Happy Sylvester, here’s a pig.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

First off I would like to explain what Sylvester is. In Germany, Austria, and apparently Czech Republic, New Years is referred to as Sylvester. Not sure what the significance of that is but I do know that on New Years instead of kissing loved ones or strangers, well actually they do that too, you’re supposed to give people a pig. A pig represents good luck in the coming year. Everywhere we walked we would see pig stuff: clocks, cookies, candies, hats, figurines, toys, you name it they had it in the shape of a pig. So yeah, in this part of Europe that is the tradition on New Years just in case you were interested.

THE LAST DAY OF 2009! Wow, this year flew. For me it had a lot of ups and a few downs. 2009 marked the end of organized soccer for me, the end of my undergraduate career, the start of my adventures abroad, the beginning of uncertainty that is still my future, the extinguish of some friendships and the rekindling of others, the expansion of family, and lastly the uncovering of who i am . That’s a lot to take in. When you’re on vacation with other people it’s hard to get a minute to reflect, so I’m taking that time now, even though it’s January 10th.

I woke up at 9am when our last roommate came in. Finally someone claimed the couch-bed. I didn’t get out of bed until 10 and we didn’t end up leaving the hostel until 11am. We decided to explore the castle with the Barcelona boys. They were both different from the stereotypes of Spanish men. There were genuinely friendly , quite funny, and good spirited. Before we headed to the castle we joined up with two Chilean friends of Saul. Jorge and Francesca were cousins from Santiago who have been traveling around Europe and came into Prague just for New Years. They didn’t have a hostel to stay at so they were going to get ready at our hostel and just stay out the whole night until there train at 8am. Ha Ha, good luck with that!

We ended up speaking English the whole day, mainly because I don’t think anybody realized that we knew Spanish. Francesca was talking to the boys about going to the Bridge in Spanish and Julia answered her question in English and she was shocked that she understood her. Yeah, at that moment we told them that we understood Spanish better than we could speak it, so the English continued. As we crossed Charles Bridge we got stuck in a traffic jam of people. We literally couldn’t move. I think the funneling of people due to the construction caused the jam. It took us half and hour to cross the Bridge. To help pas the time I started the Cliff game and introduced it to our new friends. Jorge got a real kick out of it. Sure enough as soon as we started the game we finally started moving. Before we left the Bridge we had to touch the Golden statue for good luck. I was also told to touch the other golden part of the statue to ensure a safe voyage home and it wasn’t until the next day to I realize how luck y it was that I touched that statue. Out of the three of us, I was the only one who touched both statues. Just remember that for later......

We spent the whole day touring the Prague Castle, which included the golden lane , numerous Cathedral’s, and St. Mikulous’ Church. Julia mentioned to Jorge that I was a soccer person so we talked soccer the rest of the day. he told me how he works for the best soccer team in Chile, I forget the name now, but he was really impressed that I knew all about the Argentine and Brazilian leagues as well as La Liga and Premiere League. I never get tired of the look of shock/amusement i get from guys when I start talking soccer. Well by the end of the day I was starved and Churched out for the day. We headed back toward the Christmas market for round two of lunch/dinner there. We parted ways with our friends but told the Barcelona boys that we would see them back at the hostel and told the Chileans to meet us in front of the Astrological Clock in Staromestske Namesti Square at 10pm tonight. As much as we hoped we would see them again, the three of us all kind of figured that the odds of finding them tonight were going to be slim. At the market Megan and I got white sausage and the Trdlo pastry thing as our lunch/dinner. It was incredibly filling but oh so good. Julia got the latkas. After a fulfilling meal we figured we should head home and either nap or just hang out until it was time to get ready, aka beautify. Plus it started to rain and we wanted to stay as dry as possible.

On the way home we found a market with mini champagne bottles so we each bought one to open and cheers with at midnight. We also decided, in order to save money tonight, that we would pre-game at the hostel so that we wouldn’t really need to buy any drinks at the bars. This seemed like a good idea at the time, so we bought a bottle of cheap vodka and sprite and were good for the night. At least that’s what i thought... We returned home and mingled, relaxed with our roommates until 8p. At 8pm the party started.

The newest addition to our room was James, another New Zealander who currently works in Glasgow with Stephen. Very international room if you ask me. The NZ boys were heading out early to hit up a bar but we told them that we were going to meet at the Astrological clock at 10pm and then head to the bridge to see the fireworks and they should meet us there. Once again we told all of these people to meet us there but we never thought we’d actually find everyone. We were happy if it was just the three of us.

[Forgive me parents and family]---I normally don’t like to share the details of what little drinking I do but for this night it serves a purpose. In the room getting ready the three of us each helped ourselves to the equivalent of 2 vodka and sprite’s. However, Julia had 2 beers before these drinks and we all know the saying, “beer before liquor, makes you sicker.” Anyways, that was enough for me. I was feeling good and didn’t want to go overboard before midnight. Once J-M were ready we asked someone from another room to take a picture of us. We wanted a picture before we went outside in the cold, probably still rainy night. I asked the girl who took the picture when she was heading out and she said that she was having a hard to motivating her group to get up. Me with my new found confidence, aka alcohol, I marched into their room and told them to get up and come with us to the clock because we were leaving now. Surprisingly they listened and got ready. With nothing but my tank top, leather jacket, scarf, mini purse with my camera, my umbrella, and my mini bottle of champagne I was ready for NYE in Prague. WAhoooooo! It was getting close to 9:45p when we realized we had to leave in order to meet everyone at 10p. We left the hostel with our new German friends but then someone from there group forgot something but we couldn’t afford to wait because we were already running late so once again we told them to meet us at the clock. When we got off at our stop I spotted P-S and shouted at them. The five of us ended up walking together to the clock. Well, at least we found 2 people, 2 more than I anticipated.

We made our way to the clock and miraculously found not only the NZ boys but also the Chileans. To add to the mix, Julia texted her friend Maria to join us at the clock as well. A few minutes after arriving at the clock we found Maria (from Scotland) and her boyfriend. With some kind of luck we managed to find EVERYONE we told to meet up with us. In total we were 3 Spaniards, 2 Chileans, 2 Kiwi’s, 1 Scott, and 3 Americans. This was by far the most international New Years I have EVER had and probably will ever have. Where we were in front of the clock were thousands of other people. Only a few feet from us people were shooting off fireworks. I mean they literally flew over our heads and would occasionally hit people. Here we were in front of this 100’s of years old cultural landmark and people were shooting off crazy fireworks right next to it. What made it better was there were four policemen standing next to the clock with their hands folded just watching. What were they going to do if the clock caught on fire? Blow it out??? Ridiculous. At the clock I had a swig of Jager (disgusting btw) because that’s all Jorge was drinking for the night. Yuck. J-M each had a few sips of that and then they also got Gluihwein because they were cold. I would like to think that my leather jacket alone was what kept me quite warm all night, but I guess you could say the alcohol might of helped a bit in that department.

So far Julia had mixed beer, vodka, Jager, and wine while Megan had only mixed vodka, Jager, and wine. Not a good idea. We still had our champagne to drink at midnight. Midnight? Crap, it was almost midnight and we had to make our way to the river. We frantically, with everyone in tow, jogged to the river in order to see the spectacular fireworks. This was the one night I refused to wear my watch so I had no idea when midnight occurred but at some point the fireworks started, someone else checked their cell phone and announced it was 2010. Cheers to all!!!! I had James open my bottle for me and I toasted with the girls. To be honest I don’t recall drinking that much of my champagne. I think I offered it to everyone from the group and someone eventually finished it for me. Eh, I didn’t really care. I attempted to take pictures of the fireworks but that was a complete bust so I gave up and focused on people pictures. We got this random girl to take a group picture of all of us but of course mine came out blurry. And that was also the moment when my batteries decided to die. Never fear, I came prepared with an extra set. However they were not working. I got mildly upset but then said f-it its New Years, just enjoy it.

It was at this point, a little after midnight, that I noticed Julia and Megan getting into a cab. I asked where they were going and I only remember Megan telling me that they were heading home. I was confused at this point as to why they were leaving and not taking me with them. I needed to use the bathroom so Maria and I found one in a bar. When we returned the NZ boys had taken off and I didn’t know where they went. I found out later that they told Megan to tell me but she never gave me the message. They were actually just down the street from us. My one regret of the night was not finding them. Well Maria, her bf, P-S, and I headed off to find a bar. I have no idea where we went or what the name of the bar was, but it was packed. Somehow we managed to find a table and we spent the rest of the night there. The bar had neon lights and a screen playing music videos. It was a pretty cool place. I’m not sure how I ordered my drink, i think i just pointed to my hand like I had planned, but somehow I got that Korse*%#&#Y$) drink. It was delicious. I remember paying for the drink and I think that was the only thing i paid for the entire night. The rest of the night we just talked and laughed the night away. I had a really good time. We ended up being the last people in the bar and the bar people had to kick us out because they were closing. It was at this moment that Maria and her bf decided to head home. I had no map and no idea where we were so Maria gave me her map, circled our bar, and pointed us in the right direction. I was intoxicated in an unfamiliar city, with no bearing of where I was, which is unusual for me because I normally have a very good sense of direction. even though I had P-S with me I didn’t trust myself to find my way home. Finally Pau hailed a taxi and said we would pay for it because he just wanted to get out of the cold. I wasn’t about to protest. We made it safe and sound to the hostel at 5:30am. Unbelievably I didn’t lose my purse, camera, or umbrella like I figured I would. I did remember my umbrella was on the ground for awhile and I randomly saw it on the ground and thought, “that was a close one”, and snatched it back up.

I spent my entire New Years with practically strangers, but that didn’t stop me from having an incredible time. Thank you Prague.

Two minutes into Prague and I’ve been nailed with a snowball. Excellent.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Woke up for the last time in Vienna at 9:15am. Packed up all of our stuff and headed out the door to explore one last part of Wein. First we wanted to make sure we knew exactly where to go to catch out Student Agency bus so we headed there. We found a group of people with luggage in front of a sign for Student Agency in this empty parking lot. Okay, now we know EXACTLY where to go by 6:30pm. Next it was off to the Belvedere Museum to see one of Megan’s favorite artists, Gustav Klimt. Before the museum, we got breakfast at an Anker chain, the equivalent of Panera. We ended up only having to pay 6 Euros for the museum because we were students so that was a nice surprise. To be frank, I’m not a huge museum person unless there is something very specific that I want to see. I found most of the paintings rather similar to one another and not very stimulating. My goal was to find a comfy chair in each room i went into and from that chair take in the art. I did enjoy the works of Gustav Klimt but he only had a small exhibit in the entire museum. The most interesting part of the museum, was this large room that had a sign in the middle of the room that said, “ NOW YOU CAN SCREAM AS LOUD AS YOU WANT” in four different languages. Hmmm, this was intriguing. I wasn’t about to be the scapegoat so I hung around the room long enough for some kids to wonder in and test the limits. They screamed loudly but nothing happened. Some adults gave it a whirl but again nothing happened. I was determined to figure out what was suppose to happen or learn whether or not the sign was some sort of social experiment. Sure enough my patience rewarded me and a group of kids finally broke “the barrier” and after they screamed the rooms lights flicked as it “breathed” heavily in unison with the lights. acting like it was alive. Okay, not worth the wait, but it kept me occupied for a little while.

I found a really comfy chair and just about fell asleep. Art museums make me sleepy. Some time passed and J-M were done with the museum so it was time to make our way back to the hostel. We stopped into an internet cafe to confirm our seats on the bus. Next we stocked up on some groceries because this was going to be our dinner. We picked up our bags from the hostel and made our way to the bus stop. To pass the time we played the game Cliff. You pick three people, if you know each other well it can be your friends, but if you don’t than you use celebrities. From the list of three people you have to pick the one that you would marry, the one that you would have a one night stand with, and the one you would push off a cliff. This game helped us pass the time throughout our trip whenever we had a long wait somewhere.

Sure enough the bus showed up on time, 6:35pm and a mob of people attacked this short girl in order to get onto the bus. My ticket didn’t have a seat assignment on it so I was a bit nervous that I wouldn’t get a seat so I slithered my way through the crowd in order to get on the bus earlier rather than later. Luckily the girl had my reservation so i was all set. the bus was actually really nice. It was big comfy leather seat with a pull down table like in airplanes and an individual jack for your headphones in order to listen to the movie they played. On the bus they offered free magazines and newspapers from a variety of countries, your choice of coffee, hot chocolate, or tea, and a complimentary set of headphones. The channel that was suppose to have the movie in English didn’t work in my seat but the movie was Mr. Bean’s Holiday so I wasn’t to interested in it to begin with.

After two hours we had to change buses in Brun, a smaller city in Czech Republic. Again I slithered my way through the crowd and got my seat on the bus. I lucked out and didn’t have someone next to me so I could spread out a little. Even better, we caught the end of Dirty Dancing, the best part of the whole movie in my opinion, and my headphone jack worked so it made my bus experience that much more enjoyable. After Dirty Dancing they played Monster-In-Law and then some hilarious older episodes of FRIENDS that I had not seen, or at least didn’t remember. FRIENDS ALWAYS put me in a good mood. It was a good thing I didn’t have a neighbor because I was laughing out loud the whole time. Once the episodes stopped, I noticed out my window that it was a frickin blizzard outside. We passed a really bad accident where this car was flipped over in an embankment and we even had to stop once for the driver to chisel off some ice and snow from the window. The lady announced that we were going to arrive in Prague at least a half an hour late because of the snow. The normal response would be irritation but I was ECSTATIC. My first encounter with snow of the season!!!! Was there really a difference between arriving at 1:30am or 2am???

I had checked the weather report in all the cities we were going to and each city it had said rain/snow or snow for almost every day. Well as usual weather.com lied to me. We hadn’t encountered any snow thus far. The only reason I wasn’t upset about hearing that back home my family was experiencing a record blizzard was the prospect that I would get my own piece of snow this winter. I couldn’t wait to get off the bus and catch snowflakes on my tongue. I also knew that our hostel was very close to the train station so we wouldn’t have to lug our stuff in the blizzard for that long. Get me off the bus PRONTO!

We finally arrived to Prague at around 1:30-2am. We only had to walk maybe 3 minutes until we reached our hostel. Along the way we past a few people having a lovely snowball fight. As I lead the way through the fight I was hit smack in the back with a snowball. Oh how I wanted to throw one back, but I didn’t. I wanted to put my bags down before I got in the middle of anything. I also figured that I’d have tomorrow to engage in a proper snowball fight. We checked into the hostel and got our room. The receptionist told us that two boys were already in our room but we could choose from the 7 beds where to sleep. There were 4 sets of bunk beds and one solo bed that looked more like a couch rather than a bed, at least that’s kind of how we used it until it became occupied. We were told about a free tour of Prague that started at 9:30a so despite the late arrival, we had intended to make that tour the next day.

I woke up around 8am and noticed that the two guys had returned sometime after we had fallen asleep. I had a feeling we weren’t going to make the tour when J-M weren’t moving to fast in the morning but it didn’t really matter, we had a good four days in Prague to catch a tour. Our first stop was to take our Kc from the ATM in order to pay our hostel and pay for anything in Prague. After we paid for our rooms we had less than ten minutes to get to the meeting point for the tour. Yeah that wasn’t going to happen. No worries, we improvised. After some breakfast we explored all over Old Town (Stare Mesto). We focused on the Jewish Quarter (Josefov) as well. We found the Maisel Synagogue and bought tickets to visit the most impressive and supposedly the most beautiful synagogue in all of Europe, the Spanish Synagogue. I looked different during the day then it did all lit up for an evening performance, but it was still incredible. We were not allow to take any pictures but everywhere you looked you could find Jewish Stars woven into the architecture, the chandeliers, the paint of the wall, the backs of the chairs, everywhere. The synagogue also had a museum so we read all about the history of Prague and the Jews of Prague. It was really interesting and I got to share what knowledge I had about all things Jewish with J-M. All those years of Sunday school paid off I guess.

After Josefov we meandered around the Prague’s Christmas markets. They had beautiful watercolor pictures of different areas of Prague. I almost bought one because it was very cheap but I decided to wait until the end of the trip to buy my souvenirs. Julia was the first to try the food at the market. She got this apparently traditional sweet/breakfast pastry called TRDLO: it was this gooey dough wrapped around a rotating pole under a fire. Once the outsides got crisp the person would the dough off the rod and roll it in cinnamon, sugar, and almond flakes and then serve it hot and gooey on the inside. OMG it looked so good. I didn’t have my own until the next day but it looked scrumptious. After getting lost around Old Town we thought we’d check out Charles Bridge. Half of the bridge was blocked off because of scaffolding so it was very crowded and not full of artisans like it normally would be. We walked around the area where the famous Prague Castle was but decided to hold off and visit the castle tomorrow. After finally finding our way back across the water we hit up the Christmas market for lunch. I got POTATO LATKES!!! I couldn’t believe they had them, so i just had to try them. For 50 Kc I got 5 or 6 latkes and a handful of cold sauerkraut. It would have been perfect if the sauerkraut was hot but none-the-less the little dish was quite tasty and very filling. J-M decided to test out the sausage in the form of a hot dog in a baguette. It looked very good and they said it was equally filling. My feet were starting to bother me since we had spent almost the entire day walking so I asked if we could head back a little early so I could rest and then we could do our laundry.

We took the metro a few stops away to Andy’s Laundromat. For a very good price we got a washer (w/ detergent supplied to us no extra cost), a dryer, access to tea, hot chocolate, and coffee, and free access to the internet. I was fully willing to pay for the internet so that was a nice bonus. The guy who helped us was really nice and it was great to just relax and respond to a few urgent emails. We all tried to look up ideas for new years. We didn’t quite have a plan yet but we knew we couldn’t afford one of those dinner, drinks, and a show deals. We figured we’d find a area of popular bars near the water so we could see the fireworks and just work our way around the bar scene. Once our laundry finished we folded our clean smelling and warm clothes and headed back home.

Once back home we all showered and talked with our roommates while we relaxed. We met the two boys from the night before, Pau and Saul from Barcelona. They were not expecting people to be in the room when they returned last night so they turned on the light and then saw us sleeping and were like “oh - my - god!” I can’t really explain how Saul said it in words but the way he said it was really funny. We also met the two newest members to the room, Dave and Stephen from New Zealand. Actually Dave was now working in London and Stephen in Glasgow. They were all incredibly nice and friendly. It was nice to finally converse with our roommates. We ended up taking the metro with Saul and Pau to Old Town and we departed ways as we searched for a good pub to grab a small bite to eat while the boys were off to meet a friend. After searching in the rain for a while we finally decided upon a place. Megan and I tried this cheese soup but it wasn’t very good. Megan and Julia ordered some beers and we just hung out there for awhile. We asked our friendly waiter if he had any recommendations for a good local, chill pub. He told us about the pub he frequents and said that once his shift ended he would meet us there.

Julia really wanted to meet some locals and have a good night out but I wasn’t feeling it. I wanted to save all of my strength for New Years, the following night. For me I’ll take one night of heavy drinking and going crazy verses a few nights in a row of medium drinking and staying out late. I’m such a grandma, I know. We couldn’t find the place the waiter told us about so we started to turn around but then we ran into him and he walked us to the bar. It wasn’t very crowded so we weren’t planning on staying long but the rain made us change our minds. J-M ordered this really sweet drink, koskenkorva vodka, peach, and sprite. I tried a bit of it and decided that i really liked it and would try and order it on New Years. Anyone who knows me well knows how the back of my left hand doubles as a notepad, so in true tradition I wrote the drink on my hand in hopes that I could just point to my hand tomorrow night and somehow get that same drink. Our waiter friend invited us to play against him in foosball but Megan and I were ready to call it a night so we politely declined and called it a night. I just wanted to get as much rest as possible leading up to New Years. We were all VERY EXCITED for it. Just in case you didn’t know, Prague is THE #1 Spot for New Years in the WORLD....New Orleans is the #2 (i did that last year). For someone who isn’t a partier I sure have hit the best spots for New Years (London the year before that).

The leather jacket takes Wein by storm

Monday, December 28, 2009

We had another late start to the day (11am) but we weren’t really on a time schedule so it wasn’t a big deal. However yet again, the Asians were up at 7:30am and out the door before we woke up. This time our first stop was an outdoor food market. It was really cool. The place had all kinds of good smelling food like different kinds of stuffed olives, multiple types of homemade humus, exotic fruits like strawberries (haha), dried fruits and nuts, sweets, gingerbread cookies, kebobs, falafel, different kinds of pastries like baklava, fresh bread, chinese food, and much much more. We walked up and down the market a few times, having a hard time deciding what to try. Today was round two of the leather jacket. I discovered in Berlin that it is actually really warm, warmer than my fleece, and would allow me to wear fewer layers so I decided to give it ago. Plus I knew we were going to the Nut Cracker tonight so I wanted to look “nicer” and i thought it would go over better than a fleece jacket.

Well, I discovered in Vienna that you get treated differently when you wear a leather jacket. I think people assume certain things about a person in a leather jacket and therefore treat them differently. To be honest, I kind of bought the jacket for that reason. I like how clothes can give off a different perception and since I’ll never be a fashion diva or a trend setter, a leather jacket is as close to a different perception as i can give off. Back to Vienna,well in the open air market we met some friendly venders that offered us free falafel in exchange for our names. We obliged. The three of us decided to give pseudo names instead: I was Lara, from Tomb Raider, Julia was Heidi, and Megan was Leisel. For some reason my pseudo name was the only one that stuck and they kept calling after me as i walked by. Within a five minute period of eating our free falafel my name had spread and random venders would call it out to offer me free samples. I contribute the celebrity status to the jacket.

The rest of the day we spent wondering around Wein. We didn’t really have a plan in mind, just that we wanted to be back to the Opera House by 5pm. We ended up walking past the Austrian Parliament, Museum Quarter, old Christmas Markets that had closed down, and some outdoor parks. We would have gone into a museum except each one had a entry fee of 8 Euros and we were going to go see a museum that Megan really wanted to visit the next day, so we decided to save our 8 Euro for that museum. We pretty much covered all of the heart of Vienna that day. the last place we walked to before heading back towards the Opera House was this really cool place called Hunderwasser Village. This place had the coolest architecture and designs. It wasn’t just for show, actual people lived in these apartments. The painter that designed the place didn’t like straight lines and that’s why the buildings look like waves rather than blocks. Inside was this fairy tale like shopping center with a really cool bar in the center of the establishment. It was a breathe of fresh air compared to the other buildings that surrounded it.

After a short drink break we found ourselves in front of the gelato place again and just couldn’t help ourselves. The second time around wasn’t as good, the new guy didn’t give us as many swirls and chunks of nutella. We made our way to the Opera House at 5pm on the dot. We were closer to the front than the night before so we knew for sure that we would get the best seats since we were now experts and knew exactly where to go. We couldn’t find Alana in line but we did meet this guy from New Orleans. he never told us his name but he was a few years older than us. He told us that he had been traveling around the world for two years now. He told us stories about Indonesia, Thailand, Russia, Slovakia, and other interesting and less touristy spots. He did warn us not to go to Moldova. He said the McDonalds outside the theatre was nicer than any building in all of Moldova. You’ve been warned. He said he would just wake up one day and decide it was time to leave. He said some of his jobs were teaching English in a school, working as a bar maid, helping people on their farm, and other various, random jobs like that. He told us this one story about how he met this guy one day who HAD to leave Australia that night and needed to give his van to someone, so the random guy handed him the keys and said “enjoy”. The NOLA boy spent the next two months just cruising around Australia, living out of the van. Can you imagine living like that? I can’t, but it sounds exotic doesn’t it?

Well we took him under our wings and showed him what to do in order to get the best seats. He was completely unaware that tonight was the Nut Cracker. He had never seen it (WhAT????) but heard that you could get standing room seats in the Opera House for very cheap and decided to give it a whirl. He told us that he was down to his last 100 Euro so he was thinking this might be the last stop on his journey because his mother had finally contacted him and offered to pay for his ticket home just as long as he would come back. If you ask me, the Nut Cracker is a good way to go out. We ended up standing in just about the same spots except this time we could see the whole stage. No sugar plum fairy would be missed by my eyes. The ballet was only 2 hours long with a 15 minute intermission so i was more optimistic that my legs would make it this time.

Here are a few differences I noticed between this Nut Cracker and the Nut Cracker I am accustomed to:

the “mice” people looked more like ninjas. They didn’t even really move like mice.

instead of the adults, the kids played the roles of the mice and soldiers. It made the affect slightly different. They even had a trampoline.

the 3 special dolls that the magical grandfather brings weren’t dolls, just people dressed up in different costumes who danced with the adults at the party. I was disappointed because I like the dolls.

the kids played video games with a screen at one point(??!!)---this must be the modern version of the nut cracker

the adults at the party played with scarfs at one point

there was no lady with a giant skirt that little children poured out of

These weren’t HUGE differences that ruined the experience by any means, just things i noticed. After the ballet finished we were all really happy we got to see it. It made us all think about our families back home and the traditions of Christmas. It was a definite highlight of the entire trip thus far.

While waking through the underground metro this guy just came right to me with his arms open for a hug. I couldn’t escape it but i didn’t hug back. I tried to maneuver myself out of his grasp as i grabbed my bag to make sure he didn’t try to open it. All i remember was Megan’s face of horror as the guy hugged me. She motioned for me to grab my bag just to be safe. I knew i didn’t have anything in my pockets so i wasn’t to worried. He finally let go and i just took off with J-M. It was so strange. Again, I blame the jacket.

He were all in the mood for some pizza so we some a slice close to our hostel. Afterwards J-M really wanted to try baklava before we left Vienna so we hit up the same Med restaurant again. This time there were more people but we had the same waiter. We got two orders of the mixed desert plate. We tried baklava, this donut ball, a cornmeal ball, and churros surrounded by dollops of whipped cream. All the deserts had a rich taste of honey to them. They were all very good. When we asked for the check the waiter brought us a complimentary round of sweet liquor shots to cleanse our pallets. How thoughtful. You know what’s coming, I contributed the generosity to the jacket for the last time that day.

It's Boxing Day and I'm NOT watching soccer, shocking I know

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Today is travel day for the three of us. We woke up at a decent hour and checked out of the hostel by 11am. Our train was for 1:50pm so we had plenty of time to get to the train station. Well we got there and decided to go to the information desk to find out what platform we were going to be at. Well, turns out our train doesn’t exist. HAHA is that a joke? The lady told us that during the holiday season the trains change all the time that it’s almost better to book your tickets closer to the day you want to leave. What is wrong with Europe??? What do they let you purchase a ticket when they plan on changing the train??? Good grief.

The lady was nice enough to change all our tickets and give us a new plan of action that required changing trains 3 maybe four times. So instead of a 1:50p train we had a 2:40p train. It gets better, the first train we needed ended up being a half hour late so it was impossible to make the second train on our list of transfers. We asked the ticket man on the train what he thought we should do. He told us to just get off at Fulda (our original destination) and just try and make the connection. Well we spent at least 2 hours on that train until our stop came up. We ran to the info desk in Fulda and the man was very nice again. However he had bad news. He told us it was impossible to get to Vienna the way our ticket said. He told us we had three options: 1. Stay the night in a near by small town that was close to the Austrian border 2. take the train to Munich and stay the night there 3. Take the train to Munich and try to get a seat on the overnight train to Vienna. We chose option #3. None of us had a problem going on the overnight train, but the issue was making sure we could get a seat. We couldn’t book seats because it was after 6p and apparently you can’t book seats for trains after 6pm (wtf??). The only thing we could do is physically go to the conductor of the train (pray that he knows English) and ask if he can let us abroad. Sounds full proof right?

We all had good spirits about it. We just crossed our fingers and hoped for the best. Worst case we stay the night in Munich, a city both J-M wanted to visit. So instead of panicking and worrying, we ate our last currywurst and just waited patiently for our train to Munich. The nicest thing about the train people was that they made all of these changes in our tickets for us without us having to pay extra. Our original ticket cost around 34 Euros and I’m fairly certain that with all the transfers and changes in our plans our tickets could have been really expensive. So in a way Germany made up for our non-existent train by not making us pay extra for their error.

We got to Munich and relaxed in a cafe until we saw our train enter the station. Well we asked every train person on the platform where the conductor was and each person told us, “keep going, it’s the last car”. We got to the last car and knocked on the window to the conductor’s compartment. A man came out and we explained our situation. He told us that if we could find a compartment with a free seat we were more than welcome to get aboard. Out of the entire 20 car train only 2 cars were designated to the destination of Vienna. the first car had one open seat in a compartment of 6, so worst case we got split up but at least we would all make it on. The second car turned out to be better. We found a few compartments that only had 2 reservations in a 6 person compartment so we were in. YES!!!!!! We somehow managed to get our heavy ass luggage on top of our seats, got settled in and prayed that we wouldn’t run into and more issues.

We ended up only having one German guy in the car with us so we had some extra room to spread out. That was short lived. Apparently this American mom and her daughter didn’t have tickets either and didn’t know where to go so they got kicked out of their original compartment and asked if they could have our extra seats. This was at 2am, I was half-way asleep so i drearily moved to the side as they put there luggage in our compartment and occupied the two then empty seats. Now it was cramped. Well later on these obnoxious American guys were being loud so the conductor kicked them out of their compartment so they just hung out in the hallways making more noise. ugh, typical Americans. Later on Julia said when she went to the bathroom she found those same guys sprawled out in their sleeping bags in the area between cars. That’s actually really dangerous but she did’t feel like bothering them.

We limited sleep and a long day of train hopping we finally arrived in Vienna at around 5:30am. We made it to our hostel without much problem thanks to Julia’s printout of the metro system and my map with the location of our hostel. What a team we made. We tried to settle into our hostel with as little noise as possible and just passed out. Well to our delight we got roomed with some go-getters who were up at 7:30am to start the day. I’m okay with people getting an early start but these girls were not quiet. They ruffled numerous plastic bags, turned on the lights, and slammed the bathroom door. At least we had the courtesy of making our beds in the dark and not unpacking or changing our clothes to be considerate of the sleepers.

So i couldn’t really sleep so I was up at 9:15am. I showered, finished making my bed, caught up on my journal, and unpacked slightly. J-M eventually woke up and we were out of the hostel by 11:30am. Once again J-M hadn’t researched Vienna so they were relying on my research for things to do. Anne had told me in the airport about how she went to the Opera for 3 Euros when she was in Vienna in the beginning of December so i decided to do a little research into that on the computer in the lobby of the hostel. Well i found the website that listed the shows playing and I was ecstatic when I noticed the Nut Cracker ballet was playing the next night. It would be the last performance of the ballet for the year. I told J-M about it and they were all for it. It made them really excited. We were all in agreement that if is was possible we would try and get actual tickets to the ballet verses just standing room (3 Euro seats, or more like place holders).

Our first destination was The Schonbrunn Palace, an impressive 40 room palace complete with a zoo and two tiergartends. We got a pastry at a cafe and then walked the streets of Wein in search of the illusive Palace. We eventually found it and worked our way around the grounds. With the advice from the receptionist at our hostel we decided just to see the free parts of the Palace. We toured the upstairs wing and the gift shop. We read the books in the gift shop to figure out why the Palace was famous and who this lady we kept seeing in portraits was. After the gift shop we made our way through the barren gardens and to the top of this hill to get a great view of the entire Palace and Vienna. It was very pretty. Next we took the metro to Stephenplatz and explored the free St. Stephen’s Cathedral. It was quite impressive but freezing inside. After the Cathedral we just walked around the city center and tried to find the Jewish Quarter. I was rather disappointed with the Jew Quar, not much there really. We needed a “warm” break so we found this cozy little pub and got some more gluihwein.

Our next plan of action was to head on over to the Opera House and ask about tickets to the Nut Cracker. we thought the earlier we inferred about it the better our chances. Along the way I pointed out the best ice cream or rather gelato shop in all of Austria. When Julia heard gelato she stopped, reversed, and geared it into the shop. She found was she was looking for, Nutella flavored gelato. She told me that she has only ever found it in Rome and loves everything and anything nutella. Not only did the guy dish out all of us very generous portions of the gelato he scooped from the top so we got a decent amount of swirls of nutella. You know how some people dish from the bottom and end up giving you mostly the core flavor without the extra treats in it like caramel swirls, chocolate chunks, cookie dough, ect...well this guy was NOT like that. Despite being freezing we all thoroughly enjoyed our gelato treat. Julia proclaimed at that moment that this was her favorite part of the trip so far hahaha. See, I’m not the only one that associates cities by the food they eat there.

After the gelato we found the world famous Vienna State Opera House. We tried to find a ticket window but all we could find was the waiting line for standing room tickets. We came to the decision that we didn’t have anything else to do tonight so we might as well see an Opera. So we did. I can now say that I’ve seen a real Italian Opera: La Forza del Destino. In order to get standing room seats you have to get in line around 5ish and then the ticket booth opens 80 minutes before the show starts (7pm) and once you’re in you can’t leave. We had three choices of places to stand: The front and center but far back section (4 euro), the balcony section (3 euro), or the very top section (3 euro). We decided to try out the balcony and if we liked it we knew what to get for the Nut Cracker. It turned out to be a very good decision. Once inside we asked a ticket counter about the Nut Cracker and were saddened to learn that it was sold out. Standing Room it is!

We met this girl Alana while waiting for our sections to open. She was also teaching English but in France, Dijon to be specific. This was her third standing room Opera so we deemed her the expert. She gave us some helpful hints about tying your scarf around your standing spot so nobody takes it if you leave for the bathroom and about how the balcony is better than the front section because everyone tries for those “seats” and only the people in the first row get to really see anything. I informed her about the Nut Cracker, which she was not aware of, and told her that we would be back here at 5 to ensure good “seats”, and she decided to join us as well. Besides a small portion of one of the corners of the stage, i could see everything from my spot, yeah! We decided to save our legs as long as possible so we tied up our scarfs and found a bench to sit on while we waited for the show to begin.

I had no idea what to expect. You see movies and tv shows where the male characters talk about how boring it is and how its for high class citizens, so had no idea what to expect. I’d been to The Phantom of the Opera, but I considered that more of a musical that a real Opera. I noticed these mini screens on every seat in front of us and figured that was used to translate the Opera. How smart. I now hoped that the people who sat in front of us would need the translation in English, at that moment Julia pointed out that we had mini screens as well. I’ll be darned! This was great, I was a tad worried that I was just going to have to watch the actors to figure out what was going on in the Opera. If I had done that it would have been a lost cause because the actors don’t really move much on stage. They basically stay in the same spot and they don’t change scenes that often. The Opera was THREE HOURS LONG with a 15 minute intermission. My legs were shot so I had to sit for part of the second half. The funniest part of the entire Opera was that the climax scene, where the leading lady gets shot, occurred in the ONE corner that none of us could see. We all heard the gun shot so we searched the mini screened and stretched as far forward as we could before hitting the people in front of us, but it was no use, we had missed the moment haha. That’s Opera for ya.

I’m not going to say I loved it but I can appreciate it. The leading guy was this short, fat asian guy and he was really good. The lead lady was this fat, black lady and she had a great voice as well. It didn’t pain my ears or shatter glass like i thought but their voices were very impressive across the board. There isn’t a whole lot of “action”, it’s all in the words they sing so it’s really important to know what they are saying. I found it a bit annoying that a sentence like “you have deceived me!” takes 5 minutes to sing. That kind of bothered me, but I’m open to seeing another Opera in the future. Any takers?

Afterwards we were starving so we hit up this awesome mediterranean restaurant right around the corner from our hostel. The waiter was super nice and we were pretty much the only ones in the restaurant. We ordered humus, vegetables, and salads; things we don’t get much in Spain. We were all in agreement that we could live off of Med food for the rest of our lives if we had to. When we got back to our room at a reasonable 11:30p our Asian roommates were once again fast asleep. I was really hoping to shower that night but again, out of courtesy, I just brushed my teeth and went to bed.

“We're gonna burn down Berlin tonight”

Friday, December 25, 2009

Good morning, it’s Christmas! Woke up lazily, showered, prepared myself for the cold, and headed for East Side Gallery. East Side Gallery is a mile stretch or so of the original Berlin Wall that every year gets repainted by artists from around the world. It was incredible and my favorite part of Berlin. People are so creative and it always impresses how people can convey an emotion or a feeling through art. I’ve always wanted to be good at painting. Oh well. yeah, so it took us an hour or so to go through the whole Gallery. I didn’t care about the cold, this was worth it to me. Next stop was this incredible Chocolate Store we had passed by yesterday and Maria had told us would be open on Christmas. I made it my mission to find that store again. We walked ALL OVER Berlin to find it but we finally found it: Fassbender & Rausch. If anyone ever wants to buy me chocolate for any reason in the future please note the name of the store :D

I was in heaven, and it was at this moment I learned that Julia has a huge sweet tooth. Finally I’m not the only one. I ended up buying a box of chocolates that I got to hand pick. It was so difficult picking out each chocolate. I ran out of choices so I asked the girl helping me which one’s she recommended. I decided to save the box for later. But I did indulge in some individual wrapped Nugget chocolates that they had out in small round bins. OMG they were all heavenly. The store also built replicas of the famous monuments of Berlin out of chocolate, oh and they had a life size chocolate Santa hehe.

The chocolate store was very close to our next destination, the Christmas Market (again)! Well we first decided to go into the only open and free indoor attraction, the German church that was part of Genarmenmarkt. It was cool but all in German. We were able to find a few papers in English here and there but it was nice just to look and take things in. We saw a few videos and had one of the tour guides tell us some interesting facts a few times. It was a nice break from the cold. Screw the museum, it was time for lunch!

To the market we went. Everything looked so good i didn’t know where to start. Well we all wanted to try currywurst so we gave that a whirl. We all really like it. The sauce and spice they use was very good. They even cute it up for us in this little machine. After currywurst I indulged in a lovely mug of hot chocolate and ended up keeping the mug. They had about three varieties of mugs you could choose from but i think the one i ended up with was the best one. My first souvenir! Later on i tried this Nuremberg _______ bread thing. It was wheat bread with a spread on top and covered with chives and bacon bits. Oh lordy it was good, steaming hot too. After that i decided to stick to samples only. The Christmas Market was incredibly generous with there samples. You know sometimes you try a sample and you just feel so guilty that you end up buying something even if you didn’t want it. Not the case here. The people would just offer them up and if you just glanced at something they convinced you to try it. I tried numerous pieces of bread in different dipping sauces, cookies, apple chips, cheese, pancakes, and seasoned nuts.The samples were our lunch and part of our dinner.

Once it started getting dark (4:30pm) we headed off to the next Christmas Market and then to Alexanderplatz. I really wanted to see Alexplatz because part of the Born Ultimatum was filmed there. Well because of the Christmas market and man made ice skating rink it looked nothing like it did in the movie but i was glad i got to see it. At this market J-M got more gluihwein and Julia and I split this heavenly marshmallow treat. Hey, its vacation, I’m allowed to indulge a little, well a lot. It was a great Christmas. We were all on the same boat that we were glad to see Berlin with all the markets and lights. If we had just visited the city in the cold it might not have been AS worth it.

We headed back to rest a little and pack up our bags. This was our last day in Berlin. It was a short visit but it was amazing. I would have liked one more day to go into some of the places we had passed but other than that i had no regrets about out stay there. We wanted to finish up our stay in Berlin with one more traditional German meal. The hostel recommended this little pub on a corner. We all ordered the same meal because it sounded so good and it did not fail. It had a small salad, lentils, and these ravioli/potato filled pasta. Yumm. The nice thing was that it was light as apposed to the meal we had the day before. Julia was on a mission to find good strudel so we asked our server and he told us to try this little place named Snow White in German. we were expecting this little cafe that was close to closing but what we found was this incredibly modern and beautifully decorated restaurant. Everything was white with frosty windows, white lights, and an upscale modern feel to it. We were surrounded by dinner parties of friends all dressed up. Despite the decor the price for strudel and a bailey’s drink was quite reasonable. Our waiter insisted the strudel was enough for one maybe two people but the three of us decided to all split it. It was a good thing because it was massive. Again, no let downs, the strudel was very good.

We got back to the hostel at midnight, said goodbye to Ory, and called it a night. Once again the crazy man talked in his sleep all night long. Even though it was a relatively short stay in Berlin I thought we accomplished a whole lot and had a great time. Tomorrow its off to WEIN!

BEARlin actually means swamp. How cute.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

I woke up at 8am with a headache again. At this point I was worried that I was going to have a headache every morning and in that case I was going to need some more medicine. I showered, got ready (in the dark--this would be a common occurrence throughout my trip. That’s the price you pay for sharing a room with 6 or more people), and was out the door with J-M by 8:45am. A kind man helped us figure out how to purchase a ticket for the UBahn and told us what stop to get off at. Not that I studied German or anything but i figured out what he was saying with little difficulty. I knew enough German to get by. I even taught J-M the essentials: hello, thank you, your welcome, do you speak english. We got to our destination, Hauptbahnhof fairly quickly and were on our way.

We decided to hit up the Reichstag first, get breakfast, and then explore the Brandenburg Gate before we joined up for the free walking tour of Berlin at 11am. Well since it was Christmas Eve the Berlin Parliament (Reichstag) was closed. I was sure that of all the places to be open on Christmas Eve that would be one of them since it was free to explore and the lady at the cafe we had breakfast at said it would be open. Oh well, that’s the price you pay when you visit famous cities during the holiday’s. Now that I’ve finished my trip I can say that our first day in Berlin was by far the coldest because it was windy, cold, we couldn’t go inside anywhere for approximately 3 hours, and we were walking on ice the whole day. Fortunately, I wore spandex underneath my jeans, two pairs of socks, my best sweatshirt with a hood, and a warm scarf that covered my nose down.

Well 11am rolled around and we left the Starbucks to start our free tour of Berlin. We were lucky to get Maria as our tour guide. She was half Swedish and half Japanese. She grew up in Sweden, studied in London, and then fell in love with a German musician (wouldn’t name who it was) and ended up moving to Berlin. She has been here ever since because she just fell in love with the city. She speaks 5 languages, has half pink half black hair, and an incredible spirit. She turned out to be an awesome guide. Despite the cold she kept me very interested in everything she had to say. She spoke clearly, loudly when necessary, and had wonderful stories and anecdotes to share with us.

These are the highlights I learned about Berlin and its incredible history:

Brandenburg Gate: it was a gift from the French and had the statue of Athena on top. Well The German’s defeated some country I forgot so they named the statue Victory (for victory). Napoleon came and reclaimed Berlin, liked the statue so much that he took it back to France with him. The German’s defeated the French later and reclaimed Victory. She now glares directly at the French Embassy from the top of the Gate once again in Parisplatz. Parisplatz is home to the famous Hotel Adlon where Michael Jackson dangled his child out the window.

Reichstag: German Parliament and symbol of democracy. Was never used by the Nazi’s during Hitler’s reign.

TV Tower: It was constructed during the Cold War in East Berlin. It was build to show the people of West Berlin that things were thriving over in East Berlin (false). However, when it is sunny you can see a shiny symbol of a cross illuminated on the top of the tower, something the Russians were NOT happy about, but were powerless to do anything about it.

Only 3 building left in Germany from WWII that were used by the Nazi’s. 1--The Olympic Stadium 2--old nazi building that is now home to the tax department. After WWII the Russians used the building as a HQ for the Gestapo. On the building is a painted mural of Russian propaganda. Now there is a photograph of the same length as the mural that depicts what actually happened in front of that building, a massacre of innocent people. 3-- __________________

Hitler’s Bunker (actually just a plaque now): It was the size of a Twin Tower but now there is nothing but swamp left. It is illegal to dig anywhere in this vicinity and now it is home to apartment buildings and a local spot for dog’s to do there business. Quite fitting if you ask me. The government spent as little money as possible to construct the plaque and they only put one up because tourists would come looking for it.

Holocaust Memorial: took 7 million euros to build. It doesn’t have a plaque indicating what it is because the architect wanted people to see it and interpret its significance on their own. However it is located in the center of Berlin so that everyone has to see it no matter where they want to go and therefore they can never forget what happened. Side note, it is illegal to verbally say the Holocaust never existed. If a policeman finds out you can be sent to jail or fined over 100,000 Euros.

Checkpoint Charlie: Not named after an actual person, just the alphabet (Alpha, Beta, CHARLIE).It was a popular checkpoint where people tried to smuggle people over from the East to the West and vice versa. One person ducked and was able to drive his sports car underneath the gate. Another person sowed his mother into the seat of the car and sat on her. Another person dressed up as a cow in the middle of a pack of real cows. Lastly, a skinny girl was put in the bag with a surfboard and made it across.

Apelmann: In the East all the sidewalk crossings had this interesting character called Apelmann rather than the boring man walking. When the wall fell down and the two sides were united the people of East Berlin were attached to this guy so all the sidewalks and crosswalk lights have him on them now. A lot of touristy shops carry all things Apelmann.

The Royal Palace: Amazingly was intact throughout the war but Stalin blew it up during the Cold War and build this hideous block there instead. Well the German people actually really liked the Palace so now they tore down the Russian cube and plan to rebuild the original Royal Palace. It should be done by 2015 (in five years).

The Berlin Wall: It was actually torn down by accident. Gorbachev was so nervous giving a live speech that he didn’t really have time to read all the new rules and regulations that the Russians had come up with concerning checkpoints. Well one reporter asked a bold questions about the Wall that made Gorb frantic so he skimmed the papers and said that the borders would allow anyone to pass through them (GASP!). When asked when this would be put into affect, Gorb scanned the papers for a date, any date, and when he found one he just said it. It turned out to be that exact day (immediately). Everyone rushed to the checkpoints and one guard gave in and just let everyone through and that’s what spurred the falling of the Wall. There’s more to it but that’s the abridged version hehe

The Book Burning Square: It occurred because the youth wanted to show the people of Germany that they supported Hitler so they burned the books of Humboldt University (the same university that Einstein once attended). There is this famous quote: “Burning books only leads to burning people”--this was said 100 years before WWII about the Spanish Inquisition. How scary is that? Well the university was so ashamed of their past that now every Saturday they have a old and used book sale and all the profits go to charity.

Those were just the highlights, but I learned so much about Berlin it was incredible. I felt for the first time that learning the history of the city made the city that much more remarkable to me. Even though the tour was free it was encouraged to tip and we tipped very generously.

Well by this time three or so hours had passed and we were cold, tired, and most of all hungry. We really wanted to try traditional German cuisine so we asked Maria for suggestions and she pointed us in the right direction. We ended up at this amazing little restaurant. It was so cute and the people were very nice. I had peppermint tea while the others got Gluihwein again (they got addicted). I ended up ordering gammon (ham), potato dumplings, lentils, and sauerkraut. The whole meal was DELICIOUS but SOOOO filling. Julia ordered a very traditional meal of Pork Knuckle. When it came out it had this jiggly ring of fat on top of the meat. At first it looked really disgusting, but once you got past the ring of fat the rest of the meal was great. Megan ordered her first goulash. It reminded me of the goulash me dad would make (tear, tear).I never thought I liked sauerkraut or lentils for that matter, but I’ve opened my horizons to new things and it turned out i really like both. the potato dumpling was really interesting. It had this unusual taste and texture that I can’t quite describe but it was way to filling to finish. It wasn’t my favorite but I’m glad I got to try it. This was our lunch and dinner (4-5:30p).

We needed to walk off our meal so we headed in the direction of the Christmas Markets. We were also unsure if they would be open on Christmas so we wanted to make sure we didn’t miss them. Turns out they were open for most of Christmas :) We explored the entire market. It had so many interesting foods, drinks, ornaments, figurines, and much much more.We all split some seasoned almonds, they were delightful, and J-M got a mixed bag of cookies and chocolates for a very good price. After an hour or so in the market we decided to head back to the hostel to recuperate and make plans for Christmas Eve night.

Well For me, Christmas Eve is always spent with the family at home doing traditional things rather than going out. Apparently that’s not the norm. Well we showered, napped, and ended up spending the rest of the night at our hostel drinking and hanging out with some really cool people. We made friends with the Bartender/Receptionist. He was quite a character and looked just like Goose from Top Gun. Megan and I called him that all night long (his real name was Ory) and at one point he fetched his aviators and posed for pictures for us. It was great. At first he only played this heavy metal/rock music but when I insisted that he play something more festive, like I don’t know, Christmas music?? he finally gave in and let me control the music. This turned in to a free for all where people just started playing random music and showing everyone random videos on YouTube. Most of the stuff was dumb but occasionally someone played a funny video. It was the weirdest Christmas Eve I’ve ever had, but it was a lot of fun. I met some Spanish engineers who partied all night every night, this Canadian kid who designs light up t-shirts and tried to take us to the worlds best night club held in an old bomb making factory, this British guy who dropped out of Cambridge to work on a Hostel boat (???!?!), this Dutch couple who told us where to go in Prague, and lastly Ory the Israeli Bartender who got out of serving in the military by claiming he was crazy and instead moved to Berlin and hasn’t left since. The Canadian guy was so hyped about this night club he MADE us come with him. I decided it was time to break out the leather jacket. I’d been saving it in America and had worn it a few times in Spain but I thought Germany would appreciate it. As we got ready to head out the British guy called me Lara Croft. He said all I needed was leather pants haha. I took it as a compliment. After an unsuccessful attempt to find the nightclub we came back to the hostel and just partied it up with the rest of the people for the rest of the night. It’s quite fascinating when you think about all the people you could meet in a hostel at one time. Was in bed by 4:30am.

Starting the trip off right with some Christmas Wham

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

I started out my day bright and early at 4am to hail a taxi with two other girls from my hostel. They were headed home, back to the States, while I was off to my first European adventure. Of course it was pouring down rain and the taxi driver was too lazy to help us load our bags, but somehow I managed to stay dry. We arrived at the airport and I went through the normal procedures: checking-in, going through security, finding a snack to eat, and making my way to the gate. As I ate my croissant, I ran into Anne, a girl from my program who is based in Huelva. We had a chat about life in Spain and our outlook to the future. She really wants to teach at the same school next year. I on the other hand am ready to start a new chapter, which either means grad school, wwoofing, or finding some crappy job at a health club for a few months while I get my act together. It was nice to see her and get her perspective of life in Spain. She was also on her way home for the holidays. I was beginning to think that I made the wrong decision at this point. It also dawned on me that this was my first time in an airport since I arrived in Seville on September 16. It’s been a little over 3 months.

We parted ways and I waited for my flight to board. Naturally, because of the rain I was delayed for a half in hour. It’s a good thing I had a five hour layover before my next flight in Palma de Mallorca. The AirBerlin flight went rather quick. I was too anxious to sleep despite my lack of sleep from the night before. I got to the small terminal and it was very busy for 7:30-8 in the morning. By 9am the place was empty and I changed locations every half hour just to keep myself entertained. When my gate was finally announced i noticed a whole new rush of people in the terminal. I guess the next shift of flights were gearing off to their exotic locations.

When it was finally time to board the plane, it was now 2:50pm, I was greeted by 80s Christmas music videos on the screens. I’m talking Wham, Band Aid, and old school Mariah Carey. I couldn’t help but laugh. Again, my flight was delayed an hour but we made up the extra time in the air. I couldn’t sleep again because i was too busy thinking about what was to come of the next 15 days. I couldn’t help but think that i packed the wrong things, that i forgot something very important, or that along the way someone was going to pickpocket me. I can’t help but worry about those things. Well I finally landed in Berlin at Tegel airport. I hadn’t really planned out my method of transportation to my hostel but I thought for sure there had to be a UBahn or SBahn attached to the airport. As i waited for my luggage I browsed the free brochures and found one with a map of the UBahn stops and a brochure for a free walking tour of Berlin. Well I was a little nervous about the language barrier and I couldn’t find a metro stop sign anyway so i figured I’d splurge and grab a taxi. I asked the man in the first taxi if he spoke a little English, he nodded and I pointed to my destination. He typed it into his high-tech navigation system and we were off. His car resembled a luxury car rather than a taxi with the clean black leather seats, his navigation system, ipod, and mini tv screen. That’s Germany for you I guess.

I’m not sure if he planned this, but he ended up driving me pass pretty much every tourist attraction I wanted to see. I would ask him every now and then, “what’s that?” He gladly answered, in perfect English mind you, and I got my own indoor tour guide of Berlin. 45 minutes in and I was in love with the city. We arrived at my hostel in what seemed like an empty part of town. Hmmm if i remember correctly, the Sunflower Hostel advertised that they were located in a lively, convenient part of town. Well I checked-in and found a note waiting for me at the front desk from Julia and Megan. I texted Julia once I was settled in and got directions to the bar (Coye Tano) they were waiting at. I was so excited to be in Berlin I just wanted to walk around (in the cold) and start exploring right then and there (7:30pm). When i met up with the girls they were drinking the local drink, Gluihwein; hot, spiced, cured wine. It had an interesting taste to it but I wasn’t sold on it quite yet.

This was only the second time I had really hung out with Julia and the first time I was meeting Megan so I was really nervous to figure out if we were going to click or not. Within minutes I knew that these girls were going to be a lot of fun. They were interesting, funny, talkative, and just as excited as I was about the trip. However, they were tired from their day of travel from Barcelona to Berlin so instead of walking around they just wanted to get some dinner and call it an early night so we could start the next day off fresh. I whipped out my itinerary for the trip and started telling them about all the things i wanted to see and shared all the tips people had told me about the city with them. They were impressed and thankful that i had done research because neither of them had really looked up anything. I finally felt appreciated rather than pushy or bossy.

We looked at the tourist map i got from the hostel and decided to try dinner at a bar/pub that was playing live music. It turned out to be this heavy metal place with a grungy, gothic feel to it. It was kind of funny that we three girls ended up there but we decided to stay and try it out. Unfortunately I was developing a monster headache so I wasn’t much into talking while we were there. It got worse throughout the meal to the point where I HAD to get home, take some medicine, and lay down. I ordered this potato, feta, spinach plate. It was very good. Next to us was this girl and her boyfriend and when we didn’t understand something on the menu she helped us out. Turned out she was from Houston. When she got laid off from her corporate job she decided to learn German so she taught herself and then moved to Berlin. She’s pretty much fluent and is excited to start her first class at a German University after the winter break. She was very nice and offered to take us out on the town to the best night clubs but we politely declined since Julia & Megan (J-M) were tired and I didn’t feel good.

As we neared the hostel my stomach started to turn so I booked it home, said goodnight to my friends (we were in separate rooms because we booked them separately), and headed for my room. Not a minute to soon, for i headed directly to the bathroom and hurled up my ENTIRE dinner. gross I know, sorry. Good start to Berlin. I took some Advil but I didn’t kick in for an hour or so. Eventually I fell asleep but I was woken a few times by my neighbor who talked (in German) in his sleep haha. I wasn’t even mad, I only wish I knew what he was saying. I was later warned by the couple also sharing the room with me that this guy was crazy so I should stay away from him but don’t worry to much since they were going to be in the room with me the whole time I was there.