Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
I AMsterdam
Group presentations in our Marketing Society and the Public Interest class were held the afternoon before we left for Amsterdam. Our group had spent so much time focusing on the pros and cons of having an open market for kidneys that I hardly had time to pack for our weekend to Amsterdam in the hour an a half I had left myself between ending school and hopping on an overnight.Amanda,Katie, Alexis, Sarah, Cheryl, Brittany, and I made a few quick switches before we could settle into the 13 hour train ride direct to Amsterdam. Unfortunately, the conductor woke us up at about 9am with news that the train had suffered engine failure and we had broken down just outside the city. After 30 minutes of waiting, we were told to get of the train and hop on a metro that wasn't too far away. It was a hassle but we eventually ended up where we needed to be, bought three-day passes for the trams and checked into the StayOkay Hostel in Vondel Park. A large city right next to Amsterdam's largest park. Our room was located in a portion of the hostel that had previously been a high school.
Katie and I explored the area near our hostel and grabbed the best bagel sandwich I have ever had (yes, it beats Bodo's) at Bagels and Beans, and met up with Brittany at the Anne Frank House. We only waited in line for 30 minutes, which is apparently pretty speedy. Reading through the history of her family and seeing where her family lived in secrecy for over 2 years under the Nazi terror was humbling. The house and secret annex lack furniture and the blinds were drawn, so there was an eerie sadness throughout the place. I remembered reading the book when I was younger and seeing the actual diary of Anne Frank, listening to video accounts of Miep and her father, and walking through the same rooms she lived in were amazing.The three of us continued through the streets of Amsterdam, enjoying some of the nicest weather we have encountered so far in Europe. The sun was shining on all of the Dutch buildings and the flowers that were just starting to come out made everything so cheery. We strolled through the Red Light District, just to see what it was. We were surprised when we saw some of the women up for sale, not exactly prime goods, but I guess there is something for everyone. It was awkward when we saw a few guys go in or come out of the stalls, but other than that it seemed like any other street in any other city.
We got 50cent ice cream at McDonald's, said goodbye to Brittany who was going back to Italy to meet up with her family, and we went back to the Hostel to go with he rest of the group for dinner. We ate Italian food at a restaurant that had its own cat (apparently restaurant cats are common in Amsterdam). We walked around the area by our hostel for a while before going to bed early, we didn't get much sleep on the night train the previous evening.
Saturday morning we awoke to the smell of the extensive (and free!) breakfast wafting from the floor below us. We chowed down, packed a sandwich for lunch, and met up with a free walking tour. The guide taught us everything we needed to know about Amsterdam and we covered a lot of distance. We learned about the Dutch history of dams and dykes, squatting laws, the domination of the Dutch East Indies Trading Company, the hidden catholic churches, the history of the red light district and the church that is located on the same street, the history of public urination in Amsterdam, the most famous coffee shops, the Nazi resistance and so much more. We walked around the town on our own for a while before we grabbed dinner at Wagamama's, our favorite Euro-Asian chain restaurant.
Sunday morning we went to the Van Gogh museum where there was a special exhibit detailing the inspiration to Van Gogh's Starry Night, and his fascination with dusk, evening, and night lighting. We rented audio guides to get the most out of our visit and they provided a voice to so many of the paintings that I did not realize had so much history and depth to. We popped into a few gift shops on our way to the train station, where we were lucky enough to get a train that took us non-stop from Amsterdam to Lugano. There was some hassle because the car we had a reservation for was no longer in the line-up and the conductor had to find us a new cabin, but everything worked out smoothly and we started the long journey home, arriving back at the Montarina at 6AM, in time to shower and read our assignments before class started at 1:-)Tuesday, March 17, 2009
It's something famous!
We made it to Barcelona, and after having such a wonderful time in Madrid, had very high expectations for the city that everyone seems to love. We got a little turned around on our way to Sant Jordi Alberg Hostel, but when we finally got there, were warmly greeted by the awesome people who ran the hostel. We were shown to our 8-bed room and met our roommates, a girl from Bulgaria who was looking to find work in Barcelona, a guy (Harvi) from England on vacation from work, and a girl who was visiting her friend who was studying abroad in the city. They were all really cool, and really fun to talk to and hang out with.Rachel and I showered up and went to grab some food. We decided on a Chinese restaurant after meandering the streets form a while because we had both had enough of the traditional cuisine, but afterwards wished we had stuck with what we knew. An empty Asian restaurant in Spain is not the best place to get a good bite to eat.
We went back to the hostel, stopping in a grocery store on the way to get something real to eat, and curled up on the couches in the common room. We were soon joined by a group of guys who were spending their last night in the city, and who eventually convinced us to go to a local club on an excursion that was being led by Mauro, the hostel owner. We had so much fun meeting all of the fellow travelers from Canada, the States, Austrailia and England and had a blast dancing in one of the local clubs.
We made our way home and the next morning were looking forward to some great architectural sightseeing. We went directly to the most famous of the Gaudi buildings, the Sagrada Famiglia, stopping at Starbucks on the way. We paid the pricey entrance fee and decided to split the cost of an audio guide—a good cost saving, but not time saving technique. We walked around the amazing church that is still under construction and is not expected to be finished for another 50 to 80 years. It was different from any of the other churches I have seen in Europe and it was amazing to learn about Gaudi's innovative modeling techniques and where he pulled his inspiration from.It took us about 3 hours to go through the entire thing, sharing the audio guide, and we were really excited to run into some people from my study abroad program outside the gates who were staying in a beach house near to Barcelona. We chatted for a few minutes and made our way to La Pedrera, another famous Gaudi Masterpiece. This time the audio tour was included, and we made our way through a museum dedicate to Gaudi's life and inspiration, before going to the rooftop terrace at sunset to see the amazing views of the city on the oddly shaped roof construction. We continued through the apartment, mocked up to how it would have been to live in Barcelona in the 1920's, and eventually made our way back to Sant Jordi.
We showered, dressed up, and did some research for a restaurant that we knew would not disappoint us. We walked a few blocks to La Flauta, where the lines of locals indicated to us that we had indeed chosen a restaurant that would have a good menu. We split an order of the Tapas del Dia and loved the Calamari, Clams, Friend Peppers, and Potato Croquettes that came with it, but could not stomach the HUGE shrimp that required too much de-shelling work for the nasty-flavored meat that we got out of it. We split a dessert and walked back to the Hostel.We found out that the guys we had hung out with the night before had missed their early morning flight, and convinced us to join them, our roommates and the friends we had made that day to go out again. We were definitely starting to live the Spanish lifestyle. We called it a fairly early night and wished them luck in actually catching their rescheduled flight the next day.
We got up the next morning and decided to make our way toward the beach. Though we never made it there due to our lack of motivation to go to a beach that would be too cold to spend much time on and fear of pickpockets that we heard numerous accounts of while talking to people at the hostel. Instead we metroed to Park Guell, a park that Gaudi designed and looked exactly like Candy Land. We relaxed there for a while and enjoyed the city views. We left and made our way to the German Pavilion, a famous work that Rachel had learned about in her architecture days, the Font Majic, which was not so magical as it wasn't even running, the Santa Maria del Mar, and the Vuell Marina. It was a leisurely day and we chose to take the metro several times because we had been walking so much the whole week.We again went back to the hostel to get ready for dinner, where we got a pitcher of Sangria and some pasta, and put our foot down on joining the group for a third evening in a row of going out. We stayed in and enjoyed some of the fellow hostel guests in the common room, before going to bed at a decent hour.
We woke up the next morning and checked out. We were sad to be leaving the amazing hostel that we had such a great time in, and sad to say goodbye to our new friends. We had a few hours to go to Gaudi's Casa Batillo and the Arc de Trionf, before gathering our things and taking the train back to Madrid.
We stayed in a hotel that was supposed to be near the airport for our last night in Torrejon de Ardoz. It was nice to have our own room and bathroom, and we relaxed by watching Spanish TV until we decided to go to bed early so Rachel could get up for her early flight.
We woke up at 7 so she could leave. I was sad to see her go, but was so happy that the trip turned out to be everything I thought it would be and more. I am going to miss her on the rest of my travels!
I flew out on a later flight and arrived back in Lugano Saturday night. I woke up Sunday morning and walked to the Lake, where I enjoyed the beautiful weather and FINALLY caught up on writing my blog!
I will try to stay updated from here on out!
Let's Siesta
I was so excited all week and looking forward to the week-long break, that I could hardly focus on the final for Marketing Research. I think I did pretty well though, so no worries there. Most of the Montarina emptied out Thursday night as people caught their trains for the week. There were only a few of us left behind, mostly the ones who were waiting for friends and family from the States to arrive.Amanda and I spent Thursday and Friday relaxing and getting a few things organized while we had the free time in Lugano. We went to the grocery store and made fajitas with Christian for dinner, we have all been craving some good Mexican food. I used the time to catch up on few weeks of blogging, clean my room, and pack.
I left Saturday morning to catch my flight to Madrid, where I spent the first night alone so I could meet Rachel early the next morning. I got to the hostel from the airport without a problem, I had been warned that Spanish trains were riddled with pick-pockets. I checked in and found my bed in my hostel but realized an hour later that I couldn't find the credit card I had paid with. I searched everything and finally decided to send an email to my bank to cancel the card. Literally two seconds after I sent the message, I realized I had not flipped through the pages of my passport, where it was hiding...but it was too late. The bank canceled my card and am still waiting for a new one to arrive. Luckily I had a back up plan, so the rest of the week went smoothly.
I walked around the town a bit and ate dinner at a local cafe. I decided to call it an early evening so I could make it to the airport in time to meet Rachel early the next morning. I left 30 mins behind schedule because, although I woke up every hour throughout the night, my worst nightmare had come true and I slept through my alarm. I quickly packed my things and ran out the door to meet her. Luckily, we had made a multi-tiered meeting plan and she was waiting right where we had agreed. I was sooo excited to see her!
We hugged and grabbed a cup of coffee and a pastry at the airport and starting catching up on all the things we had missed for the past two months. My mom sent a small package, and she brought some sour patch kids and Cheez-Its from home. Amazing! I was craving American junk food!
We took the metro to the International Hostal de las Huertas, which was located in a quaint part of town. We stored our baggage in the luggage room, washed up and hit the ground running with the sightseeing. I was proud of Rachel to get enough sleep on the plane to at least give us a decent day of sightseeing, and she adjusted to the time change very well. We had a very busy first day ahead of us!
We started off without any real plan for what we wanted to accomplish and ended up running into a lot of Madrid's most famous sights on accident. Rachel had a really nice guidebook, so we used it and the information inside to guide our visit. We went directly to the Plaza Mayor for lunch, where we ate tapas at one of the outdoor cafes. She had “Albondigas” meatballs, and I ate a Spanish tortilla, which is more like hash browns than a burrito.
We planned to walk toward the Palacio Real, and we stopped to read about the various plazas and statues we passed on our way. We went inside and guided ourselves through the extravagant rooms of the Spanish Royalty, each room getting more regal than the last. We looked at the collection of guns and armor that were housed in the Palicio and look pictures of the huge cathedral next door.We spent some time trying to find the royal gardens, and decided to take a nap, as we had observed all of the locals doing on the grass and the park benches. We found a spot that looked like it hadn't been frequented by any of the many unleashed dogs and layed down for a 45 minute siesta.
We both felt refreshed when we woke up, and continued on our walking tour of the capital city by making our way through the Jardines Sabitini to a park that overlooked the city outskirts and the Palacio, where the Templo de Debod (a gift from the Egyptian government) was standing. We decided to make our way back toward the Hostel, which we had ventured very far from by that point, and walked down the Gran Via. We stopped at a cafe for a quick snack, and even conjured up enough energy to walk through the Plaza de Sol on the Calle de Preciados and do some window shopping.
We showered up and Rachel took a quick nap before we got dressed for dinner. We ventured the streets near the hostel, which was located in a pretty central and lively part of town and ran in the Hawaaiian themed bar that Katie had recommended to us. We ordered a “smoking” volcano, which came with an array of snacks. The live birds that were perching behind us made quite a raquet, so we decided to finish our drink and go to the “Vinoteca” across the street where we had Sangria and some small tapas. We went back to the hostel and discovered that we were the only ones in our 4 bed room for the night, so we got a nice sleep.
We woke up early the next morning and found out that the Madrid walking tour had been canceled, so we set out for another day of seeing the sights on our own. We started at the Museo de Reina Sofia, the modern art gallery which houses the Guernica, one of Piccasso's most famous paintings. We were astounded at the size and intensity of the work, and enjoyed seeing the exhibit of the sketches and paintings of Picasso that led up to the final piece. We walked through the rest of the museum and decided to get lunch at a cafe in the same plaza where I tried some churizo.
We made our way back through the city and went back to the shopping district, where we actually went in some of the stores. I bought a nice pair of flat black boots for 15euro (a steal!) We eventually worked our way back to the hostel, showered and changed for dinner. Unfortunately, the hostel informed us that the Flamenco show we had been so excited to see was also canceled, so we made our way into the town for dinner. We stopped at a traditional looking restaurant where I got Paella with shrimp that I had to peel myself. We had some issues with the bill, and the waiter tried to rip us off, but I think I handled it well enough, and at least got him to give me some of my money back.
We went back to the hostel where they had organized some people to go to a few local places and a salsa club. We met a really nice Aussie and hung out with some of the people from the hostel the whole night.
The next morning, Alana (the Aussie), Rachel and I met up in the lobby where we checked out, and decided to spend our last half day in Madrid together. We walked all the way to the Parque de Retiro, where we saw some beautiful fountains and statues, and a nice little pond with some people row boating. We noticed it was one of the only cities that didn't manicure their trees to the point of creating knobs on the end of every branch, and enjoyed each other's company and the beautiful weather.We ate “jamon y huevos” on toast for lunch, said “adios” and made our way to the train station, where we caught the high velocity train to Barcelona. It was one of the nicest trains I have been on in Europe, so Rachel got a skewed perception of my traveling habits thus far. We caught up on sleep and journaling as we made the 3 hour journey to Barcelona!
Oui, Paris!
It was our first four day weekend and we decided to go to Paris. My roommate Cheryl has a friend who lives there, so she, Amanda and I stayed with him and his family during our visit, and enjoyed having a relaxing weekend to enjoy the city without being overly concerned with the sightseeing aspect of it.
We took the train after class on Thursday, and arrived late at night. Quentin, Cheryl's friend, picked us up at the station and took us back to his home on the outskirts of Paris, where we chatted for a while before going to bed.
It was Katie's 21st Birthday, and she convinced us to celebrate with her at Euro Disney. We got student rates and had a lot of fun on all the rides. It was a chilly day, so we were sure there were be no crowds, but we were wrong. Tons of Europeans from all over flocked to the miniature version of Disneyland, so the lines weren't as short as we had hoped, but still were a lot of fun. They had all the best rides that I remember from when I was a kid (Thunder Mountain, the Tea Cups, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Carribean, It's a Small World, etc.)
We were excited to eat bar-b-q and hamburgers in the park that actually tasted like American food, because we had all been craving it for a few weeks. We spent the entire day in Disney Paris riding roller coasters and taking in the Disney experience until Mickey and Mini Mouse lit the castle at night, and went to the village to celebrate Katie's birthday.The next morning, Cheryl told us that she had come down with the infamous stomach virus that is slowly making its way through the Montarina, and was not feeling well. She pushed through it though and Quentin, Cheryl, Amanda and I drove into the city and walked to the Monmartre and Sacre Cur. We ate French Onion Soup and crepes for lunch and Amanda and I broke off to do some shopping. I bought a purse for 6 euro and a new scarf. I envied the beautiful paintings by the street artisits, but they were a little too expensive fro my budget.
We met back up and continued to the Notre Dame where we walked along the Seine for a while and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We went back to the house and ate dinner before Amanda and I went to grab dessert and wine in the Latin Quarter.The next morning we woke up and had croissants and coffee in the breakfast room, said “Au Revoir” to the family and went to the train station. Unfortunately the luggage storage facilities were closed on Sundays so we had to meet up with the rest of the group at the Eiffel Tower and carry our stuff with us that day. We wanted to go to the Musee de Orsay, but were not allowed in with our luggage, so we just enjoyed taking in some sights that we could see from the streets.
We went to dinner in the Latin Quarter, where I split some Escargot and Crème Brulee. We had to be at the train station for our overnight train, so we finished early and made our way.
The night train was more comfortable than I thought. The 11 of us filled 2 cabins, and I got a top bunk. We slept pretty soundly until were were awoken at 6AM in Milan. We made it back by 8 Monday morning, in time to shower up, take a quick nap and go to class.
Carnivale in Bellinzona
In our time here in Europe we have learned about how each of the cities celebrate festivals. The largest and most well known being Carnivale in Venice of course, but each country seems to have their own version of the festival.In the Ticino region of Switzerland, where Lugano is located, the largest celebration occurs in Bellinzona. We all dressed up Tuesday night to see what Rabadan was all about and took the train to the celebration tent in Bellinzona. There were bands, and food vendors, and everyone was dressed in costumes, it was quite an experience.
A few of my friends and I wore masks that we purchased in Florence, and painted our faces for the festivities. It was a fun way to celebrate the holiday:-) Check out our cool pictures!
Monday, March 16, 2009
The Hills are Alive?
We had our Italian final Friday morning, the last Friday class we will have for a while, and I was lucky to be one of the first to be called in to have a 5 minute convo with Magda. I think I did an ok job at stumbling through it and she certainly seemed to enjoy the conversation we had because she laughed a lot...in a positive way. I hope.
We said “Ciao, Grazie!” and got on a train around 2 for what would be a 10 hour journey to Salzburg. The warmer climate in Lugano definitely made it easy to forget that, although we are in Switzerland, we are the only region south of the Alps, and the northern countries were not yet feeling the spring weather. Our expectation of green hills and a lively town were shattered as the snow whizzed past our windows on the train. We had been so focused on studying for our Italian final that no one thought to check the weather, and find out that the “green” hills of Salzburg would be white that weekend. It was still beautiful though, we just weren't prepared for another weekend of slushing through the snow.
We arrived late that evening and booked a Sound of Music tour for the next morning. We got up and boarded a van and had an (almost) private tour of all the scenes in the Sound of Music. We blasted the music and sang along to our favorites as we drove around Salzburg and the surrounding area to see the hills, the “Von Trapp” house, the (then frozen) lake that Maria and the children tipped their boat in, the “I am 16 going on 17” gazebo, and the “Do, Re, Mi” stairs, and the wedding church. We learned about th real history behind the true Von Trapp family, Hollywood's interpretations and secrets, and some history about the town from a tour guide who was a little too into the movie to be normal, but who was very nice.
When the tour ended, we walked around the town for a little while and made our way to the Modern Art Museum, which overlooks the city. We drank some tea in their cafe and enjoyed the view of the snowy Austrian town before making our way down a winding path to the Augustiner beer hall for drinks and dinner.We had half a day in Salzburg to finish up sightseeing before we had to take the train back to Lugano. We went to Mozart's residence where I took a tour and learned about his relationship with the city, his family, his upbringing, and his music. We ate Apple Strudel and special Mozart candies that were local to the city. We continued slushing through the city and went to a few touristy shops before getting on the train in our own “reclining” sleeper cabins for the long trip home.
Friday, March 6, 2009
San Valentin in Firenze
It was Valentine's Weekend, and after being surprised by roses on our doors from all the boys, 9 girls and I went to one of the most romantic cities in Europe to spend V-day weekend with just us gals.
We arrived at the Hotel Sampaoli late Friday night. The multicolored walls, tall ceilings and the stairs that needed to be climbed to get to the lobby made the building a little awkward, but Catie, Whitney and I got 3 beds in a 4-bed ensuite room when we paid for a 6-bed dorm. The weekend was off to a good start.
We walked around Florence until we found a gelateria where I got a scoop of Niccola Gelato with Nuttel Swirls...I was on Hazelnut overload. We got up the next morning, Valentine's Day, and went straight to the Academia to wait in line to see the David. I remember vaguely seeing the statue when I was 13 traveling Florence with my mom, but had forgotten how amazing the detail was. Michaelangelo carved every vein in his arm, and the expression is so realistic. We continued looking at the other sculptures and paintings in the museum, and noticed how different the perception of beauty was in the time of these artists, the women looked so real.
We continued to the center of Florence where we came upon the Duomo. The architecture and marble work is fascinating on the outside. Compared to other churches we have visited, this one was magnificent on the outside and very plain on the inside, where others have very ornate interiors. We waited in line to spiral our way through the walls of the dome and make it to the top with an amazing view of the entire city. We could not have asked for more perfect weather and we were excited to be able to take off our jackets and enjoy the sun. We took lots of pictures in front of the city backdrop and were psyched that we would have some pictures of us without our coats on.
We walked through the street markets. I bought a few souvenirs for some people back home and a Carnevale mask to wear to Bellinzona Rabadan Carnevale. We dropped our stuff back at the hotel, changed quickly and crossed the Ponte Vecchio to the Piazza Piata for our Valentine's wine tasting. We tasted six wines, sampled cheeses, meats and bruscetta. “Edwardo” taught us what to look for in good wines and taught us a bit about the varieties in Tuscany. I bought a bottle of red wine to bring home.We stopped to ride the carousel on the way home. Brittany, Katie and I went to the “Fish Bar” but the scene wasn't very good on Valentine's so we had a drink and went back to the hostel.
The next morning Catie, Whitney and I got up early to walk to the San Miniato al Monte Church atop a hill on the outskirts of Florence. We got lost and took a right instead of a left and routed ourselves through the neighborhoods. We made it to the church 15 minutes before the service, had the chance to look around the unique split level design, and sat down for mass. The service was entirely in Italian so we only stayed 20 minutes before we left to take pictures and walk to the Piazza Michaelangelo to meet with the rest of our group.We arrived early and were surprised to run into a crowd of Asian tourists who were on some sort of wedding tour. There were at least 10 brides getting married at the same time, taking cheesy pictures in front of the Duomo views, and throwing confetti on each other. We people watched for a while, met up with our group and grabbed spaghetti at a restaurant with a great overlook of the whole city.
We walked back through the city and caught a 4'oclock train back to Lugano!
In Dublin's Fair City...
So it has again been a pretty long time since I have blogged and I am about to leave for my second 1 week break and figured I would try to catch up on the last one week break I had off and the weekends in between.We left snowy London and surprisingly made it out on time without any hiccups at the airport. We landed in Dublin that evening, it had been snowing there too so unfortunately all we saw from the plane was a white city vs. the green hills we were expecting. We caught a train to Killarney, which is a small town on the western part of the country.
We got in the train station late at night and had trouble finding the hostel. We immediately noticed the amazing hospitality of the Irish because the several people who we stopped to ask for directions each did the best they could to help us out, even if they didn't really know what they were talking about either.
We checked in to Neptune's hostel and asked the very kind woman at the front desk what there was to do in Killarney, she suggested a shop where we could rent bicycles and we made plans to explore the Irish countryside the next day.
We rented bikes the next morning and attempted to follow the suggested route of the owner, but he didn't know any street names and just gave us landmarks to try and follow. Needless to say we got lost several times, but the whole point of the day was to explore the countryside and that is definitely what we did. We made it to Ross Castle and rode through a golf course along Muckross lake. The green countryside and the views of the lake were just as I pictured Ireland to be. It started to get chilly so we rode back to the town and warmed up with some Irish Coffee and Guinness Stew.The town is sort of sleepy in the wintertime, and we decided to take advantage of being in an English speaking country and went to the local movie theater. Sarah, Amanda and I went to Slumdog Millionare. I was excited because I had just purchased “Q&A” which was the inspirations for the movie. I loved the movie, and the book was great too...but if you read and watch...don't expect them to be similar. The movie is very loosely based on the book.
The next morning we ate a “Traditional” Irish breakfast at a cafe near the hostel, packed up and left for Dublin. We arrived in the rain and took a taxi from the train station to the hotel. We were all very excited to be staying in a hotel for the next two nights. Amanda and I shared a room with our own bathroom. We freshened up a bit as we drank tea and watched some TV in English. All of the European countries have MTV, whose trashy reality shows give a great impression as to how real Americans lead their lives, no wonder all the Europeans think we are so crazy.
The weather cleared up a bit so we decided to explore our part of town. We were in a fabulous location, right near St. Steven's Green and the Borough St. shopping district. We ate noodles and soup at Wagamama's Asian cuisine restaurant, most of us were starting to get a little sick and worn out so the soup was a nice temporary remedy.I came down with a fever that night and wasn't feeling very well the rest of our time in Dublin, but I pushed through it because I didn't want to miss anything. We woke up early the next morning and bought tickets for the Hop-on-hop-off (HoHo) bus tour. We listened to the commentary and rode it to Christ Church where we learned about its unique history and toured the crypts below it.
We jumped back on the bus and rode it to the Guinness Storehouse. We learned about the production of beer and the qualities that make Guinness unique. The tour included a pint at the Gravity Bar with a panoramic view of the city. We relaxed for a little while before facing the cold outside to wait for the bus. We rode and listed to the history of Dublin as the bus followed its touristy route back to Temple Bar. We ate dinner at the Bear and Castle pub and walked around for a bit. My fever was starting to make me feel really tired so we went back to the hotel and called it a very early night.
After about 12 hours of sleep I was feeling much better the next morning. We packed our things, put them in the hotel's luggage storage and explored the city by foot. We stopped in the shops on Burough street and picked up some Irish Rugby shirts, the French/Irish rugby match was later that day and we wanted to make sure everyone knew who we were supporting. We walked by the Liffey river and through Temple Bar, making our way to the National Museum of Archeology. The bog body exhibit displayed men who had been preserved for hundreds of years in the rich Irish soil. Everything was still in tact, you could see the pore in their skin, their fingernails and the wrinkles on their hands. It was amazing.
We continued exploring the streets of Dublin and stopped at Burdock's Chipper for some real, newspaper wrapped fish and chips. Yummy! We ate them on the steps of the city hall, which attracted a bunch of pigeons who were bugging us for our leftovers.
We made our way back to Temple Bar for the start of the Rugby match. The pubs were packed and it was very exciting. We met some nice Irish women who explained the game to us and we drank Guinness and Jameson as we cheered Ireland on. We stayed at the pub until midnight, made our way back to the hotel to grab our things and go to the airport. Our flight was at 8 the next morning, so we decided to arrive the night before, save on a night in the hotel and sleep in the airport. I fell asleep on a couch near Starbucks. We checked in to RyanAir at 6 and were on our way back to Lugano!
We had to catch a train from Milan. I used the hole in the ground toilet at the station and somehow broke the lock when I shut the door. I got stuck and had to get the police to let me out. It was simultaneously the scariest and funniest moment of the trip. We made it safely back to the Montarina after that little hiccup. It felt nice to be “home” after a whole week of traveling!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
It snows in London?
I know it has been a while since I have posted a new blog. Consumer Behavior just ended and we had a final project and essay last week. The time seems to fly by when I am here and I feel like free time escapes me. Posting a blog for a week of travel is also very daunting....so sorry if it is really long. Feel free to skim:-)
We were supposed to have our final essay last week, before we left for our week long break, but David was in South Africa and could not get us the prompt in time due to his bad Internet connection. We ended up having the evening off and a few of us celebrating by going to Karaoke at a local bar in Lugano.
The next morning we had to prepare and pack for the whole week before we had to be on the train to the Bergamo Airport in Milan. It was a little hectic to try to make sure we had all of the information we would need for our travels the next week, and the lack of decent internet in the Montarina posed a small problem.
We hopped on the train at about 3 and arrived in Bergamo at 5. I was surprised to see the scenery as we left our little resort-town bubble of Lugano and passed by the graffiti covered lower income areas of Italy. It was too early to eat dinner at any of the local restaurants because they were all closed and the only place open to spend our 2 hour lay over was McDonald's. I think the woman behind the counter was a little overwhelmed with the onslaught of 11 hungry Americans and was blatantly flustered at our paying with the large bills we get from the ATMs.
Katie and I each got a “Piccoli Piacere” (a small spicy/herby chicken sandwich) and split a medium curly fries (yes curly fries from McDonald's!) We hung out on the top floor of the three story McDonald's until it was time for us to board the city bus to the Airport. We arrived 2 hours early and proceeded to the check in desk for Ryanair.
Ryanair is one of the cheapest airlines you can ride in Europe, but there are reasons for it which would become obvious throughout the rest of our travels. They are extremely strict about their checked/carry-on baggage size/weight and you can get screwed paying a bunch of money to check a bag that you thought you would be able to carry on if you don't indicate it prior to arriving at the airport. Their terminal is always the furthest possible from the check in desk and there are no assigned seats. You board the plane in a first come first served fashion so as soon as they announce boarding everyone mobs the door so they will have prime choice of seats when they get on the plane. Our group did pretty well and we were among the first people to board the flight.
A thick fog had rolled into Bergamo and our flight was delayed by 30 mins and then an hour. We were nervous that we would get to London Stanstead to late to catch the last (1AM) bus into the city. When we landed we ran to the luggage claim, grabbed our bags and booked it to the Terravision bus. Luckily they had advance warning of our late flight and were running a later bus. Katie, Alexis, Cheryl and I were dropped off in the city center where we split from Brittany, Amanda and Sarah who were staying in a separate hostel. We grabbed a cab to what we thought would be a close location to the other girls...but oh were we wrong.
We arrived at Journey's Smoking Barrels hostel, whose only claim to fame is that it was a location for the movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. We laughed as we turned down the street at 3 in the morning. It was in the middle of nowhere and the neighborhood did not look very friendly We asked the cab driver if we were in a good part of town. He laughed and said we “weren't in the worst part of town”....oh goody.
We were greeted by a moldy stench and a receptionist who obviously didn't enjoy his job at a run-down hostel with 24 hour reception. We were informed that our booking had been changed and that 2 of us would be staying in a 8 bed mixed dorm room and the other 2 would be staying in an 6 bed mixed dorm room, both of which were full of other guests who would not be excited about our 3am arrival time.
Cheryl and I tiredly lugged our things upstairs where we found a girl sleeping in one of the beds assigned to us. We didn't think it was a problem until we realized that she had also been sleeping in the bed assigned to her. After informing her of her mistake and getting new sheets for the bed we climbed into bed without changing or washing up...we just wanted to attempt to get some sleep...which did not happen.
The group of Aussies we were sharing a room with had just returned from a wild night and the girl who had been passed out in Cheryl's bed woke up several times to throw up. Her friends would start asking how she was doing and then start complaining about the heat (and the smell) in the room. After getting 3 hours of sleep in 30 minute intervals, I got up and met Cheryl, Katie and Alexis to figure out what we were going to do about our situation. The guys who were passed out in their beds had no idea that new roommates had joined them late night and started to stare and ask us confusing questions about the night before.
Luckily the hostel had an Internet connection. We did some research and decided that for slightly more than we were going to pay for another 3 nights at Journey's, we could move somewhere more appealing. We gathered our things and had to argue with the receptionist to give us the proper rate for our one night, we ended up losing money on the deposit we had put down for the night (but Alexis argued with the credit card company and things are worked out now)
We had to catch the Underground to meet up with the other girls at their hostel according to our plan the night before. We were running late due to the confusion and feared we would miss them entirely, but we ran into them on their return from grabbing breakfast. We found out that the hostel they were staying at had two sister hostels in two blocks walking distance. St. Christopher's had availability for the last two nights we would be spending in London (which would turn out to be a life saver) and after finding a place to stay that night we were ready to start our first day of sightseeing in London.
The Borough St. Market was right across from St. Christoper's Orient Espresso so we started our day walking through the maze of vendors and tasting free samples of everything from chocolate covered almonds, to jellies to bread and pesto. It was even better than “eating dinner” at Costco.
After filling our tummies with enough free samples, we made our way across the London Bridge to the Tower of London. It was a clear day but the wind was biting and we were cold to the core. We took a few pictures along the way, but hurried to get inside the Tower walls where we could at least get away from the wind. We jumped on a tour with a witty Beefeater who mixed the gruesome history of the Tower of London with a very English sense of humor. We walked through the museum of the Crown Jewels and the bloody tower before deciding to make our way across the Tower Bridge.
We took pictures as we walked across the Tower Bridge when we found it bearable enough to remove our hands from our warm pockets. We all were getting tired due to the lack of sleep and decided to wake up and warm up with some tea at a modern cafe. We stopped in at the Orient Espresso, where we decided to leave our big suitcases and pack overnight bags for the hostel we had booked in Kensington.
Katie's “Europe on a Shoestring” book suggested a famous true London pub and we decided to head that way for dinner and relaxation after the crazy ordeal we had faced the night before. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub is located near Fleet Street and near St. Paul's Cathedral so we passed by the barbershop where Sweeney Todd took place, snapped some pictures of St. Paul's and the Christopher Wren church at night, and found our way off the beaten path to the famous pub. I ordered a pint of beer and a Steak and Ale pie. We talked with some people who were on a Bachelor Night Pub Crawl and decided to call it a night in order to make it to Globetrotter's Inn in Kensington to catch some much needed ZZZs. The four of us were split into 2 rooms again, but we had decent roommates and the beds had curtains that blocked some light and noise from the room...it was kind of cool to have our own little cubby to sleep in.
We woke up the next morning and had a breakfast of underdone toast and Museli at the Hostel before jumping on the Underground to meet up with the rest of the group at the British Museum. We were running a little late for our If-we-don't-get-there-by-this-time-leave-us-behind time so we had to book it from the station to the front of the Museum, but luckily they were in a similar boat and had arrived only a few minutes earlier. We split up to conquer the museum at our own pace.
The British Museum had so many items from art and archeology that I have heard about in my studies so it was really cool to be there and see them up close. We walked through a huge exhibit about Egypt where we saw the Rosetta stone and a bunch of Mummies. We also saw sculptures that were gathered from the Parthenon in Athens by British Archaeologists...the same artifacts and sculptures my tour guide in Athens this summer spoke about trying to get back from the Brits.
My favorite exhibit detailed the celebration of life and death from various cultures around the room. It displayed modern and ancient ceremonial decoration in addition to describing funeral practices of the many cultures. I was especially moved by a modern art piece by a textile artist who wove the lives of a man and a woman in the number of pills they took over their lifetime. It was crazy to see how much medicine went into their bodies over a 70 year period and made me think twice about popping the Sudafed every time I get the sniffles.
Although we felt like we could spend the entire day in the British Museum, we knew we had other things to accomplish that day, so we decided to grab soup at the Cafe Pret right outside the Museum and move on. The Photographer's Museum was recommended to us by a very nice Londoner when we were in line for Ryanair. We hopped on the Underground (minding the gap!) and made our way to the Chinatown stop where we thought the gallery was located. Little did we know...it was the middle of Chinese New Year and we were headed right to the middle of the hubbub. The streets were lined with red lanterns and a dragon was parading through the packed streets. We found out the gallery had recently moved a couple of blocks from it's original location and walking through Chinatown was the only way to get there. We jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the festivities for a while, blocked our bags from potential pickpockets and made our way through the streets, passing by vendors of yummy Chinese foods and colorful toys.
The Photographer's Museum was only four floors, and contained some interesting and also some disturbing pieces, but it was nice to get out of the crowds and cold for a while. We spent some time admiring art that wasn't in the form of sculpture or a painting. It started to snow while we were in the museum and we passed it off as normal mid-winter flurries as we made our way to check in to our third hostel in London...oh were we wrong.
We checked into the main hostel of the three St. Christopher's in London where we met our roommate Sam Banks who was doing an internship in London. He was from two hours south of the city and didn't really know anyone so we invited him to join us in our plans for the evening.
We changed into nicer clothes and left to meet Cheryl (who had spent the day with her mom's cousin in Hampstead) at Big Ben. It was still flurrying and very cold, so we quickly took pictures of Parliament at night and moved on to find the Masala House Indian restaurant. We had trouble finding our way through the snow that was now providing a slippery layer on the sidewalks. We finally found it and the “Homestyle” Indian food warmed my tummy. I have never really eaten a lot of traditional Indian food, so it was fun to try something new in a city that is well known for their Indian population.
We made our way back along the snowy streets to the Absolut Icebar. Little did we know there would be snow in London when we made our reservations a week prior, but it was a fun concept anyway. The entire bar was made of blocks of Ice and the drinks were served in Ice Goblets. We were provided with very stylish Eskimo ponchos to keep us warm and were only allowed to be in the Icebar for 45 mins in case we got too cold. We didn't stzy long anyway because we wanted to get back to our hostel to watch the Superbowl in the bar downstairs.
American football is not very well known in Europe, and is actually a difficult thing to explain to someone who is used to watching soccer and rugby, but there were still some locals who had spent time in the states and a bunch of Americans (like us) who were excited to find a place to watch the Superbowl and munch on “Traditional American Bar Food” of Nachos and Buffalo wings. I stayed downstairs through halftime before I was tired and decided to get some sleep for more touring the next day.
Alas, the snowstorm hit hard overnight and London became a mess the next day. Alexis, Brittany and I woke up around 9 to hear about the effects of the snow on the city—busses weren't running and most of the Undergrounds were delayed or canceled. The other girls were going to tea at the Ritz, but we had a less expensive low key day planned. We hoped to go to St. Paul's Cathedral to see the view of snow covered London from the top of the basilica. We got to the Underground and jumped on the wrong train...the worst part is that it sat in the station for several minutes after we realized we were mistaken, but the car was so packed we couldn't make our way out. We turned around at the next station and eventually made it to the Cathedral. The terraces were closed but we still got to see the gorgeous golden mosaics and intricate designs of the alter. There were some people making a snowman on the steps.
We were hungry and decided to eat at a sushi restaurant nearby called Itsu Sushi. I ate spicy crab rolls and miso soup to warm me up. We drudged through the snow to Oxford Circus, a famous shopping area and the location of the famous London Top Shop. We did some window shopping, but didn't really have the money or the room in our luggage to get anything serious. I bought a wallet to carry all the cash in various currencies I was carrying around (it broke 3 days later unfortunately)
Our plans of riding the London Eye and seeing a London Theater show were squashed in the snowstorm as most of the tourist attractions, shops and restaurants were closing early. We went back to the hostel where we warmed up, waited in a 45 minute line at the grocery store across the way and spent the night singing Karaoke and dancing in the bar downstairs.
Luckily we woke up the next morning to sunlight peeking through our curtains. Our flight was scheduled to leaved on time so we packed our things and ate a “Traditional English Breakfast” of ham, beans, eggs and baked beans at a cafe next door. We hopped on a train to Luten airport and were off to Ireland!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Prost Muncih!
So this trip just gets better and better. I have just returned from Munich where I got a little taste of German culture...mostly in the form of local food and drink.
We got on a train Friday afternoon after classes and arrived in Zurich after about 2.5 hours. We had a 2 hour layover at the train station before we had to be on our train to Munich. I haven't ridden many trains in the states, but I can imagine the stations are very different at home than they are in Europe. Because the train station is located in the center of most of these cities, and are used more regularly than trains at home, they tend to be an entire city center. The Zurich station had several grocery stores, a bunch of shoe stores, some chocolate shops and a really cool beer/liquor store that had beverages from all around the world.
We jumped on the 4 hour train to Munich, and got in around Midnight. The hostel was located about a block from the station, and after figuring out which direction we had to walk in, it was pretty easy to find. Wombat's Hostel owns several youth hostels in Europe. They are voted number one in cleanliness and atmosphere and it was immediately evident why. The rooms had 6 beds and a bathroom ensuite. The doors had automatic key cards that also controlled the provided lockers. There were big windows and a large shower/bathroom. Downstairs, the bar was hoppin with a live band and there were hammocks and swings in the atrium. We used our free beer passes that we received at check-in, watched a little Karaoke and hung out downstairs for an hour or two. We wanted to get up early the next morning to see the city.
We got up, showered and ate breakfast at the Hostel bar. For 3.50 Euro we got a full breakfast with fruit, yogurt, meat, cheese, nutella and panini sandwiches. I ate more than I normally would for breakfast, because I knew I wasn't going to want to pay for any food until dinner. A few of us walked around the hostel surroundings. I got a black and white scarf at a street vendor down the street. We met up in the Hostel lobby to go on a FREE walking tour of Munich.
A young man who grew up in Munich met up with about 11 girls from Virgina Tech and a group from Miami of Ohio to show us around the city. We walked through the city center and went to the Frauenkirche church. It boasts the tallest towers in the city, but an old folk story says that it is haunted by the Devil, who makes the wind blow really hard on the outside. We continued walking through the city and made it to the New Town Hall in time to see the Glockenspiel play at 12:00. The life size figures re-enacated a famous wedding scene and tournament as the music from the Carillion played.
We continued to the Viktualienmarkt, an open air market that sells local goods and groceries. We had some time to grab a snack. Some of my friends got a glass of honey wine and we split a pretzel. We met at the Maypole in the middle and learned about the tradition of stealing maypoles from neighboring towns. We ended our tour by walking through the royal palaces and residences and stopped at the Bavarian Memorial. We rubbed the noses of the lucky lions near the palace, and hopefully will have good luck the rest of the time we are here. Bavaria is represented by the Lion and known for their beer. The Monks of Munich were the first to brew beer, and drank it during religious fasting as a way to recieve calories...that is where the image of a fat monk came from.
We lucked out with clear skies and sunshine, but after spending the morning walking around the city, we needed a place to warm up. We found a coffee shop that sold regular American drip coffee in large mugs and indulged. It is very difficult to find coffee in Switzerland that is bigger than a shot of espresso, and every drink is much smaller and more expensive than we are used to.
Some of our group decided to go back to the hostel to take a nap, but Katie, Cheryl and I continued to walk around Munich. We climbed the top of the tower at the Alter Peter and took in the amazing views of the city against the clear background. We walked down the shopping streets and picked up a few souvenirs. We ran into a peaceful march protesting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in front of the New Town Hall.
We met up with the rest of our group at the Hofbrauhaus to eat dinner and drink up the German culture. I had a sausage platter, a liter of Beer, a liter of Radler (which is a mix of beer and lemonade) and a pretzel. We stayed for a few hours listening to the German band and talking with some people who were visiting from Berlin.We went back to Wombat's, who was hosting a ska/reggae band and spent the rest of the night at the front of the stage. We went to bed around 2 because we knew we had a big day ahead of us.
We met our Dacahu tour guide, Jamie, at the train station at 10 the next morning. He was an Irishman who has been living in Munich for several years. He guided our group of 12 to the Dachau concentration camp and gave us a fantastic introduction to the history of the concentration camp. He told us about how the Nazis gained power in Europe and their methods revolving around the prisoner work camps throughout Europe. I never realized the intensity of everything until I looked at a map with the numbers from each area who were slaughtered in the Holocaust.
Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp to open and the last to be liberated, so Jamie explained the various transitions that it went through and how it has been memorialized since it was liberated. The entire experience was very moving and I am very glad we decided to hire a tour guide for only 4 Euro more than an audio guide. We were able to ask questions and receive information that pertained to the thoughts we were having.
We had a quick break in the train station on the way home to grab a bite to eat, then it was 6 hours back to Lugano. We arrived pretty late, unpacked and went to bed.
We had Italian class Monday morning and were told that our exam that was scheduled for Thursday would be moved for Tuesday, so we only had one night to prepare! There was a written portion and a few minutes of one-on-one conversation with Magda. I think I did pretty well on the written part, but I was pretty nervous for the speaking portion and I definitely think that showed.
The next day we had a lecture with Julian, a USI student who does research with David. He told us about Swiss culture and some of the history of Switzerland. At the end of the lecture we had a Wine tasting where we sampled wine from the German, Italian and French provinces of Switzerland. I took down the names of the wines we tasted and am planning to bring some bottles home.
Today a man from the non-profit organization NoWomanNoLife spoke to us about social entrepreneurship and how their organization functions. Afterwards, Katherine gave a lecture about the history and culture of Ireland. She live there for a year and many of us are heading to Ireland and England next week.
We have a big research project and presentation the week after we return, so we are working on gathering information for that. Six of my friends and I are going to London and Dublin next week, so look out for some great information about that. I am so excited!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Ski Heaven
I just returned from a weekend trip that will be very difficult to top in the next few months that I am here. I don't know if any sights or activities will compare to the amazing majesty of the Swiss Alps and my opportunity to ski the fresh powder and wide open slopes.
I grabbed a bite to eat at the gyro/pizza place next door, then went to the club below the hostel for happy hour. The hostel was crowded because the World Cup downhill ski race was at the mountain we were going the next day, and a bunch of fans were using the inexpensive rooms for a place to stay. We met a bunch of different people at the bar downstairs, many of them were American.
I had a long conversation with a group who are nurses in the US Army and stationed in Germany. One girl went to UVA and she introduced me to her favorite drink. It is called Strongbrau and is a cider that looks like beer but tastes somewhere between champagne and apple juice. It was very interesting and not that expensive.
We went to bed early so that we could wake up and hit the slopes. Cheryl and I were awoken at 7:00 by the people sharing our room (thats hostel life for ya!)...but we had planned to get up by 7:30 anyway. Katie, Alexis, Brittany,Whitney, Sarah, Katherine and I grabbed breakfast (it was included!) and walked next door to rent our gear. We caught the bus at 10 and after finally getting situated on the correct train were were on the slopes by 11:30. The choices fro slopes seemed innumerable, but we decided to go the the Grindlewald area to avoid the crowds.
I have been going on yearly ski trips to various resorts in Virginia since I was very young, but I have never experienced ANYthing as amazing as the slopes in Switzerland. I literally teared up at the beauty of the Alps as we rode our first ski lift. I could not believe that I was actually seeing what I was with my own eyes...it felt like it should have been in an IMAX movie. We could not have asked for better weather: Blue Skies and sunshine the whole day--We even got hot after skiing the longer runs.
I was nervous at first because Kathleen fell and broke her knee while skiing last weekend and I was afraid of incurring the same fate. Once I got up there I decided I that skiing the Alps is in some ways easier than other slopes I have been on. We took the gondola to the very top of the mountain where there were no trees. The whole mountain was covered in ski slopes of varying difficulty. They were wide and there were so many options that any one slope was not very crowded. The snow was powdery and there was hardly any ice. I felt safer skiing these slopes because I never was afraid of being run into from behind or running into a tree off the side.
We skied for a few hours before taking a break at a restaurant the overlooked the slopes. There was a band playing a variety of om papa music and American marching band type music. We ate some bratwurst and enjoyed the music and the view before heading back to the slopes. The whole experience was amazing and I am promising myself I will come back and ski the Alps again.
We grabbed the train back to Interlaken when the slopes closed and got ready for night sledding. About 30 people from our group took vans to a local ski area where we took a gondola in the pitch dark night to the top of a mountain. A guide lead us down the mountain on toboggans and we weaved back and forth on paths for 4 miles. We each tied a glowstick to our back to prevent running into each other, but beyond that the only light was provided by the moon and stars. It was so clear!
The guide lead us to a restaurant at the bottom of the hill where we had a traditional Swiss cheese fondue dinner. Afterwards, we went back to Balmer's. I showered up, grabbed a drink with some of the group, and went to bed.
We left Balmer's the next day and grabbed a train home to Lugano. We stopped halfway in the town of Luzern, which is famous for its wooden bridges and Weeping Lion statue. We grabbed lunch, ran around the town to see the sites and headed back to the Montarina.We are continuing Consumer Behavior and Italian this week. I think I will be ging to either Milan or Munich next weekend, and will be touring Dublin, London and Paris the first week of February.
A group of South African students came to speak to our class today. They are working for a nonprofit organization to promote social responsibilities in South Africa. Their stories were fascinating and I am excited to learn more about their lives and their work when we have dinner with them tonight. David will be taking a group of students Jun 24- Aug 8 from our Virginia Tech program and students from the University of Lugano to work with students from Nelson Mandella Univerity to South Africa this summer. This group would have an internship and create programs to assist South African youth in making positive life choices and creating opportunity for themselves. They would also get some school credit. I am very interested in participating, but it will cost $5,000. I am trying to figure out all the details now, but it is a once in a lifetime experience that I know would be difficult to turn down.