Home in London!
After a hectic epic trip in Rome, doing nothing in Mykonos for three days seemed super inviting. Unfortunately, as relaxing as it is to sleep in until 11am and have no cares in the world, it gets pretty boring. It's not to say I didn't enjoy myself these past few days: riding around the coast on an ATV, shopping, taking walks on the beach and eating gyro IS fun, I'm just glad I'm back to reality. Not to mention it was super hard to leave the hotel Thursday and Friday because of the super violent winds and insane downpour. Needless to say, Miriam and I learned a lot about each other over the past week, especially after drinking a lot of wine and being cooped up for too long in our beautiful room.
I don't want to make this post super long, because I am so tired and I think you have all probably heard enough, but I just wanted to mention a few more things that I did on my holiday this week before I finally returned home to my flat this evening.
The last two days in Mykonos, as I mentioned, were long and slightly boring due to the weather. Miriam and I found out the hard way that unless you own a DVD player or have a job, there is literally nothing to do in Mykonos when it is not nice out. We did make it down to the beach a few times, to enjoy the view and have dinner on our last night, but mostly we got stuck in doors. During our trip though we met some interesting people: our waiter at the Perfecto Cafe where we had lunch every day, who offered to drive us around and "show us Mykonos", and the guy who rented us our ATV, who shamelessly flirted with Miriam and then asked us out for drinks when we ran into him on the streets the next day. All in all, Greece is amazingly beautiful and we had a lot of fun.
Today was a super long day because we woke up in Mykonos and then flew to Athens, where we had a 6 hour layover we purposefully booked so that we would have time to see the Parthanon (sp?) and the Acropolys (sp? haha). We went into the city expected to run there, take some pictures, and run back, until we realized that the Acropolys is actually a giant fucking hike. Not prepared clothing-wise at all and carrying huge heavy backpacks, Miriam and I eventually made our way to the top. It was worth it: we had an amazing view of the entire city and we definitely worked off the McDonalds we ate for lunch.
A quick reflection on our trip in general:
1. Thank you to the millions of people that took pictures for Mimi and I this week, since we were sick of taking pictures by ourselves.
2. Sooooo much gelato
3. Feels good to be home, even though this week was one of the most amazing of my life.
I'll try to add a few more stories and fun facts another day, but for now I'm so tired and just trying to upload a bagillion pictures. Be sure to check them out on facebook, I got some good ones!
Cheers!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
I think you brought the weather with you from London
Greetings all, second post in two days! We're on a roll...and its all thanks to this amazing hotel. Every night at the end of the day I get to wind down with a little posting and then head off to the next adventure in the morning.
So just to add a small appendix to the last post, I forgot to include one of the funniest stories from Rome. Our hotel was in a place outside the city center called Rebibbia, ("the bible") which I mentioned was roughly the Harlem of Italy. We had to take a 20 minute subway ride and a bus to get there...the "444" bus, which might as well have not existed since every night we took it we had to wait 40 minutes at a super shady gas station for it. Well, Sunday night Mimi and I are carrying home a bottle of wine getting prepped to drink in our room and pass out, and we're waiting for the bus which finally showed up around 10pm. We get on and realize, (awesome!) we have no idea where we're supposed to get off. We tried to ask the people on the bus but none of them spoke English, and all of a sudden we're the only ones on the bus besides the driver, so we decide to walk to the front and ask him. He also doesn't speak English, so we told him the name of our hotel and he literally drove the bus off route and took us to the front door while we stood in the front looking out the window like a rollercoaster (which it might as well have been with how fast they drive there!). This story might not be so funny to hear, but it was pretty funny to us, rolling up in front of our hotel in a huge public bus.
Onto Mykonos: Today I had the most amazing afternoon of my life. After an awesome complimentary breakfast at the hotel and lunch out, Mimi convinced me we should rent an ATV and drive around town. I was scared out of my mind and relunctantly agreed. We went to the bike rental place where we shamelessly flirted with the owner and got our motorbike for a per person charge of FIVE euros. We paid more for crepes at the diner. Anyways, we get on (me driving most of the way, but we switched on and off), and spent hours driving around the coast of the most beautiful country I've ever been to. Of course, we almost died a few times, but we got the hang of it eventually.
After we returned the ATV and had dinner, it started downpouring, thundering and lightning. So now, even though its only 10pm and we should be partying, we're drinking wine in the hotel and watching japanese game shows (which fucking RULE, btw). Have to go upstairs and keep Mimi company, I'll try to post another update before I leave Greece. Shopping, beaches, and more ATV driving tomorrow!
Cheers!
So just to add a small appendix to the last post, I forgot to include one of the funniest stories from Rome. Our hotel was in a place outside the city center called Rebibbia, ("the bible") which I mentioned was roughly the Harlem of Italy. We had to take a 20 minute subway ride and a bus to get there...the "444" bus, which might as well have not existed since every night we took it we had to wait 40 minutes at a super shady gas station for it. Well, Sunday night Mimi and I are carrying home a bottle of wine getting prepped to drink in our room and pass out, and we're waiting for the bus which finally showed up around 10pm. We get on and realize, (awesome!) we have no idea where we're supposed to get off. We tried to ask the people on the bus but none of them spoke English, and all of a sudden we're the only ones on the bus besides the driver, so we decide to walk to the front and ask him. He also doesn't speak English, so we told him the name of our hotel and he literally drove the bus off route and took us to the front door while we stood in the front looking out the window like a rollercoaster (which it might as well have been with how fast they drive there!). This story might not be so funny to hear, but it was pretty funny to us, rolling up in front of our hotel in a huge public bus.
Onto Mykonos: Today I had the most amazing afternoon of my life. After an awesome complimentary breakfast at the hotel and lunch out, Mimi convinced me we should rent an ATV and drive around town. I was scared out of my mind and relunctantly agreed. We went to the bike rental place where we shamelessly flirted with the owner and got our motorbike for a per person charge of FIVE euros. We paid more for crepes at the diner. Anyways, we get on (me driving most of the way, but we switched on and off), and spent hours driving around the coast of the most beautiful country I've ever been to. Of course, we almost died a few times, but we got the hang of it eventually.
After we returned the ATV and had dinner, it started downpouring, thundering and lightning. So now, even though its only 10pm and we should be partying, we're drinking wine in the hotel and watching japanese game shows (which fucking RULE, btw). Have to go upstairs and keep Mimi company, I'll try to post another update before I leave Greece. Shopping, beaches, and more ATV driving tomorrow!
Cheers!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
In America you can marry more than one person and the grapes don't have seeds
This is damn near impossible, keeping up with myself. Where do I begin? Let me start with the following perspectives: This morning I was in Rome, this afternoon I was in Athens, this night (now) I'm in Mykonos. Yesterday, I was wearing a shirt I bought in Paris, sitting in the Vatican, studying abroad in London, going to school in DC, born in NY. In the past two months I have been on 8 flights, 2 international trains, and in 6 different countries. I cannot believe how fast the future is becoming the present, and how I'm finally doing things with my life that I only ever dreamed about.
Sunday:
Mimi and I walked nearly all over the south of Rome, ate dinner in the courtyard of the Pantheon by the fountain, saw a professional tug of war team event, took a zillion pictures (of course), got lost along the river, got found along the river, had a photoshoot, ate gelato twice in two hours, ran into people from our London program, got a bottle of wine, drank in our hotel room, and fell asleep dreaming of Italian men with super sexy accents. We saw a small island, the Trastevere River, a synogog, Ceaser's fort, Augusto's fort, more ruins, more ruins, more ruins...I wish I had my map on my so I actually know the name of everything we saw. Anyways, I think I'm overlapping some of this with my blog from the other day so I'll move on to Monday...AKA the longest day of my life to date.
Monday:
Woke up at 8am for the fourth day in a row, showered, got ready, and went with Mimi to meet Cierra at the Vatican. When we got there, she had been waiting on line for 45 minutes already...and it ended up being another 2 hours until we reached the entrance to the museum. Big suck. We went into the museum, had lunch in the courtyard and saw the Sistine Chapel...which is ten times more impressive than anything anyone has ever described to me. The three of us got gelato and then Cierra had to leave, so Mimi and I sat in the main part of the Vatican in front of the Basillica (sp?) while I quoted Eurotrip. (They've elected a new pope! We could be seeing history in the making! We could be seeing an ARREST in the making.)
While we were there, we waited for Miriam's friend Giacammo, who grew up and lives in Rome. They met at a camp that they both went to for 2 weeks in 2005, and after all these years Miriam thought it would be fun to reunite. Backround on Giacammo: He's a true Italian who is adorable with the sexiest accent especially when he speaks Italian, and I will probably never be able to spell his name correctly. After we met, G (that's what we'll call him) took us all along the river so we could see the Justice building, where he went to high school, and a beautiful castle. Then, we climbed up one TRILLION stairs (not unlike Montmarte, in Paris) to reach this balcony (blanking on the name) so we could over look the Piazza Popolo and see all of Rome just as the sun was setting. Como se dici "breathtaking" in Italiano?
After the balcony we had dinner, where G ordered for us in Italian and we all drank lots of wine. We went to G's car after dinner and then found a bar along the river after walking for about an hour and, of course, stopping for gelato. The whole time we're walking I'm explaining to G that we have an early flight, have to be up by 6am and leave by 7, we're tired from a long ass day, and I don't want to go home any later than 10 30...I know I sound like a buzz kill but I was too tired from drinking, and I can drink any time I want in London. It's just not why I came to Rome. The only reason why we ended up going at all is because G told us he'd drive us back to our hotel, which was about an hour away from the city center and super hard to get to. (Also right next to a prison in an area that is the Italian equivilant of Harlem.)
So we get to this bar that has 15 euro pitchers of some brazilian cocktail with strawberries that G convinces us is the best. The three of us sucked it down in about 15 minutes, and then all of a sudden ms. buzz kill decides she needs another pitcher. So we order another (first mistake), this time with tequila (second mistake) and I drink a lot of it super fast (third mistake). Needless to say I became shit faced (this being an understatement) and fell on the pavement a couple of times on our way to the car. I'm COVERED in bruises. I passed out in the car, have no recollection of how we got into the hotel, and started puking in the garbage can next to my bed in the room while Mimi took care of me. I think it's safe to say that night will go down in history as epic/insane/uncalled for. Did I mention I woke up this morning still drunk? Boarded a plane to Athens at 11:15am...still drunk. Disaster.
But you know what is not a disaster? Mykonos. Sweet baby angel I can never leave. Mimi and I arrived in Mykonos after having separate 30 minute connecting flights in Athens into the smallest airport in the universe. I think my house is bigger. We took a 30 second cab ride to the hotel (30 seconds because the driver was going ABOUT 115 miles per hour on a windy single lane road), and checked in around 9pm. Our hotel is beautiful, our room is beautiful, and we have a balcony overlooking the ocean. The only thing to see in Mykonos besides beaches are the windmills, and we can see them from our balcony. We are two minutes walk from the beaches. The woman who runs the desk just brought me a ham and cheese sandwhich while I was writing this blog. I know I haven't seen it in the daytime yet, but consider me in love with this Island.
For now, I must part ways because I've been online too long and need to go to sleep so I can wake up sober tomorrow (for more drinking tomorrow night). I will leave you with this: I could not be more thankful for my life right now, including everyone and everything in it. I love you all so much, thanks for being such loyal readers and sharing in my excitement! And yes, I'm bringing you all AWESOME souveniers.
Cheers!
Sunday:
Mimi and I walked nearly all over the south of Rome, ate dinner in the courtyard of the Pantheon by the fountain, saw a professional tug of war team event, took a zillion pictures (of course), got lost along the river, got found along the river, had a photoshoot, ate gelato twice in two hours, ran into people from our London program, got a bottle of wine, drank in our hotel room, and fell asleep dreaming of Italian men with super sexy accents. We saw a small island, the Trastevere River, a synogog, Ceaser's fort, Augusto's fort, more ruins, more ruins, more ruins...I wish I had my map on my so I actually know the name of everything we saw. Anyways, I think I'm overlapping some of this with my blog from the other day so I'll move on to Monday...AKA the longest day of my life to date.
Monday:
Woke up at 8am for the fourth day in a row, showered, got ready, and went with Mimi to meet Cierra at the Vatican. When we got there, she had been waiting on line for 45 minutes already...and it ended up being another 2 hours until we reached the entrance to the museum. Big suck. We went into the museum, had lunch in the courtyard and saw the Sistine Chapel...which is ten times more impressive than anything anyone has ever described to me. The three of us got gelato and then Cierra had to leave, so Mimi and I sat in the main part of the Vatican in front of the Basillica (sp?) while I quoted Eurotrip. (They've elected a new pope! We could be seeing history in the making! We could be seeing an ARREST in the making.)
While we were there, we waited for Miriam's friend Giacammo, who grew up and lives in Rome. They met at a camp that they both went to for 2 weeks in 2005, and after all these years Miriam thought it would be fun to reunite. Backround on Giacammo: He's a true Italian who is adorable with the sexiest accent especially when he speaks Italian, and I will probably never be able to spell his name correctly. After we met, G (that's what we'll call him) took us all along the river so we could see the Justice building, where he went to high school, and a beautiful castle. Then, we climbed up one TRILLION stairs (not unlike Montmarte, in Paris) to reach this balcony (blanking on the name) so we could over look the Piazza Popolo and see all of Rome just as the sun was setting. Como se dici "breathtaking" in Italiano?
After the balcony we had dinner, where G ordered for us in Italian and we all drank lots of wine. We went to G's car after dinner and then found a bar along the river after walking for about an hour and, of course, stopping for gelato. The whole time we're walking I'm explaining to G that we have an early flight, have to be up by 6am and leave by 7, we're tired from a long ass day, and I don't want to go home any later than 10 30...I know I sound like a buzz kill but I was too tired from drinking, and I can drink any time I want in London. It's just not why I came to Rome. The only reason why we ended up going at all is because G told us he'd drive us back to our hotel, which was about an hour away from the city center and super hard to get to. (Also right next to a prison in an area that is the Italian equivilant of Harlem.)
So we get to this bar that has 15 euro pitchers of some brazilian cocktail with strawberries that G convinces us is the best. The three of us sucked it down in about 15 minutes, and then all of a sudden ms. buzz kill decides she needs another pitcher. So we order another (first mistake), this time with tequila (second mistake) and I drink a lot of it super fast (third mistake). Needless to say I became shit faced (this being an understatement) and fell on the pavement a couple of times on our way to the car. I'm COVERED in bruises. I passed out in the car, have no recollection of how we got into the hotel, and started puking in the garbage can next to my bed in the room while Mimi took care of me. I think it's safe to say that night will go down in history as epic/insane/uncalled for. Did I mention I woke up this morning still drunk? Boarded a plane to Athens at 11:15am...still drunk. Disaster.
But you know what is not a disaster? Mykonos. Sweet baby angel I can never leave. Mimi and I arrived in Mykonos after having separate 30 minute connecting flights in Athens into the smallest airport in the universe. I think my house is bigger. We took a 30 second cab ride to the hotel (30 seconds because the driver was going ABOUT 115 miles per hour on a windy single lane road), and checked in around 9pm. Our hotel is beautiful, our room is beautiful, and we have a balcony overlooking the ocean. The only thing to see in Mykonos besides beaches are the windmills, and we can see them from our balcony. We are two minutes walk from the beaches. The woman who runs the desk just brought me a ham and cheese sandwhich while I was writing this blog. I know I haven't seen it in the daytime yet, but consider me in love with this Island.
For now, I must part ways because I've been online too long and need to go to sleep so I can wake up sober tomorrow (for more drinking tomorrow night). I will leave you with this: I could not be more thankful for my life right now, including everyone and everything in it. I love you all so much, thanks for being such loyal readers and sharing in my excitement! And yes, I'm bringing you all AWESOME souveniers.
Cheers!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Si, si. I'll call you a cab, it's very far
Ok gang this is going to be the fastest post ever with a shit ton of typos because Im in an internet cafe in Rome that is 4 euros for a half hour and the keyboard is really sticky. Just didnt want to keep my fans out of the loop...
Ciao from Campo de Fiori!
Its been the most incredible 2 days so far, and tomorrow nothing should be any different for our last night in Rome. After a super shitty flight delay caused by the goddamn strike in France, we Miriam and I finally arrived at the airport in Rome at 10 30, and didnt get to our hotel until 12am because its super far from the city center. The whole way there the cab driver kept telling us to pay more money and get a hotel in a normal location. These intrustions were shouted over the Alanis Morsette CD he had blasting in the front...so I wasnt super jumpy to take his advice. When we arrived at the hotel we realized it was well worth what we paid ($60 a night each!) because it is a four star hotel that is super beautiful with the NICEST staff. Miriam and I messed up the shuttle three times and they still agreed to drive us to the metro!
So yesterday was about 65 degrees, a far cry from what I can only describe as "the situation" in London...(40 degrees!)...so I wore a dress. Miriam and I were downtown in the city center by 10am, where we took a tour of the colosseo, and the Palentino ruins. After that, we had our first real Italian meal- I had lasagna and a glass of white wine, followed, of course, by gelato. Miriam and I have had gelato twice a day every day since we got here...today we had it twice in 2 hours. Its insane how I actually have to go back to the states eventually where gelato is very hard to find.
After lunch we met Alex B (a friend of mine from AU) and her friend Aley at the Trevi Fountain (and I forgot to throw a coin in and make a wish for a beautiful Italian man with a moped!) Then we all sat on the Spanish Steps and chatted with the most beautiful view. Everywhere you go in Rome youre bound to be looking at something amazing. After that, sooo much shopping! Then the Pantheon (which was incredible!), Piazza Novana, and dinner where I had more wine and a pizza that was bigger than my head. Of course, more gelato, and then home to pass out for a couple of hours before we woke up today to start the day again at 8am.
After my shower and breakfast at the hotel (nutella on EVERYTHING), we went to the city center again and literally walked for about 2 hours, saw a Van Goh (sp?) exhibit at the museum, ate lunch, and have been walking every since. We only stop for gelato and leather/liquor stores!! Right now, were just outside Campo de Fiori, where we will probably go tonight for dinner and a little drinking!
Sorry this cant be more in depth, running out of time and just wanted to catch you all up! Im having the most amazing time of my life. I am literally in love with this city and this country, even the language! (Which Mimi and I are slowly learning!) More to come in a few days miss you all.
Cheers!
Ciao from Campo de Fiori!
Its been the most incredible 2 days so far, and tomorrow nothing should be any different for our last night in Rome. After a super shitty flight delay caused by the goddamn strike in France, we Miriam and I finally arrived at the airport in Rome at 10 30, and didnt get to our hotel until 12am because its super far from the city center. The whole way there the cab driver kept telling us to pay more money and get a hotel in a normal location. These intrustions were shouted over the Alanis Morsette CD he had blasting in the front...so I wasnt super jumpy to take his advice. When we arrived at the hotel we realized it was well worth what we paid ($60 a night each!) because it is a four star hotel that is super beautiful with the NICEST staff. Miriam and I messed up the shuttle three times and they still agreed to drive us to the metro!
So yesterday was about 65 degrees, a far cry from what I can only describe as "the situation" in London...(40 degrees!)...so I wore a dress. Miriam and I were downtown in the city center by 10am, where we took a tour of the colosseo, and the Palentino ruins. After that, we had our first real Italian meal- I had lasagna and a glass of white wine, followed, of course, by gelato. Miriam and I have had gelato twice a day every day since we got here...today we had it twice in 2 hours. Its insane how I actually have to go back to the states eventually where gelato is very hard to find.
After lunch we met Alex B (a friend of mine from AU) and her friend Aley at the Trevi Fountain (and I forgot to throw a coin in and make a wish for a beautiful Italian man with a moped!) Then we all sat on the Spanish Steps and chatted with the most beautiful view. Everywhere you go in Rome youre bound to be looking at something amazing. After that, sooo much shopping! Then the Pantheon (which was incredible!), Piazza Novana, and dinner where I had more wine and a pizza that was bigger than my head. Of course, more gelato, and then home to pass out for a couple of hours before we woke up today to start the day again at 8am.
After my shower and breakfast at the hotel (nutella on EVERYTHING), we went to the city center again and literally walked for about 2 hours, saw a Van Goh (sp?) exhibit at the museum, ate lunch, and have been walking every since. We only stop for gelato and leather/liquor stores!! Right now, were just outside Campo de Fiori, where we will probably go tonight for dinner and a little drinking!
Sorry this cant be more in depth, running out of time and just wanted to catch you all up! Im having the most amazing time of my life. I am literally in love with this city and this country, even the language! (Which Mimi and I are slowly learning!) More to come in a few days miss you all.
Cheers!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
That swan is going to kill us
I'm gonna try to keep this one super short so you're not overwhelmed by my sudden burst of blogging, it's just that so much has been going on! First of all, I made my schedule this week for Spring 2010 classes, and if everything works out, it should be a good semester. I'm taking three classes for my major (one with Camille, of course!), one for my minor, and one science Gen-Ed. No classes Wednesday and out by 12:35pm on T/F! Very excited. Second of all, the reason why so much has been going on is because (!!) Camille has been in London all week.
Although we didn't really do much during the day, (with the exception of our PrimeMark adventure), I saw Camille and Alyssia almost every night this week. This has been nice for two reasons: 1. I love them and 2. My flatmates and I are all driving each other insane. With the flatmate issue aside, it's been a really great week. Camille and I made dinner together one night at my apartment, and then again last night at her cousin's apartment (where she's staying) with Alyssia. We also went out one night to a cheap pub dinner, where I scared the crap out of the two of them by stealing about 8 forks. Camille leaves tomorrow and I will be sad day all days until January when we are re-united.
Yesterday during the day, me, Miriam, and Emily (Alyssia's roommate who I am in love with because she's a sassy bitch), went to Hampton Court Palace to see where Henry VIII lived and banged. And bang he did! He had like, a 100 mistresses and about 327 wives. We had tried to go see this palace last week, but Emily did not read the directions very well and we ended up about 12 miles away from where we needed to be. This time, we took the right train, which was an overground train that left London, to get to the Hampton Court. We spent a couple of hours there, had lunch, and walked around the multiple acres of gardens outside the palace. Even though it was FREEZING, we were lucky that the sun was shining, and it ended up being a pretty awesome day.
So I leave you with a warning. I leave tomorrow for a 9 day trip through Rome & Greece with Miriam. One of two things will happen (in relation to my blog): either I'll find time in my busy schedule to get to an internet cafe once every couple of days and update, or I'll get home without having posted at all and not be able to muster up the energy to write about 9 days and two countries and countless experiences so I won't bother writing at all. I'm going to try though, because this blog is not only to keep you guys in the loop but also for myself to have some kind of written account of my life here, and I wouldn't want to skip such a big part. Wish me luck and a bon voyage!
Cheers!
Although we didn't really do much during the day, (with the exception of our PrimeMark adventure), I saw Camille and Alyssia almost every night this week. This has been nice for two reasons: 1. I love them and 2. My flatmates and I are all driving each other insane. With the flatmate issue aside, it's been a really great week. Camille and I made dinner together one night at my apartment, and then again last night at her cousin's apartment (where she's staying) with Alyssia. We also went out one night to a cheap pub dinner, where I scared the crap out of the two of them by stealing about 8 forks. Camille leaves tomorrow and I will be sad day all days until January when we are re-united.
Yesterday during the day, me, Miriam, and Emily (Alyssia's roommate who I am in love with because she's a sassy bitch), went to Hampton Court Palace to see where Henry VIII lived and banged. And bang he did! He had like, a 100 mistresses and about 327 wives. We had tried to go see this palace last week, but Emily did not read the directions very well and we ended up about 12 miles away from where we needed to be. This time, we took the right train, which was an overground train that left London, to get to the Hampton Court. We spent a couple of hours there, had lunch, and walked around the multiple acres of gardens outside the palace. Even though it was FREEZING, we were lucky that the sun was shining, and it ended up being a pretty awesome day.
So I leave you with a warning. I leave tomorrow for a 9 day trip through Rome & Greece with Miriam. One of two things will happen (in relation to my blog): either I'll find time in my busy schedule to get to an internet cafe once every couple of days and update, or I'll get home without having posted at all and not be able to muster up the energy to write about 9 days and two countries and countless experiences so I won't bother writing at all. I'm going to try though, because this blog is not only to keep you guys in the loop but also for myself to have some kind of written account of my life here, and I wouldn't want to skip such a big part. Wish me luck and a bon voyage!
Cheers!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
You don't understand...this is my GIRLFRIEND
I realize that this is my first post in 27 years that is actually about London, and I'm gonna try to make it very riveting so that you think I'm having as much fun in my host country as I am in the countries I'm visiting. Something that has added to the fun lately? Having two of my best friends visit.
Now, Alyssia has been here for about a month, which is very exciting and nice. But this week, Elsha came to visit London with Scott because his parents live nearby. Last Monday night, I went over to Scott's parent's flat in Green Park and stayed catching up with the two of them until 4 o'clock in the morning. I was soooo happy to see her (although it made me miss Nomo!). Although, I think the thing that really made it amazing was that Scott's mom made cookies that she obviously baked with a touch of crack, since they were the best cookies I've ever had in my life, and he sent me home with about 20 of them.
Thursday, the three of us went to Camden market, my favorite place in London. I don't know if I posted about it the first time I went, but Camden is an amazing flea market that is basically the size of the town I grew up in (small for a town, fucking HUGE for a market!). Elsha and I bought matching clock necklaces, which are sooo cute and sooo worth the 8 quid, and I bought some gifts for my mom and my brother. We ate the messiest crepes ever, and Elsha took pictures of my face smothered in nutella so make sure you're looking out for that on facebook as I will almost immediately de-tag. After Camden, we met Alyssia at her flat, (where Elsh nearly peed on the carpet because I had made her hold it so long by scaring her about flea market bathrooms) and then went to a pub for some drinks. Alyssia and I stayed later than Elsha and Scott because they were having dinner with his parents, and we ended up alone on the second floor of bar. This was when I decided to slip a couple of things into my purse, including a pint glass, until Alyssia convinced me that the mirror behind the abandoned bar was two-way and someone was watching us.
Thursday morning, besides getting excited to go to Camden and see Elsha again, I woke up early and got super cute because it was finally interview day! As most of you know, the abroad program I chose comes with an internship that will start in November and last 7 weeks, 3 days a week. My program, FIE, sets me up with an internship based on my resume, interests and major, and then we go on an interview to confirm the placement a couple of weeks before the job actually starts. I will be working for a company called NinetyTen (feel free to look it up!), which has created a business social media network and needs me (pause for effect) to market their new product! I will be working with the co-founder of the company on gaining clients and market share for the newest development of their company. The job sounds really interesting (to me, at least!) and will be excellent experience. My boss seems really nice, and everyone else that I met in the office seems super friendly. I'm also really looking forward to it because internships in the UK are different than those in the US: I won't be making coffee or "learning by watching," I will be a legitimate member of the marketing team with responsibilities that will be entirely my own to manage. I think I'm growing up...
Friday, Mimi and I went to the Museum of Brands for our market project. So many dorky marketing activities going on in my life that I secretly love. I'm glad, because lately I've been realizing more and more that I'm happy with my major, which is semi-important in the scheme of things. The museum was tiny but really cool, there was a section of it that showed the progression of certain products over the past 100 years. We saw displays, for example, that had a can of Pepsi from 1910, 1920, 1930, etc, until 2010. It's so strange to see how long things have been around and how different everything looked.
Onto the most entertaining part of my week, and the story of one of my best nights in London so far. Friday night, Mimi, Mimi's boy Dave (a British guy she's seeing whose adorable and really fun), Elsha, Scott, me and Camille all went to Absolut Ice Bar London to celebrate Camille's arrival to the UK as well of my love of cold alcoholic beverages. We bought our tickets online, got there, received super heavy/warm capes and gloves, and were ushered into a tiny bar made entirely out of ice. The bartenders were bundled up like eskimos, serving drinks in glasses made of ice to customers sitting on ice benches posing with ice sculptures taking pictures with ice. It was fucking AWESOME. The only thing that sucked about it was that we were only allowed to stay for a half hour, because the bar is kept at -5 degrees and I'm pretty sure you could freeze to death.
After the ice bar, we went to a club next door and danced the night away on a 80's style light up dance floor. I got completely shit faced, and then we all parted ways around 3am after a sad goodbye to Elsha and Scott who were leaving London the next morning. In all, it was a pretty epic night.
More to come soon, I have a lot of exciting things planned this week and I plan on updating again on Thursday before I leave for my awesome midterm break vacation with Mimi!
Cheers!
Now, Alyssia has been here for about a month, which is very exciting and nice. But this week, Elsha came to visit London with Scott because his parents live nearby. Last Monday night, I went over to Scott's parent's flat in Green Park and stayed catching up with the two of them until 4 o'clock in the morning. I was soooo happy to see her (although it made me miss Nomo!). Although, I think the thing that really made it amazing was that Scott's mom made cookies that she obviously baked with a touch of crack, since they were the best cookies I've ever had in my life, and he sent me home with about 20 of them.
Thursday, the three of us went to Camden market, my favorite place in London. I don't know if I posted about it the first time I went, but Camden is an amazing flea market that is basically the size of the town I grew up in (small for a town, fucking HUGE for a market!). Elsha and I bought matching clock necklaces, which are sooo cute and sooo worth the 8 quid, and I bought some gifts for my mom and my brother. We ate the messiest crepes ever, and Elsha took pictures of my face smothered in nutella so make sure you're looking out for that on facebook as I will almost immediately de-tag. After Camden, we met Alyssia at her flat, (where Elsh nearly peed on the carpet because I had made her hold it so long by scaring her about flea market bathrooms) and then went to a pub for some drinks. Alyssia and I stayed later than Elsha and Scott because they were having dinner with his parents, and we ended up alone on the second floor of bar. This was when I decided to slip a couple of things into my purse, including a pint glass, until Alyssia convinced me that the mirror behind the abandoned bar was two-way and someone was watching us.
Thursday morning, besides getting excited to go to Camden and see Elsha again, I woke up early and got super cute because it was finally interview day! As most of you know, the abroad program I chose comes with an internship that will start in November and last 7 weeks, 3 days a week. My program, FIE, sets me up with an internship based on my resume, interests and major, and then we go on an interview to confirm the placement a couple of weeks before the job actually starts. I will be working for a company called NinetyTen (feel free to look it up!), which has created a business social media network and needs me (pause for effect) to market their new product! I will be working with the co-founder of the company on gaining clients and market share for the newest development of their company. The job sounds really interesting (to me, at least!) and will be excellent experience. My boss seems really nice, and everyone else that I met in the office seems super friendly. I'm also really looking forward to it because internships in the UK are different than those in the US: I won't be making coffee or "learning by watching," I will be a legitimate member of the marketing team with responsibilities that will be entirely my own to manage. I think I'm growing up...
Friday, Mimi and I went to the Museum of Brands for our market project. So many dorky marketing activities going on in my life that I secretly love. I'm glad, because lately I've been realizing more and more that I'm happy with my major, which is semi-important in the scheme of things. The museum was tiny but really cool, there was a section of it that showed the progression of certain products over the past 100 years. We saw displays, for example, that had a can of Pepsi from 1910, 1920, 1930, etc, until 2010. It's so strange to see how long things have been around and how different everything looked.
Onto the most entertaining part of my week, and the story of one of my best nights in London so far. Friday night, Mimi, Mimi's boy Dave (a British guy she's seeing whose adorable and really fun), Elsha, Scott, me and Camille all went to Absolut Ice Bar London to celebrate Camille's arrival to the UK as well of my love of cold alcoholic beverages. We bought our tickets online, got there, received super heavy/warm capes and gloves, and were ushered into a tiny bar made entirely out of ice. The bartenders were bundled up like eskimos, serving drinks in glasses made of ice to customers sitting on ice benches posing with ice sculptures taking pictures with ice. It was fucking AWESOME. The only thing that sucked about it was that we were only allowed to stay for a half hour, because the bar is kept at -5 degrees and I'm pretty sure you could freeze to death.
After the ice bar, we went to a club next door and danced the night away on a 80's style light up dance floor. I got completely shit faced, and then we all parted ways around 3am after a sad goodbye to Elsha and Scott who were leaving London the next morning. In all, it was a pretty epic night.
More to come soon, I have a lot of exciting things planned this week and I plan on updating again on Thursday before I leave for my awesome midterm break vacation with Mimi!
Cheers!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
How do you transport negative space?
So, just like two weeks ago, I'm going to force you to read the below post before you continue on with this one. Because then you can really feel like you were with me all weekend in Paris, instead of just for part of the time that I describe in this second post.
So, after Montmarte, me, Kate, Vanessa and her posse made our way to see the Moulin Rouge. As it is one of my all time favorite movies, I had told Vanessa that this was a priority for me. To get to the Moulin Rouge, we had to walk through the Red Light District, which I thought was only in Amsterdam. But no, Paris has its own little sex town right in the heart of it's beautiful architecture and culture. We passed stores declaring "SEX HERE" & "WET PUSSYS" and resisted the temptation to enter the "Museum of Erotica." It was all very romantic. One we found the Moulin Rouge, we took some fun pictures and decided to go home and eat.
We stopped at a supermarket by Vanessa's flat and her friend Danny made us dinner. Then, Vanessa made plans for us to go out. Unfortunately, I was still sick and wanted to save my energy for my last day in Paris, so I decided to stay in. I know everyone thinks I'm lame, but I can drink anywhere. I'm only in Paris once (so far, that I know of) and I don't want to miss anything because I'm hungover or even just overtired. So I watched some TV on Vanessa's computer and went to sleep early. So responsible!
The next morning we planned on spending most of the day attacking the world's largest museum: the Louvre. We stopped at a breakfast place and ate the most delicious crepes, and then got on the metro. Have I mentioned that people in Paris smell REALLY bad? Because this fact is exentuated (sp?) on the metro. I almost up-ed my crepe. They don't believe in deoderant, apparently.
The Louve was an adventure and a half. First of all, it is the most beautiful building I've ever seen, and it is HUGE. There is a giant garden with a lake and the famous glass pyramid in the courtyard, and people everywhere. Thankfully, due to Vanessa's awesome french/bull shitting skills, we not only cut the line and snuck in the back, but we got our tickets for free even though Kate forgot her student ID. (Word to the wise: if you ever find yourself traveling in Europe and you're in the posession of a student ID, use it. I cannot tell you how much money I've saved.)
On the way through security, I made a speech about how much I loved my friends and enjoyed my weekend and Katie started crying. So we were off to a great start. We then got lost in the museum for about an hour looking for the Venus de Milo, which I was convinced for a while didn't exist because no one would tell us where it was. (Finally we found it. Bitch has no arms.) We also saw the Mona Lisa, which was not as small as everyone made it seem, but also not that entertaining. Here's my thing about art: Modern art can suck it. I go into the MOMA or the Tate Modern and it's like, okay, I could paint that, you could paint that, my dog could paint that. The paintings/sculptures in the Louvre were amazing, I appreciated the fact that I could not paint anything in the whole museum. Respect. But what I don't understand is why certain pieces are considered so prestigious and famous, while others just as good go unrecognized. Case in point: the Mona Lisa. It's amazing, sure. But it was on a wall opposite this piece that was bigger than my flat, and painted with such intense detail I just couldn't fathom why no one was crowding around it. At the end of the day, The Mona Lisa is just some ugly bitch that no one really knew anything about. HOLY SHIT SHE'S STONEHENGE. (If you're a loyal follower of my blogs you already know my issue with stonehenge.)
After the Louve, we walked through the gardens, took the metro to the Luxomburg gardens, and sat to eat lunch. It was kind of rushed because Kate and I had trains to catch, so we made our way back to Vanessa's to pack and say our goodbyes. Vanessa and I took Kate to the train station, where she cried again, (sorry Kate, I love you too I'm just dead inside!) and then Vanessa and I got Mcdonalds while we waited for my train home.
I cannot possibly write anymore about Paris. I'm tired and I'm waiting for my laundry to be done. Some bitch stole my dryer while I was writing this post. Hope it was worth it!
Cheers!
So, after Montmarte, me, Kate, Vanessa and her posse made our way to see the Moulin Rouge. As it is one of my all time favorite movies, I had told Vanessa that this was a priority for me. To get to the Moulin Rouge, we had to walk through the Red Light District, which I thought was only in Amsterdam. But no, Paris has its own little sex town right in the heart of it's beautiful architecture and culture. We passed stores declaring "SEX HERE" & "WET PUSSYS" and resisted the temptation to enter the "Museum of Erotica." It was all very romantic. One we found the Moulin Rouge, we took some fun pictures and decided to go home and eat.
We stopped at a supermarket by Vanessa's flat and her friend Danny made us dinner. Then, Vanessa made plans for us to go out. Unfortunately, I was still sick and wanted to save my energy for my last day in Paris, so I decided to stay in. I know everyone thinks I'm lame, but I can drink anywhere. I'm only in Paris once (so far, that I know of) and I don't want to miss anything because I'm hungover or even just overtired. So I watched some TV on Vanessa's computer and went to sleep early. So responsible!
The next morning we planned on spending most of the day attacking the world's largest museum: the Louvre. We stopped at a breakfast place and ate the most delicious crepes, and then got on the metro. Have I mentioned that people in Paris smell REALLY bad? Because this fact is exentuated (sp?) on the metro. I almost up-ed my crepe. They don't believe in deoderant, apparently.
The Louve was an adventure and a half. First of all, it is the most beautiful building I've ever seen, and it is HUGE. There is a giant garden with a lake and the famous glass pyramid in the courtyard, and people everywhere. Thankfully, due to Vanessa's awesome french/bull shitting skills, we not only cut the line and snuck in the back, but we got our tickets for free even though Kate forgot her student ID. (Word to the wise: if you ever find yourself traveling in Europe and you're in the posession of a student ID, use it. I cannot tell you how much money I've saved.)
On the way through security, I made a speech about how much I loved my friends and enjoyed my weekend and Katie started crying. So we were off to a great start. We then got lost in the museum for about an hour looking for the Venus de Milo, which I was convinced for a while didn't exist because no one would tell us where it was. (Finally we found it. Bitch has no arms.) We also saw the Mona Lisa, which was not as small as everyone made it seem, but also not that entertaining. Here's my thing about art: Modern art can suck it. I go into the MOMA or the Tate Modern and it's like, okay, I could paint that, you could paint that, my dog could paint that. The paintings/sculptures in the Louvre were amazing, I appreciated the fact that I could not paint anything in the whole museum. Respect. But what I don't understand is why certain pieces are considered so prestigious and famous, while others just as good go unrecognized. Case in point: the Mona Lisa. It's amazing, sure. But it was on a wall opposite this piece that was bigger than my flat, and painted with such intense detail I just couldn't fathom why no one was crowding around it. At the end of the day, The Mona Lisa is just some ugly bitch that no one really knew anything about. HOLY SHIT SHE'S STONEHENGE. (If you're a loyal follower of my blogs you already know my issue with stonehenge.)
After the Louve, we walked through the gardens, took the metro to the Luxomburg gardens, and sat to eat lunch. It was kind of rushed because Kate and I had trains to catch, so we made our way back to Vanessa's to pack and say our goodbyes. Vanessa and I took Kate to the train station, where she cried again, (sorry Kate, I love you too I'm just dead inside!) and then Vanessa and I got Mcdonalds while we waited for my train home.
I cannot possibly write anymore about Paris. I'm tired and I'm waiting for my laundry to be done. Some bitch stole my dryer while I was writing this post. Hope it was worth it!
Cheers!
If you learn the basic phrases, everyone will believe you're French
Apologies for the delay in this blog post, I know the anticipation levels were HIGH. Especially considering I just found out there's someone in Russia whose been following my blog. (Consider this your shout out, whoever you are. God I love the internet.)
So last weekend, I visited the fabulous city of Paris with my best friend Katie, where we met up with our other best friend Vanessa. (Yes I'm very popular...my other best friend Alyssa is in New York.) I got to Paris around 8pm Friday night, when I pulled up to Paris Gare de Nord (sp?) in my fancy Eurostar train. I then followed Vanessa's AMAZING directions (seriously, no sarcasm) to her apartment. I took a metro 20 stops, a tram, and then walked. And I made it without getting lost. I am AWESOME at Paris.
I sat outside her building puffing on my inhaler since I still had bronchitus, but when I saw Kate and Vanessa walking towards me I got real excited and started running. After fabulous hugs and hellos, we made our way into Vanessa's flat. (Although I don't think that's what they're called there, whatever I'm in London and it's all rubbing off on me.) We then spent the night catching up and trying to find a fun place to get drinks, which did not go as planned. We walked in circles for miles looking for this one bar, and on the way we saw one thousand roller bladers. No exaggeration. We finally ended up at Auto-Passion, this race car inspired pub, where the waiter tried to tell me they were out of hot water until Vanessa explained to him in French that my throat hurt and I needed tea.
The next morning, we woke up super early so that we could see all of Paris in two days. Vanessa's roommate had made us a handy dandy list of sights, so we grabbed a pastry on the run and made our way to the Eiffel tower. It was 70 degrees and sunny! When we got to the tower though, the line to get in was hours long. Plus, it had been evacuated twice the weekend before due to terrorist threats, so I didn't want to waste time AND risk getting to the front only to get kicked out. So we decided to just take a bunch of pictures in front of it instead...Katie and I were shocked to learn that it's brown. Are we the only ones that thought it was black?
From the Eiffel tower, we walked along the river (there is no way I'm going to remember the name of everything, and if I do, the spelling will be horribly embarrassing. Just warning you now) and took some pictures on a beautiful bridge. We walked to the Arc de Triumph, and on the way ended up on Champs Elysees (pronounced Ehleezay, I think)...which is pretty much the Rodeo Drive of Paris: really expensive shopping leading up to the Arc. We held our breaths and managed to pass by the temptation, making our way into the Arc via an underground tunnel. Once we were in it, Katie and I decided it was our favorite thing of Paris. (I realize we had seen very little at that point, but we're very easily entertained.) It was so beautiful, and the weather was so nice, I just wanted to live in the middle of it. But I think they frown on that.
After the arc, we went to lunch at a cafe where I experienced first hand that French people like to take 3 hours to eat lunch and 5 hours to bring you the check. After our million hour lunch, we went to H&M. Now, I now you must be thinking 1 or 2 or both of the following: first of all Genna, you said you were able to surpass temptation to shop, you clearly lied. Second of all, why H&M? You're in PARIS! Go somewhere European so we can all be jealous of your fashionista wardrobe instead of heckling you for wearing T-shirts all the time! Well, concerned citizen, first of all, I was not able to walk by all those stores without going into at least one. I am only human. Second of all, it was because of the shiny bags. As a marketing major, you'd think I'd be aware of and therefore immune to psychological advertising tricks, but unfortunately, my brain is not that developed and certainly not that focused when it encounters something shiny. (And as it turns out, same goes for Katie and Vanessa.) The H&M store had opened the day before, and was kicking off its move to the Champs Elysees by putting purchases in stiff white bags with shiny letters on them. I wish I was kidding. I wanted that bag so bad.
After buying a cute little sweater and NOT getting the bag (I almost filed a complaint but I don't speak French), we met up with a couple of Vanessa's friends and went to get Haagan Dazs. It was the most expensive two scoops of ice cream I've ever eaten, at 5 euros. When we were done eating Haagan Dazs, Vanessa and her friends decided to trick me into going to a wine festival at the top of a mountain. Now, obviously this sounds like a fabulous idea: lots of fun on a beautiful Saturday, sitting at the top of a scenic mountain on the steps of an amazing church overlooking all of Paris, sipping wine. But no one warned me that in order to get to the top of this mountain, I had to climb 243 thousand stairs (rough estimate). Also, I found out later that there is actually a train that takes you to the top that no one felt the need to tell me about.
At the top of the mountain, (Montmarte, yes I looked it up), there were thousands of people sitting on the steps of the Sacre Coeur (sp?). Sacre Coeur is a huge, gorgeously ornate basilica, for those of you who are not cultured enough to be familiar with all my fancy french references. (I have a wikipedia tab open right now.) We stopped at a tent and got a bottle of wine and escargo, which I did not drink or eat, respectively. (I don't like wine, and the second thing is snails. So, no thanks. I don't care how much I've grown up, I'm not eating snails.) We sat on the steps and enjoyed the view, which was absolutely incredible. You can see the entire city from the top of Montmarte, and it was so amazing to look at while I basked in the pride of having climbed all those steps. We met up with some more of Vanessa's friends (she's very popular as well), walked through the basilica (which was also incredible), and then made our way back down to the streets.
Enough for one post, I'm gonna break this up like the Berlin one so you guys have some time to digest. Plus I get really nervous that I'm gonna write a ton of shit and then my computer is gonna crash. In which case I would die.
Cheers!
So last weekend, I visited the fabulous city of Paris with my best friend Katie, where we met up with our other best friend Vanessa. (Yes I'm very popular...my other best friend Alyssa is in New York.) I got to Paris around 8pm Friday night, when I pulled up to Paris Gare de Nord (sp?) in my fancy Eurostar train. I then followed Vanessa's AMAZING directions (seriously, no sarcasm) to her apartment. I took a metro 20 stops, a tram, and then walked. And I made it without getting lost. I am AWESOME at Paris.
I sat outside her building puffing on my inhaler since I still had bronchitus, but when I saw Kate and Vanessa walking towards me I got real excited and started running. After fabulous hugs and hellos, we made our way into Vanessa's flat. (Although I don't think that's what they're called there, whatever I'm in London and it's all rubbing off on me.) We then spent the night catching up and trying to find a fun place to get drinks, which did not go as planned. We walked in circles for miles looking for this one bar, and on the way we saw one thousand roller bladers. No exaggeration. We finally ended up at Auto-Passion, this race car inspired pub, where the waiter tried to tell me they were out of hot water until Vanessa explained to him in French that my throat hurt and I needed tea.
The next morning, we woke up super early so that we could see all of Paris in two days. Vanessa's roommate had made us a handy dandy list of sights, so we grabbed a pastry on the run and made our way to the Eiffel tower. It was 70 degrees and sunny! When we got to the tower though, the line to get in was hours long. Plus, it had been evacuated twice the weekend before due to terrorist threats, so I didn't want to waste time AND risk getting to the front only to get kicked out. So we decided to just take a bunch of pictures in front of it instead...Katie and I were shocked to learn that it's brown. Are we the only ones that thought it was black?
From the Eiffel tower, we walked along the river (there is no way I'm going to remember the name of everything, and if I do, the spelling will be horribly embarrassing. Just warning you now) and took some pictures on a beautiful bridge. We walked to the Arc de Triumph, and on the way ended up on Champs Elysees (pronounced Ehleezay, I think)...which is pretty much the Rodeo Drive of Paris: really expensive shopping leading up to the Arc. We held our breaths and managed to pass by the temptation, making our way into the Arc via an underground tunnel. Once we were in it, Katie and I decided it was our favorite thing of Paris. (I realize we had seen very little at that point, but we're very easily entertained.) It was so beautiful, and the weather was so nice, I just wanted to live in the middle of it. But I think they frown on that.
After the arc, we went to lunch at a cafe where I experienced first hand that French people like to take 3 hours to eat lunch and 5 hours to bring you the check. After our million hour lunch, we went to H&M. Now, I now you must be thinking 1 or 2 or both of the following: first of all Genna, you said you were able to surpass temptation to shop, you clearly lied. Second of all, why H&M? You're in PARIS! Go somewhere European so we can all be jealous of your fashionista wardrobe instead of heckling you for wearing T-shirts all the time! Well, concerned citizen, first of all, I was not able to walk by all those stores without going into at least one. I am only human. Second of all, it was because of the shiny bags. As a marketing major, you'd think I'd be aware of and therefore immune to psychological advertising tricks, but unfortunately, my brain is not that developed and certainly not that focused when it encounters something shiny. (And as it turns out, same goes for Katie and Vanessa.) The H&M store had opened the day before, and was kicking off its move to the Champs Elysees by putting purchases in stiff white bags with shiny letters on them. I wish I was kidding. I wanted that bag so bad.
After buying a cute little sweater and NOT getting the bag (I almost filed a complaint but I don't speak French), we met up with a couple of Vanessa's friends and went to get Haagan Dazs. It was the most expensive two scoops of ice cream I've ever eaten, at 5 euros. When we were done eating Haagan Dazs, Vanessa and her friends decided to trick me into going to a wine festival at the top of a mountain. Now, obviously this sounds like a fabulous idea: lots of fun on a beautiful Saturday, sitting at the top of a scenic mountain on the steps of an amazing church overlooking all of Paris, sipping wine. But no one warned me that in order to get to the top of this mountain, I had to climb 243 thousand stairs (rough estimate). Also, I found out later that there is actually a train that takes you to the top that no one felt the need to tell me about.
At the top of the mountain, (Montmarte, yes I looked it up), there were thousands of people sitting on the steps of the Sacre Coeur (sp?). Sacre Coeur is a huge, gorgeously ornate basilica, for those of you who are not cultured enough to be familiar with all my fancy french references. (I have a wikipedia tab open right now.) We stopped at a tent and got a bottle of wine and escargo, which I did not drink or eat, respectively. (I don't like wine, and the second thing is snails. So, no thanks. I don't care how much I've grown up, I'm not eating snails.) We sat on the steps and enjoyed the view, which was absolutely incredible. You can see the entire city from the top of Montmarte, and it was so amazing to look at while I basked in the pride of having climbed all those steps. We met up with some more of Vanessa's friends (she's very popular as well), walked through the basilica (which was also incredible), and then made our way back down to the streets.
Enough for one post, I'm gonna break this up like the Berlin one so you guys have some time to digest. Plus I get really nervous that I'm gonna write a ton of shit and then my computer is gonna crash. In which case I would die.
Cheers!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
They're having a grand old two for one time!
This is an appendix to the below post so get yourself caught up before you read any further. Because my posts are like Harry Potter and if you read the second one before the first one it's like...well, you'll still understand it I guess but you'll miss half the fun.
So anyways, we finally made it to the Berlin Wall, where there was an exhibit with tons of information on the war and Hitler's rise to power. It was all very interesting, and weird to see pictures of Nazi troops standing in the exact spot where we just ate a waffle...(See, I'm referencing the below post so you feel like you're missing out if you haven't read it. HA!)
After the wall, we went back to the Hostel to clean up and go to dinner. We went to eat at this amazing little Southern Restaurant called the Louisiana Kid, which amused me because since we had been in Germany all day we had only consumed generic Italian and American food (we had Pizza for lunch earlier). The dinner was delicious and afterwards, we were drawn into a bar called Susan's because the girl outside (who turned out to be Susan herself! although we affectionately called her Suzie) advertised a two-for-one drink special. We ordered two Sex on the Beach's, courtest of our new Bartender friend Dave, and some of us (and by some of us, I mean me) got completely drunk after a second round of what I can only describe as a gallon of alcohol with a splash of juice. We got hit on by some British guys (haha) in town for a bachelor party who bought us shots and called Camille a "cheeky Bastard", and then went home for the night. When we got back to the Hostel, we drank a bit more with the other people staying there (they were playing Kings in the common room, how could we resist?) and then went to sleep.
We woke up the next morning with plans to walk the city again and see what interested us, stopping at a few shops along the way to get some souvenirs. Eventually, we made our way to the "Jew Museum", which was something that I had planned on us doing while in Berlin. The museum was very interesting, and we spent a good two or three hours looking around. I thought it was only going to be about the Holocaust and the history of WWII, but it was actually about extensive Jewish History. The museum was also very interactive, which made it more fun. There was a section with big foam Hebrew letters that asked you to spell out words, and when I completed it successfully, Camille was shocked to learn that I do, in fact, read Hebrew. You learn something new everyday, Camille...this Jew is FULL of surprises.
After the Jewish Museum, we searched high and low for the Holocaust Memorial which turned out to be a huge bust. It was literally like 200 concrete cubes of all different heights, with no inscriptions on them or symbolic meaning. It cost 27 million euros to make and when the architect was asked what it meant he actually said that he didn't want to "give it away" because he wanted people to "draw there own meaning from it." Bull shit. He didn't know, so he wanted to see if we could figure something out to make him look good. The thing was a piece of crap. You killed all those people, and then spent all their money to honor them with something that reminds me a shocking amount of Stonehenge (God, what another piece of shit no one should waste their time seeing...)
Anyways, after the anger over the memorial wore off, we ventured on to have dinner at McDonalds, (which is like a legit restaurant in Europe) and then walked back to Susan's for drinks. We were both exhausted since we had walked about 15 miles in two days and also, someone in our room at the hostel snored and farted in their sleep while wearing questionably small tighty wighties. After drinks, we said our goodbyes to our new friends at Susan's and headed home to sleep. Since we were waking up at different times to leave Berlin, Camille and I said our goodbyes before we went to bed. They would have been filled with sadness if I didn't know I was seeing her in TWO WEEKS in London! WOO HOO!
More exciting posts to come for sure despite the fact that I am currently sick with bronchitus as a result of a long and strenuous weekend. Paris on Friday with Katie and Vanessa, which obviously means my next entry will be just as long because I am continuing the game (another reference from previous post, HA!). I realize I forgot to end the last post with my usual sign off so,
Cheers!
So anyways, we finally made it to the Berlin Wall, where there was an exhibit with tons of information on the war and Hitler's rise to power. It was all very interesting, and weird to see pictures of Nazi troops standing in the exact spot where we just ate a waffle...(See, I'm referencing the below post so you feel like you're missing out if you haven't read it. HA!)
After the wall, we went back to the Hostel to clean up and go to dinner. We went to eat at this amazing little Southern Restaurant called the Louisiana Kid, which amused me because since we had been in Germany all day we had only consumed generic Italian and American food (we had Pizza for lunch earlier). The dinner was delicious and afterwards, we were drawn into a bar called Susan's because the girl outside (who turned out to be Susan herself! although we affectionately called her Suzie) advertised a two-for-one drink special. We ordered two Sex on the Beach's, courtest of our new Bartender friend Dave, and some of us (and by some of us, I mean me) got completely drunk after a second round of what I can only describe as a gallon of alcohol with a splash of juice. We got hit on by some British guys (haha) in town for a bachelor party who bought us shots and called Camille a "cheeky Bastard", and then went home for the night. When we got back to the Hostel, we drank a bit more with the other people staying there (they were playing Kings in the common room, how could we resist?) and then went to sleep.
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| Drink and a fruit salad! |
After the Jewish Museum, we searched high and low for the Holocaust Memorial which turned out to be a huge bust. It was literally like 200 concrete cubes of all different heights, with no inscriptions on them or symbolic meaning. It cost 27 million euros to make and when the architect was asked what it meant he actually said that he didn't want to "give it away" because he wanted people to "draw there own meaning from it." Bull shit. He didn't know, so he wanted to see if we could figure something out to make him look good. The thing was a piece of crap. You killed all those people, and then spent all their money to honor them with something that reminds me a shocking amount of Stonehenge (God, what another piece of shit no one should waste their time seeing...)
Anyways, after the anger over the memorial wore off, we ventured on to have dinner at McDonalds, (which is like a legit restaurant in Europe) and then walked back to Susan's for drinks. We were both exhausted since we had walked about 15 miles in two days and also, someone in our room at the hostel snored and farted in their sleep while wearing questionably small tighty wighties. After drinks, we said our goodbyes to our new friends at Susan's and headed home to sleep. Since we were waking up at different times to leave Berlin, Camille and I said our goodbyes before we went to bed. They would have been filled with sadness if I didn't know I was seeing her in TWO WEEKS in London! WOO HOO!
More exciting posts to come for sure despite the fact that I am currently sick with bronchitus as a result of a long and strenuous weekend. Paris on Friday with Katie and Vanessa, which obviously means my next entry will be just as long because I am continuing the game (another reference from previous post, HA!). I realize I forgot to end the last post with my usual sign off so,
Cheers!
I dew, Honey: Berlin 2010
Brace yourselves, it's going to be a lengthy post. In fact, I will probably break it up into two posts because you will definitely lose interest midway. Mostly because I have officially started to play my new favorite game that I like to call "Stamp the shit out of my passport."
So, Thursday night, when I should have been packing for Berlin, I went to see Chicago at the theater with Alyssia and Emily, and then out for drinks. It was a lot of fun but due to my procrastination, I didn't get to bed until 3am. I woke up to leave for the airport at 6am, thus beginning the longest, most sleep-deprived weekend of 2010.
The weekend started out exciting enough, with me making it to Gate 5A for the 9:20am flight to Berlin, Germany at 9:18. I wish I was kidding, but due to a small clerical error (and by clerical error, I mean me reading the wrong email and thinking I was flying a completely different airline) I took the subway to the wrong terminal in Heathrow Airport. I've never been so freaked out in my life and in the future, will be leaving for the airport 93 hours prior to my flights to avoid any confusion.
I then boarded what turned out to be the bumpiest flight of my life and eventually found myself in the Berlin TXL airport. The airport was so tiny there was a man practically greeting me at the door to the plane to stamp my passport (!!) and then I was on my way to find a cab. Now, normally this is a very simple task for a New Yorker but alas, Germans speak German and Genna does not. Sad day.
After finally finding a driver who understood enough English to comprehend "Here is the address," I was on my way to the hostel. Along the way, not only did this driver try to kill me via insane driving methods certainly not legal in the United States, he also taught me a few key German phrases I would need to know for my trip. Unfortunately, he spoke very fast so the only one that stuck was "Danke" (thank you), which i repeated multiple times throughout my trip after lengthy English sentences in order to sound like a daft tourist. When I asked my driver where he learned to speak English so well ("so well" being a stretch but his English was better than my German) he responded, "I wake up Monday and walk to English School." Well, more than I can say for myself I suppose.
When the cab pulled up to the address 20 minutes later, I see this tiny Arab girl running towards me jumping up and down, shrieking. First though, crazy person. Second though, obviously this is Camille. While the cab was still moving, she threw open the door and hopped in the back seat, attacking me with love. I cannot even begin to express how much I missed this tiny little person. And with that, the lovefest commenced.
Now, for those of you who know me, (and I hope if you're reading this, you do) you understand that staying in a hostel scares the crap out of me because I am afraid of people and dirty-ness. You also know that I am allergic to exercise. So, our hostel was up about 6 flights of stairs in the shadiest, grimiest building I've ever seen in my life. And then, when you open the door, it's full of people. Although colorful and adorable, I had a minor freakout session before Camille made me throw down my shit and get ready to explore.
Over the next 10 hours, Camille and I walked basically the entire city of Berlin. We saw the tents of Oktoberfest and stopped every hundred feet for delicious meals and treats, including a waffle so large I actually agreed to share it. We rode a Ferris Wheel (at the top of which I FREAKED out, and then at the bottom of which I told Camille I never wanted to get off) and walked through a park heading to the Berlin Wall. Unfortunately for my legs, Camille led us about 3 miles in the wrong direction because she held the map upside down. And of course, the whole time, neither one of us even took a breath we were talking so much. Not seeing each other since June had clearly not slowed us down one bit.
Finishing up in another post so you have time to rest after reading this one!
So, Thursday night, when I should have been packing for Berlin, I went to see Chicago at the theater with Alyssia and Emily, and then out for drinks. It was a lot of fun but due to my procrastination, I didn't get to bed until 3am. I woke up to leave for the airport at 6am, thus beginning the longest, most sleep-deprived weekend of 2010.
The weekend started out exciting enough, with me making it to Gate 5A for the 9:20am flight to Berlin, Germany at 9:18. I wish I was kidding, but due to a small clerical error (and by clerical error, I mean me reading the wrong email and thinking I was flying a completely different airline) I took the subway to the wrong terminal in Heathrow Airport. I've never been so freaked out in my life and in the future, will be leaving for the airport 93 hours prior to my flights to avoid any confusion.
I then boarded what turned out to be the bumpiest flight of my life and eventually found myself in the Berlin TXL airport. The airport was so tiny there was a man practically greeting me at the door to the plane to stamp my passport (!!) and then I was on my way to find a cab. Now, normally this is a very simple task for a New Yorker but alas, Germans speak German and Genna does not. Sad day.
After finally finding a driver who understood enough English to comprehend "Here is the address," I was on my way to the hostel. Along the way, not only did this driver try to kill me via insane driving methods certainly not legal in the United States, he also taught me a few key German phrases I would need to know for my trip. Unfortunately, he spoke very fast so the only one that stuck was "Danke" (thank you), which i repeated multiple times throughout my trip after lengthy English sentences in order to sound like a daft tourist. When I asked my driver where he learned to speak English so well ("so well" being a stretch but his English was better than my German) he responded, "I wake up Monday and walk to English School." Well, more than I can say for myself I suppose.
When the cab pulled up to the address 20 minutes later, I see this tiny Arab girl running towards me jumping up and down, shrieking. First though, crazy person. Second though, obviously this is Camille. While the cab was still moving, she threw open the door and hopped in the back seat, attacking me with love. I cannot even begin to express how much I missed this tiny little person. And with that, the lovefest commenced.
Now, for those of you who know me, (and I hope if you're reading this, you do) you understand that staying in a hostel scares the crap out of me because I am afraid of people and dirty-ness. You also know that I am allergic to exercise. So, our hostel was up about 6 flights of stairs in the shadiest, grimiest building I've ever seen in my life. And then, when you open the door, it's full of people. Although colorful and adorable, I had a minor freakout session before Camille made me throw down my shit and get ready to explore.
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| The door to our Hostel |
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| Oktoberfest Tents- View from Ferris Wheel |
Finishing up in another post so you have time to rest after reading this one!
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