Island in the Sun

Day 3:With grammie and papa's and marsha and tom's birthday money assistance I was able to take a cruise to a few Greek islands! I took a one day, three island cruise to Poros, Hydra, and Aegina.This was how I pictured Greece, and I suppose the only way it's really promoted to tourists...the white houses, blue windows and doors, donkeys, hills, ocean, etc.

Hydra the first island was like this. They didn't have any cars on the island and got around by walking, and the rest by donkeys. It was fun getting to see donkeys being loaded with goods from boats that just arrived! Felt almost unreal. I did a little shopping and hiked up the hills a bit to get better looks at the ocean and town/island. This was my favorite island by far.
The second island, Poros was much bigger and we only had 45 mins here, just long enough to walk along the coast/port and stretch my legs. I didn't really get to see much, but as i said it was a bigger island and much bigger city (this one with cars). Afterward I had lunch on the cruise ship (raw, sweet salmon with coleslaw...rolls...and pork with potatoes).The third island, Aegina, I signed up for a tour, the Panoramic tour. They offered that one and an archaeological tour, but the panoramic visited a church and had seafood, and religion and food for me trump history. Ha! Being an anthropology major, I probably shouldn't admit that. But...we visited the famous Greek Orthodox Church, that all orthodox as supposed to make a pilgrimage to once in their life (there's a festival every year as well), because this is the place that the orthodox saint Nikolaus remains lie, he was the last official healer in the orthodox religion. We also passed by fields of pistachio trees, the island Aegina is the main supplier of pistachio nuts in Greece. Afterwards we went to a restraunt to have some local seafood (squid, octopus, sardines, prawns, also dates and ouzo- greek liquor). And traveled back to Athens complete with greek dancing and music on the cruise.

Day 4:

Because I left around 4 pm I didn't have much time left. I went into Plaka, the old part of the city and also the most touristy. Got some souvenirs and also saw the Roman archaeological remains, and some Greek scattered around the city as well. I got to see the large Cathedral (do they call it cathedral? as it's orthodox?) in the city, but could not go in as I had shorts on, and also a couple smaller, older churches, same story there too. And off I went on the Larissa, then Thessaloniki in Greece. Caught the train to Sofia, Bulgaria (where it arrived an hour late). I met a man on the train who spoke english and asked if I needed help, showing me where I could leave my things to tour the city (as I had 5 hrs. there). I tried to hit as many main sites as I could, unfortunately this didn't include the large Cathedral. I walked through the market, seeing a white zucchini (i assume, that's what it looked like) i've never seen before. And was interested to see a line of 8ish people waiting for yogurt and milk products. I found a catholic church (but missed mass by an hour) and an orthodox church, as well as a mosque, but i didn't have time to go inside there. I saw the church St. Petra Samardjhska (spell check?) that's an ancient christian monument from the 11th century. There were remains of the old city and pillars underground in the metro, and seemed also strewn about the city. Saw the President's building/palace, also St. George Rotunda ruins, an orthodox church from the 4th century and its resoration. Inside a service was going on, the first time I've gotten to sit through an orthodox service. Amazing frescos inside. I then went onto another church, Hagia Nedelja, and walked in during another service. Greek churches as so decorative, and beautiful, gold everywhere. I had lunch in Bulgaria, a pastry with cheese inside, maybe goat cheese? Very bitter.Then on to Beograd , Serbia (also arrived late, 2 hrs this time), and Villach, Austria it arrived 4 hrs. later than scheduled, and found out then I had to transter to Salzburg, Austria then to Munich. I finally arrived in Munich at 6pm (instead of the scheduled 1:30pm). The earliest train to Nijmegen was a night train, arrived at 6am and switched 4 times during the night, so i opted for a train that arrived at 9am and only switched once in the netherlands at 8am. So...altogether it took me 3 nights and 3 days to arrive home. But here I am!
I've already written alot, tomorrow I'll tell you what my plans are before I leave to come back home in 5 days!
Well, it says I've exceeded my upload of photos, so unfortunately I can't show the rest of my pictures...will try and figure out how to fix it.

Doei!
p.s. title song by Weezer

The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks

Ahhhhhhhhh...it's so good to be home!

I arrived back in nijmegen around 9 am this morning, and had a great time, after 4 days in Greece I was ready to come home. It's not that I didn't enjoy traveling and being IN GREECE! Just that Athens wasn't what I thought it would be, and actually isn't one of my favorite cities I've been to. It was crowded, huge, dirty, and the people weren't so friendly, well...maybe the men were a little too friendly, but other than that. Unfortunately when I posted the last blog the internet connection wasn't so good so I wasn't able to post pictures...I'll make in up to you later in the post, promise.

Athina, Greece
Day 1:

I'll begin where I left off...I did arrive in Athens at 6:40 - but actually was 5:40am my time (as time is pushed back an hour in greece, time change). I met a Greek man in Thessaloniki who didn't speak any english, but helped me figure out I needed a reservation for the train, and defended me when some other man tried to get me to move from where I was sitting. When we arrived in Athens he helped me with my bags taking them to the station for me, very kind.I hung out at the train station for a bit, had a cup of coffee and waited for the information desk to open at 8am. Which, I didn't need to do as they didn't have any maps, and weren't very helpful. So I hit the streets in search of a map to find my hostel, found a map posted on a corner, but of course it was in greek and i had the english translation of streets that did me no good. So instead of wandering around in search of my hostel which was according to the information man 5 blocks away, I got a cab and took a ride to it. The cab wasn't terribly expensive, but def. expensive for only going 5 blocks, but as I see it, it was much better than me getting lost or worse (as it wasn't the best area). I couldn't check in to the hostel until 11am, but by the time I got to the hostel it was around 9am and they were serving breakfast, and I had a shower (don't think technically i was supposed to, but damnit i had traveled a long time and needed one). As I waited for the internet usage, the hostel man asked if i wanted to check in now, yes i replied, when he proceeded to tell me that he had a room for me, but he didn't want to put me there since there was no a/c and would i mind going to another hostel (same owners). Umm, but i have a reservation, i have the papers, i told him. Yes, he said, but this other hostel is better and has a/c. I said fine and he called me a cab (and paid for it). I hung out at this hostel till 11am to make sure I absolutely had a room and wouldn't have to leave again. This in some ways turned out to be a blessing since it was a block away from the metro and slightly closer to the city center (and in a better area). In other ways, while it had a/c they didn't have any sheets or blankets (besides to cover the mattress) and i had to pay for a towel. Towel is my own fault, I meant to buy one before I left nijmegen but just didn't get around to it.This day I headed to the Acropolis hearing from a girl at another hostel that on sundays EU students had free admittance (turns out EU students were free any historical site, just students were free sunday). Gorgeous, amazing are the only words to describe it. So much history and culture, theater, temples, just amazing. The whole time in Greece it was ridiculously hot and humid, no rain, but in Greece they had water stations around the city everyone for drinking water (or otherwise) which I really really loved. Water and food were also very cheap in Greece, I didn't eat at any 'restraunts' but mostly bakeries or these kind of 'to go' food places (with just sanwiches, etc.) Of course I had gyros and was surprised to find out when I ordered a 'traditional gyro' i had an option of pork or chicken---no lamb---in fact, i didn't see lamb a choice anywhere in greece...not sure if that's an american version of gyros????? So I had pork, and also had french fries inside the gyro. Some other meals I had, a baguette with feta cheese, greek olives, tomatoes, and cumcumbers...and a hot flaky pastry with feta cheese and spinach inside. Great food, all for around 3 euros including a drink. Fabulous.

After the acropolis I sat on a bench staring at a map figuring out where to go next and a man came and sat down beside me (60-70 yrs old) began asking where i was going, what i thought...etc. I found out he's from copenhagen, denmark, an artist and spends time painting in greece for a few months during the year. He at one time had a dutch girlfriend and so knew the culture and area, interesting man. He ended up taking me to most of the major sites in athens and because he spent so much time there knew a lot about its history and the good spots to go. We visited socrates prison (which apparently isnt really socrates prison afterall-they found out later- but is still marked as so), temple of zeus, the olympic stadium, and much more. Afterwards he invited me to his flat for tea, but i declined saying i had to be back at my hostel. I didn't really, but even though he was a sweet man and i'm sure meant well, i'm still not comfortable going back to anyone's house in a different country, as long as we stayed in public that was my comfort/safety zone.So we parted and i continued to the national park where i found a small zoo inclosed were pigeons, cats, rabbits, chickens, two donkeys, a couple goats, and really not much else. I saw the President's house and the guards change places on the hour This is one of those guards, and another soldier who's wiping his sweat

as well as the Parliament building, and that's when my photo sim card was full and my feet were tired. Oh, also were I discovered apple fanta--i love it! wish we had it in the netherlands or in the u.s.

Day 2:

Met another man, this one Greek and only slightly older than me (and very handsome too) who wanted me to stay in Greece and tour the islands with him where he'd 'support' me if i only stayed a bit longer. I told him i was leaving that night, and on my way to meet some friends at the Archaeological Museum...where I was actually headed, but of course alone and leaving in 2 days. I let him walk me the 1/2 block to the museum and give me his contacts, but there we parted and I went and waited for the museum to open for an hour. It was overwhelming. A huge museum, sooo much history, sooo many pots, artifacts, columns, statues, everything you can imagine. Very interesting, but after 4 rooms of greek pots they all began to look the same to me. There was also an Egyptian section of the museum, where compared to the Greek section I spent twice as much time (having just taken an egyptian course i was especially interested). Total, i spent around 3 1/2 hours there. I caught the metro and headed to the beach. Out of the train station I got distracted having seen a church up ahead and took a 1/2 hr. detour to explore the new find. This was my first Greek church, it was great. I couldn't believe all the gold inside, the details, especially the wood carvings, lots of wood carvings. Cat and Crocodile mummification

I walked for 3ish miles to the beach, but wound up by a port instead, so decided it was best to take a tram. When I finally arrived it was around 7pm and i thought it would be best to get back to the hostel so only spent 10 or so minutes there.Egyptian part of the museum

Doei!
p.s. title song by The Eagles

The Hills are alive with the Sound of Music...

HELLO!

So, I've semi-been keeping a journal/blog/emails to my parents on my travels thus far, and haven't been able to publish them on my site till now, so this will be long (you've been warned), but is mostly all about my inter-railing adventures: Currently, today, July 6^th I am in Athens, Greece, but more about that later...

I'll try and catch you up a bit, I haven't written in a while and sooooo many things have happened, I bought my ticket in Arnhem and went to the Open Air Museum (amaazing), its a museum where they had all traditional and original dutch houses, churches, schools, basically a small village outside you can visit, but is a museum. Was by far my favorite museum I've been to.

I also helped out with the Metallica metal concert, that was awesome. We sold programs of the day on lanyards, and then later posters. The morning went pretty well, the day lagged on, but night was awesome since thats when the better bands played and we had breaks to go watch them for a while.

But, here's about my trips:

Salzburg, Austria

I was in Salzburg, Austria only for one day on the 27^th. I did the Sound of Music tour, we went pretty much everywhere that was used for filming in the movie except the hill in the opening scene as its far enough away the tour would've been all day instead of just the 4 hours it was. And tried to hit all the main sights.

In the morning I started walking around the city and right off saw an old archway and stairs going up (outside) and decided to follow them. Along the pathway there were life-size statues behind bars of the stations of the cross. The little staircase followed alongside a road where the statues were placed into the hillside a bit, and stone pew benches close by. It was a bit of a walk, but had a gorgeous view, and was overall very peaceful. At the top there was the crucifixion scene in sculpture/stone (not sure which), but more stairs to hike up to get to it. With all 3 being crucified and Mary and Peter as well. A little further up was a church connected with a monastery. You could go into the monastery gardens (which I did) it wasn't all that big, but had a great view over the Danube and city below. Walking alongside the monastery wall I came to a bust statue of Mozart, and two pathways on either side, I chose one and ended up (well already was, but more so) in the mountains on a trail. At different points they had information, but of course it all was in German and I couldn't read it. I just got the jist of info. About different birds on the mountain, and something about mining. I walked as far as I could, but had wasn't able to get to the very top. For better or worse it started raining, but since it was so humid and warm, it wasn't much of a bother, plus I hadn't had a shower in a day and a half, so it was a nice drizzle.

On my way back down I walked by the Danube, and onto Mozart's birth house and where he spent some of his adulthood. It was a semi-dull museum, I think they could've done more with it, and pricey, but it was worth getting to see one of Mozart's first violins on display. I had a lovely stale pretzel the Germans are so famous for (maybe not the stale part) and onto the tour.

There were some interesting things the guide told us, but mostly I already knew some of the facts since I'd done some research before I left. Like, they used two houses in filming, one house for the front, the other for the back. And, the real house is off limits, but we did see a tad of its roof. They didn't really escape crossing the mountains, but by train (we got to see the train station). Because of so many tourists the gazebo had to be moved from its private property by the back side of the house and onto a public gov. park property, and also locked because tourists were getting hurt prancing around inside of it. Oh, found out the oldest boy was a bit of a snob, apparently in the last scene where they're crossing the mountains (and he has the youngest daughter on his shoulders) after filming he said something like 'i'll never carry that fat kid again'. Oh also that the scene where they all fall in the water wasn't staged, but was on accident and they decided to keep it because the youngest girl was afraid to get back in the boat.

Budape-sh-t, Hungary

Day 1:

For the last four days I've been in Hungary, for two of those days, Budapest, the other two a town north of Budapest (40 min. train ride) in Szentendre. Budapest was very interesting, like no where I've been before, but of course I've only been to western Europe and select states in the U.S. The transportation was very easy to use, I purchased a 3 day travel ticket and could use trams, buses, and the metro. Ah, the money, so in Hungary they use forints (HUF) as currency...roughly translates 280 forints to 1 Euro. Very confusing for me, especially since the numbers are so high it tends to give the illusion everything is so expensive, when it's not. I had budgeted to be able to spend 30 euros a day...but in Hungary I didn't have to, while Austria I went over.

Anyway, sites, so, I met my friend, Anna (who was also an exchange student at Radboud University in Nijmegen the first semester) at the train station where her and her fiancé took me to my hostel and then on to some sightseeing. We went up to Castle Hill- where the Castle remains are, and new buildings/a community was built. There you can find the National Museum, the Library, and much more. Gorgeous view of the Danube. All the days I was in Hungary it was very hot and humid, and rainy. The Danube was so flooded that the roads closest to it had to be shut down. We then went to the Parliament Building, saw St. Stephen's Basilica—where you can also see on display St. Stephen's hand preserved, well, I guess not preserved, but as he is a saint, miraculously preserved I guess you could say. Gorgeous church, definitely one of my top two favorites I've been to this year (the other was in Bergamo, Italy in the old city).We walked up to a castle today, all around the city. I'm amazed at how humid it is here!!! It's begun & stopped raining 4 times, 2x we were able to wait it out. No one speaks any english here. Very different from anywhere I've gone, I'm not able to make out any words what-so-ever. There's a road next to the Danube that is flooded on both sides. Crazy. It's funny we were by the Parliament building (GORGEOUS) and all the tourists were taking pictures by the flooded road instead of the gov. building :). Tried a very hungarian dessert, have no idea its name. But its a pastry that's wrapped around a piece of wood (long and round) and heated with cinnamon sugar, coconut, nuts, plain, etc. I tried the nuts and cinnamon sugar. Yum. The cinnamon sugar one tasted like, well, cinnamon rolls, just not as gooey. Anna's fiance was a history student and so knows all about hungarian history-very good tour guides!
Had my first shower in two 1/2 days...feel great now. I'm hungry but don't want to leave (feet are killing me & just want to sleep) so i think ill just have some snacks i have in the hostel. Oh, hostel is in an apt. building, didnt even have a sign outside, i never wouldve found it without Anna, esp. since no one speaks english. But its nice, has a living room, free wifi for my laptop, towels & sheets. No breakfast, but a bakery just down the road.
Her parents dont speak any english. Her dad picked us up in his car, was very kind, carried my bags for me, well and her fiance too. Anna translated for us.
I took as many pictures as I could before my battery ran out (wasn't able to charge it this morning or last night of course). But, some places I'll revisit tomorrow anyway--more to do at them. So tomorrow i have by myself & then i meet anna at 3:30 on tuesday to meet to go back to her village for two nights. Went to the train station & didn't have to reserve a seat, so travel plan up till I get to Zagreb is correct.
Hungary is like no where I've been before. Reminds me a little of Milan--very big city, block buildings, but also small old town centers. But--very different too.

Day 2:

The second day in Budapest I had to myself and went back to some of the same sites, also visiting the Synagogue—this area is a haven for Jews in Hungary as I've been told it was a somewhat safer place to be than the rest of Europe, which is why now in Budapest there is a thriving Jewish Quarter. Very beautiful inside, there's also a cemetery on the grounds, and a Jewish History Museum (was closed when I got there). I also climbed the Citadell where there was a church in a cave (very refreshing after a hot humid hike). The third day I visited the Opera House, the Market (in a building), and the House of Terror (where the secret police were stationed). And met with Anna to take a train back to her town Szentendre for two days. Neither of Anna's parents spoke English, besides her mom knowing a few words (good, house, hungry, good night, okay...you get the idea). So Anna worked as a translator the last couple of days. While Budapest was a nice city, most of the buildings were in bad need of repair (Anna used the word dirty, but it really wasn't dirty, just looked—well, old & used.) and there was quite a bit of construction, these are also some reasons Anna wasn't so proud of the city, those and the Soviet built buildings that are a not-so-nice reminder of the past.

Szentendre, Hungary

Day 1:

But I loved Szentendre. It's a small town set in the mountains (forest), has the Danube along the main street, small houses, but large enough you wouldn't know everyone in the town. My favorite part though was probably the food. I love Hungarian food, they seem to utilize much more spices than we do and using somewhat simple ingredients can make a delicious meal. The first day, Anna and I walked around the town a little bit, seeing tennis courts flooded by the Danube, and all the cute old little streets.

Day 2:

The second day we did the same, but later on in the day went by car with her mom and dad to two other nearby towns. The mountains that are close to Szentendre are considered sacred to the Buddhists, since Hungary is the 'heart' of Europe, literally in the middle, and these trees are in the middle of the earth, so i'm told. Anna and her parents don't really feel like they're all that holy ;) So we went and climbed part way up to a castle, and a tower. The tower was used to keep a man in line for the throne of King after he was blinded, as blind men could not be Kings. We also saw the Royal Palace (ruins) and area where nobles lived. The second town we hiked (really, hiked) up to a Basilica, that is the Head of the Roman Catholic Church in Hungary. Imagine my surprise as we hike up the steps and right in front see a bus from the Netherlands and a Dutch tour going on. No one else in sight but us and the Dutch. I got to take a peek inside, but since Anna and I were both wearing short sleeves and shorts, Anna's mom didn't think it was a good idea to go inside. In eastern europe, it's not proper to go inside a church, temple, monastery, whatever without covering your arms and legs. The Basilica was HUGE, massive. The columns alone were breathtaking. The view from the basilica was of the Danube separating Hungary from Slovakia. While I didn't cross the bridge into Slovakia, I did have a peek over from the hill top. The relationship between Hungary and Slovakia was interesting to hear about. They don't really like each other, well, hate might be more accurate, but next to the Basilica is a very large religious statue, lit up, that is supposed to be big enough for the Slovakian people to see (as I'm told most consider themselves Hungarian, anyway the people that close to Hungary) and is a sign of hope. There's also a Hungarian flag next to the statue, as a sort of passive protest against the government.

Currently writing, I am on a train somewhere between Koprivnica and Dugo Selo on my way to Zagreb, Croatia. According to the internet I should have arrived one hour ago, but earlier in the day our train broke down and we had to wait while people came to fix it. Luckily we didn't have to wait too long, maybe a half hour or so, but it also took a while when we were stopped crossing the border to show our passports 2x (and I got a stamp!!!!) and of course our tickets, and custom people came through. All went smoothly, but it did take a long while.

So, I'm anxiously awaiting arriving in Zagreb as I only have this half a day and tomorrow until I leave in the evening to head onto Athens, Greece!

Zagreb, Croatia

Day 1:

Yesterday I walked around the town, saw the Cathedral and main sights. I walked into another Church and it was beginning to fill up so I decided to stay and see what was going on. The church was getting pretty full, and soon whoever was in front ( I couldn't see them) began chanting and everyone knelt down. Now, just knowing this was a wednesday at 5 pm, I should've known what was going on, but it took me a long while. Pretty much all Catholic masses, or anything really are the same anywhere you go, and here, in Croatia, the people were chanting in latin part of the time. So, I was trying to pick up on clues what was going on, it took until the end of the second decade for me to realize it was a rosary prayer service. I don't know why it took me that long, I knew it definitely wasn't a mass...

Yesterday for some reason I had it in my head I wanted to go to a particular part of the city (actually outside of the city, up in the hills), for some reason I was thinking I had read it was a good place to see a nice view of the city. Well, when I began getting more and more tired from walking, and it was beginning to look more and more like a residential neighborhood I decided it would be best to take a look at the map just to make sure I was on the right track. Well, as you can probably guess, there really was nothing where I supposedly wanted to go, I must've mixed up some names. That's the most difficult part I think with traveling is if you're someplace with a different language it's easy to see how you can mix up Medvedgradska and Medvescak street (utca) names, for example. But, it turned out okay, as there was a cemetery relatively close to where I thought I wanted to go and was also on my list of sights to see. And wow, it was a very long hike up, but very worth it. It was gorgeous. Supposedly its one of the most beautiful cemeterys in Europe. Especially being from the U.S. I think it's really something different to see European cemeterys. Each one is so unique and different. It was a huge area, and I didn't even get to half of it before my feet were beat and I had to shi shi so bad I couldn't hardly walk anymore. I did find a cafe and took a tram back down to the train station close to where I was staying.

Day 2:

Today was my last day in Zagreb, Croatia. This heat and humidity definitely effects how long I stay out and tour the city. I left the hostel this morning at 9:30am and was back at 4pm, which normally would be a pretty good time, but since it stays lighter later at night, I'm able to stay out usually until 8pm or so. Today I went up to a great lookout of the city, a famous Cathedral, a tower (Lotrščak tower) that promptly at 12pm spit out an extremely loud cannon, and the spot where the only gate preserved from the Middle Ages burned down in the 18^th century, the only thing to survive the fire was an icon of the Virgin Mary that is still in that spot (Karmenita vrata). And so, she is the patron saint of Zagreb. I also took a tram out to the river Sava, but it didn't seem all that impressive to me, so I just followed the tram back again into the city. Today is the only day in a week that hasn't rained, and I'm very grateful as it's my 21^st birthday today!!

I haven't eaten out at all in Croatia as it seems to be expensive (well, for a college interrail student), and grocery stores just seem to be the smarter way to do it, plus I love seeing the different kinds of foods in shops. So, the currency here is the Kuna, and I've found sardines in cans, like back in the U.S., but these are in a sauce (tomato-ish) with cooked paprika, onions, etc. mixed in. These are my new favorite, and I've bought a few of them so I can also have in Greece and when I travel back to the NL. They cost 9 kuna...7 kuna = 1 euro, and 1 euro= 1.50$ ish. Fabulous deal I think. Last night with my sardines (so glad to have something besides peanut butter thats quick, easy, and semi-healthy) I bought some bread, yogurt, and what I thought was either a small block of cheese, or butter. So, I didn't even think about taking a closer look at it (as it was in the butter/cheese section), but when I got it back to the hostel I tried a little bit and learned it was neither of those things. I still have no idea what it was, it was grayish and tasted bitter, it had pictures of pastries on the outside. Huuuhh.

Currently I'm sitting in the hostel lobby waiting till around 10pm when I'll head to the train station and catch my train for first Beograd (Serbia), then to Greece (stops in Thessaloniki before Athenes), it's friday night, and I will arrive in Athenes on sunday morning. Yuck. And at 5:40am nonetheless. Not sure what to do about that because I can't check into the hostel until 11am, and in the rest of Europe anyway nothing is open till 8 am ish anyway...but i'll figure it out. I'll continue to write, and hopefully be able to post something again soon.

The Gala Event

Jennifer, Marie, Me, and Virginie at the Gala

Compared to the last time I wrote, I've taken a long hiatus and been keeping very busy. Exams are coming up in the next couple of weeks, and I've put together my tentative traveling schedule for when I finish classes and exams.

Here's my plan so far:

June 26th night: Leave from Nijmegen and travel to Salzburg, Austria

June 27th morning: Arrive in Salzburg, Austria....I'm doing the Sound of Music Tour & of course all the sites

June 27th night: Leave Salzburg and travel to Budapest, Hungary

June 28th morning: Arrive in Budapest, Hungary...See all there is to see & hopefully get to meet up with some friends

July 1st night: Leave Budapest and travel to Zadar (or Zagreb...haven't decided yet), Croatia

July 2nd morning: Arrive in Zagreb, Croatia...See all there is to see

July 3rd night: Leave Zadar and travel to Athens, Greece

July 5th ridiculously early in the morning: Arrive in Athens!!!!...Visit everything possible!

July 8th night: Leave Athens and head back to Nijmegen

July 10th morning: Finally arrive back in the Netherlands.

to see the path I'll follow, click here

July 15th noon: kicked out of my room

July 16th noon: travel back to Salt Lake City, Utah, USA for good...well, for now anyway.

Since I've written last, I've been to Amsterdam for a field trip with my Digital Art and Culture class, and gone to two farewell parties for Erasmus students, one a goodbye from the President of Radboud University, and the other a Gala at a restaurant the International Student Network rented out for the night.

Can you see the two feathers that came with my eggs?

In Amsterdam, a couple of friends and I went to the Van Gogh Museum, it is probably one of my favorite museums I've been to. Because of the way he paints, the paintings are almost 3-dimensional, and you can see the brushstrokes very clearly in person. I didn't think I was a very big fan of Van Gogh, but after seeing them in person, I have become much more of a fan!Someone left the window open, and cotton covered everything in the kitchen, you can't really even tell with this picture, but it's everywhere!

Oh, I almost forgot, I got a gig selling t-shirts at the Sonisphere Festival here in Nijmegen, I'll get paid 140 euros for the day (196$). The bands that are playing are: Metallica, Slipknot, KoRn, Lamb of God, Down, Kamelot, Pendulum, Mastodon, and the Sword....for those of you who don't know them, it's heavy metal music.

Here's some pictures from those adventures:

All the different kinds of Gouda

Jennifer, Marie, and Me

Me and Jennifer with the I AMsterdam sign

Clog Boat!!!With Marie at the Gala
With Jennifer
With Beatriz
With Jason
With Rebecca
With Christopher
With RemiDoei!
p.s. title song by the Beastie Boys

Maggie's Farm

So its been pretty dull around here lately. I had last week off from wednesday till sunday for Ascension (since I do attend a Catholic University). And didn't go anywhere, I had planned to go to Groningen and Zwolle (up north), but I've been so tired lately I didn't wake up in time to make it worth my day.

On sunday I fixed a proper American breakfast for two friends, one English, one French who have never had American pancakes up till then. Of course I should specify, it wasn't really an American breakfast since our breakfasts are GI-normous, but we just made pancakes, and they put jam and nutella on them : ) But, I did make them try butter and American syrup (I bought Aunt Jamima pancake mix and syrup when I was back home.) They loved them. I also wore shorts for the first time this year on sunday, it was gorgeous outside, maybe a little too hot. I put sunscreen on, but still got a little red after two hours hanging out on the lawn by my complex.
Today my last Interaction class was in Ravenstein (another city) in the Soeterbeeck Complex (used to be a nunnery, and now is a University building used for religious studies and theology). We stepped off the train and started walking on a 2 foot wide walkway between farmlands. It was sunny and green and then...we got about 30 feet from the station and the smell of fresh manure hit. The building was very cozy, our Professor gave us a tour of the chapel, the attic, which was used as a laundry room to wash all the clothes for people who lived in the area, and a pulley system that ran from the top of the building to the bottom as a clothesline to dry them.And of course we had our last lesson in the room that contains the library of books the nuns brought with them and studied.
Tot Ziens!
p.s. title song by Bob Dylan

Flower in the Sun

Semisweet relief!

Well, I've now found out about all my exams from last quarter. Turns out I passed all but one. I emailed the professor asking if there was a re-sit for the course and if so, when. The email I got back said something like, 'Of course there is a re-sit...', silly me for thinking a college student may not get two or three chances to pass a course without paying for it.In other news, I went to the Keukenhof and Leiden yesterday. Leiden is a city just south west of Amsterdam, and is a big University city, Keukenhof is where the large tulip fields are. But, since today is the last day the garden is open, the tulip fields were already gone. I'm pretty upset that the excursion was scheduled so late, in the first section of the garden most of the tulips were already gone or dead. If I'd have known we wouldn't get to see the fields, I would've scheduled my own trip. But, what was left was very beautiful, they also had a building filled with the world's largest exhibition of lilies...one of my favorite flowers.The theme of the park was New York, so there were a lot of US flags and New York information and set ups. New York because this year makes the Netherlands and US connection 400 years old. In 1609 Henry Hudson landed in New York and named it New Amsterdam. I think I might've told most of you, but names like Harlem (Haarlem) and Wall Street (Waal Straat--I live by the Waal river) are all Dutch names.the statue of liberty in flowers

There was a Tollywood (India's hollywood, along with Bollywood) musical, movie being filmed in the Keukenhof, with a few actors I recognized! For a while we just watched them rehearse. We had 3ish hours in the garden, but still were crunched for time to see everything, even skipping two exhibition buildings.hanging out by the wishing well
Before we arrived in Leiden we were given a map with a path to see all the main sites. Since I showed no interest whatsoever in being the leader and having anything to do with the map (for fear of getting us all lost)...I was then put in charge of it all. Only once did I get us lost, and luckily only by a couple blocks. We saw all the Churches, the old prison, cloth hall, and citadell.
Inside the citadell there was a group performing and drinks being sold. We ended up spending some time listening to the music and enjoying our little break from walking.
inside the citadell
We also visited markets, windmills, where Rembrandt was born, the old red light district, University of Leiden buildings, along with the Old and New Rhine Rivers (branches from the Rhine River).

virginie, me, and marie

The first video is a boat load of men singing to another boat load of women in a canal by the market. The second video is of some awesome street performers (sorry, I don't know how to switch the view). I have lots more flower pictures and a bunch of Leiden, if you'd like to see those, click here.

Doei!

p.s. title song by Janis Joplin