Sunday, October 17, 2010

Sorry for the delay

Okay, so I am not very good at this blogging thing. It takes more time then I thought but time is also hard to come by for me now! Anyways, I will do my best to improve! Okay so I started off in Prague with my grandma for a week and a half before going to London. I had such a great time with my babo. She taught me so much that came in handy and I am very thankful to have had a vacation with just her and I. Once that came to an end I got on a bus to London. Bus to London?? Sounds crazy right, well it was. 18 hours is a LONG time to be on a bus, however, I do have the rights to brag about going on the Euro tunnel. Its an under the ocean tunnel from France to Great Britain. The bus drove into a train car and it closed around us, then the train only took 20 or so minutes until we came out on Great Britain soil! It was a great way to start my European adventure.

Once I got to London, I met all of my fall semester classmates! It was exciting meeting new people all over again. I reminded me of my Freshman year of college, not knowing anyone. I think since everyone was in the same boat, we all grew close bonds pretty fast. From good times in London we went to Munich, Germany. We were only there for about a day and half We toured the city and experienced a beer garden and in the morning we boarded a bus (yuck, another bus) to bound for Prague. About one hour outside of Prague is city called Plzen. This is the city where one of the world's greatest beer is brewed, Pilsner Urquelle. We only had lunch here but I was lucky enough to come back on a tour of the brewery and taste a fresh and unfiltered batch of beer. Honestly, the best beer to ever touch my lips!



Once in Prague, we settled into our Kolej (dorm) and started getting familiar with the city. In no time at all, we were able to navigate the city. We didn't have class for the first almost two weeks of being here so we often went to our favorite bar/klub, Jack Rabbit Slims or some of us call it Spread Rabbit! LOL


My first trip was to the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. I went with my friends Mackenzie, Amanda, Sam, Katie, Alex, Brian, and Andrew. Only Amanda and Katie had places to sleep however lol so the rest of us vowed to go 24 hours at Oktoberfest. It was the best 24 hours of my life to sum it up. We had so much fun, drank a lot of beer and met so many great people. The 7 hour train ride home was brutal though.


The next weekend we traveled in style, we were whisked off to the city of love, Paris. This trip was a smaller group, just myself, Amanda, Ryan and Alex. We got in pretty late the first night and found our hostel for an early start in the morning. The first thing we did was go to the Eiffel Tower. We went up to the middle deck and the sight was breath taking, we also went to the top. It was amazing! My friend Allie is studying in Paris for the semester so after the Eiffel Tower we met her at Notre Dame then had some lunch. All the food in Paris was AMAZING!!! I think we ate like 5 meals everyday! ha ha the nutella crepes were my favorite and my favorite lunch was a croque complet. I highly recommend these items if you are ever in Paris. That night we got a few bottle of wine and went to the grass in front of the Eiffel Tower. With our baguettes, cheese and wine in hand we watched the tower sparkle on the hour until 1 AM when they turn all the tower lights off. The next day we went to the Louvre and Musse De Orsay, Arch De Triumph, champs le say and probably a few other places I am forgetting at the moment. That night we joined the locals on the steps of the Basilique Du Sacre Coeur. There we had more delicious wine and a good time meeting all types of people, this also was a night I will never forget. Paris was so much fun! I definitely have it on my list of places to go back too one day!

This past weekend was a very relaxed trip to Budapest, Hungary. We did a girls weekend, Mackenzie, Amanda and myself. We had a great time. We went to the parliament, synagogues, Gellert Hill and climbed to see the Liberty Statue. Also there was a great club just two doors down from our hostel! We spent a lot of time relaxing and reading those books we have been wanting to dive into. My favorite part of our trip was the bath house we went to on our last day. It was so relaxing and beautiful. Plus very rejuvenating for skin so I felt so fresh after leaving there! We also ate a lot of yummy food in Budapest. It's hard to pass by a traditional dish when I know its my once in a life time opportunity to give it a try!


So far, it is easy to say I am having the time of my life here in Europe. I have a lot planned already for the next few weeks. This coming weekend I will be going to Moravia. The Monday after we return is my 21st birthday!!! Then on the 28th my mom, dad, brother and sister in law will be here to visit! I am SO very excited to see them, I miss them very much! I am also excited to practice speaking Czech with my dad and being with him in his country! I was very lucky to have my grandma here with me for the first week, she took me to see where my dad went to school for the very first time and to the hospital he was born in! She enjoyed sharing these things with me and she also hadn't been to those areas in a long time. I hope that I can be half as good of a tour guide for my family as she was for me!


That's all I have for now but I will work on posting more often after all my fun trips!!!




Tuesday, August 17, 2010

6 Days!!!

I am now six days from leaving, this is wild. I have been pretty stressed between trying to get packed and ready on top of my brothers wedding this coming Saturday. I am looking forward to it! It is going to be a blast. Only two days later I will also be setting off for the biggest adventure of my life so far!

I am excited to grow and experience life but also nervous! I don't know whats in store or if I am ready to take it on but I will do my best and enjoy life! I am so lucky to have my family and Zach to keep me sane. My mom helped me get four months of clothes in to only 2 suitcases that are successfully under 50 pounds (as of now!) I still have last minuet things to toss in! I have a 5 hour layover in Germany so I will probably blog then about my first time flying overseas by myself!

Till then!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Thanks to well, EVERYONE!

Well, I have my plane ticket and my visa situation all sorted out! Actually having the plane ticket makes things feel so real. I cannot believe this is going to finally happen for me. I am so excited and thankful. I owe huge thanks to my grandma, Babo. She is going to help me out financially and support me by flying out with me for w few weeks before school starts. Thanks to her I am a citizen of the Czech Republic and I don't need to apply for a visa. I couldn't be where I am in the process with out her and all her love and support. I also need to thank my family and Zach for supporting me in this wild adventure. My mom and I are best friends so I know it will be hard on her, not to mention she will be super busy with helping me prepare but my brothers wedding is August 21st. There is so much to do for the wedding and I am just so so excited!! They are getting married 2 days before I leave. August will be one crazy month!

My mom, dad, brother and soon to be sister in law Paige are all planning to come over and visit! They will be in Prague just a few days after my birthday to celebrate! I can't wait for them to visit. I hope I'll know a lot of great places to take them too! Anyways, there won't be much to blog about until I leave but I think it'll be good practice for me to figure out how to do this before I leave :-D

Thursday, April 15, 2010

New to the blogging world...

Hi everyone! I am new to this idea of blogging but I have great intentions of using this website!
I am going to live and study in Prague, Czech Republic in the fall and I was thinking that this blog would be a great way to keep everyone up to date in my European adventures.

Since I don't leave until August I will just be posting about my progress and preparation prior to my exciting trip!!! Keep checking for new and exciting information, well not so exciting for you but still it's something to do! :-D