Well everyone, the semester is over, and therefore so is this blog. It was truly the best time of my life, and i come back with no regrets, a dozen new friends, and a whole new outlook on the world. Thank you to all of you who kept in touch with me and made everything so by so much faster!! I am so excited to be home and see everyone!!!
Au Revoir Europe!
Love Cristen.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The Big Trip
Sorry it has been so long since my last post! We were all on a class field trip from the 13th-25th this month so i havnt been around much! The weekend before we left, i went to Berlin---but to spare myself arthritis, i will just skip to the big trip.
CYPRUS Tuesday 13th-Saturday 17th
We flew out of Brussels to Cyprus, and landed in a tropical paradise. Maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but the weather was still beautiful. I unfortunatley had woken up with a cold that morning, and our late arrival put me and some friends in the mood for room service and bad television.
The next day, we got up with the intentions of checking out the beach, but when we went downstairs we found alot of our classmates telling us that it was muddy and gross, so we decided to lay by the pool instead. The water was way to cold to swim in, but sun-bathing was definitley a good choice. A bunch of us did that for most of the day, and it was so relaxing and such a change to finally see the sun! That night a bunch of us went out for dinner at a traditional Greek place across the street from our hotel---it was mediocre, but still filling.
The next day it was back to the educational stuff. We started out the day in the "green zone" which is the UN run buffer zone between South and North Cyprus. We were going to a UN Peace Initiative center which was in the buffer zone in Nicosia, the capital city. It was an absolute ghost town. There was abandoned homes, and even an abandoned airport left from the Turkish invasion in 1974. It was really eerie. After that lecture, we went to the Greek Cypriot Foreign Ministry to hear their side of the story. It was obviously a very biased view of the conflict, but it is worth hearing both sides. After that lecture we checked out downtown Nicosia, had lunch and then all headed back to our town, Limassol in the South. That night we all hung out together and a few of us went down to the beach around midnight and went swimming in the mediteranean...one of the best experiences of my life.
The next day it was time to hear the other side of the story. A greek driver took us to Nicosia, where we were dropped off and had to walk over the Turkish Cypriot Border. Were were given a removable stamp for our passport so that the Greeks wouldnt give us any trouble as to why we went there. After exploring the downtown of the Turkish side of Nicosia, a Turkish driver picked us up to take us to the Turkish Cypriot Foreign Ministry, where we heard a totally opposite biased side of the story, a left with a bag full of propoganda goodies oh yay! It was our last night in Cyprus, so after a nice dinner we spent some time by the pool and on our balconies taking in the last few breaths of nice weather we would have for a longggg time.
BUDPEST Saturday-Monday
Saturday afternoon we left Cyprus (after hitting up a pretty cool Cypriot market by the hotel) and landed in Vienna, where our usual driver Alex picked us up to drive to Hungary. For some reason we all thought it was a ridiculously long drive, so we were pleasantly surprised to be there in 4 hours. Budapest was beautiful at night with so many buildings surrounding the Danube lit up. It reminded me alot of Prague and was a really nice city to be in. We explored the main pedestrain street for dinner, where we found a really cozy wine bar/restaurant in the cellar of a building. It was so late by the time we were finished, and we were all so exhausted from the day of travelling that we hit the hay pretty early.
The next day, i went to the Terror Haza or House of Terror Museum. It is an old building, converted to a museum that was the headquarters for the Nazis and Soviets in Hungary. It was a really interesting museum--but very eerie---especially the reconstructed Soviet torture/prison cells in the basement. Afterwards we tried to do a bit of shopping, especially at a market that Jerry recommended to us. But unfortunatley, we neglected to notice it was Sunday, so shopping was a bit limited. I had considered going to the Turkish baths, which alot of people did...but my fear of germs/hair and not-so-bathing suit body made me realize communal bathing just wasnt for me. Instead i went to the "Buda" side of the river, and went and saw the Royal Palace. Afterwards, I tried to go to St. Steven's Cathedral, where there is a relic of St. Steve himself ---his shriveled old hand. However, when i made it to the building it was closed (shocking for a Sunday right?)...it wasnt until later that i discovered i had actually gone to the PARLIAMENT building...which looks alot like a church in my defense, but which explains why the guards were such assholes when i asked why the church was closed. We went back to the hotel to warm up for a bit, since it was a gross rainy day. Afterwards, a bunch of us went out to dinner together to a traditional hungarian place. I however, didnt want to convert more money, so i skipped the gulasch and went for something cheaper. Everything in Budapest closed pretty early, especially on Sunday so there wasnt much to do after dinner. We all just hung out at the hotel for a while, and goofed off there.
BELGRADE, SERBIA Monday-Wednesday
The next day we departed from Budapest to drive to Belgrade. It was a verrrryyy long bus ride, and when we finally arrived in the city the weather was gross. It was sad to see alot of the destruction that was left over from the NATO airstrikes that had just never been repaired. That night, Jerry had arranged for us to have a traditional serbian meal...which turned out to be Chicken and french fries (a meal that would haunt us for the rest of the trip).
We had class the next day at the Serbian Foreign Ministry...a great honor considering we were dropping bombs on them as little as 8 years ago, and are currently trying to tear apart their country. It was really interesting and they made some really good points in their defense...they are always made out to be the bad guys of the balkan wars and they certainly did enough damage, but it was good to hear their side of the story also. We had a tour of the city in the afternoon with the RIDICULOUS woman who was hilarious. She kept singing to us, blurted out the most pointless information and started AND finished each sentence with "here in the belgrade..." It was entertaining to say the least. We drove past Slobodan Milosevic's old house (which was caved in from a bomb.), saw the 3rd largest orthodox church in the world (which has never been completed), and many more random things that i will never remember except in the sense that they point out the ridiculously that is Serbia. That night there was more roomservice (it is just so easy).
SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZOGOVINA Wednesday-Friday
The next day we took the long journey to Sarajevo. It was one of the most eerie, but thought provoking drives i have ever been on. After crossing the border from Croatia into Bosnia, there were miles and miles of burnt out homes, deserted towns, just sheer depression. This was all in the "Republica Serbska" and the homes were that of Croats or Bosniacs who were forced out and never bothered to go back. It was a beautiful country--the Balkan mountains, the rivers...but it was hard to look at them without wondering how many people died in that very spot, how many mass graves are still unfound. We passed dozens of mine-fields, that are still being excavated. I have never really thought of it this way, but we are truly SO lucky to live in such a civil society. Could you ever imagine seeing those things in America? No. But this is what this region of the world has dealt with since the fall of Yugoslavia. When we arrived in Sarajevo, the fog was so thick that you could hardly see your hand in front of you. A group of us followed Jerry to the "old town" area to check it out. We saw some beautiful mosques along the way, and stopped at the marketplace which was twice bombed by Serbs--killing dozens of civilians each time. We went down to the Turkish Quarter of town which had lots of neat shops and stuff, and saw the bridge were the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot by Gavrilo Princip, "the shot heard round the world" they say...starting WWI. We were let loose to explore a bit, but unfortunatley most of the shops were closing, so we had dinner and headed back to the hotel. Our hotel was a Holiday Inn that was build for the Olympics held in Sarajevo, and it was severely damaged during the war, however everything was repaired.
The next day (Thanksgiving) was an interesting day. When the fog finally cleared, you could really get a good view of the city...and how war torn it was. Bullet holes and shell holes covered every building. We started the day at the High Representative, and UN ad hoc body responsible for keeping the politic groups working in Bosnia. I was so frustrated by the time we left, because our speaker was AWFUL in my opinion, was rude, anti-american, and ridiculously biased. Next we went to the OSCE, which works on alot in Bosnia including elections, education, human rights etc. We were equally disappointed with our speaker there, who read fast from a piece of paper and wasnt able to answer the majority of our questions. After class, I went back downtown to do a little shopping before the highlight of the day which was our tour of the city with Muki, a former member of the Bosnian Army. We drove all over the city, saw the destruction, the rebuilding, the former Olympic stadiums and grounds---one field of which was converted into the largest cemetary for the Bosnian war--a surreal waste of lives. We also drove outside of the city a little bit and went to what was called the "Tunnel". Which is literally what it was...a tunnel that was build by the muslims to get people out of sarajevo and into the bosnian safe area. We watched a movie there that was absolutely unbelievable...bombings every day for three years, cars going down the street at 100 mph because they were shot at either way, the deaths of more than 1,500 children. The tunnel was built under a house (we got to go through a little part of what remained of it) and saved thousands of people during the war. The man we spoke to there had also been a member of the army, and gave us alot of food for thought that i will never forget. We then drove through former Serbian controlled territory, where there were some old Roman ruins before heading back to Sarjevo. It was truly something you would never expect to do on Thanksgiving...but i dont think ANYTHING ELSE has EVER made me feel more thankful than being there. The damage, the atrocities, the loss of lives, the fact that these people are STILL effected by the war and are still rebuilding their homes and society...these are all things we really take forgranted when watching the news. We had a thanksgiving dinner that was arranged for us at a restaraunt which was really nice...a VERY small bird for all 17 of us, but it was the first time i had ever seen turkey in europe! A great way to spend the holiday...
ZAGREB, CROATIA Friday-Saturday
When we left Bosnia, all the rest of the trip was getting home. Because our driver needed to rest we had two planned stops, one of which was in Zagreb. It was a cool city, but we didnt do anything historical really because we were there for less that 15 hours. so instead...we SHOPPED. :)
MUNICH
Our last stop on the journey home was in "munich" but was really about 3 miles outside of the city, so it was a good place for us to all relax and catch up on some sleep...the next day it was an 8 am start and a 10 hour drive back to Brussels!
So now i am finally back...with only 17 more days to go...if you think i am sad you are mistaken because i am MORE than ready to come home. Of course i dont want it to end...and yet i do...badly. This week is spent writing our 15 page paper for our internship credit. This weekend i will be going to Dublin...which i am excited about but not at the same time just because i am so sick of the "transit" part of travelling. I know i need to watch my tongue because my mother would kill me if she thought i wasnt excited to travel to ireland...but you know what i mean. After that it is finals finals finals and then FINALly HOME!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Cristen
CYPRUS Tuesday 13th-Saturday 17th
We flew out of Brussels to Cyprus, and landed in a tropical paradise. Maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but the weather was still beautiful. I unfortunatley had woken up with a cold that morning, and our late arrival put me and some friends in the mood for room service and bad television.
The next day, we got up with the intentions of checking out the beach, but when we went downstairs we found alot of our classmates telling us that it was muddy and gross, so we decided to lay by the pool instead. The water was way to cold to swim in, but sun-bathing was definitley a good choice. A bunch of us did that for most of the day, and it was so relaxing and such a change to finally see the sun! That night a bunch of us went out for dinner at a traditional Greek place across the street from our hotel---it was mediocre, but still filling.
The next day it was back to the educational stuff. We started out the day in the "green zone" which is the UN run buffer zone between South and North Cyprus. We were going to a UN Peace Initiative center which was in the buffer zone in Nicosia, the capital city. It was an absolute ghost town. There was abandoned homes, and even an abandoned airport left from the Turkish invasion in 1974. It was really eerie. After that lecture, we went to the Greek Cypriot Foreign Ministry to hear their side of the story. It was obviously a very biased view of the conflict, but it is worth hearing both sides. After that lecture we checked out downtown Nicosia, had lunch and then all headed back to our town, Limassol in the South. That night we all hung out together and a few of us went down to the beach around midnight and went swimming in the mediteranean...one of the best experiences of my life.
The next day it was time to hear the other side of the story. A greek driver took us to Nicosia, where we were dropped off and had to walk over the Turkish Cypriot Border. Were were given a removable stamp for our passport so that the Greeks wouldnt give us any trouble as to why we went there. After exploring the downtown of the Turkish side of Nicosia, a Turkish driver picked us up to take us to the Turkish Cypriot Foreign Ministry, where we heard a totally opposite biased side of the story, a left with a bag full of propoganda goodies oh yay! It was our last night in Cyprus, so after a nice dinner we spent some time by the pool and on our balconies taking in the last few breaths of nice weather we would have for a longggg time.
BUDPEST Saturday-Monday
Saturday afternoon we left Cyprus (after hitting up a pretty cool Cypriot market by the hotel) and landed in Vienna, where our usual driver Alex picked us up to drive to Hungary. For some reason we all thought it was a ridiculously long drive, so we were pleasantly surprised to be there in 4 hours. Budapest was beautiful at night with so many buildings surrounding the Danube lit up. It reminded me alot of Prague and was a really nice city to be in. We explored the main pedestrain street for dinner, where we found a really cozy wine bar/restaurant in the cellar of a building. It was so late by the time we were finished, and we were all so exhausted from the day of travelling that we hit the hay pretty early.
The next day, i went to the Terror Haza or House of Terror Museum. It is an old building, converted to a museum that was the headquarters for the Nazis and Soviets in Hungary. It was a really interesting museum--but very eerie---especially the reconstructed Soviet torture/prison cells in the basement. Afterwards we tried to do a bit of shopping, especially at a market that Jerry recommended to us. But unfortunatley, we neglected to notice it was Sunday, so shopping was a bit limited. I had considered going to the Turkish baths, which alot of people did...but my fear of germs/hair and not-so-bathing suit body made me realize communal bathing just wasnt for me. Instead i went to the "Buda" side of the river, and went and saw the Royal Palace. Afterwards, I tried to go to St. Steven's Cathedral, where there is a relic of St. Steve himself ---his shriveled old hand. However, when i made it to the building it was closed (shocking for a Sunday right?)...it wasnt until later that i discovered i had actually gone to the PARLIAMENT building...which looks alot like a church in my defense, but which explains why the guards were such assholes when i asked why the church was closed. We went back to the hotel to warm up for a bit, since it was a gross rainy day. Afterwards, a bunch of us went out to dinner together to a traditional hungarian place. I however, didnt want to convert more money, so i skipped the gulasch and went for something cheaper. Everything in Budapest closed pretty early, especially on Sunday so there wasnt much to do after dinner. We all just hung out at the hotel for a while, and goofed off there.
BELGRADE, SERBIA Monday-Wednesday
The next day we departed from Budapest to drive to Belgrade. It was a verrrryyy long bus ride, and when we finally arrived in the city the weather was gross. It was sad to see alot of the destruction that was left over from the NATO airstrikes that had just never been repaired. That night, Jerry had arranged for us to have a traditional serbian meal...which turned out to be Chicken and french fries (a meal that would haunt us for the rest of the trip).
We had class the next day at the Serbian Foreign Ministry...a great honor considering we were dropping bombs on them as little as 8 years ago, and are currently trying to tear apart their country. It was really interesting and they made some really good points in their defense...they are always made out to be the bad guys of the balkan wars and they certainly did enough damage, but it was good to hear their side of the story also. We had a tour of the city in the afternoon with the RIDICULOUS woman who was hilarious. She kept singing to us, blurted out the most pointless information and started AND finished each sentence with "here in the belgrade..." It was entertaining to say the least. We drove past Slobodan Milosevic's old house (which was caved in from a bomb.), saw the 3rd largest orthodox church in the world (which has never been completed), and many more random things that i will never remember except in the sense that they point out the ridiculously that is Serbia. That night there was more roomservice (it is just so easy).
SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZOGOVINA Wednesday-Friday
The next day we took the long journey to Sarajevo. It was one of the most eerie, but thought provoking drives i have ever been on. After crossing the border from Croatia into Bosnia, there were miles and miles of burnt out homes, deserted towns, just sheer depression. This was all in the "Republica Serbska" and the homes were that of Croats or Bosniacs who were forced out and never bothered to go back. It was a beautiful country--the Balkan mountains, the rivers...but it was hard to look at them without wondering how many people died in that very spot, how many mass graves are still unfound. We passed dozens of mine-fields, that are still being excavated. I have never really thought of it this way, but we are truly SO lucky to live in such a civil society. Could you ever imagine seeing those things in America? No. But this is what this region of the world has dealt with since the fall of Yugoslavia. When we arrived in Sarajevo, the fog was so thick that you could hardly see your hand in front of you. A group of us followed Jerry to the "old town" area to check it out. We saw some beautiful mosques along the way, and stopped at the marketplace which was twice bombed by Serbs--killing dozens of civilians each time. We went down to the Turkish Quarter of town which had lots of neat shops and stuff, and saw the bridge were the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot by Gavrilo Princip, "the shot heard round the world" they say...starting WWI. We were let loose to explore a bit, but unfortunatley most of the shops were closing, so we had dinner and headed back to the hotel. Our hotel was a Holiday Inn that was build for the Olympics held in Sarajevo, and it was severely damaged during the war, however everything was repaired.
The next day (Thanksgiving) was an interesting day. When the fog finally cleared, you could really get a good view of the city...and how war torn it was. Bullet holes and shell holes covered every building. We started the day at the High Representative, and UN ad hoc body responsible for keeping the politic groups working in Bosnia. I was so frustrated by the time we left, because our speaker was AWFUL in my opinion, was rude, anti-american, and ridiculously biased. Next we went to the OSCE, which works on alot in Bosnia including elections, education, human rights etc. We were equally disappointed with our speaker there, who read fast from a piece of paper and wasnt able to answer the majority of our questions. After class, I went back downtown to do a little shopping before the highlight of the day which was our tour of the city with Muki, a former member of the Bosnian Army. We drove all over the city, saw the destruction, the rebuilding, the former Olympic stadiums and grounds---one field of which was converted into the largest cemetary for the Bosnian war--a surreal waste of lives. We also drove outside of the city a little bit and went to what was called the "Tunnel". Which is literally what it was...a tunnel that was build by the muslims to get people out of sarajevo and into the bosnian safe area. We watched a movie there that was absolutely unbelievable...bombings every day for three years, cars going down the street at 100 mph because they were shot at either way, the deaths of more than 1,500 children. The tunnel was built under a house (we got to go through a little part of what remained of it) and saved thousands of people during the war. The man we spoke to there had also been a member of the army, and gave us alot of food for thought that i will never forget. We then drove through former Serbian controlled territory, where there were some old Roman ruins before heading back to Sarjevo. It was truly something you would never expect to do on Thanksgiving...but i dont think ANYTHING ELSE has EVER made me feel more thankful than being there. The damage, the atrocities, the loss of lives, the fact that these people are STILL effected by the war and are still rebuilding their homes and society...these are all things we really take forgranted when watching the news. We had a thanksgiving dinner that was arranged for us at a restaraunt which was really nice...a VERY small bird for all 17 of us, but it was the first time i had ever seen turkey in europe! A great way to spend the holiday...
ZAGREB, CROATIA Friday-Saturday
When we left Bosnia, all the rest of the trip was getting home. Because our driver needed to rest we had two planned stops, one of which was in Zagreb. It was a cool city, but we didnt do anything historical really because we were there for less that 15 hours. so instead...we SHOPPED. :)
MUNICH
Our last stop on the journey home was in "munich" but was really about 3 miles outside of the city, so it was a good place for us to all relax and catch up on some sleep...the next day it was an 8 am start and a 10 hour drive back to Brussels!
So now i am finally back...with only 17 more days to go...if you think i am sad you are mistaken because i am MORE than ready to come home. Of course i dont want it to end...and yet i do...badly. This week is spent writing our 15 page paper for our internship credit. This weekend i will be going to Dublin...which i am excited about but not at the same time just because i am so sick of the "transit" part of travelling. I know i need to watch my tongue because my mother would kill me if she thought i wasnt excited to travel to ireland...but you know what i mean. After that it is finals finals finals and then FINALly HOME!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Cristen
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Fall Break: Spain, Portugal and Italy
Sorry it has taken me a while to write this but things are getting a bit crazy here. First of all, it is hard to believe that we are already (past) mid-term, so there have been alot of tests, stress about paper, plus I still have my internship and all this ridiculous traveling. But anyways...so from Oct 27th-November 3rd I was on fall break, which will be broken into three parts because well....thats the way it happened.
SPAIN:
Myself, Tayler and another girl on my trip Serena and I decided to take a pre-break break and leave Brussels a few days before everyone else. Destination one: Spain. Ryanair (the cheap european airline) flew into Malaga, which is a southern coastal town in the Andalucia region. It isnt somewhere I ever would have planned out on my own but we were all actually really grateful the plane landed there because it was a GORGEOUS town right on the ocean. When we arrived we found our hostel, which brightened out spirits because it was really nice---nicer than any of the other hostels we had stayed in before---after which we decided to explore a bit. The weather was just fantastic...it was windy but it was actually warm and sunny and such a change from having not seen the sun in Brussels for WEEKS (literally....how depressing). We had some tapas for lunch and some lovely sangria and then spent a few hours chilling out on the beach just talking and watching the sun set...it was really beautiful. That night we tried to go out, but it was a Thursday and apparently Malaga isn't much for nightlife during the off seasons so we headed back early and got some much needed sleep. Unfortunatley that was our only day in Malaga (like I said, we were only there because it happened to be where the plane landed), but we all agreed it was an excellent way to start off the trip and we were really excited to keep moving.
The next day we caught a train to Seville, Spain which is in the western side of Andalucia. The train ride through the countryside was long but really worth it because the landscape was really beautiful. We passed through some gorgeous plains, and then some poorer towns (one of which i saw a man walking around in his underwear outside his house...cool.) before we finally arrived in Seville. It is much more metropolitan (in a spanish sense i suppose). It was alot more like a city, but our hostel was closest to the historic part of the town. It was even hotter in Seville than it was in Malaga and our hostel was even NICER (so you can just picture the spirits rising right?). The people at the hostel were nice...a bit blunt perhaps. When we first got there, Tayler said that the reservation was under her name and the reception girl said "isnt that a boy's name? we almost didnt give you the female room you requested." Then when i handed her my reservation (long story as to why i had to book seperately) she looked at my name and said "You're a German." I simply looked at her and said "Yes, i know..thank you." ha ha apparently she was german too. The only bad part was that the hostel had initially messed up our reservation--they were very confused individuals--so there was a time that I was unceratin whether I would have a bed or have to resort to homelesness for our second night. Luckily they figured it out.
We had some lunch when we arrived and then decided to go exploring. Our hostel was only a few blocks away from the Jardins Alcazar, a park behind the old royal palace. We checked that out, saw a cool monument to Columbus (which for a while we mistakenly thought was his tomb) and then headed deeper into the historic city. It is all a huge labyrinth of winding streets and alleys and so the first time through it was difficult to navigate but we finally made it to the main historic square where the palace Alcazar and the Catedral de Sevilla were. We also went to the bull fighting ring. Serena and I were hoping to get tickets for a fight but they had finished THE WEEK BEFORE WE GOT THERE which was annoying. Most of the monuments (including alcazar and the cathedral) were closed for the day (it was already after 6), so we decided to go shopping instead. Very historic indeed. We went out to dinner that night for some delicious tapas at a place that was rumored to have the strongest sangria in town. We werent impressed to say the least. The waiter tried to tell us that when we stood up we would notice how strong it was....i beg to differ. Anyways, after that we went to see a free flamenco show down the road from our hostel. It was really cool and I was glad to be able to do something cultural like that while we were there.
The next day we went back to Alcazar and the Cathedral. Alcazar was cool, alot of really really beautiful gardens and spanish tile work...but there wasnt much IN IT which was kind of dissapointing. The cathedral was also cool (where i saw columbus's ACTUAL tomb) but it was strangely commericial, was hosting a union strike...i dunno it was weird. We also went to this place called Plaza de Espana which was just a really nice park etc. We went back and took a nap for a while (it was a really hot day and we walked ALLLLL over). That night we went out on the other side of the Rio de Alfonso which was apparently where all the nightlife was...true. We had fun and then headed back for the night.
The next day we were off again...Spain was so beautiful though i was really sad to leave it behind. It was not only cool country (and a nice warm place to take a break) but the people were really friendly, and Serena and I both felt SO much more comfortable there than in Belgium because we both understand Spanish. Although I was rusty...i was actually really proud of myself. All of my passive Spanish came back (i.e. I understood everything people were saying to me) and a lot of my active Spanish came back too so it was a really good experience.
PORTUGAL:
We left Seville on Sunday and took a bus to Lisbon, Portugal. It was neat driving through both countries...however the bus ride soon became the most frustrating thing in the world. It was supposed to take six hours...it took more like 8 and we were VERY CONFUSED because Europe had just had daylight savings (before the US) plus Portugal was an hour behind Spain...so we were very lost. We arrived at our hostel which was EVEN BETTER than the other two...it was as though Ikea had thrown up on this place and i LOVED IT. We baisically checked in and passed out...it had been a really long day. We realized when leaving Spain that with the arrival of our bus and the early departure of our plane on Tuesday we really only had a day in Lisbon...so we tried to make the most of it. Unfortunately alot was closed on a Monday (a european thing apparently), so we didnt get to go inside a whole lot. First we went to the Casteo Sao Jorge, this old castle that was literally up a stupid hill...it was EXHAUSTING getting up there (okay, i am probably out of shape also, but it was literally 45 degree angle.) It was not necessarily in ruin, but it wasnt a preserved indoor sort of thing. But it did give AMAZING views of Lisbon. Next we went to this basilica, that was closed unfortunately. We walked around a bit more and then took a tram out to this area of the city called Belam. It had a great view of the water, and an old (and closed) monastery called Monesterio de jeronimos. We stopped and had lunch in this place that was recommended to us by the hostel and tried a pastry...apparently the portuguese are famous for their pastries...a little known fact i think. So we tried their "famous" thingy which was a flaky little circle with almost like a creme brulee in the middle. It was fabulous. We went back toward the hostel, but first walked up the Avenue de Liberdad---a great shopping street with lots of nice stores. We went back to the hostel to freshen up a bit before going out for the evening. We went to a restaraunt that had live "fado" which is traditional portuguese music. A very haunting and sad sort of music with an interesting guitar. Unfortunately the restaraunt was a RIP OFF so that pissed us off and left us very hungry. But we ended up just going back for the night because our flight in the morning was very early.
ITALY:
So Tuesday we flew to Rome. We had a long layover in Barcelone (back to Spain...technically.) but we finally moved on. Getting into Rome dropped my mood 100%. When we got there we were tired, it was pouring, it was cold, and we were being yelled at by a cab driver and a fat italian woman. Yes...I am my father's daughter...and i DID yell back. I felt slightly vindicated. We got to the hostel that our other 4 friends from the program we were meeting in rome had booked....that was another dissapointment after coming from gorgeous hostels in the meditteranean to a piece of dirty crap with these RUDE people who kept saying to us "this is a party hostel, hope you can handle it we will try to be quiet for you ha ha ha" just like laughing at us. Needless to say, i was NOT pleased. The three of us went to dinner...actually scoped out some HOTELS....and then met up with our friends in an area of town that had lots of bars and clubs and such. It was nice to see them...i liked being in a small group in Spain/Portugal and such (because often the group dynamic is overwhelming) but i was really ready to see my other friends, especially my guy friends. So we had a fun night out and then decided to tour Rome.....at 2 in the morning. We saw the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and some other random things before going back to the hostel. Ironically the next morning at the "breakfast" (although i hardly call orange juice and some gross chocolate looking thing breakfast), i overheard someone saying that we were so loud when we came in blah blah blah....i guess i didnt exactly make friends by turning to them and saying "Oh sorry...thought this was a party hostel..." yeahhhh....
The weather wasnt any better the next day...still really rainy. We did all our major sight seeing that day. Saw the colloseum, the Spanish steps, Pallantine Hill, Piazza de Popolo, and we topped it off with the Vatican and going inside St. Pieter's Basilica. which was absolutely beautiful and moving to me. The day was interesting...i mean admittedly it was hard to enjoy and appreciate such beautiful sights in the rain...while holding an umbrella, trying to take pictures, stay warm and walk all simultaneously. Plus, the day started with all 7 of us....1 passed out at the colloseum so she and another girl left, and then there were four.....then we lost someone at St.Pieter's.....then there were three. Luckily we were all reunited for dinner which was AMAZING. We went to a different part of town to a restaraunt called Carlomento where there was a 4 course italian dinner for 13 euro! It was fantastic and i was more full than i have ever been in my life, but hey...when in rome....
It was Halloween that night, so of course we had to go out. We went to the main nightlife part of the city, called Campo de Fiori where we had much fun.
The next day most of our friends were leaving to go to the Italian islands, but Tayler and I were staying in Rome because we were flying back earlier (and cheaper) than everyone else. So we got up in the morning, got a 2 star hotel room and she and I slept for most of the day...it had been a long two days. We got up in the evening walked around the shopping area and then had a truly European dinner (ie. 3 hours with lots of wine) which was really nice since it was just the two of us. We didnt do anything else...just slept that night which i think we both needed.
We justified not doing anything that day, because we had planned on doing our shopping, touristy shopping etc on our last day there. Tayler's little sister was coming into Rome for her own break, and had booked a hotel that we were going to leave our bags in since we had a red eye flight out early the next morning. Her sister had given Tayler the address of the hotel and we figured the best way to get there would be by cab....well it turns out that this place was 40 minutes outside of Rome in some backwardass town called Monterodondo......this place was a BLACK HOLE. Nothing was open. the hotel was crappy, her sister still had not arrived....it was very very frustrating for all parties involved, especially tayler's sister who had NO idea it was this far outside of the city. We tried to go into the city around dinner time, but the commuter trains were really dumb and confusing and so there just wasnt enough time for us to do it before Tayler and I had to catch a train to the airport...so we had dinner in that stupid town and headed to the aiport....stayed the night there (which i couldnt sleep during, so i was MISERABLE the next day).
In general Rome was fun because we were with our other friends...but also very dissapointing just because of the weather, the last two days, plus i never got to see the Sistine Chapel or eat gelato!!!! Oh well, i am sure i will make it back in life. Break turned out to be pretty exhausting, and by the time i got home i felt like i needed a break from break. So i was glad to be back in the swing of things this week for the most part.
This tuesday (the 6th) I had lunch at NATO with my professor Jamie Shea...the former NATO spokesman during the Balkan crisis. It was a lovely lunch with lovely conversation.
This weekend I am off to Berlin...which i realized i will be there for the 18th anniversary of the falling of the wall so it should be REALLY interesting I am excited.
Next Tuesday we head off for our big 12 day trip to Eastern Europe...wish me luck
P.S. PICTURES TO COME!!!!! Blogger was being dumb about uploading... sorry!!!!!!
Cristen
SPAIN:
Myself, Tayler and another girl on my trip Serena and I decided to take a pre-break break and leave Brussels a few days before everyone else. Destination one: Spain. Ryanair (the cheap european airline) flew into Malaga, which is a southern coastal town in the Andalucia region. It isnt somewhere I ever would have planned out on my own but we were all actually really grateful the plane landed there because it was a GORGEOUS town right on the ocean. When we arrived we found our hostel, which brightened out spirits because it was really nice---nicer than any of the other hostels we had stayed in before---after which we decided to explore a bit. The weather was just fantastic...it was windy but it was actually warm and sunny and such a change from having not seen the sun in Brussels for WEEKS (literally....how depressing). We had some tapas for lunch and some lovely sangria and then spent a few hours chilling out on the beach just talking and watching the sun set...it was really beautiful. That night we tried to go out, but it was a Thursday and apparently Malaga isn't much for nightlife during the off seasons so we headed back early and got some much needed sleep. Unfortunatley that was our only day in Malaga (like I said, we were only there because it happened to be where the plane landed), but we all agreed it was an excellent way to start off the trip and we were really excited to keep moving.
The next day we caught a train to Seville, Spain which is in the western side of Andalucia. The train ride through the countryside was long but really worth it because the landscape was really beautiful. We passed through some gorgeous plains, and then some poorer towns (one of which i saw a man walking around in his underwear outside his house...cool.) before we finally arrived in Seville. It is much more metropolitan (in a spanish sense i suppose). It was alot more like a city, but our hostel was closest to the historic part of the town. It was even hotter in Seville than it was in Malaga and our hostel was even NICER (so you can just picture the spirits rising right?). The people at the hostel were nice...a bit blunt perhaps. When we first got there, Tayler said that the reservation was under her name and the reception girl said "isnt that a boy's name? we almost didnt give you the female room you requested." Then when i handed her my reservation (long story as to why i had to book seperately) she looked at my name and said "You're a German." I simply looked at her and said "Yes, i know..thank you." ha ha apparently she was german too. The only bad part was that the hostel had initially messed up our reservation--they were very confused individuals--so there was a time that I was unceratin whether I would have a bed or have to resort to homelesness for our second night. Luckily they figured it out.
We had some lunch when we arrived and then decided to go exploring. Our hostel was only a few blocks away from the Jardins Alcazar, a park behind the old royal palace. We checked that out, saw a cool monument to Columbus (which for a while we mistakenly thought was his tomb) and then headed deeper into the historic city. It is all a huge labyrinth of winding streets and alleys and so the first time through it was difficult to navigate but we finally made it to the main historic square where the palace Alcazar and the Catedral de Sevilla were. We also went to the bull fighting ring. Serena and I were hoping to get tickets for a fight but they had finished THE WEEK BEFORE WE GOT THERE which was annoying. Most of the monuments (including alcazar and the cathedral) were closed for the day (it was already after 6), so we decided to go shopping instead. Very historic indeed. We went out to dinner that night for some delicious tapas at a place that was rumored to have the strongest sangria in town. We werent impressed to say the least. The waiter tried to tell us that when we stood up we would notice how strong it was....i beg to differ. Anyways, after that we went to see a free flamenco show down the road from our hostel. It was really cool and I was glad to be able to do something cultural like that while we were there.
The next day we went back to Alcazar and the Cathedral. Alcazar was cool, alot of really really beautiful gardens and spanish tile work...but there wasnt much IN IT which was kind of dissapointing. The cathedral was also cool (where i saw columbus's ACTUAL tomb) but it was strangely commericial, was hosting a union strike...i dunno it was weird. We also went to this place called Plaza de Espana which was just a really nice park etc. We went back and took a nap for a while (it was a really hot day and we walked ALLLLL over). That night we went out on the other side of the Rio de Alfonso which was apparently where all the nightlife was...true. We had fun and then headed back for the night.
The next day we were off again...Spain was so beautiful though i was really sad to leave it behind. It was not only cool country (and a nice warm place to take a break) but the people were really friendly, and Serena and I both felt SO much more comfortable there than in Belgium because we both understand Spanish. Although I was rusty...i was actually really proud of myself. All of my passive Spanish came back (i.e. I understood everything people were saying to me) and a lot of my active Spanish came back too so it was a really good experience.
PORTUGAL:
We left Seville on Sunday and took a bus to Lisbon, Portugal. It was neat driving through both countries...however the bus ride soon became the most frustrating thing in the world. It was supposed to take six hours...it took more like 8 and we were VERY CONFUSED because Europe had just had daylight savings (before the US) plus Portugal was an hour behind Spain...so we were very lost. We arrived at our hostel which was EVEN BETTER than the other two...it was as though Ikea had thrown up on this place and i LOVED IT. We baisically checked in and passed out...it had been a really long day. We realized when leaving Spain that with the arrival of our bus and the early departure of our plane on Tuesday we really only had a day in Lisbon...so we tried to make the most of it. Unfortunately alot was closed on a Monday (a european thing apparently), so we didnt get to go inside a whole lot. First we went to the Casteo Sao Jorge, this old castle that was literally up a stupid hill...it was EXHAUSTING getting up there (okay, i am probably out of shape also, but it was literally 45 degree angle.) It was not necessarily in ruin, but it wasnt a preserved indoor sort of thing. But it did give AMAZING views of Lisbon. Next we went to this basilica, that was closed unfortunately. We walked around a bit more and then took a tram out to this area of the city called Belam. It had a great view of the water, and an old (and closed) monastery called Monesterio de jeronimos. We stopped and had lunch in this place that was recommended to us by the hostel and tried a pastry...apparently the portuguese are famous for their pastries...a little known fact i think. So we tried their "famous" thingy which was a flaky little circle with almost like a creme brulee in the middle. It was fabulous. We went back toward the hostel, but first walked up the Avenue de Liberdad---a great shopping street with lots of nice stores. We went back to the hostel to freshen up a bit before going out for the evening. We went to a restaraunt that had live "fado" which is traditional portuguese music. A very haunting and sad sort of music with an interesting guitar. Unfortunately the restaraunt was a RIP OFF so that pissed us off and left us very hungry. But we ended up just going back for the night because our flight in the morning was very early.
ITALY:
So Tuesday we flew to Rome. We had a long layover in Barcelone (back to Spain...technically.) but we finally moved on. Getting into Rome dropped my mood 100%. When we got there we were tired, it was pouring, it was cold, and we were being yelled at by a cab driver and a fat italian woman. Yes...I am my father's daughter...and i DID yell back. I felt slightly vindicated. We got to the hostel that our other 4 friends from the program we were meeting in rome had booked....that was another dissapointment after coming from gorgeous hostels in the meditteranean to a piece of dirty crap with these RUDE people who kept saying to us "this is a party hostel, hope you can handle it we will try to be quiet for you ha ha ha" just like laughing at us. Needless to say, i was NOT pleased. The three of us went to dinner...actually scoped out some HOTELS....and then met up with our friends in an area of town that had lots of bars and clubs and such. It was nice to see them...i liked being in a small group in Spain/Portugal and such (because often the group dynamic is overwhelming) but i was really ready to see my other friends, especially my guy friends. So we had a fun night out and then decided to tour Rome.....at 2 in the morning. We saw the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and some other random things before going back to the hostel. Ironically the next morning at the "breakfast" (although i hardly call orange juice and some gross chocolate looking thing breakfast), i overheard someone saying that we were so loud when we came in blah blah blah....i guess i didnt exactly make friends by turning to them and saying "Oh sorry...thought this was a party hostel..." yeahhhh....
The weather wasnt any better the next day...still really rainy. We did all our major sight seeing that day. Saw the colloseum, the Spanish steps, Pallantine Hill, Piazza de Popolo, and we topped it off with the Vatican and going inside St. Pieter's Basilica. which was absolutely beautiful and moving to me. The day was interesting...i mean admittedly it was hard to enjoy and appreciate such beautiful sights in the rain...while holding an umbrella, trying to take pictures, stay warm and walk all simultaneously. Plus, the day started with all 7 of us....1 passed out at the colloseum so she and another girl left, and then there were four.....then we lost someone at St.Pieter's.....then there were three. Luckily we were all reunited for dinner which was AMAZING. We went to a different part of town to a restaraunt called Carlomento where there was a 4 course italian dinner for 13 euro! It was fantastic and i was more full than i have ever been in my life, but hey...when in rome....
It was Halloween that night, so of course we had to go out. We went to the main nightlife part of the city, called Campo de Fiori where we had much fun.
The next day most of our friends were leaving to go to the Italian islands, but Tayler and I were staying in Rome because we were flying back earlier (and cheaper) than everyone else. So we got up in the morning, got a 2 star hotel room and she and I slept for most of the day...it had been a long two days. We got up in the evening walked around the shopping area and then had a truly European dinner (ie. 3 hours with lots of wine) which was really nice since it was just the two of us. We didnt do anything else...just slept that night which i think we both needed.
We justified not doing anything that day, because we had planned on doing our shopping, touristy shopping etc on our last day there. Tayler's little sister was coming into Rome for her own break, and had booked a hotel that we were going to leave our bags in since we had a red eye flight out early the next morning. Her sister had given Tayler the address of the hotel and we figured the best way to get there would be by cab....well it turns out that this place was 40 minutes outside of Rome in some backwardass town called Monterodondo......this place was a BLACK HOLE. Nothing was open. the hotel was crappy, her sister still had not arrived....it was very very frustrating for all parties involved, especially tayler's sister who had NO idea it was this far outside of the city. We tried to go into the city around dinner time, but the commuter trains were really dumb and confusing and so there just wasnt enough time for us to do it before Tayler and I had to catch a train to the airport...so we had dinner in that stupid town and headed to the aiport....stayed the night there (which i couldnt sleep during, so i was MISERABLE the next day).
In general Rome was fun because we were with our other friends...but also very dissapointing just because of the weather, the last two days, plus i never got to see the Sistine Chapel or eat gelato!!!! Oh well, i am sure i will make it back in life. Break turned out to be pretty exhausting, and by the time i got home i felt like i needed a break from break. So i was glad to be back in the swing of things this week for the most part.
This tuesday (the 6th) I had lunch at NATO with my professor Jamie Shea...the former NATO spokesman during the Balkan crisis. It was a lovely lunch with lovely conversation.
This weekend I am off to Berlin...which i realized i will be there for the 18th anniversary of the falling of the wall so it should be REALLY interesting I am excited.
Next Tuesday we head off for our big 12 day trip to Eastern Europe...wish me luck
P.S. PICTURES TO COME!!!!! Blogger was being dumb about uploading... sorry!!!!!!
Cristen
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Luxembourg, Trier and the Alsace
Well I'm finally back from another long and grueling class field trip. Oh joy. This time we went to Luxembourg, Trier Germany and the Alsace region in France including Strausbourg.
Wednesday night we got into Luxembourg pretty late, and we had a really early start in the morning so I just went to bed. In the A.M. we had "classes". First we went to the European Court of Justice and sat in on a trial....I have to admit, it was a pretty funny trial considering it was about the "vaginal injection of progesterone into German cows." Not something you hear about everyday... After lunch, we went to the European Investment Bank--an institution that invests in structural and scientific things to improve Europe. After a bit of a rest, we took a walking tour of Luxembourg. The city is SO beautiful. It is built into mountains so there are all these really deep gorges and valley that looked really nice with all the fall colors. We saw all the historical sights to see and then had to evening free to ourselves.
The next day we left to go to Trier in Germany. It is the old capital of Gaul and so it was full of really cool Roman ruins. Throughout the day we got to see Roman baths, an old city gate called the Porta Nigra, the oldest remaining Imperial Palace from the Roman days and an old gladiator ampitheater. It is also where Constatine (the "father" of Christianity in Europe) had alot of influence. There was a beautiful cathedral there which housed a holy relic: The Tunic of Jesus Christ. The story goes that Constantine's mother Helena went on a mission and found the relic. It is actually believable considering she would have done it only maybe 100 years after his death. The church was beautiful and although you could only see where the relic was held it was still a very awe-inspiring place.
We spent the night in a French town called Niederbrann in the Alsace region. The town was a ghost town baisically (except for a casino) so there wasnt really much to do that night. The next day we headed to Strausbourg where we stayed for the remainder of the trip. On our way there we stopped at a few places including one of the Maginot Line bunkers. We also went to the Struthof concentration camp---the only one ever built in France---which was mostly used for French P.O.W's and resistance fighters but which still caused alot of death and suffereing. It was a very haunting and moving place to be. Lastly we went to the Saint. Odille Convent which had beautiful views of the Alsacian plains you could even see as far as the Black Forest in Germany.
We arrive in Strausbourg later in the evening and I went out with a view people for dinner. I had a traditional Alsacian dish called "Choucroute" which is baisically a big pile of sauerkraut topped with every pork product you could ever imagine. While it was delicious, i think i am done with pig for a long time.
The next day we went to the Haut-Koenigsbourg castle, it also had really nice views but it was a bitter cold day so I wasnt really enjoying it too much. We also went to the town of Riquewihr...an Alsacian wine village which, although commercial, was really really cute. We walked around the town, which was surrounded by miles and miles of vineyards and in the afternoon we did a wine tasting which was really nice. The region is famous for Riesling, Pinot Gris, and a wine called Gewerstraminer which is a special grape not found anywhere else and it is a sweet aperetif with kind of a spicy kick to it. It was all a nice way to end the day.
On Monday morning we went to the Council of Europe, a human rights policing body in Europe, before heading back to Brussels. It was another draining and exhausting week which makes me want to be antisocial for a little bit. Luckily I don't have to work at my internship this week. Once a month the parliament goes to Strausbourg, and so the building in Brussels isnt open to limited passes which is what I have. It is perfect timing for me to have these days off because i am leaving for my fall break on Thursday! AHHH! SO SOON! I am going to Spain, Portugal and Italy and I will be gone until November 3rd. I am really excited!!! But the travel plans are a bit shaky so that is my only concern....wish me luck!
Love
Cristen
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Prague
This past weekend I went to Prague---not only to visit the city---but also to visit some of my best friends from AU who are studying there. I left late Friday night after an AWFUL experience in the Brussels airport. I thought it would be a good idea not to check any luggage (I was afterall going to an Eastern European country plus I didnt want the hassle of waiting for it), but silly me forgot about the whole liquid thing. Unfortunately and surprisingly, Europe is even more strict about their liquid policy than America. I wasnt allowed to bring anything bigger than 100 ml (baisically the size of a hotel shampoo bottle) and so the security guard proceeded to throw out ALL of my cosmetics in front of me and the rest of the airport. THEN my bag goes through the x-ray and i am greeted on the other side by a sour looking Belgian who is insisting that i have a pair of scissors in my bag. After almost being late and then having all my things thrown out i was NOT in the mood to be accused of terrorism so I was not very pleasant about the fact that i DID NOT have scissors in my bag. So the stupid lady said "Fine, then I am going to take everything out of your bag." Which she proceeded to do....including underwear.....AGAIN in front of the whole airport. Turns out it was my eyelash curler. No apologies. And then i was patted down and wanded TWICE. I was shocked they didnt ask me to strip down. I mean I am all for security, but jesus...
SO ANYWAYS. I arrived Friday night and my friends Alli and Kristie picked me up at the airport and brought me back to Alli's apartment, which is where i stayed for the weekend. My other friend Brandon came over to meet us and then we went out to a Czech club called "Futurum" where it was an 80's night....complete with cheesy music and a big screen with music videos! Yay! We didnt get home until 5:30 am because it was so much fun, so Alli and i slept in pretty late the next day.
Saturday Alli took me to see some of the sights...we went to the Charles Bridge, probably the most touristy attraction in Prague, and had lunch. I ate beef goulash with potato dumplings which was delicious, but very heavy. Brandon met up with us and we walked around "old town", the Jewish quater and we saw the Tyn church where the famous "Astronomy clock" is. We went out to dinner and spent another night on the town with all their friends from their program.
Sunday we decided to be a bit more productive, so Alli and I got up early in the morning--and by early i mean 10 am--and went to Prague Castle. It was more of a palace than a castle, but there were beautiful views of the city since it was on a hill. We also went to St. Vitus church which was so old and beautiful. It was huge and had lots of dead people in it, but all the signs were in Czech so it was a little difficult to understand. The cool thing about St. Vitus, is that there is a statue of him in Brugge Belgium AND one on the Charles Bridge in Prague that face eachother in terms of direction which i think is pretty cool. We also went to the Senate Gardens which were really nice, they are probably beautiful in the spring and summer. There was this really cool man-made wall there that was made to look like the inside of a grotto, but the cool part was that the artist carved things into certain spots so it was neat to stare at it and try to find the hidden faces (i found a face of Satan...strange...).
We went out to lunch where I ate some more ethnic food...including this cheese that Brandon made me try that was PICKLED! It was actually really good though. We also went to "Petrin" which is a really big mountain that overlooks the whole city. It was really beautiful up there, and the fall colors were really nice. We did a mirror maze which was really hilarious and saw the "Prague Eiffel Tower" (not very original is it?).
That night we went to a Black Light Show...these things were all over Prague and we figured we would try it. It was called "Cabinet" and was a vocal-less show about this crazy inventor who has this cabinet that transfers you to an alternate reality of BLACK LIGHTS. There were all these strange dance performances where the people glowed. It was cool the way they did it because things would look like they were moving on their own....it is SO hard to explain (visit the link to get SOME idea of what i am talking about). http://golem.gringo.cz/subdom/3dom/palace/main My favorite scene was where this alien creature was having an epic battle with a piece of cloth that looked like swiss cheese. It was all very trippy and confusing and we just stared at eachother afterwards trying to figure out what the hell we just saw. As Brandon so aptly put it...."those were the things that nightmares are made of."
Alli and I went to bed relatively early, because i had a flight at 7 a.m. monday morning (UGH)....so i got a solid 4 hours sleep before i had to get up to go to the airport.
It was SO nice getting to be with my friends though and it was a nice break from Brussels. I was DEAD on Monday though, but it was more than worth to get to spend time with my best friends in such a cool city! Tonight we are leaving to go to Luxembourg, Germany and France for the rest of the week! More to come....
Love,
Cristen
SO ANYWAYS. I arrived Friday night and my friends Alli and Kristie picked me up at the airport and brought me back to Alli's apartment, which is where i stayed for the weekend. My other friend Brandon came over to meet us and then we went out to a Czech club called "Futurum" where it was an 80's night....complete with cheesy music and a big screen with music videos! Yay! We didnt get home until 5:30 am because it was so much fun, so Alli and i slept in pretty late the next day.
Saturday Alli took me to see some of the sights...we went to the Charles Bridge, probably the most touristy attraction in Prague, and had lunch. I ate beef goulash with potato dumplings which was delicious, but very heavy. Brandon met up with us and we walked around "old town", the Jewish quater and we saw the Tyn church where the famous "Astronomy clock" is. We went out to dinner and spent another night on the town with all their friends from their program.
Sunday we decided to be a bit more productive, so Alli and I got up early in the morning--and by early i mean 10 am--and went to Prague Castle. It was more of a palace than a castle, but there were beautiful views of the city since it was on a hill. We also went to St. Vitus church which was so old and beautiful. It was huge and had lots of dead people in it, but all the signs were in Czech so it was a little difficult to understand. The cool thing about St. Vitus, is that there is a statue of him in Brugge Belgium AND one on the Charles Bridge in Prague that face eachother in terms of direction which i think is pretty cool. We also went to the Senate Gardens which were really nice, they are probably beautiful in the spring and summer. There was this really cool man-made wall there that was made to look like the inside of a grotto, but the cool part was that the artist carved things into certain spots so it was neat to stare at it and try to find the hidden faces (i found a face of Satan...strange...).
We went out to lunch where I ate some more ethnic food...including this cheese that Brandon made me try that was PICKLED! It was actually really good though. We also went to "Petrin" which is a really big mountain that overlooks the whole city. It was really beautiful up there, and the fall colors were really nice. We did a mirror maze which was really hilarious and saw the "Prague Eiffel Tower" (not very original is it?). That night we went to a Black Light Show...these things were all over Prague and we figured we would try it. It was called "Cabinet" and was a vocal-less show about this crazy inventor who has this cabinet that transfers you to an alternate reality of BLACK LIGHTS. There were all these strange dance performances where the people glowed. It was cool the way they did it because things would look like they were moving on their own....it is SO hard to explain (visit the link to get SOME idea of what i am talking about). http://golem.gringo.cz/subdom/3dom/palace/main My favorite scene was where this alien creature was having an epic battle with a piece of cloth that looked like swiss cheese. It was all very trippy and confusing and we just stared at eachother afterwards trying to figure out what the hell we just saw. As Brandon so aptly put it...."those were the things that nightmares are made of."
Alli and I went to bed relatively early, because i had a flight at 7 a.m. monday morning (UGH)....so i got a solid 4 hours sleep before i had to get up to go to the airport.
It was SO nice getting to be with my friends though and it was a nice break from Brussels. I was DEAD on Monday though, but it was more than worth to get to spend time with my best friends in such a cool city! Tonight we are leaving to go to Luxembourg, Germany and France for the rest of the week! More to come....
Love,
Cristen
Friday, October 12, 2007
Last week
Sorry it has taken me so long to write anything...this week has been pretty crazy.
Last week took our first trip as a group to the Netherlands. We started in Den haag (the Hague...but den haag sounds much cooler so i will never call it the hague again). We went to the criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia which was really interesting for me because i have had to study the Balkans in so many classes. We even got to sit in on part of the joint trial against Milutinovic (former president of Serbia), Sainovic (former prime minister of FRY) and Ojdanic (cheif of staff of the army for yugoslavia). It was a defense portion, so some former army guy was trying to defend them. The craziest part was that Milutinovic kept falling asleep. Can you imagine being on trial for GENOCIDE and falling asleep? I guess it just goes to show that he doesnt really care about what he did, even now.
We also went to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and Eurojust, which is baisically like the EU's FBI. It was all interesting...i guess we had to have some sort of educational reason to go on the trip.
The next day we did a tour de Holland. We went to Delft in the morning and toured the famous pottery factory. I had wanted to get something for my mom...but little did i know i would have to drop atleast 150 euro (i.e. ALOT more USDs) to get anything. We also went to this town on the North Sea that i can never remember the name of, but is reminiscent of the word "shenanigans". It was chilly but it was still cool to go down on the beach and get in the water. We found this really cool jetty that went out pretty far and just chilled out in the middle of the ocean for a little bit. Lastly we went to Leiden which is an old college town in the Netherlands. It is also apparently where the first pilgrims lived between fleeing England and claiming America.
The next day we went to Maastricht----all these places honestly began to blur together. Every Dutch city looks the same. Cobblestones. A big church in the center square. Windmills. But there was a carnival in Maastricht! So i rode this sweet ride that was really high and flipped in every direction. Best way to see a city is definitley upside down.
That night we stayed in Aachen Germany. We were literally there for less than 12 hours, but I got to have some bratwurst and sauerkraut which was fabulous.
In the morning we did a tour of the Battle of the Bulge, we followed Pieper's trail from Germany all along the Belgian border and into Belgium. This was definitley my favorite part of the trip. We started in the Ardennes in Germany, right on the Belgian border (in fact in the woods was this concrete slab that said D[Deutschland] on one side and B [belgium] on the other). This was so haunting...walking around in the woods where dozens of people died. There was still a few remnants of the war...an old telephone line, barbed wire and some post-war memorials. All through the German countryside was remnants of the german Seigfried line---concrete teeth that were put up to stop allied tanks from getting through.
It was weird seeing such an interesting piece of history in the middle of farms. Next we stopped in Werweth, which is where a division of african american soldiers were massacred by the Germans....an event that most history books skip over. We also went to Malmedy, another site of a massacre of American soldiers. All through these towns on the border were tons of monuments to WWII...it was stranage to see American flags flying in the middle of Europe. We also went to the Henri-Chappelle American War cemetery where more than 8,000 american soldiers from WWII were buried in perfect lines with identical cross headstones.
It was a really beautiful, and incredibly sad sight to see. Lastly we went to the "Remember Museum". It was a private museum owned by an older couple. The husband was a young boy during the occupation of Belgium and the germans came into his village and annexed half of it to germany. Suddenly this guy was told he was a german, had to speak german and saw alot of really gruesome things. There were American soldiers staying in his family's barn and when the battle of the bulge started they just got up and left, leaving behind tons of stuff. He kept it all, and started his museum with it and now they have an AMAZING amount of stuff from veterans and donations. it was really fantastic. They had a story for every single item. The best part about it was that these people LOVED Americans. They baisically opened the museum in honor of America and attribute the freedom Belgians enjoy today to the sacrifices we made. It was just a really good feeling to actually hear Europeans say they loved us and appreciate everything we did for them----definitley a rareity to hear pro-American things over hear these days. So it was a really wonderful feeling and filled me personally with alot of pride for my country, and everything that my dad's father and uncles fought for.
SO that was last week. This week was busy, mostly because we had a big test today that I was freaking out about all week. In about a half hour I am jet setting off to Prague. I am SO excited, mostly because that is where three of my best friends from school are studying, so I am staying with them---PLUS it is a cool city (and DIRT cheap compared to the stupid euro). I love everyone here and have made some really good friends, but it is just gonna be really nice to be with people who really know me and understand me.
Miss you all!
-Cristen
Last week took our first trip as a group to the Netherlands. We started in Den haag (the Hague...but den haag sounds much cooler so i will never call it the hague again). We went to the criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia which was really interesting for me because i have had to study the Balkans in so many classes. We even got to sit in on part of the joint trial against Milutinovic (former president of Serbia), Sainovic (former prime minister of FRY) and Ojdanic (cheif of staff of the army for yugoslavia). It was a defense portion, so some former army guy was trying to defend them. The craziest part was that Milutinovic kept falling asleep. Can you imagine being on trial for GENOCIDE and falling asleep? I guess it just goes to show that he doesnt really care about what he did, even now.
We also went to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and Eurojust, which is baisically like the EU's FBI. It was all interesting...i guess we had to have some sort of educational reason to go on the trip.
The next day we did a tour de Holland. We went to Delft in the morning and toured the famous pottery factory. I had wanted to get something for my mom...but little did i know i would have to drop atleast 150 euro (i.e. ALOT more USDs) to get anything. We also went to this town on the North Sea that i can never remember the name of, but is reminiscent of the word "shenanigans". It was chilly but it was still cool to go down on the beach and get in the water. We found this really cool jetty that went out pretty far and just chilled out in the middle of the ocean for a little bit. Lastly we went to Leiden which is an old college town in the Netherlands. It is also apparently where the first pilgrims lived between fleeing England and claiming America.
The next day we went to Maastricht----all these places honestly began to blur together. Every Dutch city looks the same. Cobblestones. A big church in the center square. Windmills. But there was a carnival in Maastricht! So i rode this sweet ride that was really high and flipped in every direction. Best way to see a city is definitley upside down.
That night we stayed in Aachen Germany. We were literally there for less than 12 hours, but I got to have some bratwurst and sauerkraut which was fabulous.
In the morning we did a tour of the Battle of the Bulge, we followed Pieper's trail from Germany all along the Belgian border and into Belgium. This was definitley my favorite part of the trip. We started in the Ardennes in Germany, right on the Belgian border (in fact in the woods was this concrete slab that said D[Deutschland] on one side and B [belgium] on the other). This was so haunting...walking around in the woods where dozens of people died. There was still a few remnants of the war...an old telephone line, barbed wire and some post-war memorials. All through the German countryside was remnants of the german Seigfried line---concrete teeth that were put up to stop allied tanks from getting through.
It was weird seeing such an interesting piece of history in the middle of farms. Next we stopped in Werweth, which is where a division of african american soldiers were massacred by the Germans....an event that most history books skip over. We also went to Malmedy, another site of a massacre of American soldiers. All through these towns on the border were tons of monuments to WWII...it was stranage to see American flags flying in the middle of Europe. We also went to the Henri-Chappelle American War cemetery where more than 8,000 american soldiers from WWII were buried in perfect lines with identical cross headstones.
It was a really beautiful, and incredibly sad sight to see. Lastly we went to the "Remember Museum". It was a private museum owned by an older couple. The husband was a young boy during the occupation of Belgium and the germans came into his village and annexed half of it to germany. Suddenly this guy was told he was a german, had to speak german and saw alot of really gruesome things. There were American soldiers staying in his family's barn and when the battle of the bulge started they just got up and left, leaving behind tons of stuff. He kept it all, and started his museum with it and now they have an AMAZING amount of stuff from veterans and donations. it was really fantastic. They had a story for every single item. The best part about it was that these people LOVED Americans. They baisically opened the museum in honor of America and attribute the freedom Belgians enjoy today to the sacrifices we made. It was just a really good feeling to actually hear Europeans say they loved us and appreciate everything we did for them----definitley a rareity to hear pro-American things over hear these days. So it was a really wonderful feeling and filled me personally with alot of pride for my country, and everything that my dad's father and uncles fought for. SO that was last week. This week was busy, mostly because we had a big test today that I was freaking out about all week. In about a half hour I am jet setting off to Prague. I am SO excited, mostly because that is where three of my best friends from school are studying, so I am staying with them---PLUS it is a cool city (and DIRT cheap compared to the stupid euro). I love everyone here and have made some really good friends, but it is just gonna be really nice to be with people who really know me and understand me.
Miss you all!
-Cristen
Monday, October 1, 2007
Oooh La La, Paris
This weekend was honestly the best trip I have ever taken! Thursday evening Tayler, Rachel and I left for Paris. Tayler and I were on the same train so we bought a lovely little French feast of cheese and bread for the journey. The Thayls high speed train had us there in an hour and a half, so we had the whole rest of the evening. We found out hostel really easily---we stayed in Montmatre, the famous village where artists like Degas, Picasso, Dali, Van Gogh and so many others lived. It is also where the Moulin Rouge is at which was the first thing we went to go see!
Friday morning we got up to find that the weather SUCKED. It was raining, and apparently when it rains in Paris it POURS in Paris. But we had already planned on just doing museums that day so it worked out well that we were indoors. First we went to the isle de Citie which is the oldest part of Paris, and is where Notre Dame is. We just looked at the outside before walking across the Seine to the Louvre. The museum is absolutely phenomenal. Just the building itself is so decadent and old world that there is nothing that isnt interesting to look at. We were there for 3 hours and got to see all the good stuff...Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, Madonna of the Rock. In all the time we were there though we only got to see the galleries of Italian and French painters...the museum is just SO massive that it was impossible to see any more. After some lunch we went to the Musee d'Orsay, which is the impressionism museum. The building is an old central train station so the layout of the exhibits were very strange but really neat. There was so much amazing art there...Degas, Seurat, Van Gough, Monet, Manet, Toulousse-Latrec and tons more. After the museums we really needed to head back to the hostel to dry off and rest for a while. On the way back we stopped back at Notre Dame so that we could go inside...it was absolutely overwhelming. The church was so beautiful and there was a service going on inside which just really made the experience worth while. I wish we had been able to go to the top of the tower or see the crypt but we got there JUST after they both closed :( On the way back to the hostel, we found this fresh food market in Montmatre, so we picked up a huge loaf of bread, cheese, roasted potatoes, and a small roast chicken and had a wonderful french feast in our hostel room all for like 15 euro! Deeeeeliiicious! (Below: pictures of Notre Dame, front and back and of the Louvre)
On Saturday we took the train out to Versailles. Luckily the weather was much better so we were really able to enjoy it. The palace is so decadent and beautiful. Unfortunately they were doing reconstruction on alot of the building so we were only able to see the royal apartments, but it was still really cool. We also took a tram around the gardens and out to Marie Antoinettes "Petite Trianon" which was baisically her little escape from the main palace. The grounds are so expansive and there was so much more to see, but it would have taken much more than the 1/2 day that we spent there! On our way back we stopped at the Eiffel Tower...it was so cool being underneath it! We started to wait in line to buy tickets to get to the top, but the line was so ridiculously long and we had plans for 7:00 so we had to get out of line. We went and got some crepes, mine was chocolate with bannana yummo! Then at 7 we did something we had been looking forward to the whole time...a bike tour of Paris. It was AMAZING. The first 3 hours we biked around the city like any Parisian would. I was definitley wobbly when i first got on...it has been years since i rode a bike, but it was SO MUCH FUN!!!! It is just such a different way to see a city, and you really felt like you were a part of it. We bike near Notre Dame, passed the Arc du Triumph, biked THROUGH THE LOUVRE COURTYARD (with the pyramid etc...that was my favorite part), went to "the best glacier (ice cream) in Paris", saw the Place de Concorde (where everyone was killed during the French Revolution). Plus just all the cool stuff we passed along the way. The last hour was a boat tour on the Seine with free wine. It was FREEZING, but so cool! Just another way to look at the city and all the monuments. It was the most fun I think I have ever had in a city...totally worth it. We didnt get done with the tour until after midnight so we just called it a night. (Below: Me at Versailles, a garden at Versailles, Le Petit Trianon, garden at Le Petit Trianon)
On Sunday, I was scheduled to leave at 2:30, but there was still so much more to do! So i got my ticket changed...but all that was left was first class. It only cost me ten euro (and i got a free meal and wine on the way home!). So we headed back to the Eiffel Tower to go to the top. We waited in line for a HOUR just to get our TICKET. Then it was another hour to get to the top, see the view and come back down. But it was definitley worth the wait. Not only was it a beautiful view, but i dont feel like my trip would have been complete without it. Then we went to see the Arc du Triumph. We only biked past it from far away the night before, so we went and look at it up close this time. Then we walked down the Avenue Champs d'Elysee---the fashion center of Paris. We had a lovely little lunch at a cafe...some cheese, wine and sandwiches, before doing a little bit of shopping ( i mean, come on...it's PARIS i had to do it ). After an exhausting day....i finally got the train back to Brussels. But I really sad to leave...i mean i was excited for Paris but i didnt think i would fall in love with it the way that i did. It is definitely somewhere i want to go back to because there was SO much we didnt get to do. It was overall just a really satisfying trip though...getting to see and do so much that I have wanted to do my whole life all in three days! YAY ME!
This week we take our first class trip. We leave on Wednesday and come back Sunday and are going to The Hague, Leiden, and Aachen to do some WWII tours that i am REALLY excited about. So i wont be here for a while, but send me emails etc and I promise I will get back!!! I also have alot more pictures of Paris, but my camera died half way through so i am waiting for the other girls to send me the pictures they took for me!
P.S....my parents have discovered that i actually get mail relatively quickly! So if anyone is bored.... :) :)
MISS AND LOVE YOU ALL!
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