nelson Art Gallery. They only interesting part for me was seeing architecture from the Parthenon and archeology from different parts of the UK. The main reason why I enjoyed it was because Freshman year of college, I took History of Architecture both semesters. It is one thing to learn about things, but its another to actually see it in person. That's what was amazing, having the knowledge and then seeing it first hand, and that's practically with everything I have gotten to see traveling. I then went to another museum called Sir John Soan's. This I would recommend because it's not your a-typical museum, it's a guys house. I would however do some background research on it though because I was a little lost in the matter and didn't want to pay 5 pounds for a brochure. After two museums, I was in need of some coffee. Ended up at this cute little café and had another good quiche. I bet you can't guess where I went next! Ding ding ding... The Courtyard Gallery. I was a little disappointed in the gallery. It was a very small and many of the exhibits were closed off. My favorite part was the free photography exhibition that was being showed, they were all portrait shots of famous actors and actresses. Came across an interesting question that I'll share as some food for thought for you today " Do you think we choose the times into which we are born? Or do we fit the times we are born into?"

 

Day 6: As much as it pains me to say this, I went no where and it was wonderful! That night, Esther, Aaron, and I ventured out to a Lebanese restaurant for dinner where we watched some belly dancers preform. Following dinner we went to a shisha bar and smoked for awhile. Met an interesting fellow there who was a professional when it came to the cause. Brilliant on the shisha matter, he turned us on to an apple and mint mixture. For any that do smoke shisha, you will not regret it. We ended our night at a bar playing pool.

 

Day 7: Esther and I decided to make our way back to Portobello Road to do a little shopping. While there, we happened upon an Organic Café. Amazing fish & chips as well as salmon cakes (yep salmon, not crab). Later on that night we got dressed up and spent a night on the town in Leister Square. Pub then club.

 

Day 8: Saturday. We had all these plans to actually make it out of bed, however, it didn't go as smoothly as we anticipated. Fast forward to dinner at Nandos. This place is brilliant! I wish they were in America. Its a grilled chicken place where you can order a 1/4, 1/2, full, sandwich, wrap, pita, salad. You also get to pick your sauce for your chicken which they specialize in. Great, easy, simple and healthy option when you don't want to cook at home. Popping a little champagne to start the night, we decided to head out to Essex to do a little partying. Needless to say it was an interesting scene. To give you an idea, Essex is to London as New Jersey/Jersey Shore is to New York City. Ended up enjoying ourselves anyways though.

 

Day 9: Sunday is the time to go to the Camden Markets and that is exactly what we did. As soon as we go there we hit up a little Pub that was real chill. Had yet again some good sweet potatoes & salmon cakes. After some much needed energy, off we went to the markets. Camden Markets were HUGE! I was not expecting it to be as much as it was. It is hard to explain, you just need to go and see for yourself. Overall fun day just walking around!

Day 10: Flight back to Florence =(

10 days in London was far too little for me. I could spend a lifetime there and it still wouldn't be enough. By far my favorite place I have been to and a bit of that could have to do with the fact that i had such great company! I want to say how grateful I am to have met Esther in Florence last semester. We met walking about the city one night, both looking for a club to head to. We hung out for two nights in Florence and hit it off, ending it with a come visit me in London. I can now say I have a new amazing friend!

I was sad to leave London but know I will be back again soon.

My apologize for the long post but I hope you all feel like you have experienced a sliver of London while reading!

Next to come: New Semester, New Roommates, New Adventures.

Salute

Its been awhile since I have posted something! What's been going on the past month may you ask? Well absolutely nothing... traveling wise. I have been enjoying every inch of Florence and each weekend I stumble across something new. This city truly is a wonderful place and I am finally able to call it my home away from home. It probably doesn't help that I have met some wonderful people here.

A new friend of mine explained to me who she is. She said she did not consider herself one person but she is made up of all the people she meets. And each person has taught her something and she embraces a part of every person she meets.That is who she is.

Study abroad is so much more than being able to travel around and see places, places that other people would kill to go to. It is more than getting away from Kansas. At the beginning of my adventure, those two aspects were all I thought about. Now though, I have come to experience so much more than that. Of course, I have learned a lot from school and traveling, but most of what I have learned is through all the beautiful people that I have been fortunate to come across. You meet people who beat to your own drum and you meet people who don't. You also meet people who have a beat all to their own. But, each and every person teaches you something about life as well as about yourself. The more people I meet the more I am finding myself. Or maybe instead of finding, I am creating.

It has been hard, being away from my family and friends but it has all been worth it. I have grown as a person due to all these new people. Everyone has a unique story. It's breathe taking to be able to hear about so many other people's lives and how much they differ from mine but I am proud to say meeting them has altered mine.

Salute Tutti!

Weekend Getaways

One of the best things about living anywhere in Europe is how easy it is to travel. You can get a cheap flight or train ride for a day trip or even a weekend trip. A few weekends ago a group of us girls decided to head to Pisa for the day. And of course we had to do the touristy Leaning Tower of Pisa pictures...

 

The past two weeks my Mom and Mike came to visit me- I think I gained 10 pounds while they were here because of all the amazing food we had! We went to Venice for a weekend. It is definitely a lot different than Florence. You have to take water taxi's everywhere or walk; lets just say cars are a foreign concept over there. All the people who live there own a small boat and have garages for them. The buildings are literally built right on the water, most don't even have walk ways in between. It was very pretty though. Crazy to think that it is slowly sinking year by year and soon will be like Atlantis. Despite it raining every day, we had a fun time just wondering around and getting lost. We ate at a place called Harry's where they invented the bellini which is sparkling wine and peach juice. If you are ever in Venice you'll have to go there or at least get the drink somewhere. We also had the best pizza ever! Now you can't forget dessert now can you? Had tiramisu for the first time, delicious! So, in the end, we pretty much ate our way through Venice and then continued it back to Florence. Had the best steak ever in Florence at Aqua al 2. It was covered in blueberry sauce and blueberries.
 

Overall, it was wonderful to see them and so glad they got to come visit!! Can't wait to see everyone in December! Love you and miss you all! XOXOX

 

P.S. 47 more days till I make my way back across the Atlantic

Drinking the Weekend Away

If there is one advice of mine that you should follow it is to go to Munich and go to Oktoberfest. As soon as we got to Munich, I fell in love with the city. It is beautiful. It is a mixture of old architecture and new. After another bus ride, only 8 hours this time, my friend Rachel and I went out to explore. We ended up at a costume shop and bought dirndl's, the traditional outfit for women, for Oktoberfest, which I also recommend. Definitely makes the experience. We spent the entire day wondering around, checking out the shops and all the old historical buildings. There was this huge walking strip that no cars could go down. It was full of shops and restaurants and churches on either side and vendors in the walkway. We walked that to the end and then decided to keep exploring. We came upon this beautiful castle when deciding to turn around.

 

 

 We ended up getting lost on our way back and just decided to stop and get something to eat at a random restaurant. Best decision ever! It was a cute and cozy little pub. The menu of course was all in German. We ended up pointing to a random dish and hoped for the best. We also got our first German beer here. The food that we ordered was delicious.

 

 

After we eventually found our way back, we went on Frankie's Bike Tour, which I also recommend doing. We road bikes all around town and learned the history behind all the buildings we saw earlier. At the end of the tour, they took us to the Beer Garden. Rachel and I ended up splitting a curry sausage that was also amazing and of course had a beer. On our bike tour we also got to see the Munich surfers. There is a stream that runs through this huge park, which a nude park during the warm months. In this one part of the stream, people can surf.

 

 

The next day was Oktoberfest time. A group of us went to the fair grounds at 7 am and stood in line till 9 am. Finally, we got into the tent at 9 but didn't end up getting served beer until 1. After that it just went downhill from there, or uphill depending on the way you look at it! Since it was opening ceremony, the mayor tapped the keg at noon and that is when the beer was served. Our server was a beast! It was an older lady that could carry 12 steins full of beer at a time. She would come around to each table and drop them off. For any of you wondering, the stein holds 1 liter of beer which is equivalent to 3 beers. However, in Germany the alcohol content level in beer is higher, therefore it was equivalent to 4 American beers. Sam had 3.5 liters of beer, you do the math!

I'll give you a picture of what the fair grounds looked like. There are tons of tents throughout the whole ground area. I am talking about tents that can hold thousands of people. We were in the Hofbrau tent and it held almost 7,000 people. Inside the tents are picnic tables that are literally right next to each other. You have to climb on the tables if you wanted to go walk around. The tables were in the middle and along the outer edges were vendors that you could get food from. In the tent we were in, there was an upstairs. The upstairs was the reserved areas. There are 14 of these tents, all selling different beers. Throughout the fair grounds were different food vendors and games and rides, just like any other fair. We were in the tent from 9 am to 9 pm. Rachel and I decided to go walk around and check the grounds out. We ended up riding the Farris wheel and swing ride. The swing ride not only swung us around but also went up, probably as high as the Farris wheel. After 3.5 liters of beer it was a blast! Luckily we found our way back to the hostel and I ended up passing out in my dirndl and boots still on. Personally, I do not know how people can handle a whole weekend, let alone three weeks there.

Here is a little history behind Oktoberfest. The first Oktoberfest was held in the year 1810 in honor of the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig's marriage to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The festivities began on October 12, 1810 and ended on October 17th with a horse race. The events were eventually moved to September. By moving the festivities up, it allowed for better weather conditions. Because the September nights were warmer, the visitors were able to enjoy the gardens outside the tents and the stroll over "die Wiesen" or the fields much longer without feeling chilly.

 

The next day was a more serious matter. A group of us took a train ride to Dachau in order to see the concentration camp. It was a very humbling experience. I wish we had had more time to actually let it all sink in. Definitely another must if you ever go to Munich.

 

Overall, I would go back to Munich in a heartbeat, and not just for Oktoberfest either. It was by far the best weekend that I have had since I have been abroad!