We are in Vienna, Austria! I have had songs from the Sound of Music stuck in my head all week!! After a 15 hr coach ride, with no movies and several rest stops we made it from Bosnia to Ausria. We drove through Croatia and Slovenia to get here. It actually was not a bad drive...it didnt feel like 15 hrs which was nice. Our hotel here in Vienna is really nice. The rooms are small..at least for 3 people but clean and nice. The hotel has kind of a hip cool l.a. vibe. The breakfast here has been the best we have had so far. good eggs, coffee cake and coffee. it has been a nice change from the bread and hotdogs we were served in Bosnia...yes they offered us hotdogs in the early a.m. hours!
Vienna is a really great city! its definitely hard to figure a lot of thing out...everything is in German and I cant figure out the transportation system all that well. The city has a very European feel to it...all the buildings are so oranate and huge...its just so beautiful. and they have tons of coffee shops and sitting down at a cafe is a very cultural things...this is so my kind of city. i wish we were here closer to christmas...apparently the city is spectaculare...snow with twinkle lights everywhere!At our group meal we were served the traditional wienerschnitzl. It was pretty good...i think it is fried pork..at least that is what it tasted like to me.
So far we have had class everyday and then have explored the city. we went on a walking tour of vienna and then to the kuhsthistoriches Museum. Yesterday morning we got to go to the United Nations headquarters here in Vienna. It was really fascinating. We got a tour of the building and then someone spoke to us from the IAEA...the organization that safeguards the proper use of nuclear power. It was really interesting and a neat experience to get to go there. Last night we went to the Opera. It was my first opera and i really enjoyed it! The atmosphere was great. It felt really great to get all dressed up...everyone cleans up so well. We saw The Barber of Seville by Rossini. The subtitle box infront of every seat helped us to follow along. Our seats were horrible...i could only see about one forth of the stage. it was definitely a struggle at some points to stay awake since we didnt have anything to look at. But overall i still really enjoyed it.
Vienna has been the first place that i have really been craving things from home. Almost every meal we play< the game "if i could eat anything i would eat..." a lot of my answers involve mexican food and salads...i dont know if i have ever craved a salad so much in my life. I broke down the other day and got starbucks...hazlenut mochas are my new favorites. And they have a TGIFs here in Vienna. So far I have eaten dinner there twice...I got my big salad and a margarita...it was amazing! i know its very american but those 2 meals were soo good. everyone on our trip has been there. i think we all need a little break from the bosnia-viennian food (which is actually prettz similar) Thats all for now...i cant wait to see what the rest of vienna has in store for us!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Bosnia...a bonding experience
That's just what Bosnia has been to say the least! Our group has all gotten soo much closer these last few days...We flew into Crotia on the 17th and went to the town of Dubrovnic. First of all the weather was perfect! about 70. the town is a coastal town and absolutely beautiful. It reminded me a lot to the Italian coast and Sorrento. We all loved it...we had a little walking tour and then got to explore on our own. some of the boys decided to go swimming in the adriatic sea...the water was surprisingly not very cold. we all left croatia wishing we could have stayed longer and suggesting that westmont should have a whole semester abroad program there.
That night we drove to into bosnia. The next day we made our way through bosnia and visited a monastery and a few other things. We went the to town of Mostar. It was one of the towns mostly effected by the war in 1992. It was crazy...you can still see the bullet holes in the walls of buildings. It is a sobering reminder that the war was not too long ago. we spent the night up in the mountains in a ski resort. it was beautiful but we still aren't really sure why we had to make the 30 minute drive up the mountain to stay there. On our next day we went white water rafting in the Neretva river. It was sooo beautiful. We rafted for 5 hours along a river valley. Really breathtaking views. The rapids were only class 2 so we only had a few exciting moments. A few people fell out into the river but not me! The only down side to the day was that it was freezing!!! and we were in our bathing suits...we had wetsuits but they didn't seem to help at all. and the water was freezing. I don't know if i've ever shaken so much for so long from being cold. Besides from the cold factor and being out there for 5 hours it was really fun and i'm sooo glad we got to do it. For lunch we were served a meal of 2 whole fish...head and tail included. Needless to say I didn't eat it and was slightly hungry for the rest of the day.
That night we made our way into Sarajevo and the bonding began. I woke up the next morning to find out that about half of our group was really sick during the night with food poisoning. For the day we were only scheduled lectures so they were all cancled and we had a free day. As the day progressed more people got sick too. By the next day only about 7 people from our group of 47 had not gotten sick...i unfortunately was not one of the lucky ones. It was really incredible to see how everyone in our group really supported one another in their time of sickness...we all kept each other company and watched out for one another. I don't think i've ever been in a group where people have talked so openly about being sick and people have gotten excited once someone finally threw up. It really was a bonding experience...we are all much closer now. It really was a blessing from God that everyone got sick on a lecture day...imagine if we were on the bus or had to catch a flight with everyone sick...that would not have been fun. We are all ready to leave bosnia though and move on to better food. The food is good here but just so rich and greasy...tons of meat and potatoes. We have all been a little scared to eat the food.
Today we had a refreshing day visiting a mountain town. It was such a beautiful drive and the weather was perfect...sunny and warm. The leaves have stared to change and you can see fall beginning. It was so pictureque and not at all what i had imagined bosnia to be like. We hiked a little and was made a meal by the village and was given a preformance of what a traditional village marriage ceromony would be like. It was a wonderful way to end our time in Bosnia. I think everyone was thankful to have a relaxing day in the fresh mountain air. Tomorrow morning we leave to Vienna, Austria. It will be about a 12 hour drive. It will be long but i'm so excited to see what vienna has to offer...anything will be better than food posioning!
That night we drove to into bosnia. The next day we made our way through bosnia and visited a monastery and a few other things. We went the to town of Mostar. It was one of the towns mostly effected by the war in 1992. It was crazy...you can still see the bullet holes in the walls of buildings. It is a sobering reminder that the war was not too long ago. we spent the night up in the mountains in a ski resort. it was beautiful but we still aren't really sure why we had to make the 30 minute drive up the mountain to stay there. On our next day we went white water rafting in the Neretva river. It was sooo beautiful. We rafted for 5 hours along a river valley. Really breathtaking views. The rapids were only class 2 so we only had a few exciting moments. A few people fell out into the river but not me! The only down side to the day was that it was freezing!!! and we were in our bathing suits...we had wetsuits but they didn't seem to help at all. and the water was freezing. I don't know if i've ever shaken so much for so long from being cold. Besides from the cold factor and being out there for 5 hours it was really fun and i'm sooo glad we got to do it. For lunch we were served a meal of 2 whole fish...head and tail included. Needless to say I didn't eat it and was slightly hungry for the rest of the day.
That night we made our way into Sarajevo and the bonding began. I woke up the next morning to find out that about half of our group was really sick during the night with food poisoning. For the day we were only scheduled lectures so they were all cancled and we had a free day. As the day progressed more people got sick too. By the next day only about 7 people from our group of 47 had not gotten sick...i unfortunately was not one of the lucky ones. It was really incredible to see how everyone in our group really supported one another in their time of sickness...we all kept each other company and watched out for one another. I don't think i've ever been in a group where people have talked so openly about being sick and people have gotten excited once someone finally threw up. It really was a bonding experience...we are all much closer now. It really was a blessing from God that everyone got sick on a lecture day...imagine if we were on the bus or had to catch a flight with everyone sick...that would not have been fun. We are all ready to leave bosnia though and move on to better food. The food is good here but just so rich and greasy...tons of meat and potatoes. We have all been a little scared to eat the food.
Today we had a refreshing day visiting a mountain town. It was such a beautiful drive and the weather was perfect...sunny and warm. The leaves have stared to change and you can see fall beginning. It was so pictureque and not at all what i had imagined bosnia to be like. We hiked a little and was made a meal by the village and was given a preformance of what a traditional village marriage ceromony would be like. It was a wonderful way to end our time in Bosnia. I think everyone was thankful to have a relaxing day in the fresh mountain air. Tomorrow morning we leave to Vienna, Austria. It will be about a 12 hour drive. It will be long but i'm so excited to see what vienna has to offer...anything will be better than food posioning!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
A Whirlwind of a Week!!!
London has been just that...a whirlwind! We have been sooo busy every single day. We have had classes in the morninging and then excursions in the afternoon and some at night. I think the pure exhaustion is finally starting to get me. I'm having a wonderful time and I love this city so much but I've just been so tired from going non-stop. Since I don't have much time (as has been the theme of this week) here is a quick recap of all the things I have been doing here.
Sunday-a group of us went to Bath for the day. It's a wonderful little town that I had been to before but knew I wanted to go back one day. It is known for it's roman bath houses and jane austin had a house there. On the way back we were able to stop at Stonehenge. We missed our bus since the train decided to stop working in the afternoon and had to take a taxi there only to find out once we made it that we had 10 minutes there before we had to go back to the train station so that we wouldn't miss our train back to london. so we saw it through a gate and didn't have to pay...stonehenge on a college student's budget...it was great!
monday-group excursion to the national gallery, dinner at an amazing crepe place (my old dutch) which I highly recommend, and then our group went to see Les Miserable. The play was fantastic!! I had seen a high school production of it before but was so blown away by it here...i did not want it to end!
tuesday-the british museum but i only lasted about 10 minutes since i have been there 2 times before and didn't feel the need to see everything again for a 3rd time. Lauren and I spent a lesuirely afternoon in Regents Park walking around and doing our homework near the lake. It was a wonderful relaxing afternoon away from the crazy park. In the afternoon we went shopping...probably one of the most overwhelming experiences...top shop...it's a 4 story store with more cloths than i have ever seen in one compact space. Went to the Lion King which was amazing!! the costumes and dancing were simply extravagant...the acting wasn't very good but the other stuff made up for it.
Wednesday-day excursion to Coventry and Stratford-on-Avon where we saw 12th night by Shakespeare at the Royal Shakespeare Company. It again was wonderful..the acting was so good and it was surprisingly really funny. John Lithgow (3rd rock from the sun) was one of the leading roles so that was pretty cool
thursday-class until 1pm which was soo hard to sit through and then we had to go to both the Tate Britain and the Tate Modern museums. Saw Wicked with about 10 other people. I thought it was amazing but some other people in the group said that it wasn't nearly as good as it is in new york and la.
friday-westminster abby-we got to participate in the evensong there which was so beautiful. The boys choir was incredible and it was a really neat experience to have. we then had a group dinner where we were served fish and chips...be proud mom- i tried it...only ate about 3 bites...it reminded me of fish sticks when i was like 6...lets just say i was still starving at the end of our meal.
saturday-went to notting hill and portobello market. notting hill was soo cute! i could live there in an instant. the open market was so great! i loved it...and def. bought a few little things. it's hard not buying things for people. i don't have the room in my suitcase and it's so expensive to ship things back to the states. we had tickets for the merchant of venice at the globe theater. We of course were running extremely late for it since the tube decided to be ridiculously slow and stop every 2 minutes. we had to run across the thames and to the globe...it was awful. 1. i don't like running...2. i fell off some stairs and another girl feel too. we were a disaster by the time we got there but thankfully made it with only a few scrapes and bruises. The play was good but i was so tired that i fell asleep during it. and it was 3 hrs long. hopefully i can get to bed early tonight.
we only have one day left here in london before we go to Bosnia...no one knows what to expect from Bosnia...we are all just excited to sleep and relax there...as we have been saying...london is for living and bosnia is for sleeping!
Sunday-a group of us went to Bath for the day. It's a wonderful little town that I had been to before but knew I wanted to go back one day. It is known for it's roman bath houses and jane austin had a house there. On the way back we were able to stop at Stonehenge. We missed our bus since the train decided to stop working in the afternoon and had to take a taxi there only to find out once we made it that we had 10 minutes there before we had to go back to the train station so that we wouldn't miss our train back to london. so we saw it through a gate and didn't have to pay...stonehenge on a college student's budget...it was great!
monday-group excursion to the national gallery, dinner at an amazing crepe place (my old dutch) which I highly recommend, and then our group went to see Les Miserable. The play was fantastic!! I had seen a high school production of it before but was so blown away by it here...i did not want it to end!
tuesday-the british museum but i only lasted about 10 minutes since i have been there 2 times before and didn't feel the need to see everything again for a 3rd time. Lauren and I spent a lesuirely afternoon in Regents Park walking around and doing our homework near the lake. It was a wonderful relaxing afternoon away from the crazy park. In the afternoon we went shopping...probably one of the most overwhelming experiences...top shop...it's a 4 story store with more cloths than i have ever seen in one compact space. Went to the Lion King which was amazing!! the costumes and dancing were simply extravagant...the acting wasn't very good but the other stuff made up for it.
Wednesday-day excursion to Coventry and Stratford-on-Avon where we saw 12th night by Shakespeare at the Royal Shakespeare Company. It again was wonderful..the acting was so good and it was surprisingly really funny. John Lithgow (3rd rock from the sun) was one of the leading roles so that was pretty cool
thursday-class until 1pm which was soo hard to sit through and then we had to go to both the Tate Britain and the Tate Modern museums. Saw Wicked with about 10 other people. I thought it was amazing but some other people in the group said that it wasn't nearly as good as it is in new york and la.
friday-westminster abby-we got to participate in the evensong there which was so beautiful. The boys choir was incredible and it was a really neat experience to have. we then had a group dinner where we were served fish and chips...be proud mom- i tried it...only ate about 3 bites...it reminded me of fish sticks when i was like 6...lets just say i was still starving at the end of our meal.
saturday-went to notting hill and portobello market. notting hill was soo cute! i could live there in an instant. the open market was so great! i loved it...and def. bought a few little things. it's hard not buying things for people. i don't have the room in my suitcase and it's so expensive to ship things back to the states. we had tickets for the merchant of venice at the globe theater. We of course were running extremely late for it since the tube decided to be ridiculously slow and stop every 2 minutes. we had to run across the thames and to the globe...it was awful. 1. i don't like running...2. i fell off some stairs and another girl feel too. we were a disaster by the time we got there but thankfully made it with only a few scrapes and bruises. The play was good but i was so tired that i fell asleep during it. and it was 3 hrs long. hopefully i can get to bed early tonight.
we only have one day left here in london before we go to Bosnia...no one knows what to expect from Bosnia...we are all just excited to sleep and relax there...as we have been saying...london is for living and bosnia is for sleeping!
Saturday, September 8, 2007
London Baby!!!
we left cambridge on thursday and arrived in London later that day. Our final day in Cambridge was wonderful. We had class in the morning and then went punting on the Cam. The boys in our group decided to do punting Olympic style and had races. It was pretty comical to watch. They wound up getting each other completely soaking wet and spent about 10 minutes getting all the water our of the little boats. Even Dr. Pointer did his fair share of splashing all the boys...i got it on video so it will be perfect if I ever need blackmail. one of the boys even jumped into the water jumped from boat to boat...boys will always be boys! Us girls had a more relaxing punting experience. We all took turns doing it and luckily no one feel in or got wet! For our last night we had a getting-aquainted party for the whole group. It seemed a little strange that our getting to know you party was 2 weeks into the trip but it was fun regardless. One of the best memories from Cambridge was Mikey coming into class in the europe semester outfit which has been passed on from the boys of last semeseter. the outfit consists of white pants and a big union jack tshirt...he looked ridiculous! I guess the tradition is for all the boys to wear it one day on the trip! too funny
In london we are staying at the London School of Economics in the High Holborn area. The area we are staying in is great! there are tons of shops, restraunts, it's within walking distance to most major areas and super close to covent gradens. I'm in a double room that is clearly meant to be a single. There is about 1 foot inbetween the 2 beds and no room for us to open our suitcases...we are being optimistic and calling it cozy...very cozy! it is definitely the smallest space that we've had to stay in so it will be intersting.
On our way to london we stopped off at Stowe Gardens which is this huge landscape garden. my favorite part of it was seeing the castle that was used in the james bond movie and the rotunda used in the lastest version of pride and prejudice! i could just imagine all the characters from jane austin's novels walking around in the gardens. It was one of the girls bday that day so her boyfriend orchestrated it so that all the boys would sing to her "i can't help falling in love with you". It was too cute! We had tons of reading to do for the next day of classes so on our first night a few of us wandered over to covent gardens to sit at a cafe and finish our reading. It was perfect! The weather was so warm...it was after 9pm and still felt like it was in the 70s. Of course i barely got any reading done b/c i was so distracted by all the people watching and all the street performers and just being so excited to be in London! Kendra imagine me at a coffee shope and multiply it by 10 and that's how productive i was :-)
Our first full day in London was good. We had class in the morning and spent the afternoon at the Imperial War Museum. That museum was incredible...I highly recommend it. I'm not usually into that kind of thing but I was so intrigued...most of our group easily spent 2 hours there if not longer. Then went out to dinner at this great little italian dinner with some people in the group that I didn't really know as well...we had a great time and I am continuously surpised at how great the people on this trip are! We went to a play as a group...Emperor Jones and basically had to run there from dinner so that we could get our tickets in time. The play was alright...it was probably the shortest play i have ever seen only about 1 hour. After the play a huge group of us (20) ventured back to covent garden to go to a bar that overlooks the square (the one u and i went to leah). but going out in a huge group is slightly impossible so we had to leave and went to this great place called shakespear's head. i have never seen a bar so big and it was the first time i didnt' feel like our westmont group has taken over a place.
Today we had class again in the morning (so weird having class on saturday) and then spent the afternoon at the National Gallery. We tried to get some theater tickets for Les Miserable for tonight but the only ones left were super expensive. We are going to have to go another night...not on saturday. Tomorrow we have a free day so a few of us are going to Bath...which i'm sooo excited about!! So far london is everything I remembered and love...i'm so happy that we are here for 11 days!
In london we are staying at the London School of Economics in the High Holborn area. The area we are staying in is great! there are tons of shops, restraunts, it's within walking distance to most major areas and super close to covent gradens. I'm in a double room that is clearly meant to be a single. There is about 1 foot inbetween the 2 beds and no room for us to open our suitcases...we are being optimistic and calling it cozy...very cozy! it is definitely the smallest space that we've had to stay in so it will be intersting.
On our way to london we stopped off at Stowe Gardens which is this huge landscape garden. my favorite part of it was seeing the castle that was used in the james bond movie and the rotunda used in the lastest version of pride and prejudice! i could just imagine all the characters from jane austin's novels walking around in the gardens. It was one of the girls bday that day so her boyfriend orchestrated it so that all the boys would sing to her "i can't help falling in love with you". It was too cute! We had tons of reading to do for the next day of classes so on our first night a few of us wandered over to covent gardens to sit at a cafe and finish our reading. It was perfect! The weather was so warm...it was after 9pm and still felt like it was in the 70s. Of course i barely got any reading done b/c i was so distracted by all the people watching and all the street performers and just being so excited to be in London! Kendra imagine me at a coffee shope and multiply it by 10 and that's how productive i was :-)
Our first full day in London was good. We had class in the morning and spent the afternoon at the Imperial War Museum. That museum was incredible...I highly recommend it. I'm not usually into that kind of thing but I was so intrigued...most of our group easily spent 2 hours there if not longer. Then went out to dinner at this great little italian dinner with some people in the group that I didn't really know as well...we had a great time and I am continuously surpised at how great the people on this trip are! We went to a play as a group...Emperor Jones and basically had to run there from dinner so that we could get our tickets in time. The play was alright...it was probably the shortest play i have ever seen only about 1 hour. After the play a huge group of us (20) ventured back to covent garden to go to a bar that overlooks the square (the one u and i went to leah). but going out in a huge group is slightly impossible so we had to leave and went to this great place called shakespear's head. i have never seen a bar so big and it was the first time i didnt' feel like our westmont group has taken over a place.
Today we had class again in the morning (so weird having class on saturday) and then spent the afternoon at the National Gallery. We tried to get some theater tickets for Les Miserable for tonight but the only ones left were super expensive. We are going to have to go another night...not on saturday. Tomorrow we have a free day so a few of us are going to Bath...which i'm sooo excited about!! So far london is everything I remembered and love...i'm so happy that we are here for 11 days!
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
I'm ready to move to Cambridge
We arrived yesterday to Cambridge and i absolutely love it here. Words can not describe the feelings of happiness that this little college town gives me. Our last few days in Belfast were pretty good. On saturday we had an all day excurison out to the north coast of the country. it was sooo beautiful. it was so picturesque and exactly what i imagined ireland to be in my head. all i wanted to see was the coast and that was exactly what i wanted. We first went to the town of Derry where most of "the troubles" first started. Then we went to these old castle ruins right on a cliff. words can not describe how beautiful it was. We then went up the road to Giant's Causeway which is an area of these really spectacular rock formation. we had to treck down the cliff and of course it started to rain pretty good while we were walking down these really slippery steps and i got all muddy. it was worth it though because once you got down it was goregeous. i'm so glad we got to go there because it fulfilled all my dreams about what i expected ireland to be. our last day most of our group went to church where we dominated the congretation. the local people were incredibly friendly and i wound up staying about 30 minutes after the services just talking with some families. then some of the girls and i had a nice leasurily lunch at a little cafe near queens univesity. the rest of my afternoon was definitely frustrating though. all i wanted to do was to have some me time at a little coffee shop i passed by the day before but it was closed along with almost every other store. a note to anyone who may be traveling over seas...most things will be closed on sunday afternoons so don't get your heart set on going to somewhere that you really wanted to. Sunday night was pretty great though. We had vespers as a group as we do every sunday night. it was really refreshing. it was great just to come together as a group and to support one another as everyone is beginning to feel homesick. The night really solidified how great this group is. Even though belfast was a great experience and i learned so much i was definitly ready to leave and i'm so happy to be here in cambridge.
We are staying at Clare College and it is incredible. it is a lot like trinity collge that we stayed in in Dublin. i would love to be a student here. everything is so green and the landscape is beautiful. there are flowers everywhere and the streets are all cobble stone. it looks like this town is out of a jane austin novel. the people here are so friendly-we met 3 local girls about my age who gave us the low down on all the places to go and the places to avoid. `our time so far has been pretty mellow. last night we went to a tapas place which was soo delicious and then today we had class in the morning and then went on a walking tour of the city. i got lunch at an open air market and then went to a pub for dinner where supposedly the two men who discovered DNA made the announcement of their discovery. Tomorrow in the afternoon i am planning on going punting down the river cam (punting looks like a gondola ride in venice but you can do it yourself). Tomorrow is our last day here and i wish we could stay longer.
We are staying at Clare College and it is incredible. it is a lot like trinity collge that we stayed in in Dublin. i would love to be a student here. everything is so green and the landscape is beautiful. there are flowers everywhere and the streets are all cobble stone. it looks like this town is out of a jane austin novel. the people here are so friendly-we met 3 local girls about my age who gave us the low down on all the places to go and the places to avoid. `our time so far has been pretty mellow. last night we went to a tapas place which was soo delicious and then today we had class in the morning and then went on a walking tour of the city. i got lunch at an open air market and then went to a pub for dinner where supposedly the two men who discovered DNA made the announcement of their discovery. Tomorrow in the afternoon i am planning on going punting down the river cam (punting looks like a gondola ride in venice but you can do it yourself). Tomorrow is our last day here and i wish we could stay longer.
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