SPRING BREAK 2010 : Greece

For spring break we decided to go to Greece. We went through this program called EuroAdventure. One of the main guys is Sean's friend from college.

We left March 26th, which was a friday, and headed to Rome. Our group was leaving from Rome Saturday morning so we went a day before to make sure we weren't late. Well we had to get a hostel and the only one we found that good reviews was way outside of Rome and it was called Tiber hostel and camping. We show up there and it looks a lot like Sun Lakes and we weren't quite sure what we have gotten ourselves into, but thankfully our room was nice and we were staying in a 6 person room and the two other people were a mom and daughter from mount si. We got normal people which was nice. Its always a little bit of a risk going into a room with more people than we know, but so far both times have turned out just fine. After putting our stuff in our room we went to their restaurant and got some dinner. In the middle of dinner a waiter who wasn't originally waiting on us comes and brings us a desert menu and inside the menu is a note from the "staff". it was asking us if we wanted to hang out after they were all done working. When we replied to their note our waiter and the waiter who gave the note to us seemed to not know what we were talking about so we were all really confused. So after checking our emails and letting my mom know I was alive we all went to bed.

On Saturday we woke up at 730 took freezing showers and non of us had towers so we had to use our sheets from our beds to dry off. We checked out at 8 and then headed for Termini the main metro/train/ bus terminal in Rome. That is where we were suppose to meet our group at 930. We got into Rome around 9 and still needed to take out money, get food for the bus ride, and find our group. Since all 4 of us had bags and then we all checked on really big bag kat and erin sat with their bags and the checked bag while me and tenessa ran through Termini like wild women trying to find everything and make it back on time. We wanted to buy some alcohol for the week so it would be cheaper. Every person we asked where they sold alcohol got really confused and thought we were talking about water. Finally we found someone in a mcdonalds that told us to go to a grocery store which was perfect because we still needed food and snacks for the bus ride. We are running around with our backpacks on hands full of food and drinks. I felt like I was on the amazing race. We made it back to the bus just in time to board. On the bus we got the 4 seats that had a table and a tv screen hanging in front of us. It was so nice because we could actually sleep on what they said was a 3 hour bus ride but in all reality it is a 6 hour bus ride, plus we were the only bus that go to watch movies. The ride to the port though was really pretty, or at least what i saw when i was awake. We went through a mountain range and then on the other side was the beautiful Italian coast line. The water was so blue and the sun was out it was just beautiful. After 6 hours of being trapped on a bus we finally made it to the port. As we were just about to get on the boat we saw our friend Jacey who was just getting off the boat from the week before in Greece. It was a pleasant surprise and we got to here a little bit what our trip was going to be like. She just told us to prepare ourselves for the boat ride because we didn't have a cabin. As we got on the ship and saw where we would be sleeping none of us got excited. It looked like a really large airplane. With just rows of chairs and a luggage space. After being squished on a bus this was the last place i wanted to sleep but there wasn't much we could do. Our boat ride to Greece was 15 hours and we boarded at like 330 and the boat was leaving at 430, so we had quite sometime on the boat. It was actually a lot of fun. The boat was filled with all sorts of people. Truck drivers, families, a bunch of kids from Italy and Greece, and then all of us college kids. We all took over the back deck, brought out music, and just had fun all hanging out. Later that night they opened the discotec on the boat and that was so entertaining. there were these truck drivers that were just loving all the American girls there. You could tell this was the highlight in their life. It was so entertaining to watch. After awhile we all got tired and went back to our "bed" the lovely chairs and attempted to fall asleep. I ended up just sleeping on the floor until some drunk girl stomped on my head by accident. what a great night sleep.

After we docked on Sunday we found out that we had to take an 8 minute walk, which was more like a 15 minute walk to get on another ferry which was going to take us to Corfu. The ferry ride wasn't that bad. It was an hour and half but it was really pretty because we were passing a lot of islands on the way and it was way more comfortable than the boat ride before. We were finally in CORFUUU! we went to the pink palace, that is where we were staying, we checked into our rooms, and then everyone headed down to the water. They had a really large hot tub which was more like a small luke warm pool, they had lounging areas, a restaurant, and beach so it was a lot of fun. Everyone just laid out there all day. The weather was great so after taking a nice nap in the sun i was refreshed for the night. That night we just had dinner at the hotel and then where we have dinner turns into a bar afterwards so everyone just hung out and had a good time. Halfway through the night these greek dancers came out and put on a show for us. It was really cool.

On Monday we woke up to the beautiful sun shinning so we all headed down to the beach again. That day a lot of the other kids who were staying there went atving or went on a booze cruise so the pool area was not as crowded and it was nice to just lay out again. I got pretty sunburned on Monday. None of us brought sunscreen which probably wasn't a good idea and the sun down in Greece is way more intense than anything I am use to, but it is now a tan so I am okay with it hah. Monday night was the famous toga party. After laying in the sun all day we went and got our like pink togas, which looked really good with our sunburns ... not, and went to our rooms to attempt to try and make a toga somehow. all they gave us was a large piece of fabric and they told us we couldn't cut them if we wanted our money back. It was rather interesting but we figured it out after about an hour and then headed down to dinner. Every night they provided us dinner and they were all really good. After dinner once again the room turned into a bar and everyone was ready to have a good time. After awhile they did some more traditional greek things for the toga party. Well when cara went to the pink palace last semester they used her to crack a stack of plates over her head, so of course i thought that i should do that also. So when they were asking for volunteers to have that done i immediately jumped up to do it. Well to start you off they give you 5 shots of ouzo which is some local Greece liquor which is absolutely disgusting. It tasted like black licorice. After taking those shots they drop a stack of plates over your head. It hurt a little bit but the next day my head was fine so thats a good sign. Other things they did beside smash plates on my head where they lit a chair of fire and then some guy put it in his mouth. They danced some more and then lit a lot of things on fire and did tricks with them. It was a good last night in Corfu.

Tuesday morning everyone wanted to go on the booze cruise but knowing how i get seasick and considering I drank the night before i thought it would be in my best interest to do something else. Two of my friends were going ATVing so i decided to join them. We got the ATVs for 6 hours so we had a lot of fun doing that. Corfu is actually a pretty big island so we never made it to Corfu town, but we found a little town and got some lunch there. Since it is still their winter season for a few more weeks a lot of things are closed in Corfu so it took us a couple of trys to find a restaurant to eat at but we finally did. I wasn't that into the food, but food is food so I ate it. I really liked the stuffed peppers we had, but we got this lasguna/ pasta thing that i really didn't like but thats fine. After lunch we asked our waiter what his favorite beach was and he told us so we went on an adventure to try and find it. We thought we found this off road short cut, but at the very end of the road it was blocked off so we had to turn around and go on the main street. But the off road trail we took had a lot of mud so get got stuck a ton of times. By the time we made it back to the top my friend Ian was completely covered in mud from pushing our ATVs out of the mud. It was really funny. The beach was awesome. There was no one on the beach except for this old man in a speedo going for a little jog. The sand was so soft and it felt good to just lay and listen to the waves. I miss the beach sooo much. After laying there for awhile we decided to find one more beach before heading home. We went to this other beach, but by the time we got there it started sprinkling just a little bit so we didn't stay there long. We got a little lost on the way home, but we finally found our way back to the pink palace. we were leaving tuesday night to head to athens so when we got back we packed up, had dinner, and then all got back on the buses which took us to the ferry that took us back to the main land. After the ferry we got back on the buses for a 9 hour over night bus ride. needless to say that was one of the worst night sleeps i think i have ever had.

Wednesday morning we woke up in Athens. Much to my surprise Athens was one of the nastiest places I have ever been. everyone told me it was dirty but i was not expecting that. When we got to our hotel we were too early to check in, Tom, the Sean's friend who was in-charge of our hotel because we had 3 in Athens, took us on a walking tour. We went to the city hall, the national gardens of athens, the olympic stadium, zeus' temple, and the acropolis. It was so cool to see all those things. I have heard about them all my life and then to finally see them in person was awesome. After our tour me and Tenessa stopped and got some food and then headed back to the hotel to lay out for the rest of the day. We had a roof top pool, but once again it was still their winter so the pool was empty. But i still laid out next to it. That night we paid EuroAdventures to go to dinner at an all you can eat and drink place. It was so much fun. Almost all of our group went and everyone had a good time. In the middle of dinner someone started playing the Mamma Mia soundtrack and the whole restaurant busted out singing Mamma Mia. It was so much fun. there was 160 of us who went to dinner that night and we went through 180 liter wine bottles. After that we all headed out to this bar and just hung out there all night.

On Thursday we were going to go to this island called Aegia which is suppose to be beautiful. we went all the way down to the port, but it was an hour boat ride to the island and we got a late start to the day. It was also 10 euro each way. I was with carly and my friend lizzy (the both live in the apartment below me) we were all roommates and we got separated from Erin kat and tenessa, so we decided to just forgo going there and head back to the hotel and hang out. when we were at the place to buy tickets for the island we asked if there were any good beaches to go to the the guys response was well you are in Athens. Athens is so nasty that they don't even have any clean beaches to lay at. And the port was so nasty i just needed to get out of there. We headed back to the hotel and I just laid out by the pool all day again. This day they were actually filling the pool so that was nice. From the top of our hotel you had a great view of the city. Athens is HUGE, i heard they have like 4.2 million people or something and from on top of the acropolis it looks like the city is never ending. It is so weird how dirty and nasty the city is though. You walk down the streets and buildings are literally just crumbling away. the only nice building i saw was the city hall and state buildings. Everything else was old and nasty and dirty. I think athens is the most cultured place i have been to yet. Wednesday night we got Gyros for dinner and then went to go check out their club scene. Needless to say their clubs are wayyyy smaller than the ones in Barcelona. I don't think anyone knows how to party like Barca does.

On friday we woke up and had to get on a bus to head back to the port at 1030 so we just got some breakfast and boarded the bus. Once again they told us the bus ride was only 3 hours and it turned out to be 4.5 hours. The boat ride back to Italy was even longer this time so we decided to upgrade and get a cabin. We were on the boat for 22 hours and knew that another night sleep in the chair would be awful so 7 of us got a room for 4 people. We all shared the beds but it was no nice to not get woken up at 7 in the morning. The boat was fun, but since it was good friday the discotec wasn't open. We all just hung out on the deck all night and had one last night together. Since it was good friday on the boat they had a littler ceremony, i watched it for little place but i felt a little awkward and out of place so we walked away. We didn't want them to think we were being disrespectful.

We docked in Italy at like 2 on Saturday and took once again another 5 hour bus ride back to Rome. We got into Rome at about 7. Our flight wasn't til 6:35 am on sunday but the last bus to the airport left at 920. so we checked our bags at Termini while we went and got some dinner, gelato, and a book to read at the airport. We then all headed out to the airport. There were actually a lot of girls from Barca who were in Greece with us who booked that flight so we all just camped out at the airport. We slept a little bit but the main airport opened at 4:30 so at 4:30 we all got up and went to go check in. That was a lot of traveling in 48 hours so when we arrived home at 10 on easter Sunday we were all dead. We took naps off and on til like 5 pm on Sunday and just laid low. Everything is always closed on Sundays so we had no food, but got a Kebab from our beloved Kebab shop. On Monday everything was closed again though so we had to make a lot of makeshift food from the small market across the street.

Well needless to say spring break was amazing. Greece is beautiful. we had a great time and will never forget it. This weekend we have a day trip in Costa Brava which is about an hour away from Barcelona and then in two weeks we head on our last trip to Dublin. I cannot believe that I will be home in a month. It is soooo crazy. this has been one of the greatest experiences ever. I miss you all so much and can't wait to see you in a month!

Pisa, Florence, & Siena

This past weekend I headed to Florence to visit my friends Katie, Krissy, and Jacey. Courtney just finished her finals and was on spring break so she came down from London and spent the weekend with us also!

I left my apartment at 4:15 am on Thursday to go catch my bus to the airport at 5. My flight was on ryanair at 8:00 and so you have to catch the bus out to Girona about three hours before hand so it was a rather early morning. Once I landed in Pisa it was only 9 so I decided that I would go venture out and try and find the leaning tower on my own. Well when I got off the plane I asked the information desk and they said that I could catch a bus to take me to the leaning tower, then catch the same bus but opposite direction to take my to the train station, where I could then take a train into Florence. Well the lady failed to mention any bus stops she just said that the leaning tower was about a 10 minute bus ride. After being on the bus for about 15 minutes I had no idea where I was and I hadnt seen any leaning towers yet. I saw a hotel at the next bus stop so I decided to get off there and go and ask for directions. The hotel was located in a little square that had a huge wall behind it with arches leading to something. Well when I asked for directions to the tower and if I was close the lady must have thought I was crazy. The leaning tower was located just on the other side of the wall. Should have looked a little harder I guess. Well I walk through the arches and see the tower and the two other buildings that are by it. There is really nothing in Pisa at all. By the leaning tower there were so many tour groups of asians who were all trying to take the standard picture of them pushing over the tower or kicking it or leaning against it. I decided against those pictures since I was by myself but I did ask some people to take a few solo shots. By this time it was only like 9:45 and I didnt really know what else to do. I didnt need to be in florence til 12:15 so I was going to catch my train at 11. I went to see how much it would be if I was going to walk to the top of the tower and it was 15 euro so I said no thank you. I just walked about that area for a little bit, bought so postcards, and just people watched. After awhile I decided to try and figure out the bus and head back to the train station. Once again I didnt know what stop to take so after what seemed like a long time I got off to ask another hotel for directions. Well once again I was just around the corner from where the train station was. Once at the train station I bought my ticket for the train that left at 10:54 and it was about 10:53 so right when I walked on to the platform the train was leaving. Thankfully there was one leaving at 11:05 which was perfect. Well I guess you are suppose to stamp your train ticket which I didnt know and I thought I would get comfy on the train and put my feet up which is strictly forbidden. If you get caught doing it it is a 40 euro charge. Right when I put my feet up of course the conductor walked by, but he just looked at me and gave me a bad look and kept going thank god. Made it to florence all in one piece and found krissy. Krissy had class at 4 so we walked to her apartment set my stuff down, got some gelato, went to the best sandwich place ever and everything was so cheap, and then we went to Katie's apartment while Krissy went to class. At Katie's I just rested a little bit since I had a pretty long day. That night Krissy made us dinner and it was delicious and then we went to a bar did some karaoke. It was fun and I actually sang, but that is because we didnt have to stand on a stage just in the crowd hah.

Friday Krissy and I headed to Siena. It is a little over an hour train ride away from Florence. My friend Laura studied abroad there last semester and so I really wanted to see it. Siena is soo cute, but super small. I fell in love with the city immediately though. When I think of Tuscan Italy that is what I picture. Cute little houses with the green country side. It was so beautiful and quiet. There are barely any cars in the main part of the city. It was a nice be in a quiet city and get a break from the busy city life of Barcelona. We spent a couple hours just wandering the streets of Siena. I visited the Duomo in Siena which was awesome. It was one of the coolest churches I have been in because it is so different than all the rest. It wasnt the boring gothic cathedrals that every city has. It was blue and white stripped on the inside with dark blue ceilings that had little gold stars. After a few hours we headed back to Florence because Courtney was coming in and I needed a nap before we headed out for the night. That night we went to this restaurant called Dantes. It was great because they have a student special where college students get free wine all night long. We stayed there til 1:30 am just hanging out, eating the greatest bread ever, drinking wine, and enjoying everyones company. We went to dinner with Katie, Krissy, Courtney, Jacey, her roommate Blair who is from WSU also, and then Blair's friend from home(mercer island) was visiting from Paris with her roommate, and then Alex Bernasconi came down for the weekend also so it was just so fun all hanging out. By the time we left there wasnt much going on so we all just headed home and got a good night sleep.

Saturday was our day to tour Florence. Our first stop in Florence was Pitti Palace. It was right by Krissy's apartment which was nice and it was also really cool on the inside. We started off at the gardens because the weather was really and we werent sure if it would have changed by the time we were done on the inside. After walking through the gardens we went inside and looked at the costume collection. It was a collection of all different gowns dating from like the 1800s to the 1900s. They even had some of the original clothing from the Medici (spelling?) family which were the self-imposed royalty in Florence. It was really cool seeing those because they were so old. So old that the material on the clothes has actually started disappearing and so the outfits werent complete. After the Pitti Palace we met up with Katie and some of Krissy's friends and headed to PT. Michealangelo. We hiked up a million stairs but the view from the top was worth it. It over looked all of Florence and the countryside. It is so nice to see green grass because we never see that in Barcelona. Florence is such a beautiful city. We sat up there ate some bread and cheese and then after went and got some gelato. SOOO GOOD! after a little gelato we went to San Lorenzo which is a big area of people who try and sell you stuff like purses, italy shirts, bracelets, scarfs, leather jackets, and so on. I got myself two pairs of sunglasses and a black scarf. Krissy got a real Italian leather jacket. She really wanted one so that was exciting for her. After shopping we headed to the duomo. I was rather let down by the Duomo. The outside is so pretty but the inside sucks. The one in Siena is so much more beautiful. Next to the Duomo is this tower and so we decided to climb up it since it was cheaper than climbing up the dome and they were about the same height. Well 400 and something stairs later we made it. Boy was it a hard walk too. The higher you got the narrower the stairs got and there were people going up and down. It made me a little nervous at times but we made up and down all in one piece. The view from the top was amazing! you could see all of Florence. Its cool because there are no tall buildings in Florence really so the things that stick out are all the churches and important buildings. You could see forever up there minus it was a little hazing out. Once we trekked down all the steps we went to go see the David. The building that David is in is nothing special and I surprised they put him in such a boring building. You walk in and he is just right there. It is so awesome. I just stood and starred. he is so much larger than I imaged and it is so amazing. The detail and everything makes him look so life like. its kinda creepy. on his hands you can see vains and such. After a long day of sight seeing we went back to the apartment, rested, regrouped, and then went out to one last dinner. It was everyone who was here for the weekend and Krissys friends from Florence so I think there was about 12 of us at dinner and the food was good. All I ate that weekend was pizza but its just too good not to eat it. After dinner we went back to Katies apartment and hung out a little bit. When everyone was going to go out I was so exhausted and so was Jacey me and her decided to go and have a romantic meal at Mcdonalds and then go to bed. This girl I know from home was coming to Florence for spring break so my mom met her in Seattle and gave her my computer. So I stayed with Jacey Saturday night because she lives right by her.

Sunday morning, Me and Jacey went and got my computer!!!! headed back to krissys I packed up all my stuff and then headed to the train station. I needed to catch the train at like 12:30 so we just hung out at the station for a little bit, I headed back to Pisa somehow got on the right bus, made it to the airport all in once piece got on my plane and made to Barcelona with no complications. If you ask me it was a very successful weekend and it was great to see my friends and see where cara, kristen, and laura all studied.

This weekend Krissy, Katie and Courtney are all heading out to Barca so we can show them our city and its crazy lifestyle. I cannot wait! It will be so nice to be with all our friends, minus they are staying in our apartment so it may be a little squished but well make it work!

seville

Last weekend I went to Seville or as they call it Sevilla. It is located in southern Spain and it is a really cool city. It is more of what I thought Spain would look like. A lot of palm trees, more Spanish looking houses and buildings, lots of flamenco, and lots of bull fighting. Unfortunately it rained the entire weekend when we were there so I didn't get to enjoy the city to its full potential.

On Friday, our flight was delayed, so when we landed we went straight from the airport to the hotel, dropped our stuff off really fast, and then headed out. We didn't even have time to check into our hotel room. After being quickly rushed out of the hotel we went to the cathedral in Seville. It was really large, looked a lot like most all other cathedrals I have seen though. Inside the cathedral Christopher Columbus is actually buried there so that was pretty cool. We also got to walk to the top of the bell tower and it had a great view of the entire city. The cathedral use to be an Muslim temple, the only part of the Cathedral that remains that was Muslim design was the bell tower. so that was pretty cool to see. From there we went to the palace. It is one of the oldest still in use palaces in Europe. Within the palace there are 3 different palaces. My favorite one palace was the one that was Muslim. It is just so different than what I have seen in barcelona. Everything is so much or detailed and the architecture is so different. While we were at the palace it started raining, so when our tour was over we all headed back to the hotel to check in and settle for a little bit. well they didnt really give us good directions or a map on how to get back to the hotel so after wondering the streets of seville we finally made it to our hotel. We checked in and our hotel and it was actually really nice. It was a huge change from our pretty shitty hotel in rome. API stepped up their game this time ha. Friday night we went and got mexican food for dinner. Tenessa has wanted mexican food since the moment we have been in spain and so that is what we decided to do. Well the first restaurant we went to the entire block had no lights on and the restaurant looked like it had been shut down, so we had no idea what to do. We ventured around Seville and then finally we stumbled another mexican place which ended up to be really good. It had real sour cream!!!!

On Saturday we had a day trip to Cadiz, which is about and hour and half away from Seville and located on the Atlantic Coast. Well once again it was pouring down rain. It was raining so hard on our bus ride there that you could barely see out the front window. When we got to cadiz it cleared up a little, well i mean it wasnt pouring but it was still raining pretty hard. They had to change up our tour of the city to make it more of an indoor thing. So we took a short tour on a bus and then we went to another cathedral, the museum for the cathedral and then the city hall. The city hall was pretty cool because it was super old and really extravagant. Way cooler than any city hall in the states. As we left the Cathedral to go to the museum i literally think i was in the middle of a monsoon. It was raining so hard, everyone was soaking wet and you had to look straight down when you walked. Thankfully after leaving the museum the rain had cleared and you could see the sun trying to push through the clouds. We were suppose to stay there til 430 but everyone was so miserable we got lunch, had some time to get souvenirs and then we headed back to Seville. Since we got back early i had enough time to take a nap before going out for the night. That night we were going to go to go to this Tapas bar that my friend Dave heard of from one of his friends who was studying there but the line was over an hour wait, so instead we went to some restaurant that had live music playing on the corner. After that we all headed across the river to this bar called BigBen. That was a lot of fun and there were a ton of locals there which is a nice mix up from all the americans you see in barcelona.

On sunday we were suppose to have a bike tour, but once again the weather was terrible when they woke up so they canceled it. Instead we got to go on a tour of a bull fighting ring. The weather actually cleared up on Sunday and it got pretty warm out. The bull fighting ring was cool way different than I expected. After being there and seeing pictures and the process of a bull fight, I dont think that I could ever really attend one. Little too gruesome for me. We didnt have to meet back at the hotel until 4 so after our short tour, we headed back to that tapas bar we wanted to go to the night before. I am really glad we decided to do that because it was one of the best places i have been yet. The tapas you ordered were the size of a real meal. I ordered two dishes and my total for my meal was 3 euro! soo cheap and such great food. After that we just headed back to the hotel and soon enough we were back in Barca.

On a side note. Yesterday it snowed in barcelona. Like legit sticked to the ground snow. My spanish teacher said that in her whole life she has maybe seen snow twice and she has never seen it stick to the ground. I was at class in the campus that is really far away from my house, its a little more out of the city, and so not as warm. The streets were covered, cars were gettinng stuck, complete mayham. When I got on the metro there were people everywhere. Whats normally a 20 - 30 minute ride home turned into a 45 minute ride. It was miserable. Once i got into the city by were i lived the streets were covered in slush everywhere. My shoes, thankfully i wore my uggs to class yesterday, were soaked all the way through. Literally water in my shoes. it was terrible. But today there wasnt a cloud in the sky and super sunny. The weather is so strange here i dont understand.

This weekend i am off to Florence to meet my friends krissy, katie, and jacey. courtney will also be flying in from london and alex bernasconi will also be there. it is going to be a great weekend!

Prague

This last weekend Kathleen, Erin, and myself ventured to Prague. Tenessa went to Amsterdam to meet her mom. Her mom is going to Africa for two weeks and just happened to be in Amsterdam for the weekend so it worked out perfect for her to go and see her and get a computer!!!

We left Barcelona on Friday afternoon and our flight was delayed an hour which sucked, but once we landed in Prague we caught a taxi and headed to our hostel. This was our first real hostel experience and it was actually really good. The hostel was very clean, super safe, and the staff was real nice. They gave us breakfast and a sandwhich to go for lunch. After we checked into out hostel we went to go meet the guy named Matt. He is Sean Shoemakers friends cousin and he works at at bike tour/ beer tasting / pub crawl place. We met him at his shop, he got us all sorts of maps and helped us plan out our trip while we were there. It was already like 5 on friday and our flight home was pretty early on Sunday so we really only had saturday. He recommended that Friday we go out to a nice dinner and then go to a few of his favorite bars and check out this crazy wild club. After meeting with him we walked into the old town square. It is so cute. It has all these little shops selling souvenirs and food. We got this thing that is kinda like a crepe but its made out of like donut stuff. So its a giant flat donut then covered in Nutella. SOOO GOOD! After that we went back to the hostel to freshen up for dinner and then headed out. He recommended this restaurant called Cafe Louvre. It was super nice and served Czech cuisine and the best part of all is that it was super cheap. I think my meal came to 150 something crowns which equals about 10 euro. 25 crowns equal 1 euro and 18 crowns eual 1 american dollar so it was super cheap there. After dinner we headed to this bar he recommended. You walk in and it seems super small but as you head back there are all these little rooms and then you can keep heading down and you just wind through this bar. Its all underground and kinda looks like you are in a cave, it was really cool. After staying there for alittle bit we headed out to the club called Cross Club. He told us that it will be a crazy experience, that this building wouldnt be legal in the US and just to go and sit and take everything in. So that is exactly what we did. We had some trouble finding it, but once we got there it was crazy. The outside it made out of all these metal parts. It looks like something that Edward Scissor hands would live in. Then you get inside and it has all these metal parts all over the walls, and like what looks like the inside of a computer or tv or something. That is how the decorated the walls and they would light up and stuff. It was crazy. Everyone in Prague are hippies who love techno and dance like crazy people. So we just kinda sat around and watched everyone. It was rather entertaining hah.

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed out to the Prague Castle. Jen´s friend Meagan studied abroad in Prague and I emailed her before we left and she recommended some places to go. Once place was this bagel shop called Bohemium Bagels and it was so good. I have really been missing bagels and cream cheese and it was a refreshing tast of home. We walked across the Charles Bridge which was really cool and then wounded our way up the hill to the castle. From up there, there is the greatest views of the city. It was crazy! In the middle of the castle they built a cathedral so we went into that since it was free and that was also really neat. Most of the Gothic cathedrals we go into are very dark on the inside, but this one was super bright and really inviting. We walked around up there for a little bit and then started to head back because we were going on a bike tour at 2:30 with Matts company. On our way back we stopped at Old Prague Square again and I got my first hot dog while abroad. And it was inside a baguette which made it even better. After gettng some food we went to the bike shop. We were suppose to do a bike tour in Barcelona at the beginning of our program but we had some troubles getting out of bed so we didnt really know what to expect, but it was awesome. They took us all over the city and would stop and talk about places, so instead of just seeing these places we were actually learning something. My favorite place was probably the John Lennon wall. It was awesome. Its a huge wall in the middle of the all the embassys just covered in graffetti. Our tour guide brought a pen so we got to write on the wall! There is also this little bridge that is covered in locks and you are suppose to come with your love and lock your love to the bridge and then through the key into the river to show that you will always be locked to them. After the bike tour, we got mexican food, another first timer here abroad. It was definatly not like mexican food back home. After that we got ready to go out for the night. Saturday we decided to give his pub crawl a chance and it was actually really fun and we met some great people on it.

Sunday morning out cab was coming to get us at 11:30 and check out time was 10 so just walked around for a bit, got some more food from Old Prague Square (this time we got potatoes that were kinda mashed but kinda not, and mine had like ham and cabbage aka sourkraut my fav!! it was sooo good also everything there was great ha) and then got some postcrds and such. We headed back to the hostel got our cab and went to the airport. We werent completly sure what time our flight was at we just knew it was at 2 sometime. Well it wasnt til 2:45 and we got there at 11:45 so we were a little early, but its better to be safe than sorry! It was a long time to wait but thats okay

All in all I had an amazing weekend in Prague. I had no idea what to expect. I was told that it was cheap and fun and it was that and so much more. This weekend we are heading off to Seville, Spain with our program. It says its suppose to rain everyday but i´m really hoping that is wrong! Pray for good weather!

Roma

This weekend our program took all the people who live in the apartments to Rome. Our program is about 140 people big so they split these longer trips up into to different groups.

We left Barcelona on friday morning at 4am. It was rather early, but we all made it to the buses on time. Once we got to the airport we had a little scare though. Kathleen was looking through her purse and couldnt find her wallet anywhere. She knew she had broughten it, she remembered looking at it on the way to the API office, but it was nowhere to be found now. Her wallet had all her money, cards, and passport. After searching the airport and calling the bus she was on, we found it!!!! It had fallen out of her purse on the bus. After that we got a small snack at the airport, boarded our plane and was off. I normally have a hard time flying and falling asleep, but I was out before we even took off and stayed asleep right until we landed.

When we landed in Rome the weather was absolutely terrible. It was so windy and pouring down rain. I thought if that is what it was going to be like all weekend I dont know if I would even make it out of our hotel room. Thankfully by the time we made it to our hotel it had all cleared up. The bus ride to the hotel took rather long because in Rome they were having a public transportation walk out until noon, so we got caught up right in the middle of it. Finally we arrived, checked in, got some food and coffee and then headed back to the buses for a bus tour of the town.

The bus tour was really cool! we went all over rome and saw a lot of cool things, and then they stopped the buses at Saint Peter´s Basillica. It was so amazing. So much better than any picture or book I have ever seen. When we went inside Saint P´s I was in awe. It took me about 5 minutes to actually just sit back and take everything in. It is one of the largest, most ornate churches I have ever been in. It was soo awesome!

After the bus tour, all my roommates were tired and wanted to take a nap, but I was way too wired off the coffee so I went with some other girls in my program and we walked down to the Spanish steps. They were way different than I have ever imagined. I thought they were brown and ugly and by the colliseum. When really they are white, broken up into 3 sections, and not by the colliseum at all. But the view from the top was really cool. Rome has no really tall buildings. Everything is pretty flat and you can see forever. I stayed there for awhile, but then I thought that I should head back because I didnt want my roommates to wake up and wonder where I was and I didnt want to see too much without them. I took a nice walk back to the hotel by myself and just took in being in Rome.

After they woke up, we got ready and went out to dinner with some of our friends in our program. Friday night we were doing the Spanish Steps pub crawl, so we needed to be done with dinner by 830 to get to the Steps by 845. Well you would think that in Rome there would be places to eat everywhere, but when we went to the Spanish Steps to look for a place to have dinner we couldnt find anywhere. We walked for about 15 20 minutes and finally found one. I got my first italian pizza. It was good, but not as good as I was expecting. But I was starving so I finished it all hah. We made it to the steps at a little after 9 and made it to the pub crawl at like 915. The first bar was all you can drink for an hour starting at 9, and the only way you would get a bew beer or glass of wine was to finish your first. Well by the time we actually got into the bar it was about 930 so we only had 30 minutes to drink for free, but we were all so full from stuffing our faces at dinner it made it rather hard to even think about drinking. They had one competition while we were at the first bar. It was a beer chugging competition and Erin Kathleen and I all partaked just for fun. Well I ended up winning and got a cool free shirt so that was fun. Dont worry mom I only had four beers all night long! hah We went to a few more bars after that, but I was so tired Kathleen and I came home at about 1 130 and went to bed.

Saturday morning we woke up, we had breakfast at our hotel which was great, and then our program was taking us to the Colliseum. If they wouldnt have taken us it would have been 28 euro to get in, so I was really happy they took us there. The colliseum was so awesome. To see it in person and look at everything was amazing. I still cant believe that they made all that from hand. Its so crazy. Its just so weird to think how old everything really is there. I have been hearing about all this stuff all my life in history class and then to finally see it was so cool. After the colliseum our program planned to take us to the Roman ruins, but you can see them everywhere, so we decided to head to the Sistine Chapel before it closed at 130.

The Sistine Chapel was way different than I have ever imagined. First we walked through the Vatican museum, I thought it was going to be a museum about the church and everything, but it looked alot like what we saw in the Louvre so I was a little disappointed. Finally we made our way to the Chapel. It looked like just a large room with the famous painting. I thought it was going to be alot bigger and look like an actual Chapel. I was a little disappointed by the room/building, but no the art work. You werent suppose to take a picture but I managed to sneak one. We were all getting tired and hungry from the day, so we headed back towards the hotel. I needed food real bad so me and 3 of my friends went to go find a good sandwich place. Once again we walked and walked trying to find one and some how we ended up at the Colliseum. They had a few little sandwich places there, so we grabbed some lunch and ate outside the colliseum. Pretty awesome. I then just came home, took a shower and small nap, and then got ready for the night.

Some of Kathleens friends who went to Seattle prep and go to University of Washington are studying in Rome and so we went to campi de furri or whatever it is called and got some dinner and met up with them. Dinner was so great. we just sat around and enjoyed our last night in rome.

Sunday morning, we woke up at like 9 because we needed to be cheaked out by 930 and then we really wanted to see the pope so we wanted to get out early. Erin Tenessa and I hadnt seen the trevi fountain yet, so we walked there on our way to the Vatican. It was huge. I was no expecting that at all. and Its just in the middle of what seems like a neighborhood. I thought that it was in the middle of some square or street or something. After that we walked to the vatican and on the way there we ran into the Panthione or whatever. I dont really know what it is or was but it was cool to look at. after about a 30 40 minute walk we made it! Sunday was a beautiful day out and so we all just sat around in the square at the vatican and waited. Finally he came out. He said some prayer in italian and then said hello to everyone in different languages. It was so amazing! I am still in shock that I got to see the Pope. That has been one of my life long dreams. And just being there with everyone was amazing. There were a ton of nuns and priests and other religious people everywhere. When he first came out everyone started screaming and clapping.

All in all this was an amazing weekend and I am so grateful for every moment I share here. It is so amazing and I have never been so happy and have felt so blessed. Last night I went on my first run, yes a run, with erin and it was so good. It was so warm and there was barely anyone on the streets and we just ran around barcelona. Just saying that is still so weird to me hah.

well more to come soon! prague this weekend! miss you all!!!!

Carnival

In Europe there is this thing called carnival that goes on in all different cities throughout the month of february. The closest city to us that celebrates carnival was sitges and it is huge there.

The biggest day in Sitges is Tuesday because it is the last day that it happens, so all of us decided to go. We didnt know much other than that you have to wear a costume or mask and that it is a giant party on the beach. Well we were very surprised when we got there.

The day started when all my roommates and I met our friends Bonnie and Chrissy on La Rambla to go costume shopping. I wanted to be a nerd, but I couldnt find any good suspenders so me erin and chrissy decided to just get gold tinsel wigs and wild tights. We dont really know what we were, we were just crazy people hah. Kat and tenessa were cowgirls and some of our other friends wore masks, one was a fairy, one guy was a nun, and our other friend wore a rainbow wig and glasses that had beer mugs on them and boas. Yes he was a guy and yes Sitges is a gay community, he didnt realize that til after he bought his costume so it was a little interesting for him there.

When we went to Sitges with our program before we took a bus but this time we decided to take a train. It was 6 euros round trip which is really cheap. When we got to the train station there were people everywhere. Everyone was dressed up in customes and ready to party. The train ride was one large party. People being wild and noisy. When we were almost there this drag queen came down and got the crowd all riled up. it was really funny. Once we arrived in Sitges the streets were filled with people. Literally people were everywhere. We knew that there was parade that went on but we thought we missed, but when we made our way to the beach we realized it was still going on. It was one of the coolest parades I have ever seen. Everyone was lining the streets, dancing and having a great time. The floats were so cool and everyone on the floats were wild. I dont think i have ever seen so many drag queens in my entire life. Interesting to say the least hah.

After the parade everyone moves to the beach to have a giant dance party, tenessa and I decided to get ice cream and crepes instead of dancing hah. The train goes all night long which is really nice, so since we had class in the morning we headed home at like 330, but one of the girls we know stayed there til 8 am! i dont know how people do it.

It was one of the coolest things I have ever witnessed and I am so happy we went! I almost didnt go because of class, but class is overrated obviously. but i did make to classes mom dont worry, i may have been half asleep during them but i was there!

When they say there is a theft problem in barcelona they really mean it.

Sorry I havent updated this in awhile, I´m sure you all heard that we got robbed last saturday and so it has been really hard to communicate with the world outside of Barcelona.

well it all started last saturday. We had a day trip with our program to Sitges which an old fisherman town about 30 minutes by bus away from here. We left our apartment at about 8:45 to meet API and get on the road. We arrived in Sitges and it was absolutley beautiful. It was a little windy but the perfectly blue sky made up for al coldness. API sometimes thinks that we are in summer camp and made all of us do a scavenger hunt around the city for the first 2 hours. My group wasn´t to enthused though and just randomly walked around, but some how made it to all the points on the scavenger hunt by chance. We randomly made it down to the beach and was looking around when some ladies who were in charge asked what team we were, we told them team 8, and then all the sudden we were partaking in a scooter race up and down the pier.

When we were on the bus on the way to Sitges they told us not to get food that we were going to have a really big breakfast. Well when we got there there was no food but they still promised us breakfast. The first half of the hunt was to go buy some tomatoes and head to the first station. When we arrived we found tables with bread, oil, and some turkey and ham. This was our giant lunch. We had to cut the tomatoes up, rub their juices on our bread and then put oil and meat on it if you wanted to. If you ask me that is no giant breakfast, I was expecting eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, but no spain doesn´t really like breakfast.

After the scavenger hunt was over we had the rest of the day to just walk around and do whatever. We found a really good sushi place, drank some sangeria and sat in the sun. After lounging for a while we headed down to the beach and just hung out. Kat was the only daredevil and went swimming. I really wanted to but thinking about having wet jeans and it was still a little cold out, I bring myself to do it. Around 4 we headed back to the buses and was reading to come back to Barca. There was a soccer game that night and all of us planned to go home, get ready, by some jerseys and head to the game. Little did we know we were robbed.

When we got home kat noticed that all her clothes that were in one of her suitcases had been dunped onto the bed. She thought it was a little strange, but our room wasnt at its cleanest so she didnt really think twice. It wasnt until she couldnt find her suitcase or any of our computers that it hit her that we had been robbed. I came walking through the door about 5 minutes after she realized this. We were all in shock. We didnt really know what to do or think. I of course called my mom and started crying. the feeling that someone was in our apartment touching my stuff, going through my drawers just really freaked me out.

We called API but they didnt answer our calls, so that was really frustrating. Finally we got a hold of the police and they sent over two men to come help us out. The theives had broken into our apartmen and the one below us. When the police arrived they spoke absolutley no english and of coure we know no spanish, so it was like the blind leading the blind. One of the girls on the first floor thankfully hid her computer before she left and so we used google translator to communicate back and forth with the police. After about a half hour 3 more police officers came over. They lady cop, who reminded us of someone off CSI, knew some english. We were all thinking that the way they got into our apartment was by our deck. She walked out on our deck. Looked at how high we were, how close our neighbors were, our doors and immediatly knew this wasnt how they got in. She walked to our front door, looked at it for maybe 30 seconds and told us that was how. They had used a credit card to open our door. Stupid americans right.

Well when our door shut you couldnt open it. The only way to get back in was by using a key and our handle didnt turn so we figured that it was locked. Since in american you have like a seperate spot for the dead bolt, and normally when a door is shut and you cant open it is locked. What we didnt know was that we had to dead bolt our door. They never mentioned it to us or showed us how to do that so we were all shocked when we found that out. It really wasnt the most ideal situation but we are making it work. Thankfully our program had a laptop and they are allowing us to use it until we figure out if and how we are going to get knew computers. Hopefully this will all be resolved soon, I have a 1o page paper coming up that i really need a computer for!

This weekend we just stayed in Barcelona. One of my friends from home, Erik Running, was visiting so we just showed him around a little and just hung out here. It was really realzing considering last weekend was so stressful.

Yesterday for valentines day, kat, erin, tenessa, our friend bonnie and I bought wine, nutella, strawberries, bread, cheese, made guacamole, got chips and cookies and sat around all day and ate and drank together. All of us dont believe in this holiday and since we had no boys to share it with we were eachothers valentines. It was very nice and eating chocolate all day was wonderful hah. Unfortunately spain has their own valentines day. It is called Saint Jordi, and its on April 23. So not only do we have to celebrate the American holiday, in two months we get to do it all over again!

This weekend we are off to Rome with our program. Hopefully I will have a computer soon so I can add pictures on to my blog. Miss all you guys! and dont worry we know how to dead bolt our door now!