Here is my final farewell to Europe blog, because I know not if I will be able to get on the internet tomorrow. All we have planned for tonight is a poetry reading of all our inside jokes and isms with an opening act of the infamous raptor cancan! Who knows what will happen tomorrow, hopefully something epic!

I'm excited for the next few days with wrapping up our trip, the plane ride (yes I know, odd thing to say, but I really am excited for it), and seeing everyone again! The funny thing about the ride is that we transfer in London and our flight leaves at 3:15 London time and we arrive in Seattle at 4:45 pm Seattle time! The actual time elapsed will be 9 hours! I'm going to be so disoriented when I get back, it will be interesting!

Welp, I'm off to the poetry reading! Enjoy your day and I'll see a lot of you oh so soooooooooon!!!

I just saw the most amazing show of my life.

The stage, the choreography, the acting, the singing: it was all sooooooo good!

Everything was so flawless, I felt like I was watching a movie at times, then when I realized it was a live show, it blew my mind. It was one of those shows that you never want to end. I lalalalaLOVED it.

It was by a great chance that we even got to see it, because it was showing in Austria but because of the economy was too bad and people couldn't afford tickets, so Berlin picked up the last two months of the German copyright (oh, and I forgot to mention that even though the whole show was in German, I still enjoyed it and understood what was going on - show just how good the acting was, eh?). Germany wasn't even going to show it at first, so we are certainly very lucky to be here when it's showing.

For those of you who don't know what the show is about, Mel Brooks produced a movie in 1969 with the plot of two producers who plan on getting rich by putting on a major flop on Broadway. They chose "Springtime for Hitler" written by a Nazi sympathizer living in New York. The show ends up being a hit, because the guy who was going to play Hitler broke his leg right before the show, and the director, an overtly gay guy, steps in for him. Let's just say that his personality traits carried over into his playing the part of Hitler and that made it a hit! The producers end up going to jail because of this.

Basically, there has been controversy over whether it's ok to laugh about Hitler. The first night it showed in Berlin, though, there was laughter all over the place, and it received a standing ovation at the end!

Incredible.

That's that.

...and yesterday:

Beginning with yesterday, we had class from 9:30-11:30 then we headed out to see some of Berlin!

First, though, we did laundry. Soooo nice to have clean clothes once again.

Anyway, we made our way down to the Potsdamer Platz where I had the most amazing Caramel Laccino ever! We sat in a park and enjoyed our drink, the weather and the almost napping feeling. Then we walked through a giant park, with this nifty little rock sculptures spread throughout this one field. From there, we went to the Reitstag Building - the Berlin Parliament building - and got a great tour of that as well as the city of Berlin. After that, it was on to the Brandenburg Gate wich is where people gathered to celebrate when the wall fell. It was quite a full day, and I was able to land a 3-euro dinner at the grocerie store and still had enough food left over for lunch today! Go Europe and their cheep market food.

Today we had class again, for the last time (Friday is our final and tomorrow is a reading/study day), and after that I crashed. Took a nap, ate lunch, went to the Pergamon museum. There was some pretty cool stuff there, and I need to research it a bit so I know what all I exactly saw. Most of it was from Ancient Greece, though, which has a special place in my heart :D. We meandered through Alexander Platz for a few minutes then came home because Kathryn and I needed to get ready to go the the Sleeping Beauty ballet, another one of Tchaikowsky's! I enjoyed it, though I think Onegie that we saw in Paris was way better quality. It was still quite entertaining.

I'm excited for the producers tomorrow!

Home. So soon.

I thought of something today as I was waking up from a much needed nap:

Being able to truly experience something that is beautiful to you transcends any human emotion and brings you to a level of appreciation for the world around you that is really hard to find elsewhere.

Here in Europe, I've been able to take in many beautiful things ranging from cathedrals designed by masters of art to meandering creeks flowing below majestic trees to the constant murmur of a language that I cannot call my own being spoken all around me. What I experience when I see or hear these things cannot be summed up in any kind of emotion, even words fail to truly capture the significance of this. I know, however, that even I as I look around me right now, the world is an incredible place. I look forward to seeing my home with this new perspective.

And with that...

I am going to bed because I've been feeling a little sick.

Find something beautiful and let it penetrate you. Don't just listen to it, taste it or see it. LISTEN to it. TASTE it. SEE it.

Experience it.

Today we went to the zoo, and it was pretty sweet. There are so many animals there!

I saw:

Monkeys
Hippos - we got to hear them roar, it was so loud and amazing!
Flamingos, and lots of other birds
Zebras
Sharks
Lizzards and Frogs
Horses
Lions, Tigers and Bears...
Panthers - they have an amazing black panther there, it was so beautiful.

and lots of other stuff.

I promise I'll load pictures eventually, even if it's after I get back.

It was a good day. However, I must say that we are very lucky to have Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, because the way that they put together the animals' natural habitats is amazing compared to this place. We've heard that the Berlin Zoo is one of the best in the world, and it may be so in the fact that they have a wide variety of animals, and really rare ones as well. They don't provide as good of habitats for the animals, though, and Woodland Park is really good about that.

Before that we had class and guess what we talked about. No, not the significance of reunification in Germany. Not even the proper way to eat with a fork and knife according to European etiquette.

Dogs.

It was actually a really moving class, and I think that if I can get my hands on Dr. Mac's speech, I'll post it on here, because I liked it a lot. It was basically about the loyalty of dogs and how we wish we could be as good of a person that our dog thinks we are. It goes deeper into relationships as well. It was interesting.

I must say that I think we have the best luck with catching the most incredible festivities in almost all of the cities we've been to. First it was Semana Santa in Madrid, then the Day of the Patron Saint in Barcelona, and now it's the culture festival and parade in Berlin!

It was amazing, probably one of the best parades I've ever seen, and we had front row seats on an oh-so-comfy street curb, but it was still amazing to watch from so close. We sat there for two hours and it was still going on, but we decided to wander a bit. By the way, I have decided to not go to the Wagner opera - which I found out is called Tannhauser - because I didn't sleep well last night and I don't think I would have made it through the, what would turn out to be, 6-hour trip for a heavy, 4-hour opera. We would have had to stand in line for 2 hours just to get tickets, after the parade...

We went looking for the rest of the culture fair after leaving the parade, but I was thoroughly dehydrated and we never really found anything, so we decided to go back to the hostel. I was still so happy to have seen the parade! What a glorious first full day in Berlin.

Also, it rains so hard here. I have redefined what it means to be "raining really hard", and that was besides the fact that it was hailing at the same time. It's kind of like AZ monsoons, though: it comes in fast and hard, then leaves within a few minutes. Because it's mostly hot during the day, then the rain comes during the afternoon it is very reminiscent of AZ storms as well. Oh home.

8 days till Seattle.

12 days till AZ.

Holy cow.

Hope you have a good week and good luck with finals, those of you who still do that kind of thing ;)

Hello all.

I am in Berlin, sitting in the bar/restaurant of our hostel (that is the only place where we get good internet) drinking Eistee mit Pfirsichgeschmack, which is essentially iced tea with peach flavoring. Mmmm, good stuff.

We arrived here this afternoon and hung out in the comfy couches, waiting for check-in time. This is something we've become accustomed to, especially since we tend to have to check out from other places in the morning then arrive too early to check in at another place, so it was no big deal. Then we made our way through the maze of stairs, hallways and rooms to find out 10-person room in which all of the girls from our group are staying for the next 9 nights! I think it is going to be an epic end to a 10-week trip with all of us being together like that.

We got settled then went out to find food. I must say that if anything, this trip has made us all quite confident and independent so that going out to find food (or whatever else we need) with a few people in a city where we don't even speak the language very well is absolutely no problem. We are much more "free" of our inhibitions and fears.

Anyway, we got Kepabs, a staple in our diet as we've traveled through Europe. They have seasoned meat, and other fixings (what you get depends on the place), stuffed into a pita. We ate those, then decided to go the Cupcake Berlin, a place that our friends from Barcelona told us about. We got on the metro, got to the stop, then as we approached the exit, we see people crowded around and hear this sound that is like rain pounding on the ground above us. As we got to the opening, we looked outside and could barely see across the street it was pouring so hard! It was beautiful, but foiled our cupcake plans and we decided to go back.

However, at one of the the metro stops, I did get married...

It's facebook official and everything! The ceremony was carried out by an "Ordained Skylar" and there were rings and everything. Apparently Berlin is to be our honeymoon! Epic.

;)

Since then, I have just been to the grocery store near by and have been chilling in our hostel, so I haven't seen much of Berlin, but I'm really excited for the next week. Let me tell you all that we have planned:

Sunday: Culture festival, then Wagner opera (can't remember the name and I'm too lazy to go up to the room and figure it out, haha Abby)
Monday: Berlin Zoo!!
Tuesday: Museums
Wednesday: More museums, monuments, etc, then Sleeping Beauty Ballet
Thursday: Final Exam, probably more museums, then The Producers musical
Friday: I think we were planning on going back to Weinheim to see President Obama, but I guess he's not going to be making any public appearances so that may end up being a free day, which will be nice.
Saturday: Park?
Sunday: Final Berlin farewell
Monday: Flight home...

And that's it. It's going to be a full week, but I'm ready for it. Gotta soak it all up, espeically when we are in such a cool city! Until later, friends.

Yesterday we saw the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Written along the Jewish memorial in three languages:

"So that the generation to come might know, the children, yet to be born, that they too may rise and declare to their children."

First of all, there is an s in hostel that isn't in hotel.
Hotels have comfy beds and carpeted floors.
Hostels have not-so comfy beds most of the time, and the floors are always tile, linoleum-like or glossy concrete (it doesn't make it look bad or feel shabby, it's just not carpet).

Hostels have places like basketball courts and ping pong tables.
Hotels have pools and hot tubs.

Hostels have mostly younger people in them.
Hotels have a group of German soccer players living down the hall from us (at least this hotel does :D)

Hotels have outrageously priced drinks and snacks in their vending machines and charge you for every extra thing.
Hostels give you free apples as you walk out the door.

Hotels have receptionists.
Hostels have people who work at the front desk (nothing against receptionists, it's just a different kind of service in each place).

Hotels make you want to take naps and lounge around all day.
Hostels have things to do around the place and they get you more motivated to explore the city.

OK, this is just my perspective right now. Overall, hotels are really nice, but I think that staying in a hostel just adds something that you can't get while staying in a hotel. And that's that.

Today we saw the Goethe house, which was really cool because I read the Faust by Goethe my freshman year, so it's always interesting to explore places that have had an impact in my past! That's all for now. Have a wonderful day!

Guten Tag!

Well, this is our last day in Erfurt then it is off to Weimar where we will be staying in a 4-star hotel. That will be interesting after going through all of these hostels.

Anyway, today is going to be a pretty awesome day. It already has been! This morning after breakfast, I went to the park near our hostel and sat by the creek, trying to read The Hobbit in German, going off of the French version I bought while I was in Paris. After about half an hour of that, I just sat there and listened to the flowing water. Then, after my bum was a bit sore from sitting on the pebbles, I went up the the grassy area and took a nap under a tree. What a beautiful morning!

In about three hours, we are going to see My Fair Lady! So, it will be a very nice way to end our time here in Erfurt.

Yesterday was pretty epic as well. I went back to that laundromat place, just to experience it one more time, and got some incredible tea! Pictures to come! (by the way, I realize I say that and it almost never happens, but I promise that I will get that done at least when I get back to the States) After that, we went to lunch, then did some shopping, and went back to the hostel. THEN, after dinner, we kidnapped Joy, who was a bit more unwilling than we though she would be, to have a picnic in the park. It was still fun though. Kathryn brought a football and as we were throwing it around, a guy came up to us, asking in German if he could join us. When we told him that we didn't speak German, he laughed and began to talk to us in English. "American Football, ya?" he said, then I replied "Ya, can you guess where we're from?" Then, get this, he said in all seriousness, "England?" Ha, I guess it's a bit harder to come off as Americans, even when you cart around a football and a Seattle Seahawks blanket to a park. It was entertaining, especially to see guys, who themselves look pretty atheltic, not know how to throw a football.

Good times.

THEN...

I went to a concert at 10 pm with a few grils, at the church we were at the other day - where Luther gave his first sermon. It was a choral arrangement with several instruments every once in a while as well. Basically, what we discovered the format was, they would take Luther's hymns, then do each verse with a different composer's arrangement of the hymn (composers like Bach and Johann Walter). It was amazing and at times reminded me of compline at St. Mark's...definitely soothed the soul.

Well, that's all for now. I don't know the internet situation in Weimar, considering we'll be in a hotel. Possibly a Berlin update! Two weeks and I'll be seeing a lot of your beautiful faces!

I was writing in my journal just now and put the date as 4/22/09 and realized that it is definitely no longer April. It's almost June, even! Holy cow...

Anyway, right now I am in Erfurt, a nice city that I haven't explored much yet, but that is what the weekend is for. At the moment I am enjoying FREE INTERNET (not something you come across in Europe...ever really) at a laundromat. It is really classy - it has great tea, a bar, computers, nice washing machines and dryers and it is decorated with this Jamaican theme! This place is amazing!! It was definitely worth coming all the way across town for.

I am experiencing that strange paradox where time is flying yet you feel like you've been in the place for a while. Being abroad has sort of become "normal" for me, now, and I just realized this the other day as we were first meandering the streets of Erfurt, yet another city. I've gotten used to the traveling and everything ("good" or "bad") that comes with it - the living out of a back pack, smelling bad (intil you find nice little laundry places like this), meeting people, some of which are really friendly and some of which are not at all, communication barriers, grumpy moods, fatigue, failed plans, etc. There are so many wonderful things, though, that the aparent bad stuff just becomes something that happens and is no longer a downside to the trip. It is a part of it. I think that there are many who would disagree with me, even myself at times, but this is the conclusion that I have come to - I am ok with being a lot less comfortable that I'm used to and I am enjoying the experiences that persist through, and even involve, everything.

I'm in sort of a weird place with the whole wanting to be home thing at the moment. I am not really homesick anymore, but I am definitely very excited to get back and share these awesome experiences with people! I am very excited, also, for the next few weeks as our journey reaches the last leg. I think Berlin is going to be amazing and a good way to end the trip. A few days ago, it was a bit of a different story. I was ok with still being here, but I would have also been ok with going home. A couple of weeks ago, it was even more extreme, because I just wanted to be home. Right now, though, I am still wanting to be here, exploring the wonders of a world I do not know (and what a wonderful thing that I still AM here). It's been an interesting transition to where I'm at now. Down time in Weinheim was MUCH needed.

Well, now let's have a gander at what we've actually been doing. Dr. Mac met up with us here in Erfurt, which we were all excited for, especially to start learning German! We hung out for the afternoon when we were first here and Kathryn and I found an amazing park along a creek. We wanted so badly to jump in and swim, but alas, it is a shame that the signs that say "no swimming" in German have pictures to go with. ;)

The next day, yesterday, we got to see the church wher Martin Luther gave his first sermon as an ordained priest, as well as the Monastery that he stayed at. The lady giving us a tour only knew a few words of English, so we had a tour of mostly German and got what we could out of it. For a while, we all though that Luther had been struck by lightning until we discovered that he narrowly escaped which caused him to want to join the Monastery and become a priest! Half way through the tour, we came across a wandering guest who spoke English and gladly translated the rest of the tour for us!

Today was awesome as well. We went to the Wartburg castle where Luther hid and translated the Bible for a while. Cool stuff. We also saw the Bach house and heard some of his pieces played on original instruments from the time period!

Alright, I must attend to my laundry. Hope all is well on your end!

Well, we went back to the Chinese restaurant for lunch...again, heh. I am stuffed full of chicken curry and have decided that that is probably my favorite food ever. Chicken curry with peanut sauce and coconut milk from Pavillon in Weinheim, Germany. Yup.

Yesterday was interesting, and quite frustrating, actually. I think that a lot of things are testing my nerves, so this weekend of rest and a room to myself will be a good time to rejuvinate. Anyway, we had class, then left for Worms where we saw the Cathedral where Martin Luther defended his 95 Theses, so that was cool. However, I hit my ear on a stone pillar inside the tomb chamber in the Cathedral and it started bleeding, so on top of that, the exhaustion, the homesickness and lots of other worries, I don't think that I could have had a worse day. Then we went to Manheim to see the university. We walked a mile or two to the place, and go there only to discover it was closed! So, I wasn't very excited about everything that was happening, but thankfully I have awesome friends who give me good music that cheers me up. I listened to "Walkabout" by Red Hot Chili Peppers and it helped me feel a lot abetter about walking all the way back to the train station.

What did I learn from this? We are all going to have bad days, even when we are doing things like traveling through Europe where everything is supposed to be all honkey-dory. I kind of knew this going in, because traveling around for 10 weeks, things are bound to go wrong and you are going to wake up on the wrong side of the bed at times. There are new days and exciting things ahead, though, so we must all allow ourselves some grace to take care of ourselves. That's why this weekend of free time is going to be for me.

This small town is pretty amazing. I think that I'm going to really enjoy my time here, I already have and we haven't even done anything crazy yet!

We have discovered this nifty little Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese restaurant where the people are so incredible! One of the ladies there speaks a few key phrases in English and French, so she was pulling out all sorts of languages for us to understand her, and always with the biggest smile on her face. We went there yesterday, then again today, so she started learning our names. Then I got to say "You are very nice" to her in German and she really enjoyed that. She started speaking German back to me, but then I pointed to my phrase book and she laughed with understanding. I love them, I think I shall eat there a lot this week or so while we are here. She was asking us how long we were in Weinheim for and got sad when we told her for only nine more days, but she assured us that we were coming back, hehe.

Also, other people have had great experiences at other places, so it makes me happy to be in a not so touristy town where people are more genuine. The whole not knowing German is interesting, but I'm learning!

At our hostel, there was a group of French students (I think they were high school age), but we got to play a lot of sports with them because our hostel is amazing and has courts and stuff. There was an epic volleyball match going on between four from our group and four from their group and it lasted for so long that they decided to postpone the epicness to the next evening. It was really fun to watch and see everyone connecting!

This morning I went on a run with no real direction or goal, but then I saw some castle ruins on top of a hill and decided that I wanted to find my way up there! I ran for about half an hour and realized that I think I was on the wrong side of the mountain, if you could get up there at all, but I found a creek in a small neighborhood and sat there for about 20 minutes then ran back. It was a fabulous morning, then there was the restaurant, so I'm having a great time here. Really.

Oh, and here is a schedule of activites for the rest of the trip, in case you're interested in following where I'm at. Very tentative, by the way

Weinheim
Arrival @ Weinheim @ 11:37AM
Lunch
EUR 4951: Special topics (Simone de Beauvoir)
City walk
Quiz #5

Saturday, May 9, 2009
The Market Square
Wachtenberg Castle
Free Time


Sunday, may 10, 2009
Church service
Schlosspark

Monday, May 11, 2009
EUR 4951: Special topics (Simone de Beauvoir)
Mannheim Palace
Mannheim Museum of Industrial technology
Friedrichsplatz square: Water tower

Tuesday, May 12, 2009 - these activites are postponed because we are going to a SOCCER GAME!!!
EUR 4951: Special topics (Viktor Frankl)
City report (10): Heidelberg
Day’s Trip to Heidelberg (Dr. Brian Tracy)
Heidelberg Castle
Museum of Ecclesiastical Arts

Wednesday, May 13, 2009
EUR 4951: Special topics (Viktor Frankl)
Day’s trip to Heppenheim
Heppenheim Cathedral
Starkenburg Castle
Starkenburg Observatory
Thursday, May 14, 2009
EUR 4951: Special topics (Viktor Frankl)
Social event (?)

Friday, May 15, 2009
EUR 4951: Special Topics (Viktor Frankl)
Free time

Saturday, May 16, 2009
Free Time

Sunday, May 17, 2009
Church service
Free time

Monday, May 18, 2009
EUR 3500: Germany
Quiz #6

Tuesday, May 19, 2009
EUR 3500: Germany
Day’s trip to Worms
Worms Cathedral, Jewish Cemetery

Shopping!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Leave Weinheim @ 8: 45AM

Erfurt
Arrive @ Erfurt at 1: 33pm
Lunch
City walk: old city, Merchants’ bridge (Kramerbrucke), Domplatz

Thursday, May 21, 2009
German 1100, 2100, 3100
EUR 3500: Germany
Culture report (9) “German Protest Music from 1980 to 1990”
Augustinian Monastery (Augustinerkloster)

Friday, May 22, 2009
German 1100, 2100, 3100
Bachhaus: Eisenach
Wartburg Castle
Quiz #7

Saturday, May 23, 2009
Free day

Sunday, May 24, 2009
Free day

Monday, May 25, 2009
Leave Erfurt @ 9: 45AM
Weimar
Arrive at Weimar @ 10: 30AM
Lunch
City report (11): Weimar
City walk: Goethehaus, Platz der Democratie

Tuesday, May 26, 2009
German 1100, 2100, 3100
EUR 3500: Germany
Culture report (10) “German Politics re Terrorism”
Park on the Ilm

Wednesday, May 27, 2009
German 1100, 2100, 3100
EUR 3500: Germany
Schiller House

Thursday, May 28, 2009
German 1100, 2100, 3100
EUR 3500: Germany
Buchenwald Concentration Camp

Friday, May 29, 2009
German 1100, 2100, 3100
Culture report (11) “WWII”
Weimar Schloss
Herder Church
Quz #8

Saturday, May 30, 2009
Leave Weimar @ 7:45AM
Berlin
Arrive in Berlin @ 11: 35AM
Lunch
Free time

Sunday, May 31, 2009
Church service
City tour: hop-on-hop-off open top bus tour

Monday, June 1, 2009
German 1100, 2100, 3100
City report (12): Berlin
Under the Lime-Tree Avenue/Unter den Linden: The Brandenburg Gate
Friedrichstrasse: Checkpoint Charlie

Tuesday, June 2, 2009
German 1100, 2100, 3100
Culture report (12) “Nicholas Sarkozy and Contemporary French Politics”
Gendarmenmarkt: Theater, French Cathedral

Wednesday, June 3, 2009
German 1100, 2100, 3100
Pergamon Museum
Deutsche Staatsoper (German State Opera House)

Thursday, June 4, 2009
German 1100, 2100, 3100
EUR 3500: Germany
Reichstag
Potsdamer Platz

Friday, June 5, 2009
German 1100, 2100, 3100 Final Exam
Charlottenburg Palace
Museum of Applied Art/Kuntsgewerbemuseum
Final exam

Saturday, June 6, 2009
Shopping!
Zoological Garden/ Zoologischer Garten

Sunday, June 7, 2009
Church
Shopping

Monday, June 8, 2009
Leave Berlin @ 9AM

I wrote those last two entries while in Strasbourg, but we are in Weinheim, Germany now!

Yes. It has been a while. Sorry for the delay, sometimes I just get caught up in other things, but here I am now!

Here we are in Strasbourg and I must say that this may be my most favorite city so far. Our hostel sits right on the Rhine river and is a ways out of town, but that’s ok with me, because I needed a break from city life for a little while. Also, I’ve been to two different countries two different times in the past two days. How awesome is that? There is really no border patrol here, so we literally crossed over the bridge by our hostel to Germany and had lunch there yesterday! We also missed the bus stop on our way back today and ended up in Germany again. Haha, I like it.

Anyway, I guess I haven’t written since Sevilla, so here’s the plan: I’m going to split this up into two different blogs. This one will be a nice overview of what happened, not going into too much detail, then in another, I will take you through some of my favorite moments and tell you little stories about what’s happened so far. Ready, go.

Sevilla was great, but I actually liked Granada better. My favorite part there was walking up to this lookout place and along the way it’s basically a maze of roads and apartments (what you would imagine to be a typical Spanish buildings – white and rustic looking). The lookout is great too. You can see the city, the Alhambra and the surrounding mountains. So that was the highlight from our three days there.

Barcelona was also pretty cool, but I wish I hadn’t been as exhausted when I was there or I might have enjoyed it even more. The part I liked most about Barcelona was the beach. The immenseness and beauty of the sea never ceases to amaze me, so bring on the water! Also, the city has a lot of diversity because it is such a touristy town.

Then it was on to Paris.

I got so excited when I started seeing things that I recognized from the last time I was there! What an adorable city. We had an intense run there, so here’s a list of things we did within a few days:
Rodin Museum (which houses the “Thinker” and the “Gates of Hell”)
Cluny Museum (an old church with lots of Medieval art)
The Louvre
The Louvre, again, the next morning
Tried to see Sainte Chapelle, but the line was too long
Notre Dame – this was amazing. I saw it when I was here last, but I didn’t have the appreciation for beauty that I do now. As soon as I walked in, tears came to my eyes because it was so incredibly beautiful!
Musee d’Orssay – saw some sweet Monet, Degas and Renoir paintings.
Eiffel Tower – climbed 701 steps to get to the second level where we were forced to take the elevator up the rest of the day. During sunset, it was amazing.
Eiffel Tower, again, but I didn’t go up that time, just hung out drawing and being stalked by a drunk man. Don’t worry, there was a guy from our group with me and lots of police were patrolling the area, but he kept coming up to us asking us for wine.
Church at Sacre Coeur – pretty sweet, other than the fact that they didn’t close the chapel from tourists during mass, so there was a constant, steady stream of people coming in to see the church. They did a pretty good job of funneling them around, but it was still kinda distracting.
Ballet by John Cranko based off a Russian novel
Bookstore run, looking for the Princess Bride in French
Champs-Elysee
Pere le Chaise – a giant graveyard with Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde’s grave

Yeah, we did all that in less than a week. I think you could be able to understand why I’m so tired right now, after hearing about that, eh? That is one of the hardest things about this trip, is that since we are moving around so much, we have to get to see everything in every city before we move on so we never really have any down time. After over a month of that, I’m crashing harder than I ever have before. But that’s ok, because Strasbourg is ending up being a nice break. I really am happy to be here with all this nature-y stuff around me and to have time to relax a little bit.

Story Time!

One of the most amazing moments of my life was when we were walking through the ancient Greece section at the Louvre and someone pointed out a tablet with Greek writing on it. So, I began to read it a picked out a few words. I was sitting there, translating Greek off of an almost 2,000 year old tablet, in the Louvre, in Paris…hoooooooly cow.

Also, one of the biggest coincidences of my life happened there. We met some people at our hostel back in Barcelona, and they were leaving for Paris before we were, so we weren’t sure if we’d see them and had no set plans to meet up. While we were looking at a painting at the Louvre, we heard someone say “Hey Seattle” as they were walking by and we realized it was our friends from Barcelona! So we hung out with them for a while, at some crepes and drank green apple and strawberry smoothies, then went on our merry ways. Good times.

An interesting story, also about the Louvre (don’t worry, I’m not too obsessed)…when we went there for the second time, because I was looking for a specific painting I saw there 6 years ago. Kathryn also didn’t get to see the Mona Lisa, so really we had to go back . My painting was called “Peace” and it had a dove curled up in the rocks, sleeping while there was a storm raging on the sea around it. I don’t remember who the artist was or what time period it came from, so that made it hard to find. We ended up not being able to find it, but that’s ok because it’s forever imprinted in my mind. It’s the only thing that I really remember from my visit to the museum so many years ago.

When we first got into Paris, we were all a little groggy from the over-night train and we couldn’t check into our hostel until a few hours later, so Joy, Kathryn and I decided to go find food. There was this nifty little café a couple blocks away, and as soon as we walked in, the waiter was incredibly nice to us! Joy got to practice her French and I realized how much I actually remembered from my high school days. The waiter was actually making fun of me for not eating anything, just ordering coffee, and I understood it. Then I got to joke back with him and he actually gave me a high five! Dude…I got a high five from a French man my first day in the beautiful country.

Ok, let’s backtrack to Barcelona really quickly. We took a train to a beach a little ways away from the city, and that was all honky-dory. We had a drum with us and did some epic dancing on the shore – videos to come, hopefully. On the way back, I couldn’t find my ticket to get through the kiosk for the train. I was looking through my bag, when all of the sudden I hear “This is the train we need” and looked up to see that everyone had gone through and were mounting the train. Finally, I found the ticket tucked inside the pages of the Princess Bride, rushed through the turn – style and I heard the beeping signaling that the doors were going to close in a couple of seconds. So it went a little something like a sprint, sprint, leap onto the steps inside the train door, but in the process of doing this, my foot slipped on the steps and my flip-flop dropped onto the tracks below and the doors closed. It was a sad moment and I had to walk through the train station, metro and a mile or so on the Barcelona streets back to our hostel with only one shoe. We’ve been through a lot together, my flip-flops and I, so it was a sad way to depart with one of them, but at least I know I’ll always leave a piece of me in Spain. ;)

In Paris we decided to go to a Ballet and because of this recent shoe-loss I needed to find new shoes. So, I embarked upon a journey to wander the streets of Paris looking for something that they definitely do not lack, except it’s all so expensive. I came upon a clothing store and saw something that I liked (of the non-shoe form, so I was a getting a little distracted), but I just started talking to the owner in both French and English and learned that he was a marine veteran who traveled to New York 150 times and all along the coast of California. I asked him if he had ever been to Washington, but he said no, because there’s not enough water there. Hehe, I didn’t argue with him though, because I don’t know my European geography that well, myself. Anyway, I told him that I was going to a ballet and he pointed me in the direction of a great shoe store where I found the perfect pair! So, not only are the shoes great, but the story behind them is awesome too.

The ballet was amazing, in case you were wondering…at least I think it was. We had horrible seats and I had to stand up to see ¾ of the stage instead of just ¼ of it. What I saw, though, was good and the music was really incredible too.

Hello from Sevilla!

It’s hard to believe that we are about to leave this city in a couple of days!

This was my first impression of the place when I stepped out of the train station:
Phoenix, Arizona. No joke.

It was pretty hot, the sun was shining, there were lots of palm trees, the city smelled the same, and the dirt was even the same color! So, for those of you who don’t know, Phoenix is not my most favorite city on the planet, and I was not very impressed. I decided that this was not a very good attitude to have towards a place that I had only just begun to explore, so I kept an open mind.

And now I love it! Once I was able to actually get out and explore what it had to offer, I was blown away. There is one neighborhood that we ended up spending a lot of time in, called Santa Cruz, and it is absolutely gorgeous! The cobblestone streets are narrow with tall, colorful buildings lining the way. It feels a lot like a maze, and then you emerge on the south end to the most beautiful cathedral probably in all of Europe! There is also a palace right there that I spent much of the day in, once, because it has huge gardens! Also, we found another park to stroll in earlier this afternoon and I’d say it’s almost better than Parque de Retiro in Madrid. It’s certainly not as big, but it’s more intimate and has a wonderful little pond with a few stone bridges. Very peaceful.
I love Sevilla also because it is way cheaper than Madrid! I found a sandwich place that will make you a pretty hefty sandwich for only 2 euro! Crazy, I’d have to spend about 5 euro on that kind of thing in Madrid! I’ll just have to soak it up until we get to places like Paris that are apparently very expensive as well.
Anyway, that’s about it from Sevilla. No worries, I haven’t found any crazy barbers…yet ;)

We are sitting here in a work center in Sevilla because our internet freaks out sometimes. Actually most of the time. So, we came here after an incredible dinner at a Chinese restaurant. I think it was about 8 courses including a salad, some beef, some pork, some chicken, and some flan. MMmmmm. Also, my friends Joy and Kathryn make me laugh too much, so I could not eat at the end; not only because of the sheer amount of food that they kept bringing out, but because we were laughing the entire time. Good times. This is going down in history. I think we recorded about 10 awesome quotes in my handy-dandy notebook, and those were just the super duper awesometastically splendiferous good ones! Baha.

Ze end.

A lot has happened in the past few days. I still can't believe that we've been here for 11 days; it's seems like a few weeks. Madrid is becoming much more comfortable and I am able to easily navigate the city without a map! Yay for not looking like a crazy tourist.

My day today was really awesome. I gave my city report presentation on Salamanca in class and that went well. Then we went out to lunch at a Kebab place down the street from where we live. From what I understand, and tasted, a Kebab is like a Gyro, and they were very yummy! The exciting part of this story is that I got to have a real conversation with someone in Spanish! As we were leaving, I made a comment to the waiter about there not being a lot of people around (we were the only ones in the restaurant), and I asked him why. It wasn't a very long conversation but it was still exhilarating to finally have a legit conversation with a native Spanish speaker in Spain. I've also decided that I absolutely love being surrounded by the language, even thought I can't always understand what people are saying. It's just a cool experience to be so immersed in an atmosphere like this. I wish I could describe it better, but I think it's something you have to experience for yourself. If anyone wants to come here after I get back, let me know and I'll go with you, fosho!

I'll tell you why there weren't many people around in a bit. First, I want to finish writing about what happened after lunch. Do you remember the Aussie that I met who is on an art scholarship traveling the world? Well I asked if he would be willing to draw a portrait of me in my favorite part of Madrid - El Parque de Retiro - and he said yes! So I sat there for about 45 minutes and we decided that it was getting too cold to sit for much longer, so he took a picture and is going to finish the drawing from the picture. The extra, super-duper exciting part of this story is that I learned a ton about Australia and the people who live there. As we were walking to the park, I dove right in and asked him (Ryan is his name by the way) what people from Australia think of Americans in general. He went with the safe answer and said that the contact he, personally, has had was quite pleasant. However, he did end up telling me that American's do have the general stereotype, as in other countries, of being very loud and talking too much. I also told him that a lot of what Americans think of Australians comes from shows like The Crocodile Hunter and Survivor Man - basically that all Aussies are hardcore survivorists and wrestle crocodiles ;). Ryan also seems to go against what many other people have told me about people from Australia, that they are very loud and forward. He is quite polite and very quiet actually. Who knows, he might turn out to be a crocodile hunter after all...

Just kidding. =P

It was really fun to get to talk to him about all kinds of stuff and compare our perspectives on certain things. Kathryn was there to input her perspective as well! On the way back, he said that we "seem to be pretty well behaved." No joke, those were his exact words. So, again, interesting to see what people from the other side of the planet think of each other and how those stereotypes are broken down by this kind of reaching out to actually get to know people. I had a very good time.

My day did not end there, though. I thought it would, because I am very tired and have not been getting as much sleep as I should be. But that is ok, because I'm having a good time, and Spanish coffee is amazing. Speaking of coffee, I went to Starbucks with Kathryn and Joy after the park and let me tell you about Spanish Starbucks...they are exactly like the ones in America. Seriously. All the decor, the kinds of drinks they serve, the uniforms they wear. I was confused about how to order a Caramel Macchiato, because it was in English, so I just said it with a Spanish accent, haha.

And then...

This was probably the most amazing part of my day. This is Semana Santa (holy week) and Spain really gets into it. The reason why there weren't any people in the restaurant today was because people stay at home the entire time from Thursday through Sunday. For this reason, everything also shuts down. We had a hard time finding food yesterday because almost everything was closed, even the grocery stores! However, there are parts where it seems like the entire population of Madrid flocks together to see. We went to see a procession, not really knowing what to expect. In my mind I thought it would be very parade-like with floats and the like. Little did I know that what I was going to see would completely blow me away. I wish I could portray to you the immense amount of people that were gather in the streets and squares. I'll probably put up photos when I get a chance. Anyway, the procession ended up going like this:

At first there was a band of maybe 20 people playing a simple march, then there were some priests and important-looking people (I'm a little rusty on my Catholic heritage, so I wasn't so sure about the significance of everything). Next came a few people carrying a wooden cross. It was at that point I realized what this was all about. I honestly had no idea what I was going to see, I just wanted to get out there and experience a little bit of the culture of this Semana Santa while I had the opportunity. Needless to say, I was a bit shocked and became obsessed with what was going on. A few more groups of people walked by, then this is what really brought me to tears. The masses of people that were in the streets and standing on the side watching began to follow the procession. Hundreds of people were just walking behind and around this cross. Hundreds. What an amazing sight.

Hey, so here are just some photos from the trip. There aren´t any from the past day or two because my camera has been on the fritz, but no worries, it´s up and running now!

( photos behind here! )