Fall Break II- Budapest: November 1st- 3rd

After getting little sleep on the overnight train, we arrived in Budapest at 8:30 am and decided to go out and explore right away. We crossed the river to Buda and found where the old castle was and walked around there. We could see the parliament building that was in Pest which is one of the biggest parliament buildings in the world.

The view from the Castle

After exploring Buda we went on the Pest side of the city and looked at the Parliament building up close and then made our way to the communist museum. Our hostel director described it as "depressed" and he was accurate.

My favorite part of our stay in Budapest was going to the Turkish Baths. We went to The Széchenyi Spa, the biggest in Budapest. It was so relaxing to be able and enjoy the baths while it was raining because the baths were so warm. It was a nice break from our hostel showers.

Fall Break I- Prague: October 28th- 31st

Fall break began in the Czech Republic. Kristina, Marissa and I met up with our friends Nikki and Ainsley who are studying in Prague. We arrived pretty late so we went to dinner right away and an incredible Mexican restaurant. the next morning we began to explore downtown Prague. We started at the John Lennon Wall. There are many different artists who are attributed to this wall, all honoring John Lennon.

The next place we saw explored we came across some babies that we thought would be fun to play on.

We visited Prague at the best time of the year. It was the perfect fall experience. The weather was not too cold, but a bit nippy. And my favorite part was that all the leaves were changing colors and were beginning to fall. So naturally we decided to play with them.

We went to the old part of Prague and saw the old castle and cathedral. The old town up on a hill so it allowed us to look over the entire city. We then crossed the King Charles Bridge to see the town square and the astronomical clock.

The rest of the weekend some other friends from Denver were also visiting so we all met up and enjoyed Prague together.

Next we were off to Budapest on an adventurous overnight train.

Barcelona: October 21st- 24th 2010

I went to Barcelona with my friends Kristina and Whitney. We have 3 friends who are living in Barcelona who let us stay with them (John, Grant and Ryan). Also visting the same weekend were our other friends Tyler and Kyle. It was a tight squeeze but we managed to fit 8 kids into one apartment for the weekend. It was nuts. The second day we were there we started to explore the city. We went to

Castell de Montjuïc which has a beautiful view of the whole city.

On our way to the castle

Maddie, Whitney, Kristina



The next day we went to the coast and enjoyed the beach for part of the day. After that Whitney and I decided to explore the city to see the famous architecture by Antoni Gaudi. We first made a stop at the famous cathedral, Sagrada Familia, that is still being constructed even thought Gaudi has passed on.

Sagrada Familia

Next We made our way to Park Guell to take a look at more of Gaudi's work. This houses reminded me of gingerbread houses because of the colors and shapes used to construct them. Most of the art pieces he created were out of colorful tiles.

Mosaic Benches

Mosaic Walls

View of the Entrance

 

Sweden: October 14th- 18th 2010

I landed at the Arlanda airport on thursday evening. Hasse, Sanna, Vaulter and Ture were waiting my arrival. We spent the night in Uppsala and had a traditional Swedish meal, pancakes and pea soup with mustard. The next day I took the train into Stockholm. I spent the day in the Old Town seeing the castle and enjoying the town. I also made it to another one of the islands in the archipelago to see the Vasa ship that was restored after it sunk in one of the harbors.

Stockholm City Hall

On the water!





The next day we went up to Sundsvall to see Busa and his family. I also got to meet Leif and his wife aswell. Busa, Julia and Nora (his daughters) later showed me around the city and I got a full city view of the town and the Baltic.

We went back to Busa and Vicci's house for a delicious meal of enchiladas with homemade guacamole. I loved being in a family enviornment, some good, family cooking. Later that night I went out with Julia and her boyfriend, Adam, to meet their friends and see some of the night life. It was hard to leave everyone after they were so welcoming towards me. It made me miss my family in Minnesota, but it was nice to know that I had family in Sweden also.

Lake behind the Sundsvall home.

After the 3 hour drive home we stopped in Uppsala to  freshen up before we headed back to Stockholm to have dinner with Per, Evelina and their three kids. I had some more swedish food that was incredible. We made it a short trip because it was Sunday and it had been a long weekend.

Outside Per and Evalena's house in Stockholm. Beautiful view!

My last day I spent looking around Uppsala near the university, the castle and the cathedral. It was a beautiful town and it was nice to see where Sanna and Hasse spend time.

Loved my weekend with the Swedes. They all made me feel so welcome and I hope they feel the same.

Cinque Terre: September 30th- October 1st 2010

Whitney and I got up at 5 to take a train to the western coast of Italy to the region known as Cinque Terre which means "The Five Lands." There are paths and trails connecting each town that you can hike to get from one to another. We started out in the town of Monterosso and began the 6 mile hike. this hike was the longest but I thought it was definitely the most beautiful. It was raining when we arrived in Cinque Terre so the first hike was done in the rain. It was nice to have some cool weather because we were walking up many stairs. This part of the hike reminded me so much of Jamaica.



We found so many little waterfalls while hiking. They were so pretty. This hike also lead us through many vineyards and olive farms with beautiful views of the Mediterranean.

The next town we got to was Vernazza. The next to paths were not available for us to do because of all the rain they were unsafe surfaces. So we got on the train and went to Manarola. This was the second to last town. The clouds and started to clear up and the rest of the day was beautiful and sunny. The last path was paved and was known as Via dell'Amore, "Lovers Lane." All along the trail "lovers" will attach locks to the railings to secure their eternal love.

We finally ended up in Riomaggiore where we spent the night in a hostel, which was actually a couples house that they were not longer living in. I was happy to get away from the constant traffic noises in Rome for a night and enjoy a silent and peaceful night. I slept 12 and a half hours that night.

We left the next morning to go back to Rome but we made a quick stop in Pisa to see the leaning tower. We obviously had to take one of these pictures. Everyone else was too. (Not to scale) :)

Munich: September 23rd- 25th 2010

I just returned from Munich yesterday and had an incredible weekend seeing the city. The first we thing we did when we got to Munich was grab some breakfast at the airport.

We then took a tour to Dachau, the site of the first concentration camp. It definitely was not a happy experience, but it was a very worthwhile to see such a huge part of history. I learned a lot from our tour guide that day. He was very passionate about everything he told us about.

Thursday night we checked into our hotel, The Exquiste, and continued to the Hofbräuhaus which is a famous brewery in Munich and had my first stein of beer of the weekend. What I learned is that generally when you ask for a stein it comes with half beer and half foam.

Friday we got an early start and headed to the tents at Oktoberfest. We went to the Hofbräu tent and spent the majority of the day and afternoon at that tent. For lunch I had a giant pretzen (pretzel). I loved Munich because there were so many pretzels to eat there! It was so fun to meet up with all my friends who are studying all over for Oktoberfest and meet many other people from all over the world.

Capri, Sorrento, Pompeii: September 10th- 12th 2010

Last weekend my program in Rome took us to the Amalfi coast for the weekend. We spent Friday and Saturday night in Sorrento. It was such a cute small town, I found a place where they had made custom sandals for me. On Saturday we took a fairy to the island of Capri. We got a boat tour around the island and got to swim in the Mediterranean. The water and the views were beautiful. It was my favorite thing I've done here so far.

After we cruised around the island we took a chairlift ride to the top of Anicapri which allowed us to have an incredible view over the island. It was breath taking.

On Sunday we stopped in Pompeii to see the archeological site where the city of Pompeii once was before Mt. Vesuvius erupted.