And just like that, it's over

Today was the last day of finals. I don't know what to say. I'll probably write a more in-depth post when I'm on my way to Munich tomorrow. But, for now, all I have to say is that I'm really sad to say good bye to everyone and everything here.

And so it begins...

I just started going through school papers, random maps, ticket stubs, and pamphlets that I've accumulated throughout the semester. I can't throw them all away, that would be too sad. Instead, I've decided to sit and go through every single piece and choose what I want to keep and what I need to throw out. This has been the beginning of a tedious process and I don't want to do it. It's just making me even sadder about leaving. Although, it is nice to remember fun memories by going through all of this.

Time for bed, I have a final in the morning!

Gustavo Dudamel und der Wiener Philharmoniker

I just wrote a paper about my time at the Musikverein to see Gustavo Dudamel conduct the Vienna Philharmonic. I decided that it would be a good idea to just copy and paste it here, so you can all read about my experience! Also, I feel like I should have done this earlier...I've had to write 4 papers about concerts I've been to for this class and I don't know why I never thought of just posting them all up here. Oh well, whatevs. Here's this one, enjoy!:

(Also, ignore the random citations...)

Being a Los Angeles native, when I found out that Gustavo Dudamel was going to be in Vienna to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic, I knew I had to attend the concert. The concert took place on Saturday, 10 December 2011 in the Großer Saal of the Musikverein at 3:30 pm. In addition to Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Vienna Philharmonic, the program also named a solo Clarinetist: Matthias Schorn. The program was comprised of three pieces and lasted for a total of two hours. The pieces performed included “Don Juan” Op. 20 by Richard Strauss, a clarinet concerto “Ego eimi” / ”Ich bin” from the cycle “Montafon” by Herbert Willi, and Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 56 (“Scottish”) by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

            Having purchased standing room tickets, I arrived at the Musikverein quite early to claim my spot. Unfortunately, they do not open the doors until one hour before the concert begins, so I was forced to stand outside for about an hour before finally being let into the warm building. While waiting outside, I met a woman from Germany who comes to Vienna dozens of times every year to simply watch operas, go to concerts, and enjoy the Viennese culture. Since I had never been to the Musikverein before, she told me a little bit about the process of standing room there. It was also beneficial that other IES students who had been to the Musikverein before were there, too. When we were let inside and upstairs, right outside the standing room, I was prepared for the mad dash to find a good spot. The bell rang and everyone ran to claim his or her spot. Luckily, I was able to stand right in front, near the center, and had a perfect view of the stage.

            The Musikverein is a beautiful building that is covered with gold decorations and statues. I was intrigued by the set up of the stage, as I had never seen one that had different levels for the orchestra rows – it was like stadium seating on the stage. However, this arrangement makes sense, considering the audience seats are completely flat instead of stadium-style. I also think it makes it easier for the audience to really watch the musicians play their instruments. As 3:30 neared, we all waited anxiously until the concert finally began.

            The musicians walked out and were greeted with a generous applause. When Gustavo Dudamel walked onto the stage, the audience’s applause grew slightly louder and the concert began with Strauss’ “Don Juan,” Op. 20. One of my favorite things to observe about Dudamel when he conducts is his hair. At the beginning of every concert, he walks out with his hair neatly slicked back and out of his face. However, throughout the performance, it swiftly falls out of place and his curly hair becomes more visible. Dudamel conducts with a unique level of energy and passion that I have not seen in other conductors. He never stands still, with both feet planted into the ground, for more than a second – if that. He is constantly bouncing around, swaying, and moving with the music. It is through his large, sweeping movements that one can tell how passionate Dudamel is about the music he conducts.

            The first piece was beautifully done and the musicians prepared for the second piece: the clarinet concerto “Ego eimi” / “Ich bin” from the cycle “Montafon” by Herbert Willi. Willi is a contemporary Austrian composer who was born in 1956 (“Herbert Willi”). He has won numerous awards and competitions and has traveled all over the world to perform and conduct music. Willi composed this clarinet concerto, which was commissioned by the Salzburg Festival, to mark Mozart’s 250^th birthday in 2006. The clarinet concerto is the third part of his cycle “Montafon,” which comprises the Concerto for trumpet and orchestra “Eirene” and the Double Concerto for flute, oboe, and orchestra “…geraume Zeit…” (“Work of the Week”). This was my favorite piece of the afternoon. The concerto is comprised of calmer, slow movements as well as rich and virtuosic clarinet solos. There are several moments throughout the piece in which an almost jazz-like theme emerges with a great percussion part. Having been the principal clarinetist of the Vienna Philharmonic since 2007, this was Matthias Schorn’s debut as a soloist with the Vienna Philhamarmonic; he had an amazing performance (“Matthias Schorn”). At the end of the piece, the audience applauded loudly – even more so when Herbert Willi, himself, walked on stage from the audience. I felt very honored to have seen this piece performed with the composer sitting in the same room.

            After a short intermission, we all returned to our spots to enjoy the last piece of the concert: Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 56 by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Although I love watching Dudamel conduct and I think the Vienna Philharmonic is an amazing orchestra, this was my least favorite piece. It may have had to do with the piece’s length, combined with the fact that I had already been standing for about an hour, but I just did not enjoy this piece as much as I enjoyed the first two – especially the clarinet concerto. However, I did still like the second half of the concert and loved every second of being at the Musikverein.

            When the concert came to a close, the performers received a standing ovation from the audience and the applause lasted for a very long time. The audience began to dissipate and I decided to explore more of the Musikverein. As I was walking down a hallway that ran along the left-hand side of the Großer Saal, I noticed that there was a small group of people gathered around the side stage door at the end of the hall. As I got closer, I realized why they were there: Gustavo Dudamel was right there, signing autographs, taking pictures, and talking with them. Obviously, I immediately freaked out and managed to squeeze my way right next to him. After waiting my turn, I was able to get Dudamel’s autograph and take a picture with him. I also told him that I am from Los Angeles and have seen him conduct at the Hollywood Bowl before. I was definitely a bit star-struck after our interaction and I left the Musikverein with a huge smile on my face. This may have been my favorite performance that I have seen in Vienna all semester and it might have something to do with the fact that I got to meet Gustavo Dudamel. The Vienna Philharmonic gave an amazing performance and I am very glad that I was able to see them before leaving Vienna.

ME AND GUSTAVO DUDAMEL

Der Musikverein

Post-College Plans?

Today, I decided that I'm going to apply to be a Student Assistant with my study abroad program in Vienna after I graduate from college. I spoke with one of the staff members about it and our talk made me excited for it. Since the date of my return to the United States is quickly approaching, I've realized how much I'm going to miss being in Vienna. This has been an amazing experience. I've had my ups and my downs, but it was worth it all in the end. I couldn't have imagined going through four years of college and not studying abroad. I am so glad that I did this. I'm going to miss this so much. Going back to the United States (back to real school) is going to be weird; it'll take some getting used to.
I really really want to come back here, so why not?! I kind of can't wait until I can finally apply for the position...but, I have to wait another year until I can do that. Wow, I can't believe I'm half way done with my junior year. I graduate in 1.5 years!
Okay, this post needs to end now, I'm thinking about too many things and freaking myself out haha


Now, back to studying for finals and writing more papers! YAY

Wait, my program ends in FIVE days?!

Tonight, my class went to our German teacher’s house in Baden and had a Christmas party/end-of-the-semester celebration. I loved it and it made me want to cry because I realized how much I’m going to miss Vienna, my teachers, and the friends I have made here.
I'll write more later, but now I have to write a paper that I've put off for weeks...good life choices.

Es tut mir leid

I've just given up on writing about Venice and Prague. Sorry, but this semester is flying by and I just don't have much time to write these in-depth posts about what I did on all my trips anymore! I'm also losing steam on writing everything in this blog. So, I'm sorry about that. Instead, I'm just gonna share some fantastic pictures with you all! So, here they are: My trip to Venice in pictures.

It was really foggy when we first got in on Saturday morning

Sneaking illegal pictures in Cathedrals!

The Rialto Markets were beautiful!

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Gondolas!! We didn't go on one, but it's pretty cool seeing them throughout Venice

Our vaporetto ride to the islands of Murano and Burano - it's like a water bus

Venetian masks on Burano

I fell in love with Venice. It was a beautiful place and I could feel the Italian culture seeping out of every corner. I really want to explore more of Italy at some point. It's such a beautiful country and I just love how I felt being there. I was a feeling I could get used to, almost like I could spend some time living there. Did I just say that?! Damn.

I love meeting new people

When I spent a weekend in Prague, I stayed at one of the coolest hostels ever: The Art Hole Hostel. It was a really homey environment and I met some awesome people there. One of them ended up spending the entire day on Sunday with me and Rachael as we explore more of Prague, including the Prague Castle and the John Lennon Wall (Yes, I realize I still have not written my complete adventure in Prague OR Venice...sorry, I'm sucking at doing all those long posts right meow). At the end of the day, we had to catch our bus back to Vienna and say bye to our new friend. However, we exchanged information and added each other on facebook.
This week, that friend was in Vienna! She was only here for two days, so we didn't have much time together. But we were able to hang out today in between my classes and I really enjoyed being able to show someone around Vienna - even though it was only for such a short time!
I think it's amazing how we can keep in contact with so many people via the internet, it really is an amazing thing. I love meeting fellow travelers and hearing their experiences and stories and how they ended up where they currently are. Talking to all of these people is helping me to form my own plan for my post-college travels. It's also really cool to think that I can have someone to hang out with when going to random cities throughout the world.
My next trip is to Krakow in December and I am determined to meet more people and make friends. This is what I've wanted to do while traveling: meet people from all over the world. I've had conversations with plenty of people, but I should actually exchange information with more of them!

Anyway, end random post here.
Bye!

Study Abroad Classes

I don't know if I ever told you all what classes I'm taking with my study abroad program, but I guess I should now that I'm about to write a post about what I've been doing in these classes over the past 3 months - particularly this past week...even though it's only Wednesday.

So, the semester started with a 3-week period of "Intensive German" classes and, let me tell you, they were definitely intense. Three hours of German, five days a week, for three weeks...yea. Intense. But, apparently that was like learning an entire semester of German in three weeks. It paid off pretty well. I mean, I went into this program knowing probably 5 words of German and now I can understand a decent amount!

After Intensive, we had a 10-day break during which I went to Greece. Then, we started the regular semester. My class schedule consists of the following:
Arts, Culture, and Entertainment Management
International Organizations: Case Studies
Music Survey: Classical to the 20th Century
Transition to a Market Economy
Elementary German

Now, studying abroad has allowed me to experience a different classroom setting. Not only are the classes themselves pretty different from the ones I take at Puget Sound, but our professors also give us opportunities to participate in excursions to different places throughout Vienna. Not to mention the fact that the Institute pays for all of these excursions.
During intensive, my German class spent one day at the Palmenhaus Café. Here, we had to order our food and drink in German and interact with the Herr Ober only speaking in German. It was fun and the food was delicious!
Our next German assignment was to go to the Naschmarkt and order food for our class picnic (my partner and I had to get falafels) in German!
Since then, we haven't done anymore German class excursions (oh, well there was one to the Naturhistorisches Museum that I missed to go to Budapest) BUT we are planning a visit to my professor's house to eat foooodd! I'm so excited.

My other classes have finally started to have excursions, too. Actually, one of them had one a few weeks ago...or maybe a month ago? Well, it was my Arts Management class and it was about coffee culture in Vienna. We started out at the McCafé right by the Institute. Now, I know you may be thinking "Really? McDonald's? That's where you started an excursion?" Well, first let me tell you why this was cool: I got a free cappuccino...Okay, but really, I kind of understand why my professor decided to start here. Vienna has such a strong coffee culture and it's something that they're proud of. Going into any café in Vienna is a pretty different experience from going into a café in the United States and it's interesting to see how McDonald's was able to successfully enter the coffee market in a competitive way. Also, the McDonald's here are a million times nicer than the ones in the United States. Leather seats? Okay, maybe it's fake leather, but still! It is so much cleaner and everything just seems to be of a higher standard. Anyway, back to the excursion...after McCafé, we headed to the Nespresso store in the first district and met with the manager and talked about their success in the Austrian market. It was pretty interesting and I got to taste some coffee FOR FREE. Yes, this was a very happy day for me. Two free coffees in one day? Yes puhhhlease.
This same class has also been on two other excursions within the past 3 days. Monday morning, we met at the Dorotheum. Two representatives gave us a quick tour and an overview of what the Dorotheum is and how they operate. It was pretty cool to be able to see their amazing collections or art, design, jewelry, etc. and now I know that the auctions are public! I might try to go to one next week, which is there auction week. They have a painting that's estimated to sell at anywhere from €600,000 to €800,000. Yea, insane.

Today, we met at the Albertina and were given a private tour before the museum opened! We learned a lot about the logistics behind running the museum and it's general operations. Who would have known that anyone can hold a private event in one of those beautiful rooms? Birthdays? Weddings? Parties? Yes. It'll just cost you about €2,000 (depending on the size) and then a few more Euro for the catering...no big deal. Then, we were all given the option to go through the entire museum for free! Unfortunately, I had another class excursion to attend, so I couldn't take advantage of that perk. However, I have been to the Albertina before on the Lange Nacht der Museen, so I'm not too upset about not seeing more of it today.

What was this other excursion, you ask? It was with my International Organizations class to the United Nations Regional Headquarters! Vienna is one of four cities in the world that is home to UN Regional Headquarters. The other three are New York, Geneva, and Nairobi. Here, we got a free tour of the UN, including seeing a conference room in which a conference was actually taking place at the time, and learned a lot of interesting information about the UN (most of it had already been covered in my class, but it was still cool!). I think the UN is amazing. I'm so glad I'm in this class, because I feel like I'm learning so much about all these IGOs and NGOs that I literally knew nothing about beforehand. I'm starting to realize how interconnected and complicated everything is in this world and it blows my mind. The history of the UN is so interesting and learning about all these other international organizations (IAEA, UNESCO, WHO, ECOSOC, etc.) is very cool. This class makes me want to know more about what's going on in our world. It makes me want to stay up to date on as many things I possibly can and it has made me truly realize how everchanging the world really is. I mean, of course it is, right? I just never stay up to date on all of it. I feel like it's really easy to get stuck in a bubble when I'm at Puget Sound. It's a tiny little university in the suburbs of Tacoma, WA and I run around like a crazy person so much that I rarely take the time to update myself on international events, let alone domestic ones...Bottom line: the UN is awesome and I'd love to learn more about it. I even looked into volunteering abroad with them recently. Too bad you have to be 25 and a college graduate! UGH. Why can't I just do it now? Or right after I graduate? Why do I have to wait until I'm 25? Lamesauce. Oh well, I guess if I don't have my life figured out by 25 (which I most likely will not), I will definitely apply to be a UN Volunteer.

Today, I finished my day with my normal 3-hour long class - Transition to Market Economies - and it was the first time I stepped foot inside the Institute all day, despite having spent my entire morning in "class." Oh, and after class, a few of us went to a Christkindlmarkt in the first district! It was my first one and it was a pretty small one. This weekend, the Schönbrunn one opens and I am SO EXCITED. Next week, my music class is going to the Haydnhaus and I have a few more excurions coming up with my Arts Management class. Yea, I think I'm diggin this whole study abroad experience.

Also, this is what the streets in the first district currently look like:

 Be jealous.

Bitte, nein. Ich möchte nicht krank sein, danke.

I woke up this morning with a bit of a scratchy throat and it hasn’t been getting any better. Damn it, and here I thought I was about to get through an entire semester without getting a cold. Nope, my body has once again decided to be stupid and my immune system has failed me. Considering the Austrians are so strict about what kind of medicines you can buy at the stores (you even need a prescription for ibuprofen), I don’t know what I’ll end up taking…although, a friend of mine did tell me about a homemade concoction that her mom used to make for her when she was little and sick:
Hot white wine with sugar
I wonder if that actually works…I guess I’ll have to go buy some wine tomorrow and find out! Send me good vibes, please. Getting sick is that last thing I need right meow.
Also, sorry I've been so horrible at updating this thing with my past few trips...Venice and Prague updates should be coming soon! Maybe that's what I'll do if I end up getting sick and spending my days in bed...

Oh, and tomorrow I am going to my very first CHRISTMAS MARKET! Get excited for some pictures.

I just have one more thing to say

I'm going to Prague tomorrow and I am SO EXCITED.
I have friends who studied abroad there two years ago and they've told me about a million things to do and see. This weekend will be exhaustingly epic.

Food blogs will save my life

Learning to live on your own can be a rocky process. When we move away for college, we're still ridiculously spoiled by our schools: we don't need to clean bathrooms, we don't need to cook due to the dining halls(s), we don't need to make our own coffee (unless you work at the school's café *ahem*), and we're conveniently located within a 5-10 minute walk to any and all of our classes, meetings, shifts at work, etc. Now that I'm living in Vienna, most of these amenities are no longer available...actually, none of them are. Yea, I lived in my own house this summer, but I still worked on campus and ate at least one, if not two, meal on campus (although, I did have to make my own coffee...but I love doing that, so it's okay) everyday. So, I was still a little spoiled. One of the biggest challenges of living on my own has been food. What the hell am I supposed to eat? Especially when I am on a very very tight budget. I fell into a meal routine very early on in the semester, which included the following:

Breakfast: Yogurt with Müsli, fruit (a banana or apple), and honey and a cup of coffee.

Lunch: a sandwich with salami, spinach, tomato, cheese, mustard, cucumber, and sometimes onion and/or mushrooms. Usually I also had some sort of small snack with lunch - pretzel sticks, chips, a piece of fruit, a fruit bar, or Manner.

Dinner: Pasta, sometimes with chicken, and a salad.

Yea, it's not that exciting. I mean, the breakfast is fine. I'm not a huge breakfast person to begin with and I actually really like having that everyday. The lunch is whatever, I'm definitely getting bored with it, but I just don't know what else to make that's easy enough to pack up with me and take to school. But now, dinner. Dinner got old pretty fast. Pasta. Everyday. Pasta. Sure, I made roasted chicken breast with potatoes once, and then I made some chicken broth with those leftovers, which then led to a soup. I guess the one good thing about the pasta was that I always made my own sauces, so it tasted a little different each time and I've definitely saved money that way. But uhh I'm still bored with the staples of pasta, chicken, and salad. So, it has finally come to the point where I'm seriously ready to change it up.
This is where the food blogs come in. I've followed a few of these blogs for a while, but always just made bookmarks of the recipes I liked and never really made them...except for a couple this summer. But now I want to change that. For example, tonight I just made this little number.

Granted, I didn't have all of the ingredients, but I just made substitutions and altered it a little bit and it came out tasting completely DELICIOUS. It's a nice change from the same old pasta, that's for sure. Also, last night I made fajitas! That recipe wasn't from a food blog, but was one that my father had sent me. They turned out great and now i have dinner for 2 more nights! This idea emerged from the fact that I had found that Mexican market in Vienna last week. I went back yesterday afternoon to buy tortillas and salsa and then came home, made the fajitas, and went to bed with a very happy and full stomach :]. Up next, I'm ready to make a quesadilla for lunch tomorrow! I'm ready to try some of these other delicious-looking recipes that keep popping up on my blog homepage very soon. Yea, I'm finally (albeit, slowly) climbing out of this boring food routine.




YAY FOOD!

Music, Music, and Music

Coming to Vienna, I knew I was entering a city completely enveloped in a passion for music. Everyone, everyone told me that seeing an opera is an absolute must. So, I came here and had one mission: see operas. Now, almost 3 months into my program (eek!), I have seen 5 operas. What I realized from all of this: I really did not know that much about opera at all. Like...nothing. I knew a few of the big ones, but didn't exactly know all of the storylines. I felt especially foolish when I went to an opera and realized that I had sung an aria from it...once the performer was a few lines in. My reaction: "Wait, what? That song was from this opera?! Now I feel dumb for not even knowing the context behind it...I probably could have performed it better had I known this opera."
So what operas have I seen?
Don Giovanni - the sets were too simplistic for my taste, but who couldn't enjoy Don Giovanni?
Alcina - absolutely amazing, I loved everything about it. The staging was beautiful and the costumes were fantastic. (This is also the opera from which said aria is)
Madame Butterfly - meh. I really wanted to like it, but the performance was horrible. Although the staging and costuming were very very engaging.
Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute; I always want to say it in German for some reason) - Holy crap, I LOVED this. Absolutely amazing in every way it could possibly be. The costumes were gorgeous and elaborate, the performers had strong voices and perfect execution, the set was breathtaking. I just don't have anything else to say other than how righteous it was.
Carmen - My first opera at die Volksoper (everything else was at die Staatsoper). It was a different experience in a very good way. I loved the sets; the costumes (especially for Carmen, herself) were beautiful. I am very glad that I had the opportunity to see an opera here.

But don't worry, if opera isn't really your cup of tea (because it definitely isn't everyone's favorite thing to listen to), there is more to the Viennese music scene than opera and orchestras. Since I've been here, I have been able to see three other musical performances. The first, an open-mic night at a small club in the first district. A student on my program signed up for the open-mic and a bunch of us showed up to support. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was a cool way to experience a different genre of music in Vienna. Then, another small club that hosted IES for a "party" at which a student band performed. To say the least, they were great. They are all extremely talented and I loved being able to see my peers perform at a club in Vienna. And the third one, a soul/funk/jazz show at the same small club. All the performers were originally from the United States and have been living in Vienna for who knows how long, playing gigs whenever they can. This was a great night. We met the musicians, talked to them about studying and living in Vienna, living in the United States, and plans for the future. They played some very danceable music and we all had an amazing time. I got to meet some other really cool people and talk to them about their traveling experiences. This is the kind of scene that I really love. Yes, I love the opera and going to symphonies. But what I truly love are these small venues/clubs that cater to the locals, the common people, the people who love all kinds of music. I love being in social environments that allow me to meet new people and experience new things and talk to people about their crazy experiences.
My next goal: go to a few jazz performances. There's a jazz and blues festival-type thing going on this month in Wien and I definitely want to hit up some of the (free!) shows.
This is what I miss when I'm at school - the events that large cities offer. There is actually something cool going on all the time here and I feel like I'm missing out on so many of them! Oh well, I'll be happy as long as I make it to at least a few along the way.

In other news, Gustavo Dudamel is coming to the Musikverein to conduct the Wiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic) and I AM going. I love him. I need to figure out this ticket situation pronto.

Now, I'm off to do that unwanted homework...goodnight!

Día de los Muertos pictures

Pan dulce conchas!

Their WALL of tequila

Papel Picado and piñatas

Salsa verde y pollo tamal

Tequila glasses

Día de los Muertos in Wien - who would have thunk?

Although it was nowhere close to being as awesome as the celebrations back home (in Los Angeles), celebrating Día de los Muertos in Vienna was still fun. I got to discover the Hispanic part of Vienna, found an awesome store that sells Mexican products (jewelry, calaveras, tiles, decorations, etc.), and found a Mexican market that sells EVERYTHING I could ever want to make some awesome Mexican food - tortillas and salsa verde and everything!! I’m super stoked and I may have to go back and splurge on some groceries there. This is also the place in which the celebrations ensued.

I had two tamales: one salsa verde con pollo and one mole con pollo. I had a cup of champurrado that was DELICIOUS. I ate pan dulce: a chocolate concha, one of my faves. I drank a dos equis and I got to enjoy 4 free shots of some ridiculously good tequila. I was able to introduce some of my friends to this awesome celebration and they loved it. They were so stoked for the food and asked me questions about all of it and about the holiday, itself. I got to hang out with some cool people, eat amazing food, and drink some great drinks. It was also nice to spend an evening surrounded by people speaking Spanish. I got to use some of my Spanish-speaking skills, too, but found that I kept mixing it with German! Therefore, I’ve created a new language: Deutisch (Deutsch plus Spanisch). Yea, I’m just mixing up all sorts of languages now.

One thing that blew my mind was how many languages the owner of the market spoke. German, Spanish, English, and I definitely heard a few French phrases come out of this mouth. It was amazing - especially how quickly he could switch between all of them!

I’d say I’ve had my fix of Mexican culture for the time being. But, who knows, maybe I’ll partake in more celebrations tomorrow! There is at least one thing going on tomorrow evening that I know of. I guess it pays off to email the Mexican Embassy in Vienna after not being able to find any Día de los Muertos events myself. I’m loving how my day turned out. I'll post pictures of tonight soon! :]

Felíz el Día de los Muertos <3

I can't believe it's November

How is that possible? I've been gone for 11 weeks and have 8 more weeks to spend abroad. This is insanity...in approximately 7 months I will be done with my junior year and will be preparing for my last year as a student. I can't believe it. How is this possible?

Mostly Pest, but some Buda, too.

This post is a little overdue - but aren't all of my entries? On October 14th, three friends of mine and I went to Budapest, Hungary (after all that drama that I wrote about in a previous post). Our train left at 8:04 am and we were there by noon. We headed straight for our hostel and found it fairly easily. Walking down the street, all the buildings looked really cute, except for one. Belle even commented on how ghetto it looked. Well, it turns out that was the building that our hostel was in. Swell. We walked into this apartment building and walked to the top floor, where the actual hostel was. The building was actually kind of pretty, once you got past how run-down it looked, and the ground floor was definitely the worst part of the building. Once we got to the 3rd floor (European), it was kind of pretty, especially with the sun coming into the courtyard. It's a hostel run by a father and his son and it was actually really cute. Everything was from Ikea...but actually. The sheets, the shower curtains, the window curtains, and I'm pretty sure even the beds were. It was great. The father and son helped us to get a little more situated in the city and gave us all maps and pointed out a few places for us.

After dropping off all our bags and having a few minutes of relaxation, we leave to find the House of Terror - a museum about the communist (Soviet) and fascist (Nazi) regimes in Hungary. The museum was put together really nicely and was just beautiful. I only wish I could have understood more of it, since most of it was in Hungarian. But they did have English information sheets in each room explaining some of the historical context and meaning behind part of the exhibit. I still have a stack of those to read through - I'm just very interested in their history. I feel like Hungary has had an insane history and is a country that has been constantly rocked with political and social turmoil. Even without having understood everything, this museum was able to evoke a sympathetic response from me. You can still tell that Hungary hasn't completely recovered from the Soviet regime. The city looks run down and definitely has a more impoverished feeling than other European cities (such as Vienna).
After spending a little over an hour in the museum, we started to walk to the City Park. On our way to the park, we walked by a bakery that had cupcakes in the window! If you know me, you know about my love for cupcakes. So, naturally I got super excited because I haven't had a cupcake since I've been in Europe! However, this turned out to be false advertisement and they didn't actually have cupcakes there :[ But some of us did end up getting something sweet to eat. I had a massive cream puff while Rachael and Kelly ate some sort of Hungarian pudding thing...I forget what was in it, exactly.

At the entrance to City Park is a huge monument called Heroes' Square. To each side of the monument is the Museum of Fine Arts and the Palace of Art. This monument was beautiful, along with the rest of the park. We walked around and explored the grounds of Vajdahunyad Castle, which included a church and an agriculture museum. We then walked further into the park and stumbled upon a very large building that kind of reminded me of Schönbrunn because of its bright yellow color. It turns out this building houses one of the many Hungarian baths and spas! We looked at prices and decided that was the one we would go to on Sunday afternoon, Széchenyi Bath and Spa.

We left the park and walked to a restaurant that our hostel recommended. Unfortunately, it was closed when we got there at 5pm. We guessed that it might reopen at 6pm for dinner, but since we had a ballet to go to at 7pm, we had to find somewhere else to eat - soon. We walked toward the opera house, found a street lined with restaurants and cafés and decided on a place to eat. I ordered a soup that was not what I was expecting, but oh well. Everyone else had some great food. Also, just in case you ever go to Budapest: they DO have a service charge. Vienna doesn't have tax or anything like that, but Budapest does. So that was a fun discovery...After eating, we went to the opera house and found our seats...or so we thought. For some reason, there are two rows that are called "row 2" in the balcony and BOTH of them had the seat numbers that were on our tickets. So we were confused and just chose the ones that had a better view. It seemed that we were in the clear, until the lights started to dim and we actually got kicked out of our seats by some people who apparently had tickets for those seats...after an awkward first act of the ballet, we found empty seats during intermission that had better views and sat there for the remainder of the ballet. The opera house was beautiful and the dancers were amazing. None of us completely understood the storyline for the ballet, but it was still cool! We all headed back to the hostel after a long day of traveling and walking around Pest.

The next morning, we all got to sleep in a little bit and ate some food provided by our hostel's kitchen...aka a couple of eggs and some bread. Whatevs, FREE FOOD. While walking around the city, we found some Hungarian markets that were filled with booths selling bread, cheese, yogurt, sweets, toys, clothes, etc etc. I bought this bread roll thing that was quite delicious and snacked on it for the rest of the afternoon. We made it to St. Stephen's Basilica and went inside. It was so elaborately decorated with gold leaf everywhere, an amazing organ, and a smaller chapel attached on the side.

Our next stop: Parliament. Parliament is located right on the Danube and looks beautiful from across the river, especially when it is lit up at night.

Then, we walked along the Danube, past Parliament and across Margaret Bridge. Half way across the bridge, it splits off and connects to Margaret Island. We took that detour and walked around the island for a little bit. The island is basically just a huge park in the middle of the Danube. There were a bunch of sports activities going on when we were there and we saw several soccer fields set up in the outdoor sports center. There was also a huge fountain that shot up water so high that we could see it from the bridge, before we even got to the island. We stopped to eat some food at a booth on the island - including the first hamburger I've had since high school..yea, weird. The man also seemed very surprised that I wanted onions on my burger. He didn't speak English, but it seemed like he was trying to tell me that they'll make my breath smell bad. When I said I still wanted them, he just kind of smiled and said "okay.." Awkward.

Finally, we walked across the bridge to Buda and were on our way to Castle Hill. Here, we saw the Mary Magdalene Tower, Matthais Church, found some more markets and touristy booths, and saw some awesome views from a lookout terrace in Castle Hill. Then, we walked to Buda Castle, ate a delicious Hungarian desert that's basically fried dough covered in cinnamon sugar. DELICIOUS. Here, we also went to a wine museum followed by a wine tasting. It was my first official wine tasting and I absolutely loved it. Hungary has some delicious-tasting wine and it was a perfect way to spend our evening.

Afterward, we got to walk around the castle at night and it was completely gorgeous. We walked down the hill, took tons of pictures, and crossed Chain Bridge back into Pest. We also stopped at the Four Seasons, which was right at the end of Chain Bridge, and used their fancy bathroom. That hotel was definitely the nicest hotel I've ever seen. The city actually looks really nice at night. On our way back to our hostel, we grabbed some cheap dinner and stopped in a bar to sit and hang out for a while after our long day of walking around everywhere.
The next morning, we packed all our backpacks and saw a few last minute things, including a synagogue in the Jewish district. We passed the same markets we had found on Friday and walked further to find a square. Here, we walked around a little bit and then sat down and drank cappuccinos and ate sandwiches at a great café that I never wanted to leave. All I want in life is to sit with friends in a café, drinking good coffee, eating good food, and having great conversations that make me laugh and love life. Is that too much to ask for? Apparently it is.
Then, it was time for the baths and spa. We spent several hours just hanging out in all the pools and steam rooms. The best part was outside. The pools were gorgeous and filled with people from all over the world - locals and tourists. We also had perfect weather. It was sunny, but still cool outside; cool enough for the pools to be a great blanket of warmth, but still sunny enough so that our heads weren't cold. After getting adequately pruney, it was time to leave so we could catch our train.
We thought we had given ourselves plenty of time, but the walk ended up being more of a trek than we had expected and we had to rush around quite a bit. But we were able to grab some food before boarding the train, found seats, and relaxed on our way back to Vienna. Budapest: check.
Here are some more pictures for you to look at, just in case you haven't seen them already:

Széchenyi Baths and Spa

Smoked Mozarella at the markets!

The delicious desert that I don't know the name of

Parliament from the Buda side

Parliament and Chain Bridge at night

Chain Bridge

Forint!

I spent this past weekend in Venice and LOVED it! Hopefully I'll write make that post fairly soon...but you know me.

A few of my favorite things

As I'm sitting at work in the library, doing absolutely nothing, I've realized that I haven't updated this with my most recent adventures. What better way to procrastinate from working on projects and papers than to update my blog?

On the 9th of October, I went to Salzburg for the day. I had already gone to Salzburg earlier in the semester, but it was with a fairly large group of people and, although we saw a lot of the city, I wasn't able to do absolutely everything that I wanted to: mostly, Sound of Music stuff. If you don't know by now, I am a Sound of Music fanatic. Seriously. I grew up listening to and singing along with the music and my sister and I watched the movie basically everyday after getting home from preschool and kindergarten. I remember running around and dancing to the music in my living room. I remember listening to the soundtrack during every road trip my family took. It was my life.
So, this time around, I went on The Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg. Before the tour, I walked around The Mirabell Gardens (which I had already done last time) and explored more of the park than I had before.

I also stumbled upon the Mozarteum, a music school in Salzburg, and the Marionette Museum where the puppets used in the film are kept. The tour started at 2pm and lasted for almost 4 hours and included so many of the Sound of Music locations that I wasn't able to see the first time I went to Salzburg.
Our first stop was Schloss Leopoldskron. The palace is actually private property of Harvard now (say what?), so you can't actually go inside or on the property. But the most relevant part of the palace is the back, which is visible from across the lake, in terms of the film.

Next, we headed to Schloss Hellbrunn, which is the current location of the famous glass gazebo. Originally, the gazebo stood near the edge of the lake in the gardens of Schloss Leopoldskron, but was moved in 1991, I believe. Also, it has been permanently locked to the public - apparently a woman tried to hop across the benches like Liesl did during Sixteen Going on Seventeen and ended up falling and may or may not have broken a bone...

On our way to the next stop, we drove by Schloss Frohnburg, the palace that was used as the front of the Von Trapp house in the film. It is also the location of the long yellow wall that Maria skips down while singing I Have Confidence. Then, we headed for the hills of Vienna. Driving through the countryside was absolutely gorgeous. I was blown away by how beautiful and green everything was.

Also, Salzburg had just gotten its first snow the night before and all of the surrounding mountains were topped with snow. It was at this point that I began to really miss my sister. If you can't already tell, my sister and I are very close. We're less than 2 years apart in age and share many of the same interests. Throughout our entire lives, we've shared a passion for music and the arts. We grew up listening to and watching The Sound of Music (among many other musicals) and I really wished she could have been there with me to experience what I was experiencing. I really don't know anyone else my age who loves and appreciates this movie as much as my sister and I do. I just don't know what it is, but I think the music is absolutely brilliant and whenever I listen to it, I get so happy and have a deep longing to be with people who share the same love for this movie. I know my sister is the one person who does share this love and not having her around to talk to about it made me realize how much I've missed her.

During the drive, we saw the Fuschlsee and the Mondsee. We stopped along the road and had one of the most amazing views of the Austrian Alps surrounding the Mondsee and neighboring areas. The view was breathtaking and almost overwhelming. Not only is Mondsee a lake, but it is also a town. In this town is the Mondsee Church, the location used for the wedding scene of Maria and Captain Von Trapp. We also took a small break here and stopped in a cafe to drink some coffee and eat apfelstrudel! It was the perfect diversion in my busy day of sightseeing.

We got back to the starting point of the tour sometime around 5:45 and I decided to do some more exploring of Salzburg before taking a train back to Vienna (the leave Salzburg once every hour, so I wasn't really on a time schedule). I walked around the city some more and was able to see a few more Sound of Music sights and other things that I hadn't seen or noticed the first time around. The tour guide had also told us about a place called Augustiner Bräu. The Augustiner Brewery was founded by Augustinian monks back in the day and now the basement of this building is used as a large bar/brewery with a ton of traditional Austrian food. It was an awesome environment and I'm glad that I ended up finding it.
Then, I began my walk back to the train station and was able to see the city at night. I'm completely in love with Salzburg. I love everything about it and I have a feeling that I will force myself to go back, once again, later on in my life.

Wasted Money and Lost Jewelry

Tomorrow, we're going to Budapest. As I was checking things for our trip earlier today, I noticed something funny on my train ticket: it's valid from 14 September to 16 September 2011, not October. I freaked out, asked Rachael if hers is the same and it is. It's the same for Belle and Kelly, too. Cool, the guy at the station screwed up our ticket dates and they're no longer valid. Except, our seat reservation is for the correct date, so how the heck did they mess that up? Rachael and I went to the Wien Westbanhof station to exchange our tickets. Unfortunately, we can't do it for free. The tickets that we have (the wrong ones) were sold on a special and that special was only valid for those days and doesn't apply to this weekend. Now it's costing us 44 Euro to go (the initial tickets were only 29 Euro) and they can't give us a refund for our old tickets here. They give us a number to call so we can ask what to do for a refund, but it's not guaranteed that we'll even get our money back. So, now a trip that should have only cost 44 Euro is costing 73 Euro. Awesome.
Then, after all this drama and my frustration, we're on our way back home and I realize that my earring is no longer on my ear. Cool, I lost one of my favorite earrings on this wonderful day. This is the third piece of jewelry I've lost in Europe. First, it was my Peace Chain necklace that mysteriously disappeared in Greece. The only time I took it off was in our private hostel room in Paros. So I seriously have no idea what happened to that and how I lost it...Then, it was one of my rose earrings at a club. Whatever, both of those things were fairly cheap and I had had those rose earring for like 6 years; I definitely used them to their worth. But this earring that I just lost belonged to one of my favorite pairs. And I got it from the Oregon Country Fair and they were not cheap. They're hand made and just hippie enough for me. UGH. I know it's dumb to be so distraught over losing an earring, but after having just spent so much extra money, this sucks more than it should and I'm just not in the mood to deal with this.


I'll write a happy post in here soon enough...I went back to Salzburg to do The Sound of Music tour this past weekend, so that was definitely an awesome experience! And hopefully actually being in Budapest tomorrow will make me feel better about today. I promise, happy posts are coming!

10 million things to do and see in one city

Life in Vienna has been pretty crazy since I last wrote on here. I started classes on September 20th and they've all gone pretty smoothly so far. So what have I been doing over the past 3 weeks? Well, I have definitely been to a lot of museums...let's make a list: Leopold Museum (fo' FREE) Kaffee-Erlebnismuseum "Coffee Experience Museum" (got free coffee, wine, and bread) Haus der Musik (saw live music and had fun with the interactive exhibits) Kunst Haus Wien (oh my goodness, I love Hundertwasser's artwork and architecture! He has definitely become one of my favorite artists. Everything he does is so colorful and creative and wonderful. I just can't get over it.)

Albertina (They had a "From Monet to Picasso" exhibit going on) Wien Museum Mozarthaus (We only saw one floor of this one because we didn't realize that it wasn't part of the free Sunday thing for the Wien Museums until a woman told us that we needed to buy tickets....so, we just left after that happened...) Römermuseum Neidhart Fresken (the oldest secular mural paintings in Vienna) Beethoven Pasqualatihaus (Where he wrote his 4th, 5th, 7th, and 8th symphonies, along with his opera "Fidelio") I think that list covers all of the ones I've seen over the past few weeks. I went to most of them for free, except for the Coffee, Music, Hundertwasser, ad Albertina ones. But, those were all part of Lange Nacht der Museen "Long Night of Museums," and we just had to pay for one 11-Euro ticket to get into all of them! That event went on from 6pm to 1am on the first Saturday of October and it was a lot of fun and completely worth it. If I had paid for each of those museums individually, it would have cost over 30 Euro! And then the next day was the free day for the Wien Museums. On September 30th, I went to the Zentralfriedhof, which is a beautiful cemetery in Vienna that has a huge church in the center of it. The grounds are gorgeous and it's the cemetery where several famous composers are buried, including Beethoven, Strauss, Brahms, and Schubert. There is also a Mozart memorial there. Mozart was buried in a mass grave, so no one knows exactly where he is buried, but he definitely wasn't buried in Zentralfriedhof, they just made a memorial for him there because the cemetery has become famous because of all the composers (and other famous people) who have been buried there.

I also finally had the chance to ride the Riesenrad (Ferris Wheel)!! It was fun and we had an amazing view of the city. It's not a super thrilling thing to do, but I think it's something that everyone needs to do at some point while in Vienna. The Riesenrad is just so iconic and everyone knows what it is, you have to go on it eventually.

Over the course of 3 days (the 25th to the 27th), I saw 2 operas! Don Giovanni and Alcina. Surprisingly enough, I liked Alcina more than Don Giovanni. I think a lot of it had to do with the set for Alcina. Alcina's staging was much more elaborate than Don Giovanni's and just looked a lot fancier. Also, I realized that I actually sang one of the arias from Alcina for my jury last year - I felt kind of dumb for not remembering it before it was being performed in the opera, but oh well. Both of the operas were amazing and I can't believe that each of them only cost me 4 Euro - that's the price of a kebab box, guys! What else have I seen...Oh! I explored more of Schönbrunn and fell in love with it. Schönbrunn has beautiful gardens that go on forever, I feel like I haven't even seen half of the grounds. I can't wait to actually go inside one day soon!

I think one of the best things I've done in Vienna happened this past Thursday. It was the last warm and sunny day that we had in Vienna before the rain kicked in on Friday. A friend invited me and Rachael to hang out at the Danube, so we went. After laying out and walking around for a couple of hours, we walked over to the U-Bahn station on this bridge. Then, we all decided to jump into the river. I had said earlier that if they did it (again), I'd do it, too. But, all of a sudden, when the time actually came, I got nervous and was unsure. I knew I had to do it, though. When else was I going to get the chance to jump into the Danube from a bridge?! We climbed over the railing and I held onto the bar for my life. My friends counted down...they jump. I'm the last one to jump and it's one of the most invigorating feelings ever. I just can't imagine ever feeling that alive again, it was such a rush and I loved it. I did end up landing kind of funny and I now have a pretty gnarly bruise on my leg from it, but it was completely worth it and I'm really glad I jumped. The evening ended with us all hanging out, talking, and having fun in a bar across the street from my friend's apartment. It was the kind of afternoon/evening I really needed. I have to say, I've met some pretty cool people since I've been here. I'm glad I've been able to meet students from all over the United States (and some from other parts of the world, too) and I'm looking forward to getting to know them even better. That's one of the main reasons for studying abroad: meeting new, different people who have had different experiences than I have had and I really just love meeting new people. Although I've done quite a bit in Vienna, I still feel like there is so much that I need to see. But, at the same time, there is a lot of traveling I still need to do! I'm off to Salzburg in the morning, for the second time! I didn't get to do and see everything I wanted to the first time I went, so it's time for round two and this time I'm going on The Sound of Music Tour. I don't know if you guys know this, but I LOVE The Sound of Music. Like...a LOT. I literally grew up on the movie and music and have been obsessed with it since I was about 3 years old. My father told me that my sister and I used to watch it basically everyday after getting home from preschool/kindergarten. So, I knew that it was something that I needed to do while studying abroad in Austria; there was no way I was about to let that opportunity pass me by and if I had, I would have regretted it. So, I guess I shold get some sleep before the busy day ahead of me! Goodnight :]

Jumping off of bridges and going to museums...the usual

Today I jumped off of a bridge and into the Donau. Yea, I didn't jump completely straight and I'll probably have a massive bruise on my leg in the morning, but it was totally worth it. It was the biggest rush I've had in a while - such a high on life. I also need to write a longer post soon, because I've done a lot of things in Vienna over the past couple of weeks! Including going to 8 museums in a time span of 24 hours (for a total of 11 Euro). Things have been pretty exciting. I'm also hoping to make it to Salzburg for a second time this weekend to do the Sound of Music tour! I'll write soon - bye!

I just want this in my mouth forever

Before you start reading this, I want you to know that it is an extremely long post with lots of pictures. I hope you don't become too bored with it!


My alarm goes off at 6:35 am. I turn it off and roll over - wait, that was supposed to go off at 5:45, not 6:45. Shit. I jump out of bed and into the shower, thank god all of my stuff is already packed and my clothes for the day are laid out. Both my roommate and I overslept due to incorrectly set alarms. We're now an hour behind schedule. We meet Kelly on the U-Bahn and take it to the S-Bahn station. Of course, we get on the wrong S-Bahn. We get off, take it back one stop and wait for the right one. Luckily, it comes within 5 minutes. We arrive at the airport with 20 minutes to spare until boarding time. None of us check bags, so checking in is fast and easy. Security goes smoothly...for the most part. The metal detector goes off on Rachael and she gets patted down. We finally get on the plane and our insanely rushed and stressful morning slows down. Vienna to Amsterdam. We have a 9 hour layover, so obviously we're going into the city for the day! Amsterdam definitely has character.

There are these strange music box things throughout the city that end up clashing horribly with each other. The city is packed with people walking a little too close for comfort. We're also lugging around our bags with us, so that's fun. It's a warm day, kind of muggy. None of us know that much about Amsterdam, which now seems a little silly, so our plan is to just wander for a few hours. Soon enough, I recognize a Holocaust Memorial that I saw online when I was looking up things about Amsterdam.

One thing I notice: there are SO many bikes here! It blows my mind how many parked bikes we had to walk around. We wander some more. I remember that I wanted to go to the Anne Frank House, so I find it on my map and we start to walk in that direction. However, when we get there, we realize that the entry fee is a little more than any of us are willing to spend and they have a "no large backpacks/luggage inside" policy. Fail. Oh well, I guess it was worth a shot, right? We continue walking down the street and then I see someone who I think I recognize...or, two someones. "Mariah?!?" Yep, it's her and Ann! Two fellow Puget Sounders in the middle of Amsterdam, what are the odds? They've been traveling around Europe for the past month or so. We stop and talk for a while and then go our separate ways. I still can't believe that I ran into them here. More wandering. Eventually, we stumble into a small pizza shop that ends up being an Italian culture center, too (or something of the sort). The 3 of us share a square slice of pizza, drink water, and rest up from the past couple of hours of walking around with our bags. When we get up to leave, the man working there tells us we can store our bags there for the rest of the day. He does it all the time and says it's no problem at all. We decide to trust this friendly stranger and leave our bags in a side room. Our backs feel so much better and we feel free to explore even more. As we're walking around, I get very turned around and say "I have no idea where we are," while trying to locate ourselves on my map. Right then, a man who's walking by yells out to me "You're in Amsterdam!" He reminds me of Max (played by Joe Anderson) from Across the Universe for some reason and I can't help but laugh. We continue walking and stumble upon a street that is full of coffee shops...Amsterdam style.

We get waves of the smell seeping from every door we pass and we think it is so funny. This is definitely a hippie area. There's a man sitting on the window sill of the first floor (European) of a building, playing his guitar. There's also a group of people lounging in an open café window on a bed of pillows and cushions. We stop in a few souvenir shops to buy some postcards and stamps. Then, we return to the pizza shop, thank the man for storing our bags and head back to the train station to get to the airport.

Amsterdam to Athens. We land at 12:30am, it's been a very long day of traveling. Rachael met a Greek woman on the plane who is now helping us get to our hostel! She takes us to buy tickets for the bus into the city, she's taking the same bus as us. She draws out a map showing us how to get to our hostel and writes down the names of a few places that are must-sees in Athens. She also gives us her phone number, just in case we need anything else. Her English name is Kris - I am so glad Rachael met her. The second person who has been extremely helpful in the past 12 hours. We get off at the last stop and make our way toward our hostel. It's past 1:30am and the streets are a little dark.

On our right, we pass the Temple of Zeus and we all can't believe that there are ruins right in front of us! It's beautiful. We finally make it to our hostel and walk into our room: a 6-bed mixed dorm room. Of course, 2 of our roommates are asleep and the 3rd is in the bathroom. It's a struggle to get settled and changed with cell phone lights. Sometime around 2 am, we finally get to sleep. The next morning, we sleep in until 9:20 and miss the complimentary breakfast that ends at 9:30. We take our time getting ready and befriend one of our roommates: Hamish, an 18-year old from Australia. He comes to eat breakfast with us then does his own thing. Rachael, Kelly and I make our way to the Benaki Museum and pass the Temple of Zeus and Parliament on the way. Athens is very student-friendly and has discounted rates for everything. If you're under 22 years old, you get into the Benaki for free! Score. It's 4 floors of history, art, and culture. We're there for a few hours and finally have to leave - we can come back again, if we really want to. On our walk back to our hostel, we take a detour through the National Gardens.

The gardens kind of remind me of Point Defiance, which is nice and feels familiar. There was a random zoo-like area that we ran into. There were goats, turtles, birds, roosters, ducks, and other really random animals. It was weird. Later, we go to the Acropolis Museum, which is located up the street and around the corner from our hostel. We heard that going to the museum is a good way to become familiar with the history and layout of the actual Acropolis. I forgot my University ID card in my backpack in Vienna, so I have to pay full price. That kind of sucks, but it's also only 5 Euro...I think. We're not allowed to take pictures in the museum, so my camera finally gets a rest. I find so much of the history completely fascinating and I'm also in love with Athena. She is just a bamf and I want to be her. I think one of the most incredible and upsetting things about the Acropolis is that there used to be this huge statue of Athena the Warrior, holding a spear made of solid gold, sitting on top of the monument. However, during the Dark Ages, this statue was melted down in order to produce coins. How ridiculous. The statue was visible from the sea ports on the coast! That's how enormous it was. It makes me sad that such a beautiful thing was destroyed for some money. Our first day in Athens has been pretty chill and we head to our hostel's roof top bar for the end of our evening.

The picture to the right is our view from the roof. We end up seeing Hamish at the bar and meet a guy from Amsterdam, along with 2 Turkish men who just spent the past few days on Mykonos and are heading back to the States, where they currently live. It's an interesting night and the bar gets pretty empty by 10pm. We decide to leave and Hamish is hungry, so we get food with him. We end up at the hostel's sports bar and run into the guy from Amsterdam again. By this time, Kelly and I are feeling pretty tired, but everyone else is wide awake and we end up hanging out until midnight.

The next morning, we wake up early enough to catch the free breakfast. Then, we go on the walking tour that our hostel hosts everyday. Our guide, Yorgo (Gorgo?) - English name: George - is an archaeologist and is super insightful and informative. We literally walk everywhere. The Temple of Zeus, The Olympic Stadium, Parliament and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Churches, Hadrian's Library, the major shopping street, the flea market, the Ancient and Roman Agoras, the hill where Saint Paul spoke to the Greeks about Jesus Christ and Christianity, and the Theatre of Dionysus.

We can't actually go into most of these places because we haven't paid for entry tickets, but now we know where everything is and it's easy for us to navigate around when we buy tickets later that afternoon. After the walking tour, we eat a snack and get ready to venture to all the ruins. Our first stop: the Temple of Zeus. Somehow, I talk the cashiers into letting me pay for the student-priced ticket package that only costs 6 Euro, instead of the regular-priced package of 12 Euro, without showing any sort of student ID.

As I'm doing this, two other students are nearby and see my California ID - they're from Orange County. I ask where they go to school: UC Irvine. It turns out one of the girls knows a friend of mine from high school who goes to UCI! What a small world we live in. After walking around the Temple, we venture over to a beautiful church for which none of us are appropriately dressed (shorts, flip flops, tank tops/t-shirts), so we can't go inside. But, I stick my camera in the doorway and take a few pictures. The church is also under some intense-looking construction, so it takes away from its external beauty.

The next stop: Hadrian's Library. The grounds are much larger than I thought they would be and we spend a good amount of time walking around here. Close by is the Roman Agora. It's about the same size as Hadrian's Library and much smaller than the Ancient Agora. There's also the Tower of the Winds in the Roman Agora. Oh, and Agora = open market/public space and Phobia = fear of something. Therefore, Agoraphobia = the fear of open spaces. This is one of the many insights that our tour guide gave us. Whenever he did this, it reminded me of the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding and I wished my sister was there to laugh about it with me, considering no one else understood what I was talking about when I referenced the movie (which happened a lot during this trip...there were also several Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants references that people didn't really understand, either). Another quick fact: do you know why a Marathon is a fixed distance of 42 kilometers? Well, the Battle of Marathon took place between the Athenians and Persians. Somehow, the Athenians defeated the Persians even though they were grossly outnumbered. Right after the battle, the Athenian army needed to inform the rest of Athens of their victory so they sent one warrior - the fastest in the army - to run 42 kilometers, back to the city of Athens to tell them what had happened. Upon arrival, the soldier only had enough energy to say "we have won," and, at that moment, he died from exhaustion. Thus, the term "Marathon" has been coined to mean a 42 km-long run.

Anyway, back to our exploration of Athens. After the Roman Agora, we went to the Ancient Agora. The Ancient Agora is HUGE.

We could have easily spent over an hour here alone. But, we did not have enough time in our day and were unable to do so. However, we visited the main attraction of the Ancient Agora: the Temple of Hephaistos. This temple is the best-preserved ancient Greek temple, with most of the original columns still standing. Finally, we make our way to the most-anticipated ruins: The Acropolis. First, we stop to walk the lower ring of the Acropolis. George told us that not very many people know about it, but there are some awesome caves and other random ruins to see there. He was right. There were several caves, one for Pan and one for Zeus, among others, and we were the only people there. The Cave of Pan reminded me of my lovely SAI ladies and I had another moment of familiarity in this foreign country.

I had told one of my managers from Diversions that I would take some epic pictures with our café shirt on while traveling around Europe this semester and these caves seemed like the perfect place. Good thing I had been carrying the shirt around all day! On our hike up to the Acropolis, we passed the Theatre of Dionysus, where they still hold concerts and performances. How amazing would it be to see your favorite musician perform at the Theatre of Dionysus? I thought that was amazing.
We finally made it to the Acropolis and it was fantastic.

The views of the surrounding city were breathtaking and I realized how large Athens really is. The Parthenon is massive and humbling, but my favorite was definitely the Erechthion, which includes a section of columns carved out as the nine Muses. I think the Erechthion is just such a pretty building and the decorative Muses just make it even more beautiful.

Exhausted, starving and sunburned (well, Kelly and Rachael were sunburned), we left the Acropolis at 7pm and made our way to a restaurant to eat. We also had plans to meet two other Puget Sounders who are currently studying abroad in Athens at 9pm that night for dinner. Silly us, we thought that at 9pm "dinner" meant drinks and maybe some snacks. However, apparently Greeks don't eat dinner until 9 or 10pm! So, when we did meet up with our friends, we had already eaten and we joined them for dinner sometime after 10pm. Although I wasn't very hungry, I couldn't help but eat all the delicious food that was being put in front of me. At the cost of 10 Euro per person, we got Greek salad, fried feta, fried zucchini balls, some sort of meat balls, potatoes, and chicken. We also ordered two bottles of wine and were given two more for free! Don't worry, there were about 8 or 9 of us who went out to dinner this night.

I would have to say that this was probably my favorite night of the entire vacation. I got to see my good friend, Kayla, in Greece while eating some delicious, mouth-watering food and drinking good wine. Not to mention, everyone else was great company and we had a lot of fun just talking and hanging out for hours at dinner. We headed back to our hostel and fell asleep around 2 am, preparing to get up at 5:30 in the morning in order to catch our ferry to Paros.

We made our way to the ferry via the metro without many issues, got our ferry tickets printed, found an outdoor booth to sit on and took naps. The ferry dropped us off in Parikia and we took a bus to Naoussa, where our hostel was. When we get off the bus, none of us know where to go. We ask one of the travel agencies in the area and a woman points us in the right direction. As we walk through the narrow streets of the town, a man sees us and tells us to turn left and then right. We didn't say a single word to him, but he knew we were looking for our hostel! After walking around the town, up some stairs, around a church, and down a road, we finally find our hostel. It's a quirky little place with Tibetan Prayer Flags in the entryway.

Our room is bigger than my room at home, has 3 beds and our own private bathroom. We put our bags down, relax for a few minutes and then head to the beach. The next three days consist of visits to different beaches via the local bus. The owners of our hostel also recommend a local restaurant, Gafkos, for dinner. Gafkos is right on the beach and has a menu that promises full stomachs and happy taste buds. The 3 of us split a Greek salad, fried zucchini balls, bread, spaghetti, and a liter of wine. For desert, they bring us a complimentary serving of Greek yogurt with a rose petal syrup that is actually the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. I don't think my mouth has ever been so happy and I seriously never wanted the taste to ever leave my mouth. It may have been my favorite dinner in Greece (although the one in Athens comes pretty close) and I am now craving that same Greek yogurt. We also make two trips to the same gyro restaurant during our stay in Naoussa and on our second visit, the worker already knows what we're going to order: "Pork gyro, pork gyro, and vegetarian gyro?" We all smile and say yes. On our last day, we take a water taxi to another beach and stay there for the entire day.

The water is the most beautiful shade of crystal blue and I just can't believe that I'm actually here, experiencing this. This is what a vacation is supposed to be like. When we get back to Naoussa, we go to the ruins of a Venetian Castle that are right on the coast. Naoussa was a pirate village back in the day and was a major rest stop for many pirates who were out at sea. That night, we go back to Gafkos and order almost the same thing as the first night. Of course, our dinner is concluded with the delicious Greek yogurt desert and I am in heaven once again.

I think the food in Greece may have been one of the best things about my vacation there. Yes, everything was amazing. The ruins, the history, the art, but holy shit the food was so good. And it wasn't expensive, either. I'm going to miss Greek food a lot - hence, the title of this post.

The next morning, we left Naoussa and headed to Parikia to catch our ferry back to Athens. But, before that, we stopped at a cafe and I ordered a small Greek coffee. IT WAS SO GOOD. It's slightly chocolatey and is about the size of a double shot of espresso. I loved it. If you ever get the chance, I think you should try Greek coffee. Don't get it too sweet, mine was barely sweetened and it was actually perfect.

We made one last stop at the Cathedral of Ekatontapiliani (Church of 100 Doors) in Parikia. This church is over 1600 years old and is one of the oldest and best preserved Christian monuments in the world.

Back to Athens. We drop off our bags in our hostel room, which is HUGE. Somehow, we ended up with this amazing 6-person mixed studio apartment room that had an awesome view, a common room with a TV, kitchenette, and private bathroom...say whaa? It was pretty great. We spent the afternoon walking up the Hill of the Muses and sitting at the top for a few minutes. We also saw the Prison of Socrates and Church of Agios Dimitrios Loubardiaris. We get back to our room to find that we have been joined by 3 other people. They turn out to be Brazilian Navy men on vacation (?) and they're kind of strange. Whatever, we enjoy our wine and hang out. The only annoyance comes when they stumble back into the room at 6 am, after a night out and are not quiet about it. We wake up around 8:30, shower, get breakfast and walk back to the Benaki, where Kelly buys some postcards. Then we walk to the bus station and head to the airport at 11:30. Our flight to Rome is delayed by an hour, we miss our connecting flight from Rome to Vienna. After some horrible customer service by Alitalia (don't EVER fly with them), we get tickets for the next flight to Vienna...which leaves Rome in 3 hours. I get us some free dinner vouchers from Alitalia and we eat a decent dinner with wine in the airport and wait for our flight. Finally, home bound. We land around 10:30pm and don't get back to our apartments until sometime after 11pm (I think I'm getting these times right..I was very tired). Since grocery stores are closed on Sundays, today was the first day that we were able to go grocery shopping and it feels so good to have food in our fridge once again.

Overall, it was an amazing week in Greece (and Amsterdam, briefly), but I am glad to be back "home" in Vienna. Today was the first day of classes and both of mine went swimmingly. I have 2 more classes tomorrow, so we'll see how those go. I think this is going to be a good semester. Hopefully I'm not jinxing it. Whatever, I'm in Europe! It's going to be a good semester no matter what.
Thanks for sticking with me throughout this entire post, I know it was a long one!