Frankfurt, Germany

Lizz is drinking a free beer because Germany scored first…

I got into Frankfurt this afternoon. The German countryside is beautiful. I passed by countless picturesque towns. The only downside was the number of older German men who were really loud and obnoxious.

When I got to Frankfurt I figured out where I needed to go on the Metro, but when I got there I realized I was in the middle of an industrial park. It didn’t look like a place where a Hostel would be. I walked for a while and eventually came to the intersection where my directions said the hostel should be. It was a wasteland, with only one industrial looking building on one corner. I went to it and it was, in fact, my hostel. It is more high-tech then I have seen in some five star hotels. It doesn’t look like I’ll be able to see much of Frankfurt though, because I’m so out of the way.

The rest of my time in Munich was fun. I went paddle boating, and to a beer garden. I finished a liter of beer, which I consider a hell of an accomplishment.

We watched the US / Ghana game last night. It was an exciting game with a sad ending. I don’t think the US deserved to go on, but it sucks that we’re knocked out now.

I’m off to Berlin tomorrow for three days before I fly to England. I’m meeting up with Nick and Ads, the guys I met in Prague. I’ll be there for the 4^th of July. Ads sent me a link to a website where there is a description of an American-style independence day party. Apparently this club will be transformed into ‘an American carnival for the day’. Here is their description of what you can do: enter the Über Hot Chilli Challenge or the hotdog eating contest, be entertained by Americana clowns, enjoy vintage carnival films in the cinema room, play carnival games in the grounds or just enjoy a Long Island Ice Tea on the terrace. (all very American activities, I’m sure you can agree)

Considering the fact that we’re going to be out in the countryside(ish) of England and it’s summer holiday, I’m guessing I’m going to be the only actual American there. Couldn’t be more excited.

Munich, Germany

I got into Munich around 11 pm and luckily my hostel was right next to the train station. After one night there I moved in with Tina who I know from Truman. She's been studying abroad here for a semester and because their semesters are offset by a couple of months, she's still in classes. I can't say I love Munich as much as I did prague. Their unrealistic affinity for beer is amazing. On my second day I was already tipsy before noon. At this point I feel like I've given all their beers a fair shot, and I still don't like them. The only thing I haven't tried yet that I want to is a drink called a Radler.
I finally broke down yesterday and bought a new camera. Mine is still coming to Tina and she will be able to give it back to me when she comes back to the US, but I was sick of waiting for it to catch up with me. Now I'll actually be able to take pictures of things again.
Yesterday I went on a walking tour with some people who I knew from my internship last summer. I hadn't seen them in a year, so that was a nice reunion. After the tour I had two hours to kill until the US Algeria game. There was a really nice park in the middle of the city so I decided to go there and listen to some music. I ended up falling asleep and missing the first 10 minutes of the game. Which, if you watched it, wasn't missing much.
Today I'm on a quest to restock shampoo, conditioner and contact solution. I'm also going to see if I can find some pants that actually fit, so I don't have to hold them up while I walk.

Prague Czech Republic (part 2)

Lizz is currently on the train from Prague to Munich contemplating how the last three days could have been more awesome…

I truly cannot believe how wonderful my experience in Prague was. On the first day I just did laundry and relaxed. On the second day I went to breakfast and met a guy from Scotland who was traveling with a friend. We went on a free walking tour together and then shopped. The first night I was in my hostel the bunk beds next to mine were occupied by two guys from the Netherlands. When I came back from the walking tour I assumed it was still those two guys who were incredibly lazy. When the boy on the top bunk popped up his head and said hi I realized they had been replaced by two boys from England. They eventually woke up and we started chatting. They were named Adam (Ads) and Nick, and they are the coolest people I’ve met on this trip so far. The first night was the England game where the score ended up being 0 – 0 but I still enjoyed it more than any other game I’ve watched. After the game we ended up walking around the city for a long time. I’m pretty sure we walked every single street at least twice. Occasionally we’d stop in a pub or bar for a drink. While we were drinking they managed to convince me to go on the walking tour with them again tomorrow. Unfortunately we didn’t exactly make it up in time for the early tour, so we went on the late one. While on the tour we decided to go on the pub crawl organized by the same company.
The pub crawl was amazingly fun. We started out in a bagel shop where there was unlimited Czech beer, wine and shots of rum vodka and absinth. Not surprisingly I didn’t drink after that stop. The second stop of the crawl was a church turned dance club. Brilliant music, environment, everything. When we were in the bagel shop there was a group of American boys who were stereotypically chanting ‘USA USA’. When we got to the church they, once again stereotypically, took off their shirts. So there was a large group of shirtless boys in the center of the dance floor. Ads and Nick dared me to go into the middle of them, just to see what would happen. So I did. Their reaction was priceless. At first the shock of a girl being in their presence was too much for them. It was almost like they were looking at each other going ‘It’s a girl! What do we do!?’. They figured it out pretty quickly though and closed in. Luckily I managed to extract myself. The third stop on the pub crawl was a club that was underground. While we were in the bagel shop a couple of Americans sat down with us named Patrick and Vanessa. They were instant hits with both me and the British boys. Earlier Nick, Ads and I were joking about how the US goes into anything, guns blazing while Britain is more likely to stand right behind America waving a fist going ‘yeah, take that!’. At one point in the evening Vanessa was joking with one of the shirtless guys and he got angry. Patrick immediately intervened and intimidated the shit out of the guy while Nick and Ads stood behind. The last stop of the crawl was a huge labyrinth of a club that I can barely even describe.
Around 4 am we decided it was time to head back to the hostel. Early on in my knowing him, Ads established himself as the ‘human compass’. Despite the fact that he had only been in the city one day, he could find his way almost anywhere without a map. It was truly amazing. This night, however, he was tipsier than either Nick or me. So we decided we should be the ones to guide the group home. After maybe 15 minutes of wandering Ads finally asked us if we wanted him to get us back to the hostel yet. He got us back in only a few minutes.
The next morning around 11 am Nick was shaking me awake. I sat bolt upright in my bed and Nick asked me if Ads had slept in the room last night. He wasn’t in his bed and the bed didn’t look slept in. The night before when we got back to our room both Nick and I were exhausted, but for some reason Ads was full of energy. So I gave him my headphones, he left and we went to sleep. The next morning, Nick and I realized he had never come back. We almost immediately started freaking out. We searched the entire hostel. Nick went down to reception with his camera and showed them a picture of Ads in hopes they had seen him, they hadn’t. We had horrible images of Ads walking the streets of Prague at 6am finding a door step to sleep on. I was looking up online what to do when someone goes missing when Ads walks into the room like nothing happened, smile on his face. Apparently he had met up with the Irish girls next door and crashed in their extra bed for the night.
Later that day we had to go to a castle tour we’d bought tickets for the day before. Unfortunately we were all still quite hung-over by the time we needed to be on our tour. It was the most pathetic sight you could have seen. The three of us lagged so far behind the group we missed most of the explanations. Every time we sat down Ads would fall asleep. At one point I went to the restroom and they waited for me in front of a cathedral. The line for the toilets was really long, so it took a while. When I came back they told me an American girl had approached them and told them the looked like models, and asked if she could she take their picture. I never heard the end of this, for the rest of the weekend.
Because we had been so slow getting started going for the tour we didn’t get to eat before hand. We all thought there would be a break for food during the tour and there wasn’t. By the end of it we were starving. For some reason we all had an immense craving for KFC. We took a tram to the KFC and got more food then I’ve eaten in a long time. We then proceeded to stuff our faces. It was amazing.
We went out drinking again that night and found a gem of a bar were no one spoke English but us and we got over 8 drinks between the three of us for less than $12.
This morning we woke up, packed and checked out of the hostel. We wandered the city one last time before Nick and Ads took me to the train station. They had a flight to catch later in the day. It was the saddest parting I’ve had so far. We hugged and cheek kissed (because they do that over here). I can’t believe how quickly we bonded over only three days but I hope we get to stay in touch and that they get the opportunity to visit me in the US.

Things that happened that didn’t get explained up there:
We were wandering at one point and came across old men dressed as sailors. They were singing. We found out it was Shanty fest 2010.
Periodically one of them would slip and use and American word instead of a British one. I would laugh. Examples are: Hamburger instead of beefburger, restroom instead of loo, z instead of zed.
Mindy skyped me at one point while I was with them. When I got off with her they were looking at me funny. Apparently my American accent got really strong while I was talking to her. I didn’t notice anything.
I would occasionally say something that meant something completely different in England. Example: We were about the leave for the day and I was wearing shorts. It looked gloomy outside and potentially cold, so I asked them if they thought I should put on pants. There was a really prolonged awkward pause. Finally Ads asked me if I wasn’t wearing pants, and I said no, I’m wearing shorts. They started laughing and told me they thought I meant underwear, which is pants, what I meant were trousers.

Prague Czech Republic (part 1)

I came into Prague rather early two days ago. The flight was fine (other than managing to lose my phone). I navigated the public transportation system here like a champ.
Everything in Prague is so cheap (especially the alcohol)
I met two British guys, we went out last night and watched the England game on a big screen in the middle of old town square. They are both fabulous and we enjoy comparing cultures and commenting on our knowledge of only one language.
Going out on a pub crawl with them tonight. I've also just met 8 Irish girls who I convinced to come out to the pub crawl also. Should be a fantastic evening.

Stuff Irish People Like

5. Irish Gaelic: Despite the fact that everyone in Ireland speaks English all of the signs are in two languages. Irish is apparently an official language of the country right along with English, meaning all official signs need to be posted in both languages. You may wonder why I call it ‘Irish’ instead Gaelic. Apparently there is Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic. The only difference (according to the fisherman I met on the Aran Island) is that Irish Gaelic has more religious references.
4. Hurling: I had never heard of this game before I came to Ireland. The first night I was here one of the girls in my room was missing a tooth. She explained to me she’d lost it while she was learning how to play a game called hurling. My next encounter was in the Guinness store house where they have a monument of a man with a hurling stick on top of a mountain of what appears to be the dead bodies of fallen opponents. I started to notice references to hurling everywhere. They love it here.
3. Pubs: There is no wrong time of the day to go to a pub in the mind of the Irish. Guinness for breakfast is perfectly acceptable.
2. Stone Walls: The Irish affinity for stone walls only becomes apparent the further east you go. It gets to the point where there are more stone walls then there is grass to separate the stone walls. When we were on the Aran Island and we went on the ‘backroads’ the only thing distinguishing them was the distance between the stone walls. Not only are these stone walls everywhere but I can’t imagine the amount of effort and time put into the building of the walls. It’s really overwhelming.
1. Drinking: I feel like this goes without saying. I think they do it to decrease the depression of the rain and clouds.

Aran Islands, Ireland

Lizz is currently sitting in the lounge of the hostel contemplating how it's possible to get a sunburn in Ireland...

I'll be sure to give a description of my night out on the town with Au pairs and biology researchers from around the world. But, the events of today are so superior I'd much rather share them.
Theresa, a girl I met in Dublin who is now in Galway looking for work, and I decided yesterday that we wanted to take a day trip to the Aran islands. It involved getting up at 8 in the morning and catching a bus that would take us to a neighboring town. We then had to get on a ferry that took us out to the island. When we got up it was cold and rainy. I put on almost every layer of clothing I brought with me and I was still freezing the whole way. When we got the the island we decided not to rent bikes, but to just walk. We made this decision because 1. We thought the island was fairly small and walkable, 2. Theresa hadn't been on a bike in over eight years and didn't know if she would make it, and 3. It was kind of raining which is miserable to bike in. So, we took off on foot and immediately got lost, had to ask for directions, finally got on our way. As we walked the weather very gradually improved. At first it stopped raining, then the clouds goth thinner. Finally, the sun actually started to come out. I also gradually started shedding layers as it warmed up. By the time we made it to the main attraction, which is an old fort and some cliffs, we were fairly hot, and tired, and hungry. As we approached a bend in the road we saw a food vender in a cart called 'The Chipper'. I ordered some curry fries and sat on a wall to eat them. As we're eating a group of local boys drove up and parked and they got out and started talking to the guy running the stand. Another guy then drove up in a backhoe carrying a large stone which he dropped on one side of The Chipper. He then got out of his backhoe and started yelling at the guy working the stand. Despite the fact he was speaking English, I couldn't understand anything and I wasn't sure if he was serious or joking. Theresa and I ended up moving to the other side of the Chipper as backhoe man moved a couple more stones to his pile. As we were watching this show two of the local boys who were at the stand sat next to us. We found out from them that the man with the backhoe owns the land that the Chipper was parked on. Apparently this guy is super rich and owns tons of land, and shops, including a cafe that is a few meters away from the Chipper. And apparently the Chipper was stealing his business. This guy was moving stones to try and block the Chipper in so it couldn't park there again. They told me that the guy who owns the Chipper plans on parking it in front of Backhoe's house tomorrow.
After chatting with the two locals for a while we told them we were trying to walk to the cool places on the island. The told us there was no way we could make it all the way to all of them and make it back to the ferry on time. So they offered to go get their Jeep and drive us around the island. The thing about the jeep is that it doesn't have any back seats. They said they can get more people in there that way.
The first place we decided to visit was the 'worm hole'.
The thing I need to make clear about the roads in Aran Islands is that there really aren't any, not in the way we think of them. There are some paved streets that one car might make it down on its own. They are also full of potholes and dips. Don't forget I'm in the back without seats.
We finally make it to where we can get out and start walking. I would equate the hike to mountain climbing on rocks without the incline. The view was amazing. and when we finally made it to the worm hole it was also mind-blowing.
As we walked we talked to the two guys and found out that they're named Stephen and Cole and they're fishermen. Stephan fishes for lobster on a small boat that his family makes while Cole is on a larger fishing boat that goes out for two weeks at a time. As we walked with them Steve and Cole would periodically slip into talking to each other in Irish which was fantastic. I asked about it and they said they speak both English and Irish regularly. Irish is more formal, so they would be expected to speak it to parents and anyone older, while English is more informal and spoken with friends.
After the worm hole we decided to go see the tower. Steve asked me if I wanted to take the back roads or the main road. I did not realize what we had been driving on so far was 'main road' so I said back road. Back roads in the Aran islands are not actually roads at all but over grown areas in-between ancient stone walls that are just barely large enough for a Jeep. There are branches of bushes scrapping against the side of the car and I am not at all sure how we didn't hit the walls.
We eventually made it to the tower, jumped a fence and climbed around in it. We also went to a fort and some cliffs before Steve and Cole dropped us off at our ferry.
I cannot imagine how my Aran Island experience could have been better.

Galway Ireland

Lizz is currently sitting on a bunk bed that "might fall down anytime"...

This morning I checked out of the incredibly unfriendly Kinlay house and hopped on a bus to Galway. It was a three hour trip through the countryside of Ireland. There were, disappointingly, no castles. The only thing to distinguish it form driving across Missouri, as far as I could tell, was the increase in the number of sheep.
When I got here it took me almost no time at all to find my hostel. It is everything that was promised by the reviews online. The beds seem dangerous of collapsing (I made sure to get a top bunk so if they did collapse I would be more likely to survive). The manager of the hostel wasn't even here. When he eventually showed up he had me write my name in a notebook and give him 16 euros. That was all the more checking he did. There is a code to get in the door at night, which is a nice perk.
That being said, the bathroom is much nicer than I had in Dublin. The shower is inside a room where you can partially see outside and the view is beautiful.
After settling in I set out on the town to explore. The area I'm in seems to be like the Plaza on crack and less expensive. It's all pedestrian walking and there are street performers everywhere. I stopped at watched four men from Africa do an acrobatics routine. They were so energetic. I wanted to make it back to my hostel for the US v. England game so I left before they were done, but as I left I dropped off my change in their hat. As I walked away one of the guys shouted 'your phone number too' and everyone in the crowd laughed. It was a really neat experience.
When I came back for the World Cup game the only people in the lounge were the old manager and a few of his friend, but I figured, what the hell. So I sat down with them to watch it. A few minutes in a group of guys show with beer. I find out that they're from Turkey, Slovakia and Columbia and they're in Ireland to do Biology research for the summer. We talked biology throughout the whole game. We also talked about the US player with the ridiculous beard...
Tonight I'm going to a club behind my hostel with the three biology guys and three au pairs from southern Ireland who are in Galway for the weekend. Should be an interesting evening.

Dublin Ireland

Lizz is currently sitting on a bench in a garden of Trinity College in Dublin Ireland…

One of the things I’ve noticed about international travel is that it’s very hard to keep track of time. I don’t just mean what time of day it is, but more what day of the week or even what month of the year. I have to think about how long I’ve already been over here. At times it seems like moths already. One of the girls I met was finishing travel for a month and she thought it was still may when it was already June 8.
My flight over was harrowing as any lengthy flight would be expected to be. I had a little girl behind me and two talkative teenagers next to me. They were from Houston Texas and on a graduating field trip. In fact my flight was full of highschoolers on field trips.
When I finally got into Dublin everything went smoothly until I tried to find my hostel. There are apparently no street signs in Europe. What I eventually realized is that the signs are just in a different location rather than entirely absent.
On my first night I met two really nice girls, both from Canada, who were staying in my room. We went out to the pub that night, as far as I can tell that’s all anyone does in Ireland. I had a pint of some irish cider and listened to an irish band. There were two girls doing irish dancing. It was all very irish.
On the very first night as we were going out to the pubs I walked past someone who looked familiar, and he looked at me like he recognized me. We both stopped and awkwardly stared at each other before we realized we both went to Truman. Apparently he’s doing an internship in Dublin for the summer. What is the likelihood I would come all the way to Ireland to see someone from Truman, on the first night.
The next day we went on a walking tour of Dublin. It was and amazing experience. The tour guide was passionate and an amazing public speaker. I was blown away. I now know more about the history of Ireland then I ever really wanted, but I enjoyed learning it all.
The real downside of this country is how damn cold it is. When I flew in the boys next to my told me we were going to visit ‘the cloud people’ which, after a few days here, is undoubtedly true. It is depressingly gray here all the time. The only bright side is that it hasn’t actually rained yet.
This afternoon I’m going to the Guinness storehouse. Which I know Jill will be jealous of.
I’m off to Galway tomorrow where I’ll be staying in the jankiest hotel ever. The reviews online are awful. It was the only one available and I’m chalking it up to experience. After that I fly to Prague.