Baila en la calle en Barcelona!!

By far my favorite city and trip besides the Greece vacation. Barcelona was so beautiful and full of things to do. Angela, Paola, Nick, Trevor, Trevor's friend Elta, Kristin, Hillary and I all went. We arrived Friday night and left late Monday night and still didn't get to see everything we wanted. On Friday night we found a restaurant to get a quick bite to eat at and then headed out to check out the nightlife in Barcelona. Saturday morning we enjoyed an oh so pleasant free hostel breakfast of toast and orange juice. We headed out for the day and ended up getting 2-day bus tour tickets. This allowed us to ride and pick up the tour buses all over the city and tour it for two days. This worked out perfectly becasue we were able to see so many sites and only pay 27 Euro for transportation. If we were to take buses and metros it would have been much harder to figure out and much more expensive. Our first stop was Port Vell which was a beautiful waterfront view of the port of the city. After the port we crossed the bridge seen in the picture and found a bunch of people dancing in the street. Paola, Angela, Kristin and Elta all joined in and it was a very fun time seeing them all dancing. After the dancing we walked around the square a little more and then hopped back on the bus for a long cold ride to Sagrada Familia. One the way we saw the Olympic port, Playa de la Barceloneta and Torre Abgar. The Torre Abgar is a building home to the offices of Barcelona's water company. La Sagrada Familia is the great
unfinished work of the architect Gaudi. The building was not finished before Gaudi's death in 1918. The temple is still not completed but workers are trying to complete under the plans Gaudi left behind. We were planning on going inside but the line was an hour wait so we decided to come back on Sunday or maybe Monday. After walking around a little bit and grabbing lunch we picked the bus back up and headed to the Parc Guell. This is another beautiful Gaudi design and an intense and very different building. We walked to the roof of the Parc and hung out there for a while looking over the city and taking many pictures and dancing to the melodies of the rooftop musicians. After the sunset we began to get very cold becasue most of us were not too smart and for once thought the weather man would be right. It was supposed to be in the low 60's but turned out to be in the low 50's high 40's the whole time, dumb. The second picture is one over looking Barcelona from the top of the Parc. For dinner that night we went to a Spanish restaurant down the road and got paella. I ordered a seafood one but was disappointed when they got my order wrong and gave me chicken but it was still very good! We did not finish dinner until about a little past midnight so we didn't have much time to go out or anything. Instead we played cards and studied for finals for two hours back at the hostel. We needed to get to bed early for another long day of sight seeing. On Sunday we were out of the hostel by 10am. We took the tour bus up the mountain to Jardins de Miramar. This area is part of a botanical garden that looks out over the port where you see a great panoramic view of the coast, picture to the right. Next we went to the Anella Olimpica where we saw the Olympic stadium, Calatrava Tower and the Palau Sant. Barcelona was home to the 1992 Olympic games. The Palau sant is a venue for gymnastics and volleyball. The Calatrava Tower is see left and the shaft reflects the axis of the earth. After the olympic area we wondered around and found the MNAC (Catalan Art Musuem) on the hill and and the Placa Espanya seen right. The museum over looks the plaza. By this time we were hungry again and found this place that offered 2 courses, dessert, bread, and a drink for 14EURO!!! I got Seafood paella (finally), a steak, flan and a Spanish beer. The paella we full of seafood, mussels, squid (tentacles and body still together and suction cups there too!!), scallops, and some other things. I also got steak which was so tender and juicy, it hit the spot. The flan was also very good. So happy I got my paella and flan finally! Once it got dark we headed back to our hostel and showered and tried to warm up a little and did a bit more studying. We went to a late dinner at a Tapas bar and got to try a bunch of different foods. Again it was a very late dinner so we just decided to get to bed since we would have to check out by 10am and wander the city until about 5pm to catch our 8pm flight back to Prague. Monday we went to La Casa Batllo which is one of Gaudi's most intriguing pieces of work. The house is a very unique design with curves made to look like it is flowing. It was a very cool place to visit. The price wasn't but since we didn't get to see Sagrada Familia we figured it was worth it. We also got audio guides so we got all the information on the house. After the Gaudi house we wandered around and people ate when they felt like it, stopped at souvenir shops. At around 4:30 we walked back to the hostel to get our back packs and get back to the airport. Angela, Nick and I stayed behind to help Angela get a cookbook and it ended up being cool for two reasons. I got to help her by using my Spanish and the bus we got on ended up hitting a Porsche and totaling it. I mean the car accident was not cool but how often are you on a bus in Barcelona and get in an accident. We ended up transferring to the bus the rest of the group was on and we got to the airport on time and studied for the rest of the time at the airport and on the airplane. We arrived back home at around 10:30 and studied for the rest of the night. This was by far the best trip besides Greece this term. Spain was great becasue I got to see so much of Barcelona and also put my Spanish to good use! I loved it so much!!

Exam preparation

Hi all! Wow this week has been full of studying and finishing up work for the rest of the term. Starting to get into the stressful stages of exams. I have three finals, two paper and one presentation and I don't think anything will be that bad. I have to study obviously but I am confident in things. I am heading to Barcelona today with Angela, Paola, Nick, Trevor, Kristin and Hillary. I am excited to get to use my 7 years of Spanish classes and see the city of Barcelona. A few of us have made up a study time table and we will be doing a little bit of studying everyday and a lot on Monday. I will write when I get back to Prague! Love to all!!

Josh here and Munich!

One of my best friends Josh from Union is here is Prague. He arrived Tuesday the 1st and is leaving on the 8th. On Wednesday night he and I took a midnight bus to Germany and arrived at Munich airport at 5am Thursday morning. We found the train into the city and found our hostel by 6:30am. As tired as we were, we were determined to see the city and make the most of our 30 hours in the city. We were able to eat breakfast at the hostel and had lots of coffee. At 10am we picked up a 4 hour walking tour of Munich and were able to see Marienplatz (the main town square), the Glockenspiel, Theatinerkirche(Catholic Church-see to the right), Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall-seen to the left. We learned a lot about Germany during World War II as well as how Oktoberfest was started. At the end of the tour Josh, the tour guide another girl and I all went to a place to get lunch. We got a great deal, for 15 Euro we got bottomless Bavarian stew and a liter stein of beer and we got to keep the beer. The stew was so rich and tasted so good. I had two bowls of it! It was full of beans, vegetables, sausage and ham and potatoes!! After a 3 hours we finished and Josh and I headed back to the hostel to check in and change for a night out. When we got back we heard word of a pub crawl that seemed fun. It would tour the 3 biggest beer halls in the area we would be done by 10pm, perfect for the tired travelers. We met at the train station but no one was there so we decided to go to the pub we would all meet at. No one was there either, guess Thursday night was not a big going out on the town night. Instead we went to the Hofbräuhaus which is one of the most famous beer halls in Germany and is owned by the royal Bavarian family. We each got a beer and a pretzel and then decided to call it a night....at 8pm. We were both in bed by 8:30 and slept until 9am. A wonderful nights sleep and we were both ready for another day. We had breakfast and then walked back to the main square to get souvenirs and see a little bit more of the city. We headed back to the airport at noon to get our 2pm bus and got back to Prague at around 7pm. That night a bunch of us took Josh to The Pilsner Pub. He and the rest of us had a great time!!

The start of the holiday season!!

Tonight was the official start of the holiday season in Prague. The Christmas markets opened today in Old Town where they sell tons of souvenir type things, sausages, grog (spiced wine), ornaments, crepes...and so on. It was so beautiful seeing everything lit up but it was VERY crowded for the lighting of the 40 foot Christmas tree in the Old Town square in front of the Tyn Church. A childrens choir sang before the lighting and it got everyone in the Christmas mood and spirit. The tree was lit at 6pm and you can watch the video of it below. There were hundreds of people around it was a crazy scene trying to get out of the square. Lots of pushing and shoving but so worth it to see the lighting! Angela and I immediately played Christmas music when we got back to the room!! One month and I'll be home to enjoy the season in RI but I am so excited to see the season here in Prague!

Turkey Day in Praha!

Happy Thanksgiving a day late to everyone!! We had a traditional thanksgiving here in Prague as best we could. We were able to be all together and some of the kids in our group had their parents here as well so I was happy they were able to celebrate the holiday with us too! Our Prague family all participated in making and buying food and drinks and we were all able to have a filling meal. We had about 9 chickens (could not find turkeys here), corn, green beans, peas, carrots, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, bread, chocolate cake, cheesecake and a ton of different pastries. The meal was mainly prepared by the Kennedy's, Kristin's mom and dad. Since the stoves were so small each of our kitchens were occupied by some sort of food. It was hard not to snitch at the potatoes in our room since we were all so hungry and craving a good Thanksgiving meal. We all left the meal feeling very full and content. I was so happy we were able to celebrate since we were all missing the traditions at home. It was a great Thanksgiving that I will always remember. Hope everyone else had a food, fun, and love filled day!

Linköping and Stockholm, Sweden!!

Well after about 18 hours of being in Prague I was back in the airport again to make the journey to SWEDEN!!! To start off all the rumors about Sweden being frigid, not true well at least it was warm in the 5 days I was there. Okay back to the journey. I arrived at the airport and took a bus to Linköping where I met Gabriela, my fourth cousin I would say. I think the relation is our great-grandparents were first cousins, I really should know this but its that far back I know at least. Thursday night we had homemade Swedish meatballs, potatoes, and Julmust, which is a Coca-cola type drink that the Swedes drink at Christmas time and is very good. After dinner we watched Australia which is a good movie with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman and is a story about love and cattle driving in the Outback during World War II. Its long but really good! Friday I was able to sleep a little late and Gabriela went to class until about noon. Once she got back we walked around Linköping a bit. I got to see a bit of the old town(picture to the left), Linköping University (Gabriela's school), a chocolate factory and some of the city center at night. I was also able to see a Protestant Church, yay finally! The Linköping Cathedral was yet again another old and beautiful church. After walking around for the rest of the day we went back to Gabriela's place and she cooked again another wonderful dinner of the student sausage meal and mashed potatoes. The sausage was a very easy dish with just sausage, onions, ketchup, and mustard stuck in the oven for a bit and you have a delicious and easy but not so healthy meal. It was soooo good! That same night Gabriela's friend Anna came over and we watched Swedish Idol and had glögg, candy, gingerbread, and Lussekalter ("Lucia Cat" which are donut type pastries). The glögg is a Scandinavian Christmas drink and is a spiced wine that is served hot and is put it little glasses. We also put raisins and almonds in the glass as part of the tradition. The candy Anna brought was just a variety of candy from the grocery store and there were a lot of different flavors and shapes. It was another early to bed night because we were heading to Stockholm the next day. Saturday we took a 3 hours bus ride to Stockholm. We checked into our hostel and immediately started the tours. We first went to the City Hall and got a tour. The first room we saw was the Blue Hall which was not blue it was brick. The original plan was to paint the room blue but when the architect saw the room he changed his mind to keep the brick but the name stuck. We then saw the council chamber were the members still meet today. After that we went into the Golden Room where millions of golden tiles were used to cover the walls in beautiful murals. The Queen of Sweden is on the front wall and she is holding the city of Stockholm in her lap to protect it. After city hall we walked to the Palace. In here we got a tour of the royal and guest apartments and the crown jewels. After walking for a few hours we found this little cafe called Art cafe down an alleyway. It was a really cute underground little place where we got tea and chicken curry sandwiches. Once done with our snack we headed back to the center from old town to see the lights a night a bit. Around 6pm we walked back to the hostel, showered and found a place to eat dinner. We found this really good Chinese/Thai place where I got a non-Swedish meal but was able to try pear Swedish cider, Rekorderlig. I thought the pear was appropriate hence my last name. Gabriela and I were pretty tired from the day so we decided to head back and just read and hang out in the room and rest up for Sunday. Sunday morning we woke up and headed to a different part of Stockholm to see the Vasamuseet or Vasa Museum. This museum is dedicated to the warship, the Vasa, who sank on her first voyage in 1628. 300 years after she sank in April of 1961 she was pulled up from the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Because of the low amounts of salt and the temperatures of the sea, the Vasa was in great condition for being underwater for 300 years. The ship was restored and made to look as close to the original as possible. About 90% of the ship is original but some things had to be replaced to complete the ship. It was amazing to see the detail and effort that went into this ship. The picture to the left is a skeleton that was found in the bottom floor of the ship. The sailors who were on the bottom floor when water rushed in from the open cannon doors when the ship started to tip were drowned. 32 people died in this disaster. After the museum we went to the Palace again and were able to see the changing of the guards parade. It was a very long and serious program with a lot of guns and salutes. We then headed to a different part of the city to find some lunch. We found this coffee shop over a bridge to the island Södermalm where we got a large hot coffee to warm us from the cold and rain and I got Kladdkaka which is an amazing gooey chocolate cake, heaven in your mouth good, and Gabriela got carrot cake which was also very good. After we finished our tasty and very healthy lunch we walked the main street and went into shops and malls just to look around. Around 4pm we headed to the Swedish Museum of Natural History and saw an IMAX film about the Wild Coast in southern Africa. It was a very interesting film about the sardine migration to the northern warmer waters and the other wildlife it bring along with it. Sharks, dolphins, seals, penguins, and many birds all follow the schools to eat. It was a very cool 3D film. After the film we headed back to the hostel to and got our own pizza to go. The pizza was very good but an interesting thing about Swedish pizza places is they give you a container of cabbage to put on top of the pizza. It was a very strange combination but it was also very good. We ended up shower and just hanging around in the hostel becasue again we were exhausted from walking around all day in the chilly rainy weather. We had to get up early and get Gabriela to the bus station so she could catch her bus back to Linköping in time so she could get to her classes. After dropping her off I pretty much roamed Stockholm for the day again. I bought some souvenirs, hung out in a coffee shop and read, wandered down to the water front and sat for about an hour just to watch the boats come in and out. At around 3 I headed back to the bus station to get a bus to the Skavsta Airport and my hotel which was right next door. I checked into the hotel around 6pm. Took a shower, ate some dinner, packed up, read a little in bed then crashed early for my 4:30am wake up call to catch the 6:30am flight home to Prague. The breakfast in the morning was very good and consisted of a ham, cheese, cucumber, and tomato toast, yogurt and muesli, and coffee. Well worth the money. I finally got back to my dorm at around 10am and was happy to be back and free of traveling stresses. I am so so happy I was able to meet up with Gabriela and see Sweden!! I am hoping I will be able to get back to Sweden someday and have the rest of her family and my family meet, *cough* family vaca!! *cough* Anyway, another great trip but I am happy to be able to be home and sleeping in my bed.

England: The trip to see my oldest friend

I was so excited to arrive in a country where I spoke the language, it made getting around much easier. From the airport in Luton I had to take a 2 hour bus into Oxford where Katie Sheridan met me. It was so good to see her standing there waiting for me!! I was so happy to see her. Katie and I went to her place to get showered and ready for dinner at Worcester College. Oxford is one big university but has many smaller colleges within it. Katie goes to Exeter College but her boyfriend and the majority of her friend go to Worcester. We had a wonderful dinner of artichoke, ham, peppers, and broccoli quiche, an apricot and brie dip thing, and an espresso almond cake for dessert. The night continued with hanging out with Katies friends eating every last bit of food and I finally got to meet Dan, the boyfriend. Friday was Oxford tour day. I was able to see all of Exeter, Christ Church Meadows, many of the other colleges in the area, mainly it was a tour and picture taking of beautiful old buildings, castles and churches still standing from the 12th century. One fun thing we did see what the room used for the infirmary in Harry Potter. I didn't really recognize it but any HP fans able to imagine it??? The circular building to the left is a library at Exeter College were very old books are kept. You need special clearance to get in (which Katie has because of the wonderful historian she is) and every book printed in England during a certain time period, I forget which it is, is kept here. The picture with the immaculate greens is oh just the quad at the entrance to Exeter. Dad, you should have been the mowing jobs they had done. The lawns were perfect and so beautiful. For dinner we went to an Indian restaurant where I got chicken saag (spinach) which was the best curry I had ever had. That night we were planning on going out to a "Bop", basically clubbing but everyone was so tired from a long week of work that we all decided to stay in and call it an early night. Saturday was a more relaxing day. Katie and I did a little shopping where I got a sweater for $4 and tights for $1, got to love Primark (kind of like an H&M). After walking around all day we stopped in at Katies favorite coffee shop, Combibos, and relaxed for a bit. We headed back to Exeter to get ready for dinner and decided to try and make some Mama Sheridan cookies. I know most of you have had some of Mrs. Sheridan's chocolate chip cookies and let me tell you Katie and I failed miserably at trying to make them. We failed at the whole milliliters to cups thing. You would think since I am the math person we would be able to figure it out but nope, we just kept adding things until it tasted good and the consistency was right, the process was quite comical. They came out terrible and didn't taste great at all, you can see the disgrace to the We brought them anyway to Worcester and people were VERY nice about eating them. Sunday was a very lazy/work day. We laid in bed for about a half an hour at 8am debating whether to go to London Sunday or Monday. We ended up falling back asleep for 3 more hours so the decision was made for us that we would go Monday. After a late start we headed to a coffee shop closer to Katies house and she did some work and I did some reading. We headed back to Worcester around dinner time and had dinner there again. We went back early to Exeter to be able to get up early for London Monday morning. We didn't get to London until about 1pm because of a huge accident on the M40 and we sat dead stopped for about an hour. We had to leave by 6pm in order for Katie to get back for water polo practice. I saw everything I wanted to see in 5 hours and got to do a tour of Tower Bridge. I was able to see Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, The London Eye, the lions outside the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, Millenium Bridge, Tower of London, and finally the site I had been waiting to see, Tower Bridge. I took a tour of Tower Bridge and got to go up on the walk way above the roadway and see London at night. I also got to tour the engine room of the bridge and see how the bridge opens for large ships. The steam and hydraulic power apparatuses were so cool and I am so happy I paid the money to see it. I debated it for a while but this is the one thing in London I really wanted to see and be a part of, all for the engineering, I am such a nerd. We got back in time for me to get dinner and Kait to get to water polo. We slept at Worcester that night since the bus station I needed to be at at 6am was right next to their house. I got to the airport and the only flight out at 11:15am (the time I was supposed to depart) was to Madrid!!! There was no Prague anywhere....oops. Well we should have gone to London on Sunday becasue my flight was Monday, not Tuesday. Everything worked out okay though. I was able to get a seat on the Wednesday flight and just went back to Oxford for the night again. Turned out to be a great night and we had a fabulous dinner again of pasta and this sausage sauce that was to die for! We ended up going out to an old English pub which was actually the same pub where Bill Clinton tried weed for the first time. He smoked but did not inhale. The pub has a sign to show where he sat, kind of corny but a little fun fact. I also got to try Old Rosy which is an old old cider recipe that has been served here for many years. It was not that tasty but glad I got to try what I had been hearing about all weekend. I finally got back to Prague Wednesday afternoon. I was very lucky about not missing classes becasue I conveniently planned the trip around dean's days and holidays so I didn't miss any class time. I am so happy I was able to visit my oldest friend in the world in England. It was so fun to be there with Katie and I am so glad I got to see her. She also says hello to everyone back home!!

Krakow and Auschwitz!!

My first trip done alone under my belt and it was not bad at all. I got to the train station in Prague in plenty of time and found the platform fine. I didn't know we had assigned seating but I happened to get in the right car and cabin, lucky! I ended up sitting with two girls from Charles University here in Prague. Tonya is from NYC and Rachel is from from Boston. Tonya's mother and uncle were also on the train but were in a different cabin. We got to know each other a little on the 7 hour ride and exchanged numbers so we can hang out here in Prague. I left the train station with them and Tonya's uncle happened to be a priest from Poland and when he went to get the car he walked me to my hostel! I checked into the hostel fine and introduced myself to two girls. Nora and Colleen are from St. Louis University and are studying in Rome for this semester. We ended up planning a trip to Auschwitz together for the next day. I went to bed early to be able to get up at 7am to get the tour bus. Since we had a little time before the tour bus came we walked the main square in Krakow and this is a picture of St. Mary's Basilica. The bus picked us up right in front of the hostel at 8am and it was an hour and 20 minute ride to Auschwitz. We watched an informative movie about the camps and what to expect. One we got to Auschwitz we saw the entrance gates, exhibits of prisoners belongings, the Death Wall, holding cells, the gas chambers, and much much more. This trip if probably second on my list to Santorini not only becasue of the people I met but also this is the most history I have absorbed in one weekend. I learned so much by going on this tour and and so happy I made the trip. Here are some pictures from the weekend. The first is the entrance to the camp that says "Arbeit macht frei" which means work will make you free. Thousands of people where brought through these gates and this is where they were immediately separated between workers and people to be sent to death in the gas chambers. The next photo is of the Death wall. This is where prisoners were executed in between two holding cells. You can see on the left the wooden barricades put in place to prevent the prisoners inside from seeing what was going on outside. Same goes for the brick barricades on the second floor of the building on the right. The next photo was taken at the second camp, Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The fog and distance of the fence added a bit of eeriness to the picture I think. The last photo is the English from the memorial put in place in 1967. The saying is in about 14 different languages. It says "For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women, and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe". Auschwitz-Birkenau 1940-1945. This was a very historically fulfilling trip for me. I learned so much and it was another successful journey.

Traveling alone!

So turns out I am going to be traveling to Krakow by myself!! Angela's train tickets got messed up somehow and instead of Friday through Sunday she received tickets for Saturday through Monday. I leave tomorrow at 2pm and arrive in Poland at about 10pm. My hostel is right down the street from the train station, about a 10 minute walk. The international student club organized a trip to Krakow this weekend too so I have a few people I can call if I get lost. Also another program of people I know will also be there. All of our hostels are really close to one another too! Angela will arrive Saturday night so I will have her around on Saturday to hang with. Planning on going to Auschwitz still on Saturday and the hostel has buses that will transport me. I leave early Sunday morning (7am) and get back to Prague around 2pm. If your interested here is where I am staying: http://www.hostelworld.com/youtubevideo.php?HostelNumber=16458
Ill write again when I get back!!

Didn't go to Venice but....!!

As many of you know I did not go to Venice this weekend. I woke up Saturday morning with a throbbing earache and just didn't feel up to flying and read some bad things on WebMD about flying with earaches and how painful they can be. Liz came along with me to the clinic at the hospital after the girls left for Venice. The hospital itself was a little creepy and not very hospitaly looking but everyone was very nice and spoke very good English and was very helpful. I saw a doctor and he told me I had a very large amount of fluid in my left ear and good thing I didn't fly on a plane that day becasue under the pressure my eardrum would have burst. I would have been deaf in that ear for a few days and could have lost a little bit of hearing permanently. So for the rest of Saturday, Sunday and Monday I just hung out in my room and in my bed resting and sleeping. The doctor gave me medicine that I think is basically Claritin clear o my sinuses. As of today, Tuesday, my sinuses are still jammed full and instead of having a chest cold it now has moved all to my head. I am still taking it easy, bed early, not going out, and eating healthy so I can get better as soon as possible. I definitely want to be better by the weekend because tonight I just booked a trip to Krakow, Poland. Angela, Paola and I are going to head there Friday and come back early Sunday. We will have a few hours in Krakow on Friday night, all day Saturday to explore and then we leave at 7am on Sunday morning. We plan on going to Auschwitz and Birkenau which was one of the largest Nazi concentration camps. I have heard it is not the happiest of places to visit and is very emotional but it is a huge part of world history that I really want to see and experience. It kind of a last minute trip but after being in Prague for four weekends straight I wanted to do something spontaneous. So this weekend starts a three weekend, maybe four! spree of traveling!! I can't wait!

York Visitors and sicknesses

Alyssa and Lorry had a great time visiting us in Prague. Their plane was delayed two hours in London so they didn't arrive until after midnight. We had a lot of fun with them as well in the two days they were here. I was able to take all my own pictures of the sites here because when I first saw them I was without a camera. On Saturday we took them to Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, The Charles Bridge, and Old Town Square where they got to see the Astronomical Clock. Here is a pictures of Nick, Dan, Lorry and Alyssa on the Charles Bridge with Prague Castle in the background. It was a quick but successful tour of the main sites of the city. On Sunday, I woke up early to go to church but when I got to the address there was no church in site. I tried asking around for the Lutheran Church but no one understood what I was saying. I was a little disappointed I could not find it but I did get in a few more hours of sleep once I got back to my room. Once everyone was awake we went to a late lunch at the new favorite restaurant of I think a majority of the Americans called Bohemian Bagel. Its this great little bagel shop super close to Old Town Square and it has cheese steak sandwickes, pulled pork, BLTs, omelets, all sorts of bagels and free refills of coffee. And its cheap too! I got a bagel and a coffee for all about a dollar. On Sunday night a bunch of us went to The Pub - Pilsner Unique Bar where we all got a great dinner and got to pour our own beer from the tap at our table. It was a quite Sunday night and we played cards through out dinner. We got to be early since the girls had a flight out early in the morning and I had class early.

I know I am sad about it but this week I only had one class..... yup just one, my Monday 8am. The Monday afternoon class was canceled becasue the professor was away, Tuesdays I don't have class, Wednesdays classes were canceled becasue of a national holiday and my 4:30 class on Thursday was canceled to technical difficulties. This worked out perfectly actually because Tuesday morning I woke up very late becasue I needed to catch up on sleep from the weekend and Wednesday I woke up so sick I could not get out of bed. It scared me a little becasue I had flu like symptoms but Angela got me medicine and I slept and hydrated all day Wednesday. I woke up today, Thursday, and felt 100% better than I did the day before. All that sleep and water really helped. Now all I have is a runny nose and a cough. Everyone here seems to be getting a little sick and have a cough so we are all taking extra precautions. I am so happy I feel better otherwise I would have had to cancel my trip to Venice this weekend. That would have been terrible. But today I rested more and tomorrow I plan on doing the same so I can be in full gear for Italy!!! We fly out at 11am on Saturday morning and come back early Monday morning. I am looking forward to another trip and can't wait to travel again!!

Sorry its been so long again...

This week has been full of classes and catching up on sleep. I have been learning a lot of the same things in each of the classes becasue they are so similar in material. I have been learning about sewage, drainage, and where all the waste water goes and how Prague deals with the water and where it goes after treatment. Its actually cool to see what actually happens behind the walls in a house and where everything goes. We have a project coming up soon in waster water treatment and I don't know exactly what we do but I have heard we built a little model of a water treatment plant. In each other the processes the water changes color and once it is clean it is clear. In my Czech culture class we learned about Czech literature and famous Czech authors. Jaroslav Hasek wrote The Adventrues of the Good Soldier Svejk which was one of the books recommended for us to read. Its about life during World War II in this area and it is a very entertaining and amusing novel but also answers many serious questions. I definitely going to get a copy once I am home. Today I did not have class so Kristin and I checked out the Chinese markets which I did not find too good but she was able to find some cool things. Tonight my friends Alyssa and Lorry are coming from York, England and I am excited to show them around Prague!! Hannah, October 27th, where are you going to be...in line at Walmart buying Ice Age 3 right?! *cough* Christmas is in 2 months *cough*. Sorry about that little frog in my throat. Angela and I made awesome black bean burgers Tuesday and Wednesday night. The recipe is very easy and I can't wait to make them when I get home. I also made an awesome spinach, shitake mushroom, pepper and garlic stir fry and it was AMAZING. I love this whole cooking on my own thing. Its fun! I also found this great recipe for skillet Lasagna, which is great becasue all we have is a stove top here. I can't wait to try it. Nick and I are off to pick up the girls in a few but hope everyone is well and my love to all!!

I finally booked tickets to SWEDEN!!! I am going Thursday November 19th to Tuesday November 24th. I am flying into Stockholm and will be taking a bus into Linköping to meet Gabriela, my distant cousin. I am so excited that things finally worked out and I will be going to see a country of major heritage!! This weekend was fun. We didn't do much except hang out at night and do homework and gym during the day. Friday night a bunch of us went to this new club that was playing rage/rave stuff not really sure what it was called but the club was so cool. The light fixtures were made of car parts and everything was very metal looking. On Saturday night we had girls night with only three of us. Most of the other girls were away on trips. Robin, Kristin and I went out to a club we have been to before and just hung out and danced a bit. It was a pretty slow paced, fun and early night. The most exciting thing about the weekend was that me and five others went to a Sparta vs. Slavia Hockey game. This is a huge rivalry in Prague and the games are crazy. Fans are so intense and people get all dressed up and it is a great time. The home team, Sparta Praha, lost to Slavia 3 to 2. Angela, Nick and I were rooting for Sparta and Mitch, Demarcus, and Alasdair were rooting for Slavia so it was a little fun rivalry between the group. Between the first and second period after the ice was cleared a little hockey league came on and played for about five minutes. It was so cute! With about 10 minutes remaining in the third period the Sparta fans lit a flare thing, in the stands, inside! I guess this is a very common thing to do at these rivalry games. The same things happened a few weeks ago when a few kids went to the soccer game. The game was really fun and Angela and I got very into it towards the end. I finally got my sport fix since there are no TV's or live internet stuff. I did research though and I found a bar close by that does College football on Saturdays and then Sunday night football! So I could have seen the Pats beat Tennessee 59 to 0 but there is always next weekend. Today, Monday was very lazy. I went to my two classes and then napped for a while. Then Marc made Angela and I a great dinner of couscous and vegetables! My friend Alyssa who is in York, England for this term is going to visit this weekend with her friend Lorry. I am really excited to have visitors! It should be a fun time!

Well not much has gone on this week except going to class and doing a little homework. I have been in contact with Gabriela, my distant cousin in Sweden and we are trying to make plans for me to visit and stay with her. Its looking good so far. I picked my classes for winter term at Union and boy is it going to be a tough winter term. I am thinking of taking 3 labs and a masters course for my minor, crazy. We experienced the first snow fall of the season last night....at 5am. About twenty of us went to a new club called Mecca to check it out. It was a really fun scene. Upstairs was techno craziness and in the bottom floor there was 80's and 90's pop so were heard tons of Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys, Madonna, Bon Jovi, and many many others. Basically it was a good ol' American dance party. We didn't realize the time becasue of the great music but didn't leave the club until 4:30am. We walked to the metro station in the freezing cold (VERY dumb idea, I know) which was about a ten minute walk and waited for the 5am metro. When we got off at our stop it was snowing!!! No accumulation but it pretty much snowed all day today. Due to the very late night last night Angela and I had a quiet evening where we attempted to make cookies which turned into large pancakes on a fry pan. We only had flour, sugar packets, an egg, and some milk and salt, oh and M&M's. It was a very interesting and improvisational snack but turned out okay. We ate our pancake cookie things while watching the Goonies. Very satisfying. Tomorrow we have no class and are planning on getting up at a decent hour (10am) going to the gym and then going to go shopping at the outlets. Well I am off to get a little bit of homework done!

Weekend in Budapest!

Another great weekend in foreign lands!! Friday morning Allie, Hillary, Paola, Liz, Kristin, Robin, Nick, Demarcus, Patrick and I woke up super early (5am) to catch a 6:30 bus to Budapest. The bus ride was 7 hours long so we got to sleep a lot. We arrived in Hungary around 3:30 and found our hostel in no time. It was a little ways from the bus stop but we were able to find our way easily. The hostel was owned by a guy a little older than us and it was a small flat which was very nice. The beds were not super comfortable but thats what you get when you pay $9 a night for a room. The picture of the room is the room all the girls stayed in both nights. But the first night there were only 5 beds avaliable for 7 of us. Robin and I ended up staying in the same type of room in a different hostel with the guys from Union who also came to Budapest with us. On Friday night we walked around the city a bit and found an outdoor bar to eat at. Since the metros closed at 11pm the girls went back to their hostel and Robin, the guys and I walked around a bit more and saw a few sites at night. The picture here is the Buda Palace. We then went back to the hostel to find a cool bar or club to go to. We ended up meeting the other kids staying in the hostel who were from Austria and Wisconsin. All of us went to this old truck station that had been turned into a bar/club and it was really fun! They had Foosball and pool tables, a bar area, dance floor and places to sit and hang out. It was a really cool atmosphere but VERY smoky, my hair still smells... It was a very late night but Robin and I got up early and showered and snuck out to get back to the girls hostel. All the girls met up at the market were we look around a bunch. There were many souvenir type things to buy along with meat, produce, and linens. This market is very famous in Budapest becasue of the cheap prices. My lunch that I got there (pork, onions and potato mix thing) looked delicious in the pot but was not very good at all and it was served kind of cold. It was not a satisfying meal. I tried to make up for it by getting the apple and cinnamon strudel that is also something to try at the market but that again was not the greatest. It was not the worst I have had but I still think Mom's apple pie is the best!! The picture to the left is of Robin and Kristin in the market. It was three floors and the building took up about two blocks. The shopping here was great prices but the food was not that good. Guess I know I don't like Hungarian food. After the market we headed to the Szechenyi Gyogyfurdo which is one of the most popular swimming and bathing areas in the city. The water for these baths and pools comes from about a kilometer underground from a spring. There were outdoor and indoor bath and we went in both. The indoor baths were more hot tub temperatures 38 degrees Celsius and the outdoor ones were about 32 degrees. One of the outdoor pools had a whirlpool which was really fun. There was so much to do here that we were not able to do or see. There are tanning areas on the roof of the complex, bars, a lap pool, saunas, mens and womens thermal tubs, massages, all different facial treatments. Basically you could spend all day here getting treatments and swimming. It was a very different experience and if your even in Budapest you should definitely find one. They are all over the city and are open year round. After the baths we walked around the area and the city more. We found Heroes Square where the Millennium Memorial is. This is a site with statues of the leaders of the seven tribes that founded Hungary in the 9th century and other outstanding figures of Hungarian history. The construction of the memorial was started when the one thousandth anniversary was celebrated (in 1896), but it was finished until 1929. After Heroes Square we saw the Vajdahunyad Castle then went back to the main part of the city and found the Budapest Great Synagogue (Dohany utcai Zsinagoga). We were not able to go in becasue of it being Saturday, the Sabbath. Unfortunately we were not able to see the tree of life which is a memorial of the 600.000 martyrs who were victims of the holocaust. It is a sliver willow tree where every leaf has the name of a victim. After the synagogue we went back to our hostel to change and get dinner and make plans with the guys for the night. We found this great restaurant on our street where sadly we didn't get any traditional food but it was still good. On our way to get to the guys hostel it started to pour and we were all without rain coats and umbrellas, oops. Also on the way we found The Museum of Applied Arts which was very pretty at night. The green roof was really different but beautiful. We ended up finding the bar that was suggested to us by a friend of Patrick's from Budapest but it turned out to be a very upscale place with locals all older than us and very dressed up. Jeans and a nice shirt was way too under dressed so we all left becasue it was not our thing and ended up back at the same club we went to the night before. It was another fun night in the city. The next morning we packed our stuff and decided to site see more in the rain. We walked to the sites and were able to see Parliament (1st picture), Buda Palace(2nd picture), Matthias Church (3rd pic but only of the back of the church, they were doing construction on the front), and the Szechenyi Chain Bridge(in background with me).

After the site seeing the sun finally came out and it turned into a nice day. We headed back to the bus station and caught our 4:15 bus. I slept the whole way back to catch up on some much needed sleep. We got home at 11:45 and just in time to catch the last metro back to the dorm. Another great weekend!!!