SPRING BREAK: Part 3

Barcelona

Day Six Barcelona is yet another wonderful city! It is so different from any other city I have been to, and I was in constant awe as I discovered the city. Per usual, we spent all of day six exploring what the city had to offer. Just like Paris, Barcelona has its own Arc de Triumph!

 

It is a city with amazing buildings, but also has mountains, and palm trees, and beaches, and castles, and cathedrals and so much more! Being from North Carolina I have seen the mountain and I have seen the beach, but they are always separate. Seeing the mountains meet the sea was shocking and exciting! It’s the best of both worlds! I also love that this city is a Spanish-speaking city. For the past month and a half I have been in countries that speak languages that I know little to nothing about. It was nice to be in a place where I could easily understand and then communicate on a small scale. This city has so much color and is so flavorful! I think I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

For dinner, we met up with our friends Kent and Amaris, and we ate at our first tapas bar and saw Barcelona at night!

Day Seven We met up with Kent and Amaris again, and did some sight seeing in the morning and beach sitting in the afternoon. We saw Temple de la Sagrada Familia. Gaudi was the architect and is now one of my favorites!

We then saw Casa Mila

After this, we were all tired of seeing buildings and monuments, so we decided the beach was calling for us!

As dinner approached, we made our way over to see the Magic Fountain, and then we shared a final Spring Break meal together!

 

Day Eight Our Spring Break came to an end and it was time to fly back to Prague. Leaving Barcelona made me realize that I had such a fantastic Spring Break filled with memories that will last a life time!!

 

I want to take a second and just talk about how thankful I am for Kimberly!! I don’t know what I would be doing here without her. She is such a wonderful person and friend, and I couldn’t have been happier to spend a whole week with here. We are CONSTANTLY giggling when we are together, which makes me soo happy. Even a week of constant togetherness, Kimberly and I are still laughing and enjoying each other’s company! I think that is pretty special! So thanks Kimberly, for being so great :)

 

So, 4 flights, 7 buses, 4 subway systems, 2 boats, 1 train, and 1 taxi later, we are back in Prague with a very fun and successful spring break behind us!!

 

SPRING BREAK: Part 1

Getting back to the institute was fun, as everyone shared their crazy Spring Break stories and adventures. Though this has been one of the most memorable Spring Breaks for all of us, we have all come to the conclusion that there is a great difference between traveling and vacationing. Though there were moments that definitely felt like vacationing, we were most definitely traveling for Spring Break. Traveling is exhausting, restless, and sometimes stressful. Although I do look forward to being able to vacation without making a single plan, I just experienced one of the most wonderful and memorable weeks ever, and I am so so thankful for it!

Venice

Spring Break official started last Thursday evening (March 1), but I am marking the beginning of Spring Break 2K12 at 2:50 am Saturday morning. This is when my alarm woke me telling saying that it was time to go catch a flight! With less than 2 hours of sleep the night before, Kimberly and I were “ready” to conquer our week free from school, and full of travels. Neither of us has ever traveled like this before, so we knew we were in for a big adventure!

Planning a week of country hopping, hostel booking, and flight arranging was NO easy task. Before this trip, we were naively under the impression that traveling through Europe was “a piece of cake.” Days of planning later, I came to the conclusion that traveling Europe is just different, not necessarily “easy.” In fact, this type of traveling makes driving in the States seem super simple.

While in the airport we made a plan that we a) were going to embrace every aspect of traveling, b) purchase the best postcard available every place we visit, and c) not get pick-pocketed! Our task would not be completed until we touched back down in Prague.

 (This is me, NOT getting pick-pocketed!)

Once in Italy, it was only then getting light outside. We had to take a bus to the city where we then took a boat to our hostel! This was by far my favorite mode of transportation, and was a great way to get a wonderful first glance of VENICE!!

We stayed at Hostel San Maurizio, which was a precious hostel right in the middle of town, and once we found it, we dropped our stuff off and went right back out again!

We spent our first day shopping, walking, soaking up the SUN, and sitting on the dock enjoying the views!

Venice is absolutely stunning, and I enjoyed every second I was there. Every turn lead to somewhere even more beautiful than before. I felt like I was in a picturesque maze, walking through narrow corridors that opened up to a labyrinth of canals and bridges. I was part of a fairy tale by simply strolling the streets!

In the afternoon, we surprisingly ran into five familiar faces from our program and all shared dinner together. It was a great way to start out our trip! With exhausted and sore bodies, we had to say goodnight to our friends. Having only 2 hours of sleep in the past 40, sleep came early for us that first night. We happily welcomed it with heavy eyes and content smiles. As we laid in bed with our window OPEN, live jazz music drifted from the street, making its way up to calmly fill our room with sweet melodies. That first day was one of the best, and I fell asleep that night realizing that I had been incredibly blessed with a flawless start to Spring Break 2K12!

Day two of spring break started just as wonderfully as day one ended. We got to sleep in, and take our time getting ready…which felt like such a luxury!

 

For all you McDonald’s haters, you can skip this paragraph…

So, Kimberly and I have created a new mission for ourselves. So far, in every city we have been in, we have experienced either an exhausting, crazy, or stressful situation that left us hungry and in a tizzy. Wanting nothing more than cheap food and a place to rest, we have somehow found ourselves seeking sanctuary in a McDonald’s. Because we have realized that we will most likely end up at one anyways, why not make it a mission to go to a McDonald’s in every city we go to?! This challenge is actually pretty humorous to me, because I never go to McDonald’s when I am in the US.  It is also pretty funny, because every McDonald’s we have been to so far has been so different from each other, and almost nothing like the ones back home. For instance, the McDonald’s in Vienna was extremely fancy. There was high table seating, and a wait staff to clear the tables. The McCafe contained an incredibly large range of pastries, which would put a Harris Teeter bakery to shame! There was anything ranging from tiramisu to gourmet cupcakes to caramelized croissants. Then,  the Milan McDonald’s had a completely different feel. As we walked into that one, we felt as if we were walking into a corny Fourth of July festival. Red, white and blue streamers were hung from the ceiling, and the staff was adorned in American flag high top hat pared with shirts that read, “The Great Taste of America.” Surprisingly, there is only on McDonald’s in all of Venice. It was very inconspicuous, and unlike most McDonald’s, blended in with all the other shops on the street. The menus are the main thing that vary from restaurant to restaurant, but I think Venice’s was my favorite! There were spicy waffle fries, Mexican burgers, pistachio McFlurrys, and kiwi on a stick! I had to try the kiwi because it was just so random.

 

Seeing as we were in Italy, we figured it would be appropriate to finish off our meal with…you guessed it…GELATO!! Luckily, I’m pretty sure we happened to find the greatest, creamiest, and most wonderful gelato in all of Italy. I ordered dark chocolate and pistachio and golly, it was heaven on my tongue!!

 

After filling ourselves with delicious food, we walked and walked and walked. Sight seeing is never ending here, but we saw as much as we could see!

 

Before we knew it, it was dinnertime and we were once again tired and hungry. We went to a local restaurant by the waterfront that a lady recommended for us. I was finally able to get yummy FRESH seafood! (Seafood is pretty obsolete in the land-locked Czech Republic.) After dinner, Kimberly and I went and sat on a near by dock and chatted away as the sun sunk under the horizon. This was a moment when I actually felt like I was on vacation!

 

Everything about Venice was such a refreshing change from Prague. There was warmth, and sunshine, and everyone we encountered was so friendly and willing to help. I enjoyed the laid back atmosphere, and the slower pace of this city!

Day Three was a pretty eventless day, which I now realize is a blessing when it is a travel day! We said our goodbyes to Italy, and then after a long day of travel we arrived in PARIS, France! We ate in the strangest 50s diner/sports bar/Amazon Rainforest French restaurant, and then called it a night.

 

SPRING BREAK: Part 2

Paris

Day Four of Spring Break was all about Paris! This was to be our one full day in Paris, so we knew had to make the most of it. We woke up to someone playing “Wagon Wheel” outside our door. Then down at breakfast, “Carolina on my Mind” was playing on the radio. Both of those songs have so many memories of home attached to them, so we unrealistically joked that we should try to meet up with someone from NC. <-- A little foreshadowing for what’s about to come!

We began our “sight seeing jam packed” day by visiting the Arch de Triumph.

 

Then we headed over to the Eiffel Tower! As we were staring and gawking at the dreamy landmark, we asked two ladies if they wouldn’t mind taking a picture of us. They kindly agreed and it wasn’t long before we realized that their accents sounded very familiar. I curiously asked where they were from, and sure enough they  said they were visiting from North Carolina! Where in North Carolina were they from? That’s right…Raleigh!! As we continued to talk, we found at that they both work at NC STATE and were in Paris for Spring Break. What an incredibly small world, in such a large city!

 

This isn’t the first time something like this has happened though. It has happened in three other cities now that I think about it. In each case, I was been minding my own business, just talking with friends when a curious passerby asks me where I am from. In Prague, it was a boy who grew up in Charlotte and actually went to my high school a couple years before I went through Providence. Then in Vienna there was a guy who just graduated from UNC and was now working in Austria. And finally, in Milan a girl began talking to me who was born and raised in Raleigh. Each time I thought it was completely random that these individuals would just stop to ask where I was from. But each one of them said that it was the “y’all” that tipped them off as to where I was from. I always get a kick out of meeting people from home, and it always puts a smile on my face!

 

After being amazed by the Eiffel, we were becoming increasingly less trilled by the nasty, rainy, and cold weather. Once we were soaked, freezing, tired, and hungry we decided to continue on with our challenge, and go find a McDonald’s.

After being replenished, the skies were clearing, and it was time to hit the streets again. We saw the Lourve…

And then wandered our way over to Notre Dame…

 

After mapping out our day, and figuring out the metro system, I am realizing how big of a city Paris really is. Prague only have three metro lines, while Paris has FOURTEEN! Once again, we are hungry so we make one more stop to Basilica du Sacre-Coeur before going to dinner.

 

Dinner consisted of an egg ham and cheese French crepe. Breakfast for dinner is always a good thing! After dinner we HAD to go see the Eiffel Tower at night. Every hour on the hour the Tower twinkles and sparkles, and we weren’t about to miss it! The skies cleared up, and it was the perfect night out as Kimberly and I giddily watched in wonder. We were like two little girls drooling over the shiniest thing in sight. It was definitely a magical moment and another perfect ending to a perfect day!

 

Day Five Things were just going far too smoothly up to this point, so I wasn’t completely shocked when we ran into our first hiccup at the Paris airport. We had a relaxing morning, seeing a few more sights, and had all sorts of time to get to the airport to catch our flight out. To make a long story short, it is a good thing that we left early because we encountered many problems. Many Euros and frustrations later, we finally got everything settled, only to then be evacuated from the airport due to a bomb threat! Everything about that airport was so odd, and I was so relieved when we were finally able to fly out of there.

A Solitary Run

It can be hard getting alone time around here. With so many people around, and constant travel trips planned, escaping for some peace and quiet can be a challenge. Luckily, I love being around people however, every once in a while I need some “me time.” Somehow, there was a small window of time in which I could have the afternoon to myself, and so I snatched it and took advantage of it!

When I have alone time at home, I will often be out on a run. In the States, running is a normal everyday enjoyment. For me, running offers a safe getaway for reflecting, praying, or simple listening to some good tunes. It’s refreshing and I just love it! Here in Prague, it is a RARE occurrence to find someone out of a jog. I’m not sure why, but unless someone is running to catch a tram, no one runs. Walk? yes. Run? No. I have been doing my fair share of walking, but today I needed to RUN!

To prepare for my run, I put on the most “American” outfit I could find. My outfit included running shorts, a Colorado hoodie, and bright white tennis shoes with neon laces. I turned my iPod on and hit the streets running. I cannot tell you how many odd looks I received while running. Looks that screamed, “What the heck are you wearing?” and, “Why are you running? No one is chasing you.” I didn’t care though. I didn’t care because this was MY afternoon, and I was being 100% me! I was no longer trying to blend in which the crowd, or look like a natural. I didn’t have to satisfy the wants and needs of multiple group members. For a couple of hours, I could be completely selfish and do what I wanted!

As I ran, I was reminded over and over of home. Running is something that is so normal at home, yet so foreign here. I cling to the little moments like this that remind me of home,  because it is moments like this that remind me of who I am and where I come from. I am an American that loves to run, and no European city can ever strip me of this. As I was pondering all of this, I started to make a short list of the differences between home life and life abroad. So here is a little list of some differences, quirks, and interesting facts about Prague…

• Plastic grocery bags cost money, so I always bring a book bag to go shopping.

• In restaurants, putting a coaster out on the table is a definite sign that you want beer. They won’t even ask you about it.

• Beer and soda is often much cheaper than water.

• In many restaurants, it costs extra to use the ketchup.

• Finger counting starts with the thumb.

• Smoking is allowed in most buildings. Though I originally choked in a room full of smoke, I now don’t even notice it.

• About 18.5 Korunas equal one dollar.

• Oreos in Prague are not “America’s Favorite Cookie” but instead are “Chocolate Flavoured Sandwich Biscuits.” Hmmm…

• There are 14 million people in NC, 10 million in The Czech Republic, and of that 10 million 7 million live in Prague.

• Most of the water bottles here come in 1.5 liter containers. The “normal” size bottles are starting to look silly small!

• Apparently you cannot use a 220 volt hair dryer here. Somehow I missed out on this memo, and stared in horror as my hair dryer became a ball of fire shortly after turning it on!

I will continue to add to this list as I think about more of the many differences between here and home! Maybe they will come to me on my next run!

To completely change the subject, I am officially on Spring Break!! Early tomorrow morning marks the beginning of a crazy week of traveling! Kimberly and I will be going to VENICE, PARIS, and will then meet up with several friends in BARCELONA! Let the good times continue!!