Naples

I hate to think that I started something and never finished. So, despite it being almost three weeks after my European adventure, I figured I should complete what I started...even if no one reads it.

We took a high-speed train from Florence to Naples. They are much more expensive than regional trains, but most definitely worth it. 3 hours vs 7 hours.

I had heard through the grapevine that Naples has somewhat of a shady reputation: gangs, crime, etc. They say that about many large European cities, but this one in particular I was under the impression to be extra-cautious.

We got off to a rocky start. Being wise Shannons, we neglected to write down the address of our hostel. So upon our arrival to the train station...we had no clue where to go. Therefore we wandered the streets in search of an Internet cafe. Bad idea. It was hot and there were lots of people on the street selling crap and trying to lure us with their broken English sales pitches. The funniest one we encountered was a guy on a motorcycle who pulled up to us out of the blue, opened his leather jacket, and said "Would you like to buy an iPad?", showcasing the one tucked into his jacket. Weird.

We walked back to the train station and found a tourist information center aka SAFE HAVEN. They gave us a map and directions.

We had to take the metro to our hostel, which ended up being AMAZING. It was called Welcome Inn, and it was perfect. We had an apartment style room that was lovely, air conditioned, and large. It was family-owned and we were well-received by the man and his wife, "Mrs Pancakes" (she makes pancakes for all the guests every morning!!!). Here's a pic of the room:



It was then time to explore Naples. Daniel, the son of the hostel owners, mapped out the best way to walk the city. He also insisted that we go to Gino Sorbillo's: the self-acclaimed birthplace of pizza. Daniel clearly said, "the best pizza you'll ever have." And then we were off for the rest of the day.

We were starving, so Gina Sorbillo's was our first stop. It was clearly a local favorite as well as a tourist attraction because the place was packed. We had to wait 15 minutes for a table. The anticipation was high! The pizzas were classic Italian style, but they were truly remarkable. I ordered a spicy salami and onion pizza, and Andrew ordered a Salami and ricotta pizza. Both were insanely delicious! I could understand why the pope says its his favorite...its DIVINE (get it?).





YUMMY!

Naples is beautiful. The water, mountains, and islands make up an idyllic scene. We walked, saw all the sights, castles on the water, everything. It was a great day.



At night, we were exhausted. There was an epic lightening storm unlike anything we'd ever seen. There were parts where it wasn't even raining, but the clouds were full of electricity and the lightening was nonstop in the clouds. Check out this video:




Up Next: POMPEII!

Under the Tuscan Thunderstorm

We decided that a trip to Florence is a must. After a less than delightful three hour train ride, we arrived in Renaissance land.

Finding hostels is always a little tricky. You hope for decent signage. Italy lacks decent signage.

So after some wandering, we stumbled upon Hostel Luna Rossa. This place was adorable. We got to use of one those old elevators, where you open a door into a cage. I always find those fascinating and old school. The hostel was small, in terms of capacity. It felt like the owners welcomed you into their home. We had a huge room equipped with both a flat screen TV and a desktop computer. Later we would find them pointless because the storm screwed up the internet and the satellite.

I took to Florence more so than Rome. I always favor "smaller cities" because they feel more homey. It's why I like Madison. It's why I chose to study in Vienna. Cities like New York and Rome are wonderful in their own right, but a person like me feels slightly overwhelmed. Florence was perfect. It had beautiful art/architecture/food/people.

After seeing what felt like hundreds of churches over the prior 5 weeks, I think I found my favorite one in Florence. I wish I could be indie and lie and say that my favorite church was some small, off the beaten path, hidden gem. Nope. I'm going to be unoriginal and say that my favorite was the Duomo. I think people who would say some random church are just trying to be cool and eclectic. The Duomo is awesome because of the colors. It was colorful and that's why I liked it. Simply put. I don't really know its history, but I don't so much care.


Another highlight in Florence: The statue of David. It's huge. Much bigger and greater than I expected. That's a good thing, considering I had to pay like 14 euro to get into Academia, which besides David, holds a less than impressive collection. But I managed to stare at him (a la Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off) for a good 15 minutes. Even if you're not a museum fan, if you're ever in Florence, go see it. It's worth it. He's decently good-looking ladies! I stumbled upon this pic....David returning from a visit to Chicago!


Other Florence highlights:
-I got sick, not so much a highlight
-it stormed
-they have really awesome stores/street vendors. Bargaining is fun!
-I discovered my brother has some innate ability to disagree with, counter, or one-up every remark I make. ("It's a nice day today" --- "It's nice everyday in LA") He apparently holds deep-rooted grudges against me stemming from childhood insecurities. GET OVER IT. We continue to argue like we did in middle school. I do wonder whether it will ever end.
-Clarification: We do have fun when we aren't bitching at one another. It's love/hate, but mostly love. I'm clarifying this so my mother doesn't cry when she reads it.
-my new addiction to coca cola grows. Why order water when it is cheaper and more economical to buy pop or alcohol?


Purchased high speed train tickets down to Naples. Journey continues.

T

ROME

When you're in hostels, using the internet is a P in the A. Hence, I have not updated this blog...and I leave for home tomorrow.

As I'm stuck in this nasty airport hotel for the night, it's the perfect time to catch up!

ROME


We arrived from Vienna to Rome last Sunday. We took an airport shuttle bus to the hostel. The van ride was one of the most nauseating drives I have ever experienced. The driver 1) went over 100 mph 2) went over 100 mph down bumpy cobblestone streets 3) went 100 mph down THIN cobblestone streets using a stick shift. Anyone who has been backseat to stick shift driving knows that its a lot of slowdown-acceleration jumps (does that even make sense?). I never felt so car sick in my life.

We stayed in Alessandro's Palace Hostel. Expensive--but it had a nice room. They didn't have an elevator...and that was unfortunate. This hostel felt a lot more like a hotel. This is good for some people, but it had a less youthful atmosphere.

Where to begin with Rome? I can sum up the three days there in two words: Sightseeing and Pasta.

I don't really feel like getting into what we saw. Not that I don't appreciate it, but most people know the sights...and it is hard to describe the feeling of looking at some really amazing things. My personal favorite? The Colosseum. Obvious choice, but you can't help to imagine all the crazy shit that went on in that place. I thought the Vatican was quite fascinating as well..and creepy. But that's just me!

MEL AND TIM--here's a shout-out video of 2 of your beautiful offspring while inside the Colosseum. "LOOK WHERE WE ARE!"



Whoever has said they had bad food in Rome, they are mental. The food was AMAZING. Rome was the beginning of my malnutrition. I pretty much eat bread and pasta everyday. We generally had 2 meals each day. I went a good 6 days without fruits, vegetables, or milk. Gross.

Check out Picasa pictures (up soon) to see my other Roman activities. It was amazing and a tourist-must!

T

Transition

I was crunched for time during my last blog post, so I neglected to update some videos/pictures.

The final evening of the International Summer Evening in Vienna was insane. Here's the pre-party at Aux Giseles...


I tried to teach Juliet to speak with an American accent by repeating after me...why i chose "this is a table" as the sentence is beyond me. It makes me laugh though...




Then we headed over to MuseumQuartiers to take shots and get ready to go to the club. Tim of Kentucky organized a picture to submit to a school website...I think C is supposed to stand for Cats. The cool things is that there are 7 Countries represented: Canada, UK, USA, Bulgaria, Spain, Australia, and Ukraine.


After this, we went to Praterdome, the most bizarre/amusing club I've ever seen. Funniest part? Seeing Katie next to bronzed male go-go dancers, who literally wore glitter all over them...


Me and Andrew went on to stay in a hostel in Vienna for the rest of the weekend. It was fun. Some of the people Andrew met in Munich ended up staying there as well. We enjoyed happy hour at the bar. 5Euro pitchers of Ottakringer is always a good thing!


Jill from Australia (who was 18 traveling alone!!) convinced us to go out to this club FLEX. Before we left, Beth and I decided to try these shots called "Vodka Fizz"... enjoy our head-shaking fun:



Now we are in ROME! It's really spectacular. The hostel is really nice, and luckily we have AC. Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE food and therefore I am in heaven in Italy. I've had nothing but delicious Italian food. I have yet to try the pizza, but something tells me I still won't think it's as good as Paisan's Pizza in Chicago.

Today we explored the city...being typical tourists, along with the mass crowds of summer tourists in Rome. I could list the things we saw, but that is boring and you don't really care. My feet are aching and it's been a long day. Traveling with your brother has its ups and downs. We get along 80% of the time! Hopefully we'll make it through the rest of the trip without wanting to kill each other or ourselves :)

Only complaint: the subway system here. It only has 2 lines, it's disorganized, overcapacity, and smelly! When you are in a packed subway car with no AC and people don't always wear deodorant...it's hellish.

Anyways, one week left before I come home. We are heading to Florence on Wednesday, then Naples/Capri for the weekend.

Ciao--

T

Departing Vienna

Hey all!

Sad to say the 21st International Summer University has come to a close. I just had the best three weeks of my life. Making friends from all over the globe in Vienna has been an experience I'll never forget.

The school aspect of the program ended up being somewhat of a joke. I realized that the intention isn't to learn new material in the classroom but to have interesting discussions with a group of multinational people. Needless to say, I passed...but I have no clue what grade I got.

The last week has been a blast. I'll just give some highlights:

-Sachertorte: Vienna's most famous dessert can be found at the Sacher Hotel, where we stopped one day. It's a rich chocolate cake, and it was delicious.


-running home from the bar in the pouring rain, thunder, and lightening. Sooooaked:


-Ride Club: I finally managed to stay out til 4 am one night (very impressive for me). At what cost? Showing up for class 30 minutes late. Luckily for me, about 10 people were late and some didn't even show. Teacher was happy we were there :) Fun on the U-bahn...


-Picture Day: On Tuesday everyone gets a T-shirt and we take a group picture. It was a good time to take pictures with everyone! Here's one:


-We went and toured the Ottakringer Brewery, one of Austrian's biggest beer companies. It was really interesting, but the best part? 30 minutes of an all-you-can-drink tasting! My personal favorite? The "Schnit", a mix of dark and light.


-We went to Prater on Wednesday after class. It's this amusement-type park. We went to one of "Austria's Institutions" called Schweizerhaus. This is the biggest beer garden I've ever seen, seating 1,300 people. It was so much fun and had some amazing beer.


-Thursday was the final day of class. After taking the final exam and giving a presentation, we were done! It was bittersweet. Going to class M-F everyday at 8 am was annoying, but being with everyone each day and night was so much fun. That evening, we had our official closing ceremony. Heard some speeches, listening to live music, and got our certificates. Here's me receiving mine!


After the ceremony, I ran over to the Westbahnhof station to meet my brother Andrew. Luckily for him, he arrived on a night where EVERYONE was ready to celebrate the last evening together.

We headed over to a swanky little restaurant/bar named Aux Gisele to meet back up with everyone. Expensive drinks were consumed. Champagne was as well. Next stop? Praterdome, AKA the craziest club you'd ever see. When you enter, they take your picture and you receive a card that you use to pay for drinks with. There are multiple themed areas in the place. One part is old school Austrian pub, then there's a modern room with shirtless male dancers, then theres a "rave" room....an outdoor terrace bar. When I upload my pictures, you can get a better idea. It was insanity.

Now Andrew and I are staying in a hostel in Vienna until tomorrow's flight to Italy. Can't wait to explore Rome. I'll update photos later.

So long, wish us a safe flight :)

McBlog

Before I continue to discuss my trip, there are some observations that I had made during my stay in Vienna. They are amusing to me, so I figured I would share.

WEINER TENDENCIES

1. They add "Mc" to various business names. When I was walking down the busy street Mariahilfer strasse, I saw a "McSun" tanning salon and a "McFit" gym. Do they think that they sound more reputable by associating themselves with McDonald's? And why the hell would a gym choose that name? McRidiculous if you ask me.

2. Austrians all follow traffic rules very strictly. When I walk up to a side street, and there are absolutely no cars in sight, everyone still waits until the walk signal turns green. Coming from Madison where students cross streets wherever and whenever the hell we want, I was confused. Is it illegal? I don't think so. I think people just follow the rules. Europeans are never in a rush anyways.

3. Water is more expensive than beer. Damn glass bottles of water are small as hell and are nearly 3 euro. I will never take free water for granted in restaurants ever again. And free refills are a luxury people!

4. Menu translations are always amusing. Here is a recent one I snapped, Tunnyfish salad:


A lot of times we simply cannot understand the menu. It's always a gamble when you order food. You find yourself praying that you're dishing out 10 euro for something appetizing. I've been pretty lucky with my choices so far. I am really enjoying the food here. If you're a vegetarian, Vienna might not be the place for you. Meat and beer paradise.

5. Scooters are hugely popular here. I'm talking about the kind of scooter that everyone rode when we were in 6th grade (think Razor). TONS of people use them to get around the city. And not so much kids, but working adults. I've seen plenty of businessmen wearing suits who ride down the sidewalk on these scooters.





Ok so I guess I'll dive into some other updates.

-I went to Schonbrunn Palace. It was epic. It was a summer house for the Habsburg royalty. But I have to admit, it doesn't compare to Grand Beach, Michigan. Just sayin.


vs

They don't have Redamak's burgers nearby too, so i think it's obvious whose summer place is better.

-A group of us went out to the best authentic Austrian joint one night. It was called Zwölf Apostelkeller. I realized that the name is similar to Wisconsin Union's Der Rathskeller. I found out that "keller" means basement in German. It's underground, and it's like...really old. It dates back to the 1300's. We had good food, good beer, and good conversation. It doesn't get any better than that.


-NIGHTFLY: this bar a couple of people have been frequenting. It's always fun. In the 90 degree NIGHT heat, a couple strawberry daiquiris is the perfect solution. The bartender likes us so by the end of the night he gives us free drinks, like these shots he gave Michael, Stephen, and I:


-One Euro Pub: located conveniently across the street from where we live, this shady place capped one of the nights last week. It was pretty much the creepiest place I've ever been. The highlight? Intoxicated rendition of Avril Lavigne's "Skaterboi". Interesting.

-A weekend trip to Salzburg fell through, so the girls were left in Vienna for the weekend while a bunch of people went to Prague. We had a great time, going to bars...catching up on sleep..etc. The best night was when we went to MuseumsQuartier, where a ton of young people hang out on nice nights and drink, converse, relax. It's really neat because its situated in between museums, and they set up a bunch of outdoor bars. It's awesome and we had a great night.


-Finished the weekend with visits to MuMoK modern museum, which provided an oasis from the heat. We went to the Naschmarkt, Vienna's biggest farmer's market (sort of). It's the long strip of market and restaurants. Very cool. Here's a taste of it:


Once again, it's late and I'm tired. I'll update my Picasa pictures soon and try to get up to date on my posts! Hope everyone is well.

T

DANK BITTY

To explain the post title, in Austria you say "danke" (dahn-kah) for thank you and "bitte" (bit-tay) for please. Somehow this led to a fun new phrase employed by our group of friends... "Dank Bitty". When is this phrase used? Whenever you want. It's completely appropriate to say it out of the blue.

So many events have happened this past week. So many that I find it overwhelming to discuss in this blog. I will try my best.

1. I went to Belvedere Palace one day after class. It was wonderful. Though my favorite part was a room full of sculptures of people making funny faces. A nice change from the typical paintings (which after 3 weeks in Europe, get a little old).


2. Class has inevitably gotten pretty boring. Breaks are much anticipated. But moments of amusement do happen, like when our teacher brought Michael a glass pitcher of water because of his obvious hangover. Quentin seems unfazed, but out you can't be fazed when you sleep through class.


3. World Cup celebrations occurred: we went to a bar in the city centre to celebrate the World Cup finale as well as Katie's birthday. Fun was had, but unfortunately I will rarely go into the details of partying. Some things are meant to be left in Europe. Here's a pic of part of the group:


Here is also a lovely picture of the flaming shot I enjoyed in celebration of Spain's victory. We got them for free from the bartender and you take a straw and have to drink it as fast as you can while its flaming.


4. KEBAPS CHANGED MY LIFE. A kebap (also called kebab) is this dish that they sell ALL OVER Vienna. This is not an exaggeration, there are little stands set up everywhere. You walk down the street and all you smell is slow-roasted heaven. I had my first one when I was drunk, but was delighted to realize later that they are just as good when you are sober. They shave meat (chicken or beef) off this rotating stick, and you get it served inside thick pita-like bread. Add lettuce, tomatoes, and some unidentified sauce...and bliss is achieved. The picture is worthless because you can't smell it. But here's one anyways:


5. WAKEBOARDING ON THE DANUBE RIVER: This was one of my favorite experiences. A group of us decided to go to this place where you can wakeboard or waterski, but NOT behind a boat. They have this giant cable system set up that creates a massive loop in the river. It is similar to a tow-rope system, so there can be like 8 people simultaneously going at once. It was one of the neatest things I've ever done. My partner in crime as Ashley. We both had little or no experience wakeboarding, but figured that we should challenge ourselves to see if we could do it anyways. We had two hours to go and try as much as we could. You stand in a long long, usually 10-15 minutes, and when it's you're turn, you either succeed and stay up...or disastrously fall right in the beginning. If you fall, you swim to shore...and get in line again. The video kind of explains it better than me:




So how did I do? First try: fell right away. You go from still to moving in an instant and I didn't know what to expect. Luckily, most people I was with fell right away too. Second try: VICTORY! I was the first girl in the group to stand up wakeboarding....I only made it halfway through the side...but now I knew how to do it. The worst part was swimming all the way to shore...and hiking back to the start. At this point, an hour had already passed (after only 2 tries). Third try: wipeout. Ashley was fortunate enough to get a video of me falling...and since I have no dignity to begin with I have no problem showcasing this:


My fourth run was my best, I stood up easily and killed it :) At this point, there were only 15 minutes left, and my entire body was already aching, so I figured I was done for the day. Ashley tried continuously to stand up, probably going about 5 times. Then finally in the last 5 minutes she stood up and did amazing. So we both finished the day feeling on top of the world. It's fun to try new things...and succeed! Here's a pic of some of the gang afterwards, we all stood up!


6. Intercultural Evening: a night where everyone comes together to celebrate the different cultures we all come from. Each country has the opportunity to prepare a traditional dish and a presentation. I'm not going to lie, most of the American group was hammered by the time the event started because people "pregamed" for it earlier. Then again, everyone was drinking at this event so it wasn't too much of a big deal. The presentations were actually so long that I think everyone upped their drinking just so they could pass the time (it ended up taking over 2 hour for everyone to go, but it was casual and people were coming and going). The Americans, being lazy-asses, didn't do anything besides set up beer pong. But that alone was amusing to many people who were unfamiliar with it.

Here's a pic of how the tables were set up. Each country had their own, here is Japan's. A lot of the tables had their traditional liquors with them. So it essentially became like "Around the World" and you took quite a few shots, just be courteous of course!


Here's America's set up:


Lastly, here is a video of the Ukrainian presentation...Natali did a pretty fierce dance which I only got a glimpse of haha...



It was a very fun night.

Anyways, I'm still missing a lot of things. But I'll post photo's and such to Picasa shortly. As of now, it is late and I have class in the morning. Hope you enjoy the post, and I'll try to update tomorrow too! Miss you all!

T

Budapest-ilicious-ness

I'm baaaaaack. Once again, I apologize for the long hiatus. I wish I had a legitimate excuse, but the only one I have is that the extreme heat has caused equally extreme laziness. I'll get into that later.

This post is going to focus on the amazingness that is Budapest, Hungary. I had the pleasure of going last weekend. Honestly, if you would have asked me a year or so ago where Hungary was on a map, or what its capital was, I probably would have said "who cares". What I'm realizing now is that eastern Europe (non-EU countries) are totally getting the shaft. If you don't know Budapest, you should. It's worth knowing.

We left on a Saturday morning at 7 am. It was a girls trip. A Canadian, a Brit, and some Americans. It was my first time on a inter-country train. Motion censored glass doors...how fancy! Here's a pic...everyone was sleepy:)


The country side of Austria and Hungary was rolling hills...similar to what you would see in Wisconsin i think. Yet the little towns we passed on the way were what really struck me. It was one of those "where the F in the world am I?" moments.

When we got to the train station, I was in dire need of water. I walked over to the snack stand, and pointed to the water. The lady with heinous blue eyeliner handed me the water and said "300". Confusion, attempted sign language, and frustration led to a pissed off Hungarian worker and one frightened American. Finally I just gave her 2 euro and left the scene before she killed me...the exchange just needed to end. At this point I was thinking that Hungarian people are scary and have little tolerance for English-speaking tourists (luckily, I am proven wrong). We didn't realize that Hungary wasn't in the EU and actually had their own currency. Luckily, there was a currency exchange in the station. What does 30 euro get you? I think about 6500 forint. I had a 5000 bill. I know its only like 20 bucks but it felt...ballin'!

This is Morgen and Linda with their 10,000 bills.

Budapest was beautiful. I'm not going to list a bunch of adjectives because that's dumb. The weather was hot and sunny, making the city look its best. Enjoy my pictures on Picasa:

Budapest

If you haven't noticed, I like lists. So I am going to list some things that I did/noticed/saw/etc in Budapest:

-I tried my very first Shandy, aka Gosser Zitron, at an outdoor cafe in Budapest. It's beer and lemonade mixed together essentially. It was good, but would have been better cold. But that's just Europe for you.


-We saw a lot of monks. Using cell phones.

-FUN FACT: Budapest is split in two. One side of the river is Buda and the other side is Pest. COOOOOOL!!

-Fashion street is fashionable, thank god. If you're gonna call a street 'fashion street' you have to live up to those expectations.

-They like lions and burger king. yeah.

-At the risk of sounding like a 5 year old, I kind of re-awakened the childhood dream of getting married in a castle when I saw THIS-->


-We opted out of taking a tram up the hill. We decided to hike. It was worth it.

-Gelato is so good. But I already knew this. What isn't good is dealing with their currency. It's hard to think of small purchases in terms of "thousands". Stress was caused over paying/splitting bills.

-Morgen likes big hats.

-There was a gay pride parade. Budapest ain't no San Francisco. The riot police were out in large numbers and streets were shut down.

-We visited the famous Hungarian baths. Budapest is built over natural springs, so it has these pools with natural water that is holistic. Hungarian men show off their 'bodies' in speedos, though I would have rather not seen some of what I saw.


So I am too lazy to write all the details about everything...hence this list is ending. Budapest is great and I would suggest seeing it for yourself if you ever get the opportunity. The girls who I went there with were great, and it definitely brought us closer together. Twas a success if I ever knew one!

T

Lost and Found in Translation

I've been in the fast line for the past five days so I haven't had ANY time to update this thing, my apologies. I am indeed alive and doing well. Honestly, the past week has probably been one of the best in my life.

All the expectations I had for this program have been surpassed. The city, the people, the food, the lifestyle, has all been so fun to be a part of.

I will start by saying that this program feels a bit like summer camp, but in the best sense possible. I'll give you a run-down of the week:

MONDAY: Woke up and went down to the lobby to meet some people for the train (U-Bahn is what it is called here). The station is quite close, and it's about a 20 minute ride to the University. This was the early morning ride of many.

Once we get to school, first thing on the agenda is breakfast. We get 2 rolls of bread, and a cup of coffee or tea. Apparently Americans are the only ones who eat substantial food in the morning. Though waking up early sucks, I actually enjoy going to breakfast with everyone because it has become a time when we discuss the events of the night before. It is also funny to see who is hung over, who got home at 6 in the morning, who made asses of themselves the night before. Breakfast of shame.

On Monday, we started with an opening ceremony, where a band played and the staff spoke about the program...you get the idea. After a tour of the school, I had class. First day=fun day. Musical chairs may have been played. Tacky? Yes. Fun? Definitely. We have 4 professors for one class, who switch off teaching days intermittently. They have all been great so far and the class is a great experience. Having students from all parts of the globe in one classroom has been eye-opening. Everyone has something to offer (Did you know that in Spain you can show a student ID at McDonald's and get discounts?) Anyways, class has been good, and we have it everyday M-F 9-noon. At noon, we get lunch...a huge upgrade from the prison meal we get at the beginning of the day.

Monday night we had the opening party at a restaurant called Shiraz. The moment we stepped in the door, everyone was given shots of some frozen raspberry drink. This was a moment when I realized that this program was going to be veeery fun. Everyone mingled and got to know each other more. As the sun went down, we headed over to Ride Club....a somewhat Eurotrash bar. It was the funniest night ever. Flashback to 7th grade dance circles (someone showcases their moves in the center), and that's what they throw down in Europe. Ukrainian girls dance like they are possessed by some higher force. As the night went on and drinks kept coming....everyone went wild and had fun. Best way to end the first day of the program.

TUESDAY: Real class began. It was fine. The professor was Polish and funny, and everyone was hungover so that was a topic for conversation. That evening was nice and we just went out for dinner at a hole in the wall place. WARNING: if you order pepperoni pizza in Vienna, this is what you get:




WEDNESDAY: Best day so far! Class was fine, then afterwords some of us went climbing on this Flak tower, which is pretty much a giant tower that was used by Austria in World War II. It was 120 km tall...which is however many feet (?). When we first arrived, we couldn't believe how tall it really was. Joubin (one of the leaders) decided to set up a competition: team USA vs team everywhere else. You got points for how high you could climb. Since USA was feeling a little nervous, some of us decided to walk across the street to find a bar and have a beer and a shot. We ended up going into this adorable little restaurant and ordered a delicious german beer called Franzikaner and a shot of god knows what. It was a great way to start the rest of the day....and was a bit of liquid courage. Here's a pic:



Anyway, we went back to the tower to take on our fellow Ukrainians, Portuguese, Croatians, etc. It was so much fun watching everyone climb, here's a video of Ashley from Nebraska who kicked all the girls (and some guys) asses...




Here's a pic of my showcasing my less than impressive climbing skills:



Anyways, the day was a great time. That night we went to an Austrian "heuriger". If you are ever in Austria, I highly suggest visiting one. They are old-fashioned places which serve you wine that they make (Vienna is one of the only big cities to produce wine within city limits), traditional food, and some great live music. The whole gang went and we watched the Espana/Germany game on a projector outside. This place was beautiful...you can see it in my picasa pictures. Here is a video of an impromptu dance I recorded...

Cute right?

Aftw

After the heuriger, we went over to club LOCO for kareoke night. Enough said. Fun stuff.

THURSDAY: The same routine for the day, except this day we added on our second class in the afternoon...another 3 hours. Definitely a damper in the week. Worst of all, the class was extremely boring and my Hungarian professor is painful to sit through. At the end of the day, I went to a great Vegetarian restaurant with some friends. I was surprised at how delicious their food was. I thought I was staying in, but my roommate (who is a 24 yr old Hungarian student) convinced me to go out with her for a while. We ended up having drinks with two of her professors! One of them was a 35 yr old Spanish guy (who was gorgeous) and I thought about suggesting he teach at Madison next year. I remember laughing thinking that 3 weeks ago I was lounging around in La Grange, and now here I am with some Hungarian girl and her Spanish professor having drinks in freaking Austria. Weird. I tried to keep up with the intellect, but who really knows. My roommate is awesome though and I'm glad we went out together.

FRIDAY: Today after class, we went to the Belvedere Palace. It was beautiful. My feet hurt now. I'm waking up at 5:45 tomorrow to catch a 7 am train to Budapest, Hungary. What a life.

Miss you all. I'll update sometime next week...there's some crazy stuff on the schedule...but you'll just have to wait and see!

Picasa pics:

VIENNA

LOVE,

T

Au Revoir Paris, Guten Tag Wien!

My transition from Paris to Vienna has been great. The morning I left Paris, it was storming (thunder, lightening, heavy rainfall)...so the flight had more turbulence than I've ever experienced. I literally was gripping onto my seat, and there were screaming people behind me which wasn't helping the situation. Luckily, it only lasted about 15 minutes or so. But I'm not gonna lie, I may have said a prayer.

I want to mention the flight experience with FlyNikki. We are seriously getting shafted in the US with our plane service. I've never felt so welcome on a plane! The flight attendants were beautiful women who wore bright pink tops and short skirts! They even wore high heels, pink lipstick, and pink berets! When I walked on the flight, the plane was playing Kid Rock's "All Summer Long" loudly. I felt like I was supposed to be heading to Vegas or something. They had the best service I ever experienced on a plane. So including the awful turbulence, it was a memorable flight.

I arrived at Wombat's hostel in Vienna. This hostel was super unique. When I first walked in, I saw a giant common room with a huge couch, a pool table, and this massive "chill spot" which is pretty much a big elevated cushion with a million pillows. There were people lying all over the place, clearly exhausted from the heat or the night before. This hostel was much bigger than the one in Paris, and they were much more English-friendly and hospitable.

I rode solo most of the day, grabbing food and walking around Vienna by myself. Later on I met my roommates, 2 Aussies and a German.

The best part of this hostel is called the WomBar. It's a public bar located in the basement of the hostel! Upon arrival, they give you a coupon for a free drink. When my roommates disappeared, I was left alone and hadn't really met anyone in the daytime. So, I mustered up some courage and decided to go to the bar by myself and hope for the best. Best decision I ever made! I had a blast. The spain/paraguay game was on, and everyone was drinking and having a good time. I met backpackers and travelers from all over, especially the United States and Australia. A group of girls from CA (and a girl from Hinsdale!) were very nice and we hung out the entire night.

One thing that I am learning on this trip is that you have to forget about your insecurities with talking to strangers. Yes, you feel kind of stupid for a minute or so, but it's a hell of a lot more fun than sitting by yourself in the room. Especially when you're a solo traveler, I am always relieved when I meet people who are so willing to invite me along.

Today I moved into Haus Erasmus, where I'll be living the next couple weeks. After I unpacked, I decided to get out and really see Vienna. I can't even describe how much I fell in love with this city. It's beautiful, clean, part urban/part country, picturesque, unique. My pictures are nice, but you really cannot grasp how shockingly nice it is. Normally you expect big cities to be somewhat grimy and gritty, but with nice architecture, museums, etc. But Vienna, it was like walking into a meticulously-kept home where the owners treat their guests like they've known them forever.

Paris was outstanding, but after coming to Vienna there are certain things that I look back on (solely as a tourist) in Paris that make it harder to truly love. Paris reminds me of New York. They are nice people, but not overly hospitable. I didn't live there long enough to judge, but from what I experienced, the service was downright terrible. Andrew and I waited 40 minutes for a check one evening (after asking 3 times for it). It's a much colder culture. But Vienna reminded me of a small town where everyone is pleasant and friendly. First off, they speak perfect english and they are extremely nice. I was lost earlier today, and a women LITERALLY walked me two blocks and told me which U-bahn(train) to take back. I told her not to, but she insisted because I was alone without a map (speaking of which, I'm an idiot for forgetting a map when I explore by myself). When i went to a cafe for lunch, the service reminded me of America where they are very attentive, and I appreciate that.

Tonight, everyone in the program met up in the lobby to walk around town. It was a great chance for introductions. People are from EVERYWHERE! A decent amount of Americans, Ukraine, Croatia, Canada, Spain, China, Japan, etc. It was really nice and I can tell we will have a great time as a group. Once back in the haus, a couple of us had some beers up in the "game room" and got to know each other further. Most people were jet-lagged, so the night ended pretty early. But so far, I feel really great about the whole thing. Tomorrow we officially start with an opening ceremony in the morning. I am looking forward to all the fun activities that await!

Here is a great video for what happens at midnight in Paris...




And here is an awkward mini-tour of my room....don't make fun of me...




Happy 4th of July from Vienna,

T

Tara Tries Not Being an Idiot

First and foremost, I am proud to say that I have not lost anything or have had anything stolen. Knock on wood. That's not to say I haven't had my brightest moments. Yesterday is a great example of my of "series of unfortunate events".

I decided to wake up early and take a day trip to Versailles, King Louis the XIV ridiculous palace which is about 40 minutes outside of the city by train. While his people starved and died in the city, Louis created a massive, lavish estate...he clearly was compensating for something. I read that he had serious erectile dysfunction concerns (really though), so maybe he actually was compensating! For whatever reason, it was insanely beautiful.

Anyways, Andrew had given me good instructions for how to go about getting to Versailles. Take the subway to Austerlitz, hop on the RER line C until Versailles RG. Simple? Not for me. I hopped on the RER line C...and ended up on the train for an hour and a half. The RER line C splits in two like a fork in the road, Train A heads for Versailles and Train B heads for...not Versailles. I ended up in 'Not Versailles'. What should have been a 40 minute train ride because a two hour trip from hell. By the way, the train was a steambox with no air conditioning in 90 degree weather. FAIL.

When I got to Versailles, I walked the premises with some Australian girls I met on the train (they made the same mistake that I did, so our mutual frustration made us friends). I had recently purchased new sneakers that morning so that my feet wouldn't hurt with all the walking around. However, I still managed to get blisters because the shoes were new and not broken in. FAIL.

On my way back to the hostel, I stopped in Subway because I was starving for a cheap meal. I took it to go, so that I could eat it in the common room of the hostel. When I was buzzed in (you have to get buzzed in to enter the hostel) I somehow managed to open the door on my face (?), if that is humanly possible. It hurt and I laughed along with some other people in the room. FAIL.

I proceed to walk over to the table to eat, where I trip over a chair. Seriously? My feet were aching so I wasn't being careful. FAIL.

Then I FINALLY am seated and think nothing else can go wrong. I open up my bottle of sprite, only to have the whole thing explode all over the table. While I was slightly embarrassed, I was more upset that half of my sprite would not be in my belly. FAIL.

I was absolutely exhausted from the day, so I decided to go nap. My clothes were slightly sweaty, so I thoughtlessly changed in my room without shutting the shades of the window. After I was dressed, I looked outside across to the other building, where a man was standing in the window smiling and waving. I was too tired to care, but quickly closed the shade. FAIL.

I managed to survive the rest of the evening just fine. SUCCESS.

Paris

Check out the photos!


Enjoy! I'll post next from Austria tomorrow!

T

First Thoughts

Hello all!

I haven't updated this yet because I found out that my hostel does not have wifi, a bummer indeed. But McDonald's saved the day!

I suppose I should back-track and give you a run-down of what I have been doing. Scariest moment I've had so far is getting off the plane. I was utterly disoriented and confused because 1) I did not sleep a wink the entire red eye flight (Mom, I told you I should have taken a sedative!) 2) I can't understand French AT ALL. Learning that Sortie means "exit" was my greatest revelation. Once I actually figured out how to hail a cab, all was well.

I checked in at the Bastille Hostel around 10 am. It was packed with non-English speaking college-aged people. I was a little surprised because I thought there would be a stronger American population there. There are a lot of Asians, South Americans, Eastern Europeans, etc.

I am in love with the neighborhood that the Hostel is located. It's in the Bastille district, from what I hear is an up and coming hipster location. There are cafes and stores literally everywhere. Very cool.

The first night me and Andrew went out for Indian food. It was delicious. But by 9 I was nearly passing out, so I went back to the hostel and crashed like a brick. Best sleep I have ever had--on the worst bed I have ever had.


This is all very basic, and I'm missing a lot, but overall I'm having an amazing time. I'll end on my first impressions:
1) Parisians are indeed cold. However, on occasion I find an extra-friendly one who restores my confidence in all of them.
2)I found out that "breakfast" in Paris means a single baguette and a cup of tea/coffee. Thank god I packed FiberOne bars.
3) Dad, I hate to tell you this, but not ALL french food is good. I had the worst salad and steak I've probably ever had. It was cheap. I bet I could have gotten a better steak at Chiles. I think that French food is good, but you need to pay up for it.
4) The Mona Lisa was great, but I enjoyed watching people look at it more so than actually looking at it. It was a "manergerie"...french for zoo. No matter what country they come from, every tourist pushes to the front so they can film/get a picture of it...do they really need to remember what it looks like? Buy a print. Google image it. HELLO.
5) The french are a million times more stylish than Americans. The sidewalk is like a runway for these people.
6) Smoking actually looks cool here. It's like the Marlboro-man effect, but with good-looking french people. I haven't caved though, so don't worry Mom and Dad.
7) The city is downright stunning. We've had beautiful weather every day...and the sun doesn't set until 10 pm. It's surreal.

I'm almost out of juice on my comp, so this is ending!

Kristina, I have not broken down and cried yet. YET.

Love you all! Pictures to come soon of places I've been/people I've met!

T

Welcome!

Hello everyone! By everyone I mean my mother, who will most likely be my only follower. I just set this blog up and am learning the ropes, so hopefully it will make sense once I get acquainted with it. Anyways, I wanted to do a blog for a couple of reasons:

1) Avoiding repetitive emails. You can't argue with efficiency.
2) Posting pictures and putting up some of my Flip Videos. I want to use my technology to the fullest! It will give you a more extensive idea of what I'm up to.
3) Reminding my parents that I am indeed alive, and that I was not taken into the eastern European sex trade.
4) Telling you all the wonderful food I am eating so that you will inevitably become jealous.
5) Giving me something to look back on when the trip ends, because anyone who knows me knows that I am rapidly approaching Alzheimer's.

I'll try my best to update it frequently and keep it interesting! Don't worry, I am not interested in giving you a history lesson.

I don't have a phone, so if you want to contact me I'd suggest via email at tarashannon821@gmail.com or you can find me on skype. Feel free to respond to my posts as well!

Off to Paris tomorrow, au revoir!