It’s Been A While

Posted on August 19, 2008

I just imported all of my posts from my Europe travel blog, so that is where the sudden influx of posts came from. Ihad so much fun this summer! I am now back in the U.S. I’ve been home now for two weeks and I’m finally getting adjusted to everything. It took some time to get back on a normal sleep schedule.

I’ve got so much to do over the next week. I’m trying to get a new job, packing up my things to move, and catching up on all of those things I am behind on from being gone for 2 months.

More to come soon. I’ve got lots of ideas and things I want to post about!

Hello From Venice!

Posted on July 30, 2008

Internet is limited so far in Italy. In Rome we didn’t have any and now in Venice it is limited. My hostel has it, but it is very expensive to use just for 30 minutes. So I’m writing a quick blurb to let you all know I am still here and kicking it!

It is sooo hot here and there is no air conditioning. Other than that, Italy is nice, but not as great as I was expecting. At this point I’m very ready to come home, and can’t wait to see everyone in less than a week! Miss you all! =)

Interlaken, Switzerland

Posted on July 23, 2008

This past weekend I visited Interlaken, Switzerland. This was the first weekend I’ve gone out on my own, and I must say it was rather liberating. It was nice to be away from anyone and not on anyone else’s schedule. I was able to do what I wanted, when I wanted, and for however long I wanted. At first I thought it might be a little difficult, but after 1o hours on 3 different trains I was excited to be in Switzerland.

My train arrived Friday evening around 7pm and I made my way to Balmer’s Hostel. Apparently this is “the” place to stay for younger people, so I was excited about that. I had a little trouble finding it because the directions weren’t clear, but there were several signs pointing me in the right direction after I left the train station. I arrived and unpacked my things, and headed down to the courtyard area where some people were hanging out. I recognized a few people from OSU who were also in the same study program as me and sat down with them. We got some dinner together and then had a few beers. Unfortunately, even though the Swiss Franc is very similar in value to the US dollar, the prices in Switzerland are a bit steep. For my meal it was 12.50, but fortunately they had a half priced beer special so I was able to enjoy some Hofbrau Weiss for only 2.50! =)

After dinner I hung around the hostel, there was a bar downstairs and I spent most of the night there just chatting and meeting new people. Most of the people staying in the hostel were either American, English, or Australian so it was easy to talk with everyone. After that I went to bed so I could be ready for the next day.

I woke up at 6:30am and got ready for my big adventure. Saturday was the day I had booked my paragliding flight and I was so excited! Unfortunately I was unable to go on the flight I requested because the winds were too extreme at that altitude. It was 6,600ft, but I had to settle for the one that was 2,600ft instead. So, with 3 others and our respective flight instructors we took a ride up the Beatenberg for about 30 minutes. Once to the top, we got everything ready and geared up for our flight! I was especially suprised to find a cat who resided up in one of the houses by our takeoff point. She befriended me and I got to pet her for a few minutes while the equipment was being setup. I guess anyone who knows me will understand why I enjoyed making friends with the kitty! It’s the first time I’ve seen a cat since I’ve been away from home! I even took a picture.

Back to the paragliding thing…after everything was setup we all strapped into the backpacking equipment that hooks onto the sail. Then I was instructed what to do during the takeoff. After that, we basically ran down the hill and jumped off the edge as the sail behind us caught the wind and lifted us up! It was a pretty amazing feeling and the view from up there was absolutely amazing. I’ve never seen anything so gorgeous in all my life! I felt like every picture I took was like a postcard. =)

We took some pictures during the flight using this really cool camera attached to a pole about 9ft long. And I was also allowed to take my own camera, strapped on to myself and the backpack, of course. The flight itself lasted about 20 minutes and it was just so amazing. It’s hard to describe what it felt like flying through the air. But, it was an amazing experience. As we floated down closer to the ground we did a few spirals through the air, which was really cool, kind of like a mini roller coaster. Then we got closer to the ground and landed. It was a really smooth landing and wasn’t nearly as much of an impact as I thought it would be. I took a few final pictures of me in my gear and then unhooked myself from all of the equipment. The entire event was so awesome! I know that I want to return to Switzerland someday and do it again. Hopefully next time I will be able to jump off the higher mountaintop, and enjoy a longer flight because it really went by too quickly!

The rest of my weekend in Interlaken was pretty relaxing. I didn’t have much time there because of the long train rides. So I spent a good portion of the day walking through town, looking in little shops and wandering different places. I sat and watched paragliders in the big field for a while and caught up on some of my reading I’ve been trying to do on my trip.

I had such a great time, I was a bit sad when I had to leave early on Sunday. After that it was another 10 hours on the train to get back to Nantes, France. Now I’m finishing up my last week of class! It seems strange that I’ve already been here 6 weeks. I didn’t think it would go by so quickly, but it has!

As always, more photos can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/brownd9

Munich

Posted on July 15, 2008

This past weekend I visited Munich, Germany. I traveled from Brussels to Munich which was about a 13 hour train ride, and it was a bit painful. I was unable to sleep on the train since we didn’t even have have reclining seats. But, we got there Friday morning and were ready to go, despite our tiredness.

Our hostel wouldn’t let us officially check in until 3pm so we locked up our stuff, changed clothes, and brushed our teeth after the long train ride. Then we headed to Dachau, the concentration camp just outside of Munich. It was a very hot day, high 80’s. But it was a nice change from the Brussels weather! Inside the camp it was very depressing. On the way there Elise and I met a woman named Linda from Ashland, Ohio. We ended up talking to her most of the way there and she joined us as we walked around. He husband had passed away a year ago and she was finally traveling Europe like they had always planned. It was really nice getting to talk to her and she seemed to enjoy our company as well. Inside the camp there were 2 of the original barracks still up, while the groundwork and outlines were the only thing left of the others, just to give an idea of what it was like. I went inside and was able to see the beds and areas where people stayed. Seeing those small areas and trying to imagine the hundreds of people who had to fit into such a tight space was quite hard. It would not e pleasant in the least bit. The maintenance building was also there, and used at the current museum. We were also able to walk through the crematorium and see where they would dispose of all the corpses. There was a gas chamber inside this building, but we were told that it was never put into use like other concentration camps.

After Dachau we headed back to the hostel and took some much deserved showers! Then we got fancied up and went into town to find Hofbrauhaus to enjoy some good dinner and beer. Inside the Hofrauhaus it was amazing! It was very similar to the one in Cincinnati but only much larger and much more ornate. The walls were all decorated with German type art and drawings, and big HB symbols on the walls. I ordered roasted pork and some wheat beer for dinner. It was delicious! And of course, as you can see in the photo, I had to have a huge German pretzel! =)

The next morning it was raining so we postponed our Fussen trip until Sunday. Instead we decided to go into town around the Marienplatz and walk around for a bit. We found out after we got to the center of town that it was “Christopher Street Day” which is a gay pride festival. There was a parade and all kinds of performances going on in the center. It was pretty funny that we ended up in Munich on this day, so we watched a few performances and then moved on. We also visited the city’s largest church, the Frauenkirche. It was very impressinve from both the inside and out. Unfortunately there was some construction around the outside and I couldn’t get a good view of the front for a picture. We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Munich, which was pretty good. Then we walked through some shops and got some postcards and small souvenirs. Afterwards we headed back to the hostel to figure out what we were doing the rest of the day.

We ended up getting some pizza around the corner and then I decided to just get a drink and sit in our hostel’s bar and catch up on some reading, since it was raining pretty heavily outside. I ended up meeting a group of people who asked me to join their card game. They had all been drinking most of the day so that was pretty entertaining. After a while they all left and I joined up with an Irish and English guy who were traveling together, they both went to school in Manchester. I ended up talking with them most of the night about all kinds of interesting things and how they view the US and Europe and all of that. It was pretty interesting. I love how easy it is to meet people in places like this and just have interesting conversations.

Sunday it was still raining, but we decided to go to Fussen anyway to see the castles. The train was slow, and took about 2 hours to get there because of this. Once we got there we had to take a small bus to the town and then begin our 25 minute walk uphill to the Neuschwanstein castle. It was well worth it though, the castle is simply breathtaking, even in the fog and rain. We got a short tour of the castle and then were able to walk a ways and get some really great pictures from this bridge on the other side of it. From the other side we were also able to see King Ludwig II’s other castle, the Hohenschwangau, which looks equally amazing. After our trek down it was another 2 hour train ride back, which made it just after 7pm when we got in. We had just enough time to relax a bit before our train ride back to Nantes.

Even though the rain kind of put a damper on our trip, we still got to see everything I wanted to see in Munich, and of course enjoy the good beer! It reminded me a lot of home, and I can see why the German immigrants settled in Cincinnati and liked it so much! Hopefully I will be able to come back here sometime in the future and see more of Germany, I really loved it and had a blast. =)

More pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/brownd9

Brussels and the European Union

Posted on July 9, 2008

This week we arrived in Brussels, Belgium. As part of the study program, we spend a week here visiting different sectors of the European Union. I’ll spare the details, because I’m sure most people either don’t have any clue what each part is, or it’s just boring! We visited 4 different sections; the European Economic and Social Committee, European Commission, European Parliament, and the Council of the EU.

Most of the buildings are pretty bland, nothing too impressive as far as the architecture. But, the EU Parliament building was rather cool. I have some pictures on my photo album. We got to listen to speakers from each place and learn a little more about how everything works. Since we had been studying this for the last 3 weeks it was interesting to actually see it in front of me and get to ask questions of people directly involved in the EU process.

Other than that Belgium has been pretty bland. We were greeted by 50/60 degree weather, rain, and icky-ness. And it has been the same everyday that we have been here. That’s pretty normal weather for Brussels so I’m glad we are only here 4 days! I think I’d go crazy if I lived here. It’s definitely put me in a bit of a blah mood, so I’m excited to get out of here and head to Munich tomorrow evening!

I also have a bit of a story to tell. I figured I’d have at least one humorous story about how I messed something up or did something silly, and I now have one! I single handedly managed to knock out the entire 3rd floor electricity in our hotel. It was a simple, stupid mistake. I was not thinking and plugged my hair straightener into the outlet without plugging in my converter first. I realized what I had done but it was too late! I blew out the fuse and knocked out everyone’s electricity. People were talking about it later and I just pretended I didn’t know what happened, haha! So, hopefully that will give a bit of a laugh to everyone back home reading this. =)

Tomorrow we have a short meeting in the morning then I am heading off to Munich. I can’t wait! Hope you all have a great weekend and I’ll catch up with you afterwards!

Barcelona

Posted on July 8, 2008

Thursday evening we caught a night train to Barcelona. We had reclining seats and I figured this would be ok, but I ended up next to this old guy who kept encroaching on my space. Needless to say I didn’t sleep much during the 15 hour journey! But, as soon as we arrived in Barcelona all that tiredness went away. I was greeted by warm sunshine and a great feeling.

It was 4th of July and at first I thought I would be missing the grilling, fireworks, and gathering of my friends and family. But instead I found that a walk along the beach followed by dinner on the coast was just as good, if not better! There were 8 of us who stayed together and we all got some seafood mix at a Tapas restaurant. It was the first time I’ve eve eaten shrimp and crawfish with the eyes and everything still intact. It was a bit strange at first but it tasted better than anything I’ve had back in The States.

Eat Me! (ok, maybe I played with the food a bit before eating it)

We were all rather tired after walking around all day and evening so we went back to the hostel and took a nap. Later a few of use walked around the area by our hostel, which was right next to Las Ramblas, the main strip where all the action supposedly happens. There were street performers, vendors, and ice cream. The ice cream was the best I’ve ever had. Yes, even better than Graeter’s! We stopped at a small cafe and had a beer, but apparently the Spanish beer Estrella is rather nasty. Last time I’ll ever try that! Then we headed back in a passed out from exhaustion.

Saturday we woke and headed out to see one of Gaudi’s works, the Sagrada Familia. It’s a massive Roman Catholic church in Barcelona. It was very impressive to see. Next we headed off to the beach where we spent most of our day. The one thing about the beaches in Barcelona is that they are all topless beaches. It’s not that bad, as most people aren’t topless. But it’s still a bit surprising to see people walking around or sunbathing with nothing on. The beach was by far the best part of the trip. So far I feel like I have been rushed many places just because of the short amount of time and the number of things I’ve wanted to try and see. But here we just got to relax and not worry about the time. It was much needed. Also, there are vendors of all sorts wandering around the beach. We had some fresh coconut which was good. Elise(my roommate) also paid for us girls to all get massages on the beach. These were so amazing and really added to my relax factor, definitely worth the 5€.

After we’d had enough of the beach we got showers (we were covered in sand!) and got dressed up for a fun girls night. Elise, Heather, and myself headed out for dinner. We ended up going to the Hard Rock Cafe in Barcelona. We heard from the other half of our group that they had free refills and we couldn’t pass that up since none of Europe has this! It was really nice to have some American music playing in the background as we ate, and I even found a poster of David Bowie hanging in the restaurant.

After that we met back up with everyone else and headed to the Palau Nacional, which houses a national art museum. But the really cool part is the Magical Fountain that sits in front of it. At night it lights up different colors and there is music played to go along with the fountain show. It was a really cool thing to see, but it was very crowded. So, it was nice to get out of the area after it was over because I was getting a bit claustrophobic.

Elise and I in front of Palau Nacional

Sunday we didn’t have much time and had to get to the train station around 2pm. So, we took our time getting ready and walked around the market for a while, stopped in some gift shops and just took our time. It was so beautiful the entire time we were there and I was sad to leave! I wasn’t really planning on going to Barcelona back before I had left home and now I am so glad that I did! I will definitely go back there someday.

All 58 pictures are up in my web album! http://picasaweb.google.com/brownd9

Upcoming Travels

Posted on July 3, 2008

Another week of class has flown by already! We just finished our first set of exams over Europe and the European Union. Most of the questions were easy, except a few more detailed ones. I’m sure I did just fine though.

I am growing very fond of my French family. At first it was a bit awkward and frustrating at times. But, since we have been here a few weeks I am feeling much more comfortable with them. Dinner is always entertaining. Dinners in France are later, around 8-9pm and last for an hour or more. Families realyl enjoy talking about all sorts of things and getting to know about each others’ lives. At dinner on Monday the dad in our family was very excited about a blazer he bought for himself. The mom and the daughter were makign fun of him because they said he never is abel to pick out his own clothes. So to prove a point, he ran upstairs, grabbed the blazer, and put on a fashion show for us. It was really funny, he ever grabbed my sunglasses with the sparkling crystals on them and strutted around in his new outfit. I really enjoy the dinner aspect of France because it seems like in the US that’s not as strong and people are always on the go so they don’t have 1-2 hours to just sit down with each other.

Now I am getting ready to head to the store and purchase some food for our 12 hour train ride to Barcelona. We have a night traing with only one stop along the way, so I should be able to get a decent amount of sleep and be ready to go at 9am when we get into Barcelona! We don’t have anything huge planned for the weekend. I have heard that Barcelona is just a wonderful and beautiful city, so I am looking forward to a more relaxing weekend. The weather looks like it will actually cooperate and be in the low 80’s the entire time with no rain. Hopefully that will make for some gorgeous pictures as well.

Next week after Barcelona we are studying in Brussels, Belgium. We’ll be takign tours of the European Union throughout the week. Since we’ve been studying Europe and the EU the past 3 weeks it will be very interesting to see how it all works in reality. Also, we’ll have internet access there so I’ll be posting all about my weekend once I get to Brussels!

Oh and on one quick note…Marat Safin has made it to the semi-finals of Wimbledon! He plays Roger Federer tomorrow so I am a bit nervous! Go Safin! Au Revoir!

London & Wimbledon

Posted on July 1, 2008

I arrived in London at 6pm on Thursday, but had to wait until 8pm to take the bus from the airport into the city. I traveled to London with some of the OSU students also studying in Nantes. They were on the same flight as me so that was convenient. The bus ride took a little over an hour and once there I split off on my own to find my hostel and meet up with the 4 other UC students I was staying with. They had booked their flights differently and were already there.

I made my way through the Underground and found the hostel on my own, so I was a bit proud of that. But, just after getting checked in a fire alarm went off and everyone had to evacuate the hostel. Of course, being London, it had started raining so it was no fun waiting outside in the rain. I decided to walk around the corner to this pub and have a beer while I waited for the fire trucks to come and the hostel to be inspected. So, it was quite and entertaining first night!

Friday morning I woke at 6am and got ready. Only one of the UC students wanted to go to Wimbledon, so we headed out after breakfast around 7:30. We took the Underground all the way to Wimbledon Park which was very convenient. It took about an hour from the time we left the hostel until we arrived at the queue line. There were already several thousand people waiting in line for the grounds pass. I received my queue card, I was #5643 in line! This was good because the first 6000 were guaranteed entry! It took about 3 hours before we were able to get in, but this was perfect timing because the first matches started at noon.

Here is a picture of my queue card!
 

Waiting in queue:

 

Once inside the grounds I checked the schedule of play for the day. My favorite player, Marat Safin, was playing so I was very excited! We first walked around the grounds and checked everything out. The best part was getting to see the “Big Screen” that everyone talks about. This is just a huge TV that shows matches on the center courts for people who can’t get tickets inside to see them. We ended up staying there for a while. There was a rain delay(who would’ve guessed?) so we sat around the big screen while they showed some older videos and a segment on Pete Sampras. Finally the rain stopped and I got to watch Roger Federer’s match. Unfortunately, because of the rain, I didn’t get to see Safin play before I left. But, it was still amazing and I’m so glad I got to go!

We went back towards our hostel and met up with the other UC students for dinner. We took a nap afterwards and then headed out later that night. We went to Soho and found this dance club that the guys wanted to go to. I had a great time watching the European guys dance. It’s hard to describe, but it was really entertaining and funny to watch! After we left we went back to the hostel and to bed, it was a long and exhausting day.

Saturday we slept in a bit, but the guys slept in more and made us miss out on the changing of the guards. So we went to Waterloo instead to see the London Eye. We also walked along the river and got some nice pictures of Parliament and other things. As we walked along this area we went through the section that has all kinds of street performers. There were people acting like statues, comedians, a guys dressed like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean, and a girl who did this show with 5 hoolahoops. It was pretty neat. We found this nice pub for lunch along the river. After that we headed to Covent Garden where we walked around the shops for a few hours. I ended up buying a cute top for 6 pounds, which is the first time this trip I’ve spent money on something other than bus tickets, hostels, or food. So that was nice.

Across the river from Parliament:

Afterwards we went back to the hostel and rested for an hour or so. Then the guys went out and us girls decided to go look for food. We ended up going to Picadilly Circus and found a Pizza Hut to eat at. This may sound silly, but the Pizza Hut was a realyl nice sit down restraunt. The pizza was great and we also had dessert which was fudge cake and ice cream which was amazing! After having all kinds of other foods this whole trip, it was nice to have an “American” meal for a change. We didn’t feel like doing much after that and it was already 11pm so we just went back to bed. In the morning I had to leave early to catch the bus back to the airport so that was about all i could fit into the weekend. It was so nice to be around people who spoke english. France is nice, but it’s so exhausting trying to speak French all of the time!

Also, I’ve finally been able to update my photo album. I have all the pictures from the weekend up as well as some from the previous weekend. Hope you enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/brownd9

 

Getting Ready for London

Posted on June 26, 2008

Just a small update before I head out for the weekend. This week has gone by so quickly, I can’t believe it’s already time to head out on another weekend of exciting things. We had a presentation today in class and then we got out early, so that was nice. Class was very interesting this week, and I learned a lot. It’s amazing how little I know about the European countries and how they are run, but I am glad that I am learning a lot.

The food here so far has been amazing. The French family we are staying with always has something new and interesting to eat for dinner each night. Last night we had pork with a type of sauce and cheese, which was delicous. We also had tomatoes and mushrooms with that. For dessert we had pinnaple. I don’t like pinnaple, but the kind we had was very different than in the US. It was much less tart and had quite a sweet taste to it. A few times a week Elise(the other UC girl I’m staying with) and I stop at this bakery on the way home from class and get something to eat between lunch and dinner. We usually need something to hold us over because French families don’t eat dinner until 8:30 or so, and I’m usually starving by then! My favorite has to be the “pain au chocolat”m which is a croissant type bread with chocolate chips baked into it. I’m going to be so spoiled by this when I come back home!

So, this weekend I am flying to London. I’m not sure what sights I want to visit most, and I probably wouldn’t be sad if I missed anything. The main reason I am going is to go to Wimbledon. This has always been a dream of mine and I still can’t believe that it is actually going to happen. This time tomorrow I will be inside the grounds walking around and enjoying the tournament, so exciting! I’ve also been told by the group of students who went last weekend that I have to try some of the soft serve ice cream because it is delicous, so I guess I can’t say no to that!

Well, off to go home and back before heading to the airport. I’m sure I will have LOTS to write about when I get back. Au Revoir!

UK and the US

Posted on June 25, 2008

The internet at this school is completely retarded! I can’t get half of the websites to load. Sigh…

So while I am here in Nantes we are studying all sorts of things about Europe. We have been taking a class on the European Union which is rather interesting. It’s funny how little I knew/know about Europe and it’s really exciting to see how everything works over here. We are also learning about a few of the countries: Germany, France, and the UK.

Today we watched an interesting video from Parliament in England. It was from 1996 I believe, during Tony Blair’s campaign. The clip was short, from the wednesday mid-day meeting that is televised each week. I forget what they call it…paliamentary luncheon or something? But either way it was very interesting to see how different they are setup. The opposing factions face each other, in a more confrontational way and the clip we watched was of Tony Blair arguing with then Prime Minister John Major. It made me wish the US had some sort of chamber like this, where the democrats could “argue” with the President. It would be quite homorous. =)

But all the talk about UK’s history made me think of something. Now, there is no direct relationship, but I found there were quite a few similiarities to this time period in the UK and the election in the US right now. In the UK you have John Major serving after 18 years of Margaret Thatcher and her total undoing of everything from the consensus period. Lower taxes, yes, but with that comes other problems. If you’re going to lower taxes then you’re going to have to cut spending, and of course the first thing to go is healthcare and education. Deregulation of the economy and breaking up of unions. I won’t deny that something needed to be done, and somethign radical. But, I don’t think Margaret Thatcher’s ideas were the “end all be all”, even though she is praised so highly.

So anyway back to my point…all this talk made me think of the similarities between the conviction period in the UK (1979-1997) and our current system in the US (starting with Reagan who was buddy buddy with Thatcher; who would have guessed?!). And now we have this Obama character coming along. Not trying to radically reform everything, because that’s not what is needed. But to change our view on the current system and realise that we need change of some kind. That we need to think about politics and our country in a different way. I’m not saying Obama = Tony Blair. All I’m saying is there seem to be quite a few similarities here. I’m still new to the UK political system, and I still need to research more, but hopefully this makes sense. Or maybe I’m off my rocker? =)

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