live your passion. tell your story. love your life.

525,600 minutes.

2010-02-17T06:03:00.003-06:00

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." - Henry Miller

More than ever before in my life, I wish I had a time machine. I crossed my fingers last night that I would wake up on my grandparent's couch, suitcase zipped and locked, and the calendar would read "February 17, 2009." And then I would board a plane and embark on the journey of a lifetime. I would begin what would turn out to be the best 3 months of my 24 years of life.

Unfortunately, I woke up in Waco, Texas. There is no suitcase. And 2010 was staring back at me on the calendar. While waking up in Waco is always an unfortunate event, the fact that it isn't February 17, 2009 is not as horrible as it seemed. I grew more in the three months I spent in Europe than the rest of my life combined. I returned with a strength and independence that I had never known. [Mom and Dad: I know you're laughing. I was one of the most independent children I've ever seen.] But this, this was different. This was an independence that breeds confidence. Confidence that I can go sit at a restaurant by myself and eat. Confidence to sit in a coffee shop alone and think. Confidence to sit in the ghetto in the middle of the night by myself. (....just kidding.) It's a confidence that only could have come through going, and doing, and being.

I came back knowing more than ever how important family is, and how much you miss them if you can't hug them for 3 months.

I grew up in Europe. Well, I grew up in Bedford. But I grew into who I am in Europe. I came back as someone who I enjoy being far more than the girl that boarded that plane a year ago. One of my best friends in this world as I was telling her about my trip not long after I arrived back in the states stopped me in the middle of a sentence. "Amber - you're glowing. You're literally radiating with passion for the people you met and the places you saw and the lessons you learned. You're happier than I've ever seen you."

And man is that true. So for that, I'd give anything to go back. I'd give anything to remember what that joy felt like. But that's the exact reason that we don't have time machines. That would be easy - just reliving the good days over and over. But that wouldn't be what's best for us. In the shade of the valley we are shown whether that lesson we were taught as we basked in the sunshine on top of the mountain really stuck. We learn if down to the core of who we are, we believe what we say we believe. I love being on that mountain.

I love Colorado. Skiing straight down those mountains as a little girl are to this day some of the best memories I've got. I loved the feeling of being so high up, and going [sometimes far too fast for my dad's health] down to the bottom. The feeling of accomplishment, the adventure of it all, the laughter. I loved getting off the lift at the tip top of the mountain and being able to see the beauty of creation for miles and miles.

But there were a lot of falls to get to the bottom. There were a lot of bumps along the way, where that sense of adventure turned to fear, where the laughter turned to tears. And this is where life parts ways from skiing: there aren't lifts in life. There's no getting to the bottom and saying "Welp...time to go back to the tip top again. Guess I'll hop on this little guy for a minute and 27 seconds and then i'll be there." It's climbing up sideways with your skiis on. It's getting stuck in powder and having to figure out how to get out of it, and then realizing "Man. I'm wearing skiis. This sure would be a lot easier to walk up this mountain if I'd take these off. Why didn't I think of that sooner? Sure would've saved me a lot of pain and effort."

But you know what I've learned this past year? Taking that lift to the top - it get's you there. You get to the top and you can see the beauty of creation for miles and miles - and it's great. But when you walk up that mountain, when you fight to get back to that place of joy and radiance, when you fall and get back up and fall again and think your legs are going to collapse before you reach that peak....then when you get to the top - yes, you can see the beauty of creation for miles and miles. But you know what else you can do? Look back DOWN the mountain. You can feel that sense of accomplishment that you felt when you skied down the mountain - only it's greater, because the going up is always going to be harder than the going down. You can reach the top and look back at the footprints you left along the way, marking the lessons learned and the growth that took place. You can see where you fell. There's no reflection on the journey if the lift takes you to the top.

The last 9 months haven't been easy. Europe was filled with skiing down the mountain. I don't even think I had to wait in the lift line to go back up ever. It was just one big huge downhill mountain - and it was the time of my life. And since May 21st when I returned, I've been making that trek back to the top. I don't know when I'll get there. I don't know when the downhill adventure will begin again. I just know that I've gotta trust that it's there. Because I've seen it. Every now and again I get tired of walking uphill and ski down a ways - grasping for any sense of adventure and laughter I can find. And then I realize I've gotta work to get back to where I just was, plus more.

That's life. I've had a lot of downhill. I'm beyond blessed. But I've climbed some mountains in my days, too. It's been almost 4 years since my accident, and still today at times it feels like I'm climbing that mountain. Yet when I look back at the footprints and falls and accomplishments - it's one of my favorite mountains I've ever had to climb. The day I took my first steps - the second time I took my first steps I mean - was a mountaintop experience that is etched so deep into me that it gives me the strength to climb. In those moments that I feel I can't take another step up the mountain, that my legs are going to give, that I am going to collapse if I keep going, I reach deep into my core and realize that medical experts told me I'd never reach that mountaintop. People with years and years of education told me I might as well let them amputate - that I would have to take that liftline to the top of that mountain forever.

But I didn't. I chose to try and make it up that mountain. I chose the hard way, knowing I might make it zero steps up, I might make it part of the way and be stuck there, I might fall back down all the way to the bottom. I chose that despite all of that. Because I knew that there was a chance that I'd reach the top and be able to see for miles and miles and miles. I cherish that mountaintop. But I cherish the journey up that mountain all the more. That was the biggest valley of my life, and yet that mountaintop is my most cherished. THAT to me is the beauty of this life. The mountains are meaningless without the valleys that correspond.

It's been a year since I embarked on the most delightful downhill journey of my 24 years of life. I wish that time machine had worked, because there are some things I'd do differently. I'd take advantage of more opportunities if I had it to do over again. I'd change some things. I'd invest more into the people I met, rather than just skimming the surface because I knew I would only be around them for a matter of days. I would not leave my journal in that train. ;) There are things I wish I'd seen that I didn't.

But here I sit - February 17, 2010. One year later. Many lessons learned. Much strength and independence gained. Many footprints up the mountain over the last 9 months. Some falls. Some tears. Many "I hate law school and would give anything to be back in Europe" moments, that inevitably give way to "I don't hate law school and am glad for that reminder of why I came to law school" moments. Many lonely "I wish I had someone to hold my hand as I walk up there." moments that inevitably give way to "Whoa. Someone's carrying me up this mountain" moments.

I know one thing: I'll get to the top and look back down and be reminded of the lesson that I've learned over and over in life: It has to be taken....

one. step. at. a. time.

"The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land." ~G.K. Chesterton

I leave you with this:

525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear. 525,600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee. In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife. In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life?

How about love? How about love? How about love? Measure in love. Seasons of love.

I wish you all love. Daylights. Sunsets. Midnights. Cups of coffee. Inches. Miles. Laughter. Strife. All under the umbrella of love.

Thank you for being by my side in the mountains and in the valleys. I hope and pray that I have done the same for you.

Bittersweet one year later,
Amber

the end is here.

2009-05-21T00:18:00.003-05:00

i am on my way to the airport right this second!

my plane lands in houston tonight at 9:40, which with the time change is 23 hours from the time i woke up this morning. it's going to be a long day.....

i have a layover in charlotte from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m. that's 1-7 texas time....i wouldn't mind if you answered your phone during that time. :)

i love you guys! i can't believe i'll be seeing family within 24 hours! :) i don't want to be late for my train to the airport....so i'm going to run! i may update again while i wait at the airport, but with the sketchy blackberry service, there's no telling.

i'll tell the pilot to fly extra carefully....

the last of the last!

2009-05-19T08:58:00.002-05:00

we got to london this morning. hard to believe i'll be on a plane heading home in 48 hours. our ferry ride was....definitely interesting. the two of us vomitted uncontrollably for at least an hour....and only had one toilet in which to do so. i haven't decided if we both got seasick, or if the sushi we bought at the train station before the ferry made us sick....but it was pretty terrible. so, we were in bed asleep about an hour after the ferry took off from the netherlands.

a few other funny stories to catch you up on the happenings over here.....

we went to see the counting crows when we were in glasgow....somehow they were there the ONE day we were. so we felt it was warranted to pay the money for the show. we ended up standing in the second row - SUPER close to the stage. it was awesome. ....until drunk people decided they wanted to stand where we were, even though we had been standing there for 3 hours at this point. there was lots of pushing, they were pretty mad at us, but we certainly were not going to let them get in front of us. long story short: we basically got 3 ladies and a man kicked out of a concert. they said many cuss words to the security officers that escorted them out (to the point that they CERTAINLY would've gotten ticketed/arrested for assaulting an officer if it had taken place in the states). everyone around us cheered and clapped when they were taken out. way to go adrienne for telling that security man what was up.

.....and then.....we almost got 4 italian boys (see previous post) kicked out of our hostel in edinburgh. we left edinburgh, spent one night in glasgow, and then came back to edinburgh for one night. we ended up in the SAME room with the SAME four italian boys. ....what are the chances? this was the night before our flight from edinburgh to dublin, so we HAD to get sleep. the boys come in at 3 a.m. drunk and YELLING. i nicely told them we were sleeping and asked if they could keep it down. ....good try, but no luck. after about 5 minutes of them continuing to yell with the lights on after being repeatedly asked to be quiet, because we had a flight to catch the next morning, i had had enough. ''it's 3 in the morning. we're sleeping.'' got a response of ''no! 3 in the morning is time to party! wake up!'' after that, i walked downstairs and talked to the people at the front desk. he couldn't come up right then because there was someone in the lobby area, so he said he would be up there in 10 minutes, and would kick them out if it wasn't silent. about a minute before he walked in, they decided they would all go to sleep. but, they were very close to being kicked out. it was pretty great though....the guy came in, told them that bedrooms were for sleeping at 3 in the morning, and that if there was any more complaints, he would kick them to the curb in the cold rain at 4 in the morning.

and then, to top them all: in our dublin hostel, we walked in and the room smelled absolutely TERRIBLE. like, we walked through the rain to go to the grocery store to buy air freshener. it was bad. we came to realize there was a man in our room from whom that awful smell was coming. he was about 55 and had been living in that hostel for at least 6 months. we affectionately named him ''stinky man''. the night before we were leaving dublin, we were in bed and he had been talking in his sleep and making awkward moaning noises in his sleep. adrienne fell asleep.....and about 10 minutes later i heard a can being crushed. this guy then left the room, came back, and about 5 minutes later i heard another can crush. i shined my phone his way (he was in the bunk next to me), only to find this old man drinking beers, alone, in bed, after everyone else was asleep. we're talking 1 or 2 in the morning at this point. .....it was absolutely hillarious.

we went one day and got irish coffee....since we were in ireland and all. for whatever reason, in my head i thought irish coffee was coffee with baileys IRISH creme in it. and that combination is something i like a lot. however, as it turns out, it's coffee with whiskey. whiskey burns on the way down regardless.....and especially when it's hot. it was not my favorite experience.

we're going to see grease tonight! i'm SUPER excited about it! before the show we're going to a super nice restaurant (adrienne's dad's favorite restaurant) and then going to the show. my friend deb arrived on her plane this morning and we met her at the ticket booth to buy the tickets and she's staying at the hostel with us for the next two nights. i'm SO excited! they're such such such funny people. and we ate at MY favorite restaurant in london for lunch. ending with a bang, for sure!

deb has never been to london, so i think tomorrow we're gonna do some of the touristy stuff, a couple museums, a market, and just roam. and then i have to leave the hostel by like 6:20 on thursday morning. gross gross gross!!!!

i can't wait to see you all. i really, really can't. these three months flew by. see you so so so soon!

cows?

2009-05-14T08:58:00.000-05:00

i never would have guessed there would be so many cows here!

it's so pretty! everything is green. we've spent a lot of times in little irish towns (and LOTS of time on buses between those towns), and now we are on our way to dublin. we've had really, really bad weather. lots and lots and lots of rain. but we're still enjoying ourselves!

we went a couple nights ago to an irish pub that had a guy playing live irish music. it was just like the movies! ((...i don't have a clue what movie has irish pubs with irish music...but it was certainly everything i had pictured it to be, and i assume that had to have been due to some movie somewhere...)

there's lots of redheads here! it's fun. :)

last night we decided we wanted queso, so we went to the grocery store, knowing that we probably weren't going to find any velveeta. we went to the cheese, and found some that came in a box, was wrapped in foil inside the box, and was labelled "processed cheddar cheese". we were certain that had to be it. ....it was an absolute failure. it definitely didn't melt. but, the fajitas were good even without it. :) we also got this "tex-mex sauce" thing that came with salsa, guacamole, jalapeno cream sauce, and sour cream and chive sauce. ....none of it was good, nor was it tex-mex in any way.

the blackberry works less than 50% of the time, thus the lack of updating. i updated last night, but apparently it didn't post. sad.

hard to believe i will be home in a week. ...is it sad that my to-do list when i get home consists solely of places to go eat? taco bueno, chick-fil-a, sonic, pita pit, freebirds, laynes, pei wei, some quality tex-mex....i can't wait!!!!!

2 nights in dublin, 2 nights in amsterdam, a night on an overnight ferry, and 2 nights in london. ... i will be sleeping in houston a week from today. crazy crazy.

i'm excited for dublin! i've heard its super expensive, but hopefully we will survive it. i'll keep my eyes peeled for the leprechauns...

love you! can't wait to hug you soon!

dear dad,
answer when i call.
sincerely,
me

i love my momma!!!!

2009-05-10T05:10:00.001-05:00

happy mother's day to the most wonderful woman i have ever met. i'm clearly not organized enough to have mailed a card home...but consider this your card mom. everyone who reads this blog will know that i would be more than lucky to be half the woman you are when i grow up. ((i wonder at what age "when i grow up" becomes obsolete. i might be there...but i certainly won't admit that. :))

mom always has the right words. can alwys wipe my tears, even from halfway around the world. she sacrificed more than any mom i know for ryan and i. i could just sit and talk to her for hours on end and never grow bored. she put up with me through those teenage years when "i knew best". what a joke. she always tried to warn me of things, yet let me make my own mistakes, so that i might learn my lesson. i think that must be one of the hardest things about being a parent...watching your hildren make mistakes of their own, mistakes that you wish you could have shielded them from, yet knowing that sometimes shelter from them is a mistake on its own. she is so strong and so well liked. she has a wonderful husband that she gets to enjoy each day with. i know raising Ryan and i wasn't easy, and most of the time i don't know how she made it...but i hope one day i can have children and love them like she has lived us. what a beautiful example of a mom she is. :)

mimi and grandmother: i could NOT have cooler grandmas. i am so lucky to be 23 and still get to send a (cyber) mothers day card to the two of you. i regret how little i came to visit while i lived so close, and how little i have called through the years. i hate that so often i get so caught up in the here and now that i forget about what truly matters. you two have done any and everything possible for your grandchildren...mom and dad are lucky to get to call you their moms. :)

laura: things weren't always easy when i was a little girl, but luckily i grew out of that. :) you've always been there for us and for dad....and especially these last few years (which i obviously have to claim credit for his gray hairs now), i am really glad that you were. we all needed you, and you were a great love and support.

the four of you have helped to shape me into the woman i am. i am so lucky to be blessed enough to have incredible women in my family.

:) happy mother's day!!!!

adrienne and i are on our way to glasgow! ((there's wifi on this bus!!!! oh, technology....)) we did manage to get tickets tonight....so we're going to see one of our favorite bands....in scotland. totally worth the money. because...what are the chances of that even happening? yay counting crows!

she brought me a diet dr. pepper. what a sweet reunion it was. not quite as sweet as when i met her at the airport and got two really big hugs....but the diet dr. pepper was delicious!!! :)

we got lunch at this scottish place which has a special backpackers menu. we ordered two appetizers, a burger, and fries for seven pounds total and split all three! what a deal! one of the appetizers was "haggis balls". it's the traditional scottish dish....and it was decent. not something we would order again, but we were glad we tried it. ....until we googled what it was. we immediately regretted our decision. ((think: grosser than a hot dog...i'll spare you the details.))

we were chilling in the "chill-out-room" (appropriately named) and there were two boys in there who asked where we were from. they were from austin! it was yucky and rainy out so we ended up going with them to a little pub an hanging out for a while. 'twas a good time.

it was us and four 20 year old italian boys in the room last night. ....ugh. they came in late and were talking loudly...not even attempting to be quiet while we were sleeping. and they did the same this morning. ....and when they got there this boy asked us if we knew how to make a bed. ....i was certain this was a trick and he was just trying to get the girls to make his bed for him. we were like "...what?" he then told us he knows how to make the bed like in the morning when he gets up, but didn't know how to make it to begin with. who knows...

edinburgh is super pretty. we didn't do much else...she was running on about 3 hours of sleep and was pretty beat. all in all it was a glorious first day with her. just being with her was enough....i laughed more yesterday than most other days of the trip combined.

almost to glasgow! love you all!

Posted with LifeCast

yippeeeeeeee!!!!!!

2009-05-08T17:51:00.000-05:00

:) :)

yesterday i took a train from nottingham to york, spent 7 hours in york, and then took the train to edinburgh. it was a long day, but i enjoyed york enough that it was worth it. it reminded me a lot of cambridge which i went to at the beginning of the trip. there's a huge (and beautiful!) cathedral. ...i wish i had kept tally of how many i've been in this trip! the city is surrounded by walls, and you can climb up to the top of the walls and walk around the city. it's 2 miles around...i walked around 3 times. ...it was sunny and pretty and seemed like a wonderful plan! but...today my foot has been acting up for the first time since the beginning of the trip. it was worth it though. i literally walked the city walls for like 2 hours. and then i took my last train ride of the trip! talk about crazy...i feel like all i have done is take trains and now its just buses and planes!

edinburgh is so wonderful! it's super pretty...minus the weather.

my walk from the train station to the hostel was absolutely miserable. uphill...with bags...against a 30 mile an hour wind. never in my life have i walked against that hard of a wind. today i LITERALLY had to walk inside somewhere because it almost blew me over. it was one of the weirdest experiences of my life.

but! once i made it to the hostel it has been wonderful ever since! i have three american girls in my room who are SO nice. i just love meeting all of these great people. :)

i didn't much know what to do today, because i knew tomorrow adrienne and i would want to do all of the main stuff again. so i just walked around and took a lot of pictures...it's just so so so pretty! even though it was cold and windy, it was sunny and blue skies! except every 20 minutes when it rains for a few minutes. ((...crazy weather)).

there's so many hills here...pretty much every street runs up/downhill. also not good for the feet.

i'm heading to bed now so i can wake up to meet adrienne at the airport! she's on the plane now. i'm bummed...i was going to surprise her with concert tickets to the counting crows (one of our favorite bands) on sunday when we're in glasgow and had found a lady that was selling tickets and was going to meet me with them, but she emailed me today and said she had found someone else that would pick them up from her house. :/ and THEN adrienne emailed me and said "...i don't know if you know this, but counting crows are playing in glasgow! wanna go?" so, it isn't a surprise anymore. but! we're gonna go i think! as long as we can manage to get tickets...

i ate sheep today. sick. it's the typical scottish dish...so i figured i would try it while in scotland. i swallowed one bite, threw the rest away, and still ended up getting sick from it. i don't know why i thought it would be a good idea...i don't even eat meat really...but for whatever reason, i didn't associate the two together. i still have a headache and don't feel well. but there's no time for sickness!

in other news, adrienne's dad is buying us dinner at this super nice restaurant in london! it's his favorite restaurant...and after all the cheap meals i have cooked and the cheap picnics i have eaten...a nice, expensive meal will be such a treat!

...anyone have a favorite restaurant in ireland that we should try on your behalf? ;)

i am going to attempt to sleep...but i think its going to be one of those things like the night before school starts. :) not just adrienne but DIET DR. PEPPER!!!!!!!

love you all! the trip is almost over. ...see you so soon!

counting down the hours....

2009-05-06T08:06:00.003-05:00

off the mainland! i've had an enjoyable few days. pretty relaxing. :)

the hostel i stayed at in cardiff was one of the top 3 from the whole trip - VERY glad i went there! i didn't do a whole lot in cardiff, but it was so good to just be at a good hostel and be able to relax. the bus trip there was filled with beautiful english countryside, as was the train that i took yesterday from cardiff to nottingham! and SO many sheep out the windows! hillarious. i've never seen anything like it. the sky was blue, the clouds were pretty, the grass was green....it was so good.

i had something stolen for the first time this trip. :/ i was walking along the street and saw a guy that looked like i should clutch my stuff real tight. so, i did. a few minutes before, i had stopped at this little bakery and bought a vegetable pasty (which i had never had, but was delicious! like a handheld chicken pot pie, without the chicken. :) so i was walking back to the hostel, eating my pasty, and holding my bag tightly because this guy made me nervous. i was in the process of moving my hand to my mouth to take another bite and this guy TAKES THE PASTY AND RUNS. no lie. i have thousands of dollars worth of electronics in my backpack, and he takes the pasty that cost less than a dollar and runs. he must've REALLY been hungry....

i wanted to be mad. but really, i just thought it was so funny that i couldn't even complain about it. :) i literally laughed out loud.

my first day in cardiff i went to a place a ways outside of cardiff called tintern abbey. one of my friends at A&M had been there and LOVED it and told me i HAD to go. and BOY am i glad i did! it was so so so wonderful. it's an old church and monestary, but it's mostly in ruins. so it's basically all of the walls of it, with no roof. so so neat. surrounded by trees, on the river, so peaceful and serene! it probably helped that i met an australian boy on the way there and hungout with him all day. he had on chacos, was carrying a northface backpack, and he had dredlocks. :) i assumed he was going to tintern abbey when we were on the train, because that train goes to nowhere....and he looked like the backpacking tourist type that would go there. so, i asked him. ((as an aside....i think being able to strike up a conversation with a total stranger is a skill. and i certainly have built that one up this trip! i used to think my mother was INSANE because she would be talking to the lady behind us in the grocery store line, or talking to some random person on the street....but i now realize she's just good at conversation. working at starbucks helped with this a lot [probably the most useful job as far as preparation for life skills], but coming to europe just intensified it! i feel like i can talk to anyone!....even if they don't speak engligh!)) i figured if he was going there, we had something to talk about. and if he wasn't going there, i at least had started a conversation with a cute boy. :) luckily he was going there, and we got to enjoy it together. don't worry....pictures will come later.

the weather was bad all day....rainy, cold, and i had on flip flops and didn't have my coat. perfect. slightly miserable, but STILL worth it. after we walked all around the abbey, we went across to the hotel across the road and got some cappuccino. delicious and CHEAP! cheaper than in the US even! we just spent a lot of time chatting - it was so great to have someone to just talk to. but, a lot of it is still that 'get to know you' chatting. i can't WAIT to have someone that i can talk to and not have to answer where i'm from and how long i've been here and on and on. i feel like a broken record, mostly. i think i can make it through listing every city i've been to in under 15 seconds at this point.

i'm now in nottingham, and heading to york tomorrow, and then to edinburgh! ....yes....that means adrienne! less than 72 hours. i can't wait can't wait can't wait. i also can't believe that i only have 2 weeks left of this trip.

i was supposed to hang out with a friend here today, but she wasn't feeling well, so that fell through. but i think it's going to end up being good....i think i'm going to get some laundry done, see if i can get some pictures up (but i don't think these computers will let me do it), and perhaps get caught up on 24! i had a chill day yesterday, but i'm very okay with having 2 in a row. especially since it's about to be go-go-go-go-go nonstop. i think adrienne and i might spend as much time on buses as we will seeing things.

i chipped a tooth pretty bad the other day. i was eating a chewy sucker....that became crunchy at one point. a while later when i looked in the mirror, i realized that crunchiness was my tooth that was now sitting in my stomach. gooooood. :/ i called my mom crying. i think that goes to show i'm at the exhaustion point of the trip. hopefully adrienne will be the breath of fresh air i need! my poor mom....always has to answer those upset phone calls. she's a champ.

i haven't updated much, because there hasn't been much to update on....and i still don't feel like there's much to say. england is really, really pretty! i've really enjoyed all the little towns i've gone to here! there's so much more to it than just big ol' london!

i have free wifi at this hostel, so if i haven't talked to you in a while, you can expect a phone call today. i know i've said that before....but for REAL. be ready to answer. :)

:)

2009-05-01T05:56:00.000-05:00

i managed to keep up with my UK converter the entire trip...and i realized i'll be there in 2 days! so i'll be able to fully charge things starting then. i was able to charge on the train last night...listen to how funny this is. there were two australians that had a unviersal converter, but the U.S. one didn't work (the blackberry plug is big and the converter had a circle ring around it so the plug wouldn't go all the way into it). so I got creative and plugged my charger into my UK converter, which plugged into one that converted back to a US plug that would fit into that converter, then into an international one, into the australian one, and then finally to the european plug. but it worked! looked hillarious sticking out of the wall...but i've just got to make it last 2 days...or meet someone from england or scotland at the hostel tonight or tomorrow that has a UK to europe converter.

i am on my way to keukenhoff right now. its hundreds and hundreds or acres of tulips. i'm deleting pictures on the bus ride there. because i am certain i will take hundreds...tulips are my absolute favorite flower! ever since kindergarten...my favorite teacher or all time called us her tulips. it blows my mind that a teacher can impact a life that much. after i am done doing whatever i will do with my law degree, i will go back and teach. i am certain of it. i want to give to someone what mrs. turner and coach fuller gave to me. funny...my first and last years of school. :)

april 30th in amsterdam is queens day...their biggest holiday (aka...huge party). the city is SO trashed right now...smelled like urine...just icky. and i didn't even get far outside the train station. glad I'm heading out of the city for sure. AND glad that I'll be back in a few weeks after they've cleaned it up and i can actually enjoy it.

my dad will forever claim that today, not yesterday, was my accident. and, I guess according to the paperwork, that's true. but 12:15 on may 1st is april 30th to me. i had yet to lay my head down at the conclusion of april 30th, and in college, that's how days are measured. :) but, if you count it as today too, then a billion thank yous to you today. ((i got an email from him about 10 minutes after I posted the blog saying "wasn't it may 1st, versus april 30th?" and i was SO close to putting in the blog "dad will tell me it's tomorrow", but i didn't. :)

those accountants...always big on technicalities. :)

either way, three years ago today is when i woke up in a hospital bed in temple. three years ago i apparently said some really hurtful things to my dad (which i just found out about right before i left for europe). three years ago today i was told walking on my own two legs again was basically impossible. but three years ago today i looked around a hospital room and saw friends who had driven through the night during finals week to be there when i woke up from surgery. i saw family who had just had the longest, hardest night imaginable that were crying over my bedside. i saw a daddy who never left my side, except when necessary to talk to a doctor. i saw love in the purest, rawest form. i saw my face that was scratched and bruised, yet i expected it to be mangled. i saw the most swollen, ugly feet and legs. but they were still there. and today i look back on that day and can do nothing but thank God that i am here and that i am walking. betsy lived through that same tragic fall in august of 2007 and still hasn't gotten to fight through the pain of re-learning to walk. i will never understand why that is, but the only conclusion i can come to is that He heals according to His perfect plan, and he knew she was stronger than i am, and would better be able to handle it.

i rode a bike for a little while this morning. what a sense of accomplishment that was. daddy walked alongside the bike as i rode in the neighborhood before i left, to make sure i could ride a bike still. and, i could. and so today, three years after i laid in temple, i pedaled myself along. tears streamed down my face. it was beautiful.

...just some things i've learned...

be thankful for what you have. never take anything, any relationship, any person you meet, or any moment of the day for granted. tomorrow is never guaranteed, even at the age of 20. pain is often a blessing in disguise. family is more important and valuable than you can ever imagine, and they will be there in good and in bad. there must be a superpower when you become a mom that ensures you will always have the right words at the right time. (that or i managed to get lucky with the best mom in the world). life won't always be easy, but it will be worth it. nothing is impossible. determination can get you further than you know. everything happens for a reson. and life is really, really beautiful.

looking back...

2009-04-30T15:39:00.000-05:00

three years ago today was the scariest day of my life. the past three years have been three of the hardest, most painful, difficult years of my life. yet they have been three of the most fulfilling, rewarding, humbling, and enjoyable years i could've imagined. i overcame all odds and fought through a lot of really, really hard days. days that i didn't think i would make it through, you believed that i would, and that was enough for me. many days i felt the uphill climb was more than i could bear, until i looked around and saw the number of people helping me to carry the load.

i have never experienced love and encouragement like i have in the past three years. i will never understand why i have been blessed with the incredible friends and family that i have. but mostly, i think God knew i would need each and every person that is a part of my life to be there for me these past three years.
i can't say i always saw the light at the end of the tunnel, or that i kept my chin up all 1095 days. there were days when i would have paid any amount of money to have one person in all the world who understood what i was feeling. the emotional pain was equally as difficult, if not moreso, than the pain in my ankles. but i did my best to stay positive. i did my best to trust in what i believe and know is true.

nobody would've believed three years ago that i would be two months into a three month journey across europe. ...i know i certainly would have laughed at the thought. most people probably didn't believe i would even be walking by now. my life really is a miracle, and this day of the year always reminds me how lucky i am and how much i have to be thankful for. the Lord healed my feet in ways doctors didn't understand.

i look back on the last three years with nothing but joy. every bit of the pain was worth it. i wouldn't change it, i wouldn't take it back, and i wouldn't give up the lessons learned for ANYTHING in the world. i am who i am today because of this, and i'm certainly a stronger person than i was three years ago. i know more about myself and my God, and am closer to my family and my friends than i was three years ago. and i don't know what more i could ask for than those things.

it's been a whirlwind. it's been a journey. it's been up and down. there were a lot of valleys. but they always ended with a mountaintop, which made the next valley not seem so bad. climbing mountains is never easy. but we always forget about how hard it was to get there when we see the view from the top. that's how i feel about my life, and about the last three years. the good far outweighs the bad.

three years ago today my life was changed forever. ...and i could not be more grateful. the number of people who sacrificed and loved me with everything they had through the last three years blows me away. i know it wasn't easy for anyone. but i'm the luckiest gal on earth.

i had a smile on my face all day, as i looked back at what these three years have taught me.

i had a smile on my face all day, as i looked back at what these two months have taught me.

i will probably sleep with a smile on my face tonight.

smile for me today.

go mavs!

2009-04-29T00:08:00.000-05:00

well...today i woke up at 6 a.m. to be on a train by seven. i hit snooze, and immediately grabbed the phone. espn.com. must know now. morning breath can wait. 3 minutes left in the game. whew! and then i continued to refresh the page until there was a big fat 'W'. my mother's daughter? yes. i pretended i was sitting on the couch while she screamed at the t.v. and kicked her feet in the air. the words "hot diggity" also probably emerged from her lips. :)

i'm on the train from 7-3 today! i was dreading it...BUT! there were only two of us in a 6 person room last night. it was me and a girl from switzerland, and she is SO cool. the "belongs in austin" type. which, aside from that university, i LOVE austin and at some point in my life i will live there. coming from me, to say someone belongs there is a huge compliment (mostly because i have always secretly wanted to be that cool.) she reminds me a LOT of my friend brenna from back home. anyways, she asked what i was doing last night and i told her i was sleeping, because i had a 7 a.m. train. ...she did too! we're on the train together and are going to spend the day together in copenhagen. oh the people you meet... (isn't that one of those dr. seuss books that everyone gives everyone else for graduation, probably because they regifted it from the 9 copies that they got when they graduated?)

found out yesterday i no longer need a budget. i can blow all the rest this month. i had budgeted my trip to come home with enough money to not have to work this summer. or at least not for at least a month or so (long enough to make a loop of texas to see the people whom i miss terribly), and if gas money depleted the bank account, starbucks was the fallback plan. alas, amber will have an 8-5 job in a suit. i *thought* that my being out of the country, not applying for any jobs, and not being able to interview for one secured all the plans i made for the summer. but apparently...i'm good enough to get an internship at the district court in fort worth without applying OR interviewing. ((i secretly wish that said more about me than my father'sd networking skills...)) now all i need is a place to live and clothes to wear. ;) minor details...

...sorry grandparents...the month i was going to spend in houston will have to wait until 2012 when i (maybe) graduate from law school. oh the real world...what a tragedy it is. no but really...it's an incredible job, invaluable experience, a stellar paycheck, and a snooze button that will be missed. so long sweet summer...you were good to me for 23 years.

as for other updates...i took another night train two nights ago, and it was awesome! i didn't get a bunk bed, so i just had a seat...which for an 8 hour night trip sounds pretty miserable. but! the seat reclined (the butt part AND the back part!), there was a package on every seat with an inflatable pillow, a blanket, earplugs, and the best eyemask i have ever used. Blocked every bit of light. so much better than what you get on a plane. i lucked out and didn't have anyone next to me so i was even able to lay down! i slept great. the train got there at 6:30, and since i have the eurail pass for this portion of the trip and can ride unlimited times, i seriously considered boarding another train going to...anywhere...sleeping for a few more hours, and then getting on the train back. if i had a better timetable and could've confirmed that i would be able to get there and back, i'm sure i would have done it.

something else about norway...you see kids EVERYWHERE wearing red overalls that are decorated. i THINK they are senior overalls...but back home we would only wear those to sporting events and things like that. it's like thw staple to these peoples wardrobe!

this morning i went into the grocery store at the train station to spend up my norwegian coins that don't convert. the guy looked at me like i was crazy. 10 apples, 3 bananas, and two oranges. i had 58 kroner left...it came out to 57 kroner. how's that for guessing how much fruit is gonna cost with no scale!

i'm so glad i have grandparents who keep me up to date on the happenings of the world. swine flu? who knew!?

adrienne will be here in ten days! crazy that i will be in copenhagen, amsterdam, haarlem, brussels, bruges, london, cardiff, chepstow, nottingham, and york all before meeting her in edinburgh!

oslo was one of my least favorite towns. you would think that someplace this expensive would at LEAST be a great enough city to warrant it. a slice of pizza at 7-11 (whoop for 7-11's over here!)...5 euros. i could get an entire pizza, that hasn't been sitting under a heatlamp all day for that price. the prices people pay for convenience...

i think i am going to try and sleep. 6 a.m. is earlier than anyone should have to wake up. ever.

aye aye cap'n....

2009-04-25T14:04:00.001-05:00

man oh man. i am absolutely exhausted...and all i did was sit on a three trains, two buses, and a cruise.

but first! the train from stockholm to oslo yesterday stopped about 12 minutes before we were scheduled to arrive in oslo. they made an announcement, which half of us didn't understand, so the man next to me kindly translated for me. there was a connection problem on the track between where we were and oslo, and they didn't know how long we would be sitting there. ...an hour later 4 charter buses showed up on the side of the road, everyone took their luggage and boarded, and then we rode 45 minutes to oslo. apparently trains are 3x as fast...but what a story. it was interesting to say the least. i got to oslo much later than expected, so i didn't do much (other than curl up in the big fluffy DOUBLE bed i had and watch "laws of attraction". yes...a double bed! i was in a four person room. there was a double bed, two twin beds pushed together, and a twin bed. i was the first one there, so i got to pick my bed first. i almost didn't take it, because i thought maybe a couple would be using it. but, there was only one towel set out on it, and there was one towel on each of the twin beds as well. so i went for it and boy am i glad!

three other guys came in pretty late who were also staying in there...and yes, two of them had to sleep in twin beds that were next to one another. ...sure am glad i didn't pick one of those beds!

this morning i had to be on the train at 8:10, so i was up and about around 7:15. i came back from the bathroom, and I had forgotten to turn the snooze on my alarm off before i went, so it was going off. ...and one of the guys was standing there in his briefs trying to turn it off when i walked in. slightly awkward. but, also slightly funny.

luckily i will be back in oslo in a few days, so i locked up my huge bag theren, and just brought a few outfits and toiletries with me. traveling like that makes me wish that's all i was traveling with all the time!

the day started with a 4 hour train ride. i didn't sit in my seat the whole four hours. that means i moved around, and sat in a total of 5 different seats throughout the journey. see, i had made a reservation for this train to ensure that i got to do this today. but...it wasn't a window seat, and by golly if I was gonna take a scenic train, i was going to have a window seat. so at various stations along the way people would get on, and i would be in their seat. so, i just moved to another one. it worked quite well. :)

the next portion was another train...down from the top of a mountain to the town where the fjords were. it was by far the slowest of any train i have taken...because it had to be. Lots of hairpin turns and tunnels and just...craziness. it even stopped at a huge waterfall at one point to let everyone off for a picture. it was incredible, and i got a good picture of me with the falls. the windows on this train opened, so that made it much better for photo opps! people just went from side to side taking pictures.

and THEN!!! the cruise boat. it was awesome. we had about an hour to wait between when the train got there and when the boat left, but i wanted to make sure i got a seat on the top deck, so i just went and grabbed a few things from the grocery store, and then headed for the dock. i ended up being the first one on the boat, so i was good to go. i found myself a seat and then just soaked up the sun for 20 minutes before we left. it was more gorgeous than i had imagined. water, mountains, seals!, and just all- around pretty scenery.

at one point, i walked to the front of the boat for some pictures. a lady from d.c. Was up there and struck up some good conversation. i had noticed the guy who took my money (who was steering the boat) looking out the window on our side quite frequently. and then...he motioned for me to come inside. confused, i pointed to myself as if to say "me?" he nodded. "would you like to accompany me up here?" ...you mean sit in the middle of the front of the boat with windows that are open and perfect for taking pictures? why yes, yes i would.

it was awesome. he even let me steer at one point. :) i was probably in there for about 45 minutes of the 2 hour cruise. and...it was just in time. i had started to get chilly right before i went in there...it was an absolutely gorgeous day - 65 degrees and sunny, but with pretty clouds filling the sky. but, in the fjords (which...i didn't really know what a fjord was until now, so if you are equally as clueless...it's basically like a river running between mountains with cute little towns on the hills...and this is supposed to be the prettiest of all of them.) so, it can get real windy due to the tunnel effect, and being on a moving boat, and especially when the sun is behind a mountain.

well, right after i went inside, we turned a corner (which i obviously had the best possible view of) but i looked out the window and everyones hair was blowing like mad and they were putting coats on left and right. i was rather content in my short sleeved shirt. :)

mr. norway is also the same guy who sold me my ticket. When he told me the price, i looked puzzled, because it was half of what i had written down that it would be. he smiled and said "student discount". as I was putting my money away and locking my bag, the two girls behind me in line said "two students please". he then asked for their ISIC cards (international student identity card) which is one of those cards you have to buy, and then it gives you discounts. i don't have one of those...and neither did they. and he made them pay the adult price! how do i get so lucky?

so so funny...there was a japanese tour group on the cruise, and when we left the dock, a bunch of seagulls were flying right along with the boat. this clearly wasn't their first barbecue, and they must've known that frommers or fodors or SOMEONE tells people to bring bread and things to feed the seagulls. so, the annoying creatures made that awful noise for about the first 10 minutes. but the best part...they don't have seagulls in japan. and these people were going absolutely CRAZY over these birds. they all had food for them, and clicked away their cameras like nothing i have ever seen. like...how many pictures of birds do you really need?

another few funny things...most of the japanese women had umbrellas for the sun, and sunvisors, and...this was the weirdest part to me. lots of them...male and female...had masks on. like, doctors masks. i'm not sure if it was to guard against the wind, the sun, or pollution. but what a sight.

people kept staring into the front compartment that i was in while i was in there...probably wondering how/why i got to go in there. the steering guy (who had a norweigan name that was hard to pronounce...but we will call him mr. norway from here on out) clearly had a thing for me, as he certainly flirted the whole time i was in there. there was also a captain in there...but he just sat. seems a little backwards to me, but okay. at one point i heard the captain say "american girl! american girl!" i looked over and a guy had come in from the other side, and the captain was holding his camera. he then informed me that this guy wanted a picture with me. ...what???? he said he was italian, and for whatever reason, he wanted a picture with the american girl. i must've had a good hairday or something. i'm not really sure. anyway, mr. norway later explained to me that i look very "exotic" to them over here. to me that sounded like the way someone in the states would describe a brazilian girl, but i think he probably just meant red hair isn't very common. :) but i've definitely seen more beautiful girls in scandinavia than anywhere else on my trip! SO many blondes with blue eyes. all in all, i really enjoyed my day.

highlights of the cruise: breathtaking waterfalls, seals in the water, VIP treatment, and feeling like i was on a real cruise. someday that'll happen...

after the cruise, we all boarded buses for this little small town where a train then makes the final leg of the journey to bergen. the direct train from oslo takes about 7 hours to get to bergen...the scenic route takes 12. anyways, probably 90% of the people on the busride were sleeping. i think the peacefulness of the water and the boat relaxed everyone. afterall, it WAS only 5 p.m. i didn't sleep...i wanted to see what i paid to see! it wasn't the most scenic of busrides, but there were lots of goats and horses and sheep and cows, which made it fun! we then had an hour to kill in this teency town. i went to the grocery store (the fourth one i found, because the first three were closed at 6:15 on a friday night...) i've gotten really good at picnics from the grocery store.

on the train to bergen were obviously a lot of the people i had been seeing around all day. it made for good conversation for the final hour of our journey. most of the people that do the day like i did buy it as a packaged deal. because i have a railpass though, two of the enpensive train rides were fully covered, and there's a 60% discount on the other train ride, so it was musch better for me to just look at the timetable and follow the journey buying each individual leg. and, since i got a student discount, it was even cheaper! the boy on the train with me spent 1300 kroner...which is about 150 euros. i spent 300, which is about 35 kroner. so thankful for that railpass! it cost me 342 euros for 10 days of traveling between 6 countries. the first DAY i used it, i went from munich to rothenburg, rothenburg to cologne, and then the overnight from cologne to copenhagen. i would've paid $290 euros for those 3 journeys without the pass. definitely a wise choice.

i got here at 8:30, and then had a 15 minute bus ride to my hostel. its out of the way, but had much better reviews than any others, so i figured it would be worth it. and, it would've been. but...i was in a four person room...just me and an old lady. a crazy old lady, might i add...who reeks of mothballs. as does the room...still, even after she is gone. her stuff was everywhere in the room...she gathered it up. she showed me pictures of her relatives and it was real cute...though i was still gagging because of the smell. anyways, not too bad of an evening with her, though i wished SO much that it wasn't too cold to sleep with that window open. she talked in her sleep...which was funny...because it wasn't in english. ha. so then this morning i come back from breakfast. she says "my money! it's missing!" "...what?" "i counted my money last night and i had 162 kroner and now i only have 126! what should i do!" ...less than 4 euros that she is flipping a wig over. she searches through EVERYTHING she has, looking for this 36 kroner. she asks the front desk if any coins have been turned in. finally she says "maybe i remembered how much i had wrong". ...unbelievable.

she went to breakfast in her pajamas, but made sure she put lipstick on. reminded me of my mimi. :) never goes anywhere without her lipstick!

i got my hopes up, because in the tourist guide, it said that one of the churches had services in english at 9:30! i fully planned on waking up to go, but then realized that's only from may to october. one week too soon. drats.

there's a evening song service at 7:30 tonight (in norweigan), but i might go anyway! i think it could be interesting!

off to explore bergen...(which i have really enjoyed all that i have seen so far!)

another update: apparently when it rains, it pours. i have managed to lose my most valuable asset. so long, texas A&M long-sleeved tee. you served me well...

(i WILL NOT lose anything else. no siree.)

internet at this hostel is 7 euros an hour, so don't expect a phone call for a few days...but i can email! :)

my luck ran out.

2009-04-24T03:31:00.001-05:00

well...after two months of doing such a good job of keeping track of all of my things, i managed to leave my journal and guidebook on a train. after i wiped the tears away, i realized that while that was documentation day by day of my thoughts, experiences, feelings, and an account of the people that i have met...i still have all of those things. i won't be able to place them with a specific date in time, but the conversations that i have had with people that have touched me don't change just because i don't have it written. i still have the past two months of experiences. i still have the lessons i have learned.

so...sweden! stockholm is really pretty! the train arrived at 5:50, but didn't leave until 7, so he said they'd come around at 6:15 to wake everyone up. ....i woke up at 6:53. panic. i rushed around getting dressed, getting my bags unlocked (...which is a 5 minute affair itself), and forgetting that I hadn't put my journal and guidebook up after i had written in it. such is life...i woke up at 5:30 the next day and went back to see if by some chance it was stil on the train, but it wasn't. the man gave me a number to call, and then that place told me it would be at lost and found in stockholm. so i went back to the station that afternoon, and the girl told me the train gets cleaned at the other end, and the lost and found wouldn't get to stockholm for at least a week or two. that was actually good news, because i am not going back to stockholm and i AM going back to copenhagen, where the train started from. but, not until next week. so, hopefully they won't send it back to stockholm before i can get there (...if its even there.) she gave me a number to call where it would be now, and i thought maybe i could convince someone to look through the lost and found to try and find it, and then put it somewhere for me. the wonderful man at the hostel let me make ANOTHER phone call, but they were closed. and i am betting they won't let me make an international call from norway. so, my only hope is crossing my fingers that the lost and found will still be in copenhagen...

i encountered my first hostel creeper. i was in the kitchen cooking at the stove, and a man comes and sits at the table. he was obviously older, had long scragly hair, and a long beard. and he just sat at this table staring at me while i cooked. after a few minutes of that, he started asking random questions.

"how old are you?"
"i'm 23."
"well i'm 36. you gotta boyfriend?"

...the validity of my answer is irrelevant. yes, i straight up lied to this guy. but...you would have too. he then proceeded to sit there, still staring at me...and singing. very, very weird. and, he LIVES at this hostel. he's from sweden...and just lives there. probably to creep on the daily changing faces.

i was in an 11 bed room, which is the most of any room ii've stayed in in a long time. 11 seemed weird to me, since most of them are bunk beds...but! the lone bed was actually in like a nook in the wall. that bed was open so i took it and enjoyed not having anyone climb stairs above me. :)

there was a boy in my room who is a 3rd year law school student in canada, studying abroad in denmark. we had a really long, really good conversation. he basically said 1st year of school really IS awful, and that i should watch the paperchase, because its an accurate representation. ...i've seen that movie. sure made me want to "accidentally" miss that plane home. ;) he DID say its worth it. and that the 2nd and 3rd year were two of the best of his life. and that he highly recommends studying abroad while in law school. GREAT IDEA!!!!!! :) :) :)

yesterday afternoon 3 guys from london checked in...bound to be 3 of the funniest people i have met. i think they were gay, which i always secretly wanted to have a gay friend that i could go shopping with and get hair advice, etc. from. never did i claim this blog would be PC. because admitting that probably isn't. anyways, they were looking for their room and i heard them say which room it was, and it was the same one i was in. i told them where it was and one of them said "you must be a local!" ...i laughed. he really thought i had a swedish accent. upon hearing i was from texas, he said "oh. so you love american football, love oil, and hate everyone that isn't from texas." i protested. :) he apparently lived in texas for 4 months. i told him i had lived there for 23 years of my life, and that wasn't true! his reply? "where did you spend the other 10 years?" what a jokester. clearly i look 33...minus about 20. they were a hoot. and i'm not sure i have ever been so outwardly flirted with. it's fine dad...i told them you have a gun. because i'm from texas...

as for stockholm itself, its real pretty. lots and lots of water! and super pretty architecture. there were tons of really cool shops in the old part of town. i didn't go "do" anything super touristy...nor do I REALLY know what there is to do there (...no guidebook...) but I enjoyed it! its not as expensive as copenhagen, and certainly not as expesive as oslo.

i am on the train now on my way to oslo...aka the most expensive city in the world. Good thing I'll only be there from 2:30 p.m. to 8 a.m.! tomorrow is that super scenic day that i've been waiting anxiously for! this is a 6 hour train ride to get there, though. i'm not exactly sure what i'll do today when i get there, but it will not involve stimulating the norwegian economy, i do know that.

my dad felt jipped that mom got all the credit for being the one who rocked me to sleep. so, yes, daddy did too. and, really...i am pretty sure the majority of you reading this did too. even that brother of mine who adored his baby sister when he was little. even when she bopped him on the head and beat him in nintendo. and most other things too. pahaha. just kidding, ry. (...kindof...) speaking of! i got to talk to ry for the first time in a while...and i think he still adores me as much as he did when i was little. :)

i have 3 1/2 hours left on this train. i am going to do my best to rewrite as much as i can remember from this journey. i've done fairly well with keeping account of the actual experiences here on the blog, but its mostly the documentation of what i was thinking and feeling that i am bummed is gone. i'm sure gonna try...

i am going to get to spend a day with a friend from college that is living in england on the 6th! yay friends! i just want hugs from people i know! only 4 days until i will reunite with my friends i met in poland!

i can't wait to update you after i do my scenic day tomorrow! pray i have good weather for it!

miss you terribly.

observations:
- they have 7-11 here! i even had a DR. PEPPER! it burned on the way down (i'm too used to the diet variety that the real thing was almost too much.) but just almost. it was delicious.
- elevators are still weird. you pull a door open and get in it, and push the door open when it arrives.
- VERY eco-friendly over here! recycling everywhere. water-saving toilets and showers. etc.
- ...milk comes in a cardboard container. so does yogurt. poor translation on my part made for some unhappy honey nut cheerios. i thought i was buying non-fat milk, but apparently it was non-fat yogurt.
- they sell flavored yogurt in LITER quantities. (the kind that comes in the cardboard thing is apparently just the plain kind. i selected the one i did because it has the O.5% fat one. it just wasn't milk.)
- i had the best juice i have ever tasted. "blodapelsin". now, my picture deciphering skills taught me that 'apelsin' means orange. logical? no. so at first i thought it was grapefruit juice. that's sortof what the picture looked like. but then i saw a juicebox that had an orange, a grapefruit, AND this mysterious fruit. turns out it's called a red orange. do we have those in the states? because if so, it might be my new favorite!
- stamps i would have on my passport if they actually stamped (...or checked? i haven't had my passport looked at since austria.): zambia, england, france, spain, portugal, italy, austria, poland, czech republic, switzerland, germany, denmark, sweden, norway. by the end: netherlands, belgium, scotland, wales, ireland. only 5 countries left! dang. notice. neither mexico or canada is listed...i also wonder percentage wise if i have been to more countries of europe or more states in the U.S.
- i still REALLY want to go to costa rica. probably more than did before i came to europe.
- i am going to work out an ACTUAL budget. i haven't done that yet this trip, and i am still doing well as far as money goes. but i have an amount in mind that i would like to return home with. so, i am going to work it out and see how to make that happen. momma's laughing...her "i still balance my checkbook by hand" self is doubting me, i am certain.
- if i had it to do over again, i would have left 2 of my 4 camera lenses at home. 2 of them i have used pretty consistenltly, but the other two have only been used on select occasions, and probably aren't worth the extra weight. - i have calluses on my right hand from my aggie ring and pulling the suitcase.
- i have barely used the suitcase as a backpack at all. much less than i thought. pretty sure i will be buying dad new wheels.
- i am always the annoying girl on the train that doesn't put her suitcase up top. because a) i am too short and b) it's too heavy to lift over my head like that.
- five hours has passed on this train much quicker than i thought.
- EVERYONE in scandinavia speaks english. so so good.
- everyone i talk to back home asks if the food is really good over here. i really should treat myself to a nice meal out now and then. because i never have a clue how to answer. ...i just eat the same ol' things. i ate chinese food in vienna, and that's the last i ate out. i think i'm gonna get some seafood this week. it's supposed to be delicious and fresh in scandinavia.
- i have never in my life been more thankful for technology.

pictures hopefully in the next couple days!

let comrade answer "here".

2009-04-21T15:21:00.000-05:00

what a day! i am absolutely exhausted. and not for lack of sleep...i slept like a baby last night. i got almost 10 hours of sleep on that train! it sways back and forth...i LITERALLY felt like i was a baby again and my momma was rocking me to sleep. ...tonight should be interesting. second night train in a row...only this time i am on the top bunk. and, bunks are triple stacked. so when i wake up at about 2:30 and 5 because my bladder is the size of a grape and it's basically like clockwork...i will have to climb down TWO flights of stairs. yikes.

today though! copenhagen copenhagen copenhagen! i have never in my life seen so many bikes! like...i think i saw more bikes today than if i combined the number of bikes i have seen every other day combined. it was nuts! and! it gets better! they have bikes you can rent for free...with like a 3 euro deposit! its neat...you put the coin in on the handlebars, and the bike unlocks, and the coin stays there. and then when you lock it back, you get the coin back. ...it sure would've been fun to ride one. however...even when i put the seat ALL the way down, i am still about 4 or 6 inches too short. my feet didn't even come close to the ground. such a disappointment.

so, i walked instead. i roamed around for a couple hours, ate lunch by the river with some swans, and then headed to tivoli gardens. it's the oldest amusement park in europe, and the one that good ol' walt took the idea from. was it LIKE spending the day at disneyworld? not a chance. but, it WAS fun. and it wasn't crowded, which satisfied my patience quite well.

the first ride i rode was called "THE roller coaster". ...i hope they are kidding. it wasn't even like the MINI mine train at six flags. meaning...i probably wouldve been bored on this roller coaster when i was 4 years old. i did not have high hopes for my day at this point. but boy did it redeem itself!

i rode a roller coaster a LOT like my favorite six flags roller coaster. and THEN found my favorite ride. even my mom wouldve liked it, i think. no fast turns, no upside down, just lots and lots of circles. but not round and round ones that make you dizzy...up and down ones. like...a ferris wheel, only faster. i just laughed and laughed and laughed the whole ride. it's about 3 minutes straight of...you know that feeling when you drive over a hill going ....65 (...my parents are reading.) but, that feeling in your stomach? it was just that over and over. late in the day i rode this ride for an hour and 24 minutes straight. it never got old. as easily as i get bored with things...that's a big deal.

after being there two hours, i had ridden all of the good rides at least twice, and all of the bad rides at least once. again, no disneyworld...but a blast. nothing makes me go back to my childhood more than rollercoasters. my whole body aches, though.

april 21st is aggie muster. they have them all over the world, but i had checked the website and there weren't any anywhere even remotely close to where i am. i was SO bummed...it's my favorite (and in my opinion the most important) aggie tradition. after my accident i said i would never miss a muster. i would've wanted my aggie family to gather, so i committed to do the same for others.

about 7 o'clock, i was walking and heard "softly call the muster, let comrade answer here". WHAT?????? i quickly joined this bunch of people (who politely stared at me as if i were lost). i explained, and they were more than delighted to have me there. they were on the patio to a restaurant (this theme park has the typical cotton canyd, popcorn, hot dogs, burgers....but also a LOT of nice restaurants. seemed weird, but who am i to judge? i ended up getting free dinner out of the deal. and by free i mean my dad paid thousands of dollars for it. either way...i'll take free dinner in the third most expensive city in the WORLD anyday. we did lots of muster-like things and then just chatted for a long time. so so good.

its definitely the coldest weather i've seen in a while! ...good thing i lost ANOTHER pair of gloves today. perfect timing. but...if i make it to the end and 4 gloves is all i've lost, i will say that's success.

it's my pawpaws birthday today! all four of my grandparents just keep truckin' along like 20 year olds. i'm so blessed.

off to bed...this train is making me yawn...AND its not as long of a journey as last night, so i have to be up in 6 1/2 hours. gross.

((these trains get SO cold!))

goodnight, sleep tight....

2009-04-20T12:09:00.000-05:00

bed bugs really do bite! ick. i have about 25 bites all over my body...and boy do they itch! lots of hostels give you sheets...and then you have to make your bed...and i have this nice cozy silk sheet that's sewn on three sides. so typically, i use that. some hostels won't let you use your own linen (...they don't want the bedbugs you inherited at the last hostel to make their way to their beds.)

but...this hostel had the beds already made with a nicely folded duvet and fluffy pillow! it almost felt like a hotel! ...right. the red bumps all over me are wishing i had slept in my sheet.

this is where my trip gets nuts. the next 10 days will easily be the craziest, most train-filled days of my trip. example? sure. as of 11 a.m. tomorrow i will have spent 21 of 24 hours on a train. no folks, i didn't miscalculate. i left munich at 11 this morning. i stopped off for 2 hours at the cutest little german town (...i'll come back to this)), and will be on the train i am on right now until 10 tonight. 20 minutes later, i leave on my overnight train to copenhagen, which arrives there at 10 in the morning. don't worry...it gets better. i will be in copenhagen all of 12 hours, before boarding ANOTHER overnight train. (good thing i showered today, eh?)

the good thing about all of this is that my travel expenses are covered until i get back over to england! and actually...with the exception of a few buses the 5 days I am in england and wales before adienne comes, and a few buses while she is here, all of my travel is booked and paid for! that bank account looks better and better all the time! i was even able to get all of the train reservations that i need for my eurail pass today in munich. so my schedule is set in stone! and it looks like this:

21st: 12 hours in copenhagen, denmark
22nd: stockholm, sweden
23rd: stockholm, sweden
24th: train to oslo; 1/2 day there
25th: super scenic 12 hour train/boat journey through the fjords, ending in bergen
26th: bergen, norway
27th: bergen, norway and an overnight train back to oslo
28th: oslo
29th: 7 a.m. train to copenhagen (gross...)
30th: copenhagen, and an overnight train to amsterdam
1st: tulip festival!
2nd: bruges, belgium
3rd: back to london!
4-8th: ...somewhere in england/ wales
9th: adrienne!!!!!!! edinburgh.
10th: glasgow, scotland
11th: loch lomond, scotland
12th: flight from edinburgh to cork, ireland. 1/2 day in cork
13th: bus from cork to killarney for a few hours, and then a bus to galway
14th: galway, and then a bus to dublin
15th: dublin!
16th: flight from dublin to amsterdam
17th: amsterdam
18th: amsterdam, and then an overnight ferry to london
19th: deb gets to london!
20th: london!
21st: "...and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time..."

so...that's what the next month of my life will look like. LOTS of traveling. but i just wanna see it all! :)

the town i stopped in today was everything you would picture a german town to be. it was surrounded by walls, the buildings were all half qooden, with tile roofs, cute and colorful...and the tulips! my love for tulips began when i was in kindergarten (the only german word i know...) and has never stopped. i think i took as many pictures of flowers as i did the town. can't wait to get to amsterdam! AND...there was a HUGE supermarket just outside the walls of the city. about the time i saw it, i realized i would be on a train from 5-10 and then 10:20-10 a.m., and i would need some grub! one of the mysteries i might never understand about myself is how much i REALLY enjoy grocery stores.

i never did find a grocery store in munich. two full days and I never even saw one. munich turned out to just be okay...not my favorite. i did that free walking tour...kindof. after sitting in one place and hearing the history of munich, then walking to a church and hearing some lame stories about it, i stealthily wandered away from the tour. in 50 minutes we had moved about 50 yards. my attention span needs much more excitement than that. so i plugged in the trusty ipod and just walked. it's a pretty city! there's this wonderful park...the biggest in europe (and even bigger than central park!) that i wandered through for a while. ...turns out nude sunbathing is the norm at said park. don't worry dad...i didn't partake.

one of the highlights of my trip happened today...and i didn't even REALLY get to enjoy it. i heard 5 letters that will forever take me back to that sophomore year of college...

a-a-a-a-a. the beloved sophomore wildcat....hated by everyone BUT the sophomores. i IMMEDIATELY looked, and much to my surprise, there was a boy...doing pushups. so, obviously a freshman at A&M. my train pulled away on the tracks about 25 seconds later...but i sure wish i could have gone and talked to them! oh how i miss my aggie traditions...

for breakfast today i had one of my all time favorite combinations: peanut butter (which is rare over here!), honey, and bananas! mmmmmmm. thank you, hostel, for that delicious treat.

probably my all-time favorite color combination is blue and green. the trees passing by are the most beautiful shade of green, and the sky is a gorgeous shade of blue. sometimes i think God made that combination just for me. :). i'm also pretty sure i am about to witness a magnificent sunset.

observations:
- germans must not eat, unless its a restaurant
- 1.5 liters is the norm, rather than 2. i suppose everything really IS bigger in texas.
- german trains are pretty comfy!
- i have eaten at least one apple every day i have been here. keeping that doctor away!
- it's harder to use the bathroom on a train than a plane. i don't understand that, since the train is on the track, but it's true.
- i tripped and fell...all the way to the ground today. luckily i wasn't wearing my camera...or it probably would've shattered. that pesky fused ankle sure hated cobblestone...
- i bought a delicious bottle of salsa today for .39 cents! score! i LOVE salsa on salad. mmmmm.
- i have ONE month left. one month to meet people and build relationships. one month to explore this continent. one month to enjoy no responsibility. one month to keep learning and growing. i can't wait to see what this one month holds.

:)

to scandinavia i go! do you think they all use copenhagen there? is that where it got its name? time shall tell...

booooo for lots of foreign currency. all 3 of those countries up there use their own money. hello, ATM fees.

to the books i go (...the kind i like! not the school kind...yay!)

keep in touch. do it. seriously.

it's all about beer here....

2009-04-18T14:21:00.000-05:00

i don't, in any way shape or form, enjoy the taste of beer. and EVERYTHING here in munich seems to revolve around beer. booooo.

i had a really blah day today. i woke up not feeling well at all, so i took some medicine and just hung around for a while. i walked around for a while, but of course it started raining really hard, so i came back to the hostel....still not feeling well. i don't get headaches unless i'm getting sick, and i've had a headache all day. ...not a good sign. but...even if i don't feel well tomorrow...or it downpours, I WILL go out and enjoy munich. i have been so excited about germany. there's a free walking tour in the morning that some girls that were in my room in interlaken did and loved, so hopefully that'll be a good way to see a lot of things. this is definitely the part of the trip that i had the least planned for.

the 7 hour train ride here yesterday wasn't too bad. i listened to some podcasts, read a bit, and just enjoyed the scenery. everything is so green!!! spring has sprung!

i've got everything booked through the end of this month! this is the plan:

19th: munich
20th: munich to rothenburg (a little german town) and then on to cologne for my night train to copenhagen!
21st: copenhagen, and then a night train to stockholm (what a crazy 24 hours that's gonna be...)
22nd: stockholm
23rd: stockholm
24th: all day train from stockholm to oslo
25th: that super scenic journey through the norway fjords, ending in bergen
26th: bergen
27th: bergen, and then an overnight train back to oslo
28th: oslo
29th: day train back to copenhagen
30th: copenhagen, and then an overnight train back to the mainland!

this is by far going to be the most exhausting part of the trip as far as traveling goes. constantly on the move is SO hard, but in order to see and do all that i want up there, i don't have a choice.

i'll have a few days in the netherlands and belgium, and then i'm heading back over to england and wales before making my way up to edinburgh to meet adrienne on the 9th! yikes. the end is so near.

today was another homesick day. i think the combination of not feeling well and being in a 3 person room with 2 girls that don't speak english left me wishing i had someone to talk to. this hostel has skype blocked on the computers, so i can't even call. :/

i got caught up on 24 while i was in interlaken...and oh my goodness gracious. absolutely ridiculous.

i haven't had a good story in a while. for some reason funny things quit happening...hopefully soon. i guess i need to pull out the ol' aggie tee...

i just realized i have three weddings to go to within two weeks of coming back to the states. man oh man...the traveling just doesn't end.

observations:
- i somehow still haven't gotten tired of these hostels.
- i mailed another box of things home. my bag is so roomy and light now! much better for packing...and the way the weather has been, I certainly didn't need as many winter clothes as i still had.
- my friends have been REALLY good at keeping in touch. i don't know how i got as lucky as i have with friendships.
- asians travel. a lot. and, that might sound stereotypical. but...its just true. and most of them have video cameras.
- i was on a train in switzerland with lots of men in camo. it took me a minute to put two and two together...swiss...army...
- i love the reactions i get when i tell people i am here because i lived out of my car while working at starbucks for 6 months. but, it was every bit worth it.
- i will have VERY few friends left at A&M after this may. which...i guess makes sense. i was a freshman six years ago. ...that's weird.
- a month and 3 days left. i am two thirds of the way done...
- ...i don't know where germans buy groceries. i have yet to find a grocery store here. AND this hostel doesn't have a kitchen, which is one of the most frustrating things to me about a hostel. it makes it hard to stay frugal, since most of what i like to eat either needs to be refigerated or cooked...
-this is only the second time i have gotten so unlucky as to have to sleep in a top bunk...
- i still don't know where i am going to law school...

hopefully the next update will have more substance! i hope i love germany these next few days....

chocolate, cheese, knives, fellas....

2009-04-15T11:53:00.003-05:00

is there anything the swiss aren't good at??? (i don't actually LIKE swiss cheese, but that's not very relevant right now.)

and THIS is why:

yes, folks, that's a real picture. man oh MAN. i'll come back to that....

i spent a few days in bern before heading here to interlaken. there was nothing too spectacular about bern...other than the alps. which, are pretty darn spectacular. it was a cute town, but that's about all there is to say for that.

that train ride that was so highly anticipated....was beautiful. the pictures can't even come close to justifying it. i bought a mini bottle of wine at the train station for a euro, had my salad packed, a few apples, my ipod, and a compartment to myself as the scenery passed by. there aren't many other things i could've asked for. it was still probably very overpriced, but....hello switzerland. internet at the last hostel was $12 an hour. ...who in their right mind? lots of people. the same (gross) cheeseburger from mcdonalds that cost 1 euro everywhere else in europe costs a whopping 2.50 euros here. who wants to pay 3 dollars for a hamburger that i wouldn't pay a dollar for in the states? certainly not me. luckily there are grocery stores so i can still enjoy my favorite foods. :)

i jumped ahead....on the way TO switzerland, i stopped in innsbruck where that huge easter festival happens. turns out it's not as huge as i anticipated....i wandered around for about 35 minutes before i even found the dang thing! but, it was fun nonetheless. and i enjoyed innsbruck WAY more than salzburg (the town itself, i mean. the sound of music still wins!). it was SUCH a cute little town with colored buildings and wonderful architechture! i wished i had more time to spend there, but i heard yodeling calling my name....

[...i'm actually still hoping to hear someone yodel before i leave...]

interlaken is wonderful! it's situated between two beautiful lakes....i went yesterday and just walked around by the lakes and had a picnic and enjoyed the peacefulness. this was the view i had from one of them:

the beauty of this place is incredible. truly.

the picture of me with the mountains was today....i took a train to one town, then a bus to another, and then about 5 different gondolas 11,000 feet up to the top of this mountain with SPECTACULAR views. part of 007 was filmed up there and there's a super cool revolving restaurant up top! definitely the highlight of switzerland. i was SO jealous of the people who were about to ski down that mountain though....

i've loved mountains since i was a little girl, so to stand at the foot of the alps was beyond wonderful. one of those moments where you can't help but feel small and insignificant, yet it's okay. like, i wake up in the mornings with birds chirping a beautiful melody, and look out the window to see monstrous mountains covered in snow, and i just smile. even though that terrible sounding alarm just interrupted my slumber. i still smile.

i have one more day here in interlaken and then i'm heading to munich on friday! finally going to make it to germany! so so excited! sure wish i liked beer....

photos are updated. go look. all the love in the world....

happy easter to all!

2009-04-12T02:52:00.000-05:00

:)

how do you solve a problem like maria? anyone know? ...me neither. but i DO know that maria got to enjoy some breathtaking scenery.

i got to salzburg absolutely exhausted after the overnight bus...it was the first one i haven't slept much on. it was only a five hour bus ride, and the genius that i am decided that free coffee at 12:15 was a grand idea. because...when you're a college kid if the word free is attached, it probably doesn't matter what it is or how logical it would be at that moment, you typically take it. so, i got about 2 hours of sleep on the bus. the lady next to me hated me. she was "sleeping" in my seat when i got on the bus, and i made sure to wake her up and let her know that i would be the one lying my head up against that window. i didn't exactly let her know that, because she didn't speak english, but she got the point when she was woken up and my hand motions suggested she was in my seat.

i then had to take a train on to salzburg. in trying to get from the bus station to the train station, i got on the metro going the wrong direction...TWICE. they are not labeled clearly, AT ALL. that and it was 6 in the morning...my train left at 6:38, and the next one didn't leave until 10. it was looking like i was going to be sitting for 3 hours. somehow i managaed to make it onto the train at 6:37, right as the doors shut. whew.

i'm still not sure if I got scammed on the train. two men who had been on the train the whole time i was woke me up and asked me for my passport. he showed me a badge, but they weren't in any kind of uniform, and i was skeptical. i have heard stories of fake inspectors, though most of them involved ticket inspectors trying to charge a fine. i handed over my passport, and then looked around and realized i was the ONLY one left in the car. one of the men had his phone out and made a phone call with my passport. at that point, i got scared and asked for my passport back...the man who showed me his badge firmly told me that i had to wait. i am just waiting for the minute they run away with my passport. luckily, they didn't , and i got it back. but who knows if they were legit.

so, my first day in salzburg i didn't do much, as i had gotten about 4 hours of sleep total. the hostel shows the sound of music everyday at 10:30 so i decided a good intro would be to watch it. i was going to do the sound of music tour later that afternoon, but i fell asleep during the movie, so i opted to wait until the next day. At 5:30, i went up to take a nap...and woke up the next morning. MUCH needed.

the next day i did the tour! it was so fun! I got to see the house, the gazebo, the lake where they fell out of the boat, the trees where the kids were climbing, the abbey, the church where they got married and those beautiful mountains from the beginning of the movie!

other than that, though, salzburg wasn't my favorite. it's a pretty town (....mostly because of the pretty mountains in the back!).

i talked to a lady while i was eating dinner at the hostel...another neat person! she is 50, a single mother of three kids, and is over here alone for 25 days. a birthday present to herself. SO cool. she kept talking about how much she missed her kids. reminded me of what my parents must do daily. ;)

i'm spending easter on a train, and couldn't be happier. i'm stopping off in innsbruck, where there is a huge easter festival, for a few hours. this is the train that was so expensive...and almost twice as much! i booked my ticket through the swiss rail website, and realized two days ago that the ticket had to be picked up in switzerland...luckily he refunded the money and I was able to buy the same ticket at the station in salzburg (for cheaper! ...those swiss sure are proud of their stuff.) hopefully i can get some good pictures of the scenery without the glare of the train window.

my itinerary for the rest of my trip should be set in stone, reservations made in the next day or two. i really can't believe it's almost over. apparently i have been gone so long that my own grandma doesn't remember what my voice sounds like. ;)

seeing the swiss alps has always been a dream of mine. thanks for helping me to make it a reality, and for taking the time to keep up with me as i journey along. what a journey it has been...

prague is magical!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-04-08T13:25:00.009-05:00

barcelona has been beat. this is absolutely my favorite city so far. unfortunately i'm leaving in a few short hours....sigh.

i took an overnight train to get here. i had heard absolute HORROR stories about this train. in EVERY guidebook i read there was some paragraph about the dangers of the krakow-prague overnight. perfect. single, white, female = automatic target. even with all of my locks, i admit i was a little nervous. for a while, i was in a compartment all by myself. initially i thought that was a good thing, but then i realized that's probably even worse, because if someone were to come and try to steal my stuff (or me...) i would have to fend for myself. then a lady about 50 or so came and sat in there. about 30 minutes into the train ride, two boys came in. they had accidentally been in a first class car and got kicked out. i'm so glad they came! one was from seattle and one was from australia...and they were so fun! this is my favorite part. i asked how much they paid for their tickets....80 euros. this is a SEAT in the overnight train. not even a bunk. ridiculous. i, however, spent 25 euros. that's not too shabby for transportation AND a nights worth of accomodation! just goes to show what a little research can do for you! if you book the direct train from krakow to prague, it's an international train, thus it's super expensive. if you book a ticket from krakow to the polish/czech border, it's about 6 euros. from there, you can buy on the train the national ticket from the czech border to prague for 18 euros. so, same train. i never had to get off. i bought the ticket when the man came around and asked for our tickets. it was awesome. the boys were so mad at me. :) it was good though....the lady got off just a little ways into the trip, so the three of us were the only three in the compartment made for 8, so one boy took up four seats, i curled up on two (again! SO glad i'm short!), and the other guy slept on the other two. i actually felt safer that they were in there with me.

these three days REALLY have been like a dream. i don't know that i've ever been in a more beautiful place. the architecture, the scenery, just ALL of it. ahhhhhh.

these europeans are serious about easter! each of the last cities i have been to have had easter markets all over town. it's pretty ridiculous to see how commercialized it has become, though. it's all about the eggs and the bunnies and all of that, rather than Jesus and the reality of what easter is for. but, the markets are fun! it's like mini renaissance festivals. prague has been my favorites so far --- there was a stage and people performing (some kids that were TERRIBLE singers, but everyone clapped....because that's what you do....and then a group of four guys got up there with instruments and they sang and it was super!). they have all kinds of authentic food....churros, these fried dough things that they top with cheese, ketchup, garlic, or any combination thereof. (translation: much more unhealthy than a donut.) it was fun to wander the markets for sure!

the old town square here is by far the most beautiful of any city i have ever visited. it is stunning. there's this clock there and on the hour it puts on a show basically! these windows open, and the twelve apostles walk by on the hour. hard to explain, but super super cool! here's a few pictures . the first i obviously didn't take, but it's a good perspective of the square! on the clock, the two windows at the top are what opens for the apostles to 'walk' by.

the obvious highlight of prague is the castle and the charles bridge. i laid in the grass by the river and had my lunch overlooking the bridge yesterday. SO many tourists....made for some fun people watching for sure! the castle is up on a hill with a beautiful view of the city. i just can't get over how pretty it is. i've felt like i'm in disneyworld for the past three days! they have a changing of the guard there, which i saw by chance and it was fun. as fun as a changing of the guard can be....

there's this huge hill with a mini-eiffel tower on top by the castle and it was pretty neat, too. here's the view:

this is how much i've enjoyed prague. at about 5:45 tonight it started POURING down rain. weather.com lied to me this morning, and told me it would be 70 degrees all day, so i went out in shorts, a short sleeved shirt, and flip flops. i was fine until this bout of rain came....while still sunny. (this happened yesterday as well....about sunset time. of course, i was sitting by the river waiting for the sun to set and one of my favorite things in life is when it rains while the sun is out, as long as it isn't raining hard. yesterday, it wasn't. so i sat in the rain and soaked up the sun. glorious. today, though, i was getting soaked WITH an umbrella, and flip flops in the rain is a pet peeve. so i figured i should find somewhere to go in and sit for a while. upon that thought, i realized i hadn't eaten anything except for the fruit i had eaten for breakfast. i hadn't even stopped to think about food i was enjoying myself so much!

other news (mostly for the females....): i have freshly pedicured feet, a cute haircut, and a body that has been swedish massaged....all by europeans. and the man who did the massage was the oONLYne of them who spoke english.

the details:

best pedicure of my life. absolutely. lasted an hour and a half! she had like an electric sandpaper wand that she used on my feet....all kinds of other things that they don't have in the U.S....and it was superb. at one point she put this lotion/body butter type stuff on my feet and legs, wrapped them in plastic bags, then wrapped them in hot towels and i just sat for 15 minutes. i was in a room all by myself (much different than the asian pedicures back home!) with slow music playing, a lady coming to bring me all the coffee i wanted, and a lady pampering me. what more could i ask for? oh, right. for it to be cheap. and, it was. perfecccccct.

and....best massage of my life. i've not had too many of them in my life, but this was by far the best. it was an hour and a half as well (yes, i spent three hours pampering myself. i figured i worked for the money, and after carrying a big bag around and walking around, my feet and my back certainly were due for some help.) i deserved it, dangit. i do things like find cheap ways to take trains so that i can enjoy myself. all in all, for the pedicure, massage, and haircut i spent about 50 euros. so, about 65 dollars....which is what a haircut costs me back home if i go to the spa....which the haircut place i went to was one. so basically, i got a lot for a little. i almost got the thai massage, which are all the rage here. but, it's not a muscle deep tissue massage, which is what i wanted. only weird part: i was laying down for the majority of it, but when he did my shoulders and neck i was sitting. a little uncomfortable....but....i was too relaxed to care at that point. all the free coffee i wanted at the massage place as well. yesssss! i feel like a pretty girl again!

funny story about the massage: he was massaging my legs and found ALL kinds of knots (....i never even knew you could GET knots in your legs....) and he said ''i've been giving massages for a REALLY long time and i've NEVER seen anyone with legs like this.'' ((.....and he wasn't talking about how good looking mine are. ;)) imagine that....my legs have more knots than anyone he's ever massaged. any clue as to why? oh wait....

BEST NEWS EVER: adrienne is coming to europe! she's going to arrive on the 9th and fly out when i do on the 21st! what a beautiful ending to my trip! we'll get to enjoy amsterdam, scotland, ireland, and maybe a little england before flying out of london on the 21st. i could NOT be more excited about this!!!!!! :) :) :)

my first night here in prague i was a bad roommate. :( i had just found out adrienne had booked her flight, and i was too excited to sleep for sure, so i was doing all kinds of planning....trying to figure out my schedule between now and when she comes, to coordinate being where i need to be to meet here. about 2:30 rolled around, and i was still doing it (with my tiny booklight....i didn't have the light on or anything!) and one of the girls said "....do you think you're going to wrap it up soon? i have trouble sleeping with lights on." i felt like such a jerk. but, then again, when you stay in a room with 6 people, we both paid for it. who knows.

speaking of bad roommates.....last night i was in a room with me and 4 boys again. eeek. it was fine, because they went out, and i knew they weren't coming back until late. but, i was about to turn the light off and head to bed, and i heard them coming back. one of the boys was BAWLING. wailing. like, i was certain he must have gotten in a huge fight on the street and his face was smashed to bits. but, he came in and wasn't. he had just broken up with his girlfriend....and i have NEVER seen a boy more upset over a girl in my entire life. like, it was almost unreal to me. i turned my ipod up, and was trying so hard to ignore it and get to bed. but he was SO loud. just screaming in despair. i wanted to cry for him. he kept saying "i loved her so much. i just don't understand how she could do this to me. she doesn't even care. i would do anything for her and she doesn't care at all. i (....choice word....) hate her so much. she's such a (.....choice word.) i love her so much. i would die for her. i love her more than anything in the world. i hate her so much. this is the worst thing that has ever happened....." and on and on and on. he loved and hated her all at the same time. his nose was so stopped up that he couldn't breathe. ((....not to mention, he was completely intoxicated.) about 10 minutes after they came in, he rolled over and passed out. his friends were still talking to him, and he was out cold. we all got some sleep after that. but yikes!

observations:
- prague isn't near as cheap as i had expected, probably on account of the massive amount of tourists here.
- i was on the absolute fastest escalator of my LIFE yesterday. in the metro station, it was a very tall one, but it moved SO quickly! i was afraid to get on and off. truly.
- elevators in europe are weird. like, for example. you get on the elevator on the first floor. and you want to go to floor five. if i am on floor 3, and want to go to floor five, it takes you to floor five without stopping on floor three. i then have to RE-push the button to make the elevator come back down to three in order to take me to five. it's a one trip at a time kind of deal. super inefficient. waiting time can be absurd (if someone gets on it on floor five and wants to go to floor one, and then someone gets on it at floor one.....you get the picture. maybe.)
- i am heading to salzburg next. i know nothing about it, other than the sound of music. this is where mama gets jealous. :) :) :) i am going to do a sound of music tour not tomorrow, but the next day and then just wander and wander. so so so excited. it's my mom's favorite movie. they leave it on repeat at the hostel i'm staying at.
- this was the best hostel shower i've seen! huge massaging shower heads....and SUPER hot water!
-bathrooms over here i've thought up until now were weird. there's typically one room with the shower, and one room with the toilet....and a sink somewhere mixed in. .....staying in a place where about 15 people share one shower and toilet makes you realize why! the showers are nice here....but that means people like to take REALLY long showers. and if you need to use the toilet, you're fresh out of luck. the only common toilet at this hostel is in a building across the road (they have two locations...) that made for a frustrating morning for sure!
- i am getting more and more tired as time goes on. i press snooze a few more times with every new city (which is SO sad, because i want to get up and go and see and do! but man....i'm worn out!)
- the boys that i stayed with at the hostel in krakow are from sweden, but live closer to copenhagen than to stockholm, so when i go to copenhagen i am going to meet up with them! i can't wait! making friends all over the place.
- fightin' texas aggie shirt serves me well again. i was walking today (i had JUST put it on....right after it rained it was super cold!) and this man says ''texas a&m? he was probably late 30s or 40s and was with his wife and kids. he flashed his aggie ring and i smiled HUGE! she was a graduate in 94 and he got his masters there and now they live in germany. we chatted for a little while on the street about what i'm doing and how long i've been here and such as that, and then i merrily went on my way, thankful for southern accents and the word y'all.

i am about to enter the realm of scenic trains and wonderful mountain views! it starts in salzburg for sure, but after that i go to switzerland....which has been one of my most anticipated stops! i booked the train there today on easter. there's a HUGE easter festival in innsbruck, austria....so i'm making a 4 hour stop there on the way to switzerland. i figure it'll be a nice addition to my easter sunday. so i'm taking the train from salzburg to innsbruck, staying for 4 hours, and then taking the train from innsbruck to switzerland. that train is EXPENSIVE. it's one of the few 'panoramic view' trains in europe, so they charge like it. eek. then there's one day later in the trip where it's absolutely THE most scenic day possible in europe. you take a train through the mountains in norway, then you take a boat ride down some fjords, and then another train ride. it's a super well known route, always sells out way early, and costs a fortune. but, i get to do it for about 50 euros total, because of my railpass!

i think i'm doing okay as far as money goes, though. i've got over $5000 left in the bank, with a $2500 limit on my credit card. granted, i don't want to come back with debt, and i'd REALLY like to come back with money in the bank. but if i spend like i've been spending, i should come back with money for sure. and, most of my transportation costs are covered from about april 16th until april 30th, with the exception of train reservation fees or sleeping car extra fees (...if i decide to sleep laying down.)

....but, then again i AM about to go to some of the most expensive countries in europe (i.e.....switzerland!) as long as i keep budgeting like i have been, and cooking the majority of my meals, i think i'll end up even being able to do some extra things while adrienne is here. heck, maybe mom will donate some money to the ''amber loves adrienne and i want her to be able to eat out and do a pub crawl in dublin'' fund. ;) momma loves adrienne.

okay. it's 9:30 here. i have to take the 11:55 overnight bus from here to munich, putting me there at 5:30, and then the train from munich to salzburg at 6:30. it's going to be another long night, but it's less than half the price of taking a train straight to salzburg, and there was no overnight option that way, so i save on a hostel for tonight as well!

i miss everyone dearly. but, the end is approaching quickly. every time i look at the calendar i can't believe how much time i've spent here, and how little time i have left. but, diet dr. pepper, that yellow xterra, and some good old fashioned tex mex will have never tasted so good.

email me and let me know how you are! i'm sorry i've been MIA....i have just been enjoying myself too much in prague! i really do want to know how you are, though!

with a heavy heart....

2009-04-05T10:05:00.002-05:00

wow. putting today into words will be difficult, to say the least. iwent to Auschwitz, the nazi concentration camp from world war II. i expected it to be emotionally draining...but i had no idea just how i would feel. back to that a little later...

i have been in krakow, poland for the past few days. it's a beautiful city...very well preserved. i took an overnight bus to get here from vienna, and I accidentally left my coat - my favorite, wonderful, super warm coat - on the bus. after two days of dealing with people who barely speak english, i *think* i will be getting it back at 9tonight. cross your fingers for me...

eastern europe is cheaper than i thought! it is unbelievable almost, after spending so long in western europe. a bottle of coke is 3 zloty,which is about 0.65 euros, whereas it would be at least 2 euros anywhere else i have been!

my first day here the guy at the hostel recommended a mexican food place for lunch. after having a good laugh at the suggestion that this texas gal eat mexican food in poland, this guy actually managed to convince me that i might actually enjoy it. so, i gave it a go...and was pleasantly surprised! it was a huge burrito (think chipotle/freebirds...) but after he made it, he put it on the grillwith a lid over it for 5 or so minutes. it was absolutely delicious, super spicy (habanero!), and with a drink cost me less than 2.50. that's my kind of bargain!

at the main square there was an easter festival going on...lots of little stands with typical polish food and easter festivities. it was rather fun! (they start the festivities early here!)

there was a guy there who asked me if i was from texas (...i think ishould limit my wardrobe to my texas A&M shirt...what a quick way to make friends!). anyways, he was from minnesota and was hillarious. he asked me where my gun was, and asked if the rumors are true that you get a free gun with every alcoholic drink purchased in texas. he then cracked a few obama jokes and we chit chatted for 10 or so more minutes. :)

and yesterday in the main square...get this...a pillow fight. for easter. ...what? who knows what the connection is there, but it gave them a reason to have a pillow fight. over 700 people with pillows just hitting one another. love it!

the hostel i am staying at is wonderful. it has certainly been interesting...i am in a 6 person room....with 5 boys and me. that's a first for this trip...i have been in mixed dorms before(though if all female is an option i usually pay the extra to get it), but every other time it has been mostly girls. i realized last night that i am one of only 3 girls staying at this hostel right now. there were quite a few girls when i first arrived, but they're gone now. i was a little nervous at first (...boys smell), but they are so so fun! i have really enjoyed it.

today i went with a tour to auschwitz. i am not big on guided tours, because for the most part i would rather just take my time and see things at my own pace. but, as much history as there is, and as much as i enjoy this period of history, i decided to go for the tour (and it was only like10 euros, with transportation). i learned a lot....but man was it hard. there's something so much more real when you see two tons of human hair and thousands of shoes that belonged to people that were murdered. it was sickening, really. seeing the conditions that these people were forced to live in makes living in my car for 6 months seem like a breeze. hearing the number of people who were murdered.....just because they had the wrong color of hair or they weren't strong enough to be used for labor....and then seeing faces of those people just hurt. i have obviously heard the statistics before. but being there and walking around where they walked....man oh man. and evil is just as prevalent, though hidden in other forms, in the world today. really makes me thankful for what i have. i am still processing a lot of it, so more will probably come later. i am really glad i went, though. definitely one of those moving, life-changing experiences.

i am off to prague next! i have heard nothing but wonderful things,and i am super excited! i will be there for 3 days, and then i'm off to the land of the sound of music!

i haven't been very good about updating these past few days...i don't know why, really. i do know that i am exhausted beyond anything i imagined happening. i may take a day out this next week and just rest.

...i can't believe it's april! i left the u.s. in february! crazy.

i got a haircut! what an adventure. she didn't speak english. i had to wholly trust her ability to cut my hair like a picture i showed her. i went to this really nice salon/spa place, and got a super expensive by polish standards haircut. less than $20. no joke. and i LOVE it. i needed a haircut so so SO bad. i shouldnt need another until i'm back in the states. i use the word hair "cut" lightly. becuase, never once did she pick up a pair of scissors. a comb and an electric razor is how my hair ended up looking as cute as it does. i'll post pictures soon.

:) speaking of which....i'm about to upload the latest batch of pictures! expect to see them in the next couple of hours.

until next time...

2009-04-01T16:46:00.001-05:00

pictures from rome and florence are up!

cinque terre and venice will come next....

misery loves company.

2009-04-01T15:44:00.002-05:00

unfortunately, i didn't have any, so it was just plain misery. back to this later...i'll at least start off with happy thoughts.

((this post was written yesterday, but somehow disappeared into cyberspace, to reappear later.))

funny story...i really wasn't kidding about the flooding. there was this terrible siren going off that first night and once we asked what it was the guy said "oh...get used to it. it's the flood siren, and it'll keep going off until the walkways aren't flooded anymore". gooooood.

my second day in venice was glorious! i loved it...it was a perfect amount of time. i feel like i saw and did everything that i wanted to. i spent the afternoon in burano, which is an island off of venice with SUPER cute colorful houses. i would like to see the depression rate for that place...its bound to be lower than most anywhere else. the cute little ladies sit outside and make lace (which burano is famous for)

st. marks square wasn't all that i expected. a pigeon landed on me and i screamed...people laughed. :) the church is gorgeous from the outside! i had to ride the waterbus to burano, so I got the unlimited 12 hour pass...and got my moneys worth! riding down the grand canal, i was in the very front seat, and it was spectacular. as much as i like my car and driving, i still loved venice!

i had a 1:30 a.m. overnight train to vienna, but it left from the station on the mainland, about 10 minutes from venice. so, i took a train at 11:30, and was going to have about an hour and a half to wait, but i had books, so no problem. ....ha. there was no inside to this station. there were homeless people sleeping everywhere. i didn't dress warmly (i dressed to comfortably sleep the night away). i had my suitcase, but...the bathroom was closed, so i couldn't even change. shivering inside and out...i was too cold to concentrate on the book. and then, what do you know....the train was delayed by an hour and 20 minutes. so from 11:40 until 2:50 i sat and froze. i think i could've potentially been okay (those ugg boots i brought are about the warmest things known to man), but...due to the flooding the day before, coupled with the fact that these boots aren't supposed to get wet, my feet were inside cold, wet boots. annnnnnnnnnd....i was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. i almost cried, but instead i turned "laugh so you don't cry" on my ipod. :)

after i got on the train, my feet warmed up, and then started stinging worse than anything i have ever felt. that probably means i was near frostbitten toes. i slept well, though. i had two seats to myself so i was able to lay down (one of the few times i am thankful i am short).

i didn't do anything today worth speaking of...except LAUNDRY! i took a nap after i got here, ate, and decided since the day was mostly gone, that i wouldn't attempt vienna today, and would just get rested and do my laundry. i still have two full days here, so i think i will be okay. and i have another round of clean clothes!

observations:
- venice is every bit as expensive as everyone says, but i managed 2 full days there for under 40 euros. food, transportation, AND accomodation.
- i liked venice more than i thought i would.
- austria is really pretty. i was only awake for about 30 minutes on the train (and i have heard that train ride is really scenic, but oh well) but its beautiful! and the architecture (even just what I saw on the tram and the walk to the hostel is incredible.
- i am really excited about this leg of my trip. i have no idea what to expect. and I love that.
- they LOVE their meat here.
- i ate at a german restaurant near austin not too long ago, and i am finding it to be very authentic (and i am not even to germany yet!)
- german is very neat sounding, but not a beautiful language like the italian i got used to hearing- not as many people here speak english though...
- drivers are much more pedestrian friendly.
- rome is worse than new york city as far as people honking while sitting in dead stopped traffic, as if they think it will help
- fruit is more expensive here than anywhere else i have been, though most everything else i have seen has been cheaper. i suppose that is why they eat so much meat...
- i would have a lot more money in the bank if i could kick my fruit and veggie habit...
- ...this hostel has condoms in the vending machines. right between the snickers and milky way. (...no, that's not a joke.)
- i need a haircut. really, really bad.

vienna waits for me.

venice isn't sinking...

2009-03-29T11:30:00.000-05:00

it's flooding! goodness gracious.

i got to the train station in venice having looked at weather forecasts...fully aware it would be pouring down rain. no problem...i had no umbrella, but had a hood. surely i would be fine.

....i underestimated all of the "you will get lost in venice" tips. i could have paid seven euros for the water bus, but google maps said it was only a 10 minute walk. walking in the rain isn't my favorite pasttime, but it seemed worth seven euros. ...google maps doesn't factor in the bridges. about 14 steps up, and 14 steps down. about 12 times. with a heavy suitcase. i had gps, but it is almost worthless around here. roads dead end into water...

i finally made it to the hostel. there werew SUCH neat girls here. about 15 or 20...and mostly everyone was in because of the weather. we stayed in and just chatted for a while. i finally dried off enough to get up the courage to brave it again. one of the girls that is leaving tonight to go back home had bought an umbrella for cheap, so she gave it to me! :)

getting lost in venice really is as magical as they say....just not with luggage. :) i wandered and wandered and despite the rain, this city is ranking right up there with barcelona! i wasn't out there for long (...cold and wet!) but long enough to know that i love it! it is supposed to be rainy tomorrow, but not as bad as today. i'm going to get up early and not let the rain stop me!

the cinque terre! it was beautiful. very very VERY touristy...which took a lot away from it, but it was still lovely. it was raining part of it, but still enjoyable. the hostel i stayed at was super inconvenient...which is probably why i was the only one there. i LITERALLY did not see another person aside from people who worked there until 2:30 in the morning when i woke up to go to the bathroom. it really made for a pleasant evening, though. i curled up on the couch with "american beauty"...which i had never seen and LOVED. it was only the second movie i have seen over here!

i broke down and paid for internet last night because I REALLY wanted to be able to talk to people on skype...and then it wouldn't even work. i tried on about 7 computers, and finally gave up and resorted to skype chatting with dad. it wasn't quite the same, but was still good. and, in the 30 minutes we tried to make it work, i got to hear his voice quite a bit!

i had an early train this morning...AND daylight savings happened over here last night, so it was a rough go for the morning...because i made it.

this trip is almost halfway over!!!! eeeeek eeeeek eeeeeeek.

i have an overnight train to vienna tomorrow night....leaving at 1:30 in the morning. what on earth...

vienna, krakow, and prague this week! yay yay yay!

thanks for the emails and comments...they help me feel connected to everyone. :)

no longer under the tuscan sun....

2009-03-27T03:16:00.000-05:00

just a quick update while I ride the train...

i left florence at 7:51 this morning...meaning in order to get checked out of the hostel and get to the station in time to get a ticket, i got up at 6:20. early to bed tonight for sure!

florence is everything i remembered and more. i spent far more time here than we did when my family came to tuscany...and i am so glad! my original plan in staying so long in florence was to take a few daytrips to some of the small tuscan hilltowns. but, we apparently went to all of the very best ones on the last trip (way to go mom and mark!), so i went back to siena (which was my favorite last time) for half a day and spent the rest of my time in florence. it was fun remembering things we had done or gelato places we had eaten at and things of that sort. but it was also fun exploring by myself! we had vans last time, but the entire city is within walking distance...and it has a much homier feel when walking around!

yesterday i went up to the place that is supposed to have the best view of florence...and after huffing and puffing my way to the top, it was worth it! stunning views of the city.

my friend hayley had studied abroad here and told me of the best gelato place...and i hadn't had any gelato the whole trip so yesterday i went! i got coffee, caramel, and amaretto...and i think it was the best ice cream i have EVER had. ...and then in the afternoon i was walking around and happened upon the place that is rumored in all the guidebooks to have the best gelato in all of italy. naturally i had to find out for myself. ...it wasn't near as good as the first place. AND it was more expensive (...they know frommers tells all of us americans to come).

the boy from barcelona came by last night and we went down and ate together. it's been great getting to know him! who knows...maybe i will be at pepperdine and we can be friends! (dad is cringing at the thought of malibu, california right now...) the girl from new york and i really enjoyed one another as well.

today i am headed to the cinque terre. it's five small towns on the coast, and everything i have seen is spectacular. i had to change my plans slightly due to weather...you basically hike between the five towns, and i was going to get there this afternoon and do the hike tomorrow, but its supposed to be really rainy, so i woke up early to go today! it is a 5-6 hour ordeal, but it's supposed to be awesome. i am on the blackberry, otherwise i would insert an image. but google it...seriously. it's really cloudy out right now, but hopefully the sun will show up soon!

one of the best parts is that i am going back through florence on my way to venice, so i was able to leave my big bag locked up at the hostel and just bring my small backpack! it is more full than normal (i needed sleep stuff!), but it sure beats bringing that bag!

...it's almost april? what????

i got a capuccino from the mcdonalds in the train station today...because cokes were 2.50 and it was only a euro. obviously skeptical...but...it was THE best foamed milk i have ever seen. and i worked at starbucks for 6 months! nothing like american mcdonalds capuccino. and much better than the one i had in spain! no wonder all the coffee words are in italian...

the hostel i stayed at didn't have free internet, so i haven't talked to anyone on skype in what feels like ages! hopefully soon...

:)

beauty beauty beauty!!!!!

2009-03-24T10:02:00.000-05:00

believe it or not, i managed to enjoy my last day in rome. i went to the pantheon and the trevi fountain and walked through the only pretty part of rome i saw. turns out the 2009 rome marathon was on sunday, so getting places was difficult. i did the unthinkable: i ate burger king for lunch. i think the last time i ate there i was about 12. that's half my life ago. i don't even REALLY like it. but i wanted fried chicken SO bad. my friend brenna told me i would reach this point, and while i admit i was skeptical, it happened.

i don't know how....but i had forgotten how beautiful tuscany is. i love love love it here. :)

the train ride from rome was FILLED with italian countryside....postcard views left and right.

the guy i met at the kebab shop in barcelona met me at the train station and walked me to the hostel! we hung out for a little while and then we planned to meet the next morning to take on florence! it was so nice to have someone to chat with while walking around. we went to this palace/museum and gardens. i came back to the hostel afterwards and made my lunch, and then ventured up to the rooftop terrace with a beautiful view of the city and enjoyed myself.

while i was walking around, i rounded the corner where the cathedral is...and even though i had seen it before, it literally took my breath away. unbelievable.

i then did something i was pretty certain i would regret. ....i went to the market. i still hadn't bought a single souvenir (...i never bought that purse in granada). there are stalls and stalls and stalls of leather goods and cheap souvenir type stuff. i saw this leather purse that I liked a LOT. red leather, over the shoulder, feels like heaven to touch. i asked about the price:
"65 euros. but for you, 57".

i have bargained at african markets. i laughed and kept walking. 10 or 12 stalls later, i see the exact same bag.

"45 euros. but if you like it, i will sell it to you for 35." (...who inquires about a bag they don't like?)

while more than 20 euros cheaper, i still didn't want to spend that much.

oldest trick in the book: "i am going to keep looking. i *might* be back."

a few more stalls...same purse. i am liking my odds here.

"40, but...you look like a student. i will sell it to you for 30."

i asked if he would give me a discount if i paid cash, and he said he could sell it to me for 28. ...it's looking better all the time. i told this guy i would probably be back, and then after i browsed to make sure i couldn't get an even better deal, i returned to the man who quoted 35 euros. i told him i found the same exact bag around the corner for 28 euros cash, and that I would give him 25 for it. he said he absolutely couldn't go any lower than 30 without losing money on the bag, at which point i thanked him and began walking away. he called me back (...they always do) and said he would rather make 25 euros on it than have the guy around the corner make it.
40 euros cheaper than the original price! i win! a splurge, but i have never once regretted the last italian leather purse i got here. and, how often can i buy an authentic florentine leather bag from florence?

today was really crappy weather, so i walked around a little and then came back to the hostel. cold, rainy, icky, and i didn't sleep well last night. a new girl had checked into my room from new york traveling alone and she was in here. we got to talking and really hit it off! we ended up going out for lunch (...a rare thing for me) but we found a sushi buffet and it was AEWESOME. yes...i ate sushi in italy. :) we came back and the other two girls were in here so we all just hung out all afternoon! i am glad the weather was bad! we were going to cook dinner, but we walked through the restaurant to get to the kitchen and saw people eating this delicious looking pizza! we looked, and it was an entire pizza for FOUR euros! huge. so we decided we would save the groceries for another day and have pizza! 1 euro is a dang good dinner deal! (luckily we all liked mushrooms. :)

also!!! i walked into the kitchen this morning and saw the two australian girls from my room in barvelona! it was so fun to see them again! :) yay for new friends!

at least one more day IN florence (...weather ruined one), and maybe a daytrip to a tuscan town...though everyone says i went to all the best ones on my last trip. :)

one month in.....

2009-03-21T13:54:00.003-05:00

two months left. a third of the way. i can't believe i will be back in the states two months from today. it has FLOWN by.

the cities i have visited, in order of how much i liked them:

barcelona
barcelona
barcelona
lisbon/sintra
seville
paris
granada
london
blois
toledo
madrid
mont st. michel
rome....

i head to florence tomorrow, and it's going to be very, very difficult for me to decide where in that list to fit it. i've been before....and i just LOVE it. at least rome was wedged between two cities that i love.

i didn't like rome any more after today than i did yesterday. still dirty. went to all the ancient roman stuff today....felt like i was looking at a bunch of rocks. the colosseum was cool. but, not life-changing. i ate my lunch in there, and felt really powerful doing it.

another 'amber beat the tourists' story. the line to get into the colosseum....never-ending. like, really. got off the metro, already could see the line. it's a saturday, so that made sense to me. but, i also knew that the same ticket gets you into the colosseum AND palentine hill. so, i turned up the hill a ways. found the ticket office for palentine hill: 2 people in line, because the thousands of other idiots went to the colosseum first, and wasted precious time in line there. so, at least i didn't have to stand in line to look at really old rocks. aka:

(i just figured out i could put pictures in a post! this shall revolutionize my blog, and your ability to know what it is that i'm speaking of. my dad asked me to link to google images when i named a place that he had probably never heard of. this is far better than that!)

i love history, so i really did think i would like rome. i even gave it an extra half day, because i thought maybe i'd want to squeeze something else in. but, i really just wish i had headed on to florence today. .....partially, because i really, really need a shower. and i refuse to contract whatever diseases are present in those showers that haven't been cleaned in years. yes. that means i haven't showered since i've been in rome. two different boys told me i looked cute today, though. so i'm still doing okay. :)

there's a chance a friend will be visiting me over here in a few weeks....i'm trying not to get my hopes up for it actually happening. but i really, really, REALLY hope that it does. it would just be for a few days, and a few short days at that, but it would still be beyond lovely. so, you can hope with me that it comes to fruition. :)

rome wasn't built in a day...

2009-03-20T15:45:00.000-05:00

man man man!!!

what a day. it is 9:15, and i bet i will be asleep by 10. i got an early start, because i decided to do the vatican and st. peters basilica today since i figured it would be less crowded than on the weekend. little did i know, those two things would take my entire day!

when i got to the vatican, the line looked out of control. i walked to where i thought the line ended, only to realize that it snaked back around....that was just the halfway point. i found two girls who looked friendly and american, and asked how long they had been waiting. ....2 hours. and they were halfway.

so, i did what any logical person would do. walked right across the street to the internet cafe, bought my ticket online, printed it, all for less than a euro. i then walked back across the street and right into the vatican. i forfeited my student discount, but i am certain that was 5 euros well spent....

it is COLD here. i didn't have my big coat, and boy did i regret it!

all in all, it was a good day. i spent about 3 or 4 hour in the vatican...much longer than i expected. i enjoyed it much more than i thought i would...not to mention, the size alone makes it difficult to get out quickly. i was following "sistine chapel" signs for like an hour...the rule-follower in me got outnumbered by the photographer. the italian mafia might hunt me down....but yes i did take pictures in the sistine chapel. no flash obviously, so we shall see how well they come out, but there were certainly a number of others breaking the rule as well. :)

observations:
- i still think rome is dirty.
- churches in france have been my favorites so far. i love that stained glass!
- i saw as many mullets in barcelona as hours i was there.
- rome seems like a tourist trap to me. overpriced, low quality everything.
- i liked st. peter's, but not as much as i thought i would. i tend to like the insides of the catholic churches less.

tomorrow is going to be crazy. i am attempting to see basically all of the big ancient roman sights in a day.i think i am going to leave the catacombs for sunday morning....but: colosseum, roman forum, pantheon, arch of constantine, palentine hill, trevi fountain, spanish steps, basilica of st. maria maggiore....yikes!!!

i went to the holy steps i wrote about tonight....and it was really, really neat. just a really cool experience. i was really glad i went.

i am ready to get to tuscany! hopefully the sun i got used to in spain will join me there!

....when in rome....

2009-03-19T17:47:00.000-05:00

"You are young, smart, charming, fetching, and gloriously unattached. You have next to nothing tying you down. Jump off the proverbial cliff of Europe and soar all the way down to the water in a swan dive, basking in that feeling of weightlessness."
- a very good, very wise friend of mine

:)

...what a day. this definitely will not go in the books as the best day of the trip (...I think the fact that the last 4 days qualify as such makeup for it, though).

i guess i should start with that! barcelona has by FAR been my favorite city. not the best hostel, but it didn't even matter. yesterday i did a LOT. it was probably the most packed of my days there, just because i had so many things I still wanted to see!

i went to the top of the mountain, where you can see for miles and miles and miles. gorgeous. i went to the gaudi house that i had bypassed before, and it was well worth the entry! and i happened upon the arc de triomf...which, while less famous, was more impressive to me than the arc de triomphe in paris! i then went to the beach, and finally to plaza catalunya to meet the campers from sky ranch! it was, just like every other time i have gotten to see a familiar face, was SUCH a blessing. i only got like an hour with them, but i soaked up every minute of it.

it was a great ending to a great city.

my flight to rome was at 1...i left the hostel at 10:45, and almost missed my flight. The last check-in was at 12:20...i had to tale the metro and then the train...apparently the trains only go every 30 minutes, and i had just missed one. so, i got on the 11:40 train to the airport, and arrived at 12. of course I arrived at terminal A and had to get to terminal C...a good 15 minute walk. i got there and there was a sign flashing "Roma: last minute check-in". i was basically sweating...because i was wearing jeans and a hoodie, lugging my bag, and carrying my jacket, all the while walking as fast as i could. i got my workout in today, for sure.

the plane landed at 2:30...i think i got my bags at 3:20. they're not all about speed, for sure. i then had to decide between the direcrt train or the regional train with a metro transfer in the middle. the latter was half the price, so i obviously went with that. basically: i got to the hostel at 5:45. starving and exhausted. i had breakfast at 9, and nothing in between (poor planning + outrageous airport costs made for a hungry gal.)

it's definitely the smallest and dirtiest hostel i have been at. then again, rome on the whole seems to be pretty dirty (definitely the dirtiest metro), but i said i wasn't going to make a judgment on a city until after the first full day. i will learn to book hostels further ahead of time, for sure...(all of the good ones were full, because i got so enthralled with barcelona that i forgot to do it until last minute).

can i see rome in 2 1/2 days? ...we shall see. i am leaving here sunday afternoon to head to florence (mmmmmmmm. :), so i have two full days, and part of sunday. i think i can do it! it's gonna be a full few days (...and it's supposed to be rainy and yucky, but hopefully i can enjoy it regardless!)

i love all of the history, so i think i will enjoy it! i met some really neat girls from wisconsin that gave me some good tips! there are these holy steps (not to be confused with the spanish steps here) that Jesus walked on. they will let you climb them, but only on your knees.

tonight was good, though. it was one of the guys at the hostels birthday, and they had cake and champagne!

tonight one of the girls from wisconsin asked about my tattoo, so i started telling the story about my accident, and by the time i was done, there were about 20 people listening. it was really, really neat. hearing their perspectives on it and just getting to share about my life was wonderful. :) it was a good reminder to myself of ho blessed and lucky i am, and a lot of the reason i am here.

all in all, not a terrible day, but traveling is exhausting (and flying takes longer than it seems it should...i don't think i have another flight until ireland, which is the VERY end of the trip, and that is okay with me!)

rome, rome, rome!

pictures!

2009-03-18T16:59:00.000-05:00

Pictures are updated! You can even see that face you've been missing a few times... ;)

i didn't think i would say this, but...

2009-03-16T17:37:00.000-05:00

the first minor bout of homesickness has arrived. i don't really understand it, because barcelona is EASILY my favorite city that i have been to! but, i realized that i have been gone for a month, and started thinking about home...talked to a good friend for a really long time tonight...and just started to miss it.

anyways...feel good knowing that you are missed. :)

i have two days left here...tomorrow being the one I am the most excited about! i am going to park guell and la sagrada familia, both designed by my favorite architect! and THEN!!!! we had two campers at sky ranch this summer from barcelona, and i am going to get to hangout with them and catch up on the last 9 months of their lives!

we went out and ate dinner last night at a beachfront restaurant on the mediterranean sea....it was awesome! i had some of the best salmon ever...AND! they brought this bread that is rubbed with tomatoes, olive oil, and garlic (apparently a common thing over here!) ...i think i am bringing that recipe back with me!

las ramblas is the main street here...and it is CRAZY! there are SO many people at ALL times of the day...and those people who paint themselves and stand really still...i hope you know what i am talking about...

EVERYTHING is closed on sundays over here. it is so so so different from our american "work every chance you get" mindset. they really do take a day of rest. like, its hard to find a supermarket open, even.

there's this AMAZING indoor market here with stall after stall after stall of fresh fresh fresh produce. And there's lots of meat and cheese and fish and just...fresh food! the meat markets gross me out, but make for some neat pictures. it's really quite a sight to see, even if you don't buy anything!

observations:
- they sell bread without crust here!
- food doesn't come spicy like you might expect out of spain
- they don't speak spanish in barcelona...it's catalyn!
- i am WAY under budget! i have spent half of what i figured i would have by now! daddy would be so proud!
- today is st. patty's day...it will be interesting to see what that's like in barcelona!

i have enjoyed just walking around the city and people-watching more than anything. the buildings are some of the most beautiful i have ever seen. i love the modernism stuff. i'm a nerd. :)

rome is next! i certainly won't be able to see it all (i am there a max of three days...) but i am excited to try!

sorry its been so long since i last updated...i have been soaking up every minute of barcelona! (...trying to at least!)

friends!!!!!!!

2009-03-14T13:57:00.002-05:00

yay yay yay!

i got to barcelona and just kindof wandered (typical for my first day in a city). i went to the really neat indoor market and walked up la rambla....which is the most famous street in spain. but i had NO idea what to expect! it's CRAZY full of people.

i happened upon a doner kabab place....and recognized the name as a place my friend clayton had told me i needed to eat at. i was hesitant, per my last kabab experience. but MAN was i surprised! it was one of THE best things i've ever eaten....

it gets better! i am standing in line and the boy in front of me says ''TEXAS A&M???'' .....YES!!!!!!!!! he was from plano! ....i live in carrollton! he was with a girl from canada....we struck up conversation and ended up sitting together at a table. it was awesome. so, turns out he goes to pepperdine....i tell him i applied to law school there, and all is well. i then tell him that one of the best professors i had at A&M is now at pepperdine, and he asks who. HE KNOWS ANDREI!!!!!!!!! he hasn't taken a class from him, but he might go to romania on a mission trip with him (.....something i've wanted to do since i was at A&M....)

we then realize we have even more connections, via bell and plano west high schools. unbelievable. in barcelona. he is studying abroad in florence, and is just here for the weekend. how lucky!!

they invited me to come out with them tonight. i'm a little bummed....they're staying at the hostel i almost stayed at, but that´s okay. so, they say that their hostel takes people out for free, whereas normally you have to pay a cover to get in. great! ....they THEN tell me that they LEAVE the hostel to go out at 2:30! ha. oh, spain.....

either way, it was great. i am going to go to their hostel at 10 to just hangout and have friends. :) :) :)

i'm excited to see the city tomorrow! the girl who was also at dinner is from canada and is touring europe with her 18 year old sister, and they are here until thursday as well, so we may hangout during the days together! this is the first insta-friends i've made. SUCH cool people.

oh right. the flight here.....

it reminded me of my dad´s plane....only it was a commercial airline. it wasn't too much smaller than normal planes i don't suppose....but you climbed stairs to get in. there is no plane pulls up to the gate business over here. seemed normal. THEN....when we landed....we climbed stairs down, and got on a little bus thing that drove about 5 minutes to the terminal. i miss the convenience of DFW!

this hostel seems to be the most 'party-oriented' of all the ones i have been at. then again, i think it would be tough in barcelona to find one that isn't. hopefully i will be able to get some sleep....i sure want to see the city!

all-in-all, barcelona has been great so far! i'm sure i'll fall more and more in love with it....i LOVE me some gaudi! i walked past the palau guell....but it was closed. hopefully i can get a full days worth of sightseeing in tomorrow!

granada!

2009-03-13T10:59:00.001-05:00

another great city! another great hostel! staying in that house was so fun in seville, but meeting people at the hostels is one of my favorite parts of the trip so far!

speaking of which...i met the two coolest people of the trip so far today! it's a married couple who has been traveling europe for a year! oh, but it gets better. they set out last march from england...on BIKES. they have biked across europe for the past year, and will be doing so for 6 more months. unbelievable. when they started, their plan was a 2 year trip, but the economy has cut 6 months off of it. i asked if they were retired and loved bike-riding so they just decided to go...and the man said "no no...i have only been riding for the last 2 years!". so so so cool. he has lost 50 pounds since they left...and they eat around 8000 calories per day when they are riding (because they burn over 6000 throughout the day). they were SUCH cool people. i don't exactly know how old they are...but they're both gray. :). listening to them talk reminded me a lot of my dad and his love for flying that plane of his. i just love talking to people about what they are passionate about. he is a doctor, and worked a lot of years to provide for them so they could just take off and do what they love. he said he will probably go back into working, but for now they're just biking. hearing where all they have been was beyond incredible...i am inspired for sure!

granada is wonderful. it's a wonderful mix of spanish, arabic, african, and....others. it's a really, really neat city. i *might* make my first souvenir purchase. it should come to no surprise to anyone that knows me that it is in fact.....a purse. but, it's a leather stitched, really neat looking african-ish purse. and i don't know that i can resist. i've been back to the same place 4 times looking at it. and, i think i'll splurge the 14 euros and get it. :)

i went to the alhambra today. it was awesome. not my favorite place that i've visited, but still really, really neat. i think i enjoyed the view OF the alhambra with the mountains in the background from a viewpoint across the way equally as much. it's such a beautiful country!

tonight at the hostel is spanish fiesta night! i'm super excited. all you can eat for 4 euros....it's paella! i don't know what that means....or what it is....other than a typical spanish dish. and there's supposed to be a really yummy spanish salad to start out with, too. the lady is already in there cooking, and dinner isn't served for two more hours! (....crazy spain....dinner gets served at 9....amber gets hungry at 6....awesome.)

I NEED SHORTS AND A TANK TOP! goodness gracious. i packed for 15 degree weather....it was over 85 degrees here today! i brought TWO short sleeved shirts....and they were brought for sleeping in. oh me oh my. looks like i'll be leaving some things behind and picking up some new things along the way....i'm just nervous that once i'm out of spain and italy it'll be cold again! in other news....i threw my gloves away. those warm, wonderful leather gloves that i was so upset when i lost just one of. i accidentally threw them away. hopefully i can find some new ones if it gets cold again....

i watched this weeks episode of 24 and cried like a little girl. oh, i just don't know how that show gets me like it does. sheeeesh.

barcelona tomorrow!!!!!!! i'll be there until thursday, when i head on to rome rome rome! i can't believe my time in spain is almost done (i feel like i just got here!) AND i can't believe it has almost been a month since i left the states. absolutely ridiculous. but, it's been one of the best months of my entire life. truly. :)

i could stay here forever!!!!!

2009-03-12T05:30:00.002-05:00

seville, seville, seville! i'm on to granada now, but i LOVED seville. from the minute i stepped off the bus (well...i suppose that isn't entirely true, because after i stepped off the bus, it was 5:30 in the morning, and i took a 2 hour nap with my bags locked to one another, myself, and the chair at the bus station), but from the minute i stepped outside of the bus station i LOVED every minute of it!

the main attractions weren't open at 8 a.m., so i took a LOVELY stroll down the riverside, just getting a feel for the city. i walked for a couple hours, and then went to the alcazar. i had no idea what to expect, but i was more than pleasantly surprised! (and it was free with that trusty student id!) it was beautiful....room after room of intricate detail and just pretty pretty pretty! there are some amazing gardens out back....made for a lovely picnic! there were also orange trees everywhere....i'm not sure i had ever seen one before now! lots of people were picking the oranges, but the rule-follower in me refrained (yes, somewhere deep down there IS a rule-following bone in my body....if only activated by fear of foreign police... ;) BUT, a tour came by where i was sitting and the guide said it was okay to pick the oranges. so, i did. and let me just say....EVERY single orange i've had over here has been one of the best i've ever eaten....but....not this one. it was VERY sour. and VERY not what i wanted to be eating. live and learn....

after that i went to the cathedral... the inside of it was less impressive than the others i have been to (or i guess, less my style...i haven't enjoyed the insides of the churches in spain as much as i have other countries.) but, there's a tower that is about 30 stories high (....and obviously no elevators.....spiralling ramp all the way up....) it was worth the climb! my legs felt like jello when i got back down to the bottom (they definitely are not used to all of this! i might have those cheerleader legs back by the time this trip is done!) so, after i took many pictures at the top, i went back to the bottom and just needed to sit! i sat in one of the pews....and fell asleep for a good 30 minutes. when i woke up there were high school boys surrounding me taking pictures pretending like they were sleeping too. it was quite comical. who knows how many pictures i had been in up until that point....

i left the cathedral and just roamed and roamed and roamed through the streets. they're narrow and winding and colorful....everything i dreamed this part of spain would be!

i made myself a salad for lunch....and put mushrooms from the grocery store on it. did i wash them? of course not. i was in a park. ....i immediately regretted this decision when i got very, very sick about 45 minutes after i ate. the dirt crunching between my teeth as i ate my salad should've been a good indicator, i suppose. so, i laid on a park bench...and fell asleep. :) i felt much better when i woke up, and thanks to my trusty lock, my bag was secured to the bench and i slept easy.

i met the girl i am staying with at the bus station later that evening, so i just kindof wandered once i woke up. we took the bus to her place and it is WONDERFUL! she lives with two other americans in a 2 story place....reminds me of something people in college station live in! only MUCH better(...because it's spain!). there's actually 3 flights....on the 3rd story is an outdoor terrace. it's beautiful, and where they hang their laundry. oh, right. and where i hung MY laundry. because, yes, ONE day after having nice, clean blue jeans, i spilled my bottle of soy sauce ALL over me. ugh ugh ugh. they're clean again, and dry. just my luck. i go three weeks without washing them or spilling anything on them, and the day after i wash them, i nearly stain them. that'll teach me to do my laundry.... ;)

the girls are great. they're here teaching english and telling people about Jesus. pretty cool gig if you ask me!

yesterday i went to the market and bought a bunch of yummy fruit, and then to the market where they sell a lot of african influenced stuff. i didn't buy anything, but it was super fun to roam around! i then went to the super beautiful park in town and the plaza de espana, and walked along the river again.

i am going to try and update my pictures today....though i'm not sure i'll get to it! but, i want you to be able to see what i've gotten to see! it's like a dream. it really, really is. i'm going to the alhambra tomorrow afternoon....if you don't know what that is, google it! i'm SUPER excited to see it! hopefully granada will be as good to me as seville has been....

and THEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! barcelona, barcelona, barcelona! this might be the city i have been anticipating the most! we learned all about it in my architecture class at A&M, two of my very good friends studied abroad there last semester, and i just can't wait for it! hip hip hooray!

i tried to call a lot of people on skype yesterday....the feedback i'm getting is that it was very staticky....i'm not sure why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. i'll try again soon!

notes to self....

2009-03-10T02:10:00.000-05:00

1) absence really DOES make the heart grow fonder. clean blue jeans never felt so good.
2) not all overnight buses have a bathroom. if taking the overnight bus in and of itself can't be considered torture, one without a bathroom (...coupled with the frequency with which i need one...) certainly qualifies.

i slept for an hour and a half in the bus station...bags locked to each other, the chair, and myself, with my inflatable pillow atop my suitcase. i dare say i was VERY comfortable. :)

i had a kebab...

2009-03-09T16:48:00.001-05:00

most certainly the first AND last kebab i will ever eat. the hostel owner bought it for me (...i haven't decided if he did so because I was so wary of trying it, or because he had a crush on me. i think it was probably the latter...but that's neither here nor there. my friend brittany is a master of getting things bought for her...i think it is an acquired art. and, well, i don't mind being good at it.

anyways...i took two bites. and upon gagging for the second time after the second bite, i gave up.

it was a fun outing for my last night in lisbon! i went with the american boy and two of the guys that work at the hostel.

last night though! some gals had gone to a portugese restaurant and brought an entire chicken back and shared with everyone. it is called "piri piri chicken", and as best i can tell, piri piri is sortof like portugese tobasco sauce. so it was super spicy...and SUPER delicious!

i forgot about this! the american boy, after we had been talking a while, asked where i was from. i told him I wanted him to guess...and he said "well you definitely don't have a southern accent!" success. on the whole, he reminds me a LOT of one of my best friends andy, though not quite as funny. but it made hanging out with him even better!

i am on my overnight bus to seville. something I have noticed over here...people have no regard for the people around them. my dad would go crazy here. the last bus i took, there was a lady that talked on the phone in chinese for at LEAST 30 minutes. and she did so VERY loudly. that bus left at 11 p.m., and nearly everyone was trying to sleep. nobody said anything, though.

today i took the train to sintra. 3.40€ roundtrip! that is my kind of trainride! anyways, there was a guy who played music loudly on his phone the ENTIRE way there. i was tempted to hand him my headphones. there was another couple that madeout the whole way there. the amount of PDA over here rivals junior high skatetown nights. it is absolutely ridiculous!

sintra...beautiful. nature nature nature. its a city on a hill, like so many that i have been to recently! i didn't get a single good picture, though, because the trees are too tall. at the top of the hill, you can see for EVER, but, alas no pictures. there was a lookout, and i started on my way there, and got about halfway (steepest hike I have attempted since my accident, and gave up. i was huffing and puffing, not feeling well, and started having sharp pains in my hip. so i accepted defeat.all in all, it was a good day. the bus that takes you to the top of the hill and back down? 4.5€! i spent more to get to the top of the hill than the 45 minute train there! but, there's REALLY no other option. i bet from the historic center to the top would take me at least 2-3 hours to hike.

i don't think i will be getting much sleep tonight. there are two little girls behind me screaming and kicking my seat. my ipod is up loud enough that i will have a headache soon, and i can still hear them. oh the joys...

i, due to my poor planning, had to cut my stay in granada short. i am going to barcelona afterwards, and it was either fly out saturday afternoon or monday night (or pay 4x as much). so, i will be in seville for 2 days and granada for 2 1/2. hopefully i will be able to see it all! i just felt like 5 days in granada would be overkill, especially with barcelona and rome coming up, neither of which had that long allotted on the rough itinerary. so, i will end up about two days ahead of schedule...which i think will be good in the long run!

i have a couple of people with connections to barcelona, so hopefully i can manage a place to stay!

i will put on blue jeans in the morning that will fit like freshly washed jeans. they smell like downy (...and not the febreeze kind...) 3 full weeks without washing was probably a bit much...

observations:
EVERYTHING is closed on sundays over here. it is so weird.
things close way earlier in lisbon...which might just mean things stay open super late in madrid.
this was the most nature-filled place i have been so far. beautiful flowers and trees all around.
there are lots of public transportation buses that are mercedes all around europe. it makes me laugh. :)

holy toledo!

2009-03-07T07:46:00.002-06:00

:) that's been one of my mom's token phrases for as long as I can remember. i've now been there.

....my apologies for the delay in updates. i've been distracted by a very cute american boy. ;)

back to toledo....i made certain i charged up my camera battery before i left for the bus station, and even had my extra battery...the pictures i had seen of this place were phenomenal! after first showing up at the wrong bus station, i managed to make it to the right one at 9:29 for my 9:30 bus. whew! off on my way!

i was taking the bus from the bus station to the top of the hill (...worth my $1, to be certain!), and got my camera out. turned it on. error. ...i had forgotten to put the memory card back in it after I transferred pictures to my external. after only a minor freakout, upon realizing that somehow my extra memory card also ended up in my suitcase, i found myself standing in a camera store. no, i did not pay the 60€ for a 1GB card, when i bought my 8GB for less than that. i decided the memories would be best kept in my head. i decided to scrounge one more time to make certain i didn't have the extra card, and i was unsuccessful...but found my little camera! so it wasn't a total loss.

toledo reminded me a lot again of the italian hill towns, but i didn't like it as well. i enjoyed myself, but was done after 4 hours there.

they are famous for these pastries...mazapan. naturally i had to try it. i am pretty sure "mazapan" is code for "tourist trap". it was good. i think i've had it before. 6 parts butter, 16 parts sugar...give or take a little of both.

now for the exciting part! one of the best parts of my trip so far! i checked my messages, and had one from a girl that was in my sorority at A&M....and she LIVES in madrid! we messaged back and forth, and were able to coordinate meeting at starbucks after i got back from toledo. it was SO refreshing to have someone i knew and could just talk to. we hung out for 3 or 4 hours...it was exactly what i needed! i am so so glad she saw on facebook that i was in madrid! AND, she has friends in seville and granada (the next two places i am going) so i will have a place to stay! what a blessing it was. yay bruner!

after we parted, i headed to the bus station for my overnight bus, which wasn't too bad, since i was exhausted and was able to sleep (except for the passport wakeup again...)

lisbon, lisbon, lisbon! i arrived at 6:15 on the bus, and walked in to get on the metro...which didn't start working until 6:30. needless to say, 15 minutes in the metro surrounded by homeless people was the scariest 15 minutes of my trip thus far.

i got to the hostel, and let me just say WOW. it is absolutely incredible. definitely the best one yet...they have won a few hostel awards, and i definitely see why! the guy who works there sat down with me for 20 or 30 minutes just giving me tips and marking things on the map. the atmosphere of this place is SO great. i've definitely met the most people at this one!

i left my bag and headed out exploring. my first destination was the flea market, which i enjoyed about as much as i would enjoy someone force feeding me raw oysters. i don't know why i thought i would enjoy it, but i didn't. it was like being at goodwill, only not as cool of stuff. afternoon rolled around, and after walking the city all morning, i just felt like it was a dingy, dirty, old ugly town...with a pretty view of the coast. i wasn't too impressed, for sure. luckily, as with the other places I have been, my first impression was wrong. i had gone to the flea market...in the dingy, dirty, old part of town. my own fault. i think from here on out, i am not going to make judgment about a city until at least the second day.

i REALLY like lisbon. it's beautiful, with a beautiful view of the coast. there's a wonderful castle with wonderful views. the weather has been GORGEOUS (i.e. i have worn jeans, a t-shirt, and flip flops while out and about! perfection.) It's a cute town...they have yellow trams and funiculars running all over the city! i took the tram to belem, which is about a 15 minute ride, and upon arrival, went to this place with famous pastries. if there's a competition between spain and portugal, portugal wins by a long shot. probably the best thing I have EVER put in my mouth. the line was down the street, but it was well worth it. i think that between those two pastry shops, i have regained the 5 pounds i had lost from walking all over tarnation (another of my mom's token phrases. :)

last night i met some other people from texas! one of the girls went to colleyville heritage, AND worked at pine cove with one of my best friends chelsea! this world is so, so, SO small. we layed the 'figure out who you know that i know' game for a while, and it was quite fun.

tomorrow i am heading to sintra, about 45 minutes from lisbon, just for the day. i am taking the night bus to seville tomorrow night, and will be back in spain for about the next week and a half before italy. yay!

...you should all be glad to know that as of tomorrow, i will have clean blue jeans. :) i am paying 4€ for the people at the hostel to do my laundry and have it ready for me when i get back. mom will rest easy tonight, i am sure. after 3 weeks of wearing the same jeans, they're finally going to get washed.

so...tonight i was in cooking dinner and heard a boy say he was from america. we started chatting....he graduated from arizona in december, and just finished applying to LAW SCHOOL. what? yes. he's over here traveling, before life turns to....school....in august. he laughed when i told him i applied to lots of schools, and told me he was certain he applied to more, at which point he told me he applied to 14. i laughed. ....i almost applied to twice that. and *hopefully* i will get into at least one....

this hostel has events every night to get to know people. last night was 2€ keg night....meaning....pay 2€ and drink until the keg was gone. this is obviously less than exciting for amber, who doesn't like beer. but, hanging out with people was still fun. and, i don't care who you are, drunk people are really, really funny. but! tonight is movie night, starting in 30 minutes, and i'm excited! we're watching amerian gangster. and there's "free popcorns". they thought it was weird that we americans just call it popcorn.

observations:
trams are fun.
lisbon is definitely the city where it's been the hardest for me to walk. even the sidewalks are cobblestone, and i've had to be very, very careful. i've been lucky that i have been able to wear my flip flops, which are better for uneven ground than my boots.
i don't think i have spent more than $5 on food any day that i've been here (with the exception of the one nice meal that i ate out)
we bought a bottle of wine at the grocery store for 2€ earlier.
buying groceries is difficult....when it's not a language you speak.
portugal is MUCH cheaper than spain!
portugese is a beautiful language, and most everyone here speaks english.

best things i've brought as of now:
my student i.d. (SOOO many discounts!)
the little salt and pepper shaker that i filled with garlic salt on one end and tony's on the other end, making every meal delicious.
this pair of blue jeans! they don't stretch out too bad, they are very well made, and my doll of a grandmother put velcro on the pockets, making it that much more difficult for me to be pickpocketed!

i have managed to make it out of london, paris, AND madrid....three VERY heavily pickpocketed cities, with no incidences! granted, the fact that i keep both of my bags triple locked might have something to do with it....but....i'm doing good so far!

i'm REALLY excited about the part of spain i'm about to head to! (susie! if y'all have any suggestions of what i should do, let me know either on here or via email! i've booked tickets to the alhambra, but other than that, i've just got what the typical guidebooks say to do....i'm getting to seville on tuesday, and leaving granada the following monday....so any suggestions/advice on how to break up my time/any daytrips to take/etc. is much appreciated!)

i'm going to do my best to get my picture page updated soon...it just takes a while! maybe once the movie is over i'll get to it....

2009-03-04T11:18:00.002-06:00

what started out as a not so lovely beginning to madrid, has ended up rather nicely. this morning when i woke up, i thought madrid was my least favorite place i had been so far. luckily, that´s not the case anymore!

yesterday i had a fiasco of a time....none of my credit cards would work for purchases OR cash withdrawals. after spending 25 minutes talking to the lady at capital one via skype (with a less than perfect connection....repeating my social security number aloud in a room full of people about six times....hopefully nobody stole my identity)....i finally got it resolved. she needed to know every country i would be visiting over the next three months, and i´m certain she has never looked at a map in her life.

"okay. so you´re in europe now. what country are you going to next?¨
"well, i´m in spain now."
"oh, so you were in europe before."
"....europe is a continent, and all of the countries i am going to are in europe."
"oh, okay."
"so, where are you going after spain?"
"portugal"
"p-r-o-t-..."
"no, p-o-r-t-u-g-a-l."

you get the point. i had to spell each and every country that i will be visiting. everyone around was laughing by the end. i can only hope that they were laughing at the lady, and not laughing out of annoyance at me. i pretty much spent my whole first day trying to sort this out, along with a quick trip to the supermarket to buy some things for dinner!

i walked around madrid today and the architecture is SO SO SO beautiful! i just loved it. i didn´t go into any museums or do any of that, and i´m not really sure that i will. i just liked roaming. it was very, very cold - i couldn´t wait to get to sunny spain, and this is by far the worst weather i´ve encountered so far! it´s been rainy and cold...but it´s still very pretty!

the hostel i´m staying at is awesome. the people are great, the place is great...it´s been fun! right now....there´s a girl behind me cutting a guys hair. they met yesterday. maybe by tomorrow i´ll have myself a new haircut. ;) i REALLY do need one, and i´m not going to be in a place where english is spoken for a long, long time....

tomorrow i´m going to toledo for the day, and then heading back here for one more day in madrid. i leave on friday night to take an overnight bus to lisbon, where i will be for a couple days, with a short sidetrip to sintra. all the pictures i have seen of this region are gorgeous - i´m excited. then it´s back to spain for a few weeks before italy!

i think i left france at a good time. i went back for that last day in paris, and got to see sainte-chapelle which is a beautiful church with 15 stained glass windows surrounding....it was a great ending to my time in france! this also happens to be the place i got in an argument with a french man. it was silly, and i probably shouldn´t have. but, after i had stood in the line for 45 minutes (plus the 45 minutes i had waited the time before that when they didn´t let me in), he came and got in line right in front of me....right before i was going to buy tickets. i clearly was not okay with that, and let him know that was the case. he told me he was in a hurry, and i assured him i was as well....as were all of the people behind us. he got really angry, and told me i was an american in his country and needed to let him go in front of me. .....i said no. he then said "you probably even voted for george bush." (quote of the trip....) i told him i didn´t care where i was from or who i voted for, i waited in the line and he didn´t, and i don´t know if the people behind me care if you cut in front of them, but you aren´t going in before me.

.....i´m not sure if my parents would have been proud or ashamed. i probably should have just let him go. but, at the time it seemed like a battle worth fighting. so, i did.

the trainhotel from paris wasn´t as great as i had built it up to be....4 seats in a compartment, that fold out and become 4 bunk beds. i did manage to get some sleep, though.

i´m going out tonight with one of my friends from sky ranch who is studying abroad over here and i couldn´t be more excited! i tried to meet up with a camp friend in london, but we never could get it coordinated, so this will be the first friend i´ve hungout with over here! so so so excited.

got to talk to dad for the first time today....so hopefully i will be able to call the rest of you soon! the time difference makes things a little tougher...i´m going to do my best, though.

observations:
- at the grocery store, they sell cans of cokes. and, they sit on the shelves as six packs. you take the can out of the six pack to buy it. i kept seeing six packs with only like 3 cokes, and was so confused. i then examined and realized that´s what was happening. interesting, for sure.
- grocery stores are harder to come by here than anywhere else i have been
- the "third floor" is really the fourth to us. they count the bottom floor as zero. made it difficult to find the hostel to which the signs said ¨third floor."
- my spanish is not even CLOSE to as good as i thought it would be. i haven´t been able to keep up hardly at all. what a shame....

until next time....

2009-03-02T13:04:00.000-06:00

"travel compels you to discover your spiritual side by simple eli$imation: without all the rituals, routines, and possessions that give your life meaning at home, you're forced to look for meaning within yourself. if travel is a process that helps you find yourself, it's because it leaves you with nothing to hide behind. it yanks you out from the realm of rehearsed responses amd dull comforts, and forces you into the present. here, in the fleeting moment, you are left to improvise, to come to terms with your raw, true self."

THAT sums up why i am here. yes, i have a desire to see new places and discover new things. but more than that, i have a desire to see myself anew and discover new things about myself. i will see the world, and myself, much differently three months from now.

its been a neat few weeks thus far. i have gotten to see things that before now, were simply on the movie screen. i have gotten to meet people i otherwise wouldn't know. i have been forced to step outside of myself and my comfort zone, in order to enjoy the company of others. i have gotten to share with people halfway around the world about how my life was saved. i have had time to read for pleasure. i have been able to just be still amongst the hustle and bustle of this road we walk called life.

i have had two friendships restored, all the way from the United States. how sweet these two weeks have been to me and my heart thus far. i cannot imagine what all is left to come in the days ahead. things i have been waiting and praying for for a very long time have come to fruition in the short time i have been here.

learning. growing. seeking. finding. loving. enjoying the small things. laughing at the mistakes. living in the moment. enjoying each day, for yesterday is history.

a story of blessing and provision: you all know how much sky ranch means to me. you know that for the last two summers i have loved kids at that place. it wasn't easy, but was the most rewarding thing i have ever spent my time on. My love for that place and the purpose it serves cannot be put into words. due to the economy, the missions program was at risk of being cut. yesterday was the deadline, and 70,000 was the amount that had to be raised. 48 houra before the deadline, 25,000 was still needed. in 48 hours, the money was raised. people went door to door, people did whatever they could, and the money came in. as a result, there are kids in kenya that will get to hear about the love of Jesus this summer. there are kids in france and russia that will get to enjoy the same things kids at home get to experience. tears of joy streamed down my face from paris today when i got the email. as i spoke about this the other night at dinner to the group of people i was with, they were all very interested. i don't know if it is partly because it involved france, or what, but these people who know nothing about sky ranch donated money. they said they could tell it was something I was passionate about it, and had the means to give, and so they did. it was so so neat and meaningful. loving others really can change lives.

:)

my left hand has never been happier!

2009-03-02T04:59:00.000-06:00

I lost a glove yerterday. My nice, warm, expensive leather gloves. I retraced my steps, searching desperately for this glove, but to no avail. But! After dinner, it was right outside the door! I am unsure of who returned it, or how they knew where it belonged, but it doesn't even matter! I have two warm hands now!

What a wonderful, wonderful evening I had! I slept most of the morning, and then we went to one more castle (free on the first sunday of the month...check plus for good timing). It wasn't all that great...I think once you've seen inside one, you've seen inside them all. But, then again I DID spend only thirty minutes in the louvre.

Afterwards we went back to the flat, and a group of people were going to see Slumdog Millionaire. I loved it, but didn't know if I could sit through it again. It was very emotionally draining the first time. So what did I do? JACK BAUER JACK BAUER JACK BAUER!!!!!!!! I had tried a few other times to catch up on 24, but for whatever reason, we are elitist about our TV in the US and fox.com will only let people IN the US watch shows. Someone figure out the logic of not letting people who don't live where the show is broadcast watch, and let me know. I had googled and googled and googled to try and find any other way to do it, and every link came back and said the video had been removed. But there's a french website that shows american TV shows with french subtitles, so I was able to watch the 2 episodes I have missed. It was so wonderful. I should not get this excited...I am on the other side of the world, but gosh darnit it felt good to spend an hour and a half watching jack be awesome.

And then...dominos pizza arrived! I felt like I was right back at home. :)

We went to this jazz bar afterwards with some local friends again...it was one of the coolest things! It was also a chocolate bar....the served chocolate in a cup! All different kinds...thicker than hot chocolate, but not quite as thick as straight liquid chocolate. We ate it with a spoon an it was delicious!

This is my last day back in Paris before I take the train to Madrid tonight! Its going to be interesting...I am in a 4 bunk compartment, so we'll see how much sleep I actually get!

I am staying at a hostel that was recommended to me by one of my dad's clients' daughters! I can't wait...she has been SO helpful with emails and just information to help me on my journey! Hopefully I will enjoy it as much as she and her friend did when they backpacked across europe!

Another exciting thing from last night! I got to talk to my mom and brother on Skype! They couldn't hear me very well...I am hoping it was the computer, rather than my headset. I have free internet where I am staying in Madrid so hopefully I can get it to work right so I can talk to you guys! Even though they couldn't hear me very well, it was SO good to hear their voices! (Even though my brother didn't even know who he was talking to for about the first 3 minutes....ridiculous.)

My next update is a country away! From crepes to tapas... :)

spain is so close i can taste the tex-mex

2009-03-01T05:14:00.000-06:00

well, france has been wonderful. i leave tomorrow night in my "trainhotel" to head to madrid! i'm excited to be able to somewhat understand what people are saying for 2 1/2 weeks. that sure seems like a long time for one country after these short stays, but with all there is to see, i am sure it will fly by.

the loire valley is a very pretty region of france. yesterday was the most beautiful day so far on my travels...65 and sunny...no jacket needed! i had a wonderful guide to drive me around to the castles in the area...there are so many in such a small region of space! i had heard in the books that this region is tough to do without a car, and that seeing it by train, while possible, is less than ideal...and they were right! it helped so much to have a local that knows thr area and could take me around. We went out last night for a very nice meal...the nicest i have had on my trip so far. there were 6 of us total, 3 guys and 3 girls - so neat to meet people over here. they all spoke english (though there were many times throughout the meal that they spoke french and i just sat...) despite the stereotypes, everyone here in france has been really nice to me. everyone at dinner just had so many questions! i felt like an uncultured fool...they asked if i have seen any french films, and, while at some point i may have, i couldn't for my life remember. oh well.

now for dinner...it was the craziest thing i have ever experienced. i have been to italy...and we experienced how long dinner can take. but, I was with my family. so probably 2 hours MAX. ...we had 7:45 dinner reservations and we left the restaurant at 11:30. i woke up at 5:25 to catch to bus to catch the train to get here...and i have decided that all-nighters must be an acquired skill like a language, and if you don't use it you lose it. i was most certainly the queen of staying up days on end in college, and i don't know if i have ever been as tired as last night.

traveling is tiring work, i tell you!

the good news is...my train for madrid doesn't leave until 7:45 tomorrow night, so i am going to head back to paris in the morning so i can go see sainte-chapelle!

observations:
- cars are so little here!
- nutella is delicious. and these people eat it on EVERYTHING.
- wine in france is stronger than wine in the U.S.
- it is faster for me to email and blog from the blackberry than by borrowing the locals computers, because the keys are not in the same places.
- even if the crosswalk tells you to go, you run the risk of being run over.
- looking both ways before crossing has new meaning , because i never know which way the cars will be coming from! (and i miss london where they tell you which way to look!)
- not all european cars are backwards...here in france its just like the USA!
- my daddy misses me a LOT
- i miss a lot of things. boars head blazing buffalo chicken breast, for example. and diet dr. pepper. and my family. (*not in order of importance ;)
- people always laugh at me when they realize i am doing all this traveling over here, i am from texas, and have never stepped foot into mexico. i feel they are very right.
- i haven't journaled as much as i thought.

i have a bag of stuff to mail (either back home, or to myself later on in the journey depending on the price difference), so hopefully my bag will be more manageable after that. i was going to do it in paris, but realized i would be better off to wait until madrid when i can at least understand how much they are telling me things will cost!

i have worn the same pair of jeans for almost 2 weeks now without washing. you were all right in saying i would have to be wearing something when i did my laundry (the wonderful parisians let me use their washing machine, so aside from my jeans, my clothes are clean (though a little stiff...no dryers!!!! crazy.)

my uggs are going to be absolutely ruined by the time i get back...but i wouldn't trade the warmth of them for anything! i'll keep money in the budget to fix that when i return, i think.

in two weeks, i have spent less than $300.if i can stick to that throughout (which...i probably can't...i have been shwon immense hospitality), but, IF i could this trip would be less than $2500! i will certainly continue to try and save as much as possible, but i don't want to sacrifice the experience of it all, either.

email me and let me know how you are! amberpenn@gmail.com. i have constant access to it!

The city of love

2009-02-27T06:44:00.004-06:00

Man! Paris has been a whirlwind, and I have loved every minute of it (too much to spend time updating my blog, apparently!)

I much prefer this city to London, which is weird to me, because I love New York so much and London reminds me a lot of NYC. Either way, Paris is absolutely lovely.

I arrived after having spent all day on the BUS. It was rather interesting. But, worth it. I got to see some beautiful countryside (though I did sleep through a lot of it). I woke up to a man speaking French and I didn't have a clue what I was supposed to do. We were at the border and had to get off to get our passports stamped. The man said "Ah. The stars and stripes. Obama-land. Hillary Clinton. American girl in France."

About ten minutes later, the bus stopped again and more french speaking announcement (you would think coming from London they would also make the announcements in English, but no such luck.) The bus was now parked on the ferry and thanks to a guy who realized I hadn't a clue what was going on, I realized I was supposed to get off the bus and go up to the boat. I have never been on a cruise, so this was the closest to that I've known.

Funny story: I sat down at one point by the window (which later led to seasickness, but that's not the point.) There was nobody else around when I sat. There was a tv in the room with an episode of tom and jerry on. It wasn't long before there were a fw children watching, and it was cute how much they enjoyed it. But! A few minutes later the room was nearly filled with children and adults laughing and enjoying it more than I could have ever imagined an adult enjoying a cartoon. I covertly took some pictures that capture their faces.

Anyways, back to Paris. My first two nights in Paris I stayed with a girl who is a student studying literature at one of the universities here. She lives with her mother in a precious flat in the 6th district. It was VERY convenient to the train station I would be taking ealry the next morning, which was lovely for my sleep schedule. We took my bags to her flat and then walked around Paris, enjoyed a coffee, and then went back to her place to cook dinner. She was going to make me a lovely parisian dish, but my dislike for ham nixed that one. But! She made some chicken with some sort of cream and basil...delicious! We walked to the river and just explored the nightlife of Paris. I was extremely grateful for the hospitality. I had to get to bed semi-early, because my train to Mont St. Michel left at 7:30 the next morning. It was a wonderful first night in Paris.

The next day I woke up to travel to mont st. michel which looks magical in pictures. All in all, it was an alright day, but at the end, I wished I had spent that extra day in paris and left mont st. michel to my imagination. I had to take a train from paris to rennes and then catch a bus from rennes to mont st. michel. The first bus was full...the station was filled with japanese people...lots of college aged looking ones and lots of adults. It was very, very strange. So, I waited around rennes (which...was less than a stellar town) and caught the second bus. After only an hour at mont st. michel I was ready to leave! It was far too crowded (and they were all speaking french or japanese) and it was a really really cold day. I was back at the bottom, only to realize the bus back had left 10 minutes earlier, and the next one didn't come for two more hours! A cold wait led me to a coffee shop for a 2 euro coffee that was smaller than our starbucks sample cup. Upon realizing they didn't take credit cards, and my only cash was the exact bus fare, I began to panic. Luckily I had been chatting with an american girl who was studying abroad and her mom, who gladly offered to pay for my coffee. I attempted to repay her once we got back to rennes, but she would hear nothing of it. My faith in humanity is high at this point in my trip. :)

Now to my first real day in Paris. I slept in a little, because all those early mornings had caught up to me! I spent far more time in notre dame than I thought I would. It is absolutely fabulous. Pictures couldn't even capture it all. I wandered around the area by notre dame and headed back to the girls flat afterwards. She was heading to the hospital with her mom the next day, so I was switching to another flat. Let me just say the metro stations in paris are ridiculous. If anyone ever wondered how the parisians stay so fit even though they eat baguettes constantly, I am certain it is due to the number of stairs in the metro stations. I had to change trains 3 times, each time with about 90 more steps. I. Packed. Too. Much.

Anyways, I finally made it to where I was supposed to be. When we arrived at this flat, there were five flights of spiralling stairs...and no elevator. Oh joy! (There was a really cool old elevator at laura's flat)

The five flights were worth it, though! They have an awesome view of the eiffel tower right out the window. Unbelievable.

We went out to dinner and then walked around...saw this end of Paris at night including that sparkly eiffel tower. :)

Yesterday morning I went to the eiffel tower, and was less than impressed. I felt like the one at six flags was cooler, plus you at least get to ride it! I didn't go to the top, because it was foggy and didn't seem worth it. I then roamed and roamed and roamed...concorde, invalides, arc de triomphe, champs de elysees, what a day! I came back to the flat and cooked dinner for myself and then went back to the eiffel tower. Its magical by night. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Today I woke up and went to the sacre coeur...a really pretty church atop a hill. There's a gondola type thing to the top, but I chose to huff and puff up the stairs. Yikes. So so many! My feet hurt for sure! Then I enjoyed lunch and strolled around, and went to sainte-chapelle. I got there at like 3:30...they close at 5. I didn't get in...and it was one of the things I was most looking forward to about paris. They stop letting people in at 4:30 and after standing in line for an hour...there were still about 20 people in front of me, and none of us got to go. There shall be another time in Paris, I suppose. I roamed around the Latin quarter to the pantheon and Luxembourg gardens instead, before heading to the Louvre (free on friday nights for students). Good thing...I was not made for museums. I was in and out in 30 minutes...call me crazy, that's okay. But I much preferred just walking the streets of paris and taking in the beauty of the city.

All in all (that was a lot, I know) I loved paris. (And made it out on 65 euros for five days of enjoying all the city has to offer...not too shabby!)

I leave here early in the morning to head to the Loire Valley. Its supposed to be a very pretty part of France with lots of castles and such! I have a place to stay there, too so a few more days without a hostel should treat me well. :)

Hope all is well in the states....keep me updated on you!

If you want to see just a few of the pictures I have taken you can here.

finally a real update.

2009-02-23T01:54:00.000-06:00

Whew! Whata week I have had so far! I'm officially leaving london and heading to Paris. Unfortunately my frugality led to an 8 hour bus ride, rather than a 2 hour train ride. But, for $20, rather than $140, I'll sacrifce. :). I've got two seats to myself, so perhaps I'll get a good nap in.

I'm super excited for Paris! London is great, but I had been there before. Paris is a completely new experience for me! I'm getting ahead...I'll recap the highlights of London.

I arrived wednesday morning and headed for the hostel...I couldn't check in yet, but was able to leave my bags. The walk from the subway/the stairs up and down in the subway confirmed that I did in fact bring too much. I will most certainly be mailing a box home or deciding the books will have to go and ill rebuy them at half price books upon return.

I just wandered around the city that day...nothing too exciting.

The next day I took a bus a couple hours to cambridge...BOY was it wonderful. One of the oldest universities, with a number of colleges within walking distance, I was more than impressed. Gorgeous buildings put texas a&m to shame. I ate dinner at tis wagamama noodle place and it was so so cool! I ordered edamame with chili and garlic...sounded perfect. I lov e garlic and I love spicy. Tears were streaming down my face. SO hot. But good enough I wanted to keep eating...I just wished I had been in the u.s. so I could have a free refill! I got my dinner for free...the man at the tavler next to me picked up my tab, with a note that said he had needed a smile, and was grateful for the one I shared with him, and so he hoped I would continue to do so. He was gone by the time the bill came, but it was quite a nice gesture.

At dinner I looked for my bus ticket back to confirm what time it left, but alas...it was nowhere to be found. Its dark out, I haven't a clue where I might find an internet cafe...this can't be good. Luckily this shady gas station (no lie...) had computers and a printer so I got it reprinted with time to spare!

The next day was Bath. I rode the train...somehow I have managed to end up with two seats to myself on every leg of these journeys I have made! Bath was neat...the abbey was gorgeous...stained glass everywhere. I briefly walked through the roman bath house...but not really enough to see anything. Yes, this is the reason most people visit bath, but it was a) not that interesting to me and b) 13 pounds to go in. So, I opted to just explore the city. I bought lunch at the local market (some of the best fruit I have ever had!) and enjoyed it in the town square park. It was lovely. I browsed through the jane austen centre before sitting on a bench and people watching for a while.

Then comes saturday! I had signed up for a photography tour of london and was super duper excited about it and it definitely lived up to the expecrtations I had! I met some neat people, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. After that Iwent to the borough market and tried all those yummy jams (remember mom? I almost bought you one...and remembered you still have some in the fridge. Plus, that's heavy and takes up room. And money.) I wandered around the tower bridge area and ate at my favorite london restaurant!

Yesterday I got up and got ready for church (hillsong)...which I was equally as excited about. It was about a 45 minute walk, but it was really pretty. I got spoiled with beautiful weather! I didn't even wear my coat yesterday. anyways...church was held in the dominion theater, which is actually used for plays and stuff. It was SO SO cool. My old pastor ed young spoke at this church not long ago. There were about 14 people on stage singing and dancing and it was just neat. I think I enjoyed it because it was so obviously authentic. These people weren't there because society tells them its what they should do. They weren't there because the live in the bible belt and that's just what you do. They were there because they wanted to be. I loved it.

After that I wandered through spitalfields market...there was some really really neat stuff, though I didn't buy anything. It was still fun to browse!

I went back to the hostel and cooked some dinner and started the process of packing my stuff up. I left at 7:30 this morning and had to leave the hostel by 6 in order to do so (cars make things so much faster...) so I headed to bed about 9:30.

Paris awaits! I am not staying in a hostel here, so it should be nice! And, the girl I am staying with here has a friend in the next place I am going (the loire valley), so its looking like I have a place to stay there, too!

More observations:
I enjoyed my days in the small towns more than big city london.
People at these hostels cook like REAL meals.
My parents are every bit as worried as I thought.
I made it out of london with everything I brought.
I managed to spend LESS than I planned for london!
I just wrote this entire thing on the blackberry (which...the gps on this thing has saved my life about 19 times).
I frequently use the bathroom in starbucks. Public bathrooms are hard to come by, and I feel justified in doing so.

Sorry for typos!

I'll post my rough itinerary soon!

Love you, friends. Keep in touch...I miss you all dearly.

london calling.

2009-02-13T05:18:00.003-06:00

"The real treasure, that which we all seek, is never very far; there is no real need to seek it in a distant place, for it lies buried within our hearts. And yet, there is this strange and persistent fact, that it is only after a journey...in a distant region, in a new land, that the way to that treasure becomes clear."
~Heinrich Zimmer~

"The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes, in seeing the universe with the eyes of another, of hundreds of others, in seeing the hundreds of universes that each of them sees."
- Marcel Proust

the long awaited blog....

the journey has begun. the next three months of my life will be spent in a foreign land. away from things that are comfortable. away from people that i love dearly. but, not away from myself. i'm excited to have time away to just be. something that i easily could've done in the US, or anywhere for that matter, but i haven't done it in a very, very long time. and so, i flew around the world, completely uncertain of what would be waiting when i got here. i knew there were places - beautiful, wonderful places - that i've always dreamed of seeing. i knew there were people - beautiful, wonderful people that would be waiting here. and i knew that i would be here - searching for the beautiful, wonderful parts of me that i often overlook. i have no clue what the next three months will look like. but, i know that in three months i will know the world better, and know myself better. i'm spending three months traveling alone. exercising the independence i've posessed since the age of 2. making my own plans. eating what i want, when i want, where i want. and taking time to learn more of life - the good, the bad, and the ugly. thgis shall be my account and documentation of the good, bad, and ugly.

observations so far:

europeans smell worse than i expected.
people over here wear brown and black together. regularly.
people are comfortable sleeping naked in a room filled with 12 strangers.
....hostels put guys and girls in the same room. (yes, i woke up with a naked guy in the bunk next to me. wholly unprepared...)
i miss my car.
cambridge is a beautiful, beautiful place with a number of beautiful colleges.
accents automatically make someone cuter.
some people don't know where texas is.
the "first floor" over here would be called the second floor in america.
i need free public bathrooms.
i haven't journaled as much as i had hoped/thought i would.
i brought too much stuff.
hostels smell worse than summer camp.
i miss diet dr. pepper.
i'm cheap and find it hard to justify spending money, even on things i probably should.
my feet hurt worse than i thought they would. i should sit more.

heading to paris on monday! super super excited. :)