ROME, ITALY. After that crazy morning getting from Spain to Italy, we finally arrived in Rome, after an INSANELY rough landing. My ears didn't pop until we left for Florence. andd…it was raining when we landed. Rained first day we got to Germany, rained the entire time we were in London, rained first day we went to every other city…just followed us everywhere.
The first night we were there we went and saw the Colosseum. We didn't get to see the inside because it was too late at night but we got to look at the outside and see the Arch of Constantine. It was breathtaking. I could hardly believe I was there…I was in Rome…and at the Colosseum. So much history had happened there, its unbelievable. and yet again…another scene played out in my head. I really can't help these…its just my imagination running away.
We got free pizza and $2 sangria, saw the Vatican and Sistine Chapel (which we waited in a 3 hour line for…and of course when we came out, there was no line), we went to the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, went to a flea market in the pouring rain for three hours, saw an arrest on the bus we were on, watched gypsies attack a man in a suit who tried to beat them off with a newspaper, and…went to Tivoli. When I wrote about Tivoli in my journal…I wrote 6 pages…front and back. but…I'll spare you.
Tivoli, Italy. Tivoli is an ancient city about an hour outside Rome. We took a bus there through pouring rain, but it ended up being perfect because when we got there it had just stopped and the air smelled so fresh. The main attraction in Tivoli is the 500 year old castle with huge gardens and well...really, there are few words to describe the waterfalls and fountains that were created there.
I can't write about everything I saw and loved in Tivoli without writing a huge book so I'll just write about the beauty that stood out to me the most.
The view we had of the gardens and water fountains from the castle was spectacular. There were very interesting rooms inside the castle. Outside the castle, there were 3 pools in rectangular form with fish swimming and one huge water fountain which sprayed up into the air and back down into one of the pools. The most amazing thing was this rather enclosed cave that had one single waterfall in it. It was almost too loud to stay and listen to but I was completely mesmerized watching it.
There was a field that seemed as though it was created right from my imagination. there was a small dirt road in the middle of it, a small wooden gate on the far side, and on the other side of the gate, another whole field. This field had a ruined building to the side of it that had been burned. And there was also what looked like a small cemetery next to it, but as I looked closer I saw that it was also just ruins.
There were long walkways with rows and rows of blossoming flowers on either side of it. As I walked by them, the overwhelming smell of the flower just filled my nose completely.
I love Tivoli...I highly recommend you going to this city if you're going to be anywhere in Europe. It will be soo worth it. ;)
FLORENCE, ITALY. We took the train from Rome to Florence...gorgeous countryside. I was tired and I fell asleep. I love that I had developed the talent of sleeping wherever whenever. ;)
We didn't take any public transportation here, except maybe a bus once. We walked *everywhere. Our hostel was kind of in the middle of nowhere too which didn't make it any easier. I loved our hostel. It was like a bed and breakfast like we would have here in the States. Very small and quaint. Dominic *whose name was actually Rolando but he was from the Dominican Republic and we dubbed him :P* was our lovely host who served us breakfast every morning and delicious snacks all throughout the day. All the food that he made was SOO good.
The night we arrived, there was a Asian girl staying in our room with us. She was pretty quiet but I remember her laughing while she was dancing with Dom and she looked absolutely gorgeous.
The second night we were there...San Francisco stayed in our room. He got HIS name from a hat that he had under his bed that we saw before we met him. :P He snored SO loud, I hardly slept that night. My bed was right beside his and I woke up so may times during the night, I got so pissed. I couldn't stand it. I HATE not being able to sleep. It was pretty bad. funny now, but not at all then.
We went shopping the day we got there. Since we were only there for two days, we wanted to see everything we could. I mostly just window shopped and ate gelato. :)
We went and visited David. and took pictures with him. lovely man.
We went to a Criminal Museum, ate the most delicious tortellini I have ever tasted, visited the Uffizi Museum which I found boring *one of the only things I found interesting that I remember was Albrecht Duhrer's work...it was fantastic*, and we ate gelato every day.
I realized in Florence that I wasn't friendly enough to people. I wish I had talked to random strangers more. Even talked to people I was with more. Just a thought. Next time...;)
VENICE, ITALY. First day in Venice...it rained. :P We were supposed to be shopping and it was pouring. :P I loved all the water though...it was gorgeous.
We went to St. Mark's Square. aboslutely beautiful. Steph and I fed millions and millions of pigeons. at first I didn't want to but Steph bought corn and then Micah was taking pictures and it looked fun. and so I did. and it was a blast. :)
It was beautiful. Just walking through it and all the way down to the water where the canals were...like something right from my imagination.
We ate the best Chinese food EVER, shopped and shopped, rode the crazy extremely crowded Vaporettas (water taxis) that I loved *I found that the Italian sailors that controlled part of the Vaporettas very interesting. most of them were guys but a few were girls...just seemed like a fascinating job*, and we took a gondola ride which was one of my favorite parts of Venice :)
Leaving Venice was also quite insane. We were to take a train from Venice to Trieste, which is in Northeast Italy, and then a bus from Trieste to Senj, Croatia...
Our train from Venice was 4 hours late. Italian and Spanish protestors were EVERYWHERE...supposedly protesting Bush being in Rome. No trains came through or left for four hours. However...we had fun setting up our ipod and speakers and dancing. :D
The police finally put the protestors on a train to Rome and then the trains began coming through again. yay. After a long train ride and even longer bus ride, we reached our final destination...
SENJ, CROATIA. Croatia is a beautiful country. Senj is surrounded by the Adriatic Sea...the water is the clearest and bluest water I have ever seen.
While is Senj, we went to the beach every day. It was very unlike the beaches I have ever been to in Texas or Florida. It was a pebble beach...no sand, which was rather nice. :) and the water was still. hardly waves at all. andd...all children under 12 were completely nude...and *some grownups too...:S
We stayed with Ines' grandparents, Bacha and Ante, whose house is about 300 steps away from the beach. ANd literal steps. we climbed down and up those 300 steps every single day. major workout for our legs...at least we had some sort of exercise since we were lying around being lazy all day. :P By the way, Bacha and Ante...spoke not a single word of English.
Every morning, Bacha (which means grandmother in Croatian) made us a delicious breakfast. my favorite thing was her homemade Marmelade jam. so so good. :) Then we would lather up with sunscreen while the construcion workers working on the house and Ante watched rather intently. lol. And we would go to the beach and not come home till dusk.
Sadly, I got the terrible skin rash that tourists usually get when they go to Croatian beaches. We had started taking calcium concentrate as soon as we arrived in Croatia but that didn't prevent the rash from ravishing my body. It makes your whole body itch like CRAZY. mine was mostly on my stomach and my back...so annoying because I ususally couldn't reach any itching on my back. andd...I couldn't go out into the sun because of it. I stayed under the shade or just didn't go to the beach.
And...that's pretty much what we did every day. Ate breakfast, met distant relatives of Ines', went to the beach, ate dinner, and went to sleep.
One night Ines did take us out to "downtown Senj" and showed us where she used to go when she was a little girl...told us a bit about the history of the old buildings. We drank screwdrivers, played Nertz, celebrated Ines' and Ante's birthdays, went to a pub and had tequila (soo good :P), slivovica, some rum drink and more tequila. :) I went out with Alex one night to see the piers which were absolutely beautiful...all you see is long row of huge rocks and water water water. I read Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller every day we were at the beach...incredible book.
Leaving Croatia. Took a 5hour bus to Zadar. Beth told me to go to St. Louis, MO, and see The Children's Museum. She and Ines say its one of the most awesome places to visit. So I was like hey I need to go up and visit Lynda and go see that. That would be funn. She also told me about a free outdoor theater called the Mumy. andd...about Mills Mall. So...those places I plan to see sometime. :)
I've decided that one thing I want to do in my lifetime is sail for a long period of time. Just buy a sailboat and sail the great seas. Not only would it be absolutely beautiful, it would be a great time to meditate. ;)
We had to spend a night in the Stanstead London airport. bought food, drank coffee, and "slept" on the floor. In the morning we flew from London to Germany where we met Thomas and Sabine again. so good to see familiar faces. We went to their house, took a nap, ate dinner and watched a movie. we stayed with our German family for another 2 or 3 days. Talked with them a bit about our travels, went to Sabine's English class that she teaches, and shopped one day all day.
The next day, we said our goodbyes and took our flight from Germany to Chicago. long flight. went through customs in Chicago, then took our flight to San Antonio. We got off the plane and were immediately hit with the humidity in the air. but it was SO good to be home.
My Andy was there to meet me and I was so happy to see him, I was shaking.
Went home and saw the family...very good to be home. I got into my bed and said AHHHH. my bed! lol. yay for being home!
Monday, November 19, 2007
road trip
I just got back from my road trip with my boyfriend, Andy...I could write about all our experiences OR you could go to Vaguely Vagabonds and read about it yourself. :)
You can also go to flickr and see all our pictures. have fun!
You can also go to flickr and see all our pictures. have fun!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Europe: part one
Europe.
Europe is amazing. I would love to live there any amount of time. I'm so excited about
going back. I don't know when I will or where or how, but I know I will.
GERMANY. We arrived in Frankfurt around 10 am in the morning. We met Thomas and Sabine, Ines' good friends, at the airport and we packed all our luggage in their minivan and mercedes and drove the 30 minutes to their house in Goldbach. Where we stayed they had three little towns really close to each other. There was Goldbach, Auschaffenburg, and Unterafferbach.
We rested a bit at their house, met their beautiful daughter, Janina, ate an amazing
lunch, fought to stay awake and tried to get aquainted with each other. Since Thomas and Sabine couldn't keep all 9 of us girls at their house, we split up into 3 groups. Steph, Julie, and I went and stayed with their neighbors, the Beisslers, who gave us the whole flat underneath their house for our own. They used to rent it out but stopped after they needed the extra room. They have 3 kids…Maria who is 15, Ruth who is 13, and Noah who is probably 10 or 11. Hammond and Monika are some of the most amazing people I have ever met. SO hospitable and friendly and welcoming and open…just above and beyond anything I ever expected. They all spoke English very well. Ruth and Noah not as much but they could understand a bit.
The next three days in Germany, we went to a few castles (in one, we went in and there was this barred off room which was a burial resting place. I looked through the bars and this whole great scene just started playing out in my mind. of a king who went in to pray to his gods, carefully sidestepping the place where his ancestors were buried and his servant comes in and asks him what he needs…how he can serves him. yes I have an insane imagination.) we went to a palace, walked through Auschaffenburg, walked through an amazing forest in the rain, ate lots of gelato, and went to BierGartens (beergardens). now…Andy thought that this was a place where you just go and drink beer. but…its actually quite different. you can eat here and of course get beer but we ate bratwurst which was sausage in bread (really really good) and sauerkraut and gelato…then we would always walk around in the gardens…huge gardens that look more like forests. They have rivers and brigdes and a lighthouse and its beautiful. A lot of it is manmade but you can only tell by the water which is quite stagnant. But everything else looks real.
The last day we were in Germany, we went to Wurzburg. We took a train there, which was exciting because it was my first time taking a train. :D We were going to go to a wine festival that day but there were so many people there we decided not to…but we did see a lot of the vineyards on the train ride…which were really interesting.
I remember mostly that it was really hot that day…and we saw a Brazilian "festival" there were shirtless Brazilian men and Brazilian women dancing in thongs in the middle of the street with like a whole band of drummers. we wanted to stay and watch but there were SO many people and it was really hot…but we did get to see a little bit and the funny thing was that there was this old man in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt and a straw hat that as soon as he saw them coming down the street, started dancing like freakin' crazy with them. It was so funny.
The last morning we were in Germany, we ate breakfast with the Beisslers. The typical Bulvarian breakfast is bread with laberkasse (really yummy meat sort of like the texture of ham but it tastes completely different), different assortments of meat and cheese, big homemade pretzels, rhubarb cheesecake or some other cake, orange juice sometimes, and coffee. Monika made us the most delicious amazing Italian cappuccinos for breakfast that morning. Sometimes they even eat cold bratwurst sausage in the morning and we tried it because Noah wanted us to ;) but it almost made me gag eating it that early in the morning. After breakfast with them, we sat around and talked for a few hours before we went to the airport. Hammond told us about his travels in the US when he was young. He traveled for about 3 months…pretty much all over the US. Stayed with people he knew, stayed with people he didn't know, worked when he needed money, hitchhiked…I loved hearing about that.
LONDON, ENGLAND. London. The great wonderful historic city of London. I got off the plane from Frankfurt and was immediately hit with a blast of cold air…and rain. That was how the weather was the entire 3 days we were there. FUN. :P We took the Underground to the station closest to our hostel, then walked the rest of the way in the rain. Our hostel…wow. Well first of all, I wasn't even supposed to stay there. they only accepted people between the ages of 18 and 25 and I'm only 17. Ines had found a glitch online though that we could have gotten out of it had they said anything…but they didn't. :D Our room was on the 6th floor and thankfully we had the whole room to ourselves but we had to walk up these tiny really steep stairs every day. The room had a bathroom in it but everything was like…dwarfsized. TINY. our whole room was smaller than an average sized living room. there was a giant hole in the wall and when we took showers, water would come pouring out of it. kinda funny now but then we were kinda horrified.
One thing that was one of the big highlights of the trip for me was the Tate Modern Museum. We went to the British museum but I'm not really into old artifacts and such, as much as modern art. and the Tate was full of modern art…like three whole stories of it. I could have lived there…for days. It had such amazing art…rooms and rooms filled with giant canvases painted brilliantly. I was so astounded. There is so much life in art. so much story-telling. there's no way you can look at a painting and understand the worth and depth of it in a single glance…or even two. It takes immense studying and researching of the artist…at least for me. it makes a huge difference. and for me to be in the Tate for about an hour at the most because everyone else wanted to leave, and have all that art around me and have to speed through it…made me sad. like I said…I could have *lived there. ;)
We saw Big Ben (absolutely stunning…I stood there and just stared up at it for the longest time…probably one of the great beauties I've seen), Westminster Abbey, shopped on Oxford Street, lost Julie for an entire day, walked on the Millenium Bridge where this elder British lady yelled at us to "PICK UP YOUR FEET" yeah. we had been dragging our feet because it made a funny sound…so we looked at her for a sec, walked normally for about five steps, burst out laughing, and then dragged our feet again. We saw St. Paul's Cathedral which was beautiful (another great scene of a wedding took place in my mind there :P), took a red double-decker bus :P, rode the underground lots *fun stuff…I liked it anyway* we saw the Tower of London, did a little song and dance on the bridge, went to Buckingham Palce (where we waited an hour and half in FREEZING weather to watch the changing of the guards. we were all huddled together and talking a little bit but mostly, it was too cold. oh but we were talking about pickpockets one time and how bad they were. Beth was standing behind me and she said, "and you'll never even
notice if someone comes up to you and goes like this!" and she reached her hand into my back pocket and groped around for like 2 seconds and then pulled it out. it was so funny…and laughing warmed us up a bit. :P) we ate some amazing pizza, ate fish and chips, ate some absolutely incredible *but rather expensive* Indian food, ate at 'Eat', watched drunken men stumble around in the middle of the street at noon…after stealing a cabbage LOL, backpacked through Hyde Park on our way to catch the bus to the airport when we were leaving, and finally took our plane to our next destination which was….
BARCELONA, SPAIN. Barcelona was interesting. Not my favorite place, but it does have its beauty. Every place does, I think. You can always find beauty somewhere in something. It's always there…you just have to look for it.
I remember this city being very noisy because of all the moped drivers *everywhere. our hostel was very big…pretty nice. when we got there and checked in, the clerk told us since there were 10 beds and there were 9 of us girls they put a young man in that room with us. And he said he was from Las Vegas…and that became his name from then on. :P We talked to him a bit whenever he was there, but I don't think we ever found out his real name, lol. We woke up in the morning to the maid yelling at us that she needed to clean the rooms so we needed to get out. *sigh* I was feeling extremely sick and considered staying at the hostel, but didn't want to miss out on seeing Barcelona…and I'm so glad I went. we ended up going to Parc Guell.. took a while and thank God there were escalators because walking up a hill that steep was insane. There was this one view we saw looking over the city and there was this random sign on the middle of a rooftop that said "Why call it tourist season if you can't shoot them?" I got a kick out of that.
We saw a man playing a hang. one of the most beautiful things I have seen…and heard. its this instrument that you play with your fingers...it kinda looks like a giant upside metal bowl and you use your fingers to beat out notes…it sounds absolutely amazing. I could have stood and watched him for a very long time. I was completely mesmerized. He seemed to me the epitome of Spain…red shirt, long dreads, playing a musical instrument for his living in a sandy cave. just so beautiful in such a simple way.
We saw the incredible Fount de Mont Juic. A great beauty. It's a fountain which sort of has a light show. the water turns into different colors and melts to the rhythm of classical music…gives you goosebumps just standing there, the wind blowing in your face, beautiful music playing and a out of this world beauty before your eyes. takes your breath away.
The second and last day we were in Barcelona, we saw Sagrada Familia, ate in a delicious Tapas bar, and went to a club. Being able to drink legally over there is priceless. I loved it.
Leaving Barcelona was a bit crazy. We got up at 5am in order to have enough time to take a taxi to the bus station, and then to take the one hour bus to the airport. We had it all planned out. But...things rarely go as planned. We had called three taxis to come out to take us to the bus station but when only two showed up we split up into 2 groups. The taxi drivers took us to the wrong place, when we finally got them to understand we needed to go to the bus station, they started the meter again and when we finally got there and they severely overcharged us, we were too much in a hurry to stay and figure things out. We found our 5.30 bus running a bit late so we stood there and waited for Ines and Tab to show up. And...we waited until the bus left. There was another bus at 6.30 so we decided we would get on that one when Ines and Tab did get there. Well...we waited an hour. They still weren't there. We were all worried and stressed and half the group was crying. We finally decided against splitting up into *3 groups and we all got on the bus. I slept until we got to the airport where we finally found Ines and Tab. Ines was having a heart attack, frantically asking us where the hell we had been. It turns out...their taxi driver had actually gotten them there *before we got there and they had gotten on the 5.30 bus...the same bus we had stood by for 15 minutes until it left. And since we were so badly behind on time, we just barely made our flight. Imagine this...all before 8am. Yeah. It was insane.
So we ended up leaving Barcelona with quite a distasteful goodbye. But we all made it safely *and together* to...Rome.
Europe is amazing. I would love to live there any amount of time. I'm so excited about
going back. I don't know when I will or where or how, but I know I will.
GERMANY. We arrived in Frankfurt around 10 am in the morning. We met Thomas and Sabine, Ines' good friends, at the airport and we packed all our luggage in their minivan and mercedes and drove the 30 minutes to their house in Goldbach. Where we stayed they had three little towns really close to each other. There was Goldbach, Auschaffenburg, and Unterafferbach.
We rested a bit at their house, met their beautiful daughter, Janina, ate an amazing
lunch, fought to stay awake and tried to get aquainted with each other. Since Thomas and Sabine couldn't keep all 9 of us girls at their house, we split up into 3 groups. Steph, Julie, and I went and stayed with their neighbors, the Beisslers, who gave us the whole flat underneath their house for our own. They used to rent it out but stopped after they needed the extra room. They have 3 kids…Maria who is 15, Ruth who is 13, and Noah who is probably 10 or 11. Hammond and Monika are some of the most amazing people I have ever met. SO hospitable and friendly and welcoming and open…just above and beyond anything I ever expected. They all spoke English very well. Ruth and Noah not as much but they could understand a bit.
The next three days in Germany, we went to a few castles (in one, we went in and there was this barred off room which was a burial resting place. I looked through the bars and this whole great scene just started playing out in my mind. of a king who went in to pray to his gods, carefully sidestepping the place where his ancestors were buried and his servant comes in and asks him what he needs…how he can serves him. yes I have an insane imagination.) we went to a palace, walked through Auschaffenburg, walked through an amazing forest in the rain, ate lots of gelato, and went to BierGartens (beergardens). now…Andy thought that this was a place where you just go and drink beer. but…its actually quite different. you can eat here and of course get beer but we ate bratwurst which was sausage in bread (really really good) and sauerkraut and gelato…then we would always walk around in the gardens…huge gardens that look more like forests. They have rivers and brigdes and a lighthouse and its beautiful. A lot of it is manmade but you can only tell by the water which is quite stagnant. But everything else looks real.
The last day we were in Germany, we went to Wurzburg. We took a train there, which was exciting because it was my first time taking a train. :D We were going to go to a wine festival that day but there were so many people there we decided not to…but we did see a lot of the vineyards on the train ride…which were really interesting.
I remember mostly that it was really hot that day…and we saw a Brazilian "festival" there were shirtless Brazilian men and Brazilian women dancing in thongs in the middle of the street with like a whole band of drummers. we wanted to stay and watch but there were SO many people and it was really hot…but we did get to see a little bit and the funny thing was that there was this old man in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt and a straw hat that as soon as he saw them coming down the street, started dancing like freakin' crazy with them. It was so funny.
The last morning we were in Germany, we ate breakfast with the Beisslers. The typical Bulvarian breakfast is bread with laberkasse (really yummy meat sort of like the texture of ham but it tastes completely different), different assortments of meat and cheese, big homemade pretzels, rhubarb cheesecake or some other cake, orange juice sometimes, and coffee. Monika made us the most delicious amazing Italian cappuccinos for breakfast that morning. Sometimes they even eat cold bratwurst sausage in the morning and we tried it because Noah wanted us to ;) but it almost made me gag eating it that early in the morning. After breakfast with them, we sat around and talked for a few hours before we went to the airport. Hammond told us about his travels in the US when he was young. He traveled for about 3 months…pretty much all over the US. Stayed with people he knew, stayed with people he didn't know, worked when he needed money, hitchhiked…I loved hearing about that.
LONDON, ENGLAND. London. The great wonderful historic city of London. I got off the plane from Frankfurt and was immediately hit with a blast of cold air…and rain. That was how the weather was the entire 3 days we were there. FUN. :P We took the Underground to the station closest to our hostel, then walked the rest of the way in the rain. Our hostel…wow. Well first of all, I wasn't even supposed to stay there. they only accepted people between the ages of 18 and 25 and I'm only 17. Ines had found a glitch online though that we could have gotten out of it had they said anything…but they didn't. :D Our room was on the 6th floor and thankfully we had the whole room to ourselves but we had to walk up these tiny really steep stairs every day. The room had a bathroom in it but everything was like…dwarfsized. TINY. our whole room was smaller than an average sized living room. there was a giant hole in the wall and when we took showers, water would come pouring out of it. kinda funny now but then we were kinda horrified.
One thing that was one of the big highlights of the trip for me was the Tate Modern Museum. We went to the British museum but I'm not really into old artifacts and such, as much as modern art. and the Tate was full of modern art…like three whole stories of it. I could have lived there…for days. It had such amazing art…rooms and rooms filled with giant canvases painted brilliantly. I was so astounded. There is so much life in art. so much story-telling. there's no way you can look at a painting and understand the worth and depth of it in a single glance…or even two. It takes immense studying and researching of the artist…at least for me. it makes a huge difference. and for me to be in the Tate for about an hour at the most because everyone else wanted to leave, and have all that art around me and have to speed through it…made me sad. like I said…I could have *lived there. ;)
We saw Big Ben (absolutely stunning…I stood there and just stared up at it for the longest time…probably one of the great beauties I've seen), Westminster Abbey, shopped on Oxford Street, lost Julie for an entire day, walked on the Millenium Bridge where this elder British lady yelled at us to "PICK UP YOUR FEET" yeah. we had been dragging our feet because it made a funny sound…so we looked at her for a sec, walked normally for about five steps, burst out laughing, and then dragged our feet again. We saw St. Paul's Cathedral which was beautiful (another great scene of a wedding took place in my mind there :P), took a red double-decker bus :P, rode the underground lots *fun stuff…I liked it anyway* we saw the Tower of London, did a little song and dance on the bridge, went to Buckingham Palce (where we waited an hour and half in FREEZING weather to watch the changing of the guards. we were all huddled together and talking a little bit but mostly, it was too cold. oh but we were talking about pickpockets one time and how bad they were. Beth was standing behind me and she said, "and you'll never even
notice if someone comes up to you and goes like this!" and she reached her hand into my back pocket and groped around for like 2 seconds and then pulled it out. it was so funny…and laughing warmed us up a bit. :P) we ate some amazing pizza, ate fish and chips, ate some absolutely incredible *but rather expensive* Indian food, ate at 'Eat', watched drunken men stumble around in the middle of the street at noon…after stealing a cabbage LOL, backpacked through Hyde Park on our way to catch the bus to the airport when we were leaving, and finally took our plane to our next destination which was….
BARCELONA, SPAIN. Barcelona was interesting. Not my favorite place, but it does have its beauty. Every place does, I think. You can always find beauty somewhere in something. It's always there…you just have to look for it.
I remember this city being very noisy because of all the moped drivers *everywhere. our hostel was very big…pretty nice. when we got there and checked in, the clerk told us since there were 10 beds and there were 9 of us girls they put a young man in that room with us. And he said he was from Las Vegas…and that became his name from then on. :P We talked to him a bit whenever he was there, but I don't think we ever found out his real name, lol. We woke up in the morning to the maid yelling at us that she needed to clean the rooms so we needed to get out. *sigh* I was feeling extremely sick and considered staying at the hostel, but didn't want to miss out on seeing Barcelona…and I'm so glad I went. we ended up going to Parc Guell.. took a while and thank God there were escalators because walking up a hill that steep was insane. There was this one view we saw looking over the city and there was this random sign on the middle of a rooftop that said "Why call it tourist season if you can't shoot them?" I got a kick out of that.
We saw a man playing a hang. one of the most beautiful things I have seen…and heard. its this instrument that you play with your fingers...it kinda looks like a giant upside metal bowl and you use your fingers to beat out notes…it sounds absolutely amazing. I could have stood and watched him for a very long time. I was completely mesmerized. He seemed to me the epitome of Spain…red shirt, long dreads, playing a musical instrument for his living in a sandy cave. just so beautiful in such a simple way.
We saw the incredible Fount de Mont Juic. A great beauty. It's a fountain which sort of has a light show. the water turns into different colors and melts to the rhythm of classical music…gives you goosebumps just standing there, the wind blowing in your face, beautiful music playing and a out of this world beauty before your eyes. takes your breath away.
The second and last day we were in Barcelona, we saw Sagrada Familia, ate in a delicious Tapas bar, and went to a club. Being able to drink legally over there is priceless. I loved it.
Leaving Barcelona was a bit crazy. We got up at 5am in order to have enough time to take a taxi to the bus station, and then to take the one hour bus to the airport. We had it all planned out. But...things rarely go as planned. We had called three taxis to come out to take us to the bus station but when only two showed up we split up into 2 groups. The taxi drivers took us to the wrong place, when we finally got them to understand we needed to go to the bus station, they started the meter again and when we finally got there and they severely overcharged us, we were too much in a hurry to stay and figure things out. We found our 5.30 bus running a bit late so we stood there and waited for Ines and Tab to show up. And...we waited until the bus left. There was another bus at 6.30 so we decided we would get on that one when Ines and Tab did get there. Well...we waited an hour. They still weren't there. We were all worried and stressed and half the group was crying. We finally decided against splitting up into *3 groups and we all got on the bus. I slept until we got to the airport where we finally found Ines and Tab. Ines was having a heart attack, frantically asking us where the hell we had been. It turns out...their taxi driver had actually gotten them there *before we got there and they had gotten on the 5.30 bus...the same bus we had stood by for 15 minutes until it left. And since we were so badly behind on time, we just barely made our flight. Imagine this...all before 8am. Yeah. It was insane.
So we ended up leaving Barcelona with quite a distasteful goodbye. But we all made it safely *and together* to...Rome.
Monday, May 21, 2007
leaving
I'm leaving tomorrow! our plane takes off at 2pm and we have a layover in Chicago for a couple of hours..and then we're going to arrive in Frankfurt, Germany around 2am in Texas and around 9am in Frankfurt. jetlag city...;)
I'ma try to get internet over there but we'll see. Probably won't be online a whole lot.
And I'm coming back June 19th......
I'ma try to get internet over there but we'll see. Probably won't be online a whole lot.
And I'm coming back June 19th......
Sunday, May 20, 2007
graduation day
So....I am graduated.
I woke up at 7am...we got to the church around 10, and I set up my table and helped set up the flowers and such with some ladies and Andy. Andy was there yay! And we got to spend a bit of time together before everyone started getting there. :)
Then it started at 12pm although we didn't actually start walking in until about 12.20 or 12.25 or so. I was SO nervous waiting...I just wanted it to be over with...at least the walking part.
But it was finally time...and I walked down fine. :) yay! I didn't trip or anything. :P very good. then it was going, we had our prayer which was awesome...but I told myself before I wasn't going to cry...and I didn't :) my mom did though....
And then...ok so then the ceremony still took FOREVER and I got really bored...uhmm and then there was great sexual sign language people who performed orgasmic "signing". pretty crazy.
And then before I knew it, it was ALL over and I walked out and yelled WHOOHOO!
Then I went to eat at Alamo Cafe with my family. That was fun and the food was really good but since I had been nervous, I felt sick, and so I ate like 2 bites and was full. and THEN...I met up with Lisa, Bekah, Nikki, and Andy and we went to the mall and puttputting. And we also met up with Kalorie *Val and her fiancee* and Daniel...Lisa's bf. Puttputting was fun *I won :)* but Danny killed a bird and Kurtis tried to smash a frog and noone really cared about who was winning or anything...'cept for me and Andy. Andy was there for me. He made everything worth it...and bearable.
Then we went to DQ and ate icecream and I tried fries with icecream....and chicken with icecream. the latter was rather interesting but the fries with the icecream were nasty. and I ate a lemon. :)
And then we came home, and Andy were going to spend some time talking but then my mother decided to come watch a movie with us. that was just wonderful. lol.
So that was the end to that day...pretty crazy day and I was so tired. I got a couple of gifts but mostly money and I'm very happy with that because I'll be able to use it on my trip. yay! and I'm leaving in 2 days! ahhhh! YAY! I can't wait....I have to pack....
I woke up at 7am...we got to the church around 10, and I set up my table and helped set up the flowers and such with some ladies and Andy. Andy was there yay! And we got to spend a bit of time together before everyone started getting there. :)
Then it started at 12pm although we didn't actually start walking in until about 12.20 or 12.25 or so. I was SO nervous waiting...I just wanted it to be over with...at least the walking part.
But it was finally time...and I walked down fine. :) yay! I didn't trip or anything. :P very good. then it was going, we had our prayer which was awesome...but I told myself before I wasn't going to cry...and I didn't :) my mom did though....
And then...ok so then the ceremony still took FOREVER and I got really bored...uhmm and then there was great sexual sign language people who performed orgasmic "signing". pretty crazy.
And then before I knew it, it was ALL over and I walked out and yelled WHOOHOO!
Then I went to eat at Alamo Cafe with my family. That was fun and the food was really good but since I had been nervous, I felt sick, and so I ate like 2 bites and was full. and THEN...I met up with Lisa, Bekah, Nikki, and Andy and we went to the mall and puttputting. And we also met up with Kalorie *Val and her fiancee* and Daniel...Lisa's bf. Puttputting was fun *I won :)* but Danny killed a bird and Kurtis tried to smash a frog and noone really cared about who was winning or anything...'cept for me and Andy. Andy was there for me. He made everything worth it...and bearable.
Then we went to DQ and ate icecream and I tried fries with icecream....and chicken with icecream. the latter was rather interesting but the fries with the icecream were nasty. and I ate a lemon. :)
And then we came home, and Andy were going to spend some time talking but then my mother decided to come watch a movie with us. that was just wonderful. lol.
So that was the end to that day...pretty crazy day and I was so tired. I got a couple of gifts but mostly money and I'm very happy with that because I'll be able to use it on my trip. yay! and I'm leaving in 2 days! ahhhh! YAY! I can't wait....I have to pack....
Monday, May 14, 2007
days away....
I have rehearsal tonight. My graduation is in 5 days. I leave for Europe in 8 days. I can hardly believe it...I can't wait! YAY!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
I stole these from andy
Will Ferrell...I'm starting to like him more and more...he's hilarious!
http://planetwill.jt.org/media/sounds/wavs/devilrapsong.wav
http://planetwill.jt.org/media/sounds/wavs/devilsongfreestyle.wav
http://planetwill.jt.org/media/sounds/wavs/devilrapsong.wav
http://planetwill.jt.org/media/sounds/wavs/devilsongfreestyle.wav
These Days
These Days by Jon Bon Jovi
I was walking around, just a face in the crowd
Trying to keep myself out of the rain
Saw a vagabond king wear a styrofoam crown
Wondered if I might end up the same
There's a man out on the corner
Singing old songs about change
Everybodys got their cross to bare, these days
She came looking for some shelter with a suitcase full of dreams
To a motel room on the boulevard
Guess she's trying to be James Dean
She's seen all the disciples and all the "wanna be's"
No one wants to be themselves these days
Still there's nothing to hold on to but these days
These days - the stars ain't out of reach
These days - there ain't a ladder on the streets
These days - are fast, love don't last in this graceless age
There ain't nobody left but us these days
Jimmy shoes busted both his legs, trying to learn to fly
From a second story window, he just jumped and closed his eyes
His momma said he was crazy - he said "momma I've got to try"
Don't you know that all my heroes died
And I guess I'd rather die than fade away
These days - the stars ain't out of reach
But these days - there ain't a ladder on the streets
These days are fast, love don't lasts - in this graceless age
Even innocence has caught the morning train
And there ain't nobody left but us these days
I know Rome's still burning
Though the times have changed
This world keeps turning round and round and round and round
These days
These days - the stars ain't out of reach
But these days - there ain't a ladder on the streets
These days are fast, love don't lasts - its this graceless age
Even innocence has caught the midnight train
And there ain't nobody left but us these days
These days - the stars ain't out of reach
These days - there ain't a ladder on the streets
These days - are fast, nothing lasts
There ain't no time to waste
There ain't nobody left to take the blame
There ain't nobody left but us these days
I was walking around, just a face in the crowd
Trying to keep myself out of the rain
Saw a vagabond king wear a styrofoam crown
Wondered if I might end up the same
There's a man out on the corner
Singing old songs about change
Everybodys got their cross to bare, these days
She came looking for some shelter with a suitcase full of dreams
To a motel room on the boulevard
Guess she's trying to be James Dean
She's seen all the disciples and all the "wanna be's"
No one wants to be themselves these days
Still there's nothing to hold on to but these days
These days - the stars ain't out of reach
These days - there ain't a ladder on the streets
These days - are fast, love don't last in this graceless age
There ain't nobody left but us these days
Jimmy shoes busted both his legs, trying to learn to fly
From a second story window, he just jumped and closed his eyes
His momma said he was crazy - he said "momma I've got to try"
Don't you know that all my heroes died
And I guess I'd rather die than fade away
These days - the stars ain't out of reach
But these days - there ain't a ladder on the streets
These days are fast, love don't lasts - in this graceless age
Even innocence has caught the morning train
And there ain't nobody left but us these days
I know Rome's still burning
Though the times have changed
This world keeps turning round and round and round and round
These days
These days - the stars ain't out of reach
But these days - there ain't a ladder on the streets
These days are fast, love don't lasts - its this graceless age
Even innocence has caught the midnight train
And there ain't nobody left but us these days
These days - the stars ain't out of reach
These days - there ain't a ladder on the streets
These days - are fast, nothing lasts
There ain't no time to waste
There ain't nobody left to take the blame
There ain't nobody left but us these days
First
Soo...I had a blog on here. But I decided that I wanted to start all over. I've changed quite a bit in the past couple of months so I think my blogging should reflect the thoughts and feelings that I have now...so here we go again. :)
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