Heading Home

Right now I am sitting in Stockholm Arlanda Airport reminiscing about the past five months. I can not believe how quickly it has all gone by, I know I’ve said it a billion times before, but I never realized how much I would hate leaving. This morning was harder than I ever expected. Saying goodbye to Karina was as hard, no probably harder, than I thought it would be. This past week being able to meet her family and see where she grew up was amazing. I’m so happy that I got to go to Latvia with her. It is a beautiful country, especially the city Sigulda. But yeah, I’ll tell you all about it now…

Friday, June 12

At 11am Joie drove me to the University to meet Karina and her parents. The goodbye with Joie was a bit rushed since we had to get to Stockholm in time for our ferry to Riga, but thankfully she is studying abroad in Florida next spring so I will get to see her and Per again soon! We got to Stockholm around 2pm or so and then had to wait in line until it was time to load all the cars on board. When we finally got to the place to check-in I had to do all the talking because I was sitting behind Karina’s dad and neither of her parents speak English.

After waiting forever for our key cards because the machine was broken we finally boarded the boat. It was the same company as the boat I took during Sea Battle, but ever so slightly different. Kate, another girl from Latvia who was studying abroad with at Örebro was also on the ferry with us, just in a different cabin. So all Friday night Karina, Kate, and I hung out played some air hockey and even sang some karaoke (No Doubt’s Don’t Speak). By that time it was getting late and the three of us were exhausted and getting nauseous from the ridiculous waves, plus Karina had lost her voice while singing so we headed to bed.

Saturday, June 13

In the morning we woke up and went out to the deck so Karina and her dad could show me all the sights of Riga, well the one’s you can see from the river. We could even see her apartment building. Once we got to her house we unpacked quickly, ate, and showered. Then we went out to Old Riga so she could show me around before we were meeting up with her friends. Unfortunately, it was raining pretty hard so it was difficult to walk around and actually take pictures of everything, but I managed. At seven we met up with her friends Maya and Maira at Rock n’ Riga.

Sunday, June 14

On Sunday we went back to Old Riga so that we could actually do things and see the sights. Our first stop was the Latvian Occupation Museum. It was really interesting, I had never heard of most of the things I had read there because, well Latvian history isn’t generally on the top of the history curriculum in the US unfortunately. After the museum we went to the top of St. Peter’s Church where there are panoramic views of all of Riga. Again, it was raining pretty hard so it was cold and wet. After that we grabbed some lunch and then headed back to Karina’s house.

Monday, June 15

On Monday we woke up early because Karina was getting her haircut by her cousin and then we were going to go to an indoor water park, the biggest in the Baltic States. Our initial plan was to wake up at 8am and leave her house by 9am, but of course that didn’t happen. By the time we got to the water park it was already 2:30pm, but it was opened until 10pm and we ended up staying until 8ish. It was a lot of fun, much bigger than the one in Örebro. All the slides were named after stores or brands sold in Latvia like Snickers and Lasens (a milk company). Only the indoor section was opened, but we still had a lot of fun. All of the slides except one were for multiple people and you had to sit on rafts and inner tubes. Our favorite slide was the milk brand one we called it the milkshake. Like one of the slides in Örebro, this one dumped you into a toilet bowl like thing before spitting you out into the water, but unlike the other one this one was longer and had two big drops, one before the toilet bowl and one after. After that we were exhausted and headed home, knowing we had to wake up even earlier the next day.

Tuesday, June 16

We had to wake up at 6am on Tuesday to make the bus and train to Sigulda. In Sigulda there are four castles of Latvia and a lot of other tourist attractions, like the forest cat-climbing place – that was where we were first headed. That was so much fun, I had never done anything like it an absolutely loved it. Basically you go through a ropes course in the trees of the forest. We were 12 to 25 meters above the ground the entire time. Ah I loved it. Especially when we got to glide throughout the trees. One of the instructors there became our personal instructor after he saw that we were afraid at one of the parts and helped us through the rest of it. Anytime we had a problem he would show off telling us it was easy to do and then end up having to drag us across the course at some points. I was so proud of myself when we finished. We did the entire course, including the two black sections.

Afterwards we got some lunch and then walked around to see the castles and go on a Ferris wheel from the Soviet times. After walking for a while we were both tired and were thinking of heading home but on our way to the train station we ran into Karina’s ex-boyfriend Uldis and he invited us to meet up with his friends so he could show us this medieval site they are building. Latvia is known for its medieval festivals and a lot of tourists come over the summer to watch and participate in the activities so Uldis and his friends are trying to make money off of it since they are all really involved in the medieval community and have lost their jobs due to the crisis. I’m really glad we met him. He taught us how to throw knives, spears, and axes. And we got to try archery and play a medieval game called Knucklebones. I wasn’t too good at anything, but one time I actually got the ax in the tree trunk!

Wednesday, June 17

On Wednesday Karina’s parents offered to drive us to this palace, which is now a museum. In July it is a huge tourist attraction because the garden is filled with roses, there is almost no green, just roses. Unfortunately, I was too early to see that but it was still beautiful. Afterwards Karina had a job interview and then we met up with Kate to go to Jurmala, a small cute town on the coast.

There we walked on the beach, it was too cold and windy to go swimming. Karina and Kate had never met before Örebro, but it was funny to hear them talk and tell similar stories. In such a small city they must have past each other at least once before but never noticed. Around 8ish we headed back to Riga and to Karina’s so I could pack for today.

And now hear I am. Sad and excited, it’s confusing. I’m excited to see everyone at home, but leaving is incredibly hard for me. I’ve been crying on and off all morning. I hope I can come back someday soon. I’ll miss everyone too much.

Okej, I need to check in. I’ll be home in about 15 hours. Yikes!

Love and miss you!

Europe: The Way I See It

Here is just a list of some things I have learned or noticed throughout my travels…

• The EU is to Europe as The United States Federal Government is to the US
  • Basically, each country in the European Union is like states because they have to follow the regulations established by the Union but are also allowed to have their own variations.
  • Also, there are open borders for all of the European Union. So when traveling from country to country as a member of the EU you don’t have to show a passport, just an ID. A lot of people actually don’t have passports, just national IDs. Sadly, because of the open borders I didn’t get many stamps in my passport.
• In the airports there are special smoking sections that are just small Plexiglas rooms, I don’t understand how anyone can stand inside them long enough to smoke. They all look so cloudy it’s disgusting.
• All of the street signs and traffic lights are the same around Europe (well, the ones in Latvia were bigger than the rest, but still went red, yellow, green, yellow, red)
• Most of the signs look like cartoons, especially the crosswalk signs.
• The licenses plates are also the same, the newer ones have the European Union flag and then the country the car is from written underneath the flag.
• Public transportation is extremely punctual throughout Europe. Also, for all metros and some of the more populated bus stops there are clocks that countdown to when the next train/bus is coming.
• There are several places to tap your bus card on buses, not just near the driver. Usually, you only go near the driver if you need to refill your card or pay with cash.
• The bus doors open towards the inside of the bus, several times I have forgotten and almost got squished.
• Dogs are allowed everywhere: on trains, buses, and in stores.
• Toilets are different in every country. The way you flush it varies, as does the amount of water inside the bowl.
• You almost always have to pay to use a public restroom. But usually there is someone there that cleans it between each use.
• Everywhere but Scandinavia you have to pay for water.
• McDonald’s are EVERYWHERE! Literally, I have seen more McDonald’s in Europe than ever before. Everywhere you look there is at least one red sign with a white arrow that says how far away you are from the next one.
• The McDonald’s Drive Thrus are called McDrives.
• McDonald’s is more expensive throughout all of Europe, you get smaller portions, and it usually takes slightly longer to get. The restaurants are generally cleaner though.
• Pizza Hut is a sit down restaurant.
• KFC’s can usually be found close to McDonald’s.
• In Spain Dunkin Donuts is called Dunkin Coffee.
• Paris has a special committee that actually creates alternative words for English words that start to become popular (such as computer and weekend).
• In London, to get rid of all the pigeons the Mayor first made stores stop selling birdseed, but that didn’t work. So instead he brought in two trained falcons to hunt the pigeons, that also didn’t work. So instead they have started selling birdseed again but have mixed in crushed birth control pills so the pigeons can’t reproduce.
• More people seem to ride bikes in Europe than in the US, although they do make it easier by making special lanes not in the streets.
• People seem to ride retro bikes without gears or hand brakes more than mountain bikes.
• Everything is under construction! The Eiffel Tower, The Colosseum, The London Bridge, everything…
• Sandwiches are a popular breakfast choice throughout all of Europe, not just Sweden.
• Croissants are also popular
• In France people literally walked around with baguettes!
• For the most part every country has the same outlets; the exceptions are Northern Italy that still has the older plugs and the UK.
• Practically everyone has a Nokia cell phone.
• All of the pharmacies have green crosses on them.
• Canadians are about as popular as McDonald’s, and just as easy to spot since most of them wear at least one Canadian flag patch on their backpack or bag.

Ok that’s all I can think of right now. Time to go finish packing since I have to be up at 4am tomorrow to catch my flight from Riga to Stockholm. Tomorrow is going to be a hard and long day, I’m not looking forward to it. Saying goodbye to Karina is going to be incredibly hard. That on top of three flights and four time zones in one day is a lot to handle.

 
Love and miss you!
Home: Tomorrow

London Calling

Being in London was very surreal at first. Walking around and being able to read signs and understand what everyone was saying for the first time in five months made us realize how much we had forgotten. Both of us had gotten so used to just blocking everyone and everything out unless we absolutely needed to understand them/it that being able to walk into a sandwich shop and be able to read the entire menu felt like a luxury. In fact, it took us about twenty minutes to figure out what to order because we had so many more choices rather than just recognizing one or two words and hoping it was what we wanted.

We landed in London Stansted Airport around 8am London time (3am Boston time) and then got the next coach to Victoria Station. Because of all the traffic, and the multiple stops the bus had to take before the station, it took us almost two hours to get to Victoria Station. From there we hopped on the Northern Line to Borough Station and checked into our hostel. Originally we had hoped we would check in earlier to be able to go on the 11am free Sandeman’s New Europe Tour, but by the time we got there it was already after noon. The next free tour started at 4pm, so we went to get some lunch and then walked over to the Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. The Tate was really cool, got to stand in a room between Monet and Jackson Pollack, and it was free (with the exception of the special exhibits). The Globe Theater was not free, so we just looked into it rather than taking the tour.

By then it was almost 4pm, so we headed to the meeting point for the tour at Hyde Park Corner. When we got there two girls working for Sandeman’s were sitting down talking and smoking cigarettes, but neither was making any attempt to publicize the tour. Unlike every of city we have been to on these tours, there was no sign or anything. It was cold and a bit rainy, so we figured that they didn’t really want to give the tour. Then after a third person came, a guy, they started to act somewhat more interested in the few people that had gathered for the tour, but kept saying that they wouldn’t give the tour unless there was at least 6 people. Finally, a few more people showed up making a total of 8 so one of the girls had to give us the tour. Her name was Emma and she grew up in the England. The minute the tour started she changed from being bored and annoyed to way more peppy and happy, slightly too much making her annoying at times. Overall though she was a good tour guide, very funny and, being a drama major, very enthusiastic while telling all of the stories.

On the tour we saw all three of the royal palaces in London, governmental buildings, and the parliament house (it was the Royal Tour). It lasted until 6:30pm and then we rushed to King’s Cross Train Station to find Platform 9 ¾ (from Harry Potter). We had to rush there because at 7pm the Tube workers were going on strike until Friday morning, we have perfect timing don’t we? From the newspapers (ahh, it was so nice to be able to read a newspaper) I learned that the strike was because the workers want a 5% pay increase and because two workers were recently fired. One was fired because he opened the doors on the wrong side of the train one time and he hadn’t completed his safety checks. The other was accused of theft. Anyway, we made it to Platform 9 ¾ and back to our hostel just in time. By the way, Platform 9 ¾ is a tourist trap, they don’t even let you go to the actual platform, but instead to this random wall that they put a sign on and stuck half a trolley into. But, we had to be good tourists and take the pictures anyway of course.

Because of the tube strike our plans to meet Dusjan at Heathrow Airport to help him with all of David’s bags was completely ruined. It was cheaper for David to have Dusjan meet us in London with all of his things rather than having him ship them to his uncle’s house in Birmingham or Florida. Originally we were going to meet Dusjan when his flight landed around 11pm, but since we couldn’t take the tube we had to find a bus and the only bus we could take wasn’t getting to Heathrow until 12:30am. We tried to text and email Dusjan, but we had already boarded his plane in Sweden and didn’t get the messages until he landed in London. We waited for over an hour for the bus to get him Tuesday night. It never came. We tried to text him again (we couldn’t make phone calls traveling because we didn’t have the special number) the text messages wouldn’t send and we ended up running out of money. So we went back to the hostel and tried to call and text him on Skype and then just emailed him explaining the situation. Eventually Dusjan finally checked his email and realized we couldn’t make it and headed to the hostel alone. It took him over two hours because of all the traffic and confusion in the city. At around 5:30am Dusjan burst into the hostel room, scaring the crap out of me. In the morning David and I explained everything again to him and apologized, but there really wasn’t much else we could have done.

On Wednesday, David, Dusjan, and I walked around London. Our first stop was the tower that Henry VIII had his second wife Ann Boleyn beheaded. Then we went to London Tower Bridge, for 5 pounds we got to go inside it and in the engine room museum. After that we ate lunch and then Dusjan left us to go do some shopping because he had already been to London. David and I went to the British Museum to see the Rosetta Stone and some other exhibits, then we were going to go back to Buckingham Palace to take pictures with the guards, but it was going to take forever to take the buses there (it took us about an hour to go a few blocks to the British Museum!) So instead we went, well I went, shopping. Then we went back to the hostel to meet Dusjan for dinner and then we were going to go down to the pub in the hostel to watch the England – Andorra game. We were going to eat there as well, but then after we ordered potato wedges we realized they didn’t have a kitchen in the pub. Instead they were ordering the food from a pizza place down the street or something. It was hilarious, we waited like a half an hour for a side of potato wedges and when we asked where they were the girl said she called and they would be here any minute and then I looked up and saw a guy running across the street with them! So, yeah, after that we decided to go somewhere else to eat.

Then on Thursday morning I had to say goodbye to David and Dusjan and catch my plane back to Sweden for one more night in Örebro. It was really hard to say goodbye, especially since David and I had been living together for the past 17 days. Making matters worse it was that the whole goodbye process was rushed because of all the tube problems and then we couldn’t find where I was supposed to catch the bus. It all started to sink in though throughout the day that I am going home. For the last time I took the bus from Skavsta to Örebro. Joie and Per met me at the bus station and took me back to their apartment for dinner before we went to Heleen’s for a final goodbye party with everyone. It was crazy, practically everyone had left already, and maybe twenty people were at the party. So, of course there were many tears at the end when I was leaving. Not knowing when or if I am ever going to see these people again is really scary and sad. When I left to come here it never crossed my mind how much I would love it and all of the people I would meet. Instead I always just thought, “yeah I’m going away for a couple of months and then I’ll come home”. Now, I don’t really want to go home. I can’t believe I that I don’t know exactly when or if I will ever see these people again. It’s not like at home when you can say goodbye knowing you’ll see them when the summer is over. This could quite possibly be goodbye forever. And I didn’t even get to really say goodbye to everyone.

On Friday I met Karina and her parents at 11am at the university to drive to Stockholm to take the ferry to Riga. Joie dropped me off, and that was tough, but at least with her I know I’ll see her next spring when she is studying in the US, and thankfully Per too because he is going to come visit her (obviously). I didn’t even get to say goodbye to Per because he left early for work.

This is all just to weird. Right now I am sitting in Karina’s house, and I feel the most homesick. But it’s a complicated homesick, I’m homesick for Boston and for Örebro. Seeing Karina with her parents and meeting her friends makes me miss everyone at home and feel slightly jealous that she is able to do it. But at the same time, I wish I were back in Örebro with everyone and not caring about anything. Studying abroad puts you into this weird alternative universe, where everyone and everything is amazing and nothing matters but being with those people. But now, being here, it’s brought me back to reality. That on Thursday, just five days from now, I will be home. Even scarier is the fact that no one there has experienced all this with me, so I know that it will all feel like some sort of weird dream. It’s a really depressing realization that this is all coming to an end.

Love and miss you!
Home: 5 days

London pictures have been posted: http://picasaweb.google.com/sineadorade

I Went Camping!

For real, in a tent with a sleeping bag, campfire and all. Most shockingly of all, I actually enjoyed it. There’s just something really cool about waking up to birds and being able to see the trees and everything. But yeah, I’ll explain all of that later first let me explain our time in Barcelona…

Barcelona

Our train from Nice got into Barcelona around 11:45am on Friday. Unlike the train to Nice from Venice, this one was much more comfortable. We sat in normal seats that were slightly larger and reclined pretty far, basically like the ones in airplanes. Once we got to the train station in Barcelona we followed the directions we wrote down to our hostel. Little did we know that our hostel was outside of the city and about a mile walk uphill from the closest metro stop (we booked it based on price, not location).

Once we checked into our hostel, we were exhausted. We ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and then showered. By the time all of that was said and done it was raining pretty hard, so we decided to hang in for the afternoon organizing things and took naps. Then Friday night we headed out to explore the city. We went into the city center and just walked around, it was still cooler than we were expecting though. We walked all throughout the center and then stopped to try some paella, fried calamari, and sangria.

On Saturday we decided to sleep in (all the way to 10am!), assuming that would give us enough time to get ready and head to the center to catch a free tour of Barcelona. It didn’t though, partly because we were lazy in the morning and partly because we couldn’t find the meeting point. We missed the tour by ten minutes unfortunately. Instead we decided to do what we do best and just wandered around the city a bit. We went to Temple Expiatori Sagrada Família, a church in Barcelona that they have been building since 1882. It is still currently under construction and expected to be complete by 2030, but who really knows. It is a really cool church though, you are able to walk through the entire thing and see the progress they have made over the years as well as different architecture styles. In the end it will have fourteen towers, twelve for the apostles, one for Mary, and one for Jesus. Right now it has six or seven I think.

After the church we went to find the 1992 Olympic Stadium, even though it is a large section of Barcelona it took us a while to find it because it was further away from the train station than we realized. It was cool to walk through it all, we didn’t go into the museums or anything but walked around and looked into all the different stadiums. Plus, from there, there is a great view of the entire city. By then it was getting late and we wanted to head back to the hostel to get our things and go to the train station to figure out our trains to Arenys de Mar and Madrid. David’s Dad lived in Arenys de Mar for three years about 25-30 years ago on a campground and we wanted to go and camp there as well.

Based on our previous experiences with train stations, we assumed it wouldn’t take long for us to book our train to Madrid and hoped to get to Arenys while it was still light out. Again, we were wrong. First we were standing in the wrong line for both tickets. Then we bought our tickets to Arenys and went to stand in line for the tickets to Madrid. For those tickets you had to take a number like in Sweden or at a deli and wait to be called. We got number 334, it was on number 208. We had to wait over two hours to buy our tickets to Madrid from Barcelona, and that took all of two minutes, probably less. Since we had to wait so long our tickets to Arenys had expired (they only last two hours) so then we had to go and explain the situation and ask for new ones. Finally we were on our way at 9pm, we got to the train station at 6pm.

Arenys de Mar

The train ride from Barcelona to Arenys de Mar was supposed to take fifty minutes. Three stops before Arenys though they announced that everyone had to get off the train and onto a bus. Of course this was all explained in Spanish so David and I had no idea what was going on, especially since being abroad we have both developed this unique talent to automatically drain out any language that isn’t English when it isn’t being spoken directly to us. Thankfully, one woman saw that we were still sitting on the train and told us to get off. The bus took us to Arenys de Mar and everyone else who still needed to take the train was able to get on one from there. When we got to Arenys we asked two men working in the train station if they knew where a campground was, that was complicated to ask, especially since David wasn’t sure of the name. Eventually they understood and told us to get back on the train that there weren’t any in Arenys de Mar, which was extremely confusing since David’s Dad had worked there and we had looked it up online. But, confused and nervous because they were freaking out about us missing the train we ran back onto the train and got off on the next stop.

There we again asked people where the closest campground was and they directed us 500 meters down the road, so at 11pm we walked 500 meters down the main road along the beach of some city we didn’t even know hoping to find a campground and instead found a camping supply store. At least they understood what we meant, right? Next to the camping store was a hostel, so we went in to see if they had any beds, they didn’t. But the woman spoke English very well and explained that there were three campsites right outside the village along the main road back in the direction we came from. So, again we walked.

The first campsite was closed. The second one only allowed RVs and trailer homes, and the third was filled. But the owner of the third one directed us to a fourth one we didn’t realize existed, Carlitos Campos. There is where we stayed. The man at the front desk was a bit taken aback by us, especially since we had a tent. Apparently we were the first people all season to bring a tent, and from the looks on everyone’s faces and the tent area, the first people in long time to bring a tent there. By the time we figured out where we were supposed to set up the tent it was almost midnight. David set up the tent, I attempted to help by putting together the poles, but it was pointless because all you need to do is open them and they automatically snap together. Then David made a fire, again I was kind of useless, but whenever he went to find more wood I did make sure it stayed semi-lit. When we were all settled we melted chocolate to dip bananas in because we couldn’t find marshmallows for smores anywhere in Barcelona. Then we sat and watched the fire, and eventually we got to watch lightning over the ocean as well. There was a small thunderstorm, but nothing bad. It only rain for probably a half an hour total off and on but the lightning was pretty amazing.

We spent all day Sunday on the beach since we didn’t have to head back to the Barcelona train station until late (our train to Madrid departed at 10:22pm). It was nice and relaxing, and unlike Nice it had sand. Well, it had grainy sand, almost tiny rocks really, but it was nice. More comfortable than river rocks. And it was far less touristy than Nice.

On the way back to Barcelona we made a pit stop in Arenys de Mar to take pictures for David’s Dad. From the way he had described it to David, it has changed quite a lot. It is still an extremely small town, only one main road, but there are a bunch of restaurants and little cafes. It is definitely becoming touristy I’m sure. Anyway, so we stopped at this little museum that had an information center sign outside of it, although it wasn’t tourist information, that office opens in July. There we got a map of the city and guess what the first thing we noticed was, an advertisement for a campground – Carlitos Campos. The entire time we were in the right place!

For an hour or so we walked around Arenys, stopping at the beach to sit and watch the locals. Most of them of course were watching us. Everyone seemed really confused to see two Americans walking around with luggage, just walking up and down the main road and sitting on it on the beach. Especially since tourist season apparently doesn’t begin until July. Around 7pm or so we headed back to the Barcelona train station to catch our train to Madrid. We were all excited because we were told we would be in first class and were hoping it would be one of those high-speed trains with comfortable seats. But it wasn’t, it was like the train we took to Nice. However, it was nicer because the seats were bigger and there was only one other person in our car so we all got to spread out a tad bit more comfortably.

Madrid

We arrived in Madrid at about 7:30am and then realized we forgot to write down the name and directions to our hostel. We tried to connect to WiFi in the train station but had no luck, and the woman at the information desk didn’t speak English. So we decided to go to the center of the city and figure out what to do from there. We ended up going into a random hostel to use their Internet. They didn’t seem all too pleased about the fact that we didn’t need a room, but they were still helpful. After we figured out where to go we went to our hostel and checked in. then we had an hour to wander before the start of the free tour through Sandeman’s (the company we went on tours with in Berlin and Paris as well).

At 11am we went to the meeting point for the tour, only to find out that it has been suspended until further notice because it is being boycotted by other tour companies in Madrid or something. I didn’t really understand. The other companies are arguing that it is illegal or something for them to give free tours basically. Anyway, the guy who was supposed to give us the tour was nice enough to map out the route we should take and gave us a brief history of the sites we would be seeing. Then we joined the other people who were hoping to take the tour (another boy from Florida and two girls from Quebec) and followed the route as best we could. The tour should have taken three and a half hours if the guide had come with us and explained everything, but since we didn’t have any explanations of things it took us about an hour and a half, maybe two tops. After we finished our “tour” of Madrid we all went and got lunch together at a little café. Around 4pm we all spilt up to go to our hostels, the boy from Florida was leaving for Paris soon and David and I had a lot to do since we are leaving at 6:30am for London. Plus, it was cold and raining by the time we left.

And that pretty much sums up my brief time in Spain. I’ll definitely have to come back someday, I didn’t have enough time here at all and feel like I missed a lot. But then again it is hard when you are on a tight budget and time restrictions. Someday though, someday. Now though it is time to get ready for London. Then back to Örebro for a night, then Latvia, and then home. Wow. I know I have probably said this a billion times, and will probably say it a billion more, but these past five months have gone by faster than I ever imagined. It’s really depressing. I’m really going to miss everything about it.

Love and miss you!
Home: 10 days

 

Reminder: Pictures can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/sineadorade

Florence, Venice, and Nice

Sorry I haven’t updated all week, things have been crazy busy with all the traveling. We haven’t spent more than a night anywhere since Rome. Already we are done with two countries (Italy and France) and now moving onto our third, Spain. I am writing this entry while we are on the train from Nice, France to Barcelona Spain…So here’s a quick recap of Florence, Venice, and Nice…

Florence
We got to Florence around 11:30pm Sunday night and headed towards our hostel, or at least tried to. Very few people that we met on the street had ever heard of our hostel or where it was located. Eventually we walked into a nice, four star hotel and asked the concierge there for directions. He too had no idea where to send us but was nice enough to take the time and look up directions on Google for us. Once we got to our hostel we checked in and then started making plans for the rest of the week (like how long we would spend in certain places and train times).

On Monday we woke up fairly early and went out to explore the city. Unlike Rome, it was a bit chilly and rainy in Florence, but it wasn’t too bad. Our first stop was tourist information to figure out exactly what we should see in one day. The guy there didn’t seem too interested in actually helping us though. He talked like Speedy Gonzalez! He just kept pointing at the map and saying “Thisissoandsogohereandthenthere. Okay? Goodbye.” After that we just sat and looked at what he circled and tried to figure out where to begin. Our first stop was the Saint Maria Cathedral, this huge and beautiful cathedral in Florence that was built in the 18th century. After that we wandered around to Michelangelo’s tomb then headed up to a monument dedicated to him that supposedly has the best sites of the city, and it did seem to. From there you really could see all of Florence, it was much more crowded than I would have expected.

After that we checked out places closer to our hostel, like Ponte Vecchio, the Old Bridge of Florence that now has a lot of touristy shops and cafes. Then we walked through the entryway to a museum that is dedicated to famous Italian scientists and philosophers. Then we went back to the hostel to make some lunch before going to a Galileo exhibition at a museum. We expected the exhibition to be solely about Galileo, but it wasn’t. it was more about the history of astronomy in general and the last two rooms were about Galileo and his impact on modern day astronomy. It was very interesting, but I was hoping to learn more about Galileo’s life, there wasn’t much about any of his discoveries outside of astronomy, and even that was a bit limited. Once we finished the museum exhibition we just walked around the town a bit more before catching the train to Venice.

Venice
Again, we got into Venice around 11pm or so. And then had no idea where to go. Venice is divided into sections, not by streets, so you have to walk to the right section and eventually you will find the correct address. I have no idea how any one can find there way around, the signs are awful and there are so many bridges that its difficult to remember if you walked over one before or not. Throughout our time in Venice everywhere we went we saw people standing in the street holding maps looking very confused. In fact, we stopped to ask two police officers where our hostel was and they didn’t even know. They argued with each other as to where to send us and then took us in the wrong direction so they stopped to ask two other locals where we should go. The directions they gave us were still wrong. Eventually we did find the hostel though, making it even harder though was the fact that hostels aren’t allowed to put signs up, so we had to find the right number.

This hostel was very interesting compared to everywhere else we have stayed so far. Apparently the woman who actually runs the hostel was at her boyfriend’s or something and she has left two 18 year olds from England in charge for the summer. But they went out for the night, so two guests checked us in and had no idea what to do with us. It was hilarious. Even though it made no sense, it was probably the best hostel we stayed at because everyone was our age and all just going on and on about how ridiculous Venice is in general.

On Tuesday we woke up, had breakfast with everyone, and then left the hostel. Our first stop was the train station to buy our tickets from Venice to Nice. That was again confusing, we kept getting sent back and forth between the two ticket agencies. Finally we booked our train for 11:30pm that night, arriving in Nice at 4pm on Wednesday. Then we went to check our luggage at the train station so we could walk around, but the line was so long that we decided it would be better to just carry it around and check it later. Little did we know that not only is Venice the city of water, but it is also the city of stairs. Every single bridge in Venice has stairs, and not just two or three, but the entire freaking bridge! It was awful! And then because we didn’t have a map we ended up getting lost and somehow leaving Venice, thankfully it wasn’t for too long and we walked back in, which is a pretty cool thing to say if I must say. I mean how many people enter Venice twice in less than 24 hours, once by train and once by foot?

After that excursion we were too tired to walk all the way from the border of the city and decided to take a boat bus, which is really the best way to see the city. We took the boat bus to San Marco Square, which is the main square of Venice. We ended up being able to check our bags with a four star hotel and then headed out to join in the festivities because June 2 is a national holiday in Italy. Unfortunately, there wasn’t as much going on in the evening as there apparently was in the morning. But we did see a couple of people playing music and whatnot.

Nice
We got on our train to Nice at 11:30pm that was an adventure. There weren’t normal seats on the train, but instead different cars for six people to sit in facing each other. Needless to say, it was very crowded and uncomfortable. Before we got on the train we realized that there was an earlier train from one of our stops between Venice and Nice, so we decided to change our tickets to get in around noon instead of four in the afternoon. We had three stops between Venice and Nice. One at 2:30am until almost 4am, another at 5am until 7:15am, and then a twenty minute one from 11:25 until 11:45. The entire train experience was very confusing and hectic. But we survived and met other people along the way who were having even more difficulty than us.

When we got to Nice we checked into a nice little hostel and then headed straight to the beach. That’s basically all we did in Nice. It was very relaxing and beautiful. The water was so blue, and you could literally see it turn from navy to teal with the waves. One odd thing though was that there was no sand, just rocks on the beach. But it wasn’t too uncomfortable and it was nice to leave and not be covered in sand.

On Thursday we checked out of the hostel and left our bags there before going to the train station to book our train from Nice to Barcelona. Then we walked around the city a little bit before heading to the beach again in the afternoon. Then around 9pm we got on our train to Barcelona. Thankfully it wasn’t nearly as bad as the train to Nice. Nicer train, actual seats, and again a couple of stops but not at crazy hours of the night.

I’ll write about Barcelona as soon as I can.

Love and miss you!
Home: 13 days

P.S. Pictures can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/sineadorade since I have run out of memory here. See you soon!

Rome smells delicious

Seriously, it does. Everywhere you go all you can smell is pizza and pastas. Not to mention every other door you walk by has a big gelato sign in it. I have no idea how anyone is able to do anything with the constant appetizing aroma. Anyway, besides being teased all day by the tasty smells, David and I did a lot during our short stay in the Eternal City.

We arrived late Thursday night and went straight to our hostel by the Ciampino airport, which was not as close as the website said, and when the cab driver dropped us off it was a little strange because it looked like no one was in the area at all. But when we saw it in the daytime it was much nicer. Especially since they put us in a six-bedroom dorm and no one else was in it and we still only had to pay for two beds (most hostels make you pay for the entire room).

Friday morning we woke up and hopped on the train to the city. Because David had been hiking/camping in the Alps before we left we didn’t have time to book a hostel before we left and thought it wouldn’t matter, however it did. We spent our first hour or so in Rome walking from hostel to hostel until we found one. After that we made sure to book hostels immediately in the rest of the cities we are going to be visiting just in case. In the end we stayed at M&J Hostel by Termini Station. Once we were all settled we wandered around to get a feel of the area before we went to the Spanish Steps for a free tour.

Unlike the free tours we have been on in Berlin, Prague, and Paris, this one did not cover the entire city. Oddly enough it only covered the areas closest to the Spanish Steps (such as the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain), even not the Colosseum. It was also much shorter than the other tours that typically ran two and a half to three hours; this one was only about an hour and a half. It was interesting, especially because the tour guide was actually from Rome, but it was disappointing that it was so limited. After the tour we walked around the city on our own. We went to the Colosseum at night to see it all lit up and then back to the Trevi Fountain area to see what that was like. The Trevi Fountain is probably the most tourist-populated area. All day and night you can find at least one hundred tourists there, and its worth it, it is a beautiful fountain. Random fun fact about Rome, you can drink from all the fountains in the city! The water that runs through every fountain is the same exact water that runs through the aqueducts and peoples’ homes.

On Saturday we woke up early and headed back to the Pantheon to try and go inside (there was a service going on during our tour), but again there was a service so we walked over to the Colosseum. We walked through Areo di Tito on our way over; where the Forum and Ruins are. We didn’t realize that they are included in the Colosseum entry fee so we didn’t expect to go in them, but after our tour of the Colosseum we walked through the Forum and Palatino. It is crazy how big everything was and how much detail went into all the architecture. It took us about three hours to walk through everything. Then we headed to the Circo Massimo, where the gladiators fought, by were greatly disappointed with that area. We both thought it was going to be more like the Colosseum and we would be able to read about it and see the architecture, but it is just a giant field really. They still do hold events such as concerts and special sporting events at both the Colosseum and Circo Massimo though. That is why Rome is called the Eternal City, because they always reuse as many buildings as they can, usually only renovating them slightly rather than building all new ones (so Rome is also great at recycling). Then we attempted to find the aqueducts in the suburban areas surrounding Rome, but unfortunately were on a wild goose hunt and couldn’t find them or anyone who could give us directions to them. So we’ll have to stop at one while we are traveling through Pisa, Florence, or Venice.

Today (Sunday) was our last day in Rome. We woke up early (before 7am) to get ready to go to the Vatican. On the last Sunday of every month entrance to all the museums there are free, and every Sunday the Pope sits in during mass. One thing though, if you are planning on going to the Vatican make sure to wear something that covers both your knees and shoulders. Initially I went wearing a dress that had spaghetti straps and had to run back to the hostel to change. On my way back to meet David at the Vatican a woman passed out on the train, in my car, the stop before the Vatican. It was really scary, the train was really crowded because everyone was on their way to the Vatican and it was hot, and suddenly this woman probably in her thirties slumped over and then fell onto the ground, her face turned deep purple as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Then she was whiter than white (whiter than me even) and she went limp. Everyone freaked out and I pulled the emergency alarm. I was about to jump in try CPR, even though I was really too afraid to, and she sat up and said, “How long was I out for?” (or something along those lines) which makes me think its happened before or it was some type of seizure.

Anyway, after all that craziness I found David and we went to watch the mass and take pictures of the Pope. It was really cool. I thought of Tony the whole time, I got some pretty good pictures of the Pope for him. Then after the mass we went and waiting in line for the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. The line wasn’t as bad as we expected, about an hour. But the thing is they trick you, the entire time all the signs say Sistine Chapel and then you have to walk through the entire museum and up and down all these stairs until you get to the chapel. And when you get there it is so crowded that you can barely move. Technically you are supposed to be silent and aren’t supposed to take pictures, but no one was listening obviously.

By the time we finished all of that we had to run back to the hostel and quickly eat our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (the jelly from my birthday). Then we had to rush to catch our train to Pisa at 2pm. We got to Pisa around 6:30pm and went straight for the Leaning Tower, which much like the Mona Lisa was smaller than we expected. But we had some fun with it (aka posed in front of it) then ate some dinner and headed back to the train station for Florence.

And that’s where we are for tonight and tomorrow. Then it’s off to Venice. Oh and I am trying to upload pictures, but I’m running out of space here so I may have to put them on another site. I’ll let you know as soon as I figure it all out.

Love and miss you!
Home: 18 days

Happy Birthday Tony and Jane!

Bonjour!

These past few days have been a blur, but in a good way. Monday night I had to say goodbye to Marina and Christina, that along with finishing all my cleaning and packing was extremely difficult. It’s weird that I will never be sleeping in that flat ever again, or seeing them everyday. Then Tuesday morning Dominik picked me up at 6:15am to give me a ride to Central Station so I could catch my train at 6:55am to Stockholm Arlanda. My flight to Paris took off at 11:20am and a short two and a half hours later I landed. And I must say, Charles De Gaulle is a huge and slightly complicated airport. I had to walk down this hallway that constantly went up and down, like hills or waves. Then when that ended I had to take all these tunnels up the center of the airport to the baggage claim. It was interesting. Then I was off to find the Roissy Bus to Paris Opera where I met Liz Schéré (a friend of mine from high school who is currently studying in Paris).

Like every city in Europe, Paris is absolutely beautiful. Liz and I walked around for probably close to three hours. She made to show me as much as possible. We grabbed some coffee then walked through Monceau Park, which is mentioned in several literature classics. Then we walked through the city and saw Napoleon’s Tomb before heading to the Eiffel Tower. Seeing it in real life is pretty surreal, I have always known that it is big, but it is bigger than I expected. After our walk throughout the city we returned to her apartment to have some dinner and wait to meet up with her friend Jean-Philippe. Once we met up with him we headed to this area in Paris called Montmatre. It is known for its large bohemian influence and because it is located on a hill overlooking Paris there great views of the entire city.

Tuesday morning I woke up and went out to find David. He had been hiking and camping in the Alps in Italy for five days and took a late flight here to meet up. Originally his plan was to stay in the airport for the night, but shockingly it closed. Since he had not booked a hostel he ended up attempting to sleep in a park and then wandered around the city in the early hours of the morning. He’s crazy. To him it was a hilarious adventure; to me it is crazy he wasn’t robbed or something worse. (Thankfully he wasn’t).

Anyway, so we met up at 11am on Wednesday at the Fontaine Saint-Michel in the Latin Quarter to go on another free tour offered by Sandemans New Europe. The tour was supposed to last 3.5 hours (so until 2:30pm), but we ended up leaving it after the lunch break at 2pm because they were going to the Eiffel Tower and we had both already seen it, and we were tired. Before we left though we did see the Notre Dame and the Louvre (along with everything in between). The lunch break was close to the Louvre, so we wanted to end there so we could go in it and then meet up with Liz when she got out of class. According to our tour guide, if someone walked around the Louvre and looked at every piece inside it for only thirty seconds it would take them sixty-four days to see everything, sixty-four days without sleeping, eating, or bathroom breaks. Needless to say, we did not get the opportunity to do that. Instead we walked in and headed right to The Mona Lisa, like everyone else who ever goes to the Louvre. Surprisingly, it is much smaller that you’d think.  Then we walked around for another hour or so to look at the Italian, Spanish, and French paintings.

After the Louvre we were supposed to meet up with Liz at the Hotel de Ville, however we somehow got incredibly lost for a good half an hour and ended up walking in the complete wrong direction. We were literally standing probably a block or two away from it originally. Liz had been waiting there and her phone wasn’t working (and mine won’t let me make outgoing calls) so she ended up having to go home to call me. By that time it was 5:30pm and beginning to rain so David and I spilt up at the train station. I headed back to Liz’s and he headed to find a hostel for the night.

Wednesday night Liz and I were tired, after all she is still in school, so we ended up staying in and watching “When Harry Met Sally”. Then we took her dog, Nafta, out for a walk. Nafta is also a King Charles Cavalier, the same color as Gypsy and Clancy. Having him there for the night really made me miss Maybs. He reminded me a lot of her; it must be the breed in general or something.

Thursday was our last day in Paris. I met up with David at the Opera and heard all about his night with the people he had met in the hostel. Then we headed to the Catacombs, which are really creepy and cool. I can not get over how big they are, they must run under the entire city. I would love to know how many people are there; the walls are lined with piles of skeletons. After the Catacombs we headed over to the Eiffel Tower to go up it. The line was extremely long for the elevator, so we took the stairs. It is 700 stairs to the second level. We were supposed to meet Liz at 4pm, but again we ran late. I caught her right before she was about to leave the meeting place, I felt awful. But the Eiffel Tower took longer than expected and we got slightly lost. By the time I found her it was almost 5pm and we had to catch our bus to the airport at 6:20pm. Liz and I rushed back to her house and then I ran to the train to get to the bus stop to meet David. We made it just in time. We got to the airport around 7:30pm and thank god we did because it was the worst airport ever. We had to wait in line to check in for almost an hour and then spend another hour in line for security. It was horrible. But we made our flight to Rome just in time and are sitting in the gorgeous 80+-degree weather and sunshine.

I’ll post pictures from Paris soon!

Love and miss you!

Home: 20 days

Off on my European Tour

Tonight is my last night in my flat. I can not believe that the four months is already over. It’s crazy, I didn’t think about how hard it would be for me to leave here at the end of the semester. In my mind I always just kept telling myself that I would come here, have fun, go home. I never considered all the people I would meet and how hard it would be to say goodbye. It’s not like at home when I know I will see people again, whether it be over the summer or in September. Here I really have to say goodbye. I don’t have any idea when I will see them again. Hopefully soon.

But yes, now it is time for me to go explore the rest of Europe for a little while. For the next seventeen days I will be traveling all over France, Italy, Spain, and London. Then heading back here for the night of June 11th before heading to Latvia with Karina and her parents for about six days. Then it’s home. Just over three weeks left in Europe. Wow. I don’t know if I’m ready to accept that just yet.

Here are some much awaited pictures of my flat, as well as one of me and my roommates (Marina from Spain and Christina from Greece).

Love and miss you all!

Home: 24 days

Courtesy of Per

And The Daily Show with Jon Stewart…

I just love how ever since like November when I finalized my plans to come here, Sweden has been mentioned in the media more than I have ever noticed before. I can’t tell if it is coincidence or if since I have come here I have just been paying more attention to it, either way it’s funny.

 

 

Love and miss you!

Paris: 4 days
Home: 27 days

One month left in Europe

Anyway, since I’m procrastinating and have very few tomorrows left, this update is going to be short. As of today I have been in Sweden for exactly four months. I only have 32 days left in Europe, and only 9 in Örebro. On May 26th I’m heading to Paris. From there Italy, Spain, and London before heading back for one last night here. Then Latvia and home. It’s crazy. I can not believe how quickly it has all gone by. This last week is going to be extremely busy for me to what with all the packing, cleaning, and homework I have to do. Where did all my time go? I feel like I got here last week, not four months ago. 

Again, to mark my anniversary with Sweden here are a few more Swedish Fun Facts:

• There are far fewer cereals to choose from
• The grocery stores are nothing like ours. There is no deli, bakery, florist, pharmacy, etc
• Most businesses close by 7pm, if not earlier
• Around lunchtime, everyone is walking around in the center. I wonder sometimes if anyone really works…
• They do not use the number (#) symbol, instead they write Nr.
• They do not use apostrophes either. They either write Sineads or use a colon and would write Sinead:s
• They put commas where decimal points should be and vice versa. So $1,234.56 would be written as $1.234,56
• Vespas, mopeds, bikes, etc. drive on the sidewalks. So, now instead of fearing sliding down the hill to class, I have to worry about not getting hit.
• I swear children learn how to ride a bike as soon as they take their first steps! I have never seen so many little kids, like one and two years old, riding two wheelers!
• The cinnamon buns do not have icing on them; they have thick flakes of sugar. Someone needs to get Pillsbury over here and show them how it’s done.
• They literally put everything on pizzas! EVERYTHING! Chocolate, bananas, whatever you want they’ll put it on. But still, Dusjan thinks its weird that I wanted broccoli on my pizza.
• You can not buy a slice of pizza, at least not in Örebro. You have to buy an individual pizza, which is too big for me.
• They do not slice the pizza for you.
• They do not have ice cream shops like Baskin Robins, Coldstone, etc
• They still sell Mars bars; I think we should in the US too. They’re pretty freaking good
• You have to pay a tax for having a television, it is approximately $500 a year
• They rename English movies with other English titles to make it easier for people to understand what it is about (ie Miss Congeniality is called Miss Secret Agent)
• All English movies and television shows have Swedish subtitles rather than being dubbed so people can learn English
• English is taught to students beginning in first grade
• Most people seem to speak Swenglish (a combination Swedish and English)
• People tend to get shocked when they start speaking to me in Swedish and I say that I don’t speak Swedish. I actually had someone at a bus stop say to me, “Why?!….How?!….Really…??” (the blonde hair confuses them)
• Now that it is spring, flowers are everywhere!
• Haircuts cost the same for men and women; the only price differences depend on where you go to get it done.
• There are not many FedEx locations (5 in all of Sweden) so they actually come to your home to pick up the package
• If you do send a package, since there are no post offices and you go to a certain grocery store you have to package and address it entirely yourself.
• Cell phones don’t automatically set the date and time
• There is a number to call that gives you the exact time
• When you receive a phone call or text message you don’t get charged
• People are paid monthly rather than weekly or biweekly
• Sweden has a great lost and found system. Dusjan lost his keys on the bus to the airport when we were going Prague and he went to Stockholm last week with David after Sea Battle and got them back! I don’t know all the details, but basically he described them to the woman in Stockholm and she called the airport and they were on the next bus to Stockholm!
• Most lights in buildings seem to be automatic
• Escalators too
• When you do encounter a light switch, up is off
• You have to push these annoying buttons to unlock doors in public places. I can never open a door on the first try, it’s depressing.
• To use a debit card online (to make purchases or check your balance) you have to use this special thing that looks like a calculator that gives you a random code to use.
• The windows don’t have screens

 Love and miss you all!

Paris: 9 days
Home: 32 days