By Zadar I actually mean two islands off of Zadar. A friend of Jill’s mom has an apartment in Preko, which is a town on an island I can’t remember the name of. Silvana picked me up from the bus station and drove me back to her place. I actually got to stay in an apartment next to hers owned by a friend of hers. I had it all to myself. She lived less than a block from two different beaches. She also was the best cook ever. I wanted to stay forever.
I have another friend who was near Zadar though who I’d told I’d meet up with. Nik and I were both doing research at Riverside in California last summer. His mom is from Croatia and his family owns a house on the island Vir. On Monday I took the ferry back into Zadar and met Nik and his family. They were even more amazing than Silvana. I’d only planned on staying one night, in fact I’d only really packed for a night, and I ended up staying three. That just goes to show how kickass my backpacking skills have become. Every day on Vir was pretty much the same. You’d get up around 9 and have breakfast with the whole family (which consisted of Nik, his brother, sister, mom, dad, and grandparents). We’d sip coffee for a while before going swimming. Swim until the water got too cold, then sit on the same rock and chat until the sun got to hot. Then we’d watch whatever was on TV in English. Since there were only 4 channels that was pretty limited. Most days it consisted of Red Dwarf and Star Trek. Once the station mixed it up and showed Baywatch. Then we would have lunch and go swimming again. Finally dinner and then we would either take a walk and look for shooting stars, or chill on the balcony of the house and look for shooting stars.
I was really sad to leave. I love the whole family. His sister and I talked makeup and hair products, his brother and I played poker (I won) and Parcheesi (he won). His grandmother only spoke Croatian but she was convinced that I never had enough to eat.
After three nights I went back to the other island for a few nights before I planned on taking a ferry to Ancona in Italy. After one night Silvana got a call from out of the blue from her Nephew that he was coming to stay. He had two little girls, three and one.
I HATE CHILDREN
Really, I do. These kids were the most poorly behaved children I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t think they ever stopped screaming or crying. From the three year old was a mantra of ‘mama, mama, mama, mama, mama’. It was never ending. I have never wanted to punch a three year old before.
After a couple of days of that I was more than ready to get away. On Sunday I took the ferry into Zadar and got on another ferry to Ancona. That night in Zadar was a big festival for the full moon. There were thousands of people. Tons of street performances and all the lights were turned off. Made ofr an interesting time with my full backpack. I took some video of that. Hopefully I’ll get to put it up.
When I got on the ferry I had to find a place to sleep. There was one couch left and I promptly claimed it. I finally fell asleep and only woke up to one of the crew shaking me. Pretty much everyone had already gotten off the ship. I had slept through it all. If there’s one thing this trip has done is make me able to sleep through things that used to keep me awake.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Zagrab, Croatia
On the Train from Budapest to Zagrab two Americans sat in my car. Turns out they were from Seattle and were cage fighters. Once again our train was delayed, but the cage fighters had brought wine. They also bought beer at one of the longer stops. It was probably my best train ride yet. After drinking the cage fighters fell asleep but I wasn’t at all tired. So, I made friends with some kids from Denmark, We played rock paper scissors for who would have to go in the luggage racks. I lost and spent 10 minutes up there. They also sang a lot of Spice Girls. In Brataslava these guys had been arrested for swimming in a fountain.
Zagrab was amazing, if a little too hot. It was the last place I had reliable internet, which endears it to me.
On the second night there I went over to the hostel where the cage fighters were staying. They cooked dinner and after we went out to a club. I met two local Croatian girls both named Maja. We were fast friends and they taught me to dance European, whatever that means. In the end of the night they showed me exactly how to get home.
The next day I caught a bus to Zadar, another town in Croatia. The cage fighters were going there too so they were on my bus. At first I had two seats to myself which was great. But as we started off one of the cage fighters decided to move seats and sit next to me. Ok, fine. Except not really because almost immediately he starts getting all touchy feely. Most uncomfortable bus ride of my life. I had to pretend to be asleep to keep the level of awkward down a little. Although it didn’t really work.
As soon as we got to Zadar I peaced out. Waved goodbye, said I’d be in touch, I had no intention of keeping in touch. I’ve gotten multiple messages from them about getting together. I’ve just been pretending I don’t have internet, which is kind of true.
Zagrab was amazing, if a little too hot. It was the last place I had reliable internet, which endears it to me.
On the second night there I went over to the hostel where the cage fighters were staying. They cooked dinner and after we went out to a club. I met two local Croatian girls both named Maja. We were fast friends and they taught me to dance European, whatever that means. In the end of the night they showed me exactly how to get home.
The next day I caught a bus to Zadar, another town in Croatia. The cage fighters were going there too so they were on my bus. At first I had two seats to myself which was great. But as we started off one of the cage fighters decided to move seats and sit next to me. Ok, fine. Except not really because almost immediately he starts getting all touchy feely. Most uncomfortable bus ride of my life. I had to pretend to be asleep to keep the level of awkward down a little. Although it didn’t really work.
As soon as we got to Zadar I peaced out. Waved goodbye, said I’d be in touch, I had no intention of keeping in touch. I’ve gotten multiple messages from them about getting together. I’ve just been pretending I don’t have internet, which is kind of true.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Budpest, Hungary
The trip from Krakow to Budapest was one of the worst experiences of my life. I’m not going to go into too much detail but it consisted of 19 hours on trains and in train stations. I didn’t sleep. There were crazy people taking off clothes. No one spoke any English anywhere. Terrifying.
Basically, only take direct trains in eastern Europe.
When I finally did make it to Budapest I was a day late and as I walked into my hostel I was beyond exhausted. I tried to check in with the guy who seemed to be in charge and he just got really angry with me. I explained the situation. He told me he’d been waiting all night for me to check in and why didn’t I call. Honestly, it hadn’t occurred to me. I hadn’t been to a hostel yet that wasn’t 24 hour reception, and after the night I’d just had, calling my hostel was the last thing on my mind. He walked out of the room, motioned for me to follow and pointed at a bed in a large room then walked away. There were no sheets, no pillow. I just took off my nasty two day old sweat soaked clothes fell on it and passed out. I slept through most of that day.
When I finally woke up I tracked down the hostel worker again to apologize. He seemed in a much better mood. We had a nice chat and he showed me on a map were to go for a good cheap meal. In the end he was one of my favorite hostel people. He always made a point to offer me coffee in the morning.
Also the place that he showed me was delicious, although I have no idea what I ordered.
The first full day I was in Budapest I went on a walking tour the hostel worker had shown me. It was free although not through the same company I’d been using up until now. It turned out to be run by two university professors of linguistics just for kicks. It was awesome. The city is probably one of the most beautiful cities I’ve seen.
Basically, only take direct trains in eastern Europe.
When I finally did make it to Budapest I was a day late and as I walked into my hostel I was beyond exhausted. I tried to check in with the guy who seemed to be in charge and he just got really angry with me. I explained the situation. He told me he’d been waiting all night for me to check in and why didn’t I call. Honestly, it hadn’t occurred to me. I hadn’t been to a hostel yet that wasn’t 24 hour reception, and after the night I’d just had, calling my hostel was the last thing on my mind. He walked out of the room, motioned for me to follow and pointed at a bed in a large room then walked away. There were no sheets, no pillow. I just took off my nasty two day old sweat soaked clothes fell on it and passed out. I slept through most of that day.
When I finally woke up I tracked down the hostel worker again to apologize. He seemed in a much better mood. We had a nice chat and he showed me on a map were to go for a good cheap meal. In the end he was one of my favorite hostel people. He always made a point to offer me coffee in the morning.
Also the place that he showed me was delicious, although I have no idea what I ordered.
The first full day I was in Budapest I went on a walking tour the hostel worker had shown me. It was free although not through the same company I’d been using up until now. It turned out to be run by two university professors of linguistics just for kicks. It was awesome. The city is probably one of the most beautiful cities I’ve seen.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Krakow, Poland
I know, it’s been a while. I’ve been mostly without internet in the last few weeks. Even right now I’m at a campsite that makes you pay for wifi.
Anyway, Poland. It was amazing. Krakow is a really interestingly organized city. Everything you’d really want to see is contained within this small area in the center of the city and that area is surrounded by a park. This city center is full of adorable shops and cafes. There were tons of food stalls. Right outside this city center was the largest shopping mall I’ve ever seen in my life. It was huge. Took me an hour and a half to walk through it and I’m pretty sure I still missed some.
In the shopping mall I found an American bookstore. When I left the US with only one book the idea was that I would leave it and find a new one and then repeat that cycle. It didn’t occur to me how difficult it would be to find English books. So here was an American bookstore. Everything is in English. In it I find an anthology of Malcolm Gladwell’s best stories from the New Yorker. AWESOME. Freaking loved this book. Gladwell is pretty much one of my favorite people in the whole world. I get the feeling that if we could sit down and just talk we could go for hours, and I probably wouldn’t do more than ask questions.
Other than finding the bookstore, eating some wonderful food, and watching the finals of the world cup Krakow was fairly uneventful. The only other aspect worth comment was the street performers. It’s fairly standard fair to find street performers in the center of any big city in Europe. Krakow, on the other hand had the oddest performances I’ve ever seen. At one point there was an interpretative dance by some highschoolers. It more or less resembled a Westside story/ Romeo and Juliet set up as far as I could tell. Except they would break from that occasionally and just breakdance.
One of the things I’ve been doing as I go along is think about where I would want to bring people if I could only take them to one of the places I’ve been. For Jerry it was Munich, John would be Berlin. I’ve decided that Jill and I would have the most outrageously awesome time in Krakow. It’s easy to navigate, so the likelihood of getting too lost is small, and it has everything we could want in a short distance.
Plus they automatically serve coffee with a straw.
Anyway, Poland. It was amazing. Krakow is a really interestingly organized city. Everything you’d really want to see is contained within this small area in the center of the city and that area is surrounded by a park. This city center is full of adorable shops and cafes. There were tons of food stalls. Right outside this city center was the largest shopping mall I’ve ever seen in my life. It was huge. Took me an hour and a half to walk through it and I’m pretty sure I still missed some.
In the shopping mall I found an American bookstore. When I left the US with only one book the idea was that I would leave it and find a new one and then repeat that cycle. It didn’t occur to me how difficult it would be to find English books. So here was an American bookstore. Everything is in English. In it I find an anthology of Malcolm Gladwell’s best stories from the New Yorker. AWESOME. Freaking loved this book. Gladwell is pretty much one of my favorite people in the whole world. I get the feeling that if we could sit down and just talk we could go for hours, and I probably wouldn’t do more than ask questions.
Other than finding the bookstore, eating some wonderful food, and watching the finals of the world cup Krakow was fairly uneventful. The only other aspect worth comment was the street performers. It’s fairly standard fair to find street performers in the center of any big city in Europe. Krakow, on the other hand had the oddest performances I’ve ever seen. At one point there was an interpretative dance by some highschoolers. It more or less resembled a Westside story/ Romeo and Juliet set up as far as I could tell. Except they would break from that occasionally and just breakdance.
One of the things I’ve been doing as I go along is think about where I would want to bring people if I could only take them to one of the places I’ve been. For Jerry it was Munich, John would be Berlin. I’ve decided that Jill and I would have the most outrageously awesome time in Krakow. It’s easy to navigate, so the likelihood of getting too lost is small, and it has everything we could want in a short distance.
Plus they automatically serve coffee with a straw.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
London, England
Lizz is currently in Poland, but is so far behind on posts for the blog...
Nick and I left Leeds on Tuesday and it was sad. I had such a wonderful time and I kind of wanted to stay in my little room upstairs forever, becoming an official roommate. The bus ride back to England was uneventful in that Nick fell asleep almost immediately. That first night we had dinner at a delicious Chinese place and then went to see shrek in 3D. Nick suggested we go see the Twilight movie. He played it off as if he were doing me a favor, but I think he actually wanted to see it. Not sure what to make of that. I vetoed that idea immediately and the shrek movie was pretty good.
The next day we went on the free walking tour. I really loved london. It was beautiful. All the buildings are picturesque and there's history behind everything. When we were at the palace where Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry live the gates opened and a car came out with a police escort. Inside was Prince Charles. Probably the closet I will ever be to royalty.
After the tour we decided to walk all the way back to the hostel. It was a very long walk, but we went through hyde park and kensington gardens. I didn't feel at all like we were in a Jane Austin novel, but I couldn't help but think of all the fancy pants people who had walked there before me.
Our hostel was situated in pretty much the nicest area ever. We were actually in Notting Hill. There were streets of cute shops and adorable apartments.
That night we went out to watch the semi-final game between germany and spain. I'd made Nick miss
The next day we got up at 10 and packed to leave. I was sad to be going until I realized (and by 'I realized' I mean Nick looked at my ticket and realized) that the ticket says 6:40 as the departure time. I had for some reason assumed it was 6:40pm, completely forgetting that they only use 24 hour time here. So, I'd already missed my flight.
I worked out ever imaginable scenario to get out of England but in the end the best way was to get another flight for the next day. So I booked a flight for Krakow that was supposed to leave at 6pm the next day.
Nick and I proceeded to waste the rest of the day napping in hyde park. I then went with him to the bus station to see him off. It was hard enough to leave Ads in Leeds, but now I was alone again, and it was sad.
Luckily I got massively lost on the way back to the hostel, so that kept my mind off it.
The next day as I was packing to leave the hostel for good I started talking to another guy in my room. He was from the channel islands and is either a genius or completely insane. He ended up asking if he could buy me lunch and read me some nietzsche. I figured a free meal was worth it. I have never met a more random person ever. We went to a greek restaurant where he ordered the most expensive thing on the menu then talked at me for an hour. We then walked forever to a bookstore where he bought me a book of nietzsche. We shook hands and parted ways. I still don't really know what to make of this encounter.
That afternoon I left for my flight hours early, and caught a bus that should have gotten me to the airport in plenty of time. Traffic being what it is, I missed my flight again. I had to book another flight for the next morning and I slept in the airport.
I didn't realize how many people would be doing the same thing. When I sat down I claimed one of the few chair rows without armrests so you could actually sleep. At around 11:00 I realized that I really needed to use the restroom. I also realized that the second I got up the girl across from me was going to steal my spot. So, I powered through until 4 am, when the gates opened and I could go through.
When I got on the plane I had a little trouble getting my bag in the overhead compartment. It was way too big. I pushed it in though. Some women sitting across from me saw and started complaining to the flight attendant about how my bag was too big and it shouldn't have gotten through. I wanted to kill some bitches. I turned to them and explained that I've been in the airport for over 12 hours and that things might have gotten looser in the multiple times I had to pack and re-pack my bag. I wanted to tell them to shut up and if they got me kicked off the plane I would eat their children.
Luckily the flight attendant didn't care, and I flew to Krakow no problem.
I love England, and England loved me so much it didn't ever want to let me go.
Nick and I left Leeds on Tuesday and it was sad. I had such a wonderful time and I kind of wanted to stay in my little room upstairs forever, becoming an official roommate. The bus ride back to England was uneventful in that Nick fell asleep almost immediately. That first night we had dinner at a delicious Chinese place and then went to see shrek in 3D. Nick suggested we go see the Twilight movie. He played it off as if he were doing me a favor, but I think he actually wanted to see it. Not sure what to make of that. I vetoed that idea immediately and the shrek movie was pretty good.
The next day we went on the free walking tour. I really loved london. It was beautiful. All the buildings are picturesque and there's history behind everything. When we were at the palace where Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry live the gates opened and a car came out with a police escort. Inside was Prince Charles. Probably the closet I will ever be to royalty.
After the tour we decided to walk all the way back to the hostel. It was a very long walk, but we went through hyde park and kensington gardens. I didn't feel at all like we were in a Jane Austin novel, but I couldn't help but think of all the fancy pants people who had walked there before me.
Our hostel was situated in pretty much the nicest area ever. We were actually in Notting Hill. There were streets of cute shops and adorable apartments.
That night we went out to watch the semi-final game between germany and spain. I'd made Nick miss
The next day we got up at 10 and packed to leave. I was sad to be going until I realized (and by 'I realized' I mean Nick looked at my ticket and realized) that the ticket says 6:40 as the departure time. I had for some reason assumed it was 6:40pm, completely forgetting that they only use 24 hour time here. So, I'd already missed my flight.
I worked out ever imaginable scenario to get out of England but in the end the best way was to get another flight for the next day. So I booked a flight for Krakow that was supposed to leave at 6pm the next day.
Nick and I proceeded to waste the rest of the day napping in hyde park. I then went with him to the bus station to see him off. It was hard enough to leave Ads in Leeds, but now I was alone again, and it was sad.
Luckily I got massively lost on the way back to the hostel, so that kept my mind off it.
The next day as I was packing to leave the hostel for good I started talking to another guy in my room. He was from the channel islands and is either a genius or completely insane. He ended up asking if he could buy me lunch and read me some nietzsche. I figured a free meal was worth it. I have never met a more random person ever. We went to a greek restaurant where he ordered the most expensive thing on the menu then talked at me for an hour. We then walked forever to a bookstore where he bought me a book of nietzsche. We shook hands and parted ways. I still don't really know what to make of this encounter.
That afternoon I left for my flight hours early, and caught a bus that should have gotten me to the airport in plenty of time. Traffic being what it is, I missed my flight again. I had to book another flight for the next morning and I slept in the airport.
I didn't realize how many people would be doing the same thing. When I sat down I claimed one of the few chair rows without armrests so you could actually sleep. At around 11:00 I realized that I really needed to use the restroom. I also realized that the second I got up the girl across from me was going to steal my spot. So, I powered through until 4 am, when the gates opened and I could go through.
When I got on the plane I had a little trouble getting my bag in the overhead compartment. It was way too big. I pushed it in though. Some women sitting across from me saw and started complaining to the flight attendant about how my bag was too big and it shouldn't have gotten through. I wanted to kill some bitches. I turned to them and explained that I've been in the airport for over 12 hours and that things might have gotten looser in the multiple times I had to pack and re-pack my bag. I wanted to tell them to shut up and if they got me kicked off the plane I would eat their children.
Luckily the flight attendant didn't care, and I flew to Krakow no problem.
I love England, and England loved me so much it didn't ever want to let me go.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Leeds, England
Lizz is currently struggling with the internet at a hostel in London, when she should be in Berlin…
I made it to Leeds on Friday. Ads picked me up from the bus station with one of his roommates Franco. It was awesome to see him again. We went back to their place. I was surprised at how nice it felt to be back in a college town. Luckily for me Ads had an extra room with a bed and everything. It was easily the nicest accommodations I’d had in a month. Privacy is a luxury I’ve been lacking for a while now. There was also a washing machine. Basically it felt like a five star hotel.
We went out on Friday night to a very cool bar and I drank some sort of flavored beer concoction. Surprisingly delicious.
Saturday we decided to take a trip to the park. It was a little cloudy and windy, but they assured me this was pretty nice weather for Leeds, so we went anyway. Ads had a giant Frisbee, so we took that and some badminton rackets. We were having a lot of fun until the Frisbee got stuck in a tree. It was too high for anyone to really get at. So the obvious solution was to boost me up into the tree to climb up and shake it down. I realized about halfway up the tree that 1. it has been years since I’ve climbed anything, and 2. I’m not very good at it. I did eventually get the Frisbee down but I was more than a little scratched up because of my adventure
On Saturday night there was the Fourth of July celebration. A club in town was supposedly having a full blown celebration for the Fourth. There will be pictures on facebook as soon as the internet decides to allow me to post them. We had an amazing time. There was a hot dog eating contest (very American) and a chili eating contest, (slightly less American). Ads’ roommate Franco was the only person who entered both. We’d joked for the whole day that if one of us entered we needed to dunk the hotdogs, because it’s the only way to win. While Franco was eating hotdogs we started chanting, ‘dunk it, dunk it.’ And he did. Despite the fact that Franco didn’t win either of the competitions, he got a gift bag for entering both. This bag contained some really awesome stuff. There were nerd glasses which we proceeded to wear for the rest of the night. There were also moustache tattoos. All in all, the celebration wasn’t very American. I went the entirety of the Fourth without hearing a firework, but I had a wonderful night.
On Sunday, which was actually the Fourth of July, The guys I was staying with and I made a proper American meal. It consisted of hamburgers and hotdogs. Doritos and Pringles (the only American brand of chips I could find) and french fries. I also made an actual apple pie from scratch for dessert. I think they appreciated it. It was nice to have people to celebrate with. They were enthusiastic about it, even though they were technically celebrating their own defeat.
The rest of my time in Leeds more or less involved hanging out with people, watching movies, going into town. It was actually really relaxing and exactly what I needed at this point in my trip. I also feel like I made some life long friends in the deal.
Ads, Franco and Jas (the three roommates) had only moved into their house a day before I showed up. They told me when I left that it felt like I was a roommate too. The room I stayed in will always be known as Lizz’s room.
I left Leeds on Tuesday with Nick who came up to Leeds on Sunday. We headed back to London for a few days
I made it to Leeds on Friday. Ads picked me up from the bus station with one of his roommates Franco. It was awesome to see him again. We went back to their place. I was surprised at how nice it felt to be back in a college town. Luckily for me Ads had an extra room with a bed and everything. It was easily the nicest accommodations I’d had in a month. Privacy is a luxury I’ve been lacking for a while now. There was also a washing machine. Basically it felt like a five star hotel.
We went out on Friday night to a very cool bar and I drank some sort of flavored beer concoction. Surprisingly delicious.
Saturday we decided to take a trip to the park. It was a little cloudy and windy, but they assured me this was pretty nice weather for Leeds, so we went anyway. Ads had a giant Frisbee, so we took that and some badminton rackets. We were having a lot of fun until the Frisbee got stuck in a tree. It was too high for anyone to really get at. So the obvious solution was to boost me up into the tree to climb up and shake it down. I realized about halfway up the tree that 1. it has been years since I’ve climbed anything, and 2. I’m not very good at it. I did eventually get the Frisbee down but I was more than a little scratched up because of my adventure
On Saturday night there was the Fourth of July celebration. A club in town was supposedly having a full blown celebration for the Fourth. There will be pictures on facebook as soon as the internet decides to allow me to post them. We had an amazing time. There was a hot dog eating contest (very American) and a chili eating contest, (slightly less American). Ads’ roommate Franco was the only person who entered both. We’d joked for the whole day that if one of us entered we needed to dunk the hotdogs, because it’s the only way to win. While Franco was eating hotdogs we started chanting, ‘dunk it, dunk it.’ And he did. Despite the fact that Franco didn’t win either of the competitions, he got a gift bag for entering both. This bag contained some really awesome stuff. There were nerd glasses which we proceeded to wear for the rest of the night. There were also moustache tattoos. All in all, the celebration wasn’t very American. I went the entirety of the Fourth without hearing a firework, but I had a wonderful night.
On Sunday, which was actually the Fourth of July, The guys I was staying with and I made a proper American meal. It consisted of hamburgers and hotdogs. Doritos and Pringles (the only American brand of chips I could find) and french fries. I also made an actual apple pie from scratch for dessert. I think they appreciated it. It was nice to have people to celebrate with. They were enthusiastic about it, even though they were technically celebrating their own defeat.
The rest of my time in Leeds more or less involved hanging out with people, watching movies, going into town. It was actually really relaxing and exactly what I needed at this point in my trip. I also feel like I made some life long friends in the deal.
Ads, Franco and Jas (the three roommates) had only moved into their house a day before I showed up. They told me when I left that it felt like I was a roommate too. The room I stayed in will always be known as Lizz’s room.
I left Leeds on Tuesday with Nick who came up to Leeds on Sunday. We headed back to London for a few days
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Berlin, Germany
Lizz is currently sitting in hyde park watching some shirtless lads play football…
I know I’m not technically in Berlin anymore, but most of this post is about Berlin, so it counts. I really enjoyed Berlin. It is incredibly edgy. They have a culture of graffiti. I’m used to associating graffiti with a really bad part of town. In Berlin, it just means, you’re in town. There are no parts that aren’t graffitied. I also felt as if I was seriously lacking in tattoos and piercings. My hair wasn’t ridiculous enough and my clothes weren’t torn enough. Despite the fact that I didn’t fit in, I really loved the feel of the city. Unfortunately while I was there I didn’t really get to go out much. My room was mostly full of one group of people from the UK. They pretty much stayed to themselves. Listening to their conversation was fairly entertaining though. They decided they were going to get a van to travel the rest of Europe. While they were talking about what they wanted in the van they started off with really practical things that would be necessary to keep the car running. They quickly digressed to things like fuzzy dice and fake grass, beanbags, and a shower in the back. One guy even drew a picture. I have to admit if they actually manage to pull it off it would be a pretty bad ass van. Not that I would want to travel Europe in it.
While I was in Munich Tina offered to do my laundry for me. I accepted this incredibly kind offer and gathered all my dirty things into a laundry basket she gave me. I didn’t put my towel in there, it didn’t need to be washed. When I came back from the day out all my clothes were hanging up drying. I immediately noticed that something was different. They were all pink. Tina had thrown my towel in with the rest of the laundry. The towel is red. It wasn’t too much of a problem for the things that were pure white, they just turned really pink. But I had some blue things in there too, and those just turned the nastiest shade of gray. I wore all my pink things through Munich, and Frankfurt. In Berlin I broke down and went shopping. The other mistake I’d made in coming to Europe was packing only 4 pairs of underpants. I thought, “Oh, I can just wash them every few days’. THAT IS HORRIBLE LOGIC. WHY DID NONE OF YOU TELL ME THAT IS TERRIBLE LOGIC? No one wants to wash their underwear every three days. So I bought more. A couple of tank tops, and a going out dress. (Libby it was a dress that you would have made me try on and they I would have told you I have no where to wear it and then you would have made me buy it anyway).
This made things interesting for packing to come here to England. The airline I was flying with is really strict about size of baggage you can carry on. And you’re only allowed one carry one. Checking luggage is like an extra 40 euro. So I was dead determined I was going to get everything down to one bag that would fit. This meant ditching my travel book (I tore out the pages that were still relevant to the rest of the trip). It also meant cutting off my old jeans into shorts. They were just too bulky to carry around anymore. Especially because it was starting to get warm here. That was an adventure. I’ve never cut off jeans before. The whole hostel room got involved. Figuring out where to cut, and how to fold them. In the end they look pretty awesome. They might be my new favorite shorts.
I take a bus up to Leeds tomorrow, and Ads is supposed to meet me at the bust station. Nick joins us on Saturday for our fourth of July party. Then on Tuesday Nick and I are taking a bus back to London to sight see.
So far I really like England. I kind of wish that I was staying here longer, or that it wasn’t so expensive to stay here. Although I’m sure I’ll be back.
I know I’m not technically in Berlin anymore, but most of this post is about Berlin, so it counts. I really enjoyed Berlin. It is incredibly edgy. They have a culture of graffiti. I’m used to associating graffiti with a really bad part of town. In Berlin, it just means, you’re in town. There are no parts that aren’t graffitied. I also felt as if I was seriously lacking in tattoos and piercings. My hair wasn’t ridiculous enough and my clothes weren’t torn enough. Despite the fact that I didn’t fit in, I really loved the feel of the city. Unfortunately while I was there I didn’t really get to go out much. My room was mostly full of one group of people from the UK. They pretty much stayed to themselves. Listening to their conversation was fairly entertaining though. They decided they were going to get a van to travel the rest of Europe. While they were talking about what they wanted in the van they started off with really practical things that would be necessary to keep the car running. They quickly digressed to things like fuzzy dice and fake grass, beanbags, and a shower in the back. One guy even drew a picture. I have to admit if they actually manage to pull it off it would be a pretty bad ass van. Not that I would want to travel Europe in it.
While I was in Munich Tina offered to do my laundry for me. I accepted this incredibly kind offer and gathered all my dirty things into a laundry basket she gave me. I didn’t put my towel in there, it didn’t need to be washed. When I came back from the day out all my clothes were hanging up drying. I immediately noticed that something was different. They were all pink. Tina had thrown my towel in with the rest of the laundry. The towel is red. It wasn’t too much of a problem for the things that were pure white, they just turned really pink. But I had some blue things in there too, and those just turned the nastiest shade of gray. I wore all my pink things through Munich, and Frankfurt. In Berlin I broke down and went shopping. The other mistake I’d made in coming to Europe was packing only 4 pairs of underpants. I thought, “Oh, I can just wash them every few days’. THAT IS HORRIBLE LOGIC. WHY DID NONE OF YOU TELL ME THAT IS TERRIBLE LOGIC? No one wants to wash their underwear every three days. So I bought more. A couple of tank tops, and a going out dress. (Libby it was a dress that you would have made me try on and they I would have told you I have no where to wear it and then you would have made me buy it anyway).
This made things interesting for packing to come here to England. The airline I was flying with is really strict about size of baggage you can carry on. And you’re only allowed one carry one. Checking luggage is like an extra 40 euro. So I was dead determined I was going to get everything down to one bag that would fit. This meant ditching my travel book (I tore out the pages that were still relevant to the rest of the trip). It also meant cutting off my old jeans into shorts. They were just too bulky to carry around anymore. Especially because it was starting to get warm here. That was an adventure. I’ve never cut off jeans before. The whole hostel room got involved. Figuring out where to cut, and how to fold them. In the end they look pretty awesome. They might be my new favorite shorts.
I take a bus up to Leeds tomorrow, and Ads is supposed to meet me at the bust station. Nick joins us on Saturday for our fourth of July party. Then on Tuesday Nick and I are taking a bus back to London to sight see.
So far I really like England. I kind of wish that I was staying here longer, or that it wasn’t so expensive to stay here. Although I’m sure I’ll be back.
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