Now off to 3 days of class, reading, and trying to get an internship. Talk to you soon!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Leaving Copenhagen- headed back to Geneva!
So we are getting ready to leave on the train to go back to Geneva. Its been amazing here- I never thought I'd make it to Copenhagen, and we were so lucky to casually go to sweden for the day, go to the ice bar, and visit the Scandinavian coast.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Next city
So we spent a few hours in helsingborg, ate some pancakes, talked to some Swedes, and saw the city. We just hopped on a train to Malmo- the second biggest city in Sweden, and one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the world. After, we'll take a train back to Copenhagen (only like 40 minutes).
More soon
Sweeden!!!
So last night we didn't really do anything interesting..just got a beer at a bar and went to bed so we could rest up for today, cause were doing a daytrip to sweeden!!
Were in helsinborg right now having sweedish pancakes (pic to follow) and we might try to hit up another sweedish town later..
More to follow!
Bye from sweeden!
Ps the people here are gorgeous
Friday, February 25, 2011
2nd day in Copenhagen
So yesterday night we grabbed a cheap dinner of pizza and at this hole in the wall place, and went to a club. At this place, you pay one cover fee, and then all drinks are free- so obviously we had a good time!
We woke up late this morning, and got some of our 500 pages of reading done. We wandered around and found a local bagel place for breakfast which was amazing.
On our way to lunch, we briefly joined in a protest march of solidarity with the Danish troops in Afghanistan. We had flags and everything...too cool
Now were at a real local sandwich place for lunch...ill check in later, but just a heads up: were taking a day trip to Sweden tomorrow- again, too cool
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Ended up in Copenhagen!!
Sorry its been a few days since I last wrote in this thing. We got back to Geneva from Prague Monday morning and had to start doing work right away and preparing for class. I had class Monday night, tues morning, a meeting with an NGO (PATH) tues night, and class again wed morning. Nothing really interesting happened for those 3 days.
Except tues night around 11, 5 of us decided to randomly come to Copenhagen for the weekend. So we did. We left wed around 3 and took a night train. We got here around 10 this morning. So far, we've stopped at some amazingly delicious bakeries (the bakeries in Denmark are the best in the world- they are known for their pastries), visited some of the well known areas, and ate a lot. We actually stopped at this area called Christania, a sovereign neighborhood that I'm guessing was started by hippies and has their own laws. Needless to say, its a little different from other parts of Denmark. Look it up.
We checked into our hostel and now were getting ready to go out and eat, and then check out the town!
This country is really really expensive. (Especially compared to Prague) even though the dollar is 5 times stronger (5 kroner is 1 dollar), the cost of living is so high. Nothing costs under the equivalent of 6 us dollars. Damn.
Hihi (bye in Danish)
Xoxo
Except tues night around 11, 5 of us decided to randomly come to Copenhagen for the weekend. So we did. We left wed around 3 and took a night train. We got here around 10 this morning. So far, we've stopped at some amazingly delicious bakeries (the bakeries in Denmark are the best in the world- they are known for their pastries), visited some of the well known areas, and ate a lot. We actually stopped at this area called Christania, a sovereign neighborhood that I'm guessing was started by hippies and has their own laws. Needless to say, its a little different from other parts of Denmark. Look it up.
We checked into our hostel and now were getting ready to go out and eat, and then check out the town!
This country is really really expensive. (Especially compared to Prague) even though the dollar is 5 times stronger (5 kroner is 1 dollar), the cost of living is so high. Nothing costs under the equivalent of 6 us dollars. Damn.
Hihi (bye in Danish)
Xoxo
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Last day in Prague
So friday morning we went to the Imperial Cafe (picture below) which has amazing food and is super well known for being one of the favorite nazi hangout spots during ww2. Its so pretty on the inside. After that, we met up with some colgate kids and went to the old town square and visited all the sites like charles bridge and the national museum. We got typical czech food for dinner and went out at night.
Yesterday we woke up kind of late, and went to a cafe for some coffee and breakfast and the mall before we met up with our friends. We got to visit the prague castle and the astrological clock, and we ate the famous prague pastry which was described to me as "a cinnamon bun on a stick"
We got dinner at this amazingly cheap and delicious restaurant (called pod I think?) And then to a famous bar (called the beer museum) with 70 different kinds of czech beer. You only do small tastings of each, but who ever knew they made raspberry, blueberry, cappuccino, chocolate or any other weird flavored beers.
Were about to check out of our hostel, and we will probably get breakfast with my friend Palmer studying abroad here and his friends and maybe go to the communism museum
One more thing- its freezing cold here (like actually snowing) and I failed to bring the right jacket. You cannot wear the same jacket in Portugal and the south of France and also eastern europe. Fail.
Yesterday we woke up kind of late, and went to a cafe for some coffee and breakfast and the mall before we met up with our friends. We got to visit the prague castle and the astrological clock, and we ate the famous prague pastry which was described to me as "a cinnamon bun on a stick"
We got dinner at this amazingly cheap and delicious restaurant (called pod I think?) And then to a famous bar (called the beer museum) with 70 different kinds of czech beer. You only do small tastings of each, but who ever knew they made raspberry, blueberry, cappuccino, chocolate or any other weird flavored beers.
Were about to check out of our hostel, and we will probably get breakfast with my friend Palmer studying abroad here and his friends and maybe go to the communism museum
One more thing- its freezing cold here (like actually snowing) and I failed to bring the right jacket. You cannot wear the same jacket in Portugal and the south of France and also eastern europe. Fail.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Prague
So we arrived in prague last night around 6, found one of our friends from colgate who is studying abroad here (Palmer), and went out to dinner. They're not on the euro in the Czech Republic so things are super super cheap! They also have amazing beer (picture below) which is also unbelievably cheap. We just got up and were gonna try to go find a famous coffee place called Cafe Imperial...ill check in later!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
The biggest assembly room (2000 people) where they often meet for big summits on things like global warming or AIDS that concern all countries
The oldest general assembly room at the UN where the league of nations was dissolved after ww2 and the UN was started. Super cool.
Settled in Geneva
So last time I updated, I was on the train back from Lisbon. That was only the beginning. We left Friday around 4 and got in Sunday around 4. It spanned 3 days and 4 countries. It took 48 hours and 6 trains. It was a very long trip, and a lot of time and sleeping on trains.
So I am very very glad to say that I am finally settled here in my dorm in Geneva. We each have our own room with a desk, a bed, tons of storage space, a closet, and a sink. Its great to finally be able to unpack. We also all share a kitchen which is awesome so we can cook our food instead of having to go to a restaurant or something.
Speaking of that...Geneva is very very expensive. A basic sandwich costs 8 dollars, and a jar of instant coffee is like 12. Its too expensive, so we've been going over the border to France to get our groceries...its a ton cheaper.
We also started class this week. I am in 3. International Institutions meets Monday and Wednesday nights from 630-9. International and European Security Challenges meets on Tuesday mornings from 930-12 noon. And Nations and Nationalisms meets on Tuesday nights from 630-9. We are getting around 400-500 pages of reading which is a lot when you are traveling 4 days a week, and whenever we actually ARE in Geneva, they planned visits to international organizations for us. Today we went to the UN for a couple hours, and got our badges so we have access to the library and archives which we will use on our final papers. Its cool but definitely stressful. It's going to be real hard to fit it all in.
(ill post pictures from the UN now)
I planned a trip to Prague, Czech Republic this weekend. Me and my friend Alex are catching a 6.15 am train tomorrow, and we are taking a night train back on sunday to get here around 12 monday morning. I'll blog and post pictures from there. I've never been to Prague, but I've heard it's amazing so I'm super excited.
A Bientot
xoxo
So I am very very glad to say that I am finally settled here in my dorm in Geneva. We each have our own room with a desk, a bed, tons of storage space, a closet, and a sink. Its great to finally be able to unpack. We also all share a kitchen which is awesome so we can cook our food instead of having to go to a restaurant or something.
Speaking of that...Geneva is very very expensive. A basic sandwich costs 8 dollars, and a jar of instant coffee is like 12. Its too expensive, so we've been going over the border to France to get our groceries...its a ton cheaper.
We also started class this week. I am in 3. International Institutions meets Monday and Wednesday nights from 630-9. International and European Security Challenges meets on Tuesday mornings from 930-12 noon. And Nations and Nationalisms meets on Tuesday nights from 630-9. We are getting around 400-500 pages of reading which is a lot when you are traveling 4 days a week, and whenever we actually ARE in Geneva, they planned visits to international organizations for us. Today we went to the UN for a couple hours, and got our badges so we have access to the library and archives which we will use on our final papers. Its cool but definitely stressful. It's going to be real hard to fit it all in.
(ill post pictures from the UN now)
I planned a trip to Prague, Czech Republic this weekend. Me and my friend Alex are catching a 6.15 am train tomorrow, and we are taking a night train back on sunday to get here around 12 monday morning. I'll blog and post pictures from there. I've never been to Prague, but I've heard it's amazing so I'm super excited.
A Bientot
xoxo
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Leaving Lisbon
So I'm on the train leaving Lisbon right now on the way back to Geneva...the trip will take 26 hours. Not very excited.
We had an amazing trip. After our walking tour yesterday, we took a trip to a town 10 minutes away that has super famous pastries (picture below) which were unbelievably good. I've never tasted anything this good. It was like a creme brulee sort of crispy outside with warm custard on the inside and cinnamon and powdered sugar on top. I will never forget it.
Afte, we went back, napped real quick, then got a beer at a real well known local brewery with some kids we met at the hostel, and then found some dinner. I had pasta with pesto..not too portuguese, but still amazing.
We also tried this special liqueur that is only made in Lisbon I guess. Its like a desert wine that's made with cherries instead of grapes, but its so alcoholic that you can't drink a lot of it. It was real good, but definitely different than anything I've ever had before. I think it was called Ginja (that might be the short spelling of it)
Then we went back, changed, and went out in the "club" part of town, bairro alto. In the street we met a brazilian boy who lives in Lisbon named Jhon who showed us the local places to go. Every bar had live music and cheap drinks and the people are seriously the nicest most welcoming I've met so far. This is my favorite place that we've been to go out.
This morning we had breakfast, and went to this flea market (rode the trolly there) and had lunch.
I'm so thankful for the experience to go places like this. I would have never imagined I'd go to portugal, but it was one of my favorite places I've ever been.
Ill check back in sometime soon
Ciao
Xoxo
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
We had an amazing trip. After our walking tour yesterday, we took a trip to a town 10 minutes away that has super famous pastries (picture below) which were unbelievably good. I've never tasted anything this good. It was like a creme brulee sort of crispy outside with warm custard on the inside and cinnamon and powdered sugar on top. I will never forget it.
Afte, we went back, napped real quick, then got a beer at a real well known local brewery with some kids we met at the hostel, and then found some dinner. I had pasta with pesto..not too portuguese, but still amazing.
We also tried this special liqueur that is only made in Lisbon I guess. Its like a desert wine that's made with cherries instead of grapes, but its so alcoholic that you can't drink a lot of it. It was real good, but definitely different than anything I've ever had before. I think it was called Ginja (that might be the short spelling of it)
Then we went back, changed, and went out in the "club" part of town, bairro alto. In the street we met a brazilian boy who lives in Lisbon named Jhon who showed us the local places to go. Every bar had live music and cheap drinks and the people are seriously the nicest most welcoming I've met so far. This is my favorite place that we've been to go out.
This morning we had breakfast, and went to this flea market (rode the trolly there) and had lunch.
I'm so thankful for the experience to go places like this. I would have never imagined I'd go to portugal, but it was one of my favorite places I've ever been.
Ill check back in sometime soon
Ciao
Xoxo
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Friday, February 11, 2011
The square where the old market was- including the slave trade
Downtown heading to the beach- notice the Portuguese sidewalks
Ahhh my boots are close to being completely dead. I give them one day before the entire bottom comes off. damn.
Portugal finally!!!!
So yesterday we woke up and walked around and visited the palace of the current king's grandfather (I'm pretty sure the picture is below) and got some food...I really love madrid and I want to go back real soon to hopefully live for a while
At 1025 pm we got on our night train to Lisbon and we arrived here at 730 this morning. We got some breakfast and checked into our hostel:Lisbon Poets Hotel. Its by far the nicest hostel I've stayed in, and now were on a walking tour of Lisbon (for free) with someone from our hostel.
Lisbon is unbelievable and gorgeous and the people are amazing. I couldn't be any happier to be here
More later
Adeus
Xoxo
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Madrid!!
So we got to Madrid yesterday and checked into the hostel, which is in a great location
This city is super cool, its the capital of Spain and kinda reminds me of New York in a strange way
So we got lunch and walked around the city...looked in some stores, and ended up walking to the king's palace (the last person to live there was the grandfather of the current king) and it kind of looked like versailles. While we were asking a dosent about the palace, he mentioned that there was a soccer game at 9 and that there were still tickets available
We rushed to the Real Madrid stadium and bought tickets for only 10 euros..we also bought flags to use as capes and some beer and went into the game!! Our seats were real high up, but it was one of the coolest things I've ever done...this was the team that won the world cup this summer, and my favorite player (torres)was there, but he played like a little girl
they scored a goal just as we were leaving around the 87th minute (to beat the crowds) and we got home around midnight.
If you don't like soccer it might be hard to understand how cool that was, but just try anyway.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
This city is super cool, its the capital of Spain and kinda reminds me of New York in a strange way
So we got lunch and walked around the city...looked in some stores, and ended up walking to the king's palace (the last person to live there was the grandfather of the current king) and it kind of looked like versailles. While we were asking a dosent about the palace, he mentioned that there was a soccer game at 9 and that there were still tickets available
We rushed to the Real Madrid stadium and bought tickets for only 10 euros..we also bought flags to use as capes and some beer and went into the game!! Our seats were real high up, but it was one of the coolest things I've ever done...this was the team that won the world cup this summer, and my favorite player (torres)was there, but he played like a little girl
they scored a goal just as we were leaving around the 87th minute (to beat the crowds) and we got home around midnight.
If you don't like soccer it might be hard to understand how cool that was, but just try anyway.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Spainish national team playing Columbia at the Real Madrid stadium
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
On the train to Madrid
So I hope you all liked my pictures of Granada and the Alhambra. It was one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to, and I'm really glad I went. It was small, but super picturesque and not too touristy.
After we found Dayne a bed at our hostel (we had to check in early, and they were super super nice about helping us) which was called Makuto Backpackers Hostel. It was definitely the most chill place I've ever been. There were no locks or doors even, just saloon type shutters that you walk through. There were even hammocks to sleep in. Granted I was real scared when we first got there, it turned out to be a nice change of pace.
Me and 3 of the other girls went to Alhambra and then walked around the city, got lunch, and explored a bit. Then we went to the super market and got stuff for sandwiches again, and went back to eat with Dayne. We met some of the other guests who were from Australia, a Bosnian girl who was studying in Vienna, some Spanish girls, and a boy from Mexico (Victor...easily one of the coolest people I've ever met).
Overall, Granada was an amazing stop, and we had a great time
This morning, we woke up early, and caught a 9 am train to madrid, were getting there around 1 so ill update later
Adios
Xoxo
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
After we found Dayne a bed at our hostel (we had to check in early, and they were super super nice about helping us) which was called Makuto Backpackers Hostel. It was definitely the most chill place I've ever been. There were no locks or doors even, just saloon type shutters that you walk through. There were even hammocks to sleep in. Granted I was real scared when we first got there, it turned out to be a nice change of pace.
Me and 3 of the other girls went to Alhambra and then walked around the city, got lunch, and explored a bit. Then we went to the super market and got stuff for sandwiches again, and went back to eat with Dayne. We met some of the other guests who were from Australia, a Bosnian girl who was studying in Vienna, some Spanish girls, and a boy from Mexico (Victor...easily one of the coolest people I've ever met).
Overall, Granada was an amazing stop, and we had a great time
This morning, we woke up early, and caught a 9 am train to madrid, were getting there around 1 so ill update later
Adios
Xoxo
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Grenada
So the last time I blogged was Sunday morning and a lot has happened since then...
We woke up early and went to the Picasso museum, which had a lot of his earlier work, and a bunch from later in his life...it was cool but I wish I knew more about his work
After that, we went to see the Segrada Familia cathedral by Gaudi, which has been being built since the end of the 1800s and won't be done till 2026...pictures are below, it looks like a giant sand castle...google it
Tc met up with us there, and we went to the Parc Guel, which was also designed by Gaudi....we had to walk uphill for an hour to get there...it was cool, but not cool enough for all that walking
We had a very touristy day.
For dinner, we had 3 rounds of tapas, then got ready for the super bowl... We had reserved tickets AT the bar of this irish/american/british pub the day before, so when we got there, we had seats, beer, and wings waiting for us...we were there from 11 pm till 4 am our time...and then the steelers lost
We woke up yesterday, had breakfast, and walked around the city...did some shopping, went to the beach, and had an amazing 3 course lunch for 10 euros...we went to a supermarket and bought bread, goat cheese, spinach, and honey to make sandwiches for dinner
We got on the overnight train (whose seats resembled an airplane) and arrived in Grenada this morning. Dayne got really sick with the stomach bug so we got her to the hostel, and we just left to try and go see the Alhambra...its gorgeous, but its a very small town that reminds me of greece ...check out my pictures
I'm just gonna throw it out there right now that I know way less spanish than I thought
Hasta Lavista
Xoxo
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
We woke up early and went to the Picasso museum, which had a lot of his earlier work, and a bunch from later in his life...it was cool but I wish I knew more about his work
After that, we went to see the Segrada Familia cathedral by Gaudi, which has been being built since the end of the 1800s and won't be done till 2026...pictures are below, it looks like a giant sand castle...google it
Tc met up with us there, and we went to the Parc Guel, which was also designed by Gaudi....we had to walk uphill for an hour to get there...it was cool, but not cool enough for all that walking
We had a very touristy day.
For dinner, we had 3 rounds of tapas, then got ready for the super bowl... We had reserved tickets AT the bar of this irish/american/british pub the day before, so when we got there, we had seats, beer, and wings waiting for us...we were there from 11 pm till 4 am our time...and then the steelers lost
We woke up yesterday, had breakfast, and walked around the city...did some shopping, went to the beach, and had an amazing 3 course lunch for 10 euros...we went to a supermarket and bought bread, goat cheese, spinach, and honey to make sandwiches for dinner
We got on the overnight train (whose seats resembled an airplane) and arrived in Grenada this morning. Dayne got really sick with the stomach bug so we got her to the hostel, and we just left to try and go see the Alhambra...its gorgeous, but its a very small town that reminds me of greece ...check out my pictures
I'm just gonna throw it out there right now that I know way less spanish than I thought
Hasta Lavista
Xoxo
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Day 2 in Barce
So yesterday we met back up with Matt and got to know the city a little bit. We went to los ramblos market (cool but really touristy) and walked around some more- Matt, Dayne and I stopped and got some paella (picture below) which was unbelievable.
We bought some cheap champagne (2 euros) and sat on the beach and enjoyed being in spain for a couple hours. For dinner we got sandwiches at this place called Bo De B which also had the most amazing fries with 6 different kinds of sauces. The food here really isn't too shabby.
At night, we came back, showered, and napped and went to this bar called Jars and Fun- you can buy a huge pitcher of a mixed drink for only 12 euros- a true bargain for europe.
So were up and walking around spain again...probably going to the Picasso museum?
Half of us have pretty serious blisters, and my shoes are going to give out pretty soon, but I'm loving this country...I don't even mind all the walking
SUPERBOWL TONIGHT- we reserved seats at a local irish bar and the game goes from 130-6 am our time, so think of us as you Americans watch it
Hasta Luego
Xoxo
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
We bought some cheap champagne (2 euros) and sat on the beach and enjoyed being in spain for a couple hours. For dinner we got sandwiches at this place called Bo De B which also had the most amazing fries with 6 different kinds of sauces. The food here really isn't too shabby.
At night, we came back, showered, and napped and went to this bar called Jars and Fun- you can buy a huge pitcher of a mixed drink for only 12 euros- a true bargain for europe.
So were up and walking around spain again...probably going to the Picasso museum?
Half of us have pretty serious blisters, and my shoes are going to give out pretty soon, but I'm loving this country...I don't even mind all the walking
SUPERBOWL TONIGHT- we reserved seats at a local irish bar and the game goes from 130-6 am our time, so think of us as you Americans watch it
Hasta Luego
Xoxo
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Saturday, February 5, 2011
The Mediterranean ocean from Barce...I could get used to this
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