A friend that I met in Uganda at God Cares school in Kampala made an amazing video that you need to watch. We met this team from Oaks Christian High School at the God Cares and had a great time working with them. Tyler Rumph made this video, and it is absolutely superb quality. It's about 35 minutes, so watch it when you've got some time, but I swear, it's worth it. Enjoy:
Uganda from Tyler Rumph on Vimeo.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
This Is Home
So rad that they made it on the Prince Caspian soundtrack! Anyone else want to go to the show in September at the sleeptrain ampitheatre? They're playing with Jars of Clay too! Rock on.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Land of Ire
At my favorite coffeshop\bookstore\cafe in Prague, "The Globe", ready to finally write about my adventures to Ireland and if time permits, The Netherlands.
Ahhhhhh yesss. Ireland! Hopefully I can remember all the best parts about this trip. I've wanted to go to Ireland for years for some reason, and I was never really quite sure why. I guess I thought I might run into Bono there, or perhaps I could run and frolic with leprechauns on rolling green hills and play the flute, or perhaps it was just the accent. I don't know. I had this trip planned for a few months, and was really excited about it, getting a great deal on a flight through Ryan air. My buddy Tom was the only one to join me on the trip, and you can see a lot of our pictures on Facebook.
The first thing I noticed about Ireland is that they speak ENGLISH! Now when you've been living and traveling throughout countries that don't speak English as their first language for a while, you get used to it after a while. But once you go to a place that speaks English, it is such a relief! So many people told me that it wouldn't matter, I would still have a hard time understanding the people with the thick Irish accents. I really thought this was a joke, but seriously, it's TRUE! There are some Irish that speak so fast and slur so many words, I have no idea what they are talking about. I felt a little rude saying "what?" so many times, but better that than pretending I know what they are saying, when really I am clueless. It's also interesting how some people have different accents around the country, and how they sound similar, yet different, just like American accents. Another crazy first impression was noticing that people were driving on the wrong side of the road! It would have been much stranger to actually drive a car in Ireland, or even to be a passenger in one, but still, being on a bus and other public transit was strange enough. Crossing the street was always funny too, because naturally one from the states would look left first, but its the other way around in Ireland! So to solve this problem, I just looked left, right, left, right, left...etc. as I crossed the street. Sometimes you can't be too careful. (Just kidding, people!)
We flew into Dublin and found our hostel, which was near one of the main train stations and the Guinness Storehouse. My first "Yup, I'm in Ireland" moment, was when we were on our shuttle from the airport to the city center, and U2 comes on over the radio. Luckily, I'm a big U2 fan, so I thought this was pretty cool.
Of course it was raining (this seems to be a trend on my travels) when we arrived at our Hostel. Tom and I met up with this girl Fiona, who is Irish and lives in Dublin going to the famous Trinity College. (I met her in Berlin). It was strange seeing someone from one of my other trips in a completely new setting. We met Fiona at Trinity college, and she gave us a little tour of the school (where the Book of Kells is held). She then took us to what she described as an "old man bar" where I got my first Guinness. I'm still warming up to Beer, but I can tell that I will enjoy Guinness in the future. Very different kind of beer with a very unique and recognizable taste. Fiona then took us down some of the main streets in downtown Dublin, showing us where the movie "Once" was filmed and even some of the exact places where Glen Hansard plays guitar on the street in the movie. Pretty awesome stuff!
We decided to try saving some money by making our own food instead of going out, which led us to Fiona's apartment where we made French toast! So delicious especially when you haven't had something like that in a long time. After dinner we had a few drinks, specifically some creamy Bailey's! Now this is the way Alcohol should be! I can understand why that little drink is so dang expensive! It's like dessert! After we had our fill of Bailey's, Fiona showed us some of the nightlife in downtown Dublin. We checked out a few really cool pubs and even one club that we didn't stay in for too long. We were in this really cool, muli-level bar in downtown Dublin drinking Mojito's (which I now know I do NOT like) and listening to this live cover band when I look up and suddenly realize the band is playing "Vertigo" by U2. Geez guys, way to enforce the stereotype! I didn't think Bono was going to get this much love from the Irish since I had talked to multiple Irish people before the trip who said they thought he was quite a hack. Apparently all Irish people don't agree!
The next day, we decided (after some great advice from the guy behind the desk at our hostel) that we were going to cancel our day we had planned to stay in Cork and take two days in Galway. The train ride the next day to Galway was everything I was hoping it would be: lush, green fields and rolling hills, farmlands full of sheep and cattle and everything else you would expect from an Irish countryside. It was fantastic. This was the Ireland I came to see! I think it was that train ride when I realized that some of my favorite moments in Europe have been just relaxing on a train staring out the window listening to music. Trains are by far the best way to travel.
Galway was incredible. A mini, less crowded, country-ish version of Dublin, Galway is a place you definitely need to check out if you ever visit the city. You can walk everywhere, never needing to take public transit. Our hostel was in an amazing location, literally right in the middle of the city in the main square. One of the first things that I witnessed in Galway was a full on fight between two guys. One of them was homeless and the other was drunk. Not a good combo. What was especially interesting about this fight was that it happened right on the main street in Galway, and right next to where four cops just happened to be hanging out. 2 seconds after the first punch was thrown, the drunk guy was thrown to the ground and handcuffed. Ireland sure was living up to the hype! Beautiful country side! U2! Drunk Irish guys fighting! Where are the lucky charms???
I forgot to mention that on the plane ride over, I happened to sit next to this girl Brie, from the States, who had been studying in Galway and was getting ready to fly back home. She had a Rick Steve's (famous travel-book author) Ireland book that she said she didn't need anymore, which she gave me for free! Pretty sweet stuff!
Using the Rick Steve's book to find the main sights and attractions around Galway, Tom and I walked around and found a great place to eat lunch, visited a few churches, walked out to the bay and enjoyed seeing the ocean for the first time in months, and just did the whole touristy thing. We decided that we wanted to take a bus tour the next day, which was probably the best decision made all trip. I also got a haircut in Galway, which was an easier process than getting one in Prague would be. Trying to explain to a barber in Czech how I want my hair cut probably wouldn't go over so well. I'd rather take my chances with someone who speaks English with a crazy accent.
Our bus took us to various little villages and random castles, sights and other ruins. (Definitely check out the pictures of these on my Facebook.) The two highlights of the trip were easily the Cliffs of Moher and the walking tour through some old farmland. The Cliffs of Moher were these enormous 650 foot cliffs right on the edge of the ocean. These easily looked like something right out of Lord of the Rings. They were also INCREDIBLY windy, the kind of wind that makes it hard to even walk, but makes for some fun times. These cliffs were some of the most amazing and breathtaking sights I have ever seen. I wish we would have had more than an hour there since I easily could have just sat and looked out at the view all day.
When we got back to Dublin, we mainly just walked around the city and saw some more of the mains sights. (A really cool old jail that housed the people who started the 1916 uprising, The Book of Kells, which is an ancient copy of the Bible in Latin, and some amazing outdoor gardens.)That night, we decided to go on a "Music Pub Crawl" which turned out to be one of the best decisions of the entire trip. The pub crawl started in one of the main pubs downtown, with two traditional irish musicians (one girl who played the fiddle, and one guy who played the guitar), who played amazing Irish music for us. Not only would they play, but they would sing along, teach the audience how to sing with them, and even give people the chance to sing on their own. The duo took our crowd of about 30 around to three different pubs for about 3 hours total, and played some amazing music for us. It was really cool hearing them talk about the history of the of the jigs and what not. This was traditional Irish culture at its finest. I have some you tube videos of their performance, which I'll post whenever I get around to uploading them.
Surprisingly, the last thing we did in Dublin, was see a movie. I know, I know, we were traveling how could we have wasted our time and money on something we could have done anywhere!? Well, we were super tired, and it was getting late, and we didn't have the money or the energy to go out to a pub and drink, so there we were, at the movie theater buying tickets for the flick, "In Bruges". I talked about this a little in my last blog, but this was a good movie! And it applied to us extremely well, since it was about 2 guys traveling, specifically to Bruges, Belgium. I ended up going to Belgium two days later, which was pretty weird, but really cool. Go see this movie for the matinee price when your bored sometime.
That about sums up my time in Ireland, and I loved every second of it! I hope someday I can go back in the summer when it is much warmer, but according to some of the locals, you never know quite when that will be.
I'm enjoying my last week in Prague, just walking around the city and doing some reading. This might be the most relaxing weekend I've ever had before finals. Gotta love study abroad! Alright well I'm going to write about my last trip, The Netherlands, at some other point.
Keep rockin' and rollin'!
Ahhhhhh yesss. Ireland! Hopefully I can remember all the best parts about this trip. I've wanted to go to Ireland for years for some reason, and I was never really quite sure why. I guess I thought I might run into Bono there, or perhaps I could run and frolic with leprechauns on rolling green hills and play the flute, or perhaps it was just the accent. I don't know. I had this trip planned for a few months, and was really excited about it, getting a great deal on a flight through Ryan air. My buddy Tom was the only one to join me on the trip, and you can see a lot of our pictures on Facebook.
The first thing I noticed about Ireland is that they speak ENGLISH! Now when you've been living and traveling throughout countries that don't speak English as their first language for a while, you get used to it after a while. But once you go to a place that speaks English, it is such a relief! So many people told me that it wouldn't matter, I would still have a hard time understanding the people with the thick Irish accents. I really thought this was a joke, but seriously, it's TRUE! There are some Irish that speak so fast and slur so many words, I have no idea what they are talking about. I felt a little rude saying "what?" so many times, but better that than pretending I know what they are saying, when really I am clueless. It's also interesting how some people have different accents around the country, and how they sound similar, yet different, just like American accents. Another crazy first impression was noticing that people were driving on the wrong side of the road! It would have been much stranger to actually drive a car in Ireland, or even to be a passenger in one, but still, being on a bus and other public transit was strange enough. Crossing the street was always funny too, because naturally one from the states would look left first, but its the other way around in Ireland! So to solve this problem, I just looked left, right, left, right, left...etc. as I crossed the street. Sometimes you can't be too careful. (Just kidding, people!)
We flew into Dublin and found our hostel, which was near one of the main train stations and the Guinness Storehouse. My first "Yup, I'm in Ireland" moment, was when we were on our shuttle from the airport to the city center, and U2 comes on over the radio. Luckily, I'm a big U2 fan, so I thought this was pretty cool.
Of course it was raining (this seems to be a trend on my travels) when we arrived at our Hostel. Tom and I met up with this girl Fiona, who is Irish and lives in Dublin going to the famous Trinity College. (I met her in Berlin). It was strange seeing someone from one of my other trips in a completely new setting. We met Fiona at Trinity college, and she gave us a little tour of the school (where the Book of Kells is held). She then took us to what she described as an "old man bar" where I got my first Guinness. I'm still warming up to Beer, but I can tell that I will enjoy Guinness in the future. Very different kind of beer with a very unique and recognizable taste. Fiona then took us down some of the main streets in downtown Dublin, showing us where the movie "Once" was filmed and even some of the exact places where Glen Hansard plays guitar on the street in the movie. Pretty awesome stuff!
We decided to try saving some money by making our own food instead of going out, which led us to Fiona's apartment where we made French toast! So delicious especially when you haven't had something like that in a long time. After dinner we had a few drinks, specifically some creamy Bailey's! Now this is the way Alcohol should be! I can understand why that little drink is so dang expensive! It's like dessert! After we had our fill of Bailey's, Fiona showed us some of the nightlife in downtown Dublin. We checked out a few really cool pubs and even one club that we didn't stay in for too long. We were in this really cool, muli-level bar in downtown Dublin drinking Mojito's (which I now know I do NOT like) and listening to this live cover band when I look up and suddenly realize the band is playing "Vertigo" by U2. Geez guys, way to enforce the stereotype! I didn't think Bono was going to get this much love from the Irish since I had talked to multiple Irish people before the trip who said they thought he was quite a hack. Apparently all Irish people don't agree!
The next day, we decided (after some great advice from the guy behind the desk at our hostel) that we were going to cancel our day we had planned to stay in Cork and take two days in Galway. The train ride the next day to Galway was everything I was hoping it would be: lush, green fields and rolling hills, farmlands full of sheep and cattle and everything else you would expect from an Irish countryside. It was fantastic. This was the Ireland I came to see! I think it was that train ride when I realized that some of my favorite moments in Europe have been just relaxing on a train staring out the window listening to music. Trains are by far the best way to travel.
Galway was incredible. A mini, less crowded, country-ish version of Dublin, Galway is a place you definitely need to check out if you ever visit the city. You can walk everywhere, never needing to take public transit. Our hostel was in an amazing location, literally right in the middle of the city in the main square. One of the first things that I witnessed in Galway was a full on fight between two guys. One of them was homeless and the other was drunk. Not a good combo. What was especially interesting about this fight was that it happened right on the main street in Galway, and right next to where four cops just happened to be hanging out. 2 seconds after the first punch was thrown, the drunk guy was thrown to the ground and handcuffed. Ireland sure was living up to the hype! Beautiful country side! U2! Drunk Irish guys fighting! Where are the lucky charms???
I forgot to mention that on the plane ride over, I happened to sit next to this girl Brie, from the States, who had been studying in Galway and was getting ready to fly back home. She had a Rick Steve's (famous travel-book author) Ireland book that she said she didn't need anymore, which she gave me for free! Pretty sweet stuff!
Using the Rick Steve's book to find the main sights and attractions around Galway, Tom and I walked around and found a great place to eat lunch, visited a few churches, walked out to the bay and enjoyed seeing the ocean for the first time in months, and just did the whole touristy thing. We decided that we wanted to take a bus tour the next day, which was probably the best decision made all trip. I also got a haircut in Galway, which was an easier process than getting one in Prague would be. Trying to explain to a barber in Czech how I want my hair cut probably wouldn't go over so well. I'd rather take my chances with someone who speaks English with a crazy accent.
Our bus took us to various little villages and random castles, sights and other ruins. (Definitely check out the pictures of these on my Facebook.) The two highlights of the trip were easily the Cliffs of Moher and the walking tour through some old farmland. The Cliffs of Moher were these enormous 650 foot cliffs right on the edge of the ocean. These easily looked like something right out of Lord of the Rings. They were also INCREDIBLY windy, the kind of wind that makes it hard to even walk, but makes for some fun times. These cliffs were some of the most amazing and breathtaking sights I have ever seen. I wish we would have had more than an hour there since I easily could have just sat and looked out at the view all day.
When we got back to Dublin, we mainly just walked around the city and saw some more of the mains sights. (A really cool old jail that housed the people who started the 1916 uprising, The Book of Kells, which is an ancient copy of the Bible in Latin, and some amazing outdoor gardens.)That night, we decided to go on a "Music Pub Crawl" which turned out to be one of the best decisions of the entire trip. The pub crawl started in one of the main pubs downtown, with two traditional irish musicians (one girl who played the fiddle, and one guy who played the guitar), who played amazing Irish music for us. Not only would they play, but they would sing along, teach the audience how to sing with them, and even give people the chance to sing on their own. The duo took our crowd of about 30 around to three different pubs for about 3 hours total, and played some amazing music for us. It was really cool hearing them talk about the history of the of the jigs and what not. This was traditional Irish culture at its finest. I have some you tube videos of their performance, which I'll post whenever I get around to uploading them.
Surprisingly, the last thing we did in Dublin, was see a movie. I know, I know, we were traveling how could we have wasted our time and money on something we could have done anywhere!? Well, we were super tired, and it was getting late, and we didn't have the money or the energy to go out to a pub and drink, so there we were, at the movie theater buying tickets for the flick, "In Bruges". I talked about this a little in my last blog, but this was a good movie! And it applied to us extremely well, since it was about 2 guys traveling, specifically to Bruges, Belgium. I ended up going to Belgium two days later, which was pretty weird, but really cool. Go see this movie for the matinee price when your bored sometime.
That about sums up my time in Ireland, and I loved every second of it! I hope someday I can go back in the summer when it is much warmer, but according to some of the locals, you never know quite when that will be.
I'm enjoying my last week in Prague, just walking around the city and doing some reading. This might be the most relaxing weekend I've ever had before finals. Gotta love study abroad! Alright well I'm going to write about my last trip, The Netherlands, at some other point.
Keep rockin' and rollin'!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
16 Days and counting
A glass of coca cola, a few chocolate chip cookies, an empty apartment and Radiohead playing in the background. I'm ready to write this baby!
Most importantly, here are the pictures from Brussels, Maastricht and Amsterdam. There aren't many pictures with me in them, they are mostly pictures of sights and what not, but I still think they are pretty cool. Check them out:
Set I: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057588&l=c66ad&id=29904207
Set II: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057591&l=8406a&id=29904207
I just spent the past few hours catching up on things back home. Movies, sports, news. I feel pretty refreshed, having been out of the loop for a little while doing so much traveling. Some thoughts:
Movies:
I am extrmeley excited for the new movies coming out this summer. I thought last year was amazing, but I seriously think this year could top even last year. Here are some of the movies I am super stoked about:
-Indiana Jones IV! How can you not be excited for this? I mean seriously. Spielberg, Lucas and Harrison Ford all working on the same picture? This can't go wrong. I read that they went through about 22 different scripts before they decided on the one that they wanted to use. And Cate Blanchett and Shia Labeouf joining the cast? I am there opening night!
-The Dark Knight If I saw nothing but Indiana Jones and this movie all summer, I would be okay with that. The cast for this movie is absolutely incredible. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and of course, Heath Ledger. Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite Directors working today which gets me even more excited for this. I thought Batman Begins was amazing, and was so much more than a "comic book movie". I think this one will be even better, and would not be surprised if Heath Ledger got an oscar nod for his performance. Seriously, I think people are going to be blown away by it. I think I'll have to see this one on DVD unfortunately, but that's okay, since I'll be in AFRICA when it comes out!
-WALL-E With the exception of "Cars", Pixar really doesn't fail. This looks like another strong hit from Pixar. Is there any studio out there that pumps out great movies on a more consistent basis? Finding Nemo, Monster's Inc, and Ratatouille especially were all amazing movies. I think Wall-E is going to continue the trend.
-Tropic Thunder This is probably the only one on this list you haven't heard of. Ben Stiller Directing and starring might make some people groan, but please, watch the trailer first before you bash it. It also has Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. playing a white guy who gets an operation to become a black guy! This movies looks downright hilarious and I think will be the funniest Stiller movie since Zoolander. This comes out at the end of the summer, and I'm betting it's really going to surprise a lot of people. Apparently, Stiller has been working on this movie for about 10 years, on and off, so he's put a lot of time into the script.
-Prince Caspian- Any story that C.S. Lewis writes turns to gold instantly in my mind. I think the first Narnia movie was actually very well done and told the story extremely well. I'm really looking forward as to how they are going to tackle the sequel and some of the remaining movies in the series. This is an epic saga and has some of the best symbolism out of all the "fantasy" movies being made today.
Other movies I'm excited about:
-Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark? Looks legit to me.)
-Get Smart (Steve Carell in a spy-action-comedy? I'm in!)
-The Incredible Hulk (Edward Norton is going to make this franchise so legit it's not even funny. And Liv Tyler is one of the most beautiful and talented actresses out there. I think she's underrated and needs to start doing more serious roles. Watch "Reign Over Me" for a good performance by her, Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle.)
-Speed Racer- Now, I'm not super excited about this, but the main reason I'll go see it is because of the Director's: The Wachowski Brothers. These guys created my favorite movie of all time, The Matrix, so I will now forever watch whatever films they create. And so far, I don't think they have messed up too bad.
Some films I have watched recently that I thoroughly enjoyed:
When I was in Dublin, I saw In Bruges with Colin Farrell, Brandon Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes. I had heard that this movie was suprisngly good, but I had my doubts, going in. I mean Colin Farrell? Really? But, I have to hand it to him, he actually was pretty good in this little dramatic comedy. Check this movie out, it's well written and kind of goes along the same theme as "Snatch" although not British and not as crazy. Made me think, made me laugh.
Yesterday I watched Gone Baby Gone Directed by Jannifer Garner's Husband and starring Casey Affleck, Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris. I wanted to see this movie for a few reasons. One, I wanted to see Jennifer Garner's Husband (I refuse to acknowledge him as "Ben Affleck" solely because he stole Jennifer from me, but that's a whole 'nother story) direct his first movie. Also, the cast was pretty strong and I had heard great things about the film. This is a great movie, with a great script. This is one of those "thinker" films that you probably are going to need to go back and watch again so you can catch everything.
Other than that, all I've seen are some of the new Scrubs episodes (pretty good) and the new Lost episode (one of the best of the season).
Sports:
Since I don't follow baseball, this is usually a pretty lame part of the year for me, except for...THE NBA PLAYOFFS! Which somehow, I seem to miss a huge chunk of every year. From what I've seen online, this was one of the most anticipated playoffs in the last 15 years. I was happy to see the Maverick's get knocked out, but sad to see the Sun's go. I really want Steve Nash (my favorite NBA player) to get a ring before he retires, be it doesn't look like its going to happen. I'm not happy to see the Lakers doing so well, but you have to hand it to Kobe and the whole franchise, they know how to keep the team good. I think a Lakers/Celtics Finals would be epic, just like the old days of Bird and Magic battling it out. Of course the Spurs are still around in the playoffs, and I think it would be amazing to watch the Lakers and Spurs in a series, which looks like it is going to happen. That's really all my thoughts on the playoffs so far, and I think I'm goin to root for the Celtics, just because I think KG, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce all need a ring. They play their butts off everynight and have been for years, its really their time to win. If only they didn't have an incompetent coach in Doc Rivers. But hey, he can't be that bad if they won 66 games in the regular season...
News:
The only thing I'm really following in the News right now is the election coverage. How about these primaries eh? Things are just getting a little ridiculous. I just want Hilary out of this race. It's terrible. She would have been gone if she had beat Obama by anything less than 10 points. What did she beat him by? 10 points exactly! It's like this is scripted! I mean this is good writing! So now the battle continues. My roommate Jared had an idea that I'm sure many people have thought of, but I thought was pretty smart: Why doesn't Obama run independent? (Obviously only if he doesn't get the Democratic nomination.) He's perfect for it! A black man who is talking about change? Who better to run on the independent ticket! You want good "writing"? Ron Paul should run with Obama on the independent ticket and they would come back to beat McCain and Clinton in the general election this fall! That would be incredible! The thing that really makes me angry is that this whole thing might come down the Super Delegates. Basically, the way the system is set up, the popular vote really doesn't matter that much. It's like the deomcratic people humors the people of the U.S. by letting them vote, then at the end, they say "Okay we'll take your guys' vote's into consideration, but in the end, our "super" votes have more of a say and we'll be choosing the candidate that is more "electable!" What kind of corrupt crap is that? This system is terrible! We already had one candidate (Al Gore) get the most amount of popular votes and lose an election! If this happens again with Obama (who would easily destroy McCain in the general election in my opinion) there should be riots in the streets. Just my two cents. Go Obama. Yes We Can!
Okay, down off of my soap box.
Onto another completely differnet subject. I discovered a project that Zach Braff is starting up with artist Jay Clifford. Just watch the video:
Zach Braff Making the Video
I would really love to do this with people when I get back if anyone is interested. Let me know. I think this sounds really fun and is a really cool idea for a music video. If you don't know who this guy is, check him out and his band Jump! Little Children, who are quite good, by the way.
I can't believe I've written this much and still haven't talked about Ireland or The Netherlands. I really ramble don't I? Oh well. I'll save that blog for later, or else this play would be about 26 pages long.
I come home in 16 days! So crazy to think about home. The first thing I want to do when I arrive on May 16th at about 8:30pm? I'm going to straight to In-n-out. It needs to be done. Until then, I have a surprise-birthday-toga-party to attend tomorrow (could that be more "college"?), a Prague film to finish with Jared, 4 more classes to attend, and a massive cleaning project of our Apartment to start. My parents, who just arrive in Europe today in Munich, will be in Prague on tuesday, and I plan on going out to eat with them every day while they are here. I'm tired of eating all my meals off of my George Foreman grill!
Okay, this has been suuuuper long, but I need to get out and go enjoy Prague! Actually, for those of you who know him, I'm about to go and have dinner with Charlie Hunt! How crazy is that?
On the flip side...
Most importantly, here are the pictures from Brussels, Maastricht and Amsterdam. There aren't many pictures with me in them, they are mostly pictures of sights and what not, but I still think they are pretty cool. Check them out:
Set I: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057588&l=c66ad&id=29904207
Set II: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057591&l=8406a&id=29904207
I just spent the past few hours catching up on things back home. Movies, sports, news. I feel pretty refreshed, having been out of the loop for a little while doing so much traveling. Some thoughts:
Movies:
I am extrmeley excited for the new movies coming out this summer. I thought last year was amazing, but I seriously think this year could top even last year. Here are some of the movies I am super stoked about:
-Indiana Jones IV! How can you not be excited for this? I mean seriously. Spielberg, Lucas and Harrison Ford all working on the same picture? This can't go wrong. I read that they went through about 22 different scripts before they decided on the one that they wanted to use. And Cate Blanchett and Shia Labeouf joining the cast? I am there opening night!
-The Dark Knight If I saw nothing but Indiana Jones and this movie all summer, I would be okay with that. The cast for this movie is absolutely incredible. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and of course, Heath Ledger. Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite Directors working today which gets me even more excited for this. I thought Batman Begins was amazing, and was so much more than a "comic book movie". I think this one will be even better, and would not be surprised if Heath Ledger got an oscar nod for his performance. Seriously, I think people are going to be blown away by it. I think I'll have to see this one on DVD unfortunately, but that's okay, since I'll be in AFRICA when it comes out!
-WALL-E With the exception of "Cars", Pixar really doesn't fail. This looks like another strong hit from Pixar. Is there any studio out there that pumps out great movies on a more consistent basis? Finding Nemo, Monster's Inc, and Ratatouille especially were all amazing movies. I think Wall-E is going to continue the trend.
-Tropic Thunder This is probably the only one on this list you haven't heard of. Ben Stiller Directing and starring might make some people groan, but please, watch the trailer first before you bash it. It also has Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. playing a white guy who gets an operation to become a black guy! This movies looks downright hilarious and I think will be the funniest Stiller movie since Zoolander. This comes out at the end of the summer, and I'm betting it's really going to surprise a lot of people. Apparently, Stiller has been working on this movie for about 10 years, on and off, so he's put a lot of time into the script.
-Prince Caspian- Any story that C.S. Lewis writes turns to gold instantly in my mind. I think the first Narnia movie was actually very well done and told the story extremely well. I'm really looking forward as to how they are going to tackle the sequel and some of the remaining movies in the series. This is an epic saga and has some of the best symbolism out of all the "fantasy" movies being made today.
Other movies I'm excited about:
-Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark? Looks legit to me.)
-Get Smart (Steve Carell in a spy-action-comedy? I'm in!)
-The Incredible Hulk (Edward Norton is going to make this franchise so legit it's not even funny. And Liv Tyler is one of the most beautiful and talented actresses out there. I think she's underrated and needs to start doing more serious roles. Watch "Reign Over Me" for a good performance by her, Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle.)
-Speed Racer- Now, I'm not super excited about this, but the main reason I'll go see it is because of the Director's: The Wachowski Brothers. These guys created my favorite movie of all time, The Matrix, so I will now forever watch whatever films they create. And so far, I don't think they have messed up too bad.
Some films I have watched recently that I thoroughly enjoyed:
When I was in Dublin, I saw In Bruges with Colin Farrell, Brandon Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes. I had heard that this movie was suprisngly good, but I had my doubts, going in. I mean Colin Farrell? Really? But, I have to hand it to him, he actually was pretty good in this little dramatic comedy. Check this movie out, it's well written and kind of goes along the same theme as "Snatch" although not British and not as crazy. Made me think, made me laugh.
Yesterday I watched Gone Baby Gone Directed by Jannifer Garner's Husband and starring Casey Affleck, Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris. I wanted to see this movie for a few reasons. One, I wanted to see Jennifer Garner's Husband (I refuse to acknowledge him as "Ben Affleck" solely because he stole Jennifer from me, but that's a whole 'nother story) direct his first movie. Also, the cast was pretty strong and I had heard great things about the film. This is a great movie, with a great script. This is one of those "thinker" films that you probably are going to need to go back and watch again so you can catch everything.
Other than that, all I've seen are some of the new Scrubs episodes (pretty good) and the new Lost episode (one of the best of the season).
Sports:
Since I don't follow baseball, this is usually a pretty lame part of the year for me, except for...THE NBA PLAYOFFS! Which somehow, I seem to miss a huge chunk of every year. From what I've seen online, this was one of the most anticipated playoffs in the last 15 years. I was happy to see the Maverick's get knocked out, but sad to see the Sun's go. I really want Steve Nash (my favorite NBA player) to get a ring before he retires, be it doesn't look like its going to happen. I'm not happy to see the Lakers doing so well, but you have to hand it to Kobe and the whole franchise, they know how to keep the team good. I think a Lakers/Celtics Finals would be epic, just like the old days of Bird and Magic battling it out. Of course the Spurs are still around in the playoffs, and I think it would be amazing to watch the Lakers and Spurs in a series, which looks like it is going to happen. That's really all my thoughts on the playoffs so far, and I think I'm goin to root for the Celtics, just because I think KG, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce all need a ring. They play their butts off everynight and have been for years, its really their time to win. If only they didn't have an incompetent coach in Doc Rivers. But hey, he can't be that bad if they won 66 games in the regular season...
News:
The only thing I'm really following in the News right now is the election coverage. How about these primaries eh? Things are just getting a little ridiculous. I just want Hilary out of this race. It's terrible. She would have been gone if she had beat Obama by anything less than 10 points. What did she beat him by? 10 points exactly! It's like this is scripted! I mean this is good writing! So now the battle continues. My roommate Jared had an idea that I'm sure many people have thought of, but I thought was pretty smart: Why doesn't Obama run independent? (Obviously only if he doesn't get the Democratic nomination.) He's perfect for it! A black man who is talking about change? Who better to run on the independent ticket! You want good "writing"? Ron Paul should run with Obama on the independent ticket and they would come back to beat McCain and Clinton in the general election this fall! That would be incredible! The thing that really makes me angry is that this whole thing might come down the Super Delegates. Basically, the way the system is set up, the popular vote really doesn't matter that much. It's like the deomcratic people humors the people of the U.S. by letting them vote, then at the end, they say "Okay we'll take your guys' vote's into consideration, but in the end, our "super" votes have more of a say and we'll be choosing the candidate that is more "electable!" What kind of corrupt crap is that? This system is terrible! We already had one candidate (Al Gore) get the most amount of popular votes and lose an election! If this happens again with Obama (who would easily destroy McCain in the general election in my opinion) there should be riots in the streets. Just my two cents. Go Obama. Yes We Can!
Okay, down off of my soap box.
Onto another completely differnet subject. I discovered a project that Zach Braff is starting up with artist Jay Clifford. Just watch the video:
Zach Braff Making the Video
I would really love to do this with people when I get back if anyone is interested. Let me know. I think this sounds really fun and is a really cool idea for a music video. If you don't know who this guy is, check him out and his band Jump! Little Children, who are quite good, by the way.
I can't believe I've written this much and still haven't talked about Ireland or The Netherlands. I really ramble don't I? Oh well. I'll save that blog for later, or else this play would be about 26 pages long.
I come home in 16 days! So crazy to think about home. The first thing I want to do when I arrive on May 16th at about 8:30pm? I'm going to straight to In-n-out. It needs to be done. Until then, I have a surprise-birthday-toga-party to attend tomorrow (could that be more "college"?), a Prague film to finish with Jared, 4 more classes to attend, and a massive cleaning project of our Apartment to start. My parents, who just arrive in Europe today in Munich, will be in Prague on tuesday, and I plan on going out to eat with them every day while they are here. I'm tired of eating all my meals off of my George Foreman grill!
Okay, this has been suuuuper long, but I need to get out and go enjoy Prague! Actually, for those of you who know him, I'm about to go and have dinner with Charlie Hunt! How crazy is that?
On the flip side...
Monday, April 28, 2008
in this life
Here's what I wrote as my plane back from Amsterdam was landing. (I wrote this on one of those handy barf bags they give you on the plane, since I wasn't allowed to stand up and retrieve my journal out of my backpack. I tell you this, because I find it humorous...)
This wasn't entirely my idea, I must give some credit to my roommate Jared, but here's what I wrote:
"Imagine all of your greatest fears and worries about who you will become in the future. All the things you never want to be. The things you never want to do. Close your eyes. Visualize what this would practically look like. Live it. Now, pretend you have some kind of second chance to go back to today, to right now, and start all over again. Would you? How would you start living differntly? What things would you start doing? Stop doing?"
Random thought: Shouldn't everyone have some kind of list of things they absolutely must do before they die? I know some people have those "life-goals" list, but this is a little different. These are things that I think can be extremely general, or even very common (i.e. get married, have kids, travel, etc.) but I think the list should still be made. Maybe this is because I'm just one of those people that writes down lots of to do lists and uses lots of sticky notes, or maybe its just because I want to get the most out of life. I dunno. The thing is, maybe this list isn't necessary. Maybe those things that we absoulutely have to do, are already inside of us. I guess I just like putting things down in writing. (As I write this in my blog...thank you Captain Obvious!)I think I'm going to start thinking of these things and writing them down, maybe even posting some of them here. I think that could be quite entertaining. I think having a list like that in a place where you can see it everyday would be quite inspiring and encouraging. Call me cheesy, but seriously, looking ahead to achieving certain goals will probably motivate you more to actually get to them. Ugh, I sound like one of those lame inspirational posters you see in high school or something.
Here's what I wrote on the other side of the barf bag:
"Why aren't more people honest with themselves? If you aren't happy with yourself, do something! Don't just sit there waiting for change, waiting for someone else to come along and fix the problem! Address the problem. Not with alcohol. Not with drugs. Instant pleasure is not the answer. If you aren't happy with your life, with who you are, why? How is fixing that not your top priority? What, or who, is holding you back? Usually, it's only ourselves. Do what you were meant to do. What is that you ask? I don't know. Find what it is that makes you feel complete. Without this you aren't fulfilling your purpose on earth. Find what makes you come alive! And head towards that! Now!"
on that note: peace amigos. more to come about ireland and the netherlands.
This wasn't entirely my idea, I must give some credit to my roommate Jared, but here's what I wrote:
"Imagine all of your greatest fears and worries about who you will become in the future. All the things you never want to be. The things you never want to do. Close your eyes. Visualize what this would practically look like. Live it. Now, pretend you have some kind of second chance to go back to today, to right now, and start all over again. Would you? How would you start living differntly? What things would you start doing? Stop doing?"
Random thought: Shouldn't everyone have some kind of list of things they absolutely must do before they die? I know some people have those "life-goals" list, but this is a little different. These are things that I think can be extremely general, or even very common (i.e. get married, have kids, travel, etc.) but I think the list should still be made. Maybe this is because I'm just one of those people that writes down lots of to do lists and uses lots of sticky notes, or maybe its just because I want to get the most out of life. I dunno. The thing is, maybe this list isn't necessary. Maybe those things that we absoulutely have to do, are already inside of us. I guess I just like putting things down in writing. (As I write this in my blog...thank you Captain Obvious!)I think I'm going to start thinking of these things and writing them down, maybe even posting some of them here. I think that could be quite entertaining. I think having a list like that in a place where you can see it everyday would be quite inspiring and encouraging. Call me cheesy, but seriously, looking ahead to achieving certain goals will probably motivate you more to actually get to them. Ugh, I sound like one of those lame inspirational posters you see in high school or something.
Here's what I wrote on the other side of the barf bag:
"Why aren't more people honest with themselves? If you aren't happy with yourself, do something! Don't just sit there waiting for change, waiting for someone else to come along and fix the problem! Address the problem. Not with alcohol. Not with drugs. Instant pleasure is not the answer. If you aren't happy with your life, with who you are, why? How is fixing that not your top priority? What, or who, is holding you back? Usually, it's only ourselves. Do what you were meant to do. What is that you ask? I don't know. Find what it is that makes you feel complete. Without this you aren't fulfilling your purpose on earth. Find what makes you come alive! And head towards that! Now!"
on that note: peace amigos. more to come about ireland and the netherlands.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Off to the end of the rainbow
Straight to it: Here are the pictures from our class trip to Cesky Krumlov, Vienna, Budapest, and Bratislava!
Cesky Krumlov/Vienna
Budapest/Bratislava
I'm heading off to Ireland tomorrow for five days with my friend Tom. We will be staying in Dublin, Cork and Galway. I'm super stoked for this trip, as I've always wanted to go to Ireland for some reason. I don't know if it is because of the accent, the beautiful countryside, the fact the U2, Damien Rice, and Glen Hansard hail from there, or something else, but I've always had this longing to go! And I have to say I am very excited about going to an English-speaking country! It's been about 3 months since I have been in an English speaking country!
The day after I get back from Ireland I will be going to Brussels and Amsterdam for my final trip in Europe! This will be quite the finale since there are 5 other guys going. Should be good times.
My roommate Jared pointed out to me today that we only have about 3 weeks left here. I can't believe it. Honestly, I wasn't sure how I felt when he told me that. We can't decide if time has been flying by, or if things have been going by slowly. I would probably have to say that time has been flying by, because that's usually what happens when you are having a great time. It's weird, because I really don't want to go back home, but at the same time I really do. There are a lot of things I miss, and there are a lot of things I really am not looking forward to going back to. Hopefully the re-entry culture shock won't be as bad as everyone says it will...but something tells me it is going to be pretty rough. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.
Alright, Ireland awaits.
Ciao!
Cesky Krumlov/Vienna
Budapest/Bratislava
I'm heading off to Ireland tomorrow for five days with my friend Tom. We will be staying in Dublin, Cork and Galway. I'm super stoked for this trip, as I've always wanted to go to Ireland for some reason. I don't know if it is because of the accent, the beautiful countryside, the fact the U2, Damien Rice, and Glen Hansard hail from there, or something else, but I've always had this longing to go! And I have to say I am very excited about going to an English-speaking country! It's been about 3 months since I have been in an English speaking country!
The day after I get back from Ireland I will be going to Brussels and Amsterdam for my final trip in Europe! This will be quite the finale since there are 5 other guys going. Should be good times.
My roommate Jared pointed out to me today that we only have about 3 weeks left here. I can't believe it. Honestly, I wasn't sure how I felt when he told me that. We can't decide if time has been flying by, or if things have been going by slowly. I would probably have to say that time has been flying by, because that's usually what happens when you are having a great time. It's weird, because I really don't want to go back home, but at the same time I really do. There are a lot of things I miss, and there are a lot of things I really am not looking forward to going back to. Hopefully the re-entry culture shock won't be as bad as everyone says it will...but something tells me it is going to be pretty rough. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.
Alright, Ireland awaits.
Ciao!
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Spring is in the air
First thing: Listen to Jon Foreman's new EP titled "Spring". It is absolutely amazing. Each of his Ep's (he has two others appropriately titled "Winter" and "Fall") keep getting better and better. Give them a whirl.
I'm in the process of working on a little Prague film. For a while, I thought lugging my new camera all the way over here may not have been worth the hassle, since, for various reasons I won't go into, I was having trouble making a film over here. Well, my roommate and I have been going around the city the past few days getting our shots, and we are on our way to making a little film in Prague! When its done, it will of course be posted right here for all of you to see. The awesome thing about this film is that I might be able to submit it as my final project for not one, but two of my three classes! That is two final papers I don't have to write, just because I made a film I was probably going to make anyways! That's what I'm talking about!
The weather is finally looking up here in Prague. The past few days we've had temperatures in the mid 60's which is pretty warm for Prague. Looking at the weather for back home makes me a little jealous, since you Cali people already are enjoying 80 degree weather. I miss shorts and flip flops, but I know I'll get plenty of that when I get back. I think I'll enjoy the cooler spring, since this is weather I don't really get back home.
On to more important matters. As some of you know, I'm going to Northern Uganda this summer for about 6 weeks. I'm going with a team of 10 to work and help out at this orphanage/school. I'm also going to be bringing my camera and filming, possibly making my own little documentary. Each member of our team set the goal of raising $4,000, so we could reach our group goal of $40,000. As of right now, 60 days before we leave on June 11, we have 20% of our goal. This is a little frightening, but I have faith that our needs will be met. If I haven't already sent you a support letter and you would like to know how you can support me or anyone else on the team, please let me know! Anything will be appreciated, whether it is your prayers, your pocket change, or anything else you can think up. In case you didn't know, I really have a huge heart and passion for Africa. Ever since I saw the Invisible Children documentary a few years ago, I've always had a longing to go and help out in person. Now, I'm getting that chance. I don't know how it happened, but here I am, sitting in my apartment in Prague, already thinking to the future (which is only in 2 months!) about my adventures in Africa. I can't imagine hanging out with some of the poorest people in the world, but I'm so glad I get the chance. Many people think that the money we are raising for our team could be more efficiently used if we gave it to an organization that was already set up and running in Africa. I do think giving money to these organizations is important, but I also think it's important for those that have the desire to go see these atrocities in person to give them that chance. I know that I can help these people with my money, but I think it might mean something extremely special to these people to come and see them face to face.
My goal this summer is to become completely selfless. I want to serve others. This whole semester, I feel like I've been focusing on my wants and needs. I've been living in Prague for cripes sake! I've gotten a massage in a spa in Budapest! I've spent countless dollars on drinks throughout various pubs and bars in Europe! Let's face it, this semester has been a vacation for me. School has been easier than I ever imagined. Now, I worked my tail off in school so I could get here, and saved up a lot of money, so I feel like I deserved this amazing experience. But now, this summer, I want to give back. And not only because I feel like I've been on a "vacation" for a semester. No,this passion has been in me a while. I've been on a few one-week long mission trips to Mexico and the Dominican Republic, but I wanted something a little bit more. In two months, I feel I can actually build relationships with people I meet. I can hear their stories. I can tell them mine. We may come from two different worlds, but for 2 months this summer, none of that will matter. I'm coming from the richest nation in the history of the world, and that right there means that I have a lot of responsibility on my shoulders.
These people deserve our help. If genocide, starvation, poverty, the list goes on...was happening right across your street, you wouldn't stand for it. You would do something. So why is it any different if it is happening across the world? These people are humans, just like us. God loves them just the same. We all deserve a chance. A chance at life. At the basics: water, food, shelter, health. At love.
As I write this, I realize how much of a hypocrite I am. It's hard to pursue my life, my dreams, my desires, when I know there are people in the world that struggle to find enough water to drink for the day. How do I justify the way I live my life?
Wow...I did not plan on writing all this, and going off on a mini sermon. Uh..I apologize. I guess I just wanted people to know why I'm doing what I'm doing this summer. And that I'm incredibly grateful for the chance I'm getting. If I can make just one child smile this summer, it will all be worth it.
Movie of the week:The Edukators
I'm in the process of working on a little Prague film. For a while, I thought lugging my new camera all the way over here may not have been worth the hassle, since, for various reasons I won't go into, I was having trouble making a film over here. Well, my roommate and I have been going around the city the past few days getting our shots, and we are on our way to making a little film in Prague! When its done, it will of course be posted right here for all of you to see. The awesome thing about this film is that I might be able to submit it as my final project for not one, but two of my three classes! That is two final papers I don't have to write, just because I made a film I was probably going to make anyways! That's what I'm talking about!
The weather is finally looking up here in Prague. The past few days we've had temperatures in the mid 60's which is pretty warm for Prague. Looking at the weather for back home makes me a little jealous, since you Cali people already are enjoying 80 degree weather. I miss shorts and flip flops, but I know I'll get plenty of that when I get back. I think I'll enjoy the cooler spring, since this is weather I don't really get back home.
On to more important matters. As some of you know, I'm going to Northern Uganda this summer for about 6 weeks. I'm going with a team of 10 to work and help out at this orphanage/school. I'm also going to be bringing my camera and filming, possibly making my own little documentary. Each member of our team set the goal of raising $4,000, so we could reach our group goal of $40,000. As of right now, 60 days before we leave on June 11, we have 20% of our goal. This is a little frightening, but I have faith that our needs will be met. If I haven't already sent you a support letter and you would like to know how you can support me or anyone else on the team, please let me know! Anything will be appreciated, whether it is your prayers, your pocket change, or anything else you can think up. In case you didn't know, I really have a huge heart and passion for Africa. Ever since I saw the Invisible Children documentary a few years ago, I've always had a longing to go and help out in person. Now, I'm getting that chance. I don't know how it happened, but here I am, sitting in my apartment in Prague, already thinking to the future (which is only in 2 months!) about my adventures in Africa. I can't imagine hanging out with some of the poorest people in the world, but I'm so glad I get the chance. Many people think that the money we are raising for our team could be more efficiently used if we gave it to an organization that was already set up and running in Africa. I do think giving money to these organizations is important, but I also think it's important for those that have the desire to go see these atrocities in person to give them that chance. I know that I can help these people with my money, but I think it might mean something extremely special to these people to come and see them face to face.
My goal this summer is to become completely selfless. I want to serve others. This whole semester, I feel like I've been focusing on my wants and needs. I've been living in Prague for cripes sake! I've gotten a massage in a spa in Budapest! I've spent countless dollars on drinks throughout various pubs and bars in Europe! Let's face it, this semester has been a vacation for me. School has been easier than I ever imagined. Now, I worked my tail off in school so I could get here, and saved up a lot of money, so I feel like I deserved this amazing experience. But now, this summer, I want to give back. And not only because I feel like I've been on a "vacation" for a semester. No,this passion has been in me a while. I've been on a few one-week long mission trips to Mexico and the Dominican Republic, but I wanted something a little bit more. In two months, I feel I can actually build relationships with people I meet. I can hear their stories. I can tell them mine. We may come from two different worlds, but for 2 months this summer, none of that will matter. I'm coming from the richest nation in the history of the world, and that right there means that I have a lot of responsibility on my shoulders.
These people deserve our help. If genocide, starvation, poverty, the list goes on...was happening right across your street, you wouldn't stand for it. You would do something. So why is it any different if it is happening across the world? These people are humans, just like us. God loves them just the same. We all deserve a chance. A chance at life. At the basics: water, food, shelter, health. At love.
As I write this, I realize how much of a hypocrite I am. It's hard to pursue my life, my dreams, my desires, when I know there are people in the world that struggle to find enough water to drink for the day. How do I justify the way I live my life?
Wow...I did not plan on writing all this, and going off on a mini sermon. Uh..I apologize. I guess I just wanted people to know why I'm doing what I'm doing this summer. And that I'm incredibly grateful for the chance I'm getting. If I can make just one child smile this summer, it will all be worth it.
Movie of the week:The Edukators
Thursday, April 10, 2008
4 Countries, 5 days
Last week, my study abroad program, USAC, embarked on a 5 day trip to Cesky Krumlov, Vienna, Budapest and Bratislava. This trip had been planned months before we even arrived in Europe. We paid about 400 dollars for the trip, which included staying in some pretty nice hotels (at least for our standards, since we all had been used to staying in "interesting" hostels on our travels), eating at some nice restaurants, and having a bus drive us from city to city. It was certainly nice to not have to worry about catching trains or starving due to our college student budget. This trip was certainly more comfortable than some of my other travels, but moved at a rapid pace, since we really only had about a day and half in each city.
Cesky Krumlov is about 2 hours away from Prague, if I remember right, and was a nice, quaint little city with its own castle and everything. The castle even had a moat, but not filled with water, but rather, BEARS! This is the best idea ever! Anyone can swim across a pathetic moat filled with water, but who wants to fight multiple bears to break into a castle? Not me. Sadly, all the bears were hiding from us, so we never actually got to see any, but the idea was still cool enough for me.
We also got to see one of the oldest, most well preserved baroque theaters in all of Europe. This theater has been around for hundreds of years and was only used a few times, which is why it is still around in good condition today. It only seats about 200 people, if that, and is a little spooky inside with natural candle light being the only source of illumination.
We stayed in Cesky Krumlov for one night in a fantastic hotel, complete with a huge breakfast the next morning. Honestly, this might have been the best breakfast I've had since I've been in Europe, which isn't saying a whole lot. To anyone back home, this would have seemed purely average, but to me, it was a feast. Europeans just don't really eat breakfasts like we do, except for random countries here and there. I'm really looking forward to getting some amazing pancakes that I keep hearing about in Amsterdam at the end of this month.
On our way to Vienna, I realized that bus rides, and traveling in Europe is so much better than back home in the states. Car rides, at least in California, can be extremely boring, and I can only imagine how bad they are in some other states (i.e. Montana, the Dakota's, Nebraska, etc.). But here, the countrysides are breathtaking! I wish I wasn't so tired whenever we were on the bus, because I could easily just sit there and listen to music and stare out the window the whole trip and be completely entertained. I say this often, but I'll say it again, it felt like being in one of those shots in a movie, where the character is shown sitting in a bus/car looking out the window contemplating life. European countrysides seem to have so much more history and stories to tell. Rolling hills, various kinds of trees, huge mountains in the background, bi-polar skies, they all make up for such a great scene to witness.
Anyways, on to Vienna. I had heard a lot about Vienna and was really expecting a great city. Vienna was a lot like Berlin. Very clean and tidy for the most part, and of course, they speak German there. The people were very nice to us, just like they were in Germany, so I certainly appreciated that little aspect. One of my favorite things to do in Vienna was tell people that I'm from California. This would immediately be greeted by some response like "Arnold!" or "The Govenator!" (This joke must still be funny to them, since it is extremely old to us Californians, haha). People seem to be fascinated in Austria that Arnold ended up being Governor. Come to think of it, I guess I still am too. I enjoyed some classic Wienerschnitzel, which was quite tasty and even some good wine. I'm still not a big wine drinker, I guess I just haven't acquired that taste yet, but I can still tell the difference between a good and a bad wine.
One of the highlights of my trip was meeting up with an old camp friend. Katie, or as I know her better, "Wooga", is from Oregon/Washington and is now teaching in Vienna. She has been there since July and when I realized I was going to be in Vienna, I sent her a message via our good friend Facebook. This was a few weeks ago, and once I was in Vienna, I realized I didn't have her number or any means of meeting up with her. I used a friend's computer, send her a message and hoped she would get it within the next few hours, since I was only in Vienna for one night. Literally 20 seconds later, my phone rings and what would you have it, it was her on the other end! We met up, for the first time in 2 and a half years I might add, got dinner and then went out to a sweet Irish pub called Waxy's. I tried some great new drinks, one being Cider, which was basically just an alcohol version of Apple Cider. Good stuff. Katie knew a few friends in the bar, these Croatian guys, who were really cool. Apparently Croatians like showing off their wealth, and especially like to buy all (not just girls) people drinks. Since I was friends with Katie, this meant I was friends with them, and next thing I knew they were buying me Rum and Coke's, which I happen to like quite a lot. This turned into a great night of drinking (in moderation of course! Calm down people...!) and just overall good times. At one point in the night I realized that one of the Croatian guys was wearing a bracelet that had a real bullet on it. I thought this was pretty cool and told the guy I was diggin' his creative bracelet. He said he used the bullet as his stylus for his palm pilot. Later, after he had had a few more drinks, he ended up shoving the bracelet into my hand, telling me it was his gift to me. I tried to refuse, thinking this was probably a pretty special bracelet to him. He didn't give up, and said he had another one at home, so finally I accepted the gift and thanked him for it. This is probably my coolest souvenir from Europe thus far. I think it will join the collection of other items from around the world that are hanging from my rearview mirror in my car.
The next morning we had some time to kill before we left for Budapest, so some of us decided to go to some of the infamous museums in Vienna. This was probably the low point of my entire trip. Sadly, I chose to go to the Modern Art Museum which was probably one of the worst choices I have made recently. This was one of those Museums that had stuff in it that made you wonder who classified it as "art." I can't stand "art" that looks like something I could have created when I was 6. Why is a huge canvas with a screw glued to it a "masterpiece"? Please explain this to me, somebody, anybody! Also some of the stuff in this museum was some of the most grotesque, nasty things I have ever seen. Lets just say there was a warning that kids under 16 should not be allowed. I won't go into details, but I saw some things that I absolutely did NOT need to see. I want my money back. I wish I would have gone to the Fine Art museum or the Museum of Natural History. Oh well. You win some, you lose some I guess. Oh, some other random things I did in Vienna: visited St. Stephens Cathedral, got some more Gelato (which just doesn't feel the same outside of Italy) and had the best outdoor nap I've had in years. Just felt like I should include that little bit of info.
After another spectacular bus ride, we arrived at Budapest in the evening. As much as I liked Vienna, Budapest was my favorite city of the trip. Budapest feels a lot like Prague, with some great baroque architecture along a fabulous river. The Danube river is one of the widest rivers I have ever seen and easily makes a laughing-stock out of the Vltava river in Prague. As great as Budapest is, it still doesn't have a bridge nearly as cool as Prague's Charles Bridge. However, Budapest does have any amazing hill where you can sit and overlook the city. Man, I'll tell you, I've seen some amazing views in Europe, and I'm going to have a tough time choosing which one is my favorite once my time here is done. Right now my three favorites are from the top of the Vatican (St. Peter's Basilica to be exact) in Rome, the top of the hill in Budapest, and St. Petrin Park in Prague. Something tells me I will have to add a place from Ireland to this list...but we'll see.
One of the main reasons why everyone was looking forward to Budapest in particular was because of the spa's that we got to go to. I'll post the pictures when I get a chance, but I'm telling you, these spa's were amazing. Just imagine a HUGE hot tub outside surrounded by elegant statues and fountains. Oh, and lots of old people floating around. Inside there were multiple sauna's, steam rooms, and various sized pools at different temperatures. It was crazy! I've never felt so relaxed. I also got my first massage, which was actually a little disappointing. I felt like the masseuse (who was a dude) easily could have put a little more elbow grease into the job. I probably should have told him, but I would have felt so spoiled turning around telling the guy who is massaging me: "Um excuse me! Sir! Can you do that a little harder? Thanks." I just can't say that without feeling like a pretentious a-word. It was still enjoyable, and I'm glad I can say I got a massage in Budapest.
By the way, if you ever go to Budapest, get the Goulash soup! It is cheap and absolutely amazing! I had this multiple times throughout the trip and am still craving it.
One of my favorite moments in Budapest came the last night of the trip, when two buddies and I decided to get some great Dominican cigars (I know, GASP! I smoke cigars!!! So sue me. Here's why I smoke cigars for all of you out there who wonder why people smoke them: They make great moments even better. I only smoke them when the time is right. When the fat lady sings. They aren't cigarettes. In my mind you don't just pop them off whenever you feel like it. This is why I only smoke them when it is clearly obvious that a cigar is right for the occasion. I.e. sitting on an enormous hill overlooking Budapest at midnight with two cool friends. I see nothing wrong with this. Oh, and I have a Cuban sitting in my room right now, waiting for the next "appropriate moment" to happen. :) ) Anyways, sitting up on that hill over looking the entire city with that Dominican was quite a memorable experience.
After my time in Budapest, I really felt like royalty. Great food, wine, cigars, a day at a spa and a massage? Are you kidding me? Is this really happening? Do you realize that we are some of the richest people to ever live? Geez. That's a lot of responsibility. It will be crazy to think back to these kinds of moments this summer when I'm in the middle of 115 degree heat in Uganda.
After Budapest, it seemed everyone in the group was ready to go home. But we still had one more city to see on our way home: Bratislava. Now, I had heard pretty bad things about Bratislava. Friends back in Prague told me you could see everything in about 2 hours. Luckily we weren't there for much longer than that. Most of my time there was spent in a restaurant, actually. Which really didn't bother me. Seriously though, Bratislava (the capital of Slovakia) still looks like it is stuck in the middle of Communism. Most of the buildings are big and blocky and horribly ugly. Not exactly picturesque. Really, there isn't even a whole lot to tell about my trip this city. We saw a cool castle on the outskirts of the city, which actually was the best part of the whole trip, and technically wasn't even in Bratislava. Ha!
I want to finish with this quote, because this sums up a lot of things that have been on my mind lately:
Is there then any terrestrial paradise where amidst the whispering of the olive leaves people can be with whom they like and have what they like and take their ease in shadows and in coolness, or are all men's lives...broken, tumultuous, agonized and unromantic lives, periods punctuated by screams, by imbeciles, by deaths, by agonies? - Ford Madox Ford, The Good Soldier
Currently listening to: Oasis
Cesky Krumlov is about 2 hours away from Prague, if I remember right, and was a nice, quaint little city with its own castle and everything. The castle even had a moat, but not filled with water, but rather, BEARS! This is the best idea ever! Anyone can swim across a pathetic moat filled with water, but who wants to fight multiple bears to break into a castle? Not me. Sadly, all the bears were hiding from us, so we never actually got to see any, but the idea was still cool enough for me.
We also got to see one of the oldest, most well preserved baroque theaters in all of Europe. This theater has been around for hundreds of years and was only used a few times, which is why it is still around in good condition today. It only seats about 200 people, if that, and is a little spooky inside with natural candle light being the only source of illumination.
We stayed in Cesky Krumlov for one night in a fantastic hotel, complete with a huge breakfast the next morning. Honestly, this might have been the best breakfast I've had since I've been in Europe, which isn't saying a whole lot. To anyone back home, this would have seemed purely average, but to me, it was a feast. Europeans just don't really eat breakfasts like we do, except for random countries here and there. I'm really looking forward to getting some amazing pancakes that I keep hearing about in Amsterdam at the end of this month.
On our way to Vienna, I realized that bus rides, and traveling in Europe is so much better than back home in the states. Car rides, at least in California, can be extremely boring, and I can only imagine how bad they are in some other states (i.e. Montana, the Dakota's, Nebraska, etc.). But here, the countrysides are breathtaking! I wish I wasn't so tired whenever we were on the bus, because I could easily just sit there and listen to music and stare out the window the whole trip and be completely entertained. I say this often, but I'll say it again, it felt like being in one of those shots in a movie, where the character is shown sitting in a bus/car looking out the window contemplating life. European countrysides seem to have so much more history and stories to tell. Rolling hills, various kinds of trees, huge mountains in the background, bi-polar skies, they all make up for such a great scene to witness.
Anyways, on to Vienna. I had heard a lot about Vienna and was really expecting a great city. Vienna was a lot like Berlin. Very clean and tidy for the most part, and of course, they speak German there. The people were very nice to us, just like they were in Germany, so I certainly appreciated that little aspect. One of my favorite things to do in Vienna was tell people that I'm from California. This would immediately be greeted by some response like "Arnold!" or "The Govenator!" (This joke must still be funny to them, since it is extremely old to us Californians, haha). People seem to be fascinated in Austria that Arnold ended up being Governor. Come to think of it, I guess I still am too. I enjoyed some classic Wienerschnitzel, which was quite tasty and even some good wine. I'm still not a big wine drinker, I guess I just haven't acquired that taste yet, but I can still tell the difference between a good and a bad wine.
One of the highlights of my trip was meeting up with an old camp friend. Katie, or as I know her better, "Wooga", is from Oregon/Washington and is now teaching in Vienna. She has been there since July and when I realized I was going to be in Vienna, I sent her a message via our good friend Facebook. This was a few weeks ago, and once I was in Vienna, I realized I didn't have her number or any means of meeting up with her. I used a friend's computer, send her a message and hoped she would get it within the next few hours, since I was only in Vienna for one night. Literally 20 seconds later, my phone rings and what would you have it, it was her on the other end! We met up, for the first time in 2 and a half years I might add, got dinner and then went out to a sweet Irish pub called Waxy's. I tried some great new drinks, one being Cider, which was basically just an alcohol version of Apple Cider. Good stuff. Katie knew a few friends in the bar, these Croatian guys, who were really cool. Apparently Croatians like showing off their wealth, and especially like to buy all (not just girls) people drinks. Since I was friends with Katie, this meant I was friends with them, and next thing I knew they were buying me Rum and Coke's, which I happen to like quite a lot. This turned into a great night of drinking (in moderation of course! Calm down people...!) and just overall good times. At one point in the night I realized that one of the Croatian guys was wearing a bracelet that had a real bullet on it. I thought this was pretty cool and told the guy I was diggin' his creative bracelet. He said he used the bullet as his stylus for his palm pilot. Later, after he had had a few more drinks, he ended up shoving the bracelet into my hand, telling me it was his gift to me. I tried to refuse, thinking this was probably a pretty special bracelet to him. He didn't give up, and said he had another one at home, so finally I accepted the gift and thanked him for it. This is probably my coolest souvenir from Europe thus far. I think it will join the collection of other items from around the world that are hanging from my rearview mirror in my car.
The next morning we had some time to kill before we left for Budapest, so some of us decided to go to some of the infamous museums in Vienna. This was probably the low point of my entire trip. Sadly, I chose to go to the Modern Art Museum which was probably one of the worst choices I have made recently. This was one of those Museums that had stuff in it that made you wonder who classified it as "art." I can't stand "art" that looks like something I could have created when I was 6. Why is a huge canvas with a screw glued to it a "masterpiece"? Please explain this to me, somebody, anybody! Also some of the stuff in this museum was some of the most grotesque, nasty things I have ever seen. Lets just say there was a warning that kids under 16 should not be allowed. I won't go into details, but I saw some things that I absolutely did NOT need to see. I want my money back. I wish I would have gone to the Fine Art museum or the Museum of Natural History. Oh well. You win some, you lose some I guess. Oh, some other random things I did in Vienna: visited St. Stephens Cathedral, got some more Gelato (which just doesn't feel the same outside of Italy) and had the best outdoor nap I've had in years. Just felt like I should include that little bit of info.
After another spectacular bus ride, we arrived at Budapest in the evening. As much as I liked Vienna, Budapest was my favorite city of the trip. Budapest feels a lot like Prague, with some great baroque architecture along a fabulous river. The Danube river is one of the widest rivers I have ever seen and easily makes a laughing-stock out of the Vltava river in Prague. As great as Budapest is, it still doesn't have a bridge nearly as cool as Prague's Charles Bridge. However, Budapest does have any amazing hill where you can sit and overlook the city. Man, I'll tell you, I've seen some amazing views in Europe, and I'm going to have a tough time choosing which one is my favorite once my time here is done. Right now my three favorites are from the top of the Vatican (St. Peter's Basilica to be exact) in Rome, the top of the hill in Budapest, and St. Petrin Park in Prague. Something tells me I will have to add a place from Ireland to this list...but we'll see.
One of the main reasons why everyone was looking forward to Budapest in particular was because of the spa's that we got to go to. I'll post the pictures when I get a chance, but I'm telling you, these spa's were amazing. Just imagine a HUGE hot tub outside surrounded by elegant statues and fountains. Oh, and lots of old people floating around. Inside there were multiple sauna's, steam rooms, and various sized pools at different temperatures. It was crazy! I've never felt so relaxed. I also got my first massage, which was actually a little disappointing. I felt like the masseuse (who was a dude) easily could have put a little more elbow grease into the job. I probably should have told him, but I would have felt so spoiled turning around telling the guy who is massaging me: "Um excuse me! Sir! Can you do that a little harder? Thanks." I just can't say that without feeling like a pretentious a-word. It was still enjoyable, and I'm glad I can say I got a massage in Budapest.
By the way, if you ever go to Budapest, get the Goulash soup! It is cheap and absolutely amazing! I had this multiple times throughout the trip and am still craving it.
One of my favorite moments in Budapest came the last night of the trip, when two buddies and I decided to get some great Dominican cigars (I know, GASP! I smoke cigars!!! So sue me. Here's why I smoke cigars for all of you out there who wonder why people smoke them: They make great moments even better. I only smoke them when the time is right. When the fat lady sings. They aren't cigarettes. In my mind you don't just pop them off whenever you feel like it. This is why I only smoke them when it is clearly obvious that a cigar is right for the occasion. I.e. sitting on an enormous hill overlooking Budapest at midnight with two cool friends. I see nothing wrong with this. Oh, and I have a Cuban sitting in my room right now, waiting for the next "appropriate moment" to happen. :) ) Anyways, sitting up on that hill over looking the entire city with that Dominican was quite a memorable experience.
After my time in Budapest, I really felt like royalty. Great food, wine, cigars, a day at a spa and a massage? Are you kidding me? Is this really happening? Do you realize that we are some of the richest people to ever live? Geez. That's a lot of responsibility. It will be crazy to think back to these kinds of moments this summer when I'm in the middle of 115 degree heat in Uganda.
After Budapest, it seemed everyone in the group was ready to go home. But we still had one more city to see on our way home: Bratislava. Now, I had heard pretty bad things about Bratislava. Friends back in Prague told me you could see everything in about 2 hours. Luckily we weren't there for much longer than that. Most of my time there was spent in a restaurant, actually. Which really didn't bother me. Seriously though, Bratislava (the capital of Slovakia) still looks like it is stuck in the middle of Communism. Most of the buildings are big and blocky and horribly ugly. Not exactly picturesque. Really, there isn't even a whole lot to tell about my trip this city. We saw a cool castle on the outskirts of the city, which actually was the best part of the whole trip, and technically wasn't even in Bratislava. Ha!
I want to finish with this quote, because this sums up a lot of things that have been on my mind lately:
Is there then any terrestrial paradise where amidst the whispering of the olive leaves people can be with whom they like and have what they like and take their ease in shadows and in coolness, or are all men's lives...broken, tumultuous, agonized and unromantic lives, periods punctuated by screams, by imbeciles, by deaths, by agonies? - Ford Madox Ford, The Good Soldier
Currently listening to: Oasis
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
On the road
Back from the class trip to Cesky Krumlov, Vienna, Budapest and Bratislava. This trip was absolutely sweet because we had transportation, a few meals paid for, and great hotels to stay in. We didn't have to worry about catching random trains all over the place, or staying in a sketchy hostel. It was nice to sleep in comfortable rooms in nice beds with people I know. But before I write all about this fun little 5 day trip, I want to write a little bit about Rome before I start forgetting certain details.
Rome was the highlight of my trip to Italy. I met more people in Florence, but the best some of the best sights of Europe are in Rome. I saw the Colosseum, the Pantheon, The Forum, Trevi Fountain, the Catacombs, the Spanish Steps, the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica (AKA the Pope's church and by far the best cathedral I have seen so far) and a few other great sights. It's hard to describe the feeling of seeing each of this sights but I certainly have a few highlights. Walking around the Colosseum by myself listening to the Gladiator soundtrack was an intense experience. I highly recommend this activity. The Forum is a bunch of old roman ruins that aren't preserved very well but still make for a very cool experience to walk through. It's crazy to try and imagine what happened in this places 2,000 years ago.
The catacombs were extremely interesting because this was where all the Christian's that were killed by the Roman Empire were buried. The catacombs are huge underground crypts and tombs that stretch for 80 acres! Walking through them felt like some scene out of Indiana Jones.
I went to the Vatican with some friends that I met from my hostel which was a lot of fun. Some of them go to Colorado State, which is where my mom went to college and is less than an hour from where I was born, so that was pretty cool to get to hang out with them. I went to the Vatican museum which is the best museum I have been to in Europe so far, because they have Egyptian relics and artifacts that are about 3,000 years old. They even have a preserved mummy taken out of its sarcophagus! Being an American I really hadn't seen much that was old than just a few hundred years, so seeing many of this things was really mind blowing. One of my favorite moments of my entire trip was seeing the Sistine chapel. Extremely cliche I know, but the long lines and all the waiting were definitely worth it. The artwork in there is super hyped, but for very good reason. Michaelangelo's paintings on the ceiling and on the front wall (titled "Judgment Day") are my favorite pieces of art...ever. I knew this going in, so I was extremely excited. The place is really packed out with tourists, but I didn't even care. Seeing art that is that good is almost a spiritual experience. The idea that someone created something that remarkable just blows my mind. I can't even draw proper stick figures and here is this guy painting works of art on the wall of one of the most famous buildings in history. Incredible. Wasn't allowed to take pictures of any of the art in there, but I don't think I would have wanted to, I mean it wouldn't have done it justice.
The Pantheon was really cool too, because it is the most well preserved building in all of Rome. It is about 99% the same as it was when it was built about 2,000 years ago, which is incredible with all the earthquakes and floods that Rome has seen over all that time. The architectural skills that the Romans had are just unthinkable. Some of the things they did are still a mystery to archaeologists and engineers today.
I had some interesting experiences in Rome besides seeing all the sights. I did meet some cool people, but didn't find any people to couch surf like I did in Florence. However, after going to hang out with some of the people I met in our hostel for the day, I came home to realize that Joe and I had been separated because of this. I hung out at the hostel (which was another camping hostel that was on the outskirts of the city, making it a HUGE pain to get to, and was also freezing cold due to the terrible weather) that night, got some dinner, and decided to call it day and figured Joe would come back home that night. Didn't happen. I wake up the next morning to find that Joe was still not there, so I figured I would go out and explore the city myself. Long story short I ended up not seeing Joe until the next morning! I found out later that he met some Swiss girl and really hit it off with her and ended up staying at her hostel, so that was cool for him, just really confusing for me! But it was cool exploring a city as exotic as Rome by myself. Sometimes a man just needs some reflecting time, and I certainly got it.
Alright gotta go...
Currently listening to: Pink Floyd
Rome was the highlight of my trip to Italy. I met more people in Florence, but the best some of the best sights of Europe are in Rome. I saw the Colosseum, the Pantheon, The Forum, Trevi Fountain, the Catacombs, the Spanish Steps, the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica (AKA the Pope's church and by far the best cathedral I have seen so far) and a few other great sights. It's hard to describe the feeling of seeing each of this sights but I certainly have a few highlights. Walking around the Colosseum by myself listening to the Gladiator soundtrack was an intense experience. I highly recommend this activity. The Forum is a bunch of old roman ruins that aren't preserved very well but still make for a very cool experience to walk through. It's crazy to try and imagine what happened in this places 2,000 years ago.
The catacombs were extremely interesting because this was where all the Christian's that were killed by the Roman Empire were buried. The catacombs are huge underground crypts and tombs that stretch for 80 acres! Walking through them felt like some scene out of Indiana Jones.
I went to the Vatican with some friends that I met from my hostel which was a lot of fun. Some of them go to Colorado State, which is where my mom went to college and is less than an hour from where I was born, so that was pretty cool to get to hang out with them. I went to the Vatican museum which is the best museum I have been to in Europe so far, because they have Egyptian relics and artifacts that are about 3,000 years old. They even have a preserved mummy taken out of its sarcophagus! Being an American I really hadn't seen much that was old than just a few hundred years, so seeing many of this things was really mind blowing. One of my favorite moments of my entire trip was seeing the Sistine chapel. Extremely cliche I know, but the long lines and all the waiting were definitely worth it. The artwork in there is super hyped, but for very good reason. Michaelangelo's paintings on the ceiling and on the front wall (titled "Judgment Day") are my favorite pieces of art...ever. I knew this going in, so I was extremely excited. The place is really packed out with tourists, but I didn't even care. Seeing art that is that good is almost a spiritual experience. The idea that someone created something that remarkable just blows my mind. I can't even draw proper stick figures and here is this guy painting works of art on the wall of one of the most famous buildings in history. Incredible. Wasn't allowed to take pictures of any of the art in there, but I don't think I would have wanted to, I mean it wouldn't have done it justice.
The Pantheon was really cool too, because it is the most well preserved building in all of Rome. It is about 99% the same as it was when it was built about 2,000 years ago, which is incredible with all the earthquakes and floods that Rome has seen over all that time. The architectural skills that the Romans had are just unthinkable. Some of the things they did are still a mystery to archaeologists and engineers today.
I had some interesting experiences in Rome besides seeing all the sights. I did meet some cool people, but didn't find any people to couch surf like I did in Florence. However, after going to hang out with some of the people I met in our hostel for the day, I came home to realize that Joe and I had been separated because of this. I hung out at the hostel (which was another camping hostel that was on the outskirts of the city, making it a HUGE pain to get to, and was also freezing cold due to the terrible weather) that night, got some dinner, and decided to call it day and figured Joe would come back home that night. Didn't happen. I wake up the next morning to find that Joe was still not there, so I figured I would go out and explore the city myself. Long story short I ended up not seeing Joe until the next morning! I found out later that he met some Swiss girl and really hit it off with her and ended up staying at her hostel, so that was cool for him, just really confusing for me! But it was cool exploring a city as exotic as Rome by myself. Sometimes a man just needs some reflecting time, and I certainly got it.
Alright gotta go...
Currently listening to: Pink Floyd
Photos!
Back from Budapest and Vienna...the trip was awesome!
Here are the pictures from Italy:
Milan
Florence/Rome
More of Rome
Florence/Rome (this link won't work, I'll put these up later, but they are on my facebook if you want to see them)
Milan/Florence
Cesky Krumlov/Vienna/Budapest (our internet won't let me upload this yet...so they are coming soon...)
Will blog soon, don't have as much time without my own computer!!!
Here are the pictures from Italy:
Milan
Florence/Rome
More of Rome
Florence/Rome (this link won't work, I'll put these up later, but they are on my facebook if you want to see them)
Milan/Florence
Cesky Krumlov/Vienna/Budapest (our internet won't let me upload this yet...so they are coming soon...)
Will blog soon, don't have as much time without my own computer!!!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Florence
I wish my blog had some kind of awesome theme music, so whenever you logged onto this page you could hear a familiar, pump you up kind of tune. Maybe something like the mix between the Sports center theme and the Law and Order little tune. Serious, yet kinda light hearted. I might have to create something...hmmm...get back to me on that one...
Okay! So Italy post numero dos! Florence! Where to begin... Florence was so much fun. However, the beginning of our trip was not so awesome. Our time in Florence began with a crowded, very noisy train full of Italians. Our compartment was empty as first, but about halfway into the trip, a huge Italian family joined us, and one of them actually took Joe's seat (he was up going to the bathroom) and he actually ended up having to move somewhere else on the train. Once we arrived in Florence at about midnight or so, we were very disorientated and to make matters worse, it was raining, and pretty hard. So we began our trek to find our hostel, which we knew was just outside the city somewhere. Luckily I am an Eagle Scout and am always prepared, so I had the address and phone number of the hostel written down. We finally found a map at a bus station and after about 30 minutes of searching for our street, we found it, and realized we had a decent walk ahead of us. About 45 minutes later, soaking wet, we arrived at our hostel. Luckily a guy was waiting for us at the desk to let us in. Now, this hostel was the cheapest one in Florence, and would have been awesome in the summer, but it wasn't so awesome in March. We were sleeping in these canvas tent things (we did have beds), and had very inadequate means to keep ourselves warm. We were only provided one blanket, and I don't even think we had any sheets. Not so fun.
After a fairly miserable nights sleep in the cold, we awoke and prepared to explore the city. This is when the adventure began. We met Miriam while we were trying to figure out how to use the confusing lockers, and we were pleased to meet someone who spoke English. Miriam is 18 and from Florida, currently traveling around Europe. We noticed immediately how outgoing she was and how much she loved having company. Very cool girl. Immediately upon meeting her she asked us if we wanted to join her and the "Free Hugs" campaign. I had no idea what she was talking about until I remembered this youtube video I had watched a while back. I'll let you watch it for yourselves:
Apparently, the day we met Miriam was "International Free Hugs Day." Sounded pretty cool to us, so we figured we would join Miriam. Apparently all you do is hold a sign up that says "Free Hugs" and give hugs to anybody that wants one. Thats it! She planned on doing this in front of the main cathedral in Florence, where tons of people are all the time, so I figured something interesting would happen. After getting a tasty lunch with her and Joe, we went to the cathedral, but we couldn't find any other fellow "Free Huggers". (Doesn't it sound like some hippie thing from the 70's?) Miriam was disappointed, but realized she could do it all by herself. She whipped out her sign held it up, and after a few minutes, was having random people coming up to her giving her hugs! Pretty cool. This is when we met Abdu. Abdu is this awesome guy studying art in Florence. We found out he was a couchsurfer (check out the website for more info: couchsurfing.com) and that he was hosting a few fellow travelers at his place the next few days. Couchsurfing is an online network set up to save people just like us some cash. I wish we would have known about this before booking our hostels, because all it is is people all over the world offering their couches to people traveling through their city. It doesn't cost anything, unless you want to be generous and take your host our for dinner or drinks or something.
We decided that we wanted to split up for a bit, and this is when Joe and I went up to the top of the cathedral to catch an amazing view of the city. Once I find a way to upload my pictures, you will known what I'm talking about. All the views that I saw from the top of cathedrals in Italy were absolutely breathtaking, and well worth the 5-6 euros that they usually charge. After this, I wanted to go to the Ufitzi gallery, because I realized it might be hard to get in the next day, which was Easter. I learned that the gallery closed in abotu 45 minutes, but I wouldn't be able to get in the next day anyways, so it was either go in and rush around or don't go at all. Being really interested in famous art, I decided to go in. Obviously, art is not a good thing to rush, its something that should really be taken in and interpreted, but I didn't really have a choice. Boticelli and Da Vinci's works were amazing. You've probably seen this painting by Boticelli before:
It is amazing in person, let me say. Definitely a highlight of the trip. Obviously Italy has some of the greatest works of art in history, The birth of Venus, The Last Supper (which I actually didn't get to see in Milan), The Statue of David (which I didn't see in Florence, because I was told the replica outside looks exactly the same, so save myself the money and just pretend), The Sistine Chapel (I'll talk about that when I write about Rome next) and obviously tons more by the greats of Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, Donatello (The Ninja Turtles!!!) Boticelli, etc. Absolutely fantastic art in Italy, if you appreciate it.
I did not have time to go to the famous Piti Palace in Florence, and this was the only major attraction that I feel like I missed in the city, but hey, I guess you can't see everything.
Later, when we met back up with Miriam and Abdu, we learned a very interesting thing about Mriam. She mentioned before that she could sing, but we didn't really have any idea how well she could sing, what her experience with singing was, or what kind of singing she was talking about. When we met her, she was wearing all black and a heavy metal band black sweatshirt. We figured maybe she was in a scream-0 band or something. She said she sang opera. Little did we know what we were in for. Next thing we know, she randomly walks up to the front of the main cathedral, and starts belting this beautiful opera tune! She sounded like a bird on a spring day, I mean I don't even know how to describe it... People started stopping right in their tracks to listen to her. A cop car even drove by, stopped, and rolled down the windows just to listen to her! The Italians were loving this and were completely eating it up. Soon, she had a crowd of 20, 30, 40, over 50 people! Abdu got a hat and started collecting little donations for her, and after about 20 minutes she had over 50 euros (75 bucks!) Isn't that crazy? Standing next to Miriam on those steps of the cathedral as the soft rain came down, watching all these mesmerized Italians was one of those moments for me. I just stopped and took it all in. It was like something from a movie. This kind of stuff doesn't happen!
We met some of Abdu's friends from his Art program, and one of them, Eduardo, we ended up staying with. (These couchsurfers are some of the most laid back, cool people we have met in Europe. I guess you have to be to let random people come sleep in your home!) We also met Becca, Laura (both from Canada) and Chris (an Aussie) at Abdu's place. They were the ones already couchsurfing at Abdu's. Such a great group of people, we had a lot of fun hanging out with them. There was also this hilarious French guy, Vincent who was so funny after he had a few glasses of wine in him. A tipsy outgoing frenchman can be entertainment for the whole night.
At the end of our second night in Florence, we ended up crashing at Abdu's (this was the night where Joe and I had to decide how we were going to share a twin bed together. It was either A) Man love, and spoon the whole night or B) sleep head to toe. We chose the latter, which led to a fairly uncomfortable night's sleep. ) This was after a long night of walking around to random bars and what not, and getting really really lost on the way home, (we were extremely tired, and none of us really caring about our sleeping situations). Lets just say we were so lost at one point, Joe laid down on the pavement and thought it might be a good place to sleep for the night. We trekked on and finally made it back to Abdu's place at about 5 or 6 in the morning where Joe and I got to sleep head to toe.
It rained for most of the next day, and we kind of just walked around and took it easy that day. We found a great little soup kitchen place to eat and get out of the rain, and this is where I randomly spotted our friend Patrick, a guy from our program back in Prague, out the window. Small world! Joe and I ran outside and said hello to him, and told him it would be fun to meet up with him later. We didn't actually think we would, but what would you know, later that night in some random bar we see Patrick once again. What are the odds of seeing someone like that twice in one day in a random city in Italy?!? I swear, sometimes it just feels like everything is planned out and something bigger is truly controlling everything...
For our last night, after a long and rainy day, we crashed at Eduardo's place, which was extremely comfortable. It was probably the most comfortable bed I've slept on since I've been in Europe, which was soooo refreshing. We were going to need a good rest before we were off to Rome.
So that is Florence. Good art, good people, great food, too much rain for a spring break, wayyy too much walking (at one point I thought I had honestly bruised my heels) and solid memories. Florence was the city where we got to experience more of the Italian culture, rather than just focus on running around to a bunch of different sights. We met a lot of good people who I had some great conversations with, and really just made the trip that much better.
However, I knew the greatest city in all of Italy still awaited, and I couldn't believe that we were only halfway done with our trip...we still had 5 days in Rome!
Coming soon...The Rome Blog! Check back soon! I think I am going to try to get it up tomorrow before my next adventure to Vienna and Budapest starts on Friday morning.
Ciao Ciao!
Steven is currently listening to: Rufus Wainwright, In-Flight Safety, Radiohead
Okay! So Italy post numero dos! Florence! Where to begin... Florence was so much fun. However, the beginning of our trip was not so awesome. Our time in Florence began with a crowded, very noisy train full of Italians. Our compartment was empty as first, but about halfway into the trip, a huge Italian family joined us, and one of them actually took Joe's seat (he was up going to the bathroom) and he actually ended up having to move somewhere else on the train. Once we arrived in Florence at about midnight or so, we were very disorientated and to make matters worse, it was raining, and pretty hard. So we began our trek to find our hostel, which we knew was just outside the city somewhere. Luckily I am an Eagle Scout and am always prepared, so I had the address and phone number of the hostel written down. We finally found a map at a bus station and after about 30 minutes of searching for our street, we found it, and realized we had a decent walk ahead of us. About 45 minutes later, soaking wet, we arrived at our hostel. Luckily a guy was waiting for us at the desk to let us in. Now, this hostel was the cheapest one in Florence, and would have been awesome in the summer, but it wasn't so awesome in March. We were sleeping in these canvas tent things (we did have beds), and had very inadequate means to keep ourselves warm. We were only provided one blanket, and I don't even think we had any sheets. Not so fun.
After a fairly miserable nights sleep in the cold, we awoke and prepared to explore the city. This is when the adventure began. We met Miriam while we were trying to figure out how to use the confusing lockers, and we were pleased to meet someone who spoke English. Miriam is 18 and from Florida, currently traveling around Europe. We noticed immediately how outgoing she was and how much she loved having company. Very cool girl. Immediately upon meeting her she asked us if we wanted to join her and the "Free Hugs" campaign. I had no idea what she was talking about until I remembered this youtube video I had watched a while back. I'll let you watch it for yourselves:
Apparently, the day we met Miriam was "International Free Hugs Day." Sounded pretty cool to us, so we figured we would join Miriam. Apparently all you do is hold a sign up that says "Free Hugs" and give hugs to anybody that wants one. Thats it! She planned on doing this in front of the main cathedral in Florence, where tons of people are all the time, so I figured something interesting would happen. After getting a tasty lunch with her and Joe, we went to the cathedral, but we couldn't find any other fellow "Free Huggers". (Doesn't it sound like some hippie thing from the 70's?) Miriam was disappointed, but realized she could do it all by herself. She whipped out her sign held it up, and after a few minutes, was having random people coming up to her giving her hugs! Pretty cool. This is when we met Abdu. Abdu is this awesome guy studying art in Florence. We found out he was a couchsurfer (check out the website for more info: couchsurfing.com) and that he was hosting a few fellow travelers at his place the next few days. Couchsurfing is an online network set up to save people just like us some cash. I wish we would have known about this before booking our hostels, because all it is is people all over the world offering their couches to people traveling through their city. It doesn't cost anything, unless you want to be generous and take your host our for dinner or drinks or something.
We decided that we wanted to split up for a bit, and this is when Joe and I went up to the top of the cathedral to catch an amazing view of the city. Once I find a way to upload my pictures, you will known what I'm talking about. All the views that I saw from the top of cathedrals in Italy were absolutely breathtaking, and well worth the 5-6 euros that they usually charge. After this, I wanted to go to the Ufitzi gallery, because I realized it might be hard to get in the next day, which was Easter. I learned that the gallery closed in abotu 45 minutes, but I wouldn't be able to get in the next day anyways, so it was either go in and rush around or don't go at all. Being really interested in famous art, I decided to go in. Obviously, art is not a good thing to rush, its something that should really be taken in and interpreted, but I didn't really have a choice. Boticelli and Da Vinci's works were amazing. You've probably seen this painting by Boticelli before:
It is amazing in person, let me say. Definitely a highlight of the trip. Obviously Italy has some of the greatest works of art in history, The birth of Venus, The Last Supper (which I actually didn't get to see in Milan), The Statue of David (which I didn't see in Florence, because I was told the replica outside looks exactly the same, so save myself the money and just pretend), The Sistine Chapel (I'll talk about that when I write about Rome next) and obviously tons more by the greats of Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, Donatello (The Ninja Turtles!!!) Boticelli, etc. Absolutely fantastic art in Italy, if you appreciate it.
I did not have time to go to the famous Piti Palace in Florence, and this was the only major attraction that I feel like I missed in the city, but hey, I guess you can't see everything.
Later, when we met back up with Miriam and Abdu, we learned a very interesting thing about Mriam. She mentioned before that she could sing, but we didn't really have any idea how well she could sing, what her experience with singing was, or what kind of singing she was talking about. When we met her, she was wearing all black and a heavy metal band black sweatshirt. We figured maybe she was in a scream-0 band or something. She said she sang opera. Little did we know what we were in for. Next thing we know, she randomly walks up to the front of the main cathedral, and starts belting this beautiful opera tune! She sounded like a bird on a spring day, I mean I don't even know how to describe it... People started stopping right in their tracks to listen to her. A cop car even drove by, stopped, and rolled down the windows just to listen to her! The Italians were loving this and were completely eating it up. Soon, she had a crowd of 20, 30, 40, over 50 people! Abdu got a hat and started collecting little donations for her, and after about 20 minutes she had over 50 euros (75 bucks!) Isn't that crazy? Standing next to Miriam on those steps of the cathedral as the soft rain came down, watching all these mesmerized Italians was one of those moments for me. I just stopped and took it all in. It was like something from a movie. This kind of stuff doesn't happen!
We met some of Abdu's friends from his Art program, and one of them, Eduardo, we ended up staying with. (These couchsurfers are some of the most laid back, cool people we have met in Europe. I guess you have to be to let random people come sleep in your home!) We also met Becca, Laura (both from Canada) and Chris (an Aussie) at Abdu's place. They were the ones already couchsurfing at Abdu's. Such a great group of people, we had a lot of fun hanging out with them. There was also this hilarious French guy, Vincent who was so funny after he had a few glasses of wine in him. A tipsy outgoing frenchman can be entertainment for the whole night.
At the end of our second night in Florence, we ended up crashing at Abdu's (this was the night where Joe and I had to decide how we were going to share a twin bed together. It was either A) Man love, and spoon the whole night or B) sleep head to toe. We chose the latter, which led to a fairly uncomfortable night's sleep. ) This was after a long night of walking around to random bars and what not, and getting really really lost on the way home, (we were extremely tired, and none of us really caring about our sleeping situations). Lets just say we were so lost at one point, Joe laid down on the pavement and thought it might be a good place to sleep for the night. We trekked on and finally made it back to Abdu's place at about 5 or 6 in the morning where Joe and I got to sleep head to toe.
It rained for most of the next day, and we kind of just walked around and took it easy that day. We found a great little soup kitchen place to eat and get out of the rain, and this is where I randomly spotted our friend Patrick, a guy from our program back in Prague, out the window. Small world! Joe and I ran outside and said hello to him, and told him it would be fun to meet up with him later. We didn't actually think we would, but what would you know, later that night in some random bar we see Patrick once again. What are the odds of seeing someone like that twice in one day in a random city in Italy?!? I swear, sometimes it just feels like everything is planned out and something bigger is truly controlling everything...
For our last night, after a long and rainy day, we crashed at Eduardo's place, which was extremely comfortable. It was probably the most comfortable bed I've slept on since I've been in Europe, which was soooo refreshing. We were going to need a good rest before we were off to Rome.
So that is Florence. Good art, good people, great food, too much rain for a spring break, wayyy too much walking (at one point I thought I had honestly bruised my heels) and solid memories. Florence was the city where we got to experience more of the Italian culture, rather than just focus on running around to a bunch of different sights. We met a lot of good people who I had some great conversations with, and really just made the trip that much better.
However, I knew the greatest city in all of Italy still awaited, and I couldn't believe that we were only halfway done with our trip...we still had 5 days in Rome!
Coming soon...The Rome Blog! Check back soon! I think I am going to try to get it up tomorrow before my next adventure to Vienna and Budapest starts on Friday morning.
Ciao Ciao!
Steven is currently listening to: Rufus Wainwright, In-Flight Safety, Radiohead
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Milan
Whew. Back from Italy. I don't even know where to begin. I guess before I go through my trip I will start with a few impressions of the country itself. Italy was exactly what I was expecting in many ways, and so different than what I was anticipating in many ways. There were numerous times when I just laughed because I thought the Italian's could not be enhancing their stereotypes any more. (i.e. When I was showering in a public dorm-style shower room and a bunch of Italian guys were singing obnoxiously loud whilst showering. Really, sometimes the Italian males can be a little bit much.) Also, I think I ate pizza every day. If I wasn't eating Pizza, I was eating some kind of pasta, or perhaps Lasagna. Italian food is my second favorite (behind my beloved mexican which I haven't had since January...argggggghhh...) so I enjoyed the food a lot. As you might have heard however, Pizza is not nearly as good in Italy. It is extremely thin and doesn't have a whole lot to it. It is incredibly simple, yet feels very "homemade." I still miss a good old Woodstocks pizza, which will always be my favorite.
Things in Italy are expensive. Considering that the dollar is absolutely tanking right now (Don't you love this war???) that adds onto the already expensive Italian goods. It sucks to order a 6 dollar meal and realize that you are really paying over 9 dollars in reality. But, one needs to eat, and there is nothing we could do it about it, so we figured, welp, might as well enjoy ourselves.
One of the biggest dissapointments to my trip was not running into these guys:
Apparently they are really busy this time of the year. Lots of clogged toilets or something.
Anywho, the trip started off at 4:30am on a Thursday morning. Joe and I cut it incredibly close to missing our plane, which probably would have put quite the damper on the beginning of the trip. We literally were running through the terminal like that awesome scene in Home Alone where the whole family is running through the airport. We reached our terminal right as they were announcing "last call" on the intercom for our flight. I say that I meant to cut it that close, because I like to live dangerously. It makes things more exciting that way. (Riiiiiight...)
We flew into Milan, which all in all was pretty disappointing. This city was kinda dirty, and didn't have a whole lot of sights to see. Howver, the main Duomo (cathedral) in the main square was worth the trip to the city all by itself. Apparently this is the 3rd largest cathedral in the world in terms of ground that it covers. Absolutely breathtaking. We paid a few euros to go to the top and see the view of the city, and we were blown away. Not only was this view a complete 360 degree panorama, but there was room to walk around and explore up on the roof. The weather was so nice that there were people sprawled out catching some rays attempting to tan. Joe and I stayed up there for a good 2 hours or so, just enjoying the view and talking about God and life and all that good stuff.
While wandering around the main square in Milan, just taking pictures and enjoying the weather, Joe and I both had some interesting experiences with some street vendors. (I'm really not sure what to call these guys, maybe "swindlers" would be a better word.) One second I am taking pictures, the next these guys come up to me, ask me if I want my picture to be taken and the next thing I know they are taking pictures with my camera (that I thought they were going to try and steal) and showing birdseed into my hands. Now, I hadn't really noticed the amount of piegons in this main square. About 2.6 seconds later, dozens of pigeons come flying at me like I'm Steve Irwin or something. I'm keeping a very close eye on the guy that is taking pictures with my camera, and am trying not to get my eyes pecked out. The second "swindler" comes up and keeps giving me more birdseed as to make for better pictures. At one point he put birdseed on my head so that the pigeons would land on my dome! Are you serious?!?!? I don't know about you, but Pigeons aren't exactly my favorite animals. They are like flying rats. I don't want flying rats on my head, thank you very much. I ended this madness, took my camera, and gave the guys one euro each, which I still regret. They were asking for 20 euros each! (30 bucks!) Are you kidding?!?!? Just because you swindled me and took some crappy pictures of flying rats eating food out of my hands I should give you 30 bucks? Um no. Sorry. Looking back on this story, it is pretty funny, but I just can't believe some of the things people do to try and get some easy money.
Joe had a guy come up to him, put a little colorful bracelet on his wrist and ask for money for "the children of Africa" or something like that. Joe gave him a euro I think, and the guy started getting really mad at him asking for like 20 euros or something. Keep in mind that this bracelet was essentially a thin piece of string. After our two experiences, Joe and I realized we were tired of being swindled, and decided to get out of the main square.
When we checked into our "hostel" (I call it a hostel very loosely) we realized that hostels in Italy were going to be a very different experience than our hostels in Germany. First off, no one really spoke any English at this hostel, so that was our first obstacle. After a lot of gestures and pointing at things, we were finally checked in. The maid, this younger girl who spoke the most English, took us to our room. Joe and I were extremely tired after a long day of traveling and walking around, so we decided to go to bed pretty early. We met this guy Gerry who was staying in our room with us, a young black dude from London, who was backpacking around Europe. He was a great guy and we made plans with him to go to the Leonardo Da Vinci National Science and Technology Museum the next day.
I was the first to wake up the next day, and I soon learned that our door had no handle. I guess it had either broken off, been torn off in a fit of rage, or some other crazy scenario I can't think of. There was no way to open our door from the inside. After quickly dismissing some thoughts as to if this is how any of the horror scenes from the movie "Hostel" (which I have never seen and never will) start, I realized we were on the first floor, and being the young agile whippersnapper that I am, I could just hop out the window and run around to open the door from the other side. Thus, this is what I did. I chuckled to myself at the ridiculous situation I was in, and ran around and heroically opened the door. This story, in a nutshell, sums up our first hostel in Italy (which was called "Medusa Hostel" if you ever plan on going.) A few other things led to us not being so fond of this particular hostel, for example, no hot water in the shower, a joke of a continental "breakfast" and the fact that our welcome to the hostel wasn't exactly warm and cuddly like we had been spoiled with in Germany. The one plus side was that this was one of the cheapest hostels in Milan, so I guess we were saving some cash, but getting what were paying for. Hey, we had semi-comfortable beds and a roof over our heads, it could have been much worse...(which as you will read later, it will...)
Once Joe, Gerry and I got going, we started our trek to find this museum we had heard about. After spending a while looking for this museum which was supposed to be equivalent of the Italian Smithsonian, we finally found it. Once I get my pictures posted, you will see very clearly why this museum is not exactly what we were expecting. It was interesting in some respects, but I think the main reason it was disappointing was because we were all expecting to see some of Da Vinci's actual works. There were a lot of replicas and models built based off of Da Vinci's works and drawings, but nothing original, crafted by Da Vinci's own hands himself. Oh well. The museum was entertaining for the most part, but was pretty unorganized. I don't think I have ever been to a museum in the states where things are so randomly scattered and poorly labeled. The best way to describe this museum is random. Maybe I was just disapointed because there weren't any sections devoted to this guy,who was always my favorite:
Leaving the museum, I realized I needed some more Gelato. If you have never had Gelato, it is basically Italian ice cream, but for some reason tastes soooo much better. After grabbing some more Gelato and another Pizza, Joe and I were ready to leave Milan and catch our train to Florence. We said our goodbyes to Gerry, got his contact info (this is a more professional and classy way of saying that we would just add him on Facebook) and peaced out of Milan. Oh, except leaving Milan was not so easy. You would have thought that we would have learned our lesson from our Airport experience the previous day, but nope, I guess we just aren't that intelligent. Joe and I barely made it to our train. Running through the train station, at full speed with our huge backpack on, this must have looked like a chase scene from The Bourne Identity or something. You would have thought we were being sniped or something. Catching the train minutes before it left, we jumped on and realized we might have been on the most crowded train in all of Italy. Finally we found an open compartment, and were able to relax. About 3/4 the way into our train ride, more and more Italian's keep piling onto this train, regardless of the fact that there are no more seats, and our compartment fills up with this huge Italian family. This happened right when Joe got up to to go to the bathroom, so his seat immediately got snagged. I guess you snooze (or you pee) you lose. The fact is, we made it, by some miracle or another, to Florence.
Since I write way too much about the smallest details, this blog has already gotten a little lengthy and I will end this one here. I think I am going to split this up into three different entries, one for each city (Milan, Florence and Rome, each having more to write about than the last...) So stay tuned!
To be continued...
P.S. Pictures are coming ASAP, I took over 300 in Italy, so obviously I will only post some of these. My computer is broken (the motherboard flipped out and died on me) so I have to get that repaired. I have no idea how long that will take, and until then I am using my generous roommate's computers and won't be able to upload photos...
Things in Italy are expensive. Considering that the dollar is absolutely tanking right now (Don't you love this war???) that adds onto the already expensive Italian goods. It sucks to order a 6 dollar meal and realize that you are really paying over 9 dollars in reality. But, one needs to eat, and there is nothing we could do it about it, so we figured, welp, might as well enjoy ourselves.
One of the biggest dissapointments to my trip was not running into these guys:
Apparently they are really busy this time of the year. Lots of clogged toilets or something.Anywho, the trip started off at 4:30am on a Thursday morning. Joe and I cut it incredibly close to missing our plane, which probably would have put quite the damper on the beginning of the trip. We literally were running through the terminal like that awesome scene in Home Alone where the whole family is running through the airport. We reached our terminal right as they were announcing "last call" on the intercom for our flight. I say that I meant to cut it that close, because I like to live dangerously. It makes things more exciting that way. (Riiiiiight...)
We flew into Milan, which all in all was pretty disappointing. This city was kinda dirty, and didn't have a whole lot of sights to see. Howver, the main Duomo (cathedral) in the main square was worth the trip to the city all by itself. Apparently this is the 3rd largest cathedral in the world in terms of ground that it covers. Absolutely breathtaking. We paid a few euros to go to the top and see the view of the city, and we were blown away. Not only was this view a complete 360 degree panorama, but there was room to walk around and explore up on the roof. The weather was so nice that there were people sprawled out catching some rays attempting to tan. Joe and I stayed up there for a good 2 hours or so, just enjoying the view and talking about God and life and all that good stuff.
While wandering around the main square in Milan, just taking pictures and enjoying the weather, Joe and I both had some interesting experiences with some street vendors. (I'm really not sure what to call these guys, maybe "swindlers" would be a better word.) One second I am taking pictures, the next these guys come up to me, ask me if I want my picture to be taken and the next thing I know they are taking pictures with my camera (that I thought they were going to try and steal) and showing birdseed into my hands. Now, I hadn't really noticed the amount of piegons in this main square. About 2.6 seconds later, dozens of pigeons come flying at me like I'm Steve Irwin or something. I'm keeping a very close eye on the guy that is taking pictures with my camera, and am trying not to get my eyes pecked out. The second "swindler" comes up and keeps giving me more birdseed as to make for better pictures. At one point he put birdseed on my head so that the pigeons would land on my dome! Are you serious?!?!? I don't know about you, but Pigeons aren't exactly my favorite animals. They are like flying rats. I don't want flying rats on my head, thank you very much. I ended this madness, took my camera, and gave the guys one euro each, which I still regret. They were asking for 20 euros each! (30 bucks!) Are you kidding?!?!? Just because you swindled me and took some crappy pictures of flying rats eating food out of my hands I should give you 30 bucks? Um no. Sorry. Looking back on this story, it is pretty funny, but I just can't believe some of the things people do to try and get some easy money.
Joe had a guy come up to him, put a little colorful bracelet on his wrist and ask for money for "the children of Africa" or something like that. Joe gave him a euro I think, and the guy started getting really mad at him asking for like 20 euros or something. Keep in mind that this bracelet was essentially a thin piece of string. After our two experiences, Joe and I realized we were tired of being swindled, and decided to get out of the main square.
When we checked into our "hostel" (I call it a hostel very loosely) we realized that hostels in Italy were going to be a very different experience than our hostels in Germany. First off, no one really spoke any English at this hostel, so that was our first obstacle. After a lot of gestures and pointing at things, we were finally checked in. The maid, this younger girl who spoke the most English, took us to our room. Joe and I were extremely tired after a long day of traveling and walking around, so we decided to go to bed pretty early. We met this guy Gerry who was staying in our room with us, a young black dude from London, who was backpacking around Europe. He was a great guy and we made plans with him to go to the Leonardo Da Vinci National Science and Technology Museum the next day.
I was the first to wake up the next day, and I soon learned that our door had no handle. I guess it had either broken off, been torn off in a fit of rage, or some other crazy scenario I can't think of. There was no way to open our door from the inside. After quickly dismissing some thoughts as to if this is how any of the horror scenes from the movie "Hostel" (which I have never seen and never will) start, I realized we were on the first floor, and being the young agile whippersnapper that I am, I could just hop out the window and run around to open the door from the other side. Thus, this is what I did. I chuckled to myself at the ridiculous situation I was in, and ran around and heroically opened the door. This story, in a nutshell, sums up our first hostel in Italy (which was called "Medusa Hostel" if you ever plan on going.) A few other things led to us not being so fond of this particular hostel, for example, no hot water in the shower, a joke of a continental "breakfast" and the fact that our welcome to the hostel wasn't exactly warm and cuddly like we had been spoiled with in Germany. The one plus side was that this was one of the cheapest hostels in Milan, so I guess we were saving some cash, but getting what were paying for. Hey, we had semi-comfortable beds and a roof over our heads, it could have been much worse...(which as you will read later, it will...)
Once Joe, Gerry and I got going, we started our trek to find this museum we had heard about. After spending a while looking for this museum which was supposed to be equivalent of the Italian Smithsonian, we finally found it. Once I get my pictures posted, you will see very clearly why this museum is not exactly what we were expecting. It was interesting in some respects, but I think the main reason it was disappointing was because we were all expecting to see some of Da Vinci's actual works. There were a lot of replicas and models built based off of Da Vinci's works and drawings, but nothing original, crafted by Da Vinci's own hands himself. Oh well. The museum was entertaining for the most part, but was pretty unorganized. I don't think I have ever been to a museum in the states where things are so randomly scattered and poorly labeled. The best way to describe this museum is random. Maybe I was just disapointed because there weren't any sections devoted to this guy,who was always my favorite:
Leaving the museum, I realized I needed some more Gelato. If you have never had Gelato, it is basically Italian ice cream, but for some reason tastes soooo much better. After grabbing some more Gelato and another Pizza, Joe and I were ready to leave Milan and catch our train to Florence. We said our goodbyes to Gerry, got his contact info (this is a more professional and classy way of saying that we would just add him on Facebook) and peaced out of Milan. Oh, except leaving Milan was not so easy. You would have thought that we would have learned our lesson from our Airport experience the previous day, but nope, I guess we just aren't that intelligent. Joe and I barely made it to our train. Running through the train station, at full speed with our huge backpack on, this must have looked like a chase scene from The Bourne Identity or something. You would have thought we were being sniped or something. Catching the train minutes before it left, we jumped on and realized we might have been on the most crowded train in all of Italy. Finally we found an open compartment, and were able to relax. About 3/4 the way into our train ride, more and more Italian's keep piling onto this train, regardless of the fact that there are no more seats, and our compartment fills up with this huge Italian family. This happened right when Joe got up to to go to the bathroom, so his seat immediately got snagged. I guess you snooze (or you pee) you lose. The fact is, we made it, by some miracle or another, to Florence.Since I write way too much about the smallest details, this blog has already gotten a little lengthy and I will end this one here. I think I am going to split this up into three different entries, one for each city (Milan, Florence and Rome, each having more to write about than the last...) So stay tuned!
To be continued...
P.S. Pictures are coming ASAP, I took over 300 in Italy, so obviously I will only post some of these. My computer is broken (the motherboard flipped out and died on me) so I have to get that repaired. I have no idea how long that will take, and until then I am using my generous roommate's computers and won't be able to upload photos...
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
...sigh...
So my computer broke. It froze and the screen started turning weird colors. I turned it off and it only would turn onto a black screen. This morning, I turned it on and honestly, I'm not joking, I got what I could most closely describe to as that falling green "code" from The Matrix! Asian symbols, numbers, and other random shapes were falling down the screen! Ah! Is this some kind virus or something?
This means that I can't upload pictures, update my blog that often, or talk to people on Skype, if I don't get my computer fixed. This really is not what I needed. I'm not sure if the computer is beyond fixable, but If I lose everything on there, it would really suck. I would have lost all the pictures that I've taken since I've been in Prague, and various journal entries amongst lots of other documents. I'm planning on getting a Mac as soon as I can, because my computer just flat out is not reliable. But until then, this will be so annoying! I already had something stolen, I didn't need to lose everything on my computer!
Okay, that's enough complaining, but I could go on... I will say that I did find the blessing in the midst of this curse. Having no computer forces you to get outside! I went over to the English bookstore/cafe called The Globe, used their computers, got some lunch, did some reading and journaling and even met two girls from New York. This was cool because they were both film majors and really into movies and filmmaking. I might even try to make a film with one of the girls, since we are both in Prague until May. So that's pretty cool.
I can't believe I've been here just short of two months and I've still got about two months until I come home. I'm at just about the halfway mark. Crazy. Time sure has been flying. I've been doing the best I can to take it all in, as its happening. So often during fun times we don't really appreciate what is going on around us. We just ride the wave, enjoying it. This is fine, but sometimes I like just sit back and really take in what is going on around me. I can already picture myself in Chico this fall, going to class, and randomly thinking of some of the fun times I had here in Prague. It's strange to think about that.
It snowed so hard today! Today was the coldest day in Prague since I've been here. Sheesh. It was funny too, because my roommate Jared and I were thinking about going to the Zoo. When we walked outside and saw it snowing, I just laughed. I've never planned on doing an activity you usually do when its really nice and sunny out and had it turn out to be snowing!
Random thought: I miss longboarding. And driving with my music blaring. And throwing the disc around.
But I'm happy here. I'm learning a ton, seeing the world, and discovering tons about myself. Isn't that the most stereotypical study abroad comment you've ever heard? Ha.
Oh one more thing, if you could shoot up a prayer for me and my need to raise $4,000 for Africa this summer, that would be much appreciated. It's already stressful enough that I have to raise that much money overseas, and now its even worse not having my own computer...
This means that I can't upload pictures, update my blog that often, or talk to people on Skype, if I don't get my computer fixed. This really is not what I needed. I'm not sure if the computer is beyond fixable, but If I lose everything on there, it would really suck. I would have lost all the pictures that I've taken since I've been in Prague, and various journal entries amongst lots of other documents. I'm planning on getting a Mac as soon as I can, because my computer just flat out is not reliable. But until then, this will be so annoying! I already had something stolen, I didn't need to lose everything on my computer!
Okay, that's enough complaining, but I could go on... I will say that I did find the blessing in the midst of this curse. Having no computer forces you to get outside! I went over to the English bookstore/cafe called The Globe, used their computers, got some lunch, did some reading and journaling and even met two girls from New York. This was cool because they were both film majors and really into movies and filmmaking. I might even try to make a film with one of the girls, since we are both in Prague until May. So that's pretty cool.
I can't believe I've been here just short of two months and I've still got about two months until I come home. I'm at just about the halfway mark. Crazy. Time sure has been flying. I've been doing the best I can to take it all in, as its happening. So often during fun times we don't really appreciate what is going on around us. We just ride the wave, enjoying it. This is fine, but sometimes I like just sit back and really take in what is going on around me. I can already picture myself in Chico this fall, going to class, and randomly thinking of some of the fun times I had here in Prague. It's strange to think about that.
It snowed so hard today! Today was the coldest day in Prague since I've been here. Sheesh. It was funny too, because my roommate Jared and I were thinking about going to the Zoo. When we walked outside and saw it snowing, I just laughed. I've never planned on doing an activity you usually do when its really nice and sunny out and had it turn out to be snowing!
Random thought: I miss longboarding. And driving with my music blaring. And throwing the disc around.
But I'm happy here. I'm learning a ton, seeing the world, and discovering tons about myself. Isn't that the most stereotypical study abroad comment you've ever heard? Ha.
Oh one more thing, if you could shoot up a prayer for me and my need to raise $4,000 for Africa this summer, that would be much appreciated. It's already stressful enough that I have to raise that much money overseas, and now its even worse not having my own computer...
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Deutsch-land (pictures!)
Hopefully I spelled Deutsch right.
Germany is a crazy, but extremely interesting place. I still am not a big fan of any language that makes you sound as if you have something stuck in your throat, but the country, is extremely intriguing and has a ton to offer.
Walking around, I'll admit that it was hard not to think of this country's horrible low-points. Being an American, mostly everything I've ever seen or read that had to do with Germany had to do with the Nazi's and WWII. Walking around and seeing older Germans, it made me wonder what they had seen and experienced. The last country I traveled to was Poland, where I visited Auschwitz, so it was weird walking around the country that occupied Hitler and his followers for years. I know the current German generation had about as little to do with these things as I did with mistreating Native-Americans, but you can tell that the vibe is still in the air. Around every corner, there are reminders of WWII, or the communist era. German's aren't forgetting about these things anytime soon.
I noticed that wayyyy more German's speak English that Czech's, and that they are much, much more polite. People were very helpful, and we had no problem getting directions or help. I definitely enjoyed being surrounded by the German people for 5 days, they were actually very pleasant people.
My roommate Joe and I took a bus to Dresden, where we arrived at about 3 in the morning. My introduction to Germany was in the middle of a cold and dreary night. Walking through the city to our Hostel, we probably saw about 4 people. This was a bit eerie, but actually quite peaceful. Dresden is a quiet city, with kind of a relaxed and subdued feeling to it. This was the city that was bombed to smithereens by U.S. troops, (Kurt Vonnegut's book Slaughterhouse 5 was set here) and you can really tell. Only a few buildings look old and everything had kind of a modern look to it.
Our hostel was really cool. You'll just have to look at the pictures below to understand...it was very cozy, and all the rooms had fun themes. We saved ourselves some money by cooking some rice and chicken that we picked up from a local grocery store in the little guest kitchen. After a day of walking around Dresden, we went to this Bar/Club that these two Irish guys showed us. It was there that I met this Italian girl named Martina, and her friends. We talked about how awesome California is (everyone is always a little impressed when I tell them I'm from Cali...) and I how I need to make it to Italy. After a while of getting to know this girl, her and her friends had to leave, because they had a plane to catch early in the morning. Joe and I were disappointed that they couldn't stick around, but after a satisfying day of traveling and sightseeing, we were ready to head back to the hostel and call it a night.
The next day we realized that we had to deal with the problem of getting to Berlin. We thought we were going to have an easy time getting a train or bus to Berlin, and that it wouldn't be too expensive. This guy and girl that worked at the hostel told us we should try a different approach: Hitchhiking. I'm not joking. Joe and I looked at each other, thought about it, and said: "Why not!?!?" Guy and girl behind the desk at the hostel told us just the place to do it, and that it should take no more than 30 minutes to be picked up. The assured us it was safe and that people do it all the time...so Joe and I felt confident about it. Cardboard signs (with Berlin written on them) in hand, Joe and I walked to our thumbing zone. We kept getting more and more excited about the idea and thought it would be such a cool story to say that we hitchhiked on the autobahn. After about 30 minutes of tons and tons of cars passing us, we started to get a little discouraged. Were we doing this wrong? I mean how hard can it be? We tried everything. Switching signs. Switching positions on the street. Laying down the signs and using just our thumbs (that is a universal signal for hitchhiking right???) Finally, one guy pulled over. Giddy, we ran over to him. He rolls down his window, and I realize that this is the fastest I have ever judged someone. Is this guy safe? Is he going to blow my head off with a sawed off shotgun? Has he done this before? He told us he was going to some city called "Hollen" or something like that, and we told him we were trying to get to Berlin. Here was the problem: He didn't know where Berlin (a city of 3 million people) was! Are you kidding me! We were only 2 hours away! This is like someone being in Orange county and not knowing where Los Angeles is! Joe and I passed, because that was just too weird for us. Sadly, he was the only guy who stopped for us, so we accepted defeat after about an hour, and walked to the train station. We ended up paying about 50 bucks for a train, which is a little steep, but at least the train was really nice. We also met this really nice girl Chelsea, a Canadian, on the train. She is living in Hamburg and is a full time Dancer with some pretty prestigious dancing company. So that was cool. It was nice meeting a stranger who knew English well. We probably talked with her the whole way, and we parted with each other's contact info. (Facebook is having quite the interesting role in my travels...)
Quick tangent: One of my favorite quotes from this trip so far happened while we were failing to hitchhike. It went something like this:
"We're eating rice and now we're hitchhiking.... What is this?!? Into the Wild?!?!?"
If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, then you won't really get it, but I found it humorous.
We arrived in Berlin in the evening, and we were immediately intimidated. The city is huge! There are tons of people everywhere! Plus, the public transit was on strike, so almost everyone was out walking around. This made for a pretty cool introduction to the city, but needless to say, I was taken aback. I thought Dresden looked modern (remember I'm comparing these cities to Prague, which is a city that has a much older feel/look to it), but man Berlin is so much more modern/contemporary. You'll get the idea when you see some of the pictures I took. There aren't many buildings that have a renaissance or gothic look to them in Berlin, that's for sure. However, on the flip side, some of the architecture in Berlin is very impressive and very cool.
We made it to our first Hostel in Berlin, Heart of Gold, which was themed after The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy books. A sweet hostel with tons of people and a very energetic vibe. I'm really glad we got to stay there. Walking around Dresden, Joe and I stumbled upon the German parliament building, The Reichstag, which has this really cool orb-looking sphere on top that you can go up and walk around in. (Again, check the pictures...) We also saw the Jewish memorial, which really can't be explained. It's a ton of rectangular stones (over 2,000) lined up in rows. No one really knows what it symbolizes, but it is still extremely powerful.
The thing that really defines Berlin is its night life. There are tons clubs, pubs, bars, etc. Joe and I went on this "Pub Crawl" through this great touring company. About 75 college-aged students from all over showed up, including about 35 girls from Ireland. (!!!) It costed 12 euro's for the whole night, but they took us to four different bars/pubs all over the city and gave us a few free drinks here and there and we got special deals at all of the bars. It was a great way to see the nightlife throughout Berlin. This was where I met an Irish girl, who quickly introduced me to all her friends. Good times.
My highlight, hands down, was our tour of the city on Monday, which was our last day. This company called newEurope tours gives free tours throughout major European cities. Our tourguide, named Per (pronounced like "Pear") was from London, and was probably the greatest tour guide I've ever had in my life. When I'm casting people for movies in the future, I want this guy to play a major role in one of my movies. He's just one of those people that is incredibly wise, charismatic, energetic and loves his job. He showed us the Brandenberg gate, (most famous symbol in Berlin), the Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Hitler's bunker, the Jewish Memorial, and various other sights. The tour finished with our group of about 30 sitting on the grass in front of this church on a sunny day, with Per standing over us telling us his amazing story about how exactly the Berlin wall fell. It was amazing. I wish I would have recorded it. Between his amazing vocabulary, storytelling abilities and overall knowledge on the subject, it made for a spectacular little speech/story/tale/whatever you want to call it. Needless to say we tipped him heavily for his fantastic four hour tour.
After wandering around Berlin waiting for our bus to come at 11:55 pm, we finally were on our way back to Prague. After about a 5 hour bus ride (which was playing "Must Love Dogs" dubbed over In Czech and was about 95 degrees) we finally made it home.
Another tangent: On our bus ride to Dresden, Mr. and Mrs. Smith was being played. I have been wanting to see this movie for a while because I love Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie is alright, and I figured, hey, this is the guy who Directed The Bourne Identity so it's got to have something going for it right? Wrong! This movie sucked! The screenplay was absolutely terrible, and this movie was completely and utterly stereotypical "Hollywood." Sex! Explosions! Gunfights! This does not equal a good movie. I was disappointed in Brad Pitt for being in a movie like this...but anyways...
I only have one more week until my next travels begin! A week from today I will be leaving for....Milan, Italy! The original plan was to go to Bulgaria and Istanbul, but because we waited too long to get our tickets, we were forced to back out due to the extreme costs of traveling. At one point we were looking at taking a train for 40 hours! Long story short, we nixed that idea and decided on Italy. I will be spending about 4 days in Milan, taking a day trip to Naples, then going to Rome for another 5 days. Viva Italia!
I better wrap this up, considering most of the people I know who read this probably gave up on this blog about 6 paragraphs ago...haha (I still love you guys). Anyways, here are the picture links:
Set I
Set II
Set III
Enjoy!
Germany is a crazy, but extremely interesting place. I still am not a big fan of any language that makes you sound as if you have something stuck in your throat, but the country, is extremely intriguing and has a ton to offer.
Walking around, I'll admit that it was hard not to think of this country's horrible low-points. Being an American, mostly everything I've ever seen or read that had to do with Germany had to do with the Nazi's and WWII. Walking around and seeing older Germans, it made me wonder what they had seen and experienced. The last country I traveled to was Poland, where I visited Auschwitz, so it was weird walking around the country that occupied Hitler and his followers for years. I know the current German generation had about as little to do with these things as I did with mistreating Native-Americans, but you can tell that the vibe is still in the air. Around every corner, there are reminders of WWII, or the communist era. German's aren't forgetting about these things anytime soon.
I noticed that wayyyy more German's speak English that Czech's, and that they are much, much more polite. People were very helpful, and we had no problem getting directions or help. I definitely enjoyed being surrounded by the German people for 5 days, they were actually very pleasant people.
My roommate Joe and I took a bus to Dresden, where we arrived at about 3 in the morning. My introduction to Germany was in the middle of a cold and dreary night. Walking through the city to our Hostel, we probably saw about 4 people. This was a bit eerie, but actually quite peaceful. Dresden is a quiet city, with kind of a relaxed and subdued feeling to it. This was the city that was bombed to smithereens by U.S. troops, (Kurt Vonnegut's book Slaughterhouse 5 was set here) and you can really tell. Only a few buildings look old and everything had kind of a modern look to it.
Our hostel was really cool. You'll just have to look at the pictures below to understand...it was very cozy, and all the rooms had fun themes. We saved ourselves some money by cooking some rice and chicken that we picked up from a local grocery store in the little guest kitchen. After a day of walking around Dresden, we went to this Bar/Club that these two Irish guys showed us. It was there that I met this Italian girl named Martina, and her friends. We talked about how awesome California is (everyone is always a little impressed when I tell them I'm from Cali...) and I how I need to make it to Italy. After a while of getting to know this girl, her and her friends had to leave, because they had a plane to catch early in the morning. Joe and I were disappointed that they couldn't stick around, but after a satisfying day of traveling and sightseeing, we were ready to head back to the hostel and call it a night.
The next day we realized that we had to deal with the problem of getting to Berlin. We thought we were going to have an easy time getting a train or bus to Berlin, and that it wouldn't be too expensive. This guy and girl that worked at the hostel told us we should try a different approach: Hitchhiking. I'm not joking. Joe and I looked at each other, thought about it, and said: "Why not!?!?" Guy and girl behind the desk at the hostel told us just the place to do it, and that it should take no more than 30 minutes to be picked up. The assured us it was safe and that people do it all the time...so Joe and I felt confident about it. Cardboard signs (with Berlin written on them) in hand, Joe and I walked to our thumbing zone. We kept getting more and more excited about the idea and thought it would be such a cool story to say that we hitchhiked on the autobahn. After about 30 minutes of tons and tons of cars passing us, we started to get a little discouraged. Were we doing this wrong? I mean how hard can it be? We tried everything. Switching signs. Switching positions on the street. Laying down the signs and using just our thumbs (that is a universal signal for hitchhiking right???) Finally, one guy pulled over. Giddy, we ran over to him. He rolls down his window, and I realize that this is the fastest I have ever judged someone. Is this guy safe? Is he going to blow my head off with a sawed off shotgun? Has he done this before? He told us he was going to some city called "Hollen" or something like that, and we told him we were trying to get to Berlin. Here was the problem: He didn't know where Berlin (a city of 3 million people) was! Are you kidding me! We were only 2 hours away! This is like someone being in Orange county and not knowing where Los Angeles is! Joe and I passed, because that was just too weird for us. Sadly, he was the only guy who stopped for us, so we accepted defeat after about an hour, and walked to the train station. We ended up paying about 50 bucks for a train, which is a little steep, but at least the train was really nice. We also met this really nice girl Chelsea, a Canadian, on the train. She is living in Hamburg and is a full time Dancer with some pretty prestigious dancing company. So that was cool. It was nice meeting a stranger who knew English well. We probably talked with her the whole way, and we parted with each other's contact info. (Facebook is having quite the interesting role in my travels...)
Quick tangent: One of my favorite quotes from this trip so far happened while we were failing to hitchhike. It went something like this:
"We're eating rice and now we're hitchhiking.... What is this?!? Into the Wild?!?!?"
If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, then you won't really get it, but I found it humorous.
We arrived in Berlin in the evening, and we were immediately intimidated. The city is huge! There are tons of people everywhere! Plus, the public transit was on strike, so almost everyone was out walking around. This made for a pretty cool introduction to the city, but needless to say, I was taken aback. I thought Dresden looked modern (remember I'm comparing these cities to Prague, which is a city that has a much older feel/look to it), but man Berlin is so much more modern/contemporary. You'll get the idea when you see some of the pictures I took. There aren't many buildings that have a renaissance or gothic look to them in Berlin, that's for sure. However, on the flip side, some of the architecture in Berlin is very impressive and very cool.
We made it to our first Hostel in Berlin, Heart of Gold, which was themed after The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy books. A sweet hostel with tons of people and a very energetic vibe. I'm really glad we got to stay there. Walking around Dresden, Joe and I stumbled upon the German parliament building, The Reichstag, which has this really cool orb-looking sphere on top that you can go up and walk around in. (Again, check the pictures...) We also saw the Jewish memorial, which really can't be explained. It's a ton of rectangular stones (over 2,000) lined up in rows. No one really knows what it symbolizes, but it is still extremely powerful.
The thing that really defines Berlin is its night life. There are tons clubs, pubs, bars, etc. Joe and I went on this "Pub Crawl" through this great touring company. About 75 college-aged students from all over showed up, including about 35 girls from Ireland. (!!!) It costed 12 euro's for the whole night, but they took us to four different bars/pubs all over the city and gave us a few free drinks here and there and we got special deals at all of the bars. It was a great way to see the nightlife throughout Berlin. This was where I met an Irish girl, who quickly introduced me to all her friends. Good times.
My highlight, hands down, was our tour of the city on Monday, which was our last day. This company called newEurope tours gives free tours throughout major European cities. Our tourguide, named Per (pronounced like "Pear") was from London, and was probably the greatest tour guide I've ever had in my life. When I'm casting people for movies in the future, I want this guy to play a major role in one of my movies. He's just one of those people that is incredibly wise, charismatic, energetic and loves his job. He showed us the Brandenberg gate, (most famous symbol in Berlin), the Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Hitler's bunker, the Jewish Memorial, and various other sights. The tour finished with our group of about 30 sitting on the grass in front of this church on a sunny day, with Per standing over us telling us his amazing story about how exactly the Berlin wall fell. It was amazing. I wish I would have recorded it. Between his amazing vocabulary, storytelling abilities and overall knowledge on the subject, it made for a spectacular little speech/story/tale/whatever you want to call it. Needless to say we tipped him heavily for his fantastic four hour tour.
After wandering around Berlin waiting for our bus to come at 11:55 pm, we finally were on our way back to Prague. After about a 5 hour bus ride (which was playing "Must Love Dogs" dubbed over In Czech and was about 95 degrees) we finally made it home.
Another tangent: On our bus ride to Dresden, Mr. and Mrs. Smith was being played. I have been wanting to see this movie for a while because I love Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie is alright, and I figured, hey, this is the guy who Directed The Bourne Identity so it's got to have something going for it right? Wrong! This movie sucked! The screenplay was absolutely terrible, and this movie was completely and utterly stereotypical "Hollywood." Sex! Explosions! Gunfights! This does not equal a good movie. I was disappointed in Brad Pitt for being in a movie like this...but anyways...
I only have one more week until my next travels begin! A week from today I will be leaving for....Milan, Italy! The original plan was to go to Bulgaria and Istanbul, but because we waited too long to get our tickets, we were forced to back out due to the extreme costs of traveling. At one point we were looking at taking a train for 40 hours! Long story short, we nixed that idea and decided on Italy. I will be spending about 4 days in Milan, taking a day trip to Naples, then going to Rome for another 5 days. Viva Italia!
I better wrap this up, considering most of the people I know who read this probably gave up on this blog about 6 paragraphs ago...haha (I still love you guys). Anyways, here are the picture links:
Set I
Set II
Set III
Enjoy!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Snow from the blue sky
Today I woke up to blue skies. No more than an hour later, dark, gray gloomy clouds took reign over the skies and unveiled the first real snow that I have seen in Europe. 15 minutes later...blue skies. 30 minutes later...snow. This has been going on all day? Why are the Prague skies so bi-polar?
Lately life has been entertaining. We found a way to hook up a friend's playstation 2 to our TV, so we could watch movies now and then. We just watched Run Lola Run, which is an excellent German film. The girl from The Bourne Identity (Franka Potente) is in it, and she's fantastic. Go watch this film.
Haven't been going to as many pubs and clubs lately, because money is getting a little tight. Everybody in our program kind of went crazy the first month, and then realized all the traveling they were going to be doing, which led to people not going out as much. Makes sense, considering I'm going to be going to about 8 countries in the next two months.
Tonight at midnight I'm off to Germany for 5 days. My roommate Joe and I are leaving on a 3 hour bus ride to Dresden. We'll be there for a day, and then off to Berlin from Fri-Monday. We wanted to come back Sunday at midnight, but according to the lady at the student travel agency, there are no buses on Sundays. This meant that we had to miss our Czech film class on Monday and come back Monday at midnight. Not a big deal, but I'm a little worried about spending too much money in Germany because the Euro makes everything so expensive. So needless to say, I won't be blogging or anything, but I will be traveling and taking lots of awesome pictures!
Just bought the book Everything is Illuminated which was actually turned into a film a few years ago with Elijah Wood. I hear the book is great, but I guess I'll find out this coming weekend as I read it on my travels around German-land.
Lately life has been entertaining. We found a way to hook up a friend's playstation 2 to our TV, so we could watch movies now and then. We just watched Run Lola Run, which is an excellent German film. The girl from The Bourne Identity (Franka Potente) is in it, and she's fantastic. Go watch this film.
Haven't been going to as many pubs and clubs lately, because money is getting a little tight. Everybody in our program kind of went crazy the first month, and then realized all the traveling they were going to be doing, which led to people not going out as much. Makes sense, considering I'm going to be going to about 8 countries in the next two months.
Tonight at midnight I'm off to Germany for 5 days. My roommate Joe and I are leaving on a 3 hour bus ride to Dresden. We'll be there for a day, and then off to Berlin from Fri-Monday. We wanted to come back Sunday at midnight, but according to the lady at the student travel agency, there are no buses on Sundays. This meant that we had to miss our Czech film class on Monday and come back Monday at midnight. Not a big deal, but I'm a little worried about spending too much money in Germany because the Euro makes everything so expensive. So needless to say, I won't be blogging or anything, but I will be traveling and taking lots of awesome pictures!
Just bought the book Everything is Illuminated which was actually turned into a film a few years ago with Elijah Wood. I hear the book is great, but I guess I'll find out this coming weekend as I read it on my travels around German-land.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
It's a verb
My roommate Logan said something very wise tonight. (I'm paraphrasing.) "Love can't be put into words. If you think you can put love into words, you don't know what love is."
This lead me to thinking about a question that I think about quite often..
What is love?
Is it a feeling? An emotion? Feeling God? How do you even know if you are in love? When can you rightly say that you know you are in love? How is loving your neighbor different than loving your wife, your friend, your family?
Is giving your life for someone else the greatest sign of love?
This lead me to thinking about a question that I think about quite often..
What is love?
Is it a feeling? An emotion? Feeling God? How do you even know if you are in love? When can you rightly say that you know you are in love? How is loving your neighbor different than loving your wife, your friend, your family?
Is giving your life for someone else the greatest sign of love?
Saturday, March 1, 2008
the daily terror of eternity
"I had rather walk, as I do, in daily terror of eternity, than feel that this was only a children's game in which all of the contestants would get equally worthless prizes in the end."
-T.S. Eliot
-T.S. Eliot
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Terezin/Hluboka (pictures included!)
Had quite the eventful weekend. On Friday, one of my three classes was canceled because of a little field trip most of the people in our program were going on. We took a 90 minute bus ride to Terezin. Terezin is known for the concentration camp and jewish ghetto. Most of the Czech Republic's heroes are buried in the cemetary right outside of the concentration camp. One important thing to make clear about Terezin is that it was not a death/extermination camp like Auschwitz. It was used more as a place to gather jews/gypsies/etc. before they were sent to Auschwitz. The prisoners at Terezin were still treated terribly and lived in horrible conditions, but there were no gash chambers or crematoriums.
I'll be honest, after Auschwitz, you really never need to see another concentration camp ever again. But it was part of our day trip and I felt like I should honor those that lost their lives during WWII in the Czech Republic. This camp was much smaller and had almost nobody visiting, so it had a much different feel that Auschwitz did. Also, we actually had a guide this time who told us many interesting things about the camp. We also got to see the Jewish ghetto and even a small hidden room which was used as a place for Jews to worship in secret. The room was never found and was kept hidden all throughout the war and through the communist era. Pretty cool stuff.
I've been thinking about how odd it is to walk through places where such profound events took place. Walking through concentration camps, Jewish ghetto's, enormous churches and castles really makes you think about what happened in the building or room you are standing in. It's amazing how much emotion a building can evoke. After all, it is just brick/stone/clay/rock/etc. I don't deny that big things happened in some of the places I visit, but sometimes its hard to imagine the things that really happened. All I have is a tour guide's word, a textbook's description or a film's portrayal. I absolutely love visiting historical places, but sometimes it's just hard to imagine that you are standing in a building that is five, six, nine-hundred years old. After visiting Auschwitz and Terezin its also horrifying to be in a place where thousands/millions of people died and/or suffered. Knowing that you are in a place where humans were at one of their lowest points in history is quite sobering.
Onto a cheerier note, we also got to visit a really cool glass factory. We got to watch some guys blow and shape glass into all kinds of different things. Cups, bowls, vases, you name it. It was fun to get to watch these random Czech guys, because they were sweating and working their butts off, and they were all clearly trying to impress us. Some people from our class even had the opportunity to shape, mold and blow their own glass figures. Most people's ended up looking like some demented orb, but that's okay! At the end of the little tour, we all got to purchase some fine, hand made glass artifacts. They were all extremely cheap, so I picked up a few things. I've never been so fascinated by glass in my whole life, I've got to say.
Here are the pictures from Terezin (with some random pictures from Prague thrown in)
and
Here are the pictures from Hluboka.
I'll update again soon...got a lot to write about!
I'll be honest, after Auschwitz, you really never need to see another concentration camp ever again. But it was part of our day trip and I felt like I should honor those that lost their lives during WWII in the Czech Republic. This camp was much smaller and had almost nobody visiting, so it had a much different feel that Auschwitz did. Also, we actually had a guide this time who told us many interesting things about the camp. We also got to see the Jewish ghetto and even a small hidden room which was used as a place for Jews to worship in secret. The room was never found and was kept hidden all throughout the war and through the communist era. Pretty cool stuff.
I've been thinking about how odd it is to walk through places where such profound events took place. Walking through concentration camps, Jewish ghetto's, enormous churches and castles really makes you think about what happened in the building or room you are standing in. It's amazing how much emotion a building can evoke. After all, it is just brick/stone/clay/rock/etc. I don't deny that big things happened in some of the places I visit, but sometimes its hard to imagine the things that really happened. All I have is a tour guide's word, a textbook's description or a film's portrayal. I absolutely love visiting historical places, but sometimes it's just hard to imagine that you are standing in a building that is five, six, nine-hundred years old. After visiting Auschwitz and Terezin its also horrifying to be in a place where thousands/millions of people died and/or suffered. Knowing that you are in a place where humans were at one of their lowest points in history is quite sobering.
Onto a cheerier note, we also got to visit a really cool glass factory. We got to watch some guys blow and shape glass into all kinds of different things. Cups, bowls, vases, you name it. It was fun to get to watch these random Czech guys, because they were sweating and working their butts off, and they were all clearly trying to impress us. Some people from our class even had the opportunity to shape, mold and blow their own glass figures. Most people's ended up looking like some demented orb, but that's okay! At the end of the little tour, we all got to purchase some fine, hand made glass artifacts. They were all extremely cheap, so I picked up a few things. I've never been so fascinated by glass in my whole life, I've got to say.
Here are the pictures from Terezin (with some random pictures from Prague thrown in)
and
Here are the pictures from Hluboka.
I'll update again soon...got a lot to write about!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
God be with Uganda
www.ugandacan.org
The war is almost over! Pray! Pray!
P.S. I'll update soon and will put pictures up from my trips to Terazin and Hluboku...
The war is almost over! Pray! Pray!
P.S. I'll update soon and will put pictures up from my trips to Terazin and Hluboku...
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Some things are bound to happen
I'm acquiring a taste for coffee. And beer. Slowly but surely. If this is where I'm at 3 weeks into the semester, I don't even want to know where I'm going to be in May.
On the way home from a club last night, my roommates went to KFC because they were, well, a little inebriated, and starving. Here is an exchange that happened inside:
Joe (my roommate): Hey man can I have one of your fries?
Some random Czech guy: Do you believe in Socialism or Capitalism?
Joe: Capitalism
SRCG: You can go buy your own damn fries.
I just thought that was hilarious.
Here's another fun story that happened to one of my roommates:
While dancing at a club, one of my roommates had his eye on an attractive lady for some time. Finally she noticed him, ditched her guy, and started to come his way. (This never happens to guys outside of cinema, so needless to say he was stunned.) She comes over and literally one second after they start dancing, my roommate accidentally (don't ask me how) headbutts the girl! She left immediately.
Sounds like something that should be in a Judd Apatow comedy...right?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can we talk about Lost for a second? The current season is freaking amazing. It's as if the writers took a syringe and just injected straight adrenaline into the story and characters. The direction the show is going is extremely creative and intriguing. To everyone that said "How is a show about people stranded on an island ever going to last more than one season?": Don't doubt writers. They know what they are doing.
Speaking of which, hooray for the writers strike finally being over! Boo that Jack Bauer doesn't come back until January. Boo that Lost only is airing 8 episodes this winter/spring. Hopefully the office will come back and Scrubs will get to finish on air. Okay those are my TV thoughts.
Two movies I've been itching to watch: Fight Club and Garden State. There are just some movies I have to watch at least once a year. Those are two of them.
Okay, I'm off to go get a new backpack and beanie and gloves. It's finally getting as cold as everyone had been expecting. I swear I saw some snow flurries yesterday. Let me tell you, walking home at around 2 in the morning when it is 20 degrees is not an entertaining experience. I've found at times it can get so cold that if you leave your mouth open to long, your tounge starts to get cold! Owcheemama that is cold!
One more thought: Obama better beat Hilary. Please. Please. Can you imagine if it was Hilary vs. Mccain? What a lose lose situation.
On the way home from a club last night, my roommates went to KFC because they were, well, a little inebriated, and starving. Here is an exchange that happened inside:
Joe (my roommate): Hey man can I have one of your fries?
Some random Czech guy: Do you believe in Socialism or Capitalism?
Joe: Capitalism
SRCG: You can go buy your own damn fries.
I just thought that was hilarious.
Here's another fun story that happened to one of my roommates:
While dancing at a club, one of my roommates had his eye on an attractive lady for some time. Finally she noticed him, ditched her guy, and started to come his way. (This never happens to guys outside of cinema, so needless to say he was stunned.) She comes over and literally one second after they start dancing, my roommate accidentally (don't ask me how) headbutts the girl! She left immediately.
Sounds like something that should be in a Judd Apatow comedy...right?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can we talk about Lost for a second? The current season is freaking amazing. It's as if the writers took a syringe and just injected straight adrenaline into the story and characters. The direction the show is going is extremely creative and intriguing. To everyone that said "How is a show about people stranded on an island ever going to last more than one season?": Don't doubt writers. They know what they are doing.
Speaking of which, hooray for the writers strike finally being over! Boo that Jack Bauer doesn't come back until January. Boo that Lost only is airing 8 episodes this winter/spring. Hopefully the office will come back and Scrubs will get to finish on air. Okay those are my TV thoughts.
Two movies I've been itching to watch: Fight Club and Garden State. There are just some movies I have to watch at least once a year. Those are two of them.
Okay, I'm off to go get a new backpack and beanie and gloves. It's finally getting as cold as everyone had been expecting. I swear I saw some snow flurries yesterday. Let me tell you, walking home at around 2 in the morning when it is 20 degrees is not an entertaining experience. I've found at times it can get so cold that if you leave your mouth open to long, your tounge starts to get cold! Owcheemama that is cold!
One more thought: Obama better beat Hilary. Please. Please. Can you imagine if it was Hilary vs. Mccain? What a lose lose situation.
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