the rest of my time in bordeaux was great. freakin amazing host and host family really, everyone is always hanging out, sharing, chilling, walking around, such a great CS family. my first full day in bordeaux i got to walk around the city, pretty french streets with old 18th century buildings, walked along the river, went to a fancy wine tasting place in the city that only sold bordeaux wines, and went to a CS party with a lot of other hosts and surfers. then friday i went around town with thierry, simon, and two polish guys martin and dominic who were super nice - we went to this botanical garden and it had everything, tons of fruits, vegetables, herbs, tons of stuff, and we kept eating all the fruits haha!
that night a group of us left for the road trip to barcelona - me, bastien, kevin, simon, doris, and katy. arrived at 3 am and went to a park to meet up with some awesome guys that walked from amsterdam to san sebastian (almost barcelona) for homelessness awareness. the next day we went to the beach most of the day which was awesome, my first time in the mediterranean!! that night we went back to the park for a party with the guys again and danced at a nearby concert. and then sunday we went to park guell which was this super high point in barcelona with a beautiful view of the city and some great architecture built into the mountain by gaudi. after the group left, it was just me, katy, and annika, a girl from germany who joined up with us and was a ton of fun to hang out with. we went to the beach the rest of the day and into the night just to relax, and it was so great. met some interesting characters at night, but the only one we loved was jonas, a guy from germany who sat down near us alone so we told him to join our circle and he ended up traveling with us for the rest of the time. super funny kid, always up for anything. monday we just shopped around the city and then hit up the beach again once it got dark, and met more interesting characters. sucked to say bye to them, but such is traveling, and i hope they both find great hitchhiking pickups (that's what both of them were doing).
now i'm in nice after a full day of travelling yesterday on the trains and met another awesome australian, chris. today we went to the city to do a walking tour which was actually really cool and then just chilled on the beach most of the day. there's no sand, just rocks, which is a little strange but the water was great!! now for dinner with some people in the hostel :)
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
netherlands, paris, bordeaux
shortened post because of foreign keyboard... after dusseldorf i went to the netherlands and arrived in delft. typical rainy weather, half hour walk to the apt. went out that night and met some of kyle's friends. the next dayi just walked around delft all day and loved the leaning church. at this cafe i found they have a leaning cup which was pretty funny. went out to amsterdam that night with kyle and his friends, saw the red light district, saw a reverend sing in a club, and a guy with dreads from ghana followed me around all night. all in all i'd say i got the typical night down. next day i explored amsterdam with my new friend gonçalo from portugal, and saw the ice bar, heineken, the smallest apt in the world, and took a canal cruise. stayed out in amsterdam because kyle stranded me (so two nights in a row without sleep) but had a decent time dancing and talking to some dutch people.
then caught the train to brussels, belgium, and this was my breaking point. i was tired, i hadnt showered since kyle basically locked me out, and i hurt all over. walked around for over an hour looking for a hostel (didnt have internet either) and just sat down on the sidewalk because there was nothing else to do. got back on the train and went to paris after giving up. did however get my belgian waffle, i was not leaving without it!
got to paris north station and bargained for a hotel room for 30€ for the night, all i wanted to do was shower and sleep so it worked out. woke up and went to gare de lyon station to meet up with alexis and jerome. we went to montmarte on the hill, went down champs d'elysses, and saw the eiffel tower sparkle at night, which was one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen. also had an amazing dinner with a waiter who looked just like alfred molina. got to eat french onion soup, escargot (soooooo good!!!), beef bourgingon, chocolate crepe, and a bite of alexis's creme brulee. amazing. said goodnight and they left in the morning.
shortly after waking up i got kicked out of the apt i was staying in, no shower, and no clean clothes except for the dress i had bought the day before, foreseeing this happening. found an emergency host and dropped my stuff off at his place. hit the road for sightseeing despite his wanting to hang out all day, i only had one day to get in all the stuff i came for. saw place de voages (sp?), notre dame, eiffel tower again, and the outside of the louvre. best part of the day? getting to see where lagrange is buried at the pantheon. i cried i was so happy to be that close to him. total nerd out. also famous people i was excited to see on the eiffel tower were lagrange, coulomb, ampere, laplace, and navier. like, completely excited out of my mind. also met some cool guys from new zealand (more importantly from canterbury!!) ryan and kurt, and hopefully we will be meeting up a few times on our journeys. had dinner with my host and crashed for the night. left in the morning and had the worst time getting to bordeaux but finally made it. last night had group dinner with at least 10 people and then went to hang out by the river. super cool group, tonight should be fun too.
sorry for the shortness of this post, it's already a late start to the day and i need to get going!
then caught the train to brussels, belgium, and this was my breaking point. i was tired, i hadnt showered since kyle basically locked me out, and i hurt all over. walked around for over an hour looking for a hostel (didnt have internet either) and just sat down on the sidewalk because there was nothing else to do. got back on the train and went to paris after giving up. did however get my belgian waffle, i was not leaving without it!
got to paris north station and bargained for a hotel room for 30€ for the night, all i wanted to do was shower and sleep so it worked out. woke up and went to gare de lyon station to meet up with alexis and jerome. we went to montmarte on the hill, went down champs d'elysses, and saw the eiffel tower sparkle at night, which was one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen. also had an amazing dinner with a waiter who looked just like alfred molina. got to eat french onion soup, escargot (soooooo good!!!), beef bourgingon, chocolate crepe, and a bite of alexis's creme brulee. amazing. said goodnight and they left in the morning.
shortly after waking up i got kicked out of the apt i was staying in, no shower, and no clean clothes except for the dress i had bought the day before, foreseeing this happening. found an emergency host and dropped my stuff off at his place. hit the road for sightseeing despite his wanting to hang out all day, i only had one day to get in all the stuff i came for. saw place de voages (sp?), notre dame, eiffel tower again, and the outside of the louvre. best part of the day? getting to see where lagrange is buried at the pantheon. i cried i was so happy to be that close to him. total nerd out. also famous people i was excited to see on the eiffel tower were lagrange, coulomb, ampere, laplace, and navier. like, completely excited out of my mind. also met some cool guys from new zealand (more importantly from canterbury!!) ryan and kurt, and hopefully we will be meeting up a few times on our journeys. had dinner with my host and crashed for the night. left in the morning and had the worst time getting to bordeaux but finally made it. last night had group dinner with at least 10 people and then went to hang out by the river. super cool group, tonight should be fun too.
sorry for the shortness of this post, it's already a late start to the day and i need to get going!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
cologne, bonn, and dusseldorf
now for the rest of germany! sorry i can't post more often, it's just hard to find a computer and internet sometimes! after my self tour the first day in cologne, i met ivana, a super nice australian girl in my hostel from melbourne. we went out to dinner and had a great time chatting about everything! she was leaving the next day for brussels and then to london to try to find a job, so if she's reading this, good luck ivana!! the second day in cologne i slept in a bit, then walked across the rhein river and looked at all the love locks. can't post pictures because i don't really have a way to but at the end of my journey you'll see what i'm asking about. i people watched for a bit at DOM, the massive church, then met up with charlotte when she got off work. it was so exciting to get to see her again!!! we had kolsch beer (there should be two dots above the o but idk how to do it on this computer, so just pretend they are there... same goes for the u in dusseldorf and probably a lot of words) and then went to bonn where i got to see the university. while she ran home to change out of her work clothes, i walked around for a bit and saw where beethoven was born - the composer, not the dog haha. we went out that night and had a great time with some of her friends that we ran into, chris and hendrik. on the train ride home i got stuck on a car with all guys coming back from the dusseldorf v frankfurt soccer game, and let's just say they were ecstatic an american girl was on the train. that was an interesting trip but super funny.
day three in cologne i got up and headed to koln (cologne, and the two dots should be there) south to meet up with charlotte where she works. i got to hang out at her school with her friends mike and nick who were very welcoming. i had a great time chatting with both of them and also got to eat lunch at the school cafe for super cheap. that night we headed to bonn and i got my first schnitzel covered with onions and bacon....soooo good!!! i can't wait to eat more when i get back to germany. chris and hendrik joined us later and we got free cake for chris's birthday! (and if you're reading, again, happy birthday!!) later we just chilled on the dock by the rhein, which was really nice. considering i'm not from anywhere near water and have never lived near water, it was really special for me.
yesterday i spent the day mostly in the hills around bonn with chris and he showed me some really awesome places. we went driving around through some older towns with traditional old german buildings and we went to nurburgring, a race track for super expensive luxury cars to get tested on and to race. at different times of the year they race other things too but we got to see some audi R8's, twenty to be exact, training around the course. he also got me my first curry wurst which was incredibly delicious. we had dinner with his parents since they graciously let me stay the night at their house the night before and they were extremely welcoming. i loved getting to meet them and although it was a little difficult with the language barrier, they were great and chris helped translate. also, his parents are amazing cooks!!
after dinner, took the train to dusseldorf and met up with mark! very funny and friendly irishman. we went out to the alstadt to see the local scene and had some alt, the local beer. it was nice walking around the city at night, especially along the rhein which was basically glittering. weird thing was, along the alstadt (kinda like northgate) it was really crowded and packed but everywhere else it was completely silent and still. then we chatted back at the apartment and had a ridiculously fun bubble blowing competition haha. this morning i woke up and walked around town, heading towards the rhein tower. at the top i could see all around for miles - it was beautiful. then i hopped on the train after walking around a bit more and now i'm in the netherlands!
tip - if you see a picture of a bicycle on the ground, do not walk there. someone will undoubtedly yell at you in dutch. (that means that area is for bikes, not injured people who can only walk)
day three in cologne i got up and headed to koln (cologne, and the two dots should be there) south to meet up with charlotte where she works. i got to hang out at her school with her friends mike and nick who were very welcoming. i had a great time chatting with both of them and also got to eat lunch at the school cafe for super cheap. that night we headed to bonn and i got my first schnitzel covered with onions and bacon....soooo good!!! i can't wait to eat more when i get back to germany. chris and hendrik joined us later and we got free cake for chris's birthday! (and if you're reading, again, happy birthday!!) later we just chilled on the dock by the rhein, which was really nice. considering i'm not from anywhere near water and have never lived near water, it was really special for me.
yesterday i spent the day mostly in the hills around bonn with chris and he showed me some really awesome places. we went driving around through some older towns with traditional old german buildings and we went to nurburgring, a race track for super expensive luxury cars to get tested on and to race. at different times of the year they race other things too but we got to see some audi R8's, twenty to be exact, training around the course. he also got me my first curry wurst which was incredibly delicious. we had dinner with his parents since they graciously let me stay the night at their house the night before and they were extremely welcoming. i loved getting to meet them and although it was a little difficult with the language barrier, they were great and chris helped translate. also, his parents are amazing cooks!!
after dinner, took the train to dusseldorf and met up with mark! very funny and friendly irishman. we went out to the alstadt to see the local scene and had some alt, the local beer. it was nice walking around the city at night, especially along the rhein which was basically glittering. weird thing was, along the alstadt (kinda like northgate) it was really crowded and packed but everywhere else it was completely silent and still. then we chatted back at the apartment and had a ridiculously fun bubble blowing competition haha. this morning i woke up and walked around town, heading towards the rhein tower. at the top i could see all around for miles - it was beautiful. then i hopped on the train after walking around a bit more and now i'm in the netherlands!
tip - if you see a picture of a bicycle on the ground, do not walk there. someone will undoubtedly yell at you in dutch. (that means that area is for bikes, not injured people who can only walk)
Sunday, August 14, 2011
frankfurt to cologne
long post here, gotta cover the last few days! the second day in dublin was fun, i slept in a bit then walked around the city a lot. i love dublin so just walking around is fine by me. ended up going the direction of Jameson so since i didn't go to it last time i decided to check it out. it was actually a really good tour, a got to be an official whiskey taster (note to those who don't know - scotch made with peat fire is disgusting) and met four really fun german guys. i ended up walking around with them the rest of the day and grabbing lunch/dinner and drinks at....can any of the ID kids guess?....the bull and castle!! robert gets a gold star for sarcastically suggesting it and then i decided i would take it on. we had a blast, most of them spoke good english so that was nice, and they taught me how to cheers in german. thursday night i went out with hunter and his friends and we walk into a pub called donaghue's - to my surprise it was the pub that mary and i watched rugby at our last day in ireland! i had forgotten the name so it was crazy we ended up there! after that closed we went to some other place and had a good time singing random pop songs and watching people dance. and ryan was so nice and carried me back to the apt because of my ankle :) fast forward to the next day, hunter gave me a tour of trinity college since i didn't do that either in march and we went and saw the old library and book of kells. easily caught the bus to the airport and had a boring flight to germany and boring bus ride from one airport to the actual frankfurt.
got to frankfurt a little early so i just went to a convenience store til i was supposed to get there, then my host jan and his brother found me. wasn't too hard since i was the only backpacker around at 2 am. basically we just went back to their apt and talked for a bit before crashing. the next day he let me sleep in (i think he was also scared to try and wake me up, haha!) and then we ran some errands. their mom runs a shop in a smaller town and so they went to these chinese wholesalers to get some clothes for the shop. it was interesting, got to see a different part of frankfurt. then we walked around the city, he showed me a popular park, the nice financial district, old town, the main river, and the red light district where he lives. for those who don't know, the red light district, where he is living only because it's cheap and close to work, is where all the sketchy people and drug addicts hang around. it's full of scary people, casinos, adult clubs, and houses that are illegal in the states...you can figure it out. luckily i was always flanked by two guys so it wasn't a problem. last night we went out to this party area and went two places - a small bar where a crazy old man tried to chat me up in german and told me he was an alien (can't even make that stuff up), and then a dance club called voice. voice had karaoke til 12 and they mostly sang american songs so i knew all of them, and then more american music with a few german songs to dance to. it was a lot of fun, very different tho from american dance clubs, in a good way because strangers keep their distance here haha!
this morning i woke up late and quickly gathered my stuff together to run to the train station. i missed the early one but the second one worked fine. having never been to a train station like these i didn't know how it worked so jan worked the machine to get my ticket and then i just got on. when the lady came by to check tickets she at first started yelling at me for sitting in first class, which i had no idea, and then quickly switched over to being super nice and saying oh no stay here, you're good here....because of the ankle!! first time i've had good luck because of it! got off on my switch stop and found my second train, then got off in cologne and surprisingly found my hostel really fast. checked in, put my bag in the luggage room, then went off to walk around as i usually do. the DOM church is a block away, which is the tallest cathedral in the world i think. it's beautiful. i took a lot of pictures which will probably be posted after the trip since i have no way of transferring. then i walked down the rhine river thru the promenade to the cologne chokolat (chocolate) museum. it's a fun little place, cheap to get in, and i got some super nice chocolate at the end. then i walked around and had a conversation in spanish with some indians that were performing in feather costumes and war paint on the promenade. really random tho, they called out to me in spanish and i responded...in spanish, so they were really taken aback and we had about a ten minute conversation. it's the most i've talked to anyone here in cologne since i don't speak german. big thank you to my fave teacher sra. irias for being an amazing spanish teacher and all around awesome person. after that i got slightly turned around trying to get back to my hostel and some random old dude walked with me. he didn't speak more than about 2 words of english so why he thought hanging out with me was a good idea i have no idea. once we got back to the church i told him thank you and now here i am back at the hostel! tonight i'll probably stay in and do laundry, then tomorrow more sight seeing and people watching. i'm also meeting up with charlotte, a friend of kris's that came to college station in the fall, after she gets off work so i'm really looking forward to that. anyway, til next time!
ps - it really sucks when your straightener won't even work with the voltage converter. i'm rocking the au natural hair, which makes me look absolutely insane.
pss - when talking to someone who isn't a native english speaker, you cannot use sarcasm or fun phrases, because they will take it literally haha
got to frankfurt a little early so i just went to a convenience store til i was supposed to get there, then my host jan and his brother found me. wasn't too hard since i was the only backpacker around at 2 am. basically we just went back to their apt and talked for a bit before crashing. the next day he let me sleep in (i think he was also scared to try and wake me up, haha!) and then we ran some errands. their mom runs a shop in a smaller town and so they went to these chinese wholesalers to get some clothes for the shop. it was interesting, got to see a different part of frankfurt. then we walked around the city, he showed me a popular park, the nice financial district, old town, the main river, and the red light district where he lives. for those who don't know, the red light district, where he is living only because it's cheap and close to work, is where all the sketchy people and drug addicts hang around. it's full of scary people, casinos, adult clubs, and houses that are illegal in the states...you can figure it out. luckily i was always flanked by two guys so it wasn't a problem. last night we went out to this party area and went two places - a small bar where a crazy old man tried to chat me up in german and told me he was an alien (can't even make that stuff up), and then a dance club called voice. voice had karaoke til 12 and they mostly sang american songs so i knew all of them, and then more american music with a few german songs to dance to. it was a lot of fun, very different tho from american dance clubs, in a good way because strangers keep their distance here haha!
this morning i woke up late and quickly gathered my stuff together to run to the train station. i missed the early one but the second one worked fine. having never been to a train station like these i didn't know how it worked so jan worked the machine to get my ticket and then i just got on. when the lady came by to check tickets she at first started yelling at me for sitting in first class, which i had no idea, and then quickly switched over to being super nice and saying oh no stay here, you're good here....because of the ankle!! first time i've had good luck because of it! got off on my switch stop and found my second train, then got off in cologne and surprisingly found my hostel really fast. checked in, put my bag in the luggage room, then went off to walk around as i usually do. the DOM church is a block away, which is the tallest cathedral in the world i think. it's beautiful. i took a lot of pictures which will probably be posted after the trip since i have no way of transferring. then i walked down the rhine river thru the promenade to the cologne chokolat (chocolate) museum. it's a fun little place, cheap to get in, and i got some super nice chocolate at the end. then i walked around and had a conversation in spanish with some indians that were performing in feather costumes and war paint on the promenade. really random tho, they called out to me in spanish and i responded...in spanish, so they were really taken aback and we had about a ten minute conversation. it's the most i've talked to anyone here in cologne since i don't speak german. big thank you to my fave teacher sra. irias for being an amazing spanish teacher and all around awesome person. after that i got slightly turned around trying to get back to my hostel and some random old dude walked with me. he didn't speak more than about 2 words of english so why he thought hanging out with me was a good idea i have no idea. once we got back to the church i told him thank you and now here i am back at the hostel! tonight i'll probably stay in and do laundry, then tomorrow more sight seeing and people watching. i'm also meeting up with charlotte, a friend of kris's that came to college station in the fall, after she gets off work so i'm really looking forward to that. anyway, til next time!
ps - it really sucks when your straightener won't even work with the voltage converter. i'm rocking the au natural hair, which makes me look absolutely insane.
pss - when talking to someone who isn't a native english speaker, you cannot use sarcasm or fun phrases, because they will take it literally haha
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Dublin
I made it! The flights were long and boring but I got here, didn't have to wait for the airport bus at all, got off on exactly the right stop, and showed up at Hunter's office! Boy was he surprised I made it all the way without any help! Yesterday was pretty chill (it's Thursday morn here) and after we all grabbed lunch - burritos Chipotle style haha - I took about a five hour nap to get adjusted. After that we went to the local pub with a bunch of Hunter's classmates for a bit and then went home and crashed. Today I'm not sure what I'll do but I'll think of something!
Wish Hunter and his friends good luck, they have their big end of program presentations today and tomorrow!
Wish Hunter and his friends good luck, they have their big end of program presentations today and tomorrow!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
tomorrow
well i have good and bad news.
good news is, i leave tomorrow!!! i'm working on packing today and getting everything today. sadly christine, who was going to help me today, got picked for jury duty, sooo she won't be able to make it. but that's not the bad news. the bad news is that my ankle is still not healed so i will be going to europe with the boot. yes, my awesome accessory will be making the trip too. luckily, this isn't all bad as it will allow me to board planes first (we hope) and i'll get the sympathy vote from many people :)
also, while i'm over there, please please do not call or text my phone number. instead, email me, facebook me, skype me (scanterbury10), or call 214-699-6343 which will redirect to skype.
wish me luck in finishing packing! next post will be from dublin in two days!!
good news is, i leave tomorrow!!! i'm working on packing today and getting everything today. sadly christine, who was going to help me today, got picked for jury duty, sooo she won't be able to make it. but that's not the bad news. the bad news is that my ankle is still not healed so i will be going to europe with the boot. yes, my awesome accessory will be making the trip too. luckily, this isn't all bad as it will allow me to board planes first (we hope) and i'll get the sympathy vote from many people :)
also, while i'm over there, please please do not call or text my phone number. instead, email me, facebook me, skype me (scanterbury10), or call 214-699-6343 which will redirect to skype.
wish me luck in finishing packing! next post will be from dublin in two days!!
Friday, August 5, 2011
unexpected twist
literally. last saturday things took an interesting turn. it was the day after my internship had officially ended and the interns went boating on lake whitney. while everyone else was water skiing, cliff jumping, tubing, and wakeboarding, i chose to stay in the boat because i couldn't risk getting injured right before my trip. about an hour before we were going to leave, i decided it would be safe to ride a jet ski....and it was. (you thought that was going to be the turn, right?) after riding around for about 45 minutes by myself and with others, my friend bryse wanted to drive by herself for a while. so i drove back to the boat, where everyone was floating around in the water. or so i thought. with the water up to their necks and really dirty water (no really, you could only see a few inches down), i assumed they were treading or floating. turns out, they were standing. where i jumped off the stationary jet ski with its engine off was even more shallow. about a foot deep if we were going to guess. so when i hopped, not jumped, off the jet ski expecting to plunge all the way through in deep water, i instead hit the ground floor hard and rolled my leg. it hurt my right hip, knee, and ankle. twisted them (hence the post title) and sprained them very badly. doctor said there was nothing broken, but the sprain is still sticking around.
so now i am in a boot and have a checkup monday with my flight out on tuesday. i have considered calling the airline and seeing if i can bump everything back a week, but that screws up the plans i had for arriving and will leave me without a place to stay when i do arrive. it hurts to walk, but not enough to where i would consider canceling the trip. i've been waiting for this and have already put too much into it now. so please pray that my ankle magically heals between now and tuesday so i don't have to wear the boot, but if it doesn't then pray that the boot works to my advantage and that i will still be able to have an amazing time.
so now i am in a boot and have a checkup monday with my flight out on tuesday. i have considered calling the airline and seeing if i can bump everything back a week, but that screws up the plans i had for arriving and will leave me without a place to stay when i do arrive. it hurts to walk, but not enough to where i would consider canceling the trip. i've been waiting for this and have already put too much into it now. so please pray that my ankle magically heals between now and tuesday so i don't have to wear the boot, but if it doesn't then pray that the boot works to my advantage and that i will still be able to have an amazing time.
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