Chillin' with the Pumbas

Time for the blog about the safari!!!

But first some thoughts about life here,
For those of you who don't know we are really living IN Africa... I look out my window in the morning and see a cow and chickens running around, as well as people cooking outside and picking plantains to eat. Eric and I have to boil water to drink it and are the only white people in this whole town.

Also, pineapple here is amazing for lack of a better word! We figure its because they don't farm it here, it just grows wild, so there aren't any pesticides and the soil isn't over farmed like it is on plantations. I wish I could take some home but I don't think they would let me.

Another thing is people here love Obama. Once anyone finds out we are American we get so many questions about him. We even get them from other tourists from around Europe.




So back to safari talk,
Thursday we had school but I wasn't feeling well, I'm pretty sure it was because I got dehydrated, so I stayed home and got better. Everyone in the neighborhood wanted to diagnose what I had and almost had me convinced I had malaria. Even though I knew I didn't, people were insistent and it made me nervous. That night after I was feeling better Eric and I left for the Backpackers Hostel because we were leaving for our trip early the next morning. After taking advantage of the free internet there and having some Nile Special Lager we had an early night.

Friday morning we were up early for the long drive to Mercheson Falls Park. At this point, the circle of life from the Lion Kind began to get stuck in my head. The safari ended up only being Eric and I, along with another guy named Carl from Norway. He was really interesting to talk to because he was on his last week of a 6 month trip around the world. Many hours later after entering the park we stopped to view the top of the falls. The fall was quite amazing, we could hear them from about a mile away and when we got there we were getting wet from all the spray. (pictures to come, but even those don't quite show the magnitude of the falls). After viewing the falls we drove to the Red Chili Rest camp where we were to be staying (seeing many groups of Baboon's along the side of the road along the way), and had dinner overlooking the Nile River. At the camp sight there was a group of Wart Hogs or Pumbas as the call them here, as do I thanks to my love for the Lion King, and that being the theme of my weekend.
We got to meet some other tourists on the same safari from different companies here, one of the most memorable was Dave, a man volunteering in Kampala who was HIV positive himself, and came here to use that to help get through to some kids. He was a truck driver from Mississippi, and fit the stereotypical southern mold. He had gone through a lot of hard times and had so many interesting stories. One of the most interesting being his experience with Hurricane Katrina, because when it hit he was in jail for dealing meth and had an amazing story of how the prisoners were treated during a crisis when all the legitimate law enforcement had abandoned the city, at points they were left to die as the jails flooded, a remarkable story that I could never do justice retelling but it really opened my eyes to some things that go on, even in our own country.

Saturday was the big day. We woke up super early for the game drive around the savanna. We crossed the Nile by ferry in out small van and proceeded onto the plains. Here I saw so many more animals than I could of imagined! Right off the ferry we saw a group of hippos lounging in the river, then along the drive we saw elephants, giraffes, buffalo, antelopes, monkeys, wart hogs, and birds. Not to be disappointed, our driver did a little off trekkinng (driving off the road, highly illegal in the park), and we got super close to some giraffes, and dangerously close to some LIONS! There were a few other cars that had discovered the lions as well, but we saw a mother lion and her two cubs lounging in a bush, dining on a baby antelope she had recently killed. The pictures are amazing, and we have some video as well, where you can literally hear the bones of their dinner cracking as she eats it. Eric and I are still in shock we got to see this and get that close!
After stopping for a snack of pineapple, my fave! We drove back to the river crossing and back to The Red Chili for lunch. After lunch we went to take a cruise on the Nile up to the base of the falls. On the way we saw a ridiculous amount of hippos, and even some crocodiles! The cruise was great until it started storming and we were all soaking wet! Quite a cool experience but extremely uncomfortable. Eventually we made it to the base of the falls and tied the boat up to an island in the middle of the river and some of us got to climb out onto the rock, fun but if we had fallen we would of been swept away by the ridiculously rough current. We eventually cruised back to camp and spent the rest of the evening having dinner and sharing stories with other travelers.

Sunday was another early morning as we headed out of the Chimp Trek in the rain forest. This was cool getting to search for chimpanzees in the African Jungle, and I mean search. We definitely trekked as our guide created our own paths by chopping through brush with his machete and we were deep in the jungle. We even got to see a whole lot of chimps, which was a luxury being that many groups don't even see any. I ended the trek covered in mud and scratches but I couldn't help but be grateful making it back. Never being too scared or feeling like I was in actual danger, I did think of the rebel groups like the LRA, who have made appearances in this jungle, given the park is so close to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The night before I had heard about a group of American tourists being taken a few years before. But with that said don't worry everyone we are still alive and safely back in Kampala!

Monday we were back in school! After a late start Eric and I made it to class and I decided today I would teach about Marketing. I had some good reactions, and some bad, but overall I felt the kids learned something, and a few came up to me later in the day asking if I had any marketing books and wanting to know more, so the made me really happy. After classes a few of the girls and I were talking and many had some interesting questions about things like relationships and sex, it was cool they felt comfortable enough to talk to me about those things and I felt I got through to them. Another thing a few of the girls expressed is that they wanted a pen pal from the US. So as of now I am looking at maybe getting the school here connected with a school in the states to set up a pen pal exchange. I'm not exactly sure if it would work given they don't all have access to computers here, or the ability to pay for postage on snail mail, but its something I'm going to look into.

That's all for now, I hope you enjoyed the tales of Safari, and I can't wait to show you all the pictures and video!

Love and miss you all!!! Still having an amazing time, but can't wait to be home!

On to the next one! Africa 2010

All ready for a quiet summer in san diego, i'm now in Uganda for a month with my brother Eric! After about a month at home having some relaxing time in Walnut Creek and two wild weeks in San Diego with a 21st birthday to be rivaled I took a plane ride that was way too long and we are here.

Not until I boarded the plane did I really even find out what and how we were getting here. Two years ago, Eric and Jill came through the global volunteer network and were placed at the Springs of Hope High School outside of Kampala, Uganda. Now Eric has created a close relationship with the director Angelo and this time we came directly through him and the school. While here we will be teaching English (i know ironic being that I am horrible at the subject) and other topics we see fit, such as Marketing and Customer Service for me, and Music for Eric.

Off to a good start I had forgotten my malaria medications so a rush delivery of those was a nice cost. That all being ok thanks to Jill who willingly did the foot work for me and got them sent off! When we arrived the night of June 1st into the Entebee Airport we were greeted by Angelo who was very excited to see Eric and meet me. The car ride to his house consisted mostly of me trying to stay awake and drifting off now and then but we had some interesting talks and I learned a little bit about the country. Angelo was talking about the bill they have in congress right now making homosexuality illegal and those breaking the law could be killed on the spot. Yikes! Quite a different world.

After we got to their house they showed us the attached house we would be staying in, it is pretty simple but comfortable. We set up the mosquito nets and went to bed.

The next few days we hung around a bit. Wednesday we went into the city. Quite an experience getting into the taxis from their town, large 14 passenger vans that people piled into, and then from the busy taxi park in the middle of the city with many people yelling mzungu (white person) we walked the streets a bit through the crazyness and Angelo showed us his favorite movie store, where you could get pretty much any film you wanted for under 2 dollars. After, we hopped on motor bikes to the mall called Garden City. Here is little europe, there are white people everywhere. We had lunch and watched a movie and did a few other things, then back to Bulenga (where we are staying) for the evening.

Susan (angelo's wife) makes us dinner every night, usually some form of rice and beans and plantains. Its pretty good but is getting old.

The next day was a public holiday so more hanging around. Moses, the headmaster of the school and Angelo talked to us about what we wanted to teach and when we should come to the school.

On Friday we went to our first day of classes. It was awkward at first and all the kids just stare at us because they can't understand us very well. We got a lot of stares and giggles. We taught a few classes of english and had the kids write about themselves. They write surprisingly well but you can tell they have a lot to still work on.

Saturday was a slow day, Eric was sick for a while so we had gotten him medicine the day before and chose today to rest. We played a lot of cribbage and Rage (like crazy 8's). I won't play rage anymore because I am so bad and got too far behind... I'm rarely a sore looser but it just wasn't fun anymore.

Sunday morning Angelo's cousin John took us to church. It was a catholic church, but in english so wasn't much different from a service in the US. On the way back we walked through some markets which was pretty interesting. That night Angelo took us out for dinner at a Karaoke type place, which was basically blasting ugandan rap music and some people would kind of sing along. The food wasn't very good but we sampled some Ugandan Beer.

Monday we were told we were not needed in class so Eric and I headed into town to plan a Safari! We booked one for this weekend so I'm sure my next update will be talking about that. After that we went to the Cafe Pap, a famous coffee shop in Kampala, which is also where I am now using the internet.

Tuesday we had another day at school, after a misadventure getting to the campus we taught some more english and Eric taught a little music. The kids really enjoyed that. Towards the end of the day we were supposed to be teaching another class but we ended up just hanging out the the kids, playing a little guitar and playing on the photo booth on the computer. The kids seemed to enjoy that much more than our pitiful excuse for an english lesson.

Wednesday (today) we have another public holiday so Eric and I decided to come to town and use the internet then head to school to hang out with the kids that live on campus.

Overall my experience so far has been really nice. Cold showers are one thing but we have running water (most of the time) and plenty of food. The people are amazingly nice compared to what i have encountered in many other places. People are excited to see Americans rather than think we are all fat and uneducated. Especially the kids, the ones at the school are all very interested in our lives and the young kids on the street are so excited to wee white people and are very friendly.

Sorry I don't have any pictures to add now but they will all be put up at some time after we get back to the states. Sorry it has taken me so long to update, but I hope this gives you an idea of what we have been up to.

Passport to Paris!

Final weekend trip of the semester :( Before I left for Paris I was a little burnt out on traveling. What I really needed was a vacation, not a trip. Thats exactly what it turned into which made for an amazing weekend!

Paris seems to get a bad rap from a lot of people. I think people tend to get bad weather and meet rude people but we had a weekend of pretty much the opposite. Our new friend Jon who we met in Dublin was really nice to let us stay at his apartment, which was in an amazing location at was a really nice place. Sarah and I were the first ones to get to the apartment, and because Jon was still at work we had to follow the instructions to get to and into the apartment. After fumbling around the airport like idiots and making the 2 trains we had to take to the city center we walked out to the neighborhood we were staying in and it was so cute!

When we got to the apartment we felt like secret agents trying to break into a top secret room, so many codes and keys, it was pretty funny. That afternoon Sarah and I got some lunch and did a little shopping then napped till Justin got to town and Jon got home. Because it was Justin's birthday we went out for a few drinks, quite a tame 21st birthday but we had a party planned for the next week.

That next morning we got up for a day of touring. Our other friend from Dublin, Price, got in from her flight to spend the weekend in Paris too. We went to the Eiffel Tower in the morning. Once we got off the metro stop at the Eiffel Tower we didn't see the tower right away, we stumbled around like idiots and as we saw vendors and groups of other tourists... they were all walking a one way, and brilliant me thought they must all be leaving the tower... even the pictures some people were taking didn't tip us off. Pretty soon Price stops us and we look around to see the tower completely towering over us! Its hard to explain how silly we felt or looked but it was a good start to Paris.

Once we got to the tower we took a few pictures then found a sandwich shop and got food for a picnic by the tower. We did a lot of people watching, and encountered some of the gypsies that ask if you speak english, then hand you a note with a sob story about their family in hopes that you will give them money. They were everywhere and buy the end of the day we learned just to ignore them or say you didn't speak english. After we ate we went up to the towers, we didn't go all the way to the top of the tower, but over 700 steps later we were on the second level. We enjoyed the views for a while then headed back down the tower. At the bottom we started walking to the Arc de Triomphe, as I started teaching everyone about it with the Rick Steves book Jon let us borrow. We hung out for a bit at the Arc and headed down the champs elysee, only window shopping here, towards the end of the street I really enjoyed park and ponds, it was all very Parisian.

At the end was the Louvre. We were pretty tired at this point so only had the energy for a little more than an hour in the Museum. We saw the big things though, and other than that I wasn't too impressed with the collection of art. I was, however, impressed by the Mona Lisa. Most people are disappointed by it but I think, because I had such low expectations I enjoyed it much more.

That night we decided to make dinner at the apartment and got some wine and cheese. We had an early night that night, and the next day got up for more touring. We didn't really have a plan for that day so we ended up just taking out the Rick Steves book and wandering. Started the morning at Notre Dame. We spent some time outside taking pictures and wandered around inside, but I spent most of my time sitting outside it basically staring and reading what Rick Steves said about the design of the front.

After the cathedral we did some shopping along the left bank quarter and met up with Jon, then had lunch. I ate a croque madame. I had to order one because I had learned about them in 7th grade when I first started learning French. It was basically the worst thing for a person on the menu, a grilled ham and cheese covered in more cheese and a fried egg.

Next we hung out for a few hours up at Montmartre, a part of town and cathedral overlooking the city. Up there, there were many performers up on the steps, and an amazing view so we got some of the beers they were selling in the crowd and sat for a while. On the way back we walked through a really cute part of town, then down to the Moulin Rouge to take some pictures outside. It would of been cool to see the show but it was quite pricey.

Back to the apartment we grabbed some creps and after some rest we got drinks at the apartment. With every intention of heading to the Eiffel Tower at dark to see the lights of Paris, we got caught up in good conversation and many hours later realized the lights must of been turned off and the metro closed. We were not too concerned given we wanted to have a no pressure weekend, and knowing I would be back someday.

Back to Barcelona the next day. We all left with smiles so I would say it was a successful weekend. Being in one of the rumored most expensive cities in Europe, I surprisingly spent the least amount I have on any of my other trips. With the lack of shopping I also failed to get post cards, sorry for those of you who have gotten one from everywhere I have gone, no Paris cards :(

Now the next big trip is back to California! I'm only excited about it because I know I will never stop traveling. So the blogs won't end with Paris! Definitely looking forward for a break and a little bit of reality... odd as that may seem, a break from a vacation?

Morocco

I have now been to 5 out of 7 continents in the world! This spring break we went to Morocco for the week and had an absolutely amazing time! Its hard to answer when people ask me how my trip was because it really was amazing and something that is hard to talk about and convey how amazing it actually was.

Our week started in Malaga, a city in the south of Spain along the Costa del Sol. We were here to meet the ISA group we were going to Morocco with but decided to go a few days early to relax by the beach. Our hostel was a little far from the city center but it was really cheap and right by the water. There were great beaches with dark sand, lined by vendors and restaurants where we had one of the best lunches (with an adorable waiter). The first night we went to the city center and to a bar (recommended by our waiter) that was filled with locals and had a cool band, that seemed to be having a lot of fun (even though I had no idea what they were singing about). The second day we got up and spent a full day laying by the sand and that evening sipping drinks at the restaurants. We made dinner in our hostel that night and took a nap for a few hours before meeting the Morocco group at 5am. Well it was actually more like 4am because daylight savings hit us that night.

Out of the hostel and onto the bus and ready for the adventure ahead. First we have a good 12+ hours on a bus and ferry. Waiting for us on the bus were all of the other kids from the ISA Madrid, Valencia, & Salamanca programs who took the bus from Madrid (another 8+ hours!). We drove about two hours and transfered to the ferry that took across across the straight of Gibraltar to Ceuta, a Spanish city attached to Morocco. Through the city to the boarder we waited a good hour in the bus in the heat as they checked all our passports. Pass the boarder we stopped at a rest stop restaurant where most of the group got their first culture shock with toilets that consisted of only holes in the ground and unknown Moroccan food. At this point I wasn't sure what to eat either so my lunch consisted of the cereal bars I had brought. As we waited to get back on the bus there were a group of Moroccan kids that were watching us so some of the boys ended up playing hackie sack with them, one of the first interactions we had with the Moroccan locals.

Many hours later we got to the hotel in Fes, the first city we were going to be staying in. Adrianne, and I walked around the area outside our hotel for a little. From a story we read by a girl who had taken the moroccan trip previously we were under the impression that the moroccan boys weren't big on hitting on girls but that proved wrong as we received a lot of attention. After avoiding an invitation to tea and a trip to a boy's hotel in the desert we headed back to the hotel for dinner. I wasn't too sure what Moroccan food was but I ended up really enjoying it. Mostly chicken, rice, couscous, and vegetables. Good deserts and fruit. This dinner, as well as most, we were sat at tables as we arrived so we got a good mix of the different ISA groups, from this we met some cool people, but it was clear ISA Barcelona has a bad rap and we were seen as the partiers and not serious about learning spanish or school in general. Despite all this we knew we had the most fun and the 15 of us Barcelonians proved it throughout the trip.

Day two we met for the tour of Fes city. This made for a long day but was really exciting. We first started at what I think I remember as the royal gates. Large brass doors that made for great photographs. After we headed to the Medina, an ancient part of the city lined with shops with foods and goods. Barely streets, they were small alleyways crowded with people and made hectic by men on donkeys and pushing carts. The day soon turned into shopping day. The guides we were with were dirty old men one of who had to be at least 60 and made sexual comments to all of the girls... ooo cultural differences! So basically the guides took us to their friends shops... all of which I'm sure we were getting ripped off a bit but they had good stuff we we weren't disappointed.

The first stop was a carpet store that was a co op of hundreds of different carpet weavers. The manager of the shop was a pretty good salesman and made us all believe we needed carpets. They gave us all tea, called Moroccan Whisky that was delicious. After hearing the prices I was soon brought back to reality and realized a Moroccan carpet is something I would have to invest in after I made my millions. Here I spent most of my time on the roof of the place which had an amazing view of the city and the Medina, as well as the surrounding hills. A lot of people did some good bartering and got some good carpets however. I am a little jealous but I think i will wait and get a cheap carpet at Target. After the carpet store we headed to a pharmacy herbal store where more good salesmen talked to us and I believed I needed to buy everything they had! Here I bought a lot of good spices and teas (Moroccan whisky), as well as makeups and body oils. After, we headed to lunch through a small door in a random alley which opened up to an awesome restaurant, with more family style moroccan food. Everything was delicious and free so I loved it.

After lunch we were right back to the shopping. And more winding around the Medina to get to the shops. There were a lot of vendors badgering us to buy stuff. It has hard having to be flat out rude to the people to have they go away, but if you weren't they were impossible to get to go away. Some of the men excited by american women were happy to throw out compliments, and at one point I was offered a thousand camels (I'm assuming for marriage, glad I'm worth that?). The next shop we were in was a leather shop, which at the top we had a view of where they prepped and dyed the leather. This smelt rancid so they gave us mint leaved to hold to our noses so it would be bearable. A man working at the leather shop told us about the process and then took us down to the store to shop! I was able to resist buying anything here as were most of us due to the prices. There were some sweet leather short shorts I had my eye on though!

Next stop a scarf/cotton store where they showed us how to tie turbans. Here I spent a good amount of money on scarves and got a good beach shirt for the summer. Final stop for the day was a pottery factory were we saw them shape and fire pottery as well as paint, then taken to the show room to shop. Here I resisted shopping as well due to the fact I was out of money by now. After shopping we headed back to the hotel for dinner and had another good Moroccan dinner, but at this time the food was starting to seem awfully familiar. After dinner we went to a Moroccan folklore show which had drummers, magicians, belly dancers, and a few other entertainers, we drank more tea and had some delicious cookies.

The next morning we got back on the busses for another 8+ hour trip to the desert! There were some amazing views of all different climates. After a long drive without a stop, the directors had us stop to go to the bathroom at an old closed dow rest stop, which meant no bathrooms. There were a lot of complaints but people soon got over it and were able to find some area to squat. Eventually we made it to an Oasis a few hours from the desert where we stopped for lunch another typical Moroccan meal but delicious still. Back on the busses we finally made it to where we were going to take the 4x4 jeeps to the dunes! We split up into groups and Sarah, Lauren, Adrianne, Whitney, Bianca, and I hopped into a Jeep and sped into the desert. Half way there we stopped with the other Jeeps to watch the sunrise then back in the Jeeps to our campsite. For a while we were separated from the other jeeps and it was kind of creepy but soon we ended up at the camp.

We watched the moon rise up at the dunes as some local boys started to show up. Throughout the rest of the time in the desert we met a lot of the local people. They were very eager to talk and hand out with us and most of them spoke Spanish and some English that they learned from all the tourists. We had dinner in a large dinner tent later that night and after dinner we they had some music and we all danced for a bit then headed to the tents to sleep.

The next day we had a full day out in the dunes. In the morning we were up for the sunrise. Completely groggy and congested I hiked the dunes to watch the sunrise then we played around a bit as the locals tried to sell us stuff. Then we had a delicious breakfast where they gave us these moroccan donut type things as well as some other pastries and jellies and cheeses. After breakfast and some time to play in the sand we got on camels and trekked through the dunes. Sarah and I were first sharing a camel but when we were too much weight for the little guy we ended up getting our own. I stayed on the camel we originally had and named him Nimbus 2000. He was sweet. After a short trek we were at one of the biggest dunes we could see and got off the camels to hike up it. The hike only took about 5 minutes but it really showed how out of shape we all were as the moroccan boys literally took our hands and pulled us up the dune. At the top we had amazing views and relaxed a bit as we regained our energy, up at the top we met some sandboarders who were on a tour and they let a few people in our group use their boards to play around in the sand. Heading back down the dune one of the boys grabbed my hand and we ran down, I'm still surprised i didn't trip and roll.

Back on the camels, this time I was riding with a new friend Al, we headed to the town where they lead us to more shopping! First we stopped at a convenience store where we bought sweets that we gave to the local children, who seemed absolutely thrilled to have the luxury of sugar! Then we walked a bit and ended up at another rug and jewelry shop. While I tried to convince the man to sell me what was quoted as a 100 euro jewelry box for 10 euro... (and getting him down to 60 but not having any money), we sipped more Moroccan whisky and talked to some of the local kids outside the store. After the store we headed back to camp hiking probably about a mile through the dunes. Back at camp we relaxed a bit. We were all filled with sand at this point but embraced the fact we were camping and skipped the showers. Soon an old lady and her daughter came to camp to offer us henna tattoos. I got one on my foot but got impatient waiting for it to dry and after playing in the sand it is very light.

For the rest of the afternoon we hung out in the dunes with a large group of local boys. Working on my spanish they were excited to talk with us and that we were so excited to talk to them. After most of them claimed us as their various girl friends and we ran around in the sand playing with the younger boys, one of them, who was wearing a Harry Potter shirt, offered me a ride on his motor bike. One of my more memorable experiences in the desert, also the scariest given i rode the bike without shoes or a legitimate seat.

After time in the dunes we went for dinner and had another delicious meal followed by live entertainment by a band. On one of their intermissions ISA Barcelona took the stage and one of our own did some freestyle raps as others played drums and keyboard. Many of the other ISA programs rolled their eyes at us but the other tourists staying at the camp as well as our ISA directors got a kick out of it. We danced late into the night and the band even busted out some bob marley.

The next morning back in the Jeeps, then back on the busses for another 8+ hour ride to a town called Meknes. On the way we stopped at a random rode side to give items of food and clothing so some of the nomadic moroccans who needed help. Arriving at the hotel we were all excited to have a proper shower and bathroom. Had a delicious dinner of pasta and chicken (a nice change from the usual) and passed out after dinner. Although Adrianne and I had trouble falling asleep because our bathroom light had a mind of its own and kept turning on on its own. Early morning we got up and back in the busses for the long trip back to Malaga Spain. Even with all the bus driving it was barely noticeable with all the amazing experiences we had during the time we were experiencing the moroccan life.

In the 12 hours after arriving into Spain till our flight back to Barcelona, Lauren, Sarah and I, in an effort to save a little money and not miss a flight, spent about 4 hours in a tapas restaurant sipping on wine, eating tapas, while watching the semana santa easter parade march by. With the graphic crucifixion floats, as well as the people marching in what looked like KKK cloaks and hoods (i forgot the name but after googleing them at the restaurant we discovered they were a catholic symbol, but what the KKK got their outfits from) as well as dramatic drums it made for an intiresting atmosphere. From here we caught a cab to the airport (around 1am) and found a nice spot on the ground for us to sleep for the night. It was a rough cold night and I now have a new respect for the homeless but now that it is over it wasnt that bad. Sleeping the whole flight home, as well as passing out for the entire day back in Barcelona I eventually recovered and finally found time to write this blog! More to come soon about the week before spring break as well as my few days back in Barcelona at the end of break. Also, Paris next weekend!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-wLkNxgeKc

Video by Whitney Johnson. Watch it to SEE what I'm talking about!

"And that's the Ireland Situation"

Driving on the left side of the road, and I love the Irish. That could basically sum up my weekend but I will give you a little more detail just to be nice.

We got to Dublin late Thursday night and hopped in a cab to our hostel. The hostel was so nice (at least compared to the others we had stayed in.... me and Ivanhoe which I raved about in my last post no longer have a good relationship). It was really late but the guy at the desk was super nice helping us check in. And we found out there was laundry service where they wash and dry! So I washed my jeans and was very excited about it. Anyone in Europe understands the rarity of dryers and the need to dry jeans sometimes. So anyway, we headed out to grab a drink (i mean we were in Ireland for the first time we had to!) and found a cool pub and I got my first Irish Guiness and Justin ordered a Coors Light and I am still very disappointed in him for that. When we got back to the hostel we met some of the people in our room and hung out for a bit, then went to bed so we could have some energy for the next day.

Friday we got up and explored Dublin city a bit while we waited for Alison to get to Dublin because she flew a day later. So Justin, Adrianne, and I saw Christ's Church, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Castle, Trinity College, and a few other monuments and cathedrals. When Alison got to town we grabbed lunch at a place called Bull & Castle then headed to the Guiness Factory. The factory was really cool, it showed you how they made the beer and about the history in a theatrical way and the building (on the inside) was shaped like a pint glass. We got to pour our own Guiness the drink it, and hang out in the famous Gravity Bar on top of the factory which has amazing views of the city. After Guiness we headed back to the hostel to get ready for the night.

We started Friday night at a Irish dance show at one of the hotels (while enjoying another Guiness), the went to the Temple Bar area where most tourists go and went pub hopping. We stopped for dinner at an American diner, which would be taboo but Ireland doesn't have the best quick food that is traditional Irish. Plus we miss that kind of food. We ended back up at the place we had lunch which was like a German beer hall almost and had the liter drinks. We met some fun Irish people there and had the flipping coasters game going. I flipped 17 on my first try. Not to brag though. After that place closed we went back to the place we were the first night and met a lot more interesting people and some Welsh ones too (there was a big rugby game the next day). Overall a successful night and made for some good stories.

Saturday morning we went on a tour of the countryside with an amazing guide Eamonn. There is not a whole lot of story to tell from the tour but the countryside was amazing and the green was just starting to peak through from the winter and we saw where the opening scenes of Braveheart were filmed and where some scene from P.S. I love you was filmed. There was a lake they called Guiness Lake because the Guiness family owns it and imported sand so the beach of the lake looks like the head of a Guiness beer. We stopped in a little town for lunch and most of us got this beef stew and mashed potatoes which was absolutely delicious, and I got an Irish Coffee to complete the meal. After lunch we walked around an old ruin of a monastery and I found a headstone that has McDonald on it (the other side of my fam). Later on the drive our guide Eamonn sang an old Irish folk song which was soo amazing and adorable.

After getting back we had decided to go on a pub crawl and headed out for that. I still don't know why we decided to do one in Dublin of all places but we did and it was a complete let down, but we did meet some cool people and had an overall fun night.

Sunday we had to fly back in the late afternoon so we made sure to take advantage of our time and we went to the Jameson Distillery right when it opened. Its amazing how much pride there is in Irish whisky. The tour was really cool and in the end there was a taste test that Justin and I got picked for so I got to basically start my day with 4 shots of whisky. After the distillery we grabbed some breakfast (I got a bagel and cream cheese! I swear they don't have bagels anywhere in spain), and headed to a St. Patrick's Day festival where there were rides and dancing and it was just a fun place to hang out. After doing a little souvenir shopping we had to head to the airport and back to Spain.

But in the week since then (it being St. Patrick's Day and all) we have held up the Irish sprit and spent the holiday in the Irish Pubs of Barcelona!

Side note: why I hate Ivahnoe (Rome hostel) so much is because apparently they have bed bugs and I have about 100 bites on my hands, arms, legs, and neck, and it is completely disgusting. I guess it was bound to happen soon with all the traveling I was doing, and its all part of the experience I suppose...

Did Ceasar live here?

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME!

This past weekend we took a little pre-spring break break and had an amazing long weekend in Rome! Justin, Sarah, Alex, and I caught an early flight Thursday morning and landed in Italy less than two hours after! We got to our hostel (called Ivanhoe) just before the afternoon lockout (the time they clean our beds and stuff, most hostels close for a few hours during the day) dropped off our stuff grabbed a map and headed out to see the city!

Our first goal we had was to get some food! (this happens a lot this weekend as you will read) We found a small little place and all ordered some bruschetta and wine with our various

plates of pasta. It was all delicious. After this we headed to the Colosseum which was about a 5 minute walk from our hostel. Outside the Colosseum we got bombarded with pub crawl promoters and people trying to sell us things as well as guys in gladiator costumes or others trying to give tours. We had planned to go into the Colosseum another day so after a few minutes hanging out outside and taking pictures we headed to the Trevy Fountain. Had to stop to grab some gelato on the way there though!

The next morning we were up pretty early for a full day of touring. We started the day at the Colosseum. It was so amazing and the weather was amazing as well! We opted out of taking a guided tour so we had fun making up our own little facts about the history of the place. After that we

explored the Roman Forum which was right next door. It was basically a large park like area you could walk around with a lot of ancient Roman ruins. At this point the rain started to come and we were ready for food so we headed to a small restaurant and got some pizza and wine. Then

back to the hostel for a nap! (usually on these trips I am nap nazi as many of you know that have read my other posts but with all the walking we did there was no way we could of skipped the naps). When we got up we got ready to go out but with so many new arrivals of different groups of people in the hostel we kept getting distracted and ended up hanging out in the hostel the entire night. It was so much fun though. We met a cool group of people from Ireland, and a big group of boys from Scotland who were basically celebrating a bachelor party. Because of them I now respond to "Glasgow Rangers" with "Champions!" and know that the Celtic fans are "soap dodgers". The fountain was amazing, and because it was only Thursday the place wasn't extreemly crowded and we got some good pictures taken. We did some more wandering and took some more pictures then eventually headed back to the hostel for a nap

before the pub crawl we were going to go on that night. We woke up to a full hostel complete with plenty of young kids and some more pub crawl promotors pouring drinks in the common area!

We eventually headed to the pub crawl which made for an interesting night. And thats all of the story that needs to be told. That probably makes it sound worse than it was but it was pretty much your run of the mill pub crawl.

The next morning we headed to see the Vatican, we walked there and saw some cool sights on the way. We spent some time in the Basilica (basically like the chapel and where the pope comes out of on sundays). Then went to the Vatican Museums where we saw a lot of really cool art and other various pope/catholic related things, then saw the Sistine Chapel. Which was amazing but we weren't allowed to take pictures. So for those of you who don't know its the picture on the ceiling of the fingers touching. After this we searched for a pizza place that had been recommended to us from a few sources but failed horribly and ended up settling for a completely overpriced (but still delic

ious) restaurant outside the Vatican. Then we got gelato by a lady who was apparently in the worst mood and almost screamed at Sarah for asking a simple question. So rude but actually quite entertaining.

After this we walked through the city and did a little shopping and more sight seeing before heading back to the hostel. The party continued in the hostel and we ended the night with a wild game of never have I ever and would you rather going on with about 2o strangers. Such an amazing way to get to know the craziest side of people right away.

The last day we slept in a bit and then headed out to walk the city and see everything else we could. We walked around for a few hours then ended up in a park with an amazing look out of the city. Up at the park we saw people on these bikes (its hard to explain but they basically look like flinstone cars but with bike pedals) so we rented on for an hour and made fools of ourselves having so much fun riding around this park. After the park we saw the Spanish Steps and a few other places then had lunch by the Pantheon. This was my favorite meal by far! And finished the meal wish tiramisu for desert that was absolutely amazing!!!!!

After dinner Justin and I shopped like mad men and got a lot of cool souvenirs. Nothing I regret buying so far so I think we are all good. I mean who doesn't need a sexy priests of rome calendar? After grabbing dinner back at the hostel we headed back to see the Trevy Fountain at night and hung out there for a bit. That was really cool because the place was practically empty. We headed to bed early that night because we had to fly out the next day and did not want to miss a flight or anything.... little did we know getting up wasn't going to be the problem.

So yes, I missed the first flight I have ever missed in my life of my many years of extensive traveling. Why you say? Were we late? No. Did we get lost? No. Oooohh we were just at the completely wrong air port. Ok something we could have avoided had we double checked our sources of information but still not 100% our fault. So a 60 euro cab ride later and rushing and hoping our flight was delayed an hour or something like that we get to the correct air port and head to the ticket counter. Ok so the flight had already left. duh. But they easily got us another flight for only a penalty fare, which was still a lot of money but way less than it would of been to buy a completely new ticket.

Four hours in the airport a small nap and enjoying my first European McDonalds we got on our flight and were ready to go home. About an hour and thirty minutes into the flight (one that is only supposed to take an hour fifteen), they finally prepare us for landing.... 20 minutes later no landing... 30 minutes no landing... o but outside the windows its completely dark gray. Lovely. Then the turbulence hits and I'm not going to like I was legitimately scared for my life and I fly a lot. People were holding hands and white knuckle gripping the seats. About 5 seconds before touch down was the first we saw any land because the clouds were that thick and the first thing we see out the window was snow! Feet of snow. I thought we had to make an emergency landing in Sweden or something. Nope. Barcelona was in the middle of a snow storm and the city had no idea how to deal with it. Keep in mind Italy had great weather so we were not dressed for the occasion. We stepped out of the bus to out house into half a foot of slush! It was absolutely crazy. But a completely appropriate ending to the day we had.

So back to school for the rest of the week. And 3 short days later I am packing for Dublin! Leaving tomorrow night for the weekend before St. Patrick's Day and it should make for a good time. So check back next week for updates on that trip!

Team Valencia!

Been doing a lot of exciting things this past week! (and have many more coming soon so check for updates! but here is the deats about this weekend)

This weekend was the ISA (group I am studying with) trip to Valencia. I realized only the day before the trip that it was only a one night trip so that was disappointing but we had to make the best of it! We took a 4.5 hour bus ride from Barcelona to Valencia early early morning on Friday. Surprisingly quite a fun ride. The majority of our group was running of just an hour or two of sleep or some none at all. For me I understand the value of sleep. I do it often and quite enjoy it so I was having a good bus ride. My friend Alex and I kept ourselves entertained by dubbing over the spanish movie we were watching. So much fun. The movie was made from a classic spanish comic that was very slapstick and had a really odd plot. So we had no idea what was going on, but we had a good story line of our own. We soon found there was a sequel and plan on renting it as soon as we can.

Once we got to Valencia we got treated to a lunch of classic spanish paella. It is like a rice chicken (or seafood) vegetables dish that is all mixed together with spices. I believe it came from when the chefs used to throw together all of the extra food at the end of the week to make one dish. It was pretty good. After that we had a quick bus tour of Valencia then headed to the old part of town for a walking tour. There we saw old churches and marketplaces and some cute streets. After that we checked into our hotel. Always nice to stay in a hotel rather than a hostel, plus they give you breakfast as well and it was delicious. I'm pretty sure most hotels in Europe do this. I hear hostels do too but usually its just something like toast and coffee.

That night we headed out early to see the town and night life. Even though usually anything worth going to see doesn't start until later, we didn't feel like wasting time just chilling in the hotel. Also at this point I became the nap nazi again (despite the fact if I was at home I would of been napping for sure). We grabbed a kebab and started aimlessly walking around town looking for a place to go. The town was kind of dead so we ended up finding an Irish bar and settling down there. We met some other ISA Valencia kids and talked to them for a bit but ended up calling it a pretty early night.

But not too early. We did enjoy a few Paulaner beers. Had to get them due to the name and they were actually quite delicious. It was a german beer. Then Justin, Alex and I decided to wander a little on our way home. We were a good 30-45 minute walk from our hotel but we ended up walking the way back. (I also had a dead iphone at this point so we did it all on our own!). The walk was actually really nice, and we got to walk along this park that used to be a river that they drained to make a park that runs through the city. Then we found a club we thought we would check out until we realized it was a 30 and up club and to the dirtiest stares from everyone as we walked up to it. Good times.

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and headed to the Oceanografic. One of the nicest aquariums in Spain. It was really cool and they even had an exhibit on Hawaii that made me a little nostalgic for that! They also had a really cool dolphin show which was fun. After we walked around the area outside the aquarium and got lunch, then headed back to the busses for the long ride home. Super sort trip but it was cool getting to see another part of Spain!

Since we have been back the weather has been absolutely amazing!!! (besides the fact it is currently raining outside, probably a sign I should be doing homework) I went to the beach yesterday for a run, which I haven't done in way too long but I was amazing and I am sore now so feeling good! I just paid for the Morocco trip today (amazing how money flies) and printed the boarding passes for Rome and Dublin! Its going to be an amazing next couple of weeks. So stay close to the blog and you can hear all about them!

Updates on Barcelona Happenings

Hey everyone, so I guess its time to update. I keep forgetting there could be stuff to say even when I don't go on a weekend trip! Since Amsterdam we have had a few weekends of trying to see Barcelona city and the things to do around here, knowing that most of us have so many trips planned and our weekend time in Barcelona is limited.

The weekend before this was Carnival in Spain. Carnival is k

ind of celebrated for the same reason as Mardi Gras, the weekend before lent to celebrate the beginning of a holy time. The streets are filled with people i

n costumes and there were parades. It was cute seeing all the little kids dressed up like you would see American kids on Halloween. To celebrate we decided to take this group trip to Sitges, a town about 45 minutes north where there is one of the largest gay communities in Europe and rumored to have quite elaborate parades and parties because

of it. We went to this thursday night... the place was a ghost town. It was hilarious

minus the fact that we paid a lot of money to go and there was no festival. (Currently still working on getting my money back. The company we went with promised it back that night but have yet to deliver. The guy I have been dealing with knows me now we have exchanged a lot of emails and phone calls...

I'm determined and think I might win!).

Realizing it was a total flop the tour took us back to Barcelona and dropped us off at a club. That wouldn't of been that bad had we not all been dressed like fools and covered in glitter. Not one of the best nights of my life, and I will leave it like that. HAHA.

Another week of school goes by. School all day and play all night. Study somewhere in between.

This past weekend was very fun. Friday morning (after a lovely 2.5 hours of sleep) we got up for a tour of La Pedrera, an apartment building built by Gaudi, a famous architect from Barcelona. Whom also designed the still unfinished Sagrada Famillia (which I have yet to visit). His architecture is all about natural lines and inspiration

from nature. His buildings are really cool. After this we headed to the beach on my, Sarah, and Alex's quest for a good pair of black boots... after finding the cutest pairs and

not having our sizes, we ended up hanging out at the beach for a few hours. After almost loosing our purses, phones, and cameras to a huge wa

ve we grabbed some food and boxes of sangria took some more pictures! Such a fun afternoon taking pictures and just enjoying the scenery.

After heading back to our neighborhood and checking out the boot stores there, about 30 stores later we called it a night and went home defeated by the black boots! Super tired after a full day we stayed in and planned for another adventurous day the following day.

This morning we got up and headed to Park Guell. A famous park in Barcelona where you can overlook the entire city with a great view of the Mediterranean and see more architecture from Gaudi. The park was super busy being a tourist destination and it

being a Saturday, but we got some good pictures an

d had a lot of fun seeing what Barcelona had to offer. On the walk back to the metro we stumbled upon another boot store and I finally found a pair of black boots! (Also Sarah and Alex both found a pair later that day).

The weekend ended with a fun night out and a day of relaxing and catching up on some studying... tis the week for mid terms and I have some classes to pass! However I do enjoy the lovely distraction of updating you all on my life in Spain!

PANNENKOEKENBOOT!

Amsterdam Feb 5-7, 2010

First trip out of Spain for the semester! And it was so hard to go back because I loved Amsterdam so much!

We woke up the morning of the 5th at about 3am (so basically took a small nap) to catch our flight. The flight was no problem and the airline was surprisingly nice. Justin, Alison, Adrianne, Clara, Kaelan, and I landed in Amsterdam and took a train to the central station which was about a 5 minute walk from our hostel. Which we found surprisingly fast given I didn't have the magical powers of my Iphone which has saved me so many times in Barcelona (crazy roaming fees in Amsterdam I didn't want to pay). We stayed at a place called the Globe which was surprisingly nice given it was the only one that was left to accommodate us since we planned the trip so last minute. We had a 6 person private room with our own bathroom. That was great for us given it was the first hostel for most of us... gave us a nice transition to ease into the experience.

After a dropping our stuff off we headed out on the town, with only two days we didn't have much time to rest. I soon became the nap nazi (Justin soon reminded me maybe I shouldn't use this word in Amsterdam), so we could take full advantage of our short time there, despite the fact that I was ridiculously sick and just wanted to sleep all day. Sorry to everyone who I was with and all the coughing you had to put up with. So we bought something called a Holland Pass that a friend recommended that got us admission to a few different attractions and museums, and we got to cut the line at many of them. A really great deal, I would recommend it if you are going to visit Amsterdam. So that got us free admission onto a cruise of the canals. Amsterdam is covered in canals so it was a great way to get a quick panoramic view of the city and see all the different areas.

After this we did some walking around and shopping (Justin and I bought some sweet hats), grabbed some coffee to perk us up and saw the house the artist Rembrant grew up and worked in. We also went in the Sex Museum on a whim. That was hilarious... basically just a bunch of porn on the wall and penis statues. For dinner that night we went to an all you can eat dutch pancake dinner cruise with various toppings. I will let you ponder the amazingness of that for a moment....... That was for sure one of the highlights of the trip.

Day one was coming to an end and we all knew we didn't have the energy for a full night out on the town so we decided to walk around the red light district to see what that was all about then head to sleep early. Red light was interesting... nothing too shocking I guess but there were girls all in the windows looking for some clients, and sex shops and shows everywhere. We resisted going in any of them but we heard some interesting stories from other travelers about what goes on inside.

Up bright and early the next morning for a busy day. I was nice and chipper thanks to a good swig of cough medicine before bed so I wasn't kept up by the noisy neighbors. After turning up the wake up music we eventually all got out of bed and only a half hour behind schedule decided to stop for breakfast. I got a delicious cup of coffee and probably the most amazing breakfast sandwich I have ever had in my life! Holland has the best food.

First thing we did that day was head to the Anne Frank House, the place they hid and where the diary was written. We found the place pretty easy, (lovin' my map following skills) and beat the crowds which was cool and the museum was amazing. You get to walk through the whole office building below the annex, then behind the book case and into the annex where the eight people in hiding lived. Its amazing reading some of the quotes from the diaries then seeing the place they applied to. After the annex there was a room showing what happened after and a message from Anne's father, the one person who survived the concentration camps and the man who found Anne's diary and had it published. That was pretty emotional and amazing to see.

After the museum we took a cab over to the Van Gough Museum. We got to skip the line thanks to our holland pass and got in free. The museum was pretty clouded and they didn't have starry night on display so that was slightly disappointing, but learning about Van Gough's life was really interesting.

Then we headed over to the Heinekin Experience. And ran into the Iamsterdam statue on the way so stopped and did the tourist pictures... it was a must. I absolutely loved the Heinekin Experience. Got in free with the Holland Pass and took a self guided tour through the museum then saw how they brew beer, and did the Brew You ride... kind of like a virtual reality type ride where you are the beer. After this you get a sample and they tell you a little bit about the science of drinking it. This was probably the best Heinekin I have ever tasted.

At the end of the tour there is a bar where you use your drink tokens. Each person is given two. But most of our group wanted to get back to the hostel to freshen up for the rest of the night so Justin and I ended up with quite a few tokens and had a blast hanging out at Heinekin. Then the gift shop after made my day. We both got Heinekins with our name on them.

On the walk back to the hostel we wandered the streets a little and stopped to get the fries they sell on the street. Sooooo good. We even saved a few to give to the girls back at the hostel do double check that it wasn't just the Heinkeins talking.

Quick turnover, and 30 minutes later we we showered and back on the town. There are Argentinean steak houses all over the city so we decided to treat ourselves to a steak. After this we headed to a pub crawl we had looked into earlier. We were too late to make the better one so we went do a different less popular one. It was still pretty fun because free shot hour didn't have a crowd and we definitely got our money's worth!

Back to the hostel at about 3 or 4 am and in bed. 7 am we are up for our flight and make it to the airport in time to head back to Barcelona. I still don't want to leave! A few short hours later I am back in bed and sleep the whole day! Missed the superbowl but the 49ers weren't in it so nothing too tragic.

So basically can't wait for the next trips! We have an ISA trip to Valencia at the end of February, and Sarah and I just booked tickets to Rome for the following weekend! We will be booking Paris and Dublin soon I'm sure. And maybe Greece and Germany! And Morocco over spring break! Ah so many places! Hopefully the funds hold out. I am trying to be good!

Love and miss you all!! Don't forget to skype me!

Bestie convinced me to start the blog... here is the catch up

Now that I have been in Europe for almost a whole month (whoah it so does not feel like it has been that long!) its time to start a blog so all you people out there can creep my life from my point of view rather than what you see on facebook!

So lets flash back to week one:

We landed in Madrid after a red eye flight... that was brutal. We had the day to relax but they told us not to sleep so we could adjust to the time... Sarah and I were out like a light within the hour and I got up fo

r a panoramic bus tour... stayed awake

for about 10 minutes of it then slept for the rest of it. The next day still jet lagged we saw some museums... Reina sofia, a modern museum, and another one whose name I cant remember anymore that had a lot of classic art from Velasquez and Picasso among others... Its cool to see but I'm not a huge art fan so full days at the museum wasn't t

he most fun. All thought the day we were meeting a bunch of the other ISA Barcelona students, making some good friends and also being annoyed by some of the ... personalities.. there with us.

After a nap that night Sarah, Justin, and I met up with Shannon who is studying in Madrid for the semester and saw a little bit of the nightlife. Had my first Guiness in Europe ( don't worry I should be enjoying one in Ireland soon), but we didn't stay out too late because we had an early morning bus ride to Toledo.

Toledo was such a cute town, way different from Madrid, small alley streets, tons of old churches (something like over 50 in one s

quare mile...), and good views. We had a lot of time to kill after the guided tour so we had fun getting lost in the windy streets. T

hat ni

ght we checked into a nice hotel and had every intention of going out on the town after a short nap but soon enough Sarah and I woke up at 2am to a wild party in the room next door. That was fun. We felt lame because we should really be living it up at this point but were cranky instead. Stupid jet lag.

The next morning we woke up to a nice breakfast and got on busses to head off to Barcelona. 9 long hours later we arrived!

Barcelona:

Yay! We are home! Sarah, Alison, and I are so excited to be at our apartment! It is going to be so cute and we get to meet Lauren soon and go explore the city! We get to the door... so close... the key doesn't work. Many phone calls and many hours later, after ISA treats us to dinner and a bottle of wine we finally get in!! The apartment is adorable. We feel like we are in an Ikea ad. We meet our building owner, Marta, she doesn't speak much english but says she is going to be our Spanish mom. We have seen her a lot since (so many problems with water, etc.).

So the next day we have orientation for school. Ya that part... no one cares about school so I won't bore you with it. But I will say there are super long days, classes are easy, but all I think about is what to

explore next! (if this is my mom or dad reading this, that part was a lie. I work very hard in class and they are challenging but in a good way, yay school!).

The next few days are good. Lauren gets here and starts showing us around (she was here the semester previous as well). Before her I thought I didn't like the

food and that would be good for me and not eating like a lazy college student, but now we know where to go sooo yeah.

Lost of stuff has happened since then, here are some bullets:

•Went so some discotheques... stayed out till 5am... sooo late for me.

•Met some spanish people, tried to talk in spanish = Embarassment

•Played bingo at a bar. won a sweet trumpet and water gun.

•Figured out the metro like a boss

•Oddly haven't seen too many barcelona sights (look for updates on this)

•Fell in love with something called corquettas from docetrece. HEAVEN

•Visited Girona (a city), the Dali museum (melted clocks guy), Picasso Museum, and the gothic quarter.

•Saw some crazy things and met some crazy people.....

I promise I will keep more updated blogs from now on and will remember things so I can give you more detail than that!

Anyway just got back from Amsterdam yesterday... blog about that one will be up soon... if not later tonight!