кирилица любов

Sorry about the delay on this! For some reason some parts of Turkey have blocked blogspot, youtube and apparently Google maps?
Anyways, the next stop on my eastern trek after Albania was Macedonia.  The journey there might just be the most memorable yet.  I've started to take advantage of taxis... I always refused before this point, thinking them a HUGE waste of money... but when I'm faced with an hour long walk with all my things down a sidewalk full of holes, or a comfortable (if not slightly panicky) 20 minute ride in a taxi for just $4... well, the taxis have come into a much more favorable light.  So in Tirana, I took a taxi to the "bus station," which was really just a gravel lot in front of the university filled with 10-passenger vans.  The drivers stand there and yell their destinations at everyone walking down the street, and once the van is stuffed with about 10 or 12 people, it finally leaves.  I got squished in the front seat with the driver and an old woman, as ten more random people shoved in the back.  Then hilarity and chaos ensued.  We started flying down the road through the mountains, narrowly avoiding chickens, people, donkeys, etc... then the police stopped us at a checkpoint and I think told us to slow down, but it didn't do much good.  The old woman next to me kept babbling in Albanian, unaware or perhaps just uncaring that I didn't understand her, and crossing herself and praying every time we came close to the edge of the mountain.  For some reason, I just found this all so ridiculous I had to shove my fist in my mouth to keep from laughing.

Lake Ohrid

     The girl at the hostel told me the "bus" would drop us off right next to the Macedonian border... well... the driver left me on the side of the road in the dumphole of a town Pogradec.  Luckily, some random guy saw my distressed look and loaded my bag in his car and drove me to the border.  Thankfully he didn't kidnap me or anything.  He dropped me off near border patrol, and I grabbed my suitcase and started walking.  I got past the Albanian police, then walked about another 10 minutes to the Macedonian side.  This was also quite ridiculous as cars kept driving past me as I went for a stroll down the highway just rolling my little suitcase along and singing to myself.  After I got into Macedonia, the police said I could sit and wait by the curb and eventually a bus (aka taxi) would come along.  So I made myself a sandwich, read a book, listened to some music, chatted with the border people, sat on my bag and took a nap, and then the taxi finally arrived.  It was interesting to see how different it was, just ten minutes away from Albania, even though they both share a huge lake.  The Macedonian side was lacking the trash, stray livestock, and potholes that seem to define Albania.

     After making my way to the town of Ohrid, situated on the lake of the same name, I decided to stay a few days and relax.  I met Henning from Germany and we spent a day hiking to the beautiful, old Orthodox churches and up to the fortress overlooking the city.  Ohrid was a great place to rest up, take lazy walks around the lake, and just sit in the sun and read.  After Ohrid, Henning and I traveled on to the capital Skopje.  It's a nice capital city with a young vibe to it, but as far as tourism goes, there isn't much to see.  One day was enough to explore, so I then set off for Pristina, Kosovo... not a lot to see in Kosovo either.  The first day I managed to get about three miles off my map when I thought I was close to my hostel... I blame Kosovo's aversion to street signs of any kind :)  The next day all I accomplished was making it down to Bill Clinton Street to see the huge statue of him and the American flag.  The people in Kosovo really seem to like Americans, because they say we helped them so much in gaining their independence, so the owner of the hostel I stayed in gave me "only the best for the American."
     After Kosovo, it was off to Bulgaria.  Let me mention that in Macedonia and Bulgaria, they use the Cyrillic alphabet, rather than the Latin alphabet that English and Romance languages are based on.  On the bus to Skopje, Henning was kind enough to let me use his book that had the Cyrillic alphabet, so I memorized the letters.  And I was surprised to see, that even though I don't speak Macedonian or Bulgarian, some of the words are still very similar to English once you get past the 'weird' letters. However, it still takes me forever to sound out a word.  Me in the restaurant: "ha..ham...ham..burger. Hamburger!!  Ok, just one second... co..co..coca..coca cola!"  The waiters were never very amused.

Sofia

   Anyways, from Kosovo, I took the bus back into Macedonia to catch the bus to Sofia, Bulgaria.  I got dropped off at the bus station around 9 pm and hopped on the tram toward my hostel.  All seemed to be okay until I realized there was no one else on the tram and the driver came back and started yelling at me in Bulgarian, said something that resembled 'garage,' then threw me off the tram.  I decided I hated Bulgaria as I found myself in a dark, cold alley with all my things, no map, and no idea where I was or where I needed to go.  I wandered a bit until I found an intersection and just stood there for about twenty minutes waiting for a taxi since I didn't even know which direction to start walking.  And of course, the driver didn't know where the hostel was... Well, eventually we made it there, and the next morning after a good rest, I decided I didn't hate Bulgaria anymore.  Sofia is roughly the size of Indianapolis, but everything is close together so you can walk from end to end of the city in about an hour.  There I met Daniel from Valparaiso, IN (the hometown next to mine.. small world, huh?), and we spent a few days trying to find the perfect Bulgarian kebab and exploring the city (once again, not to much to see in Sofia... it seems to be a recurring theme).  And then, my solo journey came to an end as I left for Turkey to meet up with my mother.  I had sort of mixed emotions about ending my trip.. part of me was ready to see someone I knew, but part of me is really going to miss being on my own and having to fend for myself.  Now I know though that the travel bug has bitten me, and I'll just have to start planning for my next trip :)

Balkanology

Bosnia is... a little rough around the edges...  The river is brown, there is trash everywhere, and evidence of the recent war runs rampant.  However, it has a unique flavor all its own.  Muslims constitute 45% of the population, Orthodox Christians 36%, and Catholics another 15%.  This unlikely combination gives Bosnia a curious intrigue that draws you in.  The tops of the minarets peek out over the city and the crosses on the cathedrals stand beside them.  Then the call to prayer sounds throughout the town, in stark contrast to the church bells.  It's a little strange, but somehow it works.

Stari Most, Mostar

  After my stay in Dubrovnik, I traveled across the border to Mostar, famous for its bridge that collapsed in 1993 after persistent shelling attacks.  Now the bridge is rebuilt exactly as before, but the town still houses many ghosts from the past.  The owner of the hostel I stayed at picked me up from the bus station and gave me a tour of the city, showing me the front line of the war, where the snipers used to hide, and she described what the sunken-in buildings used to be.  Entire cemeteries, not just in Mostar but throughout Bosnia as well, are full with people who died only between the years of 1993-95.  It was really one of those eye-opening experiences, and I realized how lucky we are as Americans that we haven't had a war fought on our ground for over a century.  In Bosnia, and even across Europe from the World Wars or other recent conflicts, you can still see scars on the towns, and inside the people's minds as well.  Every person I met in Bosnia had a story about someone who passed away, or someone who escaped across the border, or even their own stories about getting personally involved in the conflict... we are very lucky indeed to not have had to deal with something like this for sometime within our own borders.

Sarajevo

   After Mostar, I traveled up to the capital Sarajevo for two days.  I met a guy from California who was taking a break from running his orphanage in Ethiopia, so we explored the city a bit.  Sarajevo is easy to see in a short amount of time, and we got to cross the bridge where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914, starting WWI.  I had another little wake-up call then, as I passed a young girl, no older than 12, dressed in dirty clothes and smoking a cigarette.  Of course, I instantly started judging her (why is it that humans judge each other so much?), when she suddenly introduced herself and her friends to me, shook my hand, and told me I had beautiful eyes.  We got to talking and she actually turned out to be a cool kid.  Later, I looked back, slightly ashamed of myself as I realized that even if someone has a lifestyle I wouldn't necessarily choose for myself, that it shouldn't give me grounds to judge anyone, especially if I know nothing about them.  After all, we're all just trying to get by, right?
  I finished up Sarajevo with a St. Patty's Day beer with some German girls that knew of this great place that used to be an old cinema, but is now refurbished as a bar...such a genius concept!
   After a few days in Bosnia, I headed off to Montenegro, one of the world's newest countries.  This part of the world has been great to travel in, but it is definitely not easy to get around.  Trains are virtually nonexistent, bus schedules are nowhere to found online, and the routes can change without notice.  Buses might go only once a day, or only on even-numbered days.. it can be a bit of a headache.  I've stopped booking hostels in advance because I never know if I'll make it where I want to go that day, but luckily it's still the off season, so I can always show up knowing any hostel will have a spot for me.  I've done a lot of figuring things out by word of mouth.. this region can be enjoyed as long as you are really willing to listen to other travelers' suggestions on where to go, what to see, what to avoid.  It's fun, because I don't really know where I'll be two days from now.

Lovely Montenegro

   Anyways, to get from Bosnia to Montenegro was an adventure.  The road crosses into Croatia, back to Bosnia, and back to Croatia, where I caught a 'bus' (really a tiny van) to Montenegro, and then two more city buses to reach Kotor.  Phew!  But it was definitely worth it, because the Adriatic coast of Montenegro is beautiful!  I truly regret not staying a day or two more.  The first night, we went out to Club Maximus, the biggest club in the country, and I have to say it was one of the most impressive clubs I've seen in Europe.  Which is funny, because Kotor only has about 13,000 people...   The next day I went with Jimmy from California, and we climbed a mountain!  At the edge of Kotor, there is a trail up to an old fortress, but then beyond that is part of the mountain range, and I'm proud to say we successfully reached the summit of one of them.  And we made some donkey and goat friends along the way :)
    Too quickly I left for Albania.  Now if Bosnia is rough around the edges, Albania is like sharp knives.. or something.  After 4 bus rides, I managed to find my way to the capital Tirana.  Dirty, loud, and chaotic are good words to describe Albania.  Earlier I prided myself on not having been culture shocked thus far on my trip... that ended when we drove past a meat market with an entire dead skinned cow hanging in the window.  And around the corner were live, sedated chickens just waiting to be someone's dinner. Add that to squat toilets, and the first city where I was told not to drink the water... Alright, Albania... you got me :)  But quite honestly, for all the mess and chaos happening, Tirana has a pleasant atmosphere about it.  Everyone just seems so.. happy.  Much more so than in Bosnia, where everyone seemed kind of down in the dumps.  There isn't too much to see in Tirana, but I met an American girl who had been living in Albania for almost two years, so we spent some time together and went to a local pub one night with an extremely talented Serbian singer.  I also got to experience Nowruz, the Persian New Year.  In reality, it didn't mean much except that no one had to work, but it was a national holiday to observe the first day of spring as well.

Tirana

      People have asked me if these countries are particularly dangerous to travel in, but I have to say I don't feel any more unsafe than I did at any point in my trip.  I've been a bit more on guard, mostly due to the beggars, but I haven't felt threatened at all.  People are genuinely nice and I haven't seen much difference in regards to personal safety as I've moved east.  Although one thing I'm extremely grateful for is that my hair is brown.  People are nice, but they have a tendency to stare.  It's not a horrible thing to have people find out I'm an American (a lot of people over here love Americans), but I try not to draw too much attention to myself when I'm just walking alone.  And having bright blond hair in countries where literally everyone has dark hair is just like putting a sign on my forehead.  Some people take notice anyway, since I'm a young girl walking alone, but I think that most people dismiss me as a local high school kid.  The blue eyes, however, are a dead giveaway, and the stares once people realize you are a foreigner can be a little relentless.  So I thank my lucky stars that my hair is brown instead of blond (and Sarah and Jenny for dyeing it :)
Next stop from Albania will be Macedonia and then possibly on to Kosovo! Until next time :)

Eurotrip Part Two

Plitvice

   It's official.  Croatia is my new favorite country!  For the first time in over a month, I'm almost warm again.  No more snow, no more clouds- it's incredible!  After my stay in Ljubljana, I went to the capital Zagreb for two days.  Nothing too exciting is going on there, but it's a lovely city to just wander and get completely lost for a few hours.  I also took a day trip to Plitvice National Park, which was amazing!  There was no one in the whole park, so I conveniently avoided the $11 entrance fee and wandered for a few hours.  My only regret was that I didn't get to see it when it was warmer, but everything was still gorgeous with miles of waterfalls, trees, rivers, and forests.

 

Sunset in Split

   For about a week after that, I holed up in the bustling town of Split, right on the Dalmatian Coast.  And for the cool price of just $30 a day, I had the luxury of my own bedroom, bathroom, closet, refrigerator, and microwave!  It made for a nice change from bunk beds and being woken up at 2 every morning by people barging in from somewhere trying to make their bed in the bunk above you.  Split is a nice little town to base yourself in, the epitome of coastal city.  Everyone is always out and about on the streets, but never in a hurry.  I've decided no one actually works there, because the main promenade is always packed with people dining at the cafes and going for a stroll.  It's not quite warm enough to shed my jacket yet, but the days have been beautiful and sunny, perfect for an hour or two on a bench watching the world go by.  My days in Croatia have been spent doing a lot of nothing.  Reading, sitting in the sun, getting myself purposely lost, and hours of walking aimlessly.  It's nice to do nothing for a change.  One day I randomly hopped on a bus and ended up in Trogir, a little walled island. Another day, I went on a ferry to Bol, a city on Brac Island. I also got to experience Carnival, which in Croatia basically means dressing up like it's Halloween, drinking in the streets, and hopping around to different free concerts across the city :)  And the children do a little Carnival parade which is absolutely precious to watch.

Trogir

    I've decided this marks part two of my journey, because I am now no longer in the EU.  In Europe, yes, but not within the Union boundaries.  The next part of my trip will take me to that obscure part of the world know as the "Western Balkans."  This exhilarates me a bit, because I know absolutely nothing about any of these countries.  My first stop will be Bosnia and Herzegovina and then I'll go around the area.  "But aren't those countries scary?" people have asked me.  Well, maybe, but I've decided that between the media and our government, we are spoon-fed so many misperceptions about the world, and these places aren't as 'scary' as we might think.  Actually, most places end up surprising me.  Like Croatia, for instance.  All my travel book managed to do was unnecessarily freak me out about losing my leg to a landmine, but from what I've seen, the place is a lot cleaner and more efficient than, say, the southern parts of some EU countries.

Bol

   In reality, this trip so far has really not been met with many difficulties.  Sure, I've had some language barriers to cross, and I get lost a lot, but in general, traveling on my own has not been that hard at all.  I guess the fact I've been to Europe several times has been working in my favor, so culture shock has been a non-issue.  Also, I've been with Alex for over two years, so that might have given me at least the tiniest insight into a European frame of mind... maybe?  But with my computer it's been so easy to look up train schedules, metro stops, and google map just about everything.  More than that though, it's the people I have to thank.  I know that I mentioned before some people being rude, but for every disgruntled local I've met, there have been 10 more who have gone out of their way to help me out.  The little old lady who walks with me to whatever place I've asked directions for, the bus driver who gets out at my station to make sure I get on the right connecting bus, the passerby who offers to carry my grocery bags... people look out for you, and in today's world, I think the underlying kindness of humans needs to be remembered.  Well, I suppose that's my inspirational speech for the day :)  Now I'm finishing up a few days in Dubrovnik, another one of my favorite towns, then I'll slowly make my way across the Balkans to Turkey. Wish me luck!

Dubrovnik

Heading East

I am so far behind in this blog.. everything I'm writing happened so long ago!

View of Pest

Well last week after my time in Austria, I went to Budapest for the weekend and stayed with Geri, who I met back in January in Rome.  Budapest just might be my favorite city so far!  Once again, it is a little off the typical tourist path, at least at this time of the year, and for the first time, I could really see the Eastern influence in the architecture and buildings, which adds an irresistible charm to the place. My first night there, we climbed up to the citadel for a fantastic view of the city.  For reference, Budapest actually used to be two cities, Buda and Pest, split in half by the Danube river.  Buda has the castle and citadel, and Pest contains most of the old town, but now they've been combined to make one city that we know as Budapest.
The next day, Geri had to do some things for class, so his roommates took me to the gym to play squash! I didn't even really know what squash was until I got there, but it's kind of like racquetball.  And it turns out that I'm actually not that bad at it!  I gave the boys a run for their money :)  Later that day, we walked around the city a bit, but it was so cold that we ended up going back to the flat and watching episodes of the Big Bang Theory.  Typical Hungarian day, I suppose.  My last day in Hungary, we walked around and took a visit to see the medicinal baths (too expensive for my budget to actually go in though..), and we went to the Terror Haza Museum, featuring exhibits about the communist regime in Hungary.  In the basement were reconstructed prison cells to show how prisoners were tortured and confined in that very building... a little unsettling..
   Then my time in Budapest was over too quickly, leading me to probably the biggest monetary mistake I've made on this trip.  Oops.  My plan was to go to Ljubljana, but almost any destination from Budapest is... well, tricky.  The only direct train that I found didn't get in until 2 am, and I decided that showing up alone in a new city at the wee hours of the morning was a poor choice.  So I opted for the 11 hour train that went back to Salzburg and arrived at 6:30 in the morning.  Only problem? I failed to figure out the cost beforehand, so instead of the direct train which would have cost me $40, I ended up paying $120.  Ouch.  And it turns out, I got kind of sick on the train... probably too much pizza :)... but I decided to hop off in Salzburg around 1 am, wander back to the hostel I stayed at before, sleep for a few hours, and then head on to Slovenia, adding another $20 or so to my total cost of the day.  Fail.

Lake Bled and the castle

    Well, the train was still worth it, because I adored Ljubljana.  Hardly a tourist in sight, Ljubljana has a very eclectic, funky vibe to it.  All the shops and cafes were very unique, streaming fun music into the streets, and it almost seemed... hippie.  It was then that I realized that I just might have an inner hippie waiting to be free somewhere inside me.  Haha- I never thought that about before, but I guess bumming around Europe alone qualifies you for that status.  I also stayed in a sweet hostel that used to be a jail.  Now the cells are converted into hostel dorms. It was very cool until I saw the bloodstains on the wall... just kidding!  The next day I met Jin from Japan, and we took a daytrip to Lake Bled.  In the middle of the lake is Slovenia's only island, home of a huge cathedral.  The only way to get to church is by boat!  We decided not to take the expensive tourist ferry to the island, but to climb up the side of a mountain to Bled Castle for some fabulous views of the city.  Because of the cold, and the fact that we saw more chickens, dogs, and ducks than actual people, we decided to call it a day, and he went back to his hostel in Bled, and I took the bus back to Ljubljana for the night.
    After that it was off to Croatia!  Let me take a few seconds to explain the intricacies of visa regulations for the EU.  Currently, US citizens can travel to Europe for 90 days within a period of 6 months without a visa.  This means 3 months in Europe, then 3 months out.  The part that gets confusing is that this applies to countries that are a part of the Schengen Agreement, which is not necessarily the European Union, but it is close.  And countries that use the Euro are something different altogether.  The point is, I am reaching my max number of days in the area (I'm about at 70), so I want to pause and regroup myself before going back in, so Croatia it is, because it is not part of the Schengen countries.  Therefore, I can stay here as long as I want (within reason..)  This meant passport control for the first time since coming to Spain in December.  That is one thing though that the EU has done very well for itself- erasing the border controls.  Every time I pass a country border, I've gotten used to seeing abandoned checkpoints, and it makes the whole travel process so much easier, especially since countries are so small here. But now, I have a little stamp officially welcoming me to Croatia.  Anyways, this will be a good break for me.  I will travel down the coast and hang out in some beach towns and work on some job applications for the fall.  A breath of fresh air, because I feel like I might be getting burnt out on moving around so much and the fast pace of seeing so much all at once.  So after I have time to plan my next leg of my journey (and cry over the status of my bank account :), then I'll head out again with a revived energy.  That's all for now!

And the journey continues...

Wow... so much has happened in the past 2 weeks that I haven't had time to sit down and write!  I shall start at the beginning.  After my week in the Czech Republic with my aunt, I ventured back into Germany for a weekend in Munich.  Nothing too remarkable happened here, although I really like the city a lot.  I met a guy on the street doing some kind of survey, and when he found out I was American, he said, "Oh, I love America! I want to go to New York and I listen all the time to hip hop!"  He seemed really confused when I tried to explain that New York was great, but he should see more than just that if he came to America.  I tried to tell him that saying New York is "America," is like saying Paris is "Europe."  Sure, it gives you a good idea of the place and it's a great city to visit, but there's so much more to our country than just New York City.  And he was extremely appalled when I told him I don't even particularly like hip hop.  "But you're American!" he said... And I laughed and said, "Yes, but not every American listens to hip hop and lives in a big city."  Do you see sometimes how stereotypes can be dangerous things? It was actually quite amusing to hear what he thought about our country, because so many people have commented to me on things that they see in the movies or on American television, but aren't necessarily true.  It's also helped me remember to keep an open mind about the places I've been going, and not just rely on a few stereotypical things that I've heard.
   Anyways, while in Munich, I took a day trip to Fussen to see the famous Neuschwanstein Castle, the one that that was the inspiration for the Disneyland Castle!  Very cool, to say the least, but unfortunately it was so foggy that you couldn't see it until you got right up next to it.

The view you are supposed to see

The view I saw :)

Nevertheless, the castle was definitely worth the journey, and on the way back down to the village, I met Mauricio and Jimena from Uruguay, and we tromped through the snow back to Munich and rewarded ourselves with a burger party at McDonalds!

Alps

        After Munich, it was off to Austria with Salzburg as the first stop.  I had the Sound of Music soundtrack on repeat in my head for a few days, and I roamed around the city to learn all about Mozart and see his two homes.  But by far the most exhilarating thing I think I've done on this trip so far was to take a cable car up to the top of the Alps.  Once again, it was super foggy, so we passed through a cloud on the way up, and then the worker guy just left me there alone on the top of the mountain... So I started walking.  It's hard to describe the feeling I had, but I guess a good word might be awestruck.  All I could hear was the wind, the snow was up to my knees, and I was surrounded by clouds and mountains.  Completely and utterly amazing :)

    That night in the hostel, I had another cool traveler's moment, when I went down to the bar and ended up sitting with a group of 11 people.  All of us were traveling alone, we were representing 10 different countries and 6 different languages.  Yet we all had the common bond of travel and a story about where we came from, where we were going next, and an innate desire to experience the world.  Better yet, we all understood each other, and I realized that while traveling, it's so easy to make lifelong friends in just a few short hours.  I know that sounds cheesy, but I've met so many cool people over the past month or so that have offered to let me stay with them when I come to Brazil or Dubai or Australia, and I've offered the same, and I really do mean it.  The people I've met understand quitting your job to travel or spending every last cent you have on a trip, and with almost everyone I meet, there is just an instant measure of respect.. like a backpacker's code or something :)

Hallstatt

        After Salzburg, I went by bus to Hallstatt, a gem of a village nestled away in the Alps.  I showed up, perhaps stupidly, without booking a hostel and no idea where to go.  A kind hotel receptionist pointed me to the only hostel in town, but after a thorough search of the whole place, I couldn't find a single soul.  So I stashed my suitcase under a table and went exploring.  The town was just so beautiful and quiet, although I was a little annoyed when I walked into the only open shop and heard, "the DJ got us fallin in love again!!"  Really, America? Do you have to spoil everything? :) Other than that, the town was just absolutely adorable.  Upon return to the hostel three hours later, I still couldn't find anyone... so I got on a ferry, crossed the lake, and hopped on a train to Vienna.  I love how relatively easy things are here.  

      Vienna was.. alright.  There was nothing particularly wrong with it... I just wasn't blown away with it as much as I've been with other places.  Most cities I visit, I instantly love, but Vienna to me was just kind of... meh. Regardless, I met Rebecca from Tasmania and Yukiko from Japan, and we took the grand tour of Schonbrunn Palace, which was gorgeous.  Then we came back and watched Eurotrip in preparation for my daytrip to Bratislava!  And of course, Bratislava was absolutely nothing like the movie :)  In fact, I think I liked it even more than Vienna.  The city just seems so... unexploited as compared to places like Prague and Vienna.  There weren't a million souvenir shops and people trying to sell you tours.. it was just normal people going about their normal day.. a nice change of pace for me.  But I must say I chuckled to myself when I was standing outside a cafe reading the menu, when a guy in a tuxedo opened the door for me and led me to a super fancy restaurant, where I ordered pasta and wine.  Total price? 7 euros!  Other than Slovakia's cheap food, nothing else resembled Eurotrip at all.  That night I went back to Vienna and saw a hauntingly awesome performance of the Mozart Requiem in one of the cathedrals.
   And then, it was off to Hungary for the weekend.  But I've already written a lot, so for now I'll leave it at that! 

La Vie Bohème

Oh, the Czech Republic.. where do I begin? Out of all the places I've been to so far on this trip, this is the first country that I seem to have a love/hate relationship with.  In some respects, the Czech country is very beautiful and intriguing, but this is the first time my frustration has reached such high limits.  Luckily my aunt was here to take over when I just wanted to give up.  To start with, nothing seems to work right (at least for me).  My debit card refuses to work in the ATMs... a call to the bank only told me that it had nothing to do with restrictions on my card.. just the Czech banking system.  My Spanish cell phone not only gets no signal, but also won't find a network to roam with, reducing its function to mere alarm clock.We also had difficulties with the room keys (more to follow), although that was more amusing than anything, but the single most frustrating thing here is the language barrier.
     I wrote a lot about language issues the last time, but before I never had any problems getting my point across, even if it meant waving my arms around like a fool to show what I meant.  And before, everyone seemed at least slightly willing to help me figure out whatever I needed.  Not in the Czech Republic.  I've had people yell at me, look at me and walk away, a bus driver shrug his shoulders at me and then drive off, and a train ticket seller basically refuse to sell me a ticket because I pronounced the name of the city wrong.   Writing the name down didn't do much to appease her.  Now, I've heard about the French being rude to people who don't speak French, but my short time in Paris a few years ago was met with no difficulty whatsoever.  Nothing like this at all.  I understand when people get frustrated when there is a language barrier.  I get frustrated too... but acting like I shouldn't even be in your country until I learn Czech is very off-putting to a tourist.  I understand too, that you don't speak English (even if I'm secretly praying you do), but with a little patience we can both get through our short interaction.  Sorry that Czech wasn't the first foreign language I studied, but I would still like to be able to travel without feeling ashamed to be here.
    That aside, I still had a great week wandering through Bohemia with my aunt.  We met up on Friday in Prague and stayed in a little hotel inside the old town.  Prague might just be my favorite city that I've visited so far, except for there are SO many tourists  The main square was PACKED full of people, almost to the point of irritation, because you can barely move down the street.  If it was that crowded in February, I can only imagine how horrid it must get in summer.  Ignoring the mass amounts of people though, downtown Prague has that feeling that you imagine when you think vaguely of "Europe."  Cobblestone streets, old buildings and churches on every corner, guards in antique uniforms patrolling around the castle gates.... It's got a nice vibe to it.

Prague main square

   So we spent two days roaming around Prague and went to an awesome black light theatre show- think ballet/Cirque de Soleil little skits all done under a black light.  It's hard to explain, but it was very fun to watch.  The next day we took a day trip to a town called Kutna Hora, home of the famous bone church.  Apparently, after the Black Death swept through Europe, they started to run out of places to bury the bodies, so they built a chapel in the middle of the cemetery to start stacking the bones, and someone decided to get a little creative.  They said the bones of over 40,000 people are in the church.  Creepy... but really cool.

   

  After Prague, the next stop was Cesky Krumlov, a little town in the southwest, close to the Austrian border. Just as we were about to miss the bus, we realized we had no cash, the ticket counter wouldn't let us pay with a credit card, and my debit card refused to work in the ATM.  Great. So after a painfully expensive cash advance on my credit card, we finally made it on board.  The Czech countryside makes me laugh a little bit... trees, snow, cornfields, and the occasional tractor.  It's like I never left Indiana!  After settling down in Cesky Krumlov and exploring the area and the castle on top of the hill, it was nap time.  Maybe a bad choice... my aunt and I had been planning on a romantic Valentine's dinner together :P, but when we tried to leave for dinner around 8:30, we found ourselves locked in...  The reception closed at 6 pm, we were the only guests in the entire hotel (at least I think..), and our key wouldn't open the front door.  Determined not to starve to death on Valentine's Day, I went and opened every single door without a room number in the entire hotel trying to find another exit.  No luck.  So I tried to jump out the kitchen window to try the door from the other side.  I got halfway out the window, looked down, and saw that below was a staircase to a cellar, making the drop about 2 stories.  I decided I didn't really want to break my leg in the Czech Republic, so I climbed back inside, and after another ten minutes or so of wrestling with the front door, we got it open!  Of course, when we got to the main square, everything was closed.  One of the disadvantages of traveling Europe in the off-season, but with luck we found an underground cave restaurant and had Valentine's hamburgers. Yum! :)
   The next day was a quick trip to Ceske Budejovice (chess-key bood-yo-veet-suh... I think...) to visit the REAL Budweiser brewery.  This is the Budweiser that has been caught in a legal storm for decades with our American Budweiser for the brand name rights.  (P.S. The Czech version is much better)  In our rush to make it to the tour on time, we accidentally took the tram in the wrong direction... We missed the tour.  Luckily, they still let us do our own tour later with a German couple who had undergone the same misfortune.  Then some yummy goulash and dumplings and the obligatory beer to wash it down.

The auntie and I :)

  To end our Czech excursion, we went to Plana to visit a beer spa! Warning: don't ever go to Plana unless you have some kind of ride arranged.  The train dropped us off in Plana, and we intended on taking a city bus to the village of Chodova Plana, just a few kilometers up the road, where the hotel was.  Not a large distance, but a little too far to walk in the snow with luggage.  Well, there were no city buses.  Then we tried a pay phone to call a taxi, but there were no taxis....  So we waited about an hour for a four minute train ride up the road, and it dropped us off literally in the middle of a cornfield, with a highway in front of us.  So we started walking... mud and snow and suitcases down the side of the highway.  It's funny now.. it wasn't so funny at the time :)  After a mile or two, we finally arrived at the hotel!  Then the next morning, we proceeded to soak ourselves in a bathtub full of beer (apparently it's very good for your health), and then have an awesome and very cheap massage.  Both of these involved two buxom Czech women ordering me to undress and me standing there naked trying not to laugh at the sheer awkwardness of it all.  After Plana, it was back to Prague for a night and a farewell to my aunt :(  Unlike me, she has real life responsibilities she has to get back to. :P Now I leave for a weekend in Munich, and then to Austria!! Cheers!

On the road again

Things have improved dramatically from my last post! My fever/flu has been cured and my leg is doing a million times better, so last Tuesday I left Spain for Berlin.  Spain had spoiled me with its "winter," so I was in for a bit of a shock when I got to Germany.  My first day there, I took a city tour to get oriented, and on my break I went to buy a hat so my ears wouldn't fall off! Other than the cold though, Berlin is a very beautiful and historic city, and I spent two days being immersed in Nazi and Cold War history.  There are a few parts of the city where the wall still stands, and it was hard to imagine what it was like when one day people woke up and found they couldn't go to the other part of the city for the next thirty years... It's like if they put a wall down Meridian Street.  And if you worked on the other side, or your boyfriend/girlfriend/family/whoever lived on the other side, then too bad for you.  It's hard to comprehend.

   Most of this part of my trip has kept my mind focused on language.  In Berlin, I met some girls from Switzerland and some guys from Brazil, but it's strange to see how English becomes the basis for conversation, because nobody's German or Portuguese was enough to understand each other.  This trip also has me stuck in an endless game of charades.. which can be very amusing, such as trying to pantomime "no onions," which the guy took to mean "lots and lots of onions."  Or it can be frustrating, such as when I was at the train station trying to buy a ticket and none of the staff understood me when all I wanted was just a ticket.  If I don't speak any German, yelling at me louder won't make me magically understand you.
   After Berlin, I went on to Sweden.  Now my Swedish is a million times better than my German! I know quite a few words such as: tack (thank you), hiss (elevator), infart (entrance), utfart (exit), femtifem (55), and nej (no), all essential words for a great conversation.  And sometime, ask a Swede why Brad Pitt gets made fun of in Sweden.... :)
   Anyways, I had an awesome time in Sweden!! I was so sad to leave :(  I went to visit my friend Marina that I haven't seen in more than two years and all her family and friends.  We had so much fun partying, getting kicked out of a bar due to a cat fight, eating lots of yummy food, having a Super Bowl party (home run!!), and driving around in her boyfriend Kristofer's Volvo.  His Volvo, by the way, deserves an honorable mention.  It's like my car, but worse.... His parking sensors consist of hitting the walls to know they are there, and the exhaust pipe runs up into the car, so we have to drive with the windows cracked so no one dies...  Luckily, we made it out alive, and on one of the days I went with Marina's dad and brother to the lake.  I love how Europeans are so much more active than Americans! Normally we just sit inside on our fat butts all winter and eat, but everyone was outside ice skating and skiing on the frozen lake and hiking through the woods.  So charming!

Sweden ♥

   Unfortunately, I had to leave Sweden (although I'm sure I'll be back!), but my next stop was Dresden, Germany.  I fell instantly in love with this city... this is a slight problem I have... everywhere I go I absolutely adore!  Anyways, the town is split in half by a river, and you cross a footbridge to get to the old city.  Every building is just gorgeous and even though the town has about 500,000 people, everything is very quiet and no one ever seems to be in a rush.

Dresden

    After Dresden I moved on to Wroclaw, Poland.  If I thought German and Swedish were tough, Polish is on a whole different level.  Apparently the town is pronounced 'frot-suave'?  I didn't even realize this until I got here... and the only two words I've figured out how to pronounce are Dziękuję (jay-kwee-ay), which means thank you, and piwo (beer).  This has led to the charades game getting even more intense.  Yesterday I tried to order a slice of pizza... the whole time I was thinking, "Ok, $4 is a little steep for a slice, but I suppose it's really big..."   Then the lady gives me an entire pizza.  I stood there halfway mortified, but mostly trying not to laugh, so I left with my pizza.  The most embarrassing part was that I went home and ate the entire thing!!  Someone is going to have to roll me home from Europe...
   Speaking of food, I am trying to understand the obsession they have with kebabs in Europe.  I thought it was just a Turkish thing, but apparently not... Kebabs are everywhere! I've had kebab in a box, kebab as big as my head, kebab slightly bigger than my head... and the best part is they are usually only $3-4.  And it's enough food for about a week!

Wroclaw

   Another happy moment outside of my various food comas was the fact that I got to wash and DRY my clothes yesterday!  If you've never experienced the lack of a dryer, it's hard to appreciate this, but drying your clothes on a line in winter sucks.  Now my clothes resemble clothes again instead of burlap sacks!  It's like a small miracle!
  I should also mention a few minor changes I've made to my travel strategy.  When I was in Spain, I switched out my backpack for a carry-on size suitcase.  I feel so much less hardcore, but my back and shoulders are thanking me for this decision.  Normal size people don't have as many problems with a backpack I think, but when you are as small as me, it's hard to get around with a small monster hanging off your shoulders.  If I fall down, it's like a turtle on its back... I'd be stuck there until someone picked me up.  I also didn't do any Couchsurfing on this part of my journey (minus Sweden.. but I stayed with friends, not strangers).  Mostly this is because my plans have changed a million times at the last minute, but it's also nice to not have to be so dependent on anyone else's work/class schedule.  If I want to take a nap or go back to eat a snack, I can just do it and not feel like I'm intruding on anyone's space or time.  Besides, with the exchange rate, my hostel in Poland cost about $8 a night.  You can't ask for anything better than that!  But perhaps in a week or two, I will try surfing again, because it's a great way to get to know a local and see how they live.
    Now I've just arrived in Prague and met up with my wonderful aunt!! Traveling alone has been great, because I've met so many cool people, but it's nice to see a familiar face from back home.  We will spend a week together in the Czech Republic, then I think I will go on to Munich and Austria... although it's always subject to change.
  Until next time! Na shledanou!

A Stroke of Bad Luck...

The past week of my trip through Italy has been… a little unfortunate, mostly due to the fact that I am no longer in Italy.  It didn’t start out all too bad.  After my time in Sorrento, I set off to Orvieto, a small town of about 20,000 people situated on the top of a huge hill.  From the train station, the only way to get to the town is to take the funicular train up the side of the mountain.  The two days I was there were completely foggy, adding an air of mystery to the dramatic view of the countryside.  The town itself has remained largely untouched by any battles or wars, and it seems to have not changed much since around the 1300s. 

View from Orvieto

Orvieto

Another view of the countryside

            In Orvieto, I met my next Couchsurfing host, Martina.  Huge improvement over my last experience!  She made me feel right at home and cooked some amazing Italian dishes (and lots of pasta of course :)  The next day we went on a little road trip to nearby Civita di Bagnoregio, the strangest little anomaly of a town.  Civita is part of Bagnoregio, a city just outside, but Civita itself is a small village sitting on top of a plateau.  The strange thing is that the only way to get to the town is to park in Bagnoregio and then walk across a bridge suspended over the valley below.  Martina estimated that only about 20 people live there right now, because the town is in danger of literally falling off the top off the cliff.  Every time it rains, parts of the edge crumble off the side of the plateau… We also decided it must be a pain to live there, because every time you want to go to the store, you have to trek across the bridge, then haul all your things back up to your house when you’re done.  After Civita, we continued our road trip to Lake Bolsena.  It was raining so hard though that we couldn’t see, so back home we went. 

Civita di Bagnoregio

            This is about the time the trouble started.  Over the past week, my knee had been bothering me quite a bit, but stubborn as I am, I decided to ignore it.  Bad choice.  The pain kept getting worse until I reached a point when I couldn’t walk down the stairs, so I figured I should do something about it.  I had gone to the pharmacy earlier and after a long game of charades, bought a knee brace, but it didn’t seem to be helping.  So after some quick calculations, I realized it would actually be cheaper (and a little less lonely) to fly back to Spain and stay with Alex as I carry out my sentence of bed rest rather than hole up somewhere in an Italian hostel.  So back to Spain I went.  The stupid people at the airport actually weighed my carry-on, and of course, it was 1 kg over their measly 10 kg weight limit.  They informed I would have to pay some absurd amount to check my bag or throw things away.  I then politely pointed out that everyone around me was carrying at least an extra 40 kg in sheer body weight, so did my extra kg in my bag really matter that much?  The guy stared at me for a long minute, then started laughing and waved me on.  Hahahha  I should try this tactic more often!  By the way, did you know that you can now smoke smokeless cigarettes on Ryanair flights??  They even sell them onboard!  Something about this just seems so fundamentally wrong…

            Anyways, here I am in Spain again.  After a trip to the clinic and a slightly hellacious day in the hospital waiting for an x-ray, I was informed that I have a problem with the cartilage in my knee.  Apparently, my bones are scraping against each other when I walk.  Lovely.  I was ordered to a week or two of rest, a knee brace, and arthritis meds!! Hahhaha  I feel like an old woman :)   By the way, at the hospital we met this woman named Salud (which means health in Spanish).  Clearly, she is not living up to her name… Salud can also mean “Bless You.”  Why you would name your child that is beyond me.

            “Salud!”

            “What do you want?”

            “No, not you!  That man just sneezed!”

Anyways, after about an hour of jokes with Alex about Salud…. the hard drive on my brand new Spanish laptop crashed.  (Luckily they are giving me a full refund).  Then I got sideswiped by an evil flu virus and spent most of the week incapacitated in bed with a fever.  Today I finally felt better enough to get out of bed, so I booked a flight to Berlin!  I leave on Tuesday, and then I’ll go to Stockholm for the weekend to visit some family friends.  So yes, a little kink in my original plans, but it’s not like I really have anywhere I need to be anytime soon. 

Funny conversation with Alex and his family:

Elena (Alex’s sister):  Oh no! We forgot the árabe (Arabic man) at home!

Me:  They have an Arabic guy staying with them?  I must have missed something…

Alex: Well, Sarah and I are going out for a walk.  Do you want us to pick him up?

Elena: Oh no, don’t worry about it.  I don’t want you to have to walk around all day with him in your pocket.

Me: ….?

            Alex:  It’s not a big deal.  We’ll stop by and grab him.  Besides, Sarah has a big purse…she can put him in there.

Me: ?!?!??!

Later, I expressed my slight concern to Alex about this little Arabic man and what they were going to do to him.  He started laughing hysterically and said they were talking about a jarabe, not an arabe… which means cough syrup.  Of course.  That explains a lot.

Well that's it for now!  We'll see what craziness Germany has to offer! Ciao tutti!

Ciao Bella!

I used to think I spoke Italian… until I stayed with actual Italians :)  I’ve now been here a week in Italia, and I’ve come to the conclusion that Italians are crazy… but in the nicest sense of the term.   It’s what makes them entertaining.  Crazy drivers, crazy talkers, crazy drinkers, crazy whatever, but it makes them very fun to be around!

      I started out last week in Rome, staying in a hostel the first night, where I met Bryan from Colombia.  We laughed a bit about how stereotypically Spanish his name was, then we decided to go around Rome together.  We did all the typical touristy things: Colosseum tour, Fontana di Trevi, ate pizza and gelato, got lost about 8 times… I really do love Rome :)  The next day, I went to explore the Vatican and happened to run into Bryan again, so we decided we needed more pizza and gelato :)

      After my two days exploring Rome with my Colombian buddy, I met up with my first Couchsurfing host, which was… an experience, to say the least.  My host didn’t actually have a bed for me, or a couch for that matter.  We will call it more of a chair… right next to his bed…  He was also annoyed that I had no pillow or blankets, and didn’t find it necessary to provide me with either.  Minor details aside, he did take me to meet his friend, and they cooked me an awesome frittata with chicken and some other Italian deliciousness.  He also had me try some Slovakian spicy onion paste… blech.  Then the Hungarians arrived!  I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening at this point, since my Italian is clearly sub-par, and my host’s English was a little rusty as well… but from what I gathered, the Italian friend had lived in Hungary for a while with this guy and his sister, and they were coming to visit.  They were pretty cool… the Italians… well, they had us sit and watch them play video games for about three hours.

        The next day I went exploring some more, was told dinner would be at 8, and so I returned to my host’s flat around 7 to help him cook.  Long story short, he didn’t show up until 9, leaving me on a doorstep in some random suburb of Rome for 2 hours.  He cooked me some pasta though, which almost made up for it.  Then the Hungarians came over along with a zillion other Italians, and we went to botellón (pre-game) Italian style!  They bought liters of beer and little plastic cups and we had ourselves a little party in some piazza in front of a church.  Then they brought me and the Hungarians to what can only best be described as a rave… We were in some strange warehouse that was playing loud house music with no words, which was ok… then I noticed the dogs laying on the floor and people pouring beer on them…and then some guys tried to sell us light-up sunglasses and roses (think Portugal!), and at this point I just started laughing, because I was a little weirded out, but the Hungarians?  They looked like they might start crying.  Overall, a successful night :)

Naples

        After that I was off to Naples… I met some guy on the Metro who proposed a date that evening to go down to the sea and take pictures.   I naturally assumed he was in the Mafia and was planning on killing me and throwing my body into the sea, so needless to say, I didn’t go.  I did go on the Napoli Sotteranea tour, which takes you underground to see the ancient waterways, and I met some really fun people!  Joe and his French friend had been stationed in Naples with the Navy, and our tour guide Alessandro, was a riot with his Gerard Butler accent.  We all went out and had a hilarious night partying Napolitano style. 

Amici Italiani!

Sorrento

Positano

Amalfi

                Sad as I was to leave Naples, I am now in the beautiful small town of Sorrento.  Not too much to do here, and not too many tourists either, but the town is perched on a top of a cliff right on the Mediterranean.  I also took a bus down the coast to the villages of Amalfi and Positano… pictures can’t even capture the sheer beauty of this place.  Tomorrow I leave for Orvieto to stay with Martina.. and so continues the Italian saga.  That’s all for now!  Ciao tutti!  

New Year, New Beginnings

Here begins a journey.  A self-indulgent journey, some might say, but one I'd like to call enlightening.  I've spent the majority of my life doing what is 'expected of me' and doing 'the right thing'... not that there's anything wrong with that... but I have six months and I plan on using that time for myself.  For once, I don't have to answer to anyone, I don't have to be anywhere at a certain time... no classes, no bosses, no work, no deadlines, no rules... just me, my backpack, and my life savings :)  The goal is to see as much as I can, spending as little as I can, and making my money stretch as long as possible.  And, of course, to have fun!!

I've been in Spain now for about two weeks, where I got to celebrate my first Día de Reyes and got treated to Blancanieves Boulevard the Musical by Alex! I never thought I would reach a day when I could actually understand most of a musical in another language... Now it's off to Rome on Wednesday where I will have my first Couchsurfing experience! Although I'm a little apprehensive about traveling on my own, staying with strange people, etc., I am started to get really excited about the prospective of meeting so many different people and getting a close-up look at the life in other cultures, rather than one blurred by the lens of fancy hotels and tour buses.  So off I go....little Sarah is on an adventure!!