Not a word, Not a soul

Now is exactly a week from departure. I find myself completely unable to sleep because I’m infamous for contemplating the world late at night. And, right now, I think that’s more than okay. I want to exhaust myself with thinking and sift through all this trip has taught me before getting back.

This journey has been a lot of fun and I have grown a lot (thankfully, my hair has too). Out of the countless lessons I’ve learned, I want to elaborate on something I’ve grappled with much late at night until 5 in the morning. It’s the bigger picture. The purpose of travel in its simplest form. Sometimes when I was younger I would get lost in the thought of space. That I’m not even a blip on the radar of the universe. I’d get lost in that bigger picture all the time. When I resurfaced I wondered if anyone else had ever experienced that. Now, I know that that’s why people travel: to get lost in how vast the world is.

It’s not about that coupon that expired yesterday or the dirty look an appreciative customer gave you. Because tell me, how much does that really matter? That slight interruption of your normal day, just sucks, doesn’t it?! Within a moment of sudden unmet expectations, the world seems to be against you, but I assure you it’s not. Slipping into pitiful complaining is so incredibly easy when you’re lost in your own world. So, I suggest you get outta that bubble of yours. I’ve discovered that things aren’t as horrible as they seem when I literally change my point of view. From Berlin, those minute troubles of Connecticut and Virginia aren’t so daunting. 

That’s why we travel. To see places and meet people who make us reconsider our priorities. They inspire us to aspire to be great. As impressive as the Colosseum, as successful as da Vinci, as good as the benevolence we witness while wandering unknown streets, and as delicious as the crepes we eat…wait.

I came to Berlin four months ago not knowing a single person or a lick of the language. I have not seen any person who has known me for more than four months, in four months. I have disembarked the bus encompassing everything I’ve ever known and gotten on one that’s nameless and going towards uncharted territory.

The good is great, the bad isn’t so bad. I hope this perspective stays with me as I re-assimilate into America.

Reminiscing about France as the days in Berlin are dwindling

Now that France was almost a month ago, I will begin to tell you all how it went…

First of all, I almost missed the train. Of course, being typical ‘me’ I had to make sure everything was spit-spot before I left. A fellow FU-BESTer I picked up along the way and I ran through multiple U-Bahn stations to make it to the platform with ZERO SECONDS to spare. The conductor was blowing his whistle, giving the all-clear, until we made everything no so clear anymore. We came running and screaming – me dragging along my bag since I didn’t have time to stop to turn it over onto its wheels. Thankfully, we were able to jump into the nearest door only to find out our group was at the opposite end of the train. We haphazardly paced through 16 train cars – much to the annoyance of the content passengers. Finally, still shaking, sweating and panting, we made it to our group.

The train ride happened to be a great part of the trip. Our train wasn’t one of the faster models so I had a lot of time to take in the scenery. Rolling hills and vast European farmlands had me fantasizing I was on my way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Eight or nine hours later we were in Strasbourg, France.

Intentionally, I was submitted into the random rooming assignment bucket. I ended up with this really cool girl who I had never met from the program. Over the next couple of days we bonded over various things. Yet, the experience kind of started off awkward. There was one bed. One double-sized bed. I’m a light-sleeper and can somehow will myself to not move the entire night if need be, which proved to be very beneficial.

In Strasbourg, I basically just wondered around the city for the entire day we had free. I tested out how navigating a foreign city by myself was and found that I love it! The program provided me with this dinky map, which I used to get everywhere. Strasbourg is definitely not a complicated city though, nor is it very large. I walked everywhere on that beautiful day. I went to the church of Saint Pierre, the Cathedral of Strasbourg, sat by the river and walked through “Little France.”

The next day we had a early wake-up call to leave for Verdun. The bus ride was a hefty three hours each way, but started with some nice scenery. A long day was to be had at Verdun. It proved to be cold and windy with some sprinkling, which did not cater to us being mostly outside. Nevertheless, we ventured down into World War I bunkers and toured the area on foot and by bus. While down in a bunker, the tour guide give us a recreation of how loud a shell hitting the roof would sound to those below and each time I jumped out of my skin. I could not imagine living down there in those conditions with that noise happening thousands of times each day. Next, we climbed atop the bunker and took in the amazing view. We walked through the same trenches as WWI soldiers, but also did something they definitely did not do.

In groups of nine we embarked this cart that took us through a bunker renovated to tell the authentic story of soldiers’ lives in the bunkers. Possibly the creepiest experience ever. When I first got in the cart, I pretended I was about to go into one of those amusement park shooting games where you shoot targets as the cart is moving and try to beat your partner. Those are always my favorite. But much to my dismay, the “ride” did not provide any electronic guns. It did, however, accomplish scaring the crap out of me! As the cart slowly weaved around the bunker, rooms would take their sweet time lighting up – giving me reason to wet myself. But not really. Many of the rooms featured projected clips of WWI recreations. I guarantee these acting jobs were on a first-come-first-serve basis and no auditions happened.

*fade to black*

*stay black until everyone has emptied their bladders*

*slowly bring up the lights to illuminate the creepy wax people everywhere*

So yeah, interesting experience. That night we got back pretty late and had to get up early to check-out of the hotel and leave for the European Parliament! Worth mentioning is that we were provided breakfast each day at this hotel, where the obnoxious Americans successfully pounced on the croissant basket every time a new one was brought out. Represent! Also, this hotel had a bad wifi connection to everyone else but me! Partially, because I’m smart enough to figure out that the times that most people are out exploring, are when there are less people on the network. I utilized these low times to Skype my dad one night and my mom the other. It was great finally hearing/seeing them because sometimes it’s easy to get lost in doing my own thing abroad.

Anyway, in each of my classes we are learning about the European Union, so visiting the European Parliament (one of the five institutions of the EU) was fitting. The tour guide rambled on about most things I already knew, but it was still cool to be in the building and see the room where important decisions are made. By the way, if you didn’t already know, Croatia is the most recent addition – joining on July 1, 2013 (my birthday!) to increase the EU to 28 member-states.

Next, comes the lovely Pear-ee! Another long train ride did not stop me from visiting the Eiffel Tower that night! A group of us reached the Eiffel Tower at about 9:45PM, just enough time for some shock to wear off for another round of amazement! Starting at 10:00PM for two minutes on every night hour, the Tower shows its flashing lights. I personally had no idea this was going to happen! I don’t think I blinked for those two minutes. After much awe, I headed back to the hostel where I roomed with other two girls I didn’t know from the program. This hostel provided free wifi if you stayed within the confines of the lobby. Kind of annoying, but was still able to stream The Walking Dead then bring my laptop back into my room to watch it 🙂 In addition, the program bought us tickets from the hostel for breakfast and dinner each day, causing me to barely spend any money on this trip!

The next day we had a boat tour on the Seine river, which was okay I suppose. I hate saying anything about Paris was less than adequate, but just know that in the context of Paris where everything is amazing, “okay” means it’s a little less than than the normal amazingness.  Basically, the sun was so bright it made the glare of the surrounding windows of the boat so overpowering I eventually got a headache from squinting so much, especially since I was wearing my glasses. But it was a nice introduction of the city and afterwards I went with a small group to eat some French cuisine. We found a decently priced place in the Latin Quarter where we all got the lunch special. You were able to choose three courses out of the listed options. Never having tried mussels, I opted for the salad as my appetizer, an herb chicken leg for my main and apples of Normandy-something for my dessert. I did try a mussel though, and it was fine. Everyone is obsessed with them apparently, maybe I’d like them more in a different sauce (tried the white-wine version). Everything was pretty good, the chicken especially. The seven of us exchanged stories and waited for each course to total about two and a half hours sitting in that restaurant. Baffled, we finally left to simply cross the street to a fancy chocolate shop. 100 grams of chocolate for 5 euro, I think? The shop offered so many different kinds of chocolate. Naturally, we got the ones that sounded the best “for later.” I really was not feeling well, as my headache had not gone away, so I went back to the hostel. I got back, napped and woke up for the free dinner…this kind of sums me up pretty well.

After getting a good night’s sleep and popping some Advil, I was determined to make use of the next day! On Halloween Eve, we were scheduled to go to the “most visited museum on Earth” (CNN International): the Louvre. It’s times like these where I turn into a child with an attention span of zero… I made it far enough to see the Mona Lisa and to fervently pretend to comprehend art. But after a couple of hours I wanted to venture out and see the things on my list.

This entire day I walked to each place. Other than taking the metro to the Louvre from the hostel in the morning. I walked. From the Louvre I headed towards Notre Dame. On the way I got the first and best crepe I’ve ever had and am continually let down each time I attempt to buy one anywhere else. This crepe was Nutella and banana, made with the most perfectly balanced batter of sweet and savory. The crepe was cooked so that the outside edges were just crispy enough to provide some texture. It was impeccably wrapped so I was able to walk and eat with each bite providing the ideal amount of crepe, Nutella and banana. This crepe gave me the willpower to bypass the first Chipotle I have seen in months. Still on the way to Notre Dame, I arrived at Tour Saint Jacques. It’s this cute little park with a large statue thing in the center. A police/security man was walking around to make sure no one disturbed the magic of this place, causing him to shake his keys right over the face of a sleeping man. Next I came to Hotel de Ville, which looks absolutely amazing even though it’s under construction. (Pictures will be posted in the gallery at the next Starbucks visit – maybe tomorrow)

Finally, I stumbled upon Notre Dame where a comedic man takes advantage of unbeknownst tourists (like me) too awestruck by the cathedral to realize someone is following behind us. This man may be considered a modern mime. He did a lot of mimicking other peoples’ movements, but also played off of their looks or actions. Many times he yelled “Welcome, to the President of India” and pointed to some random Indian-looking man. Other times he walked in line with a lady and subtly start holding her hand – rarely the women figured out what was going on. He attracted an entire audience outside the front entrance of Notre Dame!

After watching him for a while I went into the cathedral to fulfill some of my Disney movie dreams. I was pleasantly surprised at how the inside looks. This study abroad experience has brought me into so many deteriorating churches and buildings that this one stood out from the rest. Few cracks in the ceiling gave away its age. Notre Dame is just completely breathtaking inside and out. There’s immense detail in the external architecture, but a sense of simplicity internally. Moving on from Notre Dame I crossed the famous padlock bridge where couples go to define their love in a tangible way. I just so happened to be passing by as two newlyweds were posing for their wedding pictures on the bridge. Of course, I snapped a few shots of my own as I reveled in my hidden sentimental side for a few seconds.

This is the part now where I get lost. Pretty stinkin’ lost. I unknowingly wandered down the same street multiple times. Naturally, I finally realized that the big hill I just came down is the direction I’m supposed to be going, but this time up. Wearing flats providing a millimeter between my foot and the ground, I trekked up to the Pantheon. Somehow I arrived at the exact time of day positioning the sun to frame each ancient structure with perfect amounts of sunlight and shadow. Here I basically did what I had been doing all day: wandered. Around the buildings then to the Garden and Palace of Luxembourg. I think that was my favorite part of the trip. I bought a baguette at a small bakery, then wandered around the garden scattered with sculptures. The palace is quite a sight. It’s huge and beautiful and if anyone knows a man I can marry so I can live there, let me know. I decided to give my feet a rest and sit facing the soon-descending sun. After a while, I meandered back to the hostel – quite a bit away.

Now, the next day was Halloween and we had the opportunity to go to Versailles. I really enjoyed the palace because of its immense history. Once the abode of royalty, then later where one of the peace treaties to end WWI would be signed. However, the audioguide offered no information past the time when the royal family were forced to flee, which is very odd. Still, I’m fascinated by such old money and appreciated the sights, such as the Hall of Mirrors. Yet another beautiful day, I was able to fully enjoy the grounds and snap some pretty pictures. Since it was Halloween, I planned on visiting the Catacombs. This day I indulged in the public transportation so I promptly arrived there. But before I figured out where it was, I found its line. A line apparently taking about two hours to get through led me to the its entrance. Possibly, if I were with someone else I would have waited, but being by myself I could imagine the wait being unnerving. Instead, I decided to go to the Champs Elysées. In class, I learned about the Elysée Treaty between France and Germany so at least I knew how to pronounce it! After some precarious navigating, I started at the beginning and walked all the way up to the Arc de Triomphe. Along the way I stopped in many stores (bought nothing) and found that their apparel does not strike me as anything amazing. It’s all cute, of course, but nothing extraordinary. Maybe it’s because I’m used to German clothing and don’t really remember if American clothing is crappy or not. Anyway, the Arc de Triomphe was pretty cool. I mean, it looks like the pictures. Kinda one of those things you’re like, “oh, that’s nice…” and that’s about it. But it’s still Halloween!!! Hastily, I public tranport-ized myself to the Père Lachaise Cemetery. Now, that place was cool. Real freaky cool. Couldn’t really find where Oscar Wilde’s or Jim Morrison’s graves were since the place is incredibly vast, but I was there… so that’s cool.

That was another long day so got a good night’s sleep while the entire world was celebrating Halloween. The city is especially riddled with tourists now that many do celebrate – or, at least, recognize – the holiday. Instead of going out, I rented Wall-E from the lovely receptionist boy who let me go in the back and pick out a movie myself.

During my last day in Paris, I galavanted around and did such normal things like CLIMBING THE EIFFEL TOWER. Of course, the weather would decide to be quite dreary, but I did prevail! The line was sooo small and it was sooo cheap to use the stairs up to the second floor, which is high enough for me! Further than that, you have to pay to use the elevator up to the tippy-top. The climb seemed endless as my body had a difficult time deciding whether to sweat or shiver. I will admit that the ladies I passed practically keeling over did give me some more willpower to keep ascending. The view was great! Reminded me of Ratatouille (which I watched that night)! I stayed up there until my nose resembled a faucet and, with shaky legs, found level-ground. All that exercise worked up an appetite so I beelined to the closest, cheap food: churros. And for an extra euro you get a scoop of Nutella. Delish. I convinced myself that I could eat all the guy gave me, but I only got halfway through until I thought I was going to puke. Still delish. Even though I did more stairs than I normally do in a year, I felt like I needed to work off those churros and Nutella. I walked everywhere and anywhere. The only places I’m aware of their names are the Paris Opera House and the Madeleine Church. Both beautiful places – know nothing about them.

That concludes my Paris adventures! Getting back to Berlin included a very, very long day. Early morning, four hours on the first train, five hours on the next with delays. Then, the only Berlin U-Bahn line that goes to my apartment was under construction, adding another unexpected hour to the journey. Whew!

Since then, I have…

• Registered for classes for Spring 2014 at George Mason
• Written two 10-page term papers
• Written four 2-page project papers
• Given two presentations
• Visited the Ritter Sport store
• Visited the Foreign Ministry and the German Chancellor’s office
• Visited the House of the Wannsee Conference (where Hitler signed the Final Solution)
• Went to a lecture on China’s foreign policy where I took advantage of the free wine and pretzels in the reception afterwards
• Bought a new camera memory card (surprisingly very cheap) so I can stop being frugal with my picture-taking since I forgot my camera cord in America and can’t upload pictures to make room for more

Upcoming…

• On Thanksgiving: German final exam (WHERE DID THE TIME GO?!) and seeing Othello at the opera!
• Week after: the other three finals, Farewell Dinner, the Nutcracker Ballet
• Week after that: whatever the heck I want!!! Probably, going down to Munich and then Heidelberg for a short amount of time
• HOME?!?! What is home??? Apparently happening in 26 days…

I’m happy to be here, I’m happy to go home. Absolutely content with the world.

Starting to compile all my worldly, life-changing lessons that will hopefully not disintegrate the second I set foot on American soil.

Have a lovely Thanksgiving and since I’m not home to go around the table in the most corny tradition I know and say “what I’m thankful for” I will now…

I am thankful for my supportive family and friends for each being there for me in one way or another. Mostly, for not forgetting about me like I thought would somehow happen. Distance truly does make the heart grow fonder. Sometimes you need to go outside your current situation for a while to appreciate things. And, I’m thankful for this amazing opportunity I’m experiencing and my own growth on this life-long journey of figuring myself out.

Save me some turkey!

Es tut mir leid! Ich war “stressed up the wazoo”

Holy cow!!!! Whatta crazy last couple of weeks! I do apologize for being so neglectful. After Paris, I have had so much work to do. I will be posting increments of my Strasbourg/Paris trip and since then over the next couple of days.

All I can say is “whew” I didn’t think I’d get through this week. Appreciating the downtime only for the rest of the night since I have two parts of a field trip to the German Chancellor’s Office (9:30am then later at 6:30pm) tomorrow.

Side note: If you’re feeling down or need to appreciate your life, be sure to check out some news coverage on Rob Ford, Toronto’s Mayor. I guarantee it’ll do the trick. He inspires everyone how sometimes you just gotta let loose…even if that means being videotaped doing crack as a political figure. And when you are caught in the international spotlight, own your actions and do not, by any means, step down! That was the message, right? Hopefully, it is obvious I’m being completely sarcastic. This man is quite the spectacle.

“By the way” note: I am currently taking requests for flavors of Ritter Sport. If you don’t know what that is, you should. Ritter Sport can be found in the States, but much more expensively and without as many of their delicious flavors. They’re also on sale at Reichelt…I’ve stocked up on some to bring back, but if you have a preference be sure to let me know 🙂

These are some of the ones sold in Germany, look up the translation of whichever looks good. Also I couldn’t find a picture of the recent ones, oh well. I personally recommend the Mousse, Peppermint (consistency of a peppermint patty), and not pictured are also two of my favorites in English it’s like “Butter Biscuit”…? and there’s a holiday edition of Caramel Orange (ah-mazing!) which can be obtained by special request 🙂 I pray that one day the peanut butter movement will gain momentum in Europe and, someday, there will be a milk chocolate with peanut butter Ritter Sport *drooool*

Chocolate is a way of life…. Join us….

Just kidding, but I have noticed that chocolate is kind of cultish here, and I have no objections.

If you’re one of my two fans, you’ll notice that I have changed the font here. I’ve found that this one almost exactly emulates my actual handwriting. Real cool.

5 weeks to goooo! Crazy…

Bonjour!

I’m not in France yet, but I will be in about 24 hours!!!

Just as things calm down from Italy, I’m off again tomorrow for the Strasbourg/Paris excursion! This week I finished one term paper already and went on a field trip for German class. Yesterday we took a tour of Kreuzberg (a nice section of Berlin), which started at the famous Curry 36. Curry 36 is a food place known for their currywurst – a meaty hotdog thing with curry flavor. Unfortunately, I don’t really like curry at all, especially since the odor permeates too many people and places around here. So I just got french fries and the tour was kinda sucky. Though, best part was climbing to the top of a random rubber-made mountain in the middle of Kreuzberg that provided a cool view of the city. And afterwards, we checked out a big indoor market nearby. Of course, I’m obsessed with free samples so I tried different kinds of spreads some lady was offering. She had the best hummus I’ve ever tasted. It’s like this spicy, kinda cheesy hummus that can basically be eaten by itself. Best 1.50 euro I’ve ever spent.

Top of “mountain” commemorating the Thirty Years War that just celebrated its 200th year anniversary in Leipzig a few days ago

View from the top

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s worth mentioning that I finally bought laundry coins today. Let’s just say it’s been too long since I’ve washed anything…

Off to do laundry and pack for Paris 🙂

 

The Last of Italy

Sorry I haven’t updated on the last of my Italy trip, but I’ve been recovering and pretty busy. Basically, we didn’t look up the right time to take the train out of Venice Saturday night to make our flight early Sunday morning in Milan. Thanks to my parents and the lovely reception guy in a schmancy Venetian hotel, I did not freak out too much.

Saturday night my friend and I stayed in the hotel lobby streaming countless American TV shows now that we finally had a decent wifi connection. The receptionist gave us cappuccinos and bottled water and let us print out our boarding passes. In the morning, Isabel left to take her flight from Venice to Berlin and I had until 4:30pm to kill in Venice. I left my luggage at reception and wandered around the island all day. I even got to finish the homework I brought! Finally, I retrieved my luggage and took the train to Milan, where I was finally able to sleep for at least a couple hours. In Milan, I took the shuttle to the airport and stayed there until my 6:30am flight. I killed time by watching many movies and wandering around because I was not able to sleep. On the flight I definitely passed out though, even if it was only for an hour. Unfortunately, I did not make it to my German class Monday morning, but did shower and go to my second class of the day. And that night I went to sleep at 8pm and woke up at 10am and STILL was exhausted.

Italy was amazing, but it’s great to be back in a place I’ve come to know. As for right now, I am in the middle of writing a term paper due Tuesday, which is the last hurdle before the excursion next weekend! We are going to Strasbourg and Paris for the week and I could not be more excited! It’ll be nice to not worry about transportation or accommodation on this trip since it’s led by the program.

But, I should probably check out of Starbucks now. I went to the one further down the street that has a better connection and have been streaming shows as I sip my Dunkin iced coffee…no shame.

Be sure to look at the Picture Gallery to visualize my adventures! I made it pretty and added a ton more photos! These are only the ones I took on my iPod, so I have many more on my camera.

Schüss!

The Italy Rundown

As my plane leaves from Milan to Berlin at 7:00 tomorrow morning, the amazing Italy trip is coming to its end. So much has happened that I’m not sure how to write it out into coherent sentences. But do not fret (like the Asian woman sitting across from me on the train just did when I sneezed into my arm)!!! I will attempt to note each activity and impression I have experienced in Italy and I encourage you all to ask or tell me anything concerning my trip.

Saturday, Day 1: Milan – See previous post

Sunday, Day 2: Rome

• Left Milan early Sunday morning to go to Rome. We are constantly learning things the hard way, like activating our Eurail pass BEFORE we get on our first train in order to not be fined 50 euro 😦 this waste of money is still killing me
• We arrived in Rome Termini station a few hours later and attempted to walk to our hostel with my directions. This didn’t work out so we took a decently cheap cab ride a few blocks the opposite direction (oh well).
• At the hostel we reveled in the wifi actually within our room and met our intriguing roommates. One of the girls was about to reach thirty, was engaged but not planning to get married, and traveling around Europe when she was supposed to be finding a job. Time and time again, I come to appreciate my existent work ethic, which seems to be leading my life in the right direction (unlike this girl’s). However, this girl/woman/lady came to be an indispensable roomie because she gave us the solution to our most troubled abroad problem – HOW TO GET NETFLIX, HULU AND PANDORA. This is not a drill. I downloaded a legitimate extension onto Google Chrome that lets me surf US sites. I am now caught up with Grey’s Anatomy and I will forever be indebted to this girl.
• Anyway, traveling days are always rough so we decided just to go to the Trevi Fountain. We almost made it there when we stopped for some dinner, apparently just 1 km away from the fountain. I got rigatoni alla carbonara, which has an eggy, olive oil cream sauce, prosciutto (bacon) and little bits of cheese – possibly the best dish I’ve had in Italy. Then we made our way to the Trevi.
• Selfie Heaven. We sat on the edge of the fountain and took so many pictures of ourselves until the sun went down and the lights came on illuminating the water and sculptures. Granted, we made it there probably 20 minutes before sundown, but still it was cool to see the transformation. It was so cool being at a place that I’ve heard so much about and seen in movies (Lizzie McGuire movie), but had never imagined having the opportunity to see it myself. It is truly amazing. The detailing, beauty and enormity of the Trevi is incomparable.
• I think we just went back to the hostel after that, in order to recuperate from the day and prepare for the next.

Monday, Day 3: Rome

• We got a good night’s sleep and woke up early that morning to head downstairs to the pizzeria to obtain our free croissant of the day. These were the best croissants I’ve ever had. The one I had on this day was a chocolate chip croissant with a custard creme inside. Simply, amazing. Then we made our way to the Vatican to meet my friend, Emily, from our FU-Best program who was in Rome at the same time as us. We attempted to walk there, but then decided to figure out the public transportation. For 1.50 euro we got there in 25 minutes and were barely late! (This was a big deal for us).
• Now, I definitely have a better idea of what the Vatican is, but the whole day was definitely a learning experience. All I knew was that the Vatican was considered its own country because of the game I play on Sporcle, where I attempt to name all the countries of the world (186 countries named is my highest so far). Oh, and that the Pope lived there; yeah, that’s it.
• We found Emily inside the Vatican and stood in line to go into St. Peter’s Basilica for about 45 minutes in the hot sun. Yes, it feels like summer in central and southern Italy right now. Right before we were allowed to enter, Emily had to borrow Isabel’s sweater to tie around her knees because no one with bear knees or shoulders could enter the churches.
• Then, we made the adventurous decision to climb to the top of the dome because it was something we “should not miss”. Well, we definitely did not miss the buckets of sweat we shed while climbing 551 stairs in crammed hallways and stairwells, right after being in the sun for the last hour. Though, I have to say, the view was worth it. It was crazy to see all of the Vatican and much of Rome from this highly elevated vantage-point.
• After that, we made our way down – where we noticed our legs shaking by the end of the journey. We wandered around the Vatican more and took many stops to sit down and just admire.
• Naturally, we got some great pizza and gelato for lunch and had to wait out the intense downpour. We parted ways with Emily and found a bus back to the hostel to chill before dinner with our other friend, Jess from the program, who was coming into Rome and staying at the same hostel as us.
• For dinner, we went to some random Italian place (like every meal) and I had some kind of pasta that I can’t remember at this moment. Our girl-talk was at an absolute high during this meal, probably causing the entire restaurant to be experts on our love-lives. We have also figured out that if we spend enough time in a restaurant they’ll give you a free round of whatever specialty shot they offer. It’s normally really weird, but free. And, of course, we ventured to get gelato afterwards.

Tuesday, Day 4: Rome

• Our next day in Rome started off with one of those blessed croissants. This day I tried the white chocolate one, which now leads me to believe what heaven is like. Just lots and lots of white chocolate croissants…that are free. We met Jess and took the rail to the Colosseum, where we were supposed to meet Emily too, but ended up not finding her.
• We attempted to get in for free, but ended up just cutting the line instead (traveling has made me even more cheap and ballsy than normal). Since the Colosseum is such an important landmark, we thought it was worthy of an audioguide. Unfortunately, some guy unintentionally ripped me off and I ended up walking into the Colosseum without one. Yet, my perseverance prevailed when I took matters into my own hands and started following an English tour. I JUST WANNA LEARN GUYS. No one noticed, or maybe they just didn’t say anything and I got more than my money’s worth!
• The Colosseum was so cool, though. I took Latin for two years in high school and we had many Roman culture lessons so I had some brief background knowledge that made me even more interested. All that’s left is the brick structural foundation and some travertine blocks, which is amazing in itself. But, if you think about it, if it’s so amazing now, imagine it before the pillages and before the Roman empire fell and they needed to make money by selling the expensive materials. All that brick was covered in marble (not fully made out of marble because it looked just as expensive, but wasn’t) and decorated with gold leaves. I really enjoyed learning some more of the history and appreciating how amazing it still is.
• We had lunch (consisting of some gelato 😉 ) and Isabel and I went to the Capuchin Crypt. This place is so trippy. It started off with a museum of some friars and artifacts that Catholics used to use, I think (still don’t understand Catholicism too much). Then, we descended into the basement of the Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini. Every surface of the tiny chapels is covered in the bones of friars, arranged in intricate patterns and pictures. The entire experience was completely weird and mind-blowing. I guess some morbidly, creative friar was like “I’m gonna die anyway, so I’m going to design the place where my bones are gonna lay,” or something like that. Each chapel has a different theme, like one is “skulls,” another “shoulder blades,” and so on. It was really weird but, of course, we loved it.
• I think after the Crypt we went back to the hostel and chilled again until dinner. We met Jess and another girl who just arrived in Rome from our program also. We went to dinner at a restaurant right next to our hostel. That was the only not-so-good I’ve had here. My spaghetti bolognese was wayyyy to salty and I rarely notice when things aren’t prepared properly. Yet, all was cured when we got gelato afterwards to “cleanse our palette.”

Wednesday, Day 5: Naples

• That last morning in Rome I got another chocolate chip croissant, but this one had a lemon jam on it – also phenomenal – and we made our way to the train station. Side note: we knew the ins and outs of Rome by our third day there! We bought a train ticket to go to Naples and arrived in the afternoon. We waited a while for the rail to come, but it hadn’t showed up for a while so we decided to just take a taxi… bad idea. This guy went the wrong way multiple times, there was a buttload of traffic and we were already very fatigued. So, by the time we made it to the hostel, it was too late to do what we had planned. Instead, we wandered around the surrounding blocks and got a really good burger and fries (YAY “LONDON PUB”) for dinner.
• Walking around Naples my impression is that it is way, way too crowded. The streets, the houses, the people are all so close all of the times. It’s beautiful from far away, but kind of gross up close. Trash lines the streets and its potent smell cannot be ignored. I tried really hard to keep my eyes on the coastline, instead of the street in front on me.
• Side note: It’s weird how used to we’ve gotten to sleeping and showering in the same room as, on average, 5 foreign males.

Thursday, Day 6: Naples

• This is definitely one of my favorite days because we went to Pompeii!!!! We had hostel-provided breakfast and seamlessly made it to Pompeii (though I did leave my 10 euro umbrella somewhere). The rail ride there was a treat too. Out the window the most beautiful sceneries were all that was visible.
• We decided that this site is also something worthy of a guided tour, so we followed our little, trendy Italian lady around possibly one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been. Yet another mind-blowing experience. We saw the people who had been encased in ash and lava and preserved by the archeologists who injected plaster into them, preserving their shape and bones inside. Two-thousand years later and all these structures are still there and partially preserved. It’s crazy because in the US we’re astonished when a house is 100 years old.
• If anyone has any further questions on my Pompeii experience, I’m happy to answer, but there is just so much and my this blog post is already lengthy.
• Pompeii was another hot day in the sun, so our sweaty selves ate lunch then went back to the hostel to back our way to Florence.

Friday, Day 7: Florence

• We got into Florence late Thursday night, checked into our hostel, and went off to eat dinner. We went to this really popular place down the street where a lot of foreigners go. We met some Americans, but left so we could soon pass out from the long day.
• Friday morning, we leisurely got 6 euro buffet breakfast from the hostel and wandered around the city. I’m not too sure what we saw, though. Florence is not much of a place of doing things, but more going and looking. We wandering around the many leather markets and saw the incredible Duomo and surrounding buildings. I have so many great pictures and my newest hobby is making fun of other people taking corny pictures. I like to take selfies of other people taking selfies and pose like other people are posing, with them in the background. It’s really too entertaining.
• At this point, I am getting sick of pasta and pizza and just want a large salad and bowl of fruit. But, we still have pizza and gelato for lunch. We went back to the hostel, I napped, then went out to dinner. I had spaghetti alla carbonara again, which seems to never fail and Isabel bought be a little chocolate dessert because I did a lot of the trip-planning.
• Our nights are pretty early because constantly traveling and doing so much in so little time is extremely fatiguing.

Saturday, Day 8: Venice

• Currently on the train to Venice! I’ll post about today as soon as I can! I have to write an outline tomorrow (due Monday) for one of my classes, so that’ll be really fun after I just traveled Italy for a week.

More than brief update!

Italy is amazing!!! More to come when I can process everything that’s going on!

Day 1: Milan

Hello from Milan, Italy!!!

Here’s the play-by-play:

We left Berlin early this morning to arrive in Milan at 10:30am. Then, we took a 10 euro and 30 minute bus to the center of Milan. Of course, we were starving so we scouted a decent pizzeria for our first Italian food experience then made our way to our hostel. After indulging in the sacred free wifi, we headed out to walk to the Duomo. Along the way we saw many high-end boutiques, where I felt so intimidated I couldn’t even step foot within the stores. Anyway, we somehow may it to the center of Milan with my not-so-good directions and were amazed the second we turned the corner and saw the Duomo. It seemed kind of out of place because of how commercialized the area has become. There were large poster and television ads plastered on some sides, which took away some of its extravagance. We had dinner at this outdoor seating place, where I had even more pizza and possibly the best french fries ever.

My friend I’m here with, Isabel, showed me the joy of the store “Lush,” where she had previously worked for a summer. Apparently, they are pretty well known, even in Europe! I sampled so many soapy products I probably will still smell like Lush for days. But I really will…because I bought two bars of AMAZING smelling soap. It’s the little things in life. Like soap.

Realizing it’s a long walk back and it was getting cold, we made the decision to figure out Milan’s public transportation. Again, we surprised ourselves with our worldly traveling expertise and took the right rails and walked to the hostel without much apprehension. After a long day, we looked forward to chilling with the wifi. And finally, I got to video chat my mom! It’s always nice to hear what’s going on at home and to share some of the things I’m doing as well.

Tomorrow we’re waking up and having some free hostel buffet breakfast (most likely croissants and jams) and heading to Rome for a few days 😀

Be sure to check out my newly created “Picture Gallery” page where I’ll be posting some momentous pictures from my travels!

 

Hey, Angie

Stralsund, Stralsund, Stralsund. Definitely one for the books, I’d say.

On the almost three-hour train ride from Berlin to Stralsund, I sat behind a man reeking of alcohol and vomit who kept turning around to look at me. Not. Flattering. When we got there one of the girls with me took the lead. She had volunteered to book the train and hostel, without telling us any information about either, so we were forced to aimlessly follow her for an hour around the city. Me no likey. I’ll follow someone, but only if he or she knows what the heck they’re doing. So basically, during this trip I learned a lot about myself. And that’s what studying abroad is all about, right?! By the way, once we finally found the hostel, we couldn’t check in for another two hours because SOMEONE didn’t think to look that up.

Echem, excuse my ranting. The other aggravated girls and I have realized we need to take someone-who-shall-not-be-named in moderation. THANK THE MAN UP-STAIRS, she is NOT the one who’s going with me to Italy 🙂 I do hope this does not sound like high-school gossip, but it affected my entire weekend, making it worth mentioning. SO ANYWAY, Saturday we actually did the most stuff. That morning was allotted for the aquarium! Tons of cool information and some memorable sea life made it an enjoyable experience. Though, my favorite part was the view from the roof! For some reason, I love views. Just like looking out at far places for long stretches of time.

Now it’s time to grace you all with the highlight of my weekend…

As I was going into the aquarium at 9:30 AM, I noticed a stage being set up right outside. There was security, lots of fancy-looking people, and Angela Merkel’s face plastered onto the side of a truck. (Those of you who don’t know, Angela Merkel is arguably the most important person in Europe right now. Germany is Europe’s economic powerhouse, which mostly can be attributed to Angela Merkel’s effort. She is the German Chancellor (President) and was just elected for her third term on Sunday.) Of course, I discredited the possibility of Angela Merkel coming to Stralsund the day before Germany’s elections because just…why??? I thought it would be a rally with maybe some of her representatives reminding everyone to vote for her. Well, when we came out of the aquarium a few hours later there was Angela in the flesh speaking her German on that stage. We were unsure a bit at first, prompting us to google her face to make sure. But that was definitely her. After the initial shock, I (naturally) noticed the immensity of freebies cluttering the surrounding tables. I got a “Team Deutschland” t-shirt, lighter that says “Angela Merkel,” many German flag bottle openers, Angela Merkel pen, Team Deutschland sticker and a few Mango ice pops. If I could vote in Germany, I’d definitely vote for her. So I guess it worked because she is Chancellor for her third term! If I were to guess, it was because of those Mango ice pops.

Not much more to say about my weekend. Definitely rejoiced when I got back. Finally missed Berlin, thought it may be due to the fact that I was woken up by slamming doors at 7 AM each morning -__-

No regrets!  I learned a lot about myself, about sea life, smelled the sea, ate some fish, a Navy guy taught me how to play darts, and saw ma’ girl, Angie.

Believe it or not, I am closing in on my 6th week in Berlin! You know what that means…. Midterms!!!! Oh, wait… 😦 Yeah, those are happening next week. I have one on Monday, two on Tuesday, and a German midterm on Friday. But then… Italy!!! Now, THAT, is something to rejoice about!

Now, I’m going to explain something and I will hopefully never have to explain it again. I am not Lizzie McGuire in The Lizzie McGuire Movie. This is NOT “what dreams are made of,” sorry. I do not have the means to frolic around doing whatever I want. Some people here are dropping hundreds of dollars each weekend in order to do what they want to do. But that’s completely unrealistic for me. I like to chill and I like to experience whatever’s in front of me. I enjoy getting so immersed in an activity and when I emerge out of it I realize that for that amount of time I didn’t acknowledge the mundane details of everyday life. I read somewhere that that feeling is the closest thing to pure happiness. Some people get it from a sport, some try to experience it from partying so hard that they physically can’t obsess over idiosyncrasies (I’m not sure if that’s real “happiness,” though). For me, I’m still trying to figure out exactly what gives me that feeling of being lost in a world so vast anything is possible. But I know it’s not going crazy every weekend. I don’t like drinking, I’d kick a puppy before I’d ever do drugs and that’s what many weekends involve here. I have never felt more comfortable with myself than I do now so I’m not ashamed to stay in some nights or add another paragraph to an already long essay, because that’s who I am. I thought maybe I’d come here and emerge as a social butterfly, just like I thought would happen in college. But when I did become very social in college, I felt like I lost myself. I was too social and it didn’t feel natural. It took me a while to remember how to be alone again and coming here I had cut to the chase that I can’t pretend to be a butterfly when I am still, and will always be, a caterpillar in my chrysalis. I AM having fun, I’m meeting interesting people, challenging myself and will be going on some life-changing trips. I get pegged for “boring” a lot because my definition of “fun” does not entail Oktoberfest. I want to remember my time here, sorry.

Maybe that’s a little too much information, but I wanted to clear up any misconceptions. And that’s what blogging is all about, right? Too. much. info. Maybe not, I don’t know. I’m still not sure of what the purpose of this thing is anyway lol

A new, exciting development is another trip in the making! December I will be going…somewhere…actually I’m not too sure yet. I’ve really wanted to check out the castles here for like ever now. I was thinking about doing a few day/weekend trips but I don’t know anyone too interested in accompanying me. Therefore, I think I’m just going to reserve the time I have during December 7th-19th for castles! I’ve been looking up all-inclusive tours, which would make me more comfortable traveling alone. There’s one that’s eights days that explores Bavarian castles, a bit of Austria and Switzerland and the Christmas Markets! It includes all meals, all accommodations, all entrance fees and you have an expert tour guide everywhere you go! I’m definitely considering this, but it’s about $2,200. If anyone has some knowledge or suggestions of what I should do comment this or go to the preferred tab at the top and send me some info. I’m wondering if this is a good deal, is worth it and if anyone would like to fund this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity 🙂 😉

Anyway, it’s late here and I have a German quiz in the morning!

Gute Nacht!

Don’t really wanna be productive? Kinda want a distraction right about now? Scroll on down to the most lengthy blog post of all-time to satisfy all your procrastination needs!

Shout out to my fans who missed me while I was neglecting this blog! (All three of you.)  Because I feel so bad, I will account for every minute since my last blog post. Get ready!!

Just kidding, I trust you don’t want to know what I’ve had for breakfast this morning or the last. Kidding again, YES YOU DO. It’s this heavenly creation called Schoko Müsli. 47% oats and 100% YUM. Bunches of chocolate oat clusters, bits of chocolate and I have no idea what else to make it so good. I had previously bought the regular kind of Müsli with just oats and dried fruit, which I definitely loved too, but there’s something magical about the chocolate kind. Curious about how nutritiously worse the chocolate compared to the fruit is I regrettably looked at the calorie count…per serving: 70 calories and about 8 grams of fat MORE per serving 😥 needless to say I will be rotating between the two.

Other than my fantastic breakfast (sometimes lunch and/or dinner) choice, my days have been filled with actually pretty normal things.  In my classes we have begun to entertain the idea of our upcoming midterms, which are the first week of October. In German specifically, we have moved on from vocabulary to use in a Cafe (very useful) to objects around the house/class to now describing things I don’t need to know like different types of houses (why?). With all my writings, class participation and weekly vocab quizzes I have concluded that I am academically above the curve…if I hadn’t known that already. Now I know why it’s called “Experiential” German…because I am “experiencing” a lot of pain with how slow we’re going. For some oddly nerdy reason I can pick up on grammar rules in language pretty quickly. I attribute this to my pleasure reading, reading of Hebrew, six years of Spanish, two years of Latin and now living and learning in Germany. This does make me feel good that I understand what’s going on, however, I pray that I’m not emulating “that” annoying girl in class who always asks questions beyond what’s being taught.  Comparatively, in my other classes I am probably on the low end of the knowledge spectrum. I had never learned an extensive amount of European history whatsoever and somehow everyone else is an expert. I hate that feeling of not knowing as much as the person sitting next to you, so I persevere and spend hours/days reading the assigned texts thoroughly while taking notes. S/O to Mom for teaching me young that school and homework is always a priority!

^for those who don’t know what “S/O” means, I promise it’s just “Shout out” and nothing weird like “Stinky odor,” ya’ll can stop wracking your brains now

Anyway, noooooo I do not simply attend classes and read, how dare you! I also go places! Like down the street to get gelato (S/O to Grandpa Syd) and to Starbucks for free wifi. And like last Saturday the 7th I went to Dresden! Dresden is about 2 hours south of Berlin and it has some older architecture because most of Berlin was destroyed in the war. As it ended up we didn’t do too much. We walked A LOT as mostly wandering around the big, old structures. There is a beautiful view from the area around the river and bridge, which we stopped to sit and soak it all in. Somehow we were in Dresden for a big flea market! Everyone keeps raving about the bubbly apple cider here, so I tried it expecting it to be reminiscent of a chilly, Autumn day…it was not. I had wished I bought the apple juice instead. At the end of the day we were hot and exhausted so we decided to stop at one of the ice cream restaurants. We have been noticing these around Germany and always seemed like a good idea, but never had the chance to stop and experience the sheer joy of sit-down all ice cream restaurants. I got this mint-chocolate ice cream sundae, yet more mentionable is the concoction called “spaghetti-ice cream” that is simply ice cream looking like it’s spaghetti. Kinda weird, but cool. (Like me)

Last Wednesday the 11th I ventured by myself to the Allied Museum here in Berlin. I specifically wanted to go by myself because I needed to accumulate enough information for two papers for two different classes and I didn’t want to be rushed or hold anyone up. My take on the museum is that it was so completely biased towards the American perspective on the Cold War that it was nearly tangible. Nevertheless, it was interesting (Elvis Presley’s combat jacket from his service in Germany in 1959) and informative. Almost done with the second paper, by the way 🙂

Next momentous happening was all of last Friday the 13th. Accordingly, Yom Kippur started at sundown on the day I experienced my first visit to a concentration camp. I am writing the experience in a separate post because I just wrote it and the tone is much different and would be out of place here. After the camp we had tickets to a Hertha Berlin soccer game! Very different experiences, but it was adequately separated by a drawn out U-Bahn ride. When we finally got there we ate some döner, which is an oversized pita filled with veggies, your choice of meat/falafel/veggie and your choice of garlic/chili/yogurt sauce. An overwhelming amount of people started going by us so we decided to make our way into the stadium called Olympiastadion. The stadium is so large and utterly beautiful! As for the game, Berlin lost against Stuttgart, 0-1, as the only goal of the game was scored in the five minutes I left to go get a pretzel -__- Just seeing the fan section was worth it though! About a third of the stadium were all die-hard fans decked out in blue and white waving flags, chanting, clapping and jumping all at the same time. A stadium that big with that many people doing the same thing at the same time was nothing but mind-blowing. Afterwards, we headed back on the U-Bahn where five of us girls somehow got stuck, squished between a 27-person Bachelor party from the UK. Basically, we all bonded through our uncomfortably lengthy ride, their obnoxious English songs (one obligated them to take off their shoes and bang them on the ceiling) and our very “American” phrases. That night was definitely the most I have laughed and had fun since I have been here.

Finally onto this week!!! Yesterday, we had a German class field trip to IKEA to practice our expert furniture-naming! I was surprised by how reasonable a lot of their things were and the food looked amazing (trust me, I was tempted!). Annnd tomorrow marks the first day I will not be sleeping in Berlin! Woot woot! It’s exciting because three girl friends and I are going to Stralsund on the Northern coast of Germany. I’m excited for the atmosphere to be different and more “chill,” if you will, because I’m not used to living in a city where I need public transportation to go everywhere. Not sure what we’re doing there though, but I will be sure to update when we get back on Sunday!

Another trip to casually mention is that I have finally decided on my Fall break trip…. I’M GOIN’ TO ITALY!!! Get excited, guys! My friend, Isabel, and I are flying to Milan on October 5th, taking the train around the country and stopping at places like Rome, Naples, Florence, Venice (you may have heard of them) and back to Milan to fly back on the 13th. SO EXCITED! Oh, and this is in addition to our program excursion two weeks later to Strasbourg and Paris 😉 Needless to say I have some amazing things to look forward to while still enjoying my time in Berlin!

CNN’s been muted for the last two hours…gotta go catch up!

Love,

Your “I promise I won’t abandon you again” Blogger

P.S. I’m going to create a new page with the tab at the top for just pictures because it’s difficult to insert them into a text post, keep a look out 🙂