Second Day in Venice + Paris & the Ducocq's!

Its been 3 days since the last blog, or at least since I last typed one out. I have gone another full day exploring venice, slept on a 13 hour night train, met up with the Ducrocq's, a family just outside of Paris spent an afternoon in downtown Paris, then an entire day with the kids yesterday, and then another evening downtown. Today we have spent the morning and midday with one of the girls walking around the town of Surens, which is the town they live in, just outside of Paris. I have grown to really love this family, but I will start my recap with the second day in Venice.

We woke up at ten so we could sleep in a little bit. Nick, Erin, Adam, and I had a pretty good feel for how the public transportation system worked by now, which is all the boats that go through the grand canal through the center of the city and the strait of water between the island our hostel was on, and the main city of venice. Erin still needed to buy her ticket for the night train to Paris that night, so we had to get to the train station first. We took the city boat through the heart of the city on the grand canal to the train station just for Erin to wait in like for 20 min, then be told that even though she already had a reservation and still needed to pay for the ticket, they couldn't do anything about it or sell her anything because it was too late. So we said we'd try later that evening. We then walked our way to the Rialto bridge while looking through shops and grabbing some gelato. That city is amazing. The canals are beautiful. We made it back to the hostel around 2pm and got ready to go to the beach. Once we had our trunks on, we took the city boat to the island of Lido, which has a very big white sand beach on it, around about 60% of the island. The boat ride took about 20 min before we landed on the adjacent island. From there we walked strait across the island and found the beach… oh my, there must have been 3,000 people there. The beach was full of people, tops on and off, kids running around everywhere, beach stands, volleyball games, and plenty if kites and sailboats. We swam for a bit and laid out on the sand taking pictures, really just enjoying where we were. Its weird, the longer we spend away from home, there is this cycle of thought that makes me appreciate where I am more. You see, I really wish I was at home with mom, dad, lauren, whit, the people i love. But then I feel bad because I only really get to do this once and know I should really appreciate and enjoy where I am, so I take a minute to think about home, and where exactly it is, and then where I am. Its amazing how much it hits you then, I am 5,000 miles away in ITALY on a beach! (But I am also wishing more and more I got to spend this time and enjoy where I am with the people I love).

After about 2 hours it was time to go back and get pack up. The four of us made it to the train station again on the city boat, and then ate dinner at a near by cafe. I picked up one last present down an ally with shops. Venice had definitely been my favorite place for presents! There are so many cool gifts that aren't too cheesy and lame, but more functional! I don't want to give them away but you'll just have to find out. We walked to our train at 7:40, with the train leaving at 8. With said our goodbye's to Adam, who was going to go to a bar that night and watch the soccer game with the Italians.

Our train ride to Paris ended up being 13 hours total. Fortunately I slept for about 10 of those 13. The first hour and a half Erin, Nick, and I (Adam stayed in Venice one more night and then traveled to Como to meet up with a friend) had fun the 6-bed slave cabin horsing around and sticking our heads out the window going 150 miles per hour. I passe out after that, once the other three french people joined our car and went to sleep. I had about a foot and a half from my head to the ceiling, and about 1 foot less distance than I was tall to stretch out my legs. Nonetheless, I fell asleep hard, had a very vivid set of dreams, one of which was about Stan Nelson and Mt. Rainier.

At 8 the ticket guy woke us up, and gave us back our passports which he had taken the night before. Erin was expecting to have to pay for the ticket now, but they told her not to worry about it! She basically got a free ride. That was cool.

The mother of the family we stayed with here in Paris wrote out directions for us to her house from the train station on facebook which we had written out, unfortunately, as we would figure out, the Parisian tram and underground system was out to get us. We got lost after getting ripped off by a guy at the ticket machine who we thought was helping us. 27 euros lost. Then we bought the right tickets, made the correct transfers on the underground. Then we had to figure out which tram to take. You see, Paris has TWO different transportation systems that you magically have to know how to buy tickets for simultaneously on a machine where you have to scroll through a thousand different menus before getting to the right one… in French. Once we had bought multiple wrong tickets a woman showed us how. We made it to what we thought was the right stop, then did some directional navigating, and started walking in the 80 degree heat with 60 lbs of stuff each. We somehow miraculously just happened to stumble across the correct streets and find their place as if it just appeared out of no where. It turns out the tram will take you about 50 feet from their doorstep, but we had no idea what that was or which train to take there.

Okay. So we made it into this home after not having a very good first impression of Paris. And from that point on, my time here has been some of the best moments on this trip if not the best. The Ducrocq's, Camille (mother), Elan (father), Hippolyte (13, boy), Eglantine (10, girl), and Felicie (7, girl) have been the most welcoming and loving family. They welcomed the three of us into their house with a French kiss on the cheek, fresh bread, and a cold glass of French ice tea. I could go on for days about how much insight I have gained from them, and all the laughs and fun I have had with the girls, and Hippolyte.

The first day we were there, the three of us students wanted to get the downtown Paris out of the way. So we took the train downtown (after buying another wrong ticket), and walked around by Notre Dame, The tower, the arc, and the other old historical buildings around the river. We made it back to the house in time to see the kids come home from school and none of them were shy in the slightest. They all came up and gave each of us kisses on the cheek and wanted to be with the whole time! They all speak an amazing amount of english. Even Felice, the smallest speaks very well for her age and can express what she is trying to say very well with body language and familiar sounds. Its amazing to see the kids think through how they can say something, and communicate to us. They just love speaking english and teaching us French. These kids are sooooo smart. That night we ate a home cooked meal: a cooked dish of tomatoes, mozzarella, cucumbers, other veggies, and cheese, sliced beef, salad with balsamic and oil, baguettes, and of course, an array of French cheeses, finally for desert, yogurt! Apparently thats they're ice cream, healthier huh? After dinner the family and the three of us piled into their big van that they never drive and got a free night time tour of Paris! (Mom they eat dinner regularly at 9pm!!!!) That was sooo much fun.

When we got back everyone pretty much went to bed. I woke up with Erin at 8 to go running. There is a park (actually owned by the US) about 50 meters from their house up the hill that we ran at. The days have been soooo hot so it was nice to run in the morning when it was still below 80. When we got back, Nick got up, as well as the kids, and Eglantine took us to pick up some fresh baguettes (a morning regular here). We came back and had a French breakfast (no not french toast). But baguettes and an assortment of spreads with very strong coffee. Camille went to work at this point and we had the rest of the day to ourselves with the kids. And guess what we did, we spent the entire day with these awesome french kids. We had multiple water fights, learned plenty of french, taught english, played music (they all play an instrument), made crepes, played around outside, played ping pong, watched a really funny movie called Top Secret, and then dropped water balloons on mom from the roof when she came home from work! At one point, I spent over an our with Felicie just coming up with fun things to do with a broom stick. It was one of the funnest days I've had on this trip. That night the three of us went out to a restaurant that Nick and his family went to 8 years ago. The evening was alright. We got ripped off a few more times, and the food was very good but not substantial. We were all anxious to get back to the Ducrocq's and didn't make it back until 10:30 when everyone was going to bed. Nick, Erin, and I sat at the kitchen table, killed a carton of sorbet while discussing things like life, travel, love, and what its going to be like when Erin leaves (tomorrow) and Nick and I go to Ireland for another week.

The next morning I slept until 9 when the kids got up and we went to get more baguettes. We had breakfast and then we spent a few hours walking around Suresens, the town they live in, with Eglantine. She showed us her favorite shops, including the pet store where she had to get a few things for Luva, her pet mouse. We went to a library for kids, flower shop to pick up flowers for Camille, a candy shop, and a high end smaller target type place. It was a nice afternoon before spending the rest of the day doing the same things again, playing with the kids. I can't wait to be a dad.

This evening when Elan, the dad got home we ate a delicious dinner of home made French lasagna, salad, french bread and cheese. After that we all had an intense ping pong tournament. USA won haha. The kids are VERY good. It has been so amazing to watch Eglantine and Felice and Hippolyte learn things to quickie. They can pick up on things so quickly. And they are sooo polite! It seems like it is so rare that children in the US say thank you as often, or offer to help with everything. It makes them seem very mature for the age. By the end of yesterday, Eglantine and Felicie were holding my hands all night long. And Hippolye and I were carving our names into our swiss arm knives. I am going to be very sad to leave them, but happy knowing I am getting closer to my own awesome family:) And Camille and Elan are soooo madly in love and head over heels for each other after 20 or so years. I love that. They are both hopeless French romantics (especially Camille). Cant wait to see my mom and dad like that (and of course see my own love:)

Eglantine wanted to type something.

eglantine says something : I am so happy to see three American, I can show them my life in france and they are very nice! nick is so strong, sean is so athletic and erin is so beautiful and they are the three very very funny!!!!Me and my brother, we teach them a lot of french words! bye bye !!! See you america!! eglantine

So tomorrow Erin is leaving for home at 8:45. Nick and I will leave the house around noon. We wrote in their traveler journal so they wont forget us. They just took a 6-month family trip around the world, and have a book of people signing it as their new friends, and we all contributed to it. But Erin will leave in the morning and it will just be Nick and I for the next 6 days. God help us haha. Our plane is at 2 to Dublin. I will dearly miss the Ducrocq's and hope they will visit the pacific northwest sometime.

We have had a slight change in plans for Ireland. We will stay in Dublin tomorrow night, and the night of the 1st of July as planned. After that we will take a train to Gaway, directly west on the other side of the country. We have the remaining three nights booked at a hostel there. We plan on taking day trips to the cliffs, and surrounding land scape. Maybe rent bikes. And I plan on going on some great runs. Mom! I managed to get my shoes packed!

One more country, a lot more planes rides. Can't wait to see you Lauren, Mom, Dad, Whit:)

Last Week in Salzburg + Finals + First Day of Venice

Well, the program is all over now, finals finished two days ago, and now Nick, Erin, Adam, and I are in Venice. I can't believe classes finished and I cant believe I will probably never see the center again, or be with all those people at once again. Kind of sad, but I have been really excited to move on. And Veniza is awesome. I cant believe this city exists without cars. But to fill you in on this last week I'll start on tuesday with the Deuche's Museum.

This was sort of the Pacific Science Center and museum of Flight combined plus a history of just about every type of technology you can think of. We went through floor after floor and exhibit after exhibit of telecommunications, musical instruments, PLANES, PARACHUTES, rockets, microbiology, computers, microelectronics, optics, water technology, anything and everything you can think of. My favorite was by far the astronautical exhibit and the aviation exhibit. They both had loads of old vehicles and cool simulations and models. There was one really cool exhibit about the evolution of rocketry in the space race. You got to see a scaled version of every rocket built starting with the Russian V2 explosive rocket, all the way through the Saturn V American Rocket and finally the Space Shuttle. It was amazing to see the size growing from each model. Then when you got to the end there was a real V2 Rocket coming out of the ground! The tip was about 6 feet tall, and you could look down 40-60 feet down a long shaft to the base of the enormous thing. Keep in mind that was the FIRST one in line of the scaled models. So that gave me a good perspective on how big everything was.

After going through the museum most of us wanted to get back to the center quickly so we could study more for finals the following day. That night I spent quite a bit of time on both history and stats. I have to say we were all pretty worried about the tests because the finals had come up on us really quick and all of a sudden it seemed like we were responsible for knowing a lot more than we did. But go figure, both tests were easy. I have to admit, these classes were wayyyy easier than they would have been during the regular school year at UP.

Once those were over, I went for a hot run (wed was the first sunny day in two weeks in Salzburg) up a local mountain and back down the other side and back. I had a little time to get ready when I got back before the group was off to our group dinner at a german place outside in their beer garden. The food was on the program and it was delicious!! I am a fan of most german food but my favorites for this trip have been the dumplings, escalopes of pork, schnitzel, goulash (thats actually hungarian but they serve it everywhere in bavaria), and of course the Doner Kapab. Gonna miss those foods, and the big portions. Actually, everyone says europeans eat less, but I don't believe that at all. The portions here are easily as much as as any American restaurant (except black bear diner). Wed night we all went out and had a good last group bar night at a few bars, and of course O'Mally's. When we got back I hit the sack and woke up at 1pm!!! Yeah, I know. But I have gotten up at 7am or earlier the entire trip, so I deserved it. But we spent about 2 hours as a group cleaning the whole center. We all had to clean and prepare our rooms for check out after that. Thursday night (last night) we all got dinner paid for us again, which was great. This time wasn't as fancy but it was still a blast to eat with everyone. That night I stayed in with Nick, Erin, Rachel, Avery, and Shane while everyone else went out again. We had sangria, listened to dane cook, played some guitar, and just enjoyed company on our last night. Erin, Nick, Adam, and I had 1:30am night train to Venice this morning, so we just stayed up until the train. It was sad to say goodbye. Kind of weird actually. Even saying goodbye to Whitney on skype felt like some sort of sad goodbye even though I am getting closer to her!

Getting on the train was a disaster. First of all, the place was deserted, and I mean conductors and all. We couldn't find a single train staff to help us figure out which train was ours. It turns out two trains going two different places were right in a line, so we saw a sign for the train going to Zurich and another sign on what looked like to be the same train going to Venezia. Hmmmm we finally deduced on our own that it was two separate trains. But then the real disaster came. All night trains require reservations so people can sleep in the compartments (which smell like nasty BO btw). We found our car, with our reservation marked outside the compartment door, AND IT WAS FULL OF PEOPLE! They were all sleeping and wondered mourned for a long time trying to find a train staff to help us make sure we were on the wrong train or wrong car, but finally Erin just marched in and woke these people up to tell them they were in our beds lol. They were a bunch of bro's from california or something. They were on the wrong car and they were pissed. Keep in mind this is like 2am by now lol. Anyway we finally got into our sleeping compartment and I felt like a prisoner or something. I had about a foot of clearance from my head to the celling and about 1 foot less length than I was long. Yikes. The place was hot and smelled like sweaty guy. I don't know that I got a solid hour of sleep. The ticket guy came in to check tickets at 5:30. We pulled into Venice at 8:50. The the real fun started.

We all had our backpacks and a large heavy rolling suitcase, Erin had two of those. We had a map and could point out where our hostel was on it. We spent 2 hours and 45 minutes hauling our crap across this tiny allyed city constantly going up and down steel stairs to go over little bridges. It was about 80 degrees. I was trying really hard to appreciate the situation. We finally got to the main canal where we knew we had to take a ferry across to an island to get to our hostel. We stopped there and ate a small breakfast and enjoyed the morning stillness and water view. We found the ferry station and bought "bus" passes for 36 hours, 23 euros. Expensive, but it turns out these bus boats are very useful and much better than walking through confusing tiny allies. There isn't any main drag here so you never really know where you are. But we managed to get out the door on our first mission to explore the city by 11:30 or so. We spent the day walking around the one big square, through all the little shops and gelato stands. This city is great. We even took a Gondola ride! You know? The little black boats with an italian guy in a stripped shirt and cool hat that rows us around the little canals. It was worth 15 euros (even though I didn't want to at first). But there has been one thing about this place that has made things especially tough. Its already been 45 days since I saw her, and there are couples everywhere kissing and going on boat rides. It def a city to go with your special someone, even more so than Paris from what I remember form last time. But I relayed missed her today, especially tonight. I've got it bad I know. But I got lots of cool things for my family and whit today! So I am excited to show them those. This evening we ate dinner at a VERY italian place and were there for almost 3 hours. It was great. I had some fantastic pizza. Nick had some pasta and then an hour after finishing he ordered another plate of the same pasta! We killed a few bottle of wine in the mean time and just talked about everything. I've really liked that about this trip. Everyone loves to just slow down and talk. That european trend has caught on with us.

After dinner we wondered around the water front of the main canal and sat on the steps of the gondolas and just watched boats go in and out. It was pleasant, but sitting right next to me was this young couple who were just holding each other, and I couldn't help but wimper and feel jealous because I wanted my woman:( Its getting easier to miss people after this long, especially because I have lost my home base and feel less at a home. But maybe being with Nick's family friend will change that. Ireland will just be the final touch. And I think I will leave knowing I experienced just about as much as I can handle.

After dinner and sitting around we got on the boat bus back to our island (which is really cool to have our hostel on because it over looks all of venice across the strait right out the window). Erin got off at our stop, but Nick, Adam, and I took the bus for an entire lap around the city! We were going to get our money's worth. It took about an hour 15 before we got back to our stop again. It was a great realizing way to see the city, and at sunset it was gorgeous.

I am in bed now, in this 16 bed dorm style room. Once again, cheap hostels haha. No wifi though:( so I cant post this until France, if even then. I am not sure if the family has wifi. But I am looking forward to tomorrow, another full day in Venice. We are going to another island called Lido for a famous beach. The entire perimeter of the island is public beach! So that should be cool to just relax at. I think that has been the best part since finals were over. We can really just relax without any time constraints to worry about.

Until next time!

Prague + Last regular week!!

So last time I left you with right before we got into Prague. The train stopped at Praha around 3pm. We decided to get on an early train So we could spend as much time as possible in the city. But when we got there we quickly realized that Czech Rep. would be the most difficult country for us yet. Now I know this is ignorant but very few people spoke English and most of the signs in the train station did not have english subtitles. So we needed two things basically: get cash, and find the hostel. We found a cash machine in the train station, so that part was easy. Czech money, which we all just called Chexs Mix haha (it was actually a crown but we didnt find that out til the end). So the next part would be to get to the hostel. We had the name and address... but no real directions. Fortunately, there was an iPhone present. We found out we needed to get on Tram 9. But where the hell do we find Tram 9? We saw what looked like a picture of a tram and followed the arrow outside the train station and about 500m away before we started to think...hmm this doesn't seem right, shouldn't the tram stop be AT the train station? But then I caught a glimpse of a tram a little bit ahead and found the stop for Tram 9. Go figure. But then we had ourselves a new problem: we all had large bills and the tram ticket booth required coins only. So now we need change. I went to a currency exchange guy across the street and exchanged a few euros and asked for it in change. He wouldn't do it, only cash. Okay now Adam went to a luxury hotel reception, that didn't work either. So eventually I just bought everyone's ticket with a larger bill (there were 10 of us) from a cigarette stand. We had tried to get change there too, but the lady wouldn't help us with that. The exchange rate was about 20 of the chexs mix for one USD. So we got on Tram 9, and knew we needed to get off at Lasarska, and that was four stops on the map at the tram stop. After 4 stops we got off...but something wasn't right because we were definitely NOT in the downtown area. We ended up going to wrong direction! Once the ten of us realized our mistake. We got back on Tram 9 going the OTHER way and rode it for 8 stops. Good logic huh? lol We made it to Lasarska and walked around the confusing little angled block for about 10 min before we found the little door to our hostel. Hostels always have the smallest and most discrete entrances most of the time with no sign. You'd thin because most of the stayers would be foreigners they would put up a big sign or something. The hostel in Budapest only had an 8x11 print out of the words "Colors Hostel" in about size 30 scotched taped on the door. Thank god we found that one. Anyway, we made our way to reception and the woman there was extremely nice. We all paid our share of the bill and she gave us the key to our room. Now, for all our other hostel experiences there were multiple small dorm-style rooms on one floor. This place however was primarily a student apartment complex with only 2 hostel rooms. But the hostel rooms were actual apartments. We had the entire 3rd floor complex to ourselves. The enormous place easily fit all ten of us. There was a living room, entrance room, a kitchen, balcony, large bathroom with a Jacuzzi, and two large bedrooms with beds. The place was huge, especially compared to the other hostels we'd stayed at. Not to mention WE HAD THE WHOLE PLACE TO OURSELVES. That was the best part.

The group decided we loved this place so much we wanted to make dinner there since we had a big kitchen. So we went to a local grocery market and picked up about 15 frozen pizzas, milk, and cereal. This would provide breakfast and dinner for both days. And that was the biggest $$ saver for the whole trip. The previous weekends most of our money was spent on dinner's out at restaurants. Now I know what you're thinking, what about experiencing the native food/culture? We had it covered. The hostel owners every friday and saturday night provided traditional food and drink from Czech for free! Friday night we ate homemade beef goulash and bread with local Czech brew. The owner at with us, as well a few other students that were staying there. He talked about the food and especially the types of beer that were made there and the history behind those. He was a really cool guy and you could tell he loved hanging out with students. The next night he provided Czech liquor and traditional desert wafers too! And yes, all of this was free (with our hostel booking).

That night we decided we would take a go at the famous Czech pub crawls. We found a brochure in the hostel for one, and signed up right there. It ended up being around 20 USD for unlimited drinks and cover at 5 bars/ clubs. Good deal yeah? Prague was a very inexpensive place, which I realized at the end of the weekend when I had only pulled out about 70 USD and hadn't spent 50. This was a big deal because the previous weekends had shown about a 150USD spent. But anyway, we met the pub group, which consisted of about 40 people, mostly Americans, at a bar near the edge of old town, pretty close to our hostel. We hung out and drank for about an hour before the group set off, led by a tall lanky guy with really cool hair. We all marched our way though downtown to each bar. Most of the group spent most of their time dancing at each place. However, from the beginning of the night, the Czech alcohol was not sitting with me well, so I laid low for most of the night and only had a beer here and there. I spent most of my time talking with (or trying to decipher) there Irish fellows who had just graduated their version of high school and were traveling around. They're accents were thick as pea soup. Funny guys though. The city was alive outside as we walked from place to place. Most of the cities we've seen so far shut down almost completely (except for bars) after ten. Not Prague. Shops were open til at least midnight, and

The last place we stopped at was a famous 5-story dance building. Each floor a had a music theme to it that was shone on the wall as you went up the stairs. It was insane. There were probably a 1000 people in this building. There were lasers, lit up floors, smoke machines, lots of bars, and tonnnnns of dance floors. It was a mad house. Definitely a place you could get lost in or easily overwhelmed if you were too out of it. Fortunately nobody had a problem. We got back to the hostel around 1:30am. I sat down in the kitchen with Tara and Adam and filled up a bit with water and just enjoyed where we were.

Saturday was a sleep in day for everyone. Yes, I know we were in Prague and needed to see the city, but don't worry, we were out the door by noon. We ate our cereal (Nick ate frozen pizza for breakfast) and were out the door with a plan for the day: market, castle, pool. First we spent about and hour and a half in the central pedestrian market part of old town. We all bought a few things and then made our way toward the river toward the castle on the other side. On the way we ran into a Stag party (British bachelor party) doing funny things in the streets to make money for their good time that night. They were all dressed in spandex, pink things, and huge fro wigs. We paid about 10 USD all together to wax the Groom's legs with wax strips. Just another cultural cool story! We found a tram that would take us to the base of the castle on the other side of the river, and then made our way up to the "largest castle in europe". But I didn't buy that because 1) it didn't even look like a castle and 2) I have definitely seen castle's that look bigger than that one. Regardless it was a cool place to walk around. We had a great view of the city from the top and spent an hour or so up there. Its funny to get those views of these large European cities and realize they don't have any skyscrapers and are very small in size compared to US cities, mostly because Europe never really bought into the whole suburb thing. After that we walked down and across the river across the 14th century St. Charles Bridge. There were painters, craftsman, and musicians scatters all over the large pedestrian bridge. It was really cool. One group of high school looking guys were playing a string version of "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica. VERY COOL. Our plan at that point was to go to this big public pool we had heard about. We found a tram that went the direction we wanted and made to this extremely large pool complex. There were two large outdoor pools and one large indoor one. There was even a 4-story water slide! We spent the hot afternoon there until it turned into a not so hot afternoon. We then got back to the hostel around 6pm. At which point we enjoyed the food our hostel owner provided.

Saturday night we ate more frozen pizza (mind you all this food only cost each person about $1.50 for the whole weekend). And of course we had to go watch the US play their opening game in the world cup against England. So we made it out to the big square at the center of the city where about 1000 people stood watching an enormous big screen set up against the 13th century gothic church. It was incredible. There were loads of Americans and British people in the crowd. It was kind of fun to be surrounded by English speaking people for once. We tied the game and then everyone met up by the famous astrological clock on the church. Some of us wanted to spent the rest of our chex mix on stuff at shops, others wanted to drink more, and others wanted to go dance. So we all went our separate directions (in groups of course) and eventually all made it back to the hostel. I went to go spend some more at the shops and actually bought Denise's Prague Starbucks cup at this time. I walked back to the hostel with Tara, Adam, Erin, Nick, and a few others. We ran into a few other on the way and discovered our friend Brendan had bought a pair of red plaid boxers that matched his shirt perfectly. We realized this because he stripped in the middle of the street in front of the huge crowds haha. I got a great picture. Back at the hostel I did the same thing as the night before. I sat out in the kitchen next to the balcony and just talked with friends. Great night.

Sunday was a pure travel day for most everyone. Adam, Erin, and I got up early though to go out to breakfast. We ate at this luxury hotel lobby restaurant. Very good traditional Czech breakfast food. And cheap. We made to the train and I spent almost all 7 hours in and out of sleep and reading a book for history class.

And that was Prague.

Now it was time for the last full week in Salzburg! Classes were normal for this week. Monday night's movie this week was The Lives of Others. It was about the Stasi secret police of the Soviets and how they watched people. It was a very good movie. Very scary actually. I have just loved history and its so amazing to learn about this war that only ended months before I was born. Tuesday was a normal day, rainy, just like the rest of this week. Wednesday was our field trip day. We went to the Siltronic wafer plant in Germany. This one of the world's largest producers of silicon wafers for all sorts of uses. We were given multiple presentations about the company and the process behind making the wafers and being environmental about it. Europe I have noticed is WAY ahead of the US in ecological development. They have this sustainability thing down pat. They do so many small things that save resources its crazy. We can learn from this and really should implement some of the same laws and practices they have here. But anyway we then were given a tour of the clean up portion of the plant, or the "green" part of it. Very cool. You could just tell the scientists there were genius'. On the way back from the plant we stopped at the "Longest Castle in Europe" but I didn't buy that one either because it was more of a fortress than a castle. But either way it was cool to walk through. Of course it was on top of a hill with great views and defensive positioning. Got a few pictures, including my signature pose of the heel click. We got back to the center at 4 and proceeded to do hw. That night however, a group of us went to this place call Hangar-7. I had no idea what it was until I got there but it was the owner of red bull's private hangar of toys. And when I say toys I mean jets, old planes, helicopters, fast cars, other devices, and just cool stuff. The building was incredibly made out of plexy glass and steel bars. The exhibit of his stuff was free and after walking around we hung out at the bar that was suspended from the roof of the hangar with glass floors looking down on all the museum. It was very cool.

We got home before 11 and I was pretty tired so I passed out. Thursday was our last 3 hour class of stats!! I was so excited about that. Thursday night Nick and I, because we both were taking a nap when everyone left to go to a bar to watch the game, played ping pong for about 2 hours, watched the movie taken, and then had a very philosophical talk about death, love, relationships, religion, and anything else you can think of. I really missed Whitney this night. Nick mentioned that it was really cool to watch our relationship grow over time. He knew me before I dated her, and has been there to watch as we have fallen for one another. It was really cool to hear him say that we work really well together. But it also made me miss her alot. We talked about our families and how much Lauren and Maria would have so much fun as friends because they are both smart asses.

Yesterday afternoon was another cool discovery. We learned of a climbing gym in Salzburg!!! So of course I had to go. We found it north of town along the river, in a large warehouse, it actually looked just like edgeworks from the outside....but no on the inside. It was enormous!!! And usually there are a few beginners at a gym, not this place, everyone was a pro. Another strange thing, at all the US gyms I have been to, all of the top ropes are already set up, and if you want to lead climb, you can ask for a rope. Here, you have to rent a rope and set your top rope yourself!! The walls were riddled with quick draws, and we had to lead climb at set our own top ropes! The walls at this place were easily 70+ feet. It was extremely tall, taller than I've ever seen. Adam and I were the only one's who had any experience with climbing. Tara and Rosemary went with us and were beginners. So he and I led each route and set up the top ropes for the girls. That was actually really cool. We spent about 3 and a half hours there just climbing and having a great time. The atmosphere was exactly the same as it was at home. Climbers world wide seem to be chilled out and relaxed about just living life.

Yesterday through the end of this weekend we have kind of a weird schedule. Yesterday we had history, today nothing, tomorrow history, and monday just engineering. Tuesday is our last field trip to a technology museum in Germany. Then wednesday is FINALS. Thursday is clean up morning and then Nick, Erin, Adam, and I are headed out to Venice on a night train leaving at 1:30am on friday morning.

Today I will be doing HW and plan on going down town for a bit to look around for a few trinkets I still want to pick up.

I will probably post one more time before leaving Austria. Hard to believe its already been 6 weeks!

Switzerland + Vienna

Again, its been too long since my last post and its going to be tough to draw back to last weekend. It's hard to believe how much has happened in the last week. Each week here so much happens. It feels like an eternity since we were in Switzerland. However, the weeks seem to be going faster and faster as time goes by. We're at the end of the fourth week now, so next week is technically our 'dead week'. Then finals finish the following wednesday. Wow, that means as of this upcoming wednesday (its saturday right now) there is only one week left with the program!

Okay, so after the concentration camp last wed., Thursday was a regular school day. Thursday is the day I get to sleep in, however, I never do. I don't think I've slept past 8am on this trip so far. Not once. Anyway, I woke up at 7, talked to my beautiful girlfriend, and then went on a run with Brent, Jacob, and Dr. Kennedy. DK (Dr. Kennedy) took us up to this church on the top of a hill at the northwest part of Salzburg. The view was fantastic, however it would have been netter without as much fog. It was a good 50 minute run and felt pretty good. I've been proud of myself at how much I have been running. Although I am NOT at all hitting the milage I should be for summer so far, I am running more than I thought I would for this trip. Thank God Brent is here, he is always asking me to run, and I would not be going as much if it weren't for that. After the run I made my new favorite breakfast. Although I'm not sure what it is called, its where you cut a hole in the center of a piece of bread, butter the rest, drop it in a pan on the stove, and cook an end in the center of the hole. I saw it in the movie V For Vendetta and has always looked delicious, and when I expressed this to Nick he apparently ate them when he was just a little guy, and showed me how to make it. Since that I have made one almost every morning.

Classes went normally, with History for two hours, an hour break, then statistics for three hours, yikes. That class is tough to sit through for three hours. Our first exam was this last wed, and this was almost a week before the test, but I already knew I was in for it, as in I was not getting this stuff. Anyway, thursday night Nick, Erin, Rachel, Brendan, and I kind of finalized our plans for getting to Interlaken, Switzerland the next morning. It was a 7 hour train day. One the way there was transferred twice on three trains, the way back we hit four trains! Interlaken is out in the middle of nowhere in the Swiss alps between two large alpine lakes in a valley surrounded by 4,000 meter peaks, including the famous Eiger, which was our place of interest in going to the land of the Swiss. Little did we know what else we would do! A guy on our last train there from Canada talked to us for a while about our travels. HE had lived there for 13 years after dropping out of college because he didn't want to go back after a summer trip to the Swiss. He told us our hotel was a place where "you drank beer till you puked or till you got laid." Oh boy...

We arrived in the small town at 5:30pm on Friday the 4th and not 1 minute after walking off the train and pulling out a city map we had, a young woman on her bike rolled up and asked us if we needed help finding somewhere. She ended up walking us to our hostel about half a mile away. The people of this country followed that level of kindness and helpfulness the rest of the weekend. I had booked the hostel because it got great reviews and was the first hostel built in the city about 75 years ago. Balmer's Herbage ended up being no different from a coed fraternity house. It was insane. The place was filled with American, Australians, and Canadians looking to party and adventure. We stayed in a 36 bed dorm room. The bedding was as basic as you can get. A small pad with a thin comforter and very small pillow. Our little area was the 5 of us and two high school grads from Australia on 3 month backpacking trip around Europe. They smelled like they were 2 years in. Wow. Very nice guys though, they were a blast to talk to, as have most of the people we have met in the hostels on this trip.

That night we walked around town and enjoyed the cloudless evening. We ate dinner at this small pub about 200 meters from our hostel. But we didn't get there for about an hour because we were all taken back by how awesome Switzerland was. I can't quite put my finger on why we were all so Stoked. Maybe it was a combo of the view of the alps from their footsteps, the beauty of the town, the lively atmosphere that surrounded our hostel, and how everything had the swiss logo on it. We spent that hour going into shops and getting swiss chocolate, t-shirts, post cards, and other souvenirs. We made to dinner around 7 and ate some great 'traditional swiss food'. I put those in quotes because I'm not sure the country has a real food culture that is unique to itself. The food there was a variety of choices we'd seen in other countries, and american food. And we were told it was a place that served the best local food. But the Swiss also do not have an official language, so maybe the food follows. We noticed a good amount of italian influence in the food and language, as well as French, and German.

After dinner we hung out at our hostel for a while, which had turned into a huge frat party with its two beer gardens, indoor bar, basement club-bar, and loud music everywhere. Earlier that day we had discovered that Interlaken was a place where the adventure crowd swarms to do things like paraglide, bungy jump, skydive, and go canyoning. The last one, we saw being displayed on a tv inside an adventure co. shop. It looked like traversing through river canyons using ropes, jumping, floating, and swinging. So, at 9:30pm, we decided we were going to try and book that adventure for the next day, and then go on out original plan of hiking the Eiger trail. By 11pm we thought we had made a reservation for the next day, but after talking with the reception at out hostel, they said most people book in the morning for the following day. We booked at 10:30pm at night for the following morning at 8am. And it took a long time to get any confirmation. Needless to say, we were skeptical about whether or not we actually made a real reservation. Go figure, when we went to OutDoor Interlaken the next morning, we weren't in the system, but had just charged 500 dollars on Brendan's credit card…. and in some act of God the guy at the desk said he would just throw us a different time's slot for a four hour trip that day. We gladly took it, and came back when he said to meet at 9am. Another woman was there checking people in, and we weren't on the computer this time either…but we found the guy we talked to, and he didn't really know what was going on. But it sounded like he booked us when we actually hadn't paid anything! We still don't know if his card actually got charged. but we got to go no the trip anyway. So at 9:30am, the 5 of us suited up with extra padded wetsuits, special booties, and life jackets "more for padding than floatation". Then we drove 25 minute up into this canyon outside of the city, hiked another 15 minutes, and then dropped into this raging river to spend the next 2 hours traversing down. We had a South African, and Peruvian guide named Ren and Santiago. It was an absolute blast. We would repel down some waterfalls, jump off others, slide down natural canals, climb underneath waterfalls, and swing around corners off rocks 30 feet off the water. Brendan and I were the only two who would do flips off the rocks into the next pool. The process of jumping was difficult because you had to land a certain way to miss rock ledges, and clear the waterfall, and land lat enough to miss hitting the bottom. If you didn't jump just right, the guides would yank on your life jacket from behind to make sure you landed flat. However, that usually ended up with them yanking you back so that you land basically on your shoulders, and then everyone would laugh. Everyone made it down safe, although we were a bit worrisome before going when we heard someone had broken their arm and another with a broken leg the day before… but we made it! They said most of the inheres were not from jumping but from just walking around in the water because people wouldn't watch their footing.

When we got back we were all beat, but we pressed on! We had brought about 10 lbs of food from the center in a large bag and saved ourselves from paying for any meals besides dinner. We ate lunch at the hostel outside, and by this time is was about 80 degrees. Then we headed out for the Eiger. We took one train up to a small town called Lauterbrunnen. From here we boarded a cog train (a train that has gear-like tracks that prevent the train from sliding down the steep terrain) up to an alpine village called Wengen (Ven-gen). The view from this place wa incredible. The village sat on top of a mile-wide canyon with Lauterbrunnen below and the three peaks above. I felt like I was in a Jurassic jungle. Water falls littered the huge canyon. And the mountains rose from the horizon like colossal earthy skyscrapers. It was amazing. I was so excited. We then took a cable car up a vertical ridge about 3000 feet to the start a trail heading directly to the base of the Eiger. We all went crazy when we got to the top. I've never seen anything so huge and overwhelming. I felt so incredibly small and insignificant. On our way toward the mountain we climbed some smaller peaks and played int he snow covered ridge. We turned around after about 3 hours of hiking and climbing. We ate a small lunch at the base of the mountain and I enjoyed the moments I would be closest to this incredible mountain I would probably never visit again.

On the way back, we had to hike the ridge back to the cable car station, and then hike down the 3000 foot ridge because the car had stopped running. This was bittersweet because we had already had a long day, but the views would turn out to be amazing on the way down as the sun set, and we saved about 25 euro, however the decent took about 2 extra hours. We stopped numerous times to take pictures of the changing climate zones. We went from rocky and snowy to dry and rocky areas, to light trees, down through heavily wooded areas to the bottom. The trail was actually pretty confusing but we could see where we wanted to go from the hill so knew which directions to take. We passed a few hilled farms and cows, and ended in the middle of a rural area outside the town of Wengen after 2 hours. We took the cog train back to Lauterbrunnen, and than the 30 minute train back to Interlaken. We were starving at that point and found the first pizza place we could find and ordered the biggest one they had, American style. When we got the pizza, the guy who worked there noticed how fast we were ripping through it and told us to slow down, saying that American's don't enjoy their food as much as they should and just rush through dinner. We prompty kept ripping through the thing because what he didn't realize is that we had just spent the whole day expending more calories than we had eaten in the last three. We ended up just talking and laughing at the little place at our outside table for an hour and a half after we ate. It was nice to relax. We then tried to find our hostel in the darkness (it was about 10pm by this time) and got lost for about 45 min before we figured out where to go. When we got back, we all showered and climbed out sorry asses into the small, but very needed bed. I slept like a rock.

The next morning we got up for our 8am train, and made four transfers, which made the 7 hours go by quick actually. Sunday night was our weekly group meeting back at the center, where everyone shared their weekend experiences. Other groups went to Venice, and the mediterranean coast in Slovania.

The week was prey full of school because we all had the exam on wed in statistics. Our class trip wasn't until thursday, yesterday, when we went to Vienna. But wed night after the exam, I was on the group dinner committee. We made breakfast for dinner. I was in charge of making over 50 french toast! It was delicious. And this whole week starting around 10pm we all have been out on out balconies watching the lightning storms to the west of the city. Reminds me a lot of the storms we used to watch i Arizona.

Yesterday we all took a train to Vienna at 5:45 in the morning! A german teacher for the year program, an Austrian woman named Gundi was our private tour guide for the city. We visited the old castle of the Hapsburgs. This family ruled Austria from the 12th century through the first world war. They're strategy for preventing conflict with other empires was to have a ton of kids, and marry their kids off into the royal families of other nations, thus preventing most bad relationships. Good strategy actually, it worked for almost a thousand years anyway. After a tour of their castle, we walked around the "ring" which is the main street of the city. Vienna is split up into quadrants, and from about 1200-1700 the central quadrant was guarded by a star shaped wall that made a ring around the city. When it came down, the place where the wall stood became a main drag. We ate lunch outside St. Stephens cathedral after walking around inside the 13th century gothic structure. The main entrance to the church was built in about 1000 AD. Incredible. We shopped for bit, then met up again to go to the natural history museum. After that it was about 5pm and we made it back to the train station. The teachers left to go back to Salzburg while the rest of the group went to hostels to stay the night before we left for Prague this morning.

Now I am on the train, just went across the Czech Republic border. Actually, as I am typing this I looked out the window to a very broken down apartment building to see a large man sitting on his window sill completely naked. Nice. We are planning on getting some mopeds tomorrow and driving all around town! One thing I have noticed is that I have developed a much better skill of weekend packing. I am down to a lot less weight than the first weekend to Budapest. And the one thing I brought on this trip that has made a huge difference is a towel. God you def need one to survive. You don't when you'll be able to shower, and whether or not you can find a towel at the hostel. Next time I need to bring floppy floppies.

We have heard literally from every person were talked to the Prague was the best city to visit is Europe. Hopefully it hasn't been built up too much! I'll let you know.

Until next time.

Concentration Camp + Switzerland

So last wed., the group went to visit the Nazi concentration camp at Mauthausen, Austria. It was actually quite erie. It rained heavily all day, which was appropriate. The camp was kind of like I'd imagined. Very symmetrical. The barracks were ridiculous for the amount of people they fit into them. Each bed fit three people, when the frame was smaller than a twin. And the labor they were required to do was carve out stones from a rock quarry and carry them up this enormous set of stairs to the top of the quarry. I had trouble walking up that crappy set of stone stairs, and I had on hiking boots. These people had to carry 100lbs of stone up the case without shoes. I cannot imagine. They also had the infamous science experiments going on in the 'sick quarters'. Anyway, the day was quite dreary, although it was nice to put a real perspective to the event.

I'm actually going to bed now, I'll fill in the trip to the Swiss land next time:)