Greece was definitely a highlight of my trip. I’m writing this now as I’m sitting in the airport in Thessaloniki, Greece waiting for my flight back to London.

I made into Volos on the 17th of July and took a miserable, hot 4.5 hour train ride into Athens. I met a fun group of guys from the Netherlands at my hostel and we all went out to dinner together (to get gyros of course!) and then hung out for the rest of the night. After only a couple hours of sleep for the second night in a row, I got up around 530 in order to get to my ferry that would take me to the island of Ios.

Finally after an 8.5 hour ferry ride, I made it on to Ios where I met my Australian friend Trent that I would be staying with. The next 10 days were some of the best of my life - Trent works for the watersports company on the beach so during the day when he was working they let me come out on the 3 hour boat trips with him. On these boat trips I went cliff jumping (off of an 8 meter cliff!!), snorkeling around a 40 year old ship wreck where the bow of the boat was still in tact and pointing toward the surface, and hung out on a private beach with really clear, beautiful water. At night we would go out and explore the life around the village where he lived with all his friends.

On the few days off he got while I was there, we rented a scooter and drove around the island to see other smaller beaches that were a lot more quiet. His boss also took us out on a tube ride and gave us a good thrashing - though I won! I only fell off once and Trent fell off twice.

Ios was a really great way to end my trip, I only wish I could have stayed much much longer! It was a great mix of relaxing on the sun beds on the beach, good food, great company, and exciting adventures.

Now I’ve been working my way back to the UK to collect my things before saying a bittersweet goodbye to Europe and heading home to Seattle.

This is most of “Camp Kitsch” from the music festival in Gdynia, Poland.

7/12/12 - Brussels

I had a brief moment of despair when I got to the train station in Hamburg and realized my train to Brussels left at not 655 AM, but at 646 am. I ran to the train and jumped on, but was confused by the signage so I jumped off, the train left, and I realized it was indeed the train I was supposed to be on to Koln where I would have a connection to Brussels. Luckily, the next train on that track was going to Hannover. I quickly searched through my schedules and found I could still catch the train from Koln - Brussels if I took that next train from Hamburg to Hannover, then another right after from Hannover to Koln. After the train from Koln to Brussels was delayed several times I finally made it into Brussels sometime around 3 where Manu picked me up. We explored several places in Brussels just to refresh my memory of it, then called it a night in hopes of making my cold better.

7/13/12 - Namur

The next morning we drove to Manu’s friend’s house in Namur for his annual barbeque his family throws. They took me exploring around Namur first but the rain stopped us from seeing too much aside a bit of downtown and the 11-13th century citadel there. The barbeque was fun hanging out with a lot of Belgians who once they had a few drinks were enjoying trying to speak English with me instead of me trying to speak French with them!

7/14/12 - Houffalize

We went to lunch with his friend’s grandma and family first thing that morning (where I ate my Belgian mussels, yay!), then made our way to Houffalize which is where Manu’s mom lives. We went to his godfather’s birthday party where we were really the only young people there, but there was a lot of really good food (it was catered) and drinks. I was feelin really awful from my cold however and I had an awful headache all day so it was difficult to have as much fun as I would have liked - all I wanted to do was go to sleep!! We finally got home/to bed around 3 am.

7/15/12 - Brussels

We went in the morning to see Manu’s grandma because she wanted to see me again, and after an hour of chatting we went over to Manu’s mom’s boyfriend’s house for a big lunch. We ate deer in a really good sauce, along with some salad. After hanging out for a couple of hours, we said goodbye and drove back to Brussels where we met with one of my friends from Liverpool who lives nearby in Belgium for a couple drinks.

7/16/12 - Bruges

My cold has gotten somewhat better, and we decided to spend the day exploring Bruges. It was an adorable little city, but after walking around a couple of hours and checking out the little streets and churches we discovered there wasn’t much more to see and returned to Brussels around 5 so that I could prepare everything for my flight tomorrow morning to Greece!

7/8/12 - Berlin

I had quite a miserable day. After sleeping only an hour and a half, I woke up at 4:30 to catch a shuttle to get to the train station. I had been walking barefoot in the mud the entire festival and somewhere along the way to the festival my sandals fell out of the plastic bag I had them in. I got on the train to Berlin (still covered head to toe in mud) and got many comments and stares from festival goers and random people alike. After trying to somewhat wash my legs off in the train’s bathroom sink (I felt like a hobo and a true traveler at the same time), I slept a tiny bit on the long train ride to Germany. I got into Berlin around 2:30 and took the best shower I have ever had in my life. The shower wasn’t actually that good but it felt amazing to be so clean! Unfortunately I realized I was getting quite sick from 4 days of cold and mud, so I ended up only taking a long nap, going out to eat a sausage and a pretzel, and taking a brief stroll around the city by night.

7/9/12

I got up early in the morning and took a New Europe tour of Berlin. It was about 3 hours and was quite interesting, but by the time it was over I was feeling even more sick with a cold. I took another long nap, went out for dinner, and then went on a pub crawl with my hostel to see the unique nightlife in Berlin. I still wasn’t feeling great however so I called it a night early from the pub crawl and went to sleep.

7/10/12 - Hamburg

Even though I could have stayed in Berlin several more days to see everything, I only had a limited time in Germany since I went to the festival so I had to move onto Hamburg. I got in sometime after 1, but it took forever to check into my hostel because a million other people were checking in at the same time. I ended up just hanging out at the hostel all night after getting a bit of dinner from the train station, then going to bed at 9 since I was feeling even more sick from my cold.

7/11/12

After a little more than 12 hours of sleep, I woke up to take the New Europe tour of Hamburg. It was a fun little tour and I made an Aussie and Israeli friend who went exploring with me after the tour. We climbed 544 steps to the top of a church tower (123 meters) to get a great view of Hamburg, then went in search of an elevator our tour guide told us about that continuously moves up and down and never stops. We found it after 25 minutes of searching but unfortunately only people who worked in the building were allowed to use it. When we got back to the hostel, my polish friend I met in Warsaw picked me up to take me around Hamburg because he had been living there for the last 4 years. He took me on a ferry ride and we got dinner together - it was a really nice evening! I hung out with the Aussie and Israeli back at the hostel until it was time to go to sleep since I had an early train to Belgium.

6/28/12 - Krakow

I arrived at 6:50 in the morning to Krakow, and when I got to my hostel all I did was take a nap until Manu (my Belgian exchange student for those of you that don’t know) arrived after noon. I was so miserably exhausted from the train! I was so excited to see him for the first time in 3 years however. We went to get traditional Polish breakfast - just some meat with bread, cucumbers, and tomatoes. We explored some parts of the city and later that night went out to find a pub to watch the second semi final game of the Euro Cup. I was sad that Germany lost, and also was attracting a lot of stares because everyone else in Poland was cheering for Italy.

6/29/12

We explored the castle today which was really cool, and went down a ton of steps into the Dragon’s Den - supposedly a cavern hollowed out by a dragon - but unfortunately I hit my head on the low stone spiral steps despite the warning of low ceiling and the fact that I was already crouching down! We took a long nap in the middle of the day because I was suffering from awful allergies and was tired from the heat (more 100° days). After the nap, we explored the Jewish quarter. I had pierogis for dinner (polish dumplings) which I ordered russian style with cheese and potatoes. Though I had had them at home before, it was fun getting to actually eat them in Poland! We got back to the hostel and discovered a ton of new people, and ended up hanging out all night with 3 irish girls, and 3 aussies!

6/30/12

We all went out together for a quick lunch, then after more small naps (the heat and allergies really got to me!), Manu and I went out to explore the final part of the city that we hadn’t seen - including visiting a contemporary art museum. Parts of the museum were interesting and other parts we didn’t understand the art at all. But oh well, it was something interesting to check out for the day! We hung out with the aussies and irish again and ended up gaining a new Polish friend when asking directions for good places to go at night.

7/1/12

Along with the aussies, Manu and I went to visit Aushwitz. It was all awful things to learn about and see but as far as things to do in Krakow go, it was something that definitely needed to be experienced - it was a good thing to do. I learned so many new things that I had no idea had happened and when we got to walk through some of the various rooms, we experienced the extreme suffocating heat that they would have felt. It was over 100° again. Later when we returned, after a brief nap (always napping!), I found a great traditional, local restaurant to take everyone to so that they could try really good pierogis. It was a really quaint underground restaurant with a ton of different rooms and it was almost a 30s style place with a piano player and the host dressed up in a top hat and gloves. They were the best pierogis I had ever had! After, our Polish friend Borys met up with us at the Fan Zone he told us about where we could watch the finals of the Euro Cup on the big screen in the park with a lot of other people! Spain ended up winning 4-0.

7/2/12 - Warsaw

After saying our goodbyes to everyone the next morning, Manu and I went souvenir shopping before heading to the train station. We said our goodbyes for a couple of days and I headed on a train to Warsaw while he went to the airport to go back to Belgium. I made another new Polish friend in my hostel room, and he ended up taking me out to find more traditional Polish food. I had Zurek which is a sour soup. After he took me to a couple places to try some traditional polish drinks and polish tapas! He didn’t know Warsaw that well since he hadn’t been there for quite a few years, but we had a lovely stroll around the city - it’s quite beautiful at night.

7/3/12

Today was dedicated to visiting the city - but overall, it was dedicated to visiting everything Chopin! Warsaw was the place in Poland where Chopin grew up (he was born in a village just outside of the city). I went to see his museum where I got to see the piano he played and composed on for several years. After listening to a lot of his music throughout the museum, I decided this year in piano lessons I want to learn a few Chopin pieces! My favorite part of the city were the benches that you could sit on that would play 30 second clips of his music and describe why the place where the benches were placed were significant to his life. I even saw the church where his heart is preserved inside one of the walls! I had a traditional dish of plactek (I forget how you spell it) which were giant potato pancakes covered in Hunter’s Stew. Later that night I met all of the new people in my room - 5 English guys, an Aussie girl, and a Canadian girl. Somehow along the course of the night after a dinner of pierogies for them and bigos for me (Polish sauerkraut) they convinced me around 4 am that instead of going to Germany the following day I should go to a 4-day music festival in Gdynia, Poland. It helped that they were willing to share their tents with me since I didn’t have money or space for my own.

7/4/12 -Gydnia (Heineken Open’er Music Festival)

This had to have been the most disastorous 4th of July yet. I had left my camera in the restaurant the previous night so I had to go back and get it the next morning - unfortunately, the restaurant didn’t open until 11 and I was supposed to be on a train at 10 with the girls (the guys were taking a bus). I got my camera and got the next train at 12:40 by myself. There were a ton of announcements in Polish and I have no idea what they said, but at 7:20 when I was supposed to arrive in the train station, we were only halfway through the list of stops. I finally got in around 9:40 and caught the free shuttle to the festival. It had started around 6 pm but all of the good bands were just starting to play when I arrived around 10. Here comes the near-disaster: I called the one English guy who gave me his phone number so I could find them at the festival, and his phone was off! Commence panic mode. It was dark and hard to see faces. There are thousands upon thousands of people. So many tents, and a giant area that they could be in. I had all of my bags, and they wouldn’t let me into the festival grounds with them. I go into the campground hoping to wander and find them but everything is a foot-deep in mud. I stand there looking lost and a festival worker asks if he can help. I tell him my problem and he looks very confused when I tell him I have no tent. He offered to take my bags and store them for me (for free!!!) until 6 am so that I could get into the festival. I walked into the festival ground where there are 7 or so different stages and food stands and other event places they could be. I stop briefly to look around the Bjorck and Gorgol Bordello concerts before making my way to at least enjoy the Ting Tings since I wanted to see them. After Ting Tings, I began realizing how completely impossible it was going to be to find them and that I had made a bad decision in going to the festival instead of Germany. I went to see Wiz Khalifa because he was the only name playing at that time that I recognized. I was standing in the middle of the crowd, nearly having a nervous breakdown, when I spotted it… The curly, blonde mop of hair of one of the English guys off in the distance of the Wiz Khalifa crowd. I thought it couldn’t possibly be him, when I then spotted the bald head of another one of the guys shining like a beacon! I pushed quickly through the crowd and jumped on all of them. I was shaking so badly I couldn’t believe I actually found them and didn’t have to sleep outside in the mud until I could hopefully find them the next day!! Joe (whose number I had) explained that the girls had emailed him saying “we’ll just see you tomorrow” and of course he thought I was included in that since I was supposed to be on the train with the girls, so he turned off his phone as he didn’t have a use for it anymore. My night turned around to be a great one at that point, but of course it was already after the 4th had passed that I found them. We went to a silent disco (where everyone wears headphones and dances to whichever dj’s channel they prefer) which was really fun! After that we made our way through the muddy campgrounds and went to sleep where it was quite uncomfortable. I had no mattress, a partial corner of one of the guy’s sleeping bags, and the tent was a lot smaller than it was supposed to be once all of our bags were in so I couldn’t move the entire night. Nonetheless, I was entirely grateful that he was willing to share his tent with me and put up with being completely squished for 4 nights.

7/5/12 - 7/7/12

Every morning we got up early afternoon and went into town to grab lunch and hang out before heading back into the festival grounds for the concerts (they start around 6 pm and go until 4-5 in the morning!). Over the course of these next three days we saw Bon Iver, The Maccabees, Justice, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, M83, The Cardigans, Public Enemy, Mumford and Sons, The Mars Volta, Friendly Fires, Janelle Monae, The XX, and SBTRKT. It was one of the best nights when we were dancing to Justice, and Mumford and Sons was my favorite performance of the festival. I had never heard of Janelle Monae before but she had an amazing voice and a very interesting and show-like performance. The final day of the festival it had rained right as Mumford was due to perform, and as I was only wearing a bikini (it had been 90° right before..), I got a trash bag from one of the food stands and only poked my head out of the bag, leaving my arms inside. It was a dress and went down to my feet. It wasn’t raining after, and there was a giant mud puddle, so of course I decided it would be an excellent idea to run and dive headfirst into the puddle while wearing my garbage bag. My friends decided to roll me around in it, but then they dragged me by the legs so that the mud went inside the bag and covered my legs, and went all over my shorts! By this time I had collected quite a crowd of people watching, and taking videos and pictures of me in the mud. Every night we also ended at the silent disco which was so much fun with our giant group of people! We called ourselves “Camp Kitsch” because our room in Warsaw was the Kitsch room.

6/21/12 - Budapest

I was lucky enough to have been talking to the guy who works at the hostel, so he let me check out late for free! I did my laundry for €7, the cheapest I had found in Europe so far, but unfortunately the dryer didn’t seem to work and I was forced to go to Budapest with a backpack filled with wet clothes (wet jeans are heavy!!). I arrived in Budapest where it was around 100° and walked with my extra heavy backpack 25 minutes to the hostel. There was no a/c in the hostel and it was too hot to see much so I simply went out to dinner with an aussie girl in my hostel and then went to sleep.

6/22/12

After a long night of thunderstorms, we got up and had lunch at a restaurant. I ordered a traditional Hungarian beef stew. It was made with a lot of paprika and was so tasty. It was this day that I decided I needed to have more exciting adventures while traveling and I decided to do something I never in a million years would have imagined myself doing - I went caving!! There is a giant underground labyrinth of caves in Budapest made by all of the underground water there (thus there are over 20 thermal baths here!). I put aside my claustrophobia and had the best day of my trip - tough to beat! I crawled around underground caves both big and small for 3 hours, and even had to squeeze through tiny holes. I can’t wait to put up pictures! There is so much I could write about this adventure but I have a lot of days to catch up on for this blog so you can ask me all about it later. :) That night I went out with the aussie girl from my hostel and my new friends that I made while caving. We got to hang out on a boat that was anchored down as a permanent club.

6/23/12

Today was my day for seeing all of the sights in the city - both of the Buda and the Pest sides (Budapest is two cities that became one when a bridge was at last built between them!). I climbed to the top of a tower in a church for great 360° views of the city, then climbed a giant hill on the Buda side to see very old castle ruins. I met up with my aussie friends from the caving trip again that night to hang out and participate in their hostel’s activities for the evening since mine did not have a lot going on.

6/24/12

As what was supposed to be my last day in Budapest, I decided there was no better way to relax and destress from constant travel and touring by visiting the thermal baths of Budapest. I went to the largest one by myself - it was a bit lonely seeing everyone there hanging out with friends. Luckily, halfway through the day I made friends with a Kiwi (from New Zealand), and we ended up talking so long I missed the overnight train I was supposed to take to Prague. I ended up staying one more night then and had a lot of fun with his hostel!

6/25/12 - Prague

This entire day was dedicated to the train ride to Prague - I arrived around 10:30 at night and got to my hostel around 11. Of course there was a large group of aussies in my room that immediately swept me up to hang out even though the only thing I wanted to do was sleep since I had been on a train all day! They were nice however and I got to see Prague by night for my very first sights of the city so it was fun.

6/26/12

I was supposed to explore the city today, but all I ended up doing was going to a restaurant and getting a traditional czech lunch - pork in a rosemary sauce, potato dumplings filled with ham, and stewed cabbage with apples - yum!! As I was walking, twice I got distracted by bands or pub singers so I ended up sitting down for several hours watching various musical acts playing in the street. I had to head back to the hostel for the start of a pub crawl where I met a really fun group of 5 English boys, along with two stray American guys we picked up as well.

6/27/12

I definitely did NOT have enough time in Prague! All because of that extra night in Budapest. The old town was so awesome it was literally like a disney fairy tale! I did the New Europe tour of the city along with one of the American guys from the pub crawl before, and we ended up seeing the English boys on the tour as well. It was a great tour but as soon as it was over it was time for me to return to the hostel to grab my things and get on the overnight train to Krakow. This train became the most miserable of my experience so far!! There were no available beds and no reclining chairs, so I spent the entire night cramped in a 6 seat compartment, getting constantly woken up by light, noise, people coming and going, and ticket inspectors poking me awake to see my ticket.

6/17/12 - Vienna

I left Zurich early in the morning. G drove me to the train station and I got on the train sometime after 10, and it was SUPPOSED to be a 7.5 hour train ride. It ended up being much longer, and a big ordeal. I can say however that it was the most beautiful train ride I think I will ever take. From Zurich to Vienna is just a giant tour through all of the Alps and the fields surrounding it. My heart was melting from just watching the views the entire trip. Part way in, they made an announcement and I asked the guy sitting next to me what they said. He told me that there had been an accident on the tracks in Germany, so our train had to take an additional 1.5 hour route to go around the accident in order to get to its next destination in Salzbourg. When we arrived in Salzbourg we were sitting on the tracks for a long time, and they made some announcements in German but none in English. At one point, everyone all of a sudden was jumping up, grabbing all of their stuff and running off of the train. An Austrian man noticed my confused expression and told me to get my stuff and run because we had to catch a different train. In the middle of grabbing my stuff however, he told me nevermind and the other train had already left. He explained to me that the train was having engine troubles. They made one announcement to say there were problems but they could fix it. Another to say they couldn’t fix it. Another to say get on a different train, and finally the last announcement that the train already left and to standby for instructions. At last they told us the other train to get on, so we rushed off. I was wearing my sorority letters and two American girls immediately noticed and flagged me down to ask what was going on. This Austrian man now had three lost American girls following his instructions because we couldn’t understand German! After trying to get on two different trains and discovering that they weren’t actually going to Vienna like we were told, we finally got on our train. I arrived in Vienna around 10 at night, and by the time I found my hostel and got settled I was starving because I hadn’t eaten all day long. I ended up going to McDonald’s because it was the closest thing open. They make you pay for sauce like ketchup!

6/18/12

I walked all around the city this day and immediately fell in love. All of the buildings were so big, clean, and impressive. It was a really majestic sight. There was a really impressive cathedral, and it was fun because a choral group was practicing while I was exploring inside. I had a sausage for lunch, which they make into a “hot dog.” They take a kind of baguette bread, and jam it onto this post so it punches a hole in the bread, then stuff the sausage inside. It was so tasty! I wandered to the Danube while humming Strauss’ “On the Blue Danube” to myself… But was disappointed to find that the Danube was not blue, but very very green. This of course was simply because it was a canal and not the actual natural river. For dinner I went to a local restaurant and tried Wiener Schnitzel (with pork instead of veal) and it was delicious. After I ended up going to a bar called the Travel Shack to watch the Euro Cup because there wasn’t anyone in my hostel to make friends with so I decided a traveler’s bar sounded like the best place to make friends. I ended up becoming friends with the bartenders, and a short while later an American girl named Helen who had been studying in Vienna since September came in. After only 20 minutes of knowing each other, each new person we met didn’t believe that we weren’t best friends and had only known each other for the night! It was kind of fun because with her, the staff treated me of somewhat of a regular as well. It really felt like a place I fit into well - a very crazy place.

6/19/2012

I took a ride around town using their free bike system - so nice! You can have the bike free for up to an hour, and if you park it before the hour is up you don’t have to pay anything. It was also really nice because you only had to wait 15 minutes until you could again use another free hour. I found Mozart and Schubert’s houses from when they lived in Vienna, which was a cool thing to see. The weather in Europe at this point has gotten unbearably hot - I never used my covers in my hostel room, and walking around was almost to the point of miserable. The weather from this point on was between 88-105 every day. After trying unsuccessfully to cool off at the hostel, I rode the bikes back downtown to see a concert I had purchased tickets for. It was a Mozart and Strauss concert. It was a bit touristy, but the music was really good and I was amused by the little funny elements that they would put into the songs, especially when it came to Strauss’ polkas and waltzes.

6/20/2012

I was convinced by Helen to stay another night in Vienna so that we could do the pub crawl run by the Travel Shack. Of course, we showed up and were the only two people there because it was a brand new crawl that no one knew about. They said they needed at least five people to do it, so they showed us where they would have taken us and sent us off. We ended up going to some floating and beach bars along the danube and even went for a little swim in the river! (The actual river this time, not the green canal!). It was really refreshing but we smelled a bit fishy once we came out. We spent the rest of the night making more friends back at the Travel Shack!

I apologize for my lack of blogging thus far on my summer adventures. Typing on my little tablet is a daunting task especially for these blog entries. So I put it off, and now I just have way TOO much to write about. I’m going to attempt to give you the highlights of what I’ve been doing in each country. Luckily I have a bit of time and a computer to actually type on so writing all of this doesn’t seem as exhausting!

I left off on my first night in Lyon! So here goes Lyon pt. 2.

6/12/12 - Lyon

I switched rooms (I had a 44 euro hotel room) to a slightly cheaper room this day. Only 39 euro, such a big difference (not really). I explored town all day and found a really cool astronomical clock inside one of the churches, so I waited to see all of the things that move around and the sounds it makes when it strikes on the hour. I walked up a giant hill to a church with great views of the city. I also decided to treat myself to one decent meal in France because it was my last night before going to Switzerland and I just love French food so much! I had the most amazing Lyonnaise dinner of a Lyonnaise salad (lettuce, creamy sauce for dressing, over easy fried egg, bits of ham), chicken fricassee, and mousse au chocolat! The salad was BY FAR the most delicious thing I have ever eaten, and the portions were huge so I felt like I didn’t need to eat for days (at this point I had not had a real meal in about 2 weeks).

6/13/12 - Geneva

I caught an early train to Geneva just for the day on my way to Zurich - a lovely way to break up the long ride and see another part of Switzerland (the French part) before throwing myself out of the French language and into the German speaking world. I explored the town all day, and it was a lovely city but I’m glad I wasn’t actually spending much time there. After walking around it all day I felt I didn’t have much more to do. In addition, it was raining and I was getting really wet even with my umbrella! I hopped back on the train later that night and arrived in Zurich where I was set to stay with my aunt Andrea’s brother Steffen. He made me dinner and took me out to see a few bars in Switzerland - pretty relax night, so it was a nice change from my constant exploring and lack of food.

6/14/12 - Zurich

After sleeping in and getting ready, we rode bikes down to the river for a day of laying in the sun and swimming in the river. It turned out to be a fairly hot day so it was a nice relief to jump in the river and float down a few ladders, then walk back up along the docks. The best part of the day was that night when we had a grill on Steffen’s balcony overlooking the city, and we had the TV outside so we could watch the Euro Cup games. We had salmon and salad and asparagus and it was all so amazing - definitely a good change of pace from my travels and good company.

6/15/12

I was left on my own this day to explore the city, so I ended up walking around and made it all the way down to the lake. I enjoyed just strolling through and seeing the various neighborhoods like the old town, and then the area around the lake was really nice as well. Since Steffen had to work the next couple of days, I went to stay with his friend G for the next two nights - it was a lot easier on everyone that way. G took me up to the top of one of the hills in Zurich so I could see a good view of the city and do a few short hikes around the trails up there, and later we went out to watch the Euro Cup games at a pub and met some more of Steffen’s friends.

6/16/12

G took me around Old Town today looking for souvenirs - we couldn’t really find any however. We ended up stopping into a pub to get drinks because we were really thirsty and watched the South Africa vs. England rugby match. It was the first time I had ever seen a game and I actually really enjoyed watching. It was a fun atmosphere as well. We headed over to Steffen’s for a big grill party and spent the rest of the night on the balcony with all of his friends eating everything from grilled veggies, shrimp, bacon wrapped plums, chicken wings, bratwurst, potato salad and strudel. I was soooo full by the end of the night!

Bonjour from Lyon! Sorry I haven’t been able to post anything thus far, I’ve had many problems getting a decent internet connection the entire week I’ve been traveling.

London: 4/6/12-7/6/12
I left Liverpool “for good” on the 4th and caught a bus at 9:30 am for London, the first stop on my summer adventure. After arriving around 3:30, I discovered there were no nearby tourist offices, wifi, or free maps. This was especially frustrating, because I realized I forgot to write down the address of my hostel. There was a ton of traffic and people lined up for miles down the street. I didn’t know what it was for but later discovered it was everyone lined up to get into the concert at Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee - an exciting time to be in London! It ended up taking me nearly 2 1/2 hours to walk to my hostel because I knew the general area it was in, but I couldn’t remember the street.

Travel tip #1: always know your hotel’s address before you reach your destination, and see it on a map so you know where to head in the case that there are no city maps available when you arrive.

I finally found a Starbucks (my savior!) where I could get wifi and look up the address of the hostel. Turns out I had gone past it and had to turn around. By the time I got to the hostel I was too tired from carrying my packs and walking to do anything, so I sat around in the lounge trying to bum wifi from the hotel across the street (it was £5 a day for wifi at my hostel!), eating Subway for dinner, and watching the queen’s jubilee concert on tv. It was pretty cool because they had artists performing from every decade of the queen’s reign and then a big fireworks show at the end that you could see and hear from the hostel.

The next day I had intended to take the New Europe tour of London, but they told me to come back the following day because everything was being closed off for jubilee celebrations. I explored Hyde Park for a while and watched some baby swans and their protective parents - I discovered swans are very mean! I sat with my feet in Princess Diana’s memorial fountain for a little while, and then began to head into town when I saw a marching band mounted on horses! I followed them and got to see the queen’s horses march past as well at Wellington Arch. I was led back into Hyde Park to watch the queen’s procession by really old carriage on the big screens they had througout the park along with tens of thousands of other people. I bought a jubilee UK flag to wave and fit in with the rest of the crowd who were waving them furiously the entire time. Everyone was either dressed up in UK attire or covered in flags! The queen’s carriage barely beat the rain and we had to sit with our umbrellas while watching the royal family come out on the balcony and the fly over of the jets. It was cool because the fast jets trailed red white and blue smoke! There was so much organization with the police and a grand procession to slowly let people into the palace courtyard and onto The Mall to see the queen - I don’t think you would see that kind of organization anywhere! After viewing the ceremony at the park, I got out of the rain by taking the tube to King’s Cross and took the necessary photo at Platform 9 3/4! I took the tube to Westminster from there, but it was miserably rainy and cold. I saw Big Ben without realizing what it was and was like, “Huh, that’s a pretty fancy clock.” I felt a bit stupid when I realized later what it was. I tried seeing Trafalgar Square but everything was still fairly blocked off. I ended up going to get a nice meal of curry on Brick Lane where there were a million indian restaurants. I stopped at Picadilly Circus on the way back to the hostel to see it lit up at night.

My final day in London I finally went on the New Europe tour but unfortunately Buckingham Palace was still closed off from the celebrations so I couldn’t see the changing of the guard. We also couldn’t see St. James Palace very well because there was a giant protest for something having to do with Sri Lanka and the police kept shooing us out of the area. I learned you can’t go up and mess around with the guards in the funny hats anymore because a few years ago a guard finally got fed up and attacked a tourist! I had bangers and mash in a pub after the tour. I came across money troubles and had a few hours of panicking because I was out of money, but luckily I have my parents at my aid to fix my international problems! There was a ton of traffic on the tube when I tried to get on by London Bridge but I eventually madr it to Abbey Road where hopefully some of you watched me cross it via webcam a few times (you may have also seen me eating a banana for your amusement). On the way back to the hostel I somehow managed to get both feet stuck in a plastic bag from Tescos and tripped and fell in front of quite a few people - a bit embarassing. After a grand ordeal figuring out how to get to Luton airport for a 645am flight, I ended up not sleeping and catching a taxi at 3am (£15) and a bus at 330 (£17). It was really stressful but at least I made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare!!

Bordeaux: 7/6/12
I slept on the plane finally and arrived in Bordeaux at 9 am. I finally got to start using my French skills again to navigate the bus and the train station and after sorting out my Eurail pass validation and tickets, I explored Bordeaux for the rest of the day. It was quite a charming little town. While I was struggling a bit with my French I was at least able to get my point across. After discovering all bathrooms needed to be paid for, I finally braved my fears of using the free public toilets on the street. I managed to not get caught inside while it was self cleaning (my big fear) so I felt very successful after that adventure. I explored Les Gardins Publics for a bit - a beautiful park, and then took a nap in the sun as I was exhausted. I discovered after I woke that only half my face had tanned.. Whoops! I found a sandwich shop and got my favorite french meal for the first time since returning to France - a baguette with ham, cheese and butter, a pain au chocolat, and a can of Orangina. I walked back along the river to get to the train station, then semi napped there as I waited 3 more hours for my train (an overnight to Nice). I finally got into my couchette where I had the top of a triple bunk (a bit terrifying!).

Nice: 8/6/12-11/6/12
I actually had quite a pleasant night on the train, and ended up oversleeping. I don’t know why the train officials didn’t joust me out of my bed! I was terrified for a minute that the train would leave with me still in it! Luckily I made it out and as I was walking to my hostel, the “Pink Lady” happened to pick me up on the sidewalk (the old lady that runs the hostel that always wears pink). She let me leave my stuff to go explore until I could get my keys to the room. I walked down the main shopping street and sat on the beach for a little while - I even had a small rock crab trying to climb my leg! Nice was super beautiful, along with the Mediterranean Sea. I explored around the town for a while after and got my baguette lunch again, eating in a cute park with a fountain and a ton of roses. After checking in and taking a shower, I explored around the docks and hiked up to les collines du chateau. It was a giant hill with ruins of an old castle. Took some effort to get up the stairs but the view of Nice from the top and all the ruins were well worth it. I explored Old Town where there were a million small alleyways with various shops and restaurants - it was a really cool and unique feeling area! I chatted with a few French people, and then found the supermarché at last! Monoprix was my best friend when I had been in France before and I rediscovered its glory of French snacks and drinks! It was hard to not buy everything. I ate my dinner in the hostel kitchen and then the other American girls in my room and I tried to go out but ended up coming back early because everywhere the drinks were too expensive and we didn’t know where to go for fun music and dancing anyway.

The next day was an ultimate lazy day. The american girls and I headed to the beach around 11 and I tanned and went swimming in the Med. It was so lovely swimming in there, because the water was beautiful and it was so warm. It was also very salty so I could actually back float for the first time ever. It was really fun bobbing up and down in the waves as well! I ended up falling asleep on the beach until after 6. The salt had dried on my skin and I had salt crystals all over - it was a bit itchy! I ended up returning to the beach to eat my dinner and watch the waves after showering and had lovely conversations with more francophones for a couple hours. It was really good for my comprehension and speaking!

My final day in Nice started out as a lovely day at the beach again, however it started to get windy and the waves began to get a bit violent while I was in the water. As I was trying to get out, a wave crashed on top of me and knocked me down, dragging me underwater across the rocks as it rushed out. I got some nice scrapes on my knees and back from that. I’m sure everyone on the beach found it amusing however watching that, and then watching me discover that my bikini had filled entirely with rocks. It took quite a while to get them all out while trying to be inconspicuous. It got very windy and I watched the waves get extremely large and violent while I ate dinner. I returned later that night to meet more French people and walk around with them to practice my speaking and listening.

Lyon: 11/6/12
I left Nice at 11 in the morning and took the train to Lyon. It was a bit expensive just for the reservation (€40!). I sat next to an older woman who immediately grabbed my crocheting from me and began to teach me how to do it all in French. It wasn’t until halfway through the ride that she found out I was American - she thought I was French because apparently my practice from the last few days had paid off. Unfortunately when I arrived at Lyon I discovered all the cheap hostels and hotels were completely full and I ended up walking all over until I could find the cheapest available hotel possible. I’m now in a room by myself with a double bed, shower, sink, tv, and excellent wifi - but no toilet. The toilet is down the hall and there is just one shared by everyone! I didn’t get to see Lyon today because there was a big storm - thunder lightning and heavy rain, so I stayed in the room that I had paid a fair amount of money for and caught up on everything I needed to on the internet (including writing this!) because it was the first time I had a good, free internet connection.

I think I’m going to pay for another night here so I can explore Lyon comfortably tomorrow, and then Wednesday I will head to Geneva (Genève) to explore for the day and then to Zurich in the evening to stay with my aunt’s brother who lives there (assuming plans with him work out). I’m taking lots of great photos and video for you all to see so I can’t wait until I can get them up on Facebook and Youtube. Until next time! À bientot! :)

Well, it’s officially my last day in Liverpool today. Two weeks ago I was frantically trying to write my second 5000 word essay on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. It was extremely sunny and hot outside from Thursday-Tuesday, so I ended up doing a lot of my work outside. This wasn’t just because I wanted to be out in the sun, but also because our rooms and the library became boiling hot and unbearable with the weather. It was quite lovely working outside, except for over that weekend I was longing to be carefree and play with all of my other friends who were enjoying the sun, BBQ, nerf guns, and games out on the lawn. I turned in the paper on Monday, and ever since I have been hanging out with my friends as much as possible - especially my friends from the flat below mine. The boys seem to have inducted me into their group, as they let me play FIFA with them for the first time and I ended up winning.

Friday was a really exciting day here in Liverpool, because the Olympic Torch Relay arrived! We went out on the street right next to our flat, as it passed by there about 5 in the evening. It was cool because they had a large amount of police cars, motorcycles, and other large trucks leading the way. There was a coke truck that was handing out ice-cold cokes (since they’re the torch sponsor), and we got other cool hand-outs too, like a UK flag that we could wave for when the torch passed by. Finally the torch came and we watched the bearer run by, and luckily we were right next to a hand-off point so we got to see them exchanging the flame! (Hopefully I’ll post video a little later). That night I went out with a lot of the international students and we got to hang out before saying our goodbyes - it was a really good time but it was sad to say goodbye to everyone.

Duey, who has been my best friend here, left yesterday morning unfortunately and that was hard to say goodbye. I get to meet my friend Antonio for a goodbye coffee date this afternoon after buying a second suitcase (I don’t have enough room for everything!) and then I have to finish my packing and hopefully hang out with the guys below me one final time tonight.

Tomorrow I set off for London bright and early - starting my summer adventure around Europe. My tentative itinerary looks like this:

London, Bordeaux (France), Toulouse/Carcassonne (France), Nice (France), Zurich (Switzerland), Rome (Italy), Vienna (Austria), Budapest (Hungary), Prague (Czech Republic), Krakow (Poland) <— This is where I’m meeting Manu (my Belgian exchange student) on June 28th, Warsaw (Poland), Berlin (Germany), Munich (Germany), Brussels (Belgium), Bruges (Belgium), Maastricht (Netherlands), Athens (Greece), Island of Ios (Greece), Thessaloniki (Greece). From Greece I’ll be flying into London and taking the train to Manchester in order to fly home to Seattle on August 1st. :)

PS- Sorry I haven’t been posting any pictures for a long time, it hasn’t been letting me upload any. I have put all of my pictures on Facebook however, so if we’re friends you can see them all there. :)